My Readers Kick Asana: What I Learned from YOU.

Wow, I had SUCH a blast reading through all of your responses to my survey--I mean, SUCH a blast. I was touched, I laughed out loud, I smiled; Reading your input was a TOTAL #SJOTW (one of the best!). Thank you to all of you who took the time to write out such amazing responses and ideas.

Before we jump into what came up during the survey, let me say a big congrats to Zoe P., who was the winner of the giveaway! Zoe, look for an email with all the deets on how to collect your prizes in your inbox :) Yay! 

For those of you who did not win the giveaway, you still have a chance at winning a Jade mat by heading on over to their facebook page and clicking "like." Once you do so, you'll be prompted to enter your email address and thus, will be entered in a special mat giveaway for Starr Struck readers. Woohoo! I heart my Jade mats. 

Now, lets get to the juicy part: All of your feedback! I know that I always love hearing the results of the surveys that I take, so wanted to share a little bit of what I learned from YOU today...

Your answers to this question were really encouraging to me. I was glad to see that so many of you are interested in the topics that I've started writing about more frequently lately (work-life balance, relaxation/slowing down, mindfulness), and will be sure to continue doing so. {Also, the fact that so many of you love yoga-related posts made me very happy.}

A little sampling of what you want to see more of on Starr Struck:

• More recommendations: Products, books, music. 
• More yoga discussions! You had some great ideas/requests, for instance: How to approach poses that you don't like, how to stop comparing yourself to others on the mat, home practice how-tos and information, meditation practice information, and more. 
• Yoga and Body Image discussion (you want to hear more about what I learned from my thesis on this topic).
• My husband, Ben! A few of you mentioned wanting him to do another guest post--so sweet  of you and I'm sure this will make his day ;)
• More of my daily life:  Show a "day in the life" via video, talk more about the life of an artist, show my art/creation process more often. 
• More on mindfulness.
• More honesty about my struggle to find balance/my experience with this topic (this is a BIG one!).
• Music: Start a music column, make my song picks easier to download (hmmm...). 
• More healthy lifestyle tips, healthy eating tips, and recipes. 
• Creativity: How do you live a creative lifestyle if you’re not “creative”?

These suggestions/requests are extremely valuable, and I hope to answer many of your questions and tackle lots of these topics in upcoming posts!

*Although I loved all of the ideas, I'm only going to embrace the ones that resonate with me, so that I'm staying true to what I know and can speak knowledgeably about (i.e. Since my cooking skills are lacking--er, nonexistent--I probably won't be posting any in-depth recipe suggestions or cooking how-tos any time soon, but may share a quick and easy salad "recipe" every once in a while ;)*

This was not surprising to me, as many of you have told me how much you like SJOTW :) I'm so glad to hear it and am also happy to see that you're enjoying my two newest columns, The Roundup and Mat Matters. Obviously this means that they'll stick around!

When it came to my question about music + yoga, there were so many great recommendations/favorites that I'm going to have to make that a separate post. Look for some really fun yoga music ideas, courtesy of your fellow readers, coming soon!

Oh, and also, I was excited to learn that you guys are from ALL over! Sure, a lot of my readers are from the DC/VA/MD area, but I was also excited to find out that I have regular readers in Australia, Canada, Sweden, Alaska, Spain, and Italy. Thanks to all who are for reading from afar!

So there you have it--a snapshot of what my readers are like. One last time--thank you for your heartfelt comments about why you read this blog, for sharing information about your life (you guys have some really interesting/amazing jobs!), and for being a part of the Starr Struck community. You guys are the best. 

Happy July, happy Monday, and happy new week! May it be a wonderful one full of simple, sensory joys and lots o' inspiration.