Greetings from your friendly neighborhood yoga studio owner at Imbue Yoga.  I’m thrilled to offer up some yogic insights in this monthly column,  intending to inspire you to take a deep breath and calm the distractions of your monkey mind (not that you’re a monkey,  but sometimes our thoughts feel like a jungle!)

If you have a question about yoga, I’ll do my best to answer to my highest ability.  Email questions to [email protected] and perhaps your question will be answered here!

Question:  I’m feeling overwhelmed by life and the holiday season bogs me down.  Is there any yoga practice that can lighten the mood? 

Answer: You are very much not alone in feeling down around the holidays.  Whether it’s time with family or not spending time with family,  financial woes,  time crunching, the bombardment of ads and of course the dark & cold weather - all of these things can be challenging to our mood.

How can yoga help?  Yoga means “to yoke” or “unite;” uniting your body,  mind + spirit or connecting with whatever the divine is to you.  Simply by connecting with our breath we are practicing yoga as we are “uniting” our body and mind with awareness. Practicing yoga doesn’t mean you have to put your leg behind your head — or even stand on your head for that matter — a simple act of conscious breathing can bring us into the moment and slow us down. 

It started with relationships, neighbors meeting in each other’s kitchens, sharing food and stories of what it was like to live with mold that triggers a baby’s asthma. They talked about the leaky windows that require the whole family to bundle up even as the energy bills get higher and higher. No one could fathom having to put up with pests, rodents, cockroaches and bedbugs the way they had.

When the community moved from kitchen table meetings to meeting with elected officials, demanding full rental license inspections and bravely calling for the attention of the owners of the property asking for improvements, many knew that they were risking retaliation, as the residents became tenant organizers in their own right, inspiring action and support from policy makers, nonprofit advocacy organizations, and ultimately a top law firm.

Due to the court's ruling in favor of the tenants in the case of the 14th Ave Building, regulatory services made the decision to begin withdrawing licenses in all 62 Apartment Shop buildings. After waiting for the response of Mr. Steve Frenz to make the repairs in the buildings in the period that the law dictates and not receiving a response, regulatory services began the process of withdrawal, or revocation, of licenses in the middle of November.

Since this process is usually confusing for tenants, the City of Minneapolis sent a letter to all tenants of Apartment Shop explaining more about the process and letting them know that this is not a moment of panic due to the process taking 18 months or more. The City of Minneapolis has also convened 2 meetings to answer questions about the process. 

On Tuesday, November 1, the life of beloved Corcoran resident Paul 'smiley' Knobbe (53) was cut short when he was shot twice
by a masked man attempting to rob him after he left his job cleaning for Winner Gas Station at 34th & Cedar.  Paul's fiancé Denise recalls that Paul laughed at the robber and said, "I don't have any money." Apparently Evil did not find that funny.

On Thursday, November 3, over sixty neighbors gathered by candlelight outside Hayford Auto, across the street from Winner Gas, to remember Paul and express solidarity.  "We will not tolerate this in Corcoran.  Whoever did this needs to know that we are a vigilant community and you will be caught.  We love and respect each other.  We've got each others' backs," said Rae Jones, a former community organizer, who orchestrated the vigil.  It was revealed that multiple men had rushed out of their homes to come to Paul's aid as the shots were being fired, and were able to see the masked man get into his car -- a testimony shared with investigators.  "Most people recoil at the sound of gun shots, but our neighbors came out to confront it," Rae said proudly.  She confessed that she had considered moving, but changed her mind when she saw the turnout at the vigil.  "We are deeply saddened, but we are not afraid.  We are community."

Reading anything good? Are you needing to get ready of some of your books? Do you need some new books?  

Book Donations Needed

Corcoran's Book and Bake Sale is coming up in February! Corcoran Neighborhood Organization (CNO) is starting to collect book donations at their office during office hours of 9am-4pm Monday-Thursday (CNO, 3451 Cedar Avenue South). Donations can also be dropped off at Corcoran Park (3334 20th Avenue South) between the hours of 3-9pm Monday-Thursday and 3-6pm on Friday. NOTE: CNO will be closed from December 24th-January 2nd. 

