It’s been a while since I’ve said hello to those of you who are nice enough to stop by and check out MariaMedia. I’ve enjoyed meeting so many cool people and appreciate your continued support.

MariaMedia was formed to be a journal of my journey into my new professional life. It has been eight months since the blog launched, and when it started I was cranking out close to 10 blog posts a week! Wow, that was exhausting but therapeutic as I wrote about the things I’m passionate about and the media that matters to me.

One of my passions that brought so much joy into my life these past few years is yoga. MariaMedia started out with weekday daily yoga musings called the Daily Downward Dog that eventually morphed into its own Web site, The Daily Downward Dog. If you haven’t visited the D.D.D., please do. I’m really proud of the way it is turning out and the community of fellow yogis I’ve met and shared with.

In true Maria form I’m taking that passion for yoga one step further, and I have started yoga-teacher training. I want to share my love for yoga and how it has helped me heal my back pain and relieve stress. I’m not kidding myself; I’ll never teach a power yoga class, but I’m going to rock out with yoga for inflexible people who want to grow spiritually and feel amazing.

My yoga-teacher training classes meet one day a week and one weekend a month for the next six months, and I have to tell you I am loving this deep dive (ha ha, I always hated that word when I worked in Corporate America) into the wonderful world of yoga. I’ve always known that yoga is so much more than the physical poses, and it is really cool to start understanding the practice on a deeper level.

I love making up new words, and now I get to learn the meaning of all those Sanskrit words that are so fun to say, like “Sup-Ta Bad-dha Ko-Na-Sana” (Supta Baddha Konasana). I’ve never been good at science, so I have to admit, the yoga anatomy sessions are a bit overwhelming.

So, what does all this mean to you? Well, because I need to dedicate more time to my teacher training, I’m not going to kid myself that I can still keep up the pace of the blog postings I did in the past, and I definitely need to halt production of my Web series No Songs for Men (yeah, the money that used to pay for NSFM production is now paying for my yoga-teacher training tuition). You’ve probably already noticed that the postings have dwindled off a bit, but I promise to keep MariaMedia alive with occasional postings, and someday I’ll finish up the story of the Code Cherry gals when I have the time to keep the episodes cranking out on a regular schedule.

Thanks again for your continued support, and, please, if you are spiritual in any way, send me a little love and encouragement as I go through my yoga-teacher training. This has been a fun journey so far, and I can’t wait to see where my passion for yoga takes me next.

At her eightieth birthday party, Sophie Tucker (a.k.a. The Last of the Red Hot Mamas) was asked to reveal her secret of achieving a long life. She replied: ”Keep breathing.”

Damn, I was hoping she would say it was a few glasses of red wine every day, but nevertheless, Sophie must have been a yogini at heart because she knew understood the power of pranayama*.

Like most people that work at a computer all day, I have very tight neck and shoulder muscles and frequently experience pain in my lower back. I practice yoga to help relieve my back pain, and I recently started directing my pranayama breathing into my lower back and problem areas during yoga class (primarily during savasana). Since I started this breathing practice I’ve noticed a huge difference. My back has never felt better, and the tightness and pain in my shoulders are diminishing.

So I started to think, is this back pain relief all in my head, or is my directed breathing activity really medicinal?

I did a little research on the phenomenon and got really excited when I read that during meditation, if you allow your mind to focus on a particular part of the body, the blood flow to that body part increases, providing an abundance of oxygen and other nutrients into those cells.

So, it wasn’t all in my head. There really is something to this focused breathing, and it is having a positive impact on my well-being. I’ve been flooding my aching back with natural healing ingredients fueled by the gift of my breath. Plus, this deep breathing also leaves me in a calmer state and reduces my stress levels.

Do you have back aches and pains in your body? Try a little meditation with guided breathing and you never know, you may just add a few more years to your life!

Photo: Jonathan Natiuk (Isn’t that a cool picture? According to Jonathan those are real lungs that were plasticized!)

*Pranayama: Broken down into plain English, pranayama means breath control. Breathing comes natural, but we can control our breath with special methods of inhaling and exhaling to gain physical and mental benefits, and to alleviate stress.

