Woman of Inspiration Day 13: Barbara Eden

Yes, you know her as the beloved Jeannie. There is just something about that darmic smile. It's authentic, it's sincere.... it's truely happy. Go digging around in Hollywood gossip all you want but listen to your soul and you'll remember some piece of your dream in life that was able to flourish because of watching "I dream of Jeannie". Her smile was so brilliantely captivating, even my 6 year old boy gets sucked into the reruns. She's not only charmingly innocently feminist in her role as Jeannie but the unaltered bliss of dreaming big and believing in what you want rings through every episode. Of course, we could all use a little magic wink.

Barbara Eden has captivated generations for 50 years with her smile that shines deep from her soul. From early on in my life fake smiles infuriated me. I am a big believer in sharing your smile because one smile brightens another contagiously, but if it's not authentic and sincere, it acts like a double edged sword. Today as a Yoga teacher, I feel the essence of that authentic smile grow through my practice. It's all about finding the happiness in life even through the struggle, not masking it with a fake grin. Reflecting back on how Jeannie inspired me to dream big, I realize she was my first exposure to the yogi culture. The thing about it is that it wasn't the practice of moving through asana, but rather the effects of yoga shining through into her actions. So much emphasis today in Yoga is on getting into the most challenging postures and showing off ones practice. The true purpose of Yoga though is a moving meditation that connects and strengths our minds connection to the body and spirit so that we can live our lives authentic to our true selves and shine brightly into the world living in action the change that we want to see in the world. THAT is how Barbara Eden had the greatest effect, by sharing her darmic smile with the world lighting a spark for each of us to dream big and believe in being happy.

Each day, this month I am sharing a story of a woman that has inspired me to stick to my passion of inspiring women by bike. I am dedicating the newest version of the Bloomers, the Wonder Bloomers to each of these women as their purpose is to be that little extra to support you feeling authentic to your true self when you ride a bike. So many bike outfits are designed to make us belong to a team. That's great, go ride with the girls in your matching kits, but then later in the day, or week, throw on your Bloomers under your regular old street clothes and pedal to get somewhere. With 2000 pairs pedaling around the world the Thank You that I hear the most is, "The Bloomers inspire me to jump on my bike just because. They are that extra little motivation to leave the car in the driveway".