Save the Date: Book and Bake Sale on February 4th

Come enjoy yummy treats (cookies, muffins, caramel rolls, and hot coffee while browsing for new to you books. The sale will be held at Corcoran Neighborhood Organization Office, 3451 Cedar Avenue South. Questions: Contact Heidi Johnson McAllister, [email protected], 612-724-7457. 

When I first moved to Corcoran eight years ago, my husband and I were on the verge of starting our family and were looking for a great place to raise our children. We had both lived in Minneapolis for a number of years already, but Corcoran was different. Our neighbors immediately welcomed us and made us feel at home. Two of our neighbors were board members at CNO and introduced us to the work that CNO does to improve our neighborhood. As we settled in and our family grew, I decided to get involved in CNO to see how I could contribute to that work.

 I quickly learned about the broad reach and variety of topics that CNO covered, from operating our Midtown Farmers Market, to starting community gardens, to influencing new building in our community, to offering programs to help residents improve the energy efficiency of their homes. All of these make our community a great place to live. Over the last five years, we have continued that work (and gotten better!). 

Holiday shopping is upon us and wouldn’t it be great if we could get all of our shopping done right in our little neck of the woods?! You can cross people off of your “nice” list, all while supporting local businesses and artisans and I have a couple recommendations for you!

Are you looking for an inexpensive little gift for that “hard to buy for person”, the jewelry lover or even the gentleman in your life (I know you don’t want to keep buying him socks)? Then you should certainly check out Flamingo’s Divine Finds at 3404 Cedar Ave. They are an occasional shop filled to the brim with unique little gifts, jewelry, small furniture and fabulous little trinkets. There is something for everyone here in this little shop of wonders. Please check them out on Facebook or at www.flamingosdivinefinds.com to find out when they will be open in the next months. They will be open for their “Pink Sale” which takes place on November 25th, 26th, and 27th .

How did all this begin and where is it going? Here are some of the major highlights and accomplishments in this community-driven effort.

2014

Urban guru Gil Penalosa is invited to Hi-Lake to start a conversation with the community on making the intersection more humane. (Ironically Penalosa waits more than 6 minutes for a walk signal to cross Lake Street.)

Community members brainstorm ideas for improvement and media covers the event. According to a street sign, the entire entourage of 20+ is trespassing under the bridge.

2015

Momentum starts building when East Lake is selected as an Open Streets location.

Corcoran, Sierra Club, Longfellow and others organize around a puppet show as an engagement tool to canvass public support at Open Streets. A slogan emerges: Humanize Hi-Lake, and a Facebook page solicits ideas online.

A hungry public shares their voice: More than 500 people offer ideas and sign postcards demanding change. The roving puppet show spreads the Hi-Lake gospel at National Night Out.

(Local media coverage continues and the slogan doubles as a Star Tribune headline: How to Humanize a Busy Intersection?

Traction! An $80,000 engineering study, sponsored by Ward 9 Council Member Alondra Cano and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin gets started.

The lights under the bridge are turned on!

you sing me of moon's

reflection on ocean waves,

horses running wild,

an eagle's flight

and freedom's night

sing me of raven skies,

& stars soft like flowers in your velvet eyes.

veil wings of butterfly blend

tangerine moons,

lavender sunsets,

wrapped in clouds' opaque surprise

love

hope

&

laughter

lemon sun rises upon our fresh cheeks

as radiant gleams

birth gentle sighs & smiles,

meek

Hello! This month I will be doing a follow-up report on my previous article, “Transportation Options in Corcoran Neighborhood.”

As many of you may have noticed, new and improved bus signs have been popping up around the city. They can even be found in our own neighborhood. Wendy Adams, a member of our community, even helped design them. In this article, I will be highlighting some of the features the new bus stop signs include.

Starting at the top of the new signs, you can find the route number. This is the route that will serve the bus stop. If you find multiple numbers at the top of the sign, multiple route numbers serve that bus stop. This already is an improvement over the old bus signs, which had no information of that nature at all.