“I hope I have convinced you—the only thing that separates successful people from the ones who aren’t is the willingness to work very, very hard.” —Helen Gurley Brown

Happy Monday! Don’t you just love the start of a new workweek? A whole five days to accomplish goals, fill in the blanks, and fulfill some dreams.

I know, you are probably about to gag right now because, let’s face it—Mondays pretty much suck!

So, put a smile on your face, grab some coffee, and get ready for an amazing week. And if that doesn’t do it, let some of the crazy stuff Helen Gurley Brown has done motivate and amuse you this morning.

-          Helen got breast implants five years ago…when she was 73!

-          Her favorite quote is: “Sex is one of the three best things we have, and I don’t know the other two.”

-          Her favorite motto: “Good girls go to heaven; bad girls go everywhere.”

As crazy as Helen may seem, she is not a sex junkie, but rather a work junkie. She loves to work and obviously has worked very hard throughout her life. In her seventies, she is still working out twice a day, doesn’t drink or smoke, and has been a faithful wife to her husband of 35 years. She is a self-made woman whom Gloria Steinem called a feminist “pioneer.” When she got the pink slip from Cosmopolitan magazine in 1996, she didn’t go off into retirement; instead, she became editor of their international editions and has made them all profitable.

You may not like some of the messages that Helen conveyed through Cosmopolitan magazine over the years, but she is a gutsy lady with a ton of charisma and swagger, and I think she is a woman who rocks!

Here are a few links to Helen’s works:

Her memoir, I’m Wild Again

The book that started it all, the cult classic, Sex and the Single Girl

Coffee Cup Image: Alessandro Paiva

“When it’s being used as an insult, bitch is an epithet hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and do not shy away from expressing them, and who do not sit by and smile uncomfortably if they are bothered or offended. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we will take that as a compliment, thanks.” –Bitch Magazine

Wow, I never knew there was a Bitch magazine. But there is and it’s pretty damn cool. It has been around for 12 years, with the goal of pointing out the insidious, everyday sexism that is so rampant in our pop culture and providing alternatives that celebrate prowoman and profeminism pop products. Actually, Bitch is more than a magazine; it has morphed into BitchMedia and has a Web site/blog full of really smart articles, podcasts, videos, and, if you live in the Portland, Oregon, area, a library stocked full of books for women.

If you ever want to call me a b#@!% for being outspoken, bring it on; I’ll always take it as a compliment! Embrace your inner beeyotch today and check out BitchMedia.

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“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.” –Eleanor Roosevelt

“Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.”

–Marion C. Garretty

“There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.”

–Jill Churchill

My new great-niece was born last week, and I am so excited to have another woman in my family! The Currier clan is a little heavy on the guy side, so it is wonderful to welcome another lady into the fold. Now we have another reason to buy pretty pink shoes, play with Barbies, and host tea parties.

Photo: Amanda Mafioletti

Sending lots of love (and a few inspirational quotes) to Max, Rachael, and Fiona. Please keep me in mind for babysitting and I can’t wait for my first pop-a-party night with Fiona.

Illustration by Gabriella Fabbri

“…and I have learned that to have a good friend is the purest of all God’s gifts, for it is a love that has no exchange of payment. It is not inherited, as with a family. It is not compelling, as with a child. And it has no means of physical pleasure, as with a mate. It is, therefore, an indescribable bond that brings with it a far deeper devotion than all the others.” —Frances Farmer

Frances Farmer wrote this passage in Will There Really Be a Morning? about her friend Jean Ratcliffe.

I just wanted to share this wonderful quote about the power of female friendship. I’m grateful to have amazing women friends (you know who you are).

“Life gets better after thirty. Then it gets fantastically beautiful. Guilt gets lost in time. I always thought it was my American mother who transmitted guilt to me; one reason I adored my husband’s family is that they have this great feeling that life is there to be enjoyed, not just as an axis of duty and of expiation. But, after thirty, the guilt begins to go.” —Marella Agnelli

Marella Agnelli is an Italian-American socialite who wrote this in Vogue magazine in 1977, at the age of 49. I have to agree with her that life does get better after 30, and for me it just seems to get better and better every year. I’d love to hear what she has to say about life today, at the age of 82!

I love the fact that she blamed the guilt she felt during her early years on her American mother and embraced her Italian side of the family for its joy of living.

I’ve always said guilt is a wasted emotion, so let’s lose the guilt and get on with our beautiful lives!

