Suza Francina

suza

Profile

Yoga Teacher, Author, Animal Advocate Suza Francina was born in 1949 in The Hague, Holland, and is of Dutch-Indonesian heritage. A yoga teacher since 1972, she is the author of four bestsellers on yoga for people at midlife and older: Yoga for People Over 50 (Devin Adair, 1977); The New Yoga for People Over 50: A Comprehensive Guide for People at Midlife and Older (Health Communications, Inc., 1997); Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause: A Guide to Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Health at Midlife and Beyond (HCI, 2003); and The New Yoga for Healthy Aging: Living Longer, Living Stronger, and Loving Every Day (HCI 2007). She is a contributing author for many other books. Suza is a contributor to Yoga Journal, LA Yoga, Yoga Vidya, and other yoga magazines. Her articles on a wide range of topics appear in print publications and web sites world wide.  She  is one of 45 storytellers in  Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything by Phil Bolsta ( April, 2008). Suza's new book, Fishing on Facebook: A Writing Yoga Memoir, will be released in March, 2012. Fishing on Facebook is the first in a planned series of "writing yoga" memoirs. Suza lives in Ojai, California, where she is a former mayor and long-time community activist. She considers her social and ecological activism to be an essential part of her daily-life yoga practice. The mother of a grown son and daughter, she is a passionate animal advocate whose family also includes several dogs and cats. www.suzafrancina.com www.Suzaji.com (Suza's Writing Yoga Memoirs Blog)

Posts

Ojai WordFest: Journal Writing and Yoga Workshop

by Suza Francina April 4, 2013

Ojai’s 2013 Literary Festival is here!  April 6-13.  A Celebration of Words, Ideas, and Stories in the Majestic Ojai Valley.

Over 100 events! For the full schedule click here

I’m looking forward to sharing my insights about journal writing as a path to self awareness and memoir writing.

“What’s writing really about?…

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The promise of rain hangs over the Ojai Valley

by Suza Francina March 31, 2013

The promise of rain hangs over the valley. The purple lupine looks so happy on this cool, hazy, cloudy Easter morning. It would be sacrilegious not to honor the goddess Eostre by skipping out in nature. Honey is already so wild with excitement I can hardly leash her. So, to…

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Spring Equinox Giveaway: Fishing on Facebook: A Writing Yoga Memoir (Kindle edition)

by Suza Francina March 20, 2013

“You own everything that happened to you.
Tell your stories.
If people wanted you to write warmly about them
they should have behaved better.”
—Anne Lamott

Spring Equinox Giveaway! For those who missed it the last time, the Kindle edition of Fishing on Facebook: A Writing Yoga Memoir is free for five days: Wednesday, March 20,…

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“Angel Baby” now playing at the Ojai (O-Hi) Frostie

by Suza Francina March 17, 2013

Try as I might to live in the present, whenever I ride past the Nordhoff campus and see those classrooms where I once sat trapped behind a desk, I still have flashbacks to the adolescent days of this dream of life. This really hit home yesterday when I got off…

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“If you think you’ve changed, go visit your parents”

by Suza Francina March 10, 2013

Last night I felt the edge of solitude turn into Saturday night loneliness. The room that looks so bright and inviting when the sunlight pours in looked dim and dismal. The motivation to write seemed sucked out of me. I decided I needed human company and a change of scenery,…

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The Road to Singledom

by Suza Francina February 14, 2013

Last night, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I made a list of all the men in my life, going all the way back to my first boyfriend at age 15, the Catholic one up the street who set me on fire. That fire was promptly extinguished when my fanatical Pentecostal…

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The School of Life (in Ojai)

by Suza Francina January 29, 2013

If this is the School of Life, and if we’re here on Earth to learn, and if every person we meet is our teacher, then what did I learn today from the people I encountered?

The day began with a phone call from a yoga student who lost a dog to…

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I Trust Our Local Voices, Not Golden State Water Company

by Suza Francina January 25, 2013

Guest editorial by Sonia Nordenson

I’ve just read a press release from the San Lorenzo Valley Water District about a retirement party for Fred McPherson, who happens to be the brother of Ojai FLOW’s Pat McPherson. The announcement credits Fred for his participation on the Board of the San Lorenzo Valley…

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Say “No” to Three Story Development in Ojai

by Suza Francina January 18, 2013

From former mayor and current Councilwoman Betsy Clapp to the citizens of Ojai

From: Betsy Clapp [mailto:peloha1@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 2:40 PM
Subject: Three Story Development

IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!
Before you know it, it’s gone. And then it’s too late. No more
view of the mountains. No more open feeling as you walk
through town. No more…

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Ojai Bike Trail Pesticide Update – Some Hopeful Progress

by Suza Francina January 18, 2013

The email correspondence below is a follow-up to the Letter from Cynthia Grier of EcoLogic Life sent to the County of Ventura.  (OjaiPost ,  Time to End Toxic Herbicides on the Ojai Bike Trail.)

Theresa Lubin from the Ventura County Parks Department has agreed to research grant funding to provide…

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