Marella is a style icon (she made the International Best Dressed List and is in their Hall of Fame) and was married to Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli until his death. She also had a career that included editing and photo contribution to Vogue magazine, assisting photographer Erwin Blumenthal in New York, developing a line of textiles, and she has published several books on gardening.

Here’s a few classic black and white photos of Marella if you are curious about this fashion icon.

Women Who Rock at MariaMedia—serving up fun, attitude, and brilliance courtesy of amazing woman!  Check out the Women Rock category at the Cool Stuff Shoppe for great books, DVDs and merchandise from these great women. Thank you for clicking on the ads every time you visit to help pay for this site!

“First when there’s nothing

But a slow-glowing dream

That your fear seems to hide

Deep inside your mind…”

Lyrics from “What a Feeling,” by Irene Cara

In Episode 6 of No Songs for Men, we pick up with Roxanne feeling her fears deep down inside as she dreams of auditioning for the all girl alternative rock band Code Cherry. Come along for the boat ride as Steve and Roxanne join the party in Put-in-Bay and Roxanne gets another chance to meet the Code Cherry girls before her big audition.

Will she let her stage fright get the best of her? Will she employ the yoga breathing techniques that Amanda teaches her? Does Steve still think she’s a hooker? You’ll just have to read Episode 6 and find out!

A Note from Maria

I know, I know, it has been way too long since the last episode, and if any of you out there are still reading the Web series, I just want to say…THANK YOU for your patience and continuing support!

It has been a crazy few months at MariaMedia, with the launch of The Daily Downward Dog and many freelance assignments that have kept me from dedicating time to writing No Songs for Men.

If you are enjoying No Songs for Men, I’d really like to hear from you, because your encouragement helps bring the Code Cherry girls to life and lights a fire under my ass to keep the series coming. Seriously, I need to hear from you if you want to keep these episodes coming!

“Rocking in the Free World”

Putting these episodes together is a labor of love, and we’d like to keep them coming for free. If you want to keep “Rocking in the Free World,” a small donation would be greatly appreciated and will help keep the illustrated picture book episodes coming. Help us Rock On! with a donation, and, don’t worry, no amount is too small. Every dollar spent will go toward production of No Songs for Men!

Want to help but can’t make a donation? You can do your part by spreading the word or telling a friend about No Songs for Men or checking out one of our awesome advertisers.

“An unbelievably large part of happiness/unhappiness is determined by semantics; e.g., the couple who used to be childless is now ‘child-free.’ A nudist colony (tacky) is now a ‘clothes-free resort’ (not quite so tacky). So…you are not dateless, you are date-free. Bald is dandruff immune. In starvation circumstances fatsos are better equipped than skinnies. Having the flu means you get to say in bed and lose weight. Having a cold means you get to stay in bed and eat. Splitting up with a suitor means you have more time for your friends. Being fired means having a chance to discover what you really want to do. Being robbed will free you from being attached to possessions—a significant karmic benefit.” —Mary Cantwell and Amy Gross, from a 1973 Mademoiselle section on happiness

I like this semantic happiness philosophy! So, let’s see, today…

I am not inflexible; I am gaining flexibility through yoga.

I am not disorganized; I am an order-free individual (I like that one—sounds very liberating).

I’m not having a bad day; I’m having a kick-myself-in-the-ass-for-thinking-I’m-having-a-bad-day-and–just-being-happy-that-I’m-alive-and-kicking kind of day.

I am not getting old; I’m becoming more of what I am already (a magnificent middle-aged mama).

So, what can you turn around today with the use of happiness semantics?

Photo: Dani Simmonds

Check out the Women Rock category at the Cool Stuff Shoppe for great books, DVDs and merchandise from Women Who Rock. Thank you for clicking on the ads when you visit to help fund this site!

Trudie Styler is a lucky lady! Not only is she married to one of the hottest rock musicians, she looks fabulous in her mid-fifties, lives in this incredible villa in Tuscany, and gets to practice yoga with her husband, Sting! She also happens to be a pretty cool lady who is an organic farmer, does a lot of great work as a human rights activist, and promotes green practices.

I’ve always wanted to do celebrity yoga, so I couldn’t resist picking up her Warrior Yoga DVD. I plopped in this DVD about a week ago while my sister was visiting, and we both jumped on our yoga mats to enjoy a yoga workout and a little voyeuristic journey into Trudie Stylers’s yoga world. We both were also holding out hope that we would get to see a few shots of the tantra-tastic Sting as part of the package and we weren’t disappointed.

Yoga Workouts

The yoga workouts on the DVD consist of one 45-minute yoga workout with Trudie Styler and her fitness guru, James D’Silva, and a shortened 25-minute express version. The two go through an organic flow of yoga postures, with James’s calling the shots and providing wonderful verbal clues with his incredibly calming voice. The video was shot at Trudie and Sting’s beautiful, ecofriendly Tuscan villa, II Palagio, with the rich acoustic guitar sounds of Sting playing “Fields of Gold” and other music from his Songs from the Labyrinth CD in the background.

My first impression was that I really liked the flow that James put together. It was different than anything I’ve done before because he takes you through a long sequence of poses on one side before moving to the other side. I recommend you watch the video first before trying it, as there were a few poses I’d never experienced, and his version of mountain is different than what we practice here at my villa in Ohio. There are a few challenging areas in the flow, and I wish that James had provided some variations to the poses for people who are new to yoga (and for inflexible people like me).

One variation that James brought to the table was brining the hands down from above to your head, to your lips, and to your heart and then moving the hands out forward in an offering. The flow seemed more meaningful as my hands grazed past my head and lips and I felt my heart press out of my chest.

My sister and I were amazed that neither Trudie nor James broke out in a sweat during the workout. It must have been cold that day in Tuscany, because the two of us were sweating like crazy. This is a total-body-strengthening yoga practice, with plenty of time spent holding positions, so you will be challenged.

The express is a condensed version of the 45-minute workout—perfect for a quick yoga fix—and it will make you break a sweat. I’m going to use this in the morning when I only have a few minutes to get my back stretched and my body moving.

The only real issue I have with this DVD is that the workout did not include a savasana session, but I do have an insider’s tip for you. After you finish the workout, go ahead and lie down in savasana. The DVD will move to the menu page, and Sting is singing a mellow version of “Message in a Bottle” in the background. It made the perfect soothing accompaniment to my own self-guided savasana.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Guided Meditation with Trudie

When we did the DVD and saw that it featured a meditation session with Trudie Styler, my sister and I both got excited about the opportunity to om with Trudie. Imagine our disappointment when the meditation session was Trudie sitting in a field of lavender, with James’ voice leading us through the meditation. Well, actually—no offense to James—it was really nice.

A few days later I checked out James’ meditation sequence and was delighted to find that Trudie was offering up the guided journey as he sat in the field of lavender. In her lovely English accent, she had me breathing in rays of sunlight and breathing out into the depths of the ocean. It was an incredible meditative journey, and, Trudie, thank you. I did find my inner peace! I’ll be going to this DVD often for my daily meditation—shanti.

But Wait, There’s More!

The bonus tracks on this DVD are really cool. There is an interview with Trudie, James, and also one from Sting. The interviews give you a nice peek into the making of the videos and Trudie and Sting’s core beliefs about exercise, living a healthy lifestyle, and their involvement with the Rainforest Foundation and the UNICEF Ecuador Water Project (a portion of sales from this DVD go to this organization).

I love what Trudie has to say about giving yourself the gift of exercise. “We’re given one body in this life. It’s our precious vehicle, it needs maintenance, and it needs to be empowered.”

You also get a glimpse into the making of Sting’s album If on a Winter’s Night. In a couple of the interview shots, Sting has a beard, which I didn’t care for (looks a little too Grizzly Adams for me), but don’t worry, there are also shots of the clean-shaven Sting we all love, and the CD sounds pretty amazing too.

The DVD does a good job of selling the other workout DVDs that Trudie and James did together. I’m especially curious about the Sculpt & Tone Ballet DVD, as I’d really like to visit the inner ballerina in me, and the Cardio Dance Flow and Pilates workouts look like a lot of fun. James is a classically trained dancer from the Royal Ballet, so I’m thinking the dance elements have got to be good.

I highly recommend Trudie Styler’s Warrior Yoga DVD. It left my sister and me feeling invigorated, centered, and fully present as we got the added bonus of hanging out with Trudie and Sting for the afternoon.