“The romance of Paris, Italian cooking, Scandinavian fjords, ev’ry nightclub in Berlin… ; The music of Vienna, and the beer, oh the beer of Prague!”
Jon Bon Jovi

Without video material of concerts that were played today, and already three hours in researching this post, and writing too much, all paragraphs that I have no idea how to share with you without having you fall asleep (all about a very mixed bag of emotions about this daily blog  which has already taken over my life);
With all of that, I have picked this post to be the place to share the video above, in support Bon Jovi’s 1995 Cross Road/ These Days tour.

From this day, June 15, we only have one pre-1997 concert recording, a 1996 audio from Hannover 1996. I will share it later.
But first I want to provide some context, of why the 1995 tour, together with its 1996 encore, will very often be the focus of this series.
For two reasons.
1. It was an extensive tour.
In a way it already started in 1994 with the Cross Road album and 1994’s experimental December concerts, and lasted all the way to Japan and European victory laps in 1996.
2. It was relatively well documented, many concerts of this tour are available on YouTube.

The video above, about the 1995 leg of the European tour, contains a difficult to locate scene of Jon walking a beach, where he dreams about Europe;
Fragments from an interview with Jon and Richie, where Jon seems to be directly addressing the things he said in the beach video;
And it has several scenes from a stadium show in Bremen. 

The video is worth a watch, in particular if you re from Europe.

But what I want to write about, what I want you to focus on for this post,
– now that I suddenly and quite magically hear ALL the pieces of this now four hour blogging puzzle clicking together in my head! – 
the thing I want you to focus on is the montage of Jon dreaming about Europe, cut in with scenes of screaming fans, packed shows, Jon being carried over the crowd and other scenes of a rock star life!
I want you to focus on that first minute, of the video.
And remember it for later, when I will bring the story home.

So. June 15th! What do we got? 
What pre-1997 Bon Jovi concerts were played on June 15?

opening for The Scorpions:
15 June 1984 Glens Falls, New York, Glen Falls Civic Center

off the grid concerts in a three week break in the Fahrenheit Tour:
15 June 1985 Rochester, New York, Harro East Ballroom

Slippery When Wet Tour:
15 June 1987 Denver, Colorado, McNichols Sports Arena (second night)

Cross Road/ These Days Tour:
15 June 1995 Lisbon, Portugal, Estádio José Alvalade  
and one year later:
15 June 1996 Hannover, Germany, Niedersachsenstadion
-> available as audio on YouTube, with context in description box:
Bon Jovi | Live at Niedersachsenstadion | Hannover 1996

Like I said, the only recorded 15 June concert is the 1996 Hannover one, but what.a.show!
Bon Jovi could have retired on the 16th of June 1996 and we would still be talking about them and their final show in Hannover!

If you read the description box of
Bon Jovi | Live at Niedersachsenstadion | Hannover 1996  you can see the Hannover setlist has 3 encores (!) and the note:
“The band’s performance is great though, as usual for that period though Jon’s voice gets a little shaky in the first chorus of Always! :)”
If you are anything like me, you then immediately click the timestamp at Always to listen, to check it out.
And then you start playing around with thoughts about the meaning of life through the lens of rock n roll, and 90s Bon Jovi concerts (but maybe you are not that much like me 😉 ) .
The same shaking of the voice happens at other points in Always, and I appreciate it for its rawness, its realness, and the emotion they bring to it.

I suggest we put that Hannover 1996 recording somewhere we visit it often, and listen to it for the rest of our lives. 

So far for now, about the concert side of it.
Because originally I started this post not with the Europe tour video, nor with listening to Always, and instead tried to evaluate my almost one week of writing this blog instead.

The mixed bag of “Oh my God! The blog has taken over my life!” and “This is not sustainable”; To the panicky: “I STILL have not made videos about yoga for my YouTube channels!”, and the final redemption of:
“This was The Way and this blog has already brought me more than I could possibly imagine.”
Unlike Bon Jovi I can’t retire on the 16th of June, feeling my work is done! But I sure as hell feel on track and on purpose.

In the MTV European tour video, Jon Bon Jovi described their European fans as intense.
After that previous paragraph, I realize he was not lying 😉

This new daily concert series, has proven to be an incredible gift as well as a curse.

Gift: Because I ve finally found a way to shape, teach and DO yoga in a way that inspires me AND OTHER BON JOVI FANS! In particular once I do get around to creating videos for my channels, teaching this Daily Bon Jovi Yoga system.
But I ve already created a new page/ tab on this blog:
https://dailybonjoviyoga.com/practice-materials-and-schedules/
So, less than a week! And after years of trial and a lot of error, I can finally inspire myself and other Bon Jovi fans to really rock their yoga.

And I also get up every day knowing I ll be diving into all 80s and 90s of Bon Jovi concerts of the day, and write about it! 
But if you ask me: “Suzanne, are you not worried about the number of hours this is costing?”
I would answer: “I am. No idea how to keep this up.”

My summer is dedicated to setting up my work as a content creator;
            Rock Star
Yoga/ Business/ Writer
But with this daily blogging about concerts costing all of my time; And not having gotten back on the wagon making YouTube videos for …. months?
I have mixed feelings about this.

A few months ago, I decided to never teach yoga real life anymore, and a few weeks ago I complemented that with withdrawing from making yoga videos.
Because to be bluntly honest here;
It was always the yoga videos that got the ass stares, and that made me aware that if I wanted to inspire people to create their own yoga, and really rock their own practice, being visible on screen doing yoga, had probable KEPT THAT from happening.

So even though I felt guilty for not having picked up filming, I understood that now I had thrown out teaching yoga, when my calling had always been inspiring yoga (which is an entirely different thing!), I would need time to adjust.
I needed to get a vision if inspiring yoga was not done by teaching it;
Then how was it done?

I understood this would require time and that it made sense filming had not started. But I have also read all the wisdom about “just starting” and “done is better than perfect”. 
Which explains why I still felt guilty, and was unsure if me not touching my YouTube channels for months, would ever lead to more clarity, and to coming back stronger.

Until this series, this daily, time-consuming, life-over-taking series on this blog,  starting with a Bon Jovi concert and then writing about yoga;
Until this series brought just that clarity that changes everything.

It saved me.

On Monday 13 June, exactly three years after the Bon Jovi concert I attended, which I considered the day I got the SPARK, for “Rock Star Yoga”, here on this blog I came up with the blueprint, the outline, for doing Bon Jovi yoga.

[text continues under schedule. Skipping allowed!]

#dailybonjoviyoga 

A touring schedule! To rock your practice:

Monday: Find What Feels Good
Your juicy Pink Flamingo/ Let it Rock combo is out there for you. You just have to go out and find it!
guided: Yoga with Adriene
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Find what feels good on your own with Slippery When Wet album
or a Slippery When Wet Tour concert (July 1986 – October 1987)

Tuesday, showtime! New Jersey Syndicate Tour
The monster tour, that nearly broke the band and each of its members.
And turned them into legends.
guided: Ashtanga yoga playlist
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with New Jersey
or a New Jersey Syndicate Tour concert (October 1988 – February 1990, + Dec 1990, January 1991)

Wednesday: Santa Fe Day
Go out in the wilderness and start with a clean slate.
guided: the yoga playlist
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Some sort of flexibility/ relaxing practice with Blaze of Glory (45 minutes)

Thursday, showtime! Keep the Faith/ I ll Sleep When I m Dead Tour
According to many fans the tour with the most epic-beyond-belief concerts, including what is known as “The Holy Month of April”! (1993)
guided: Shiva Rea playlist,
or her 1999 album Yoga Sanctuary
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with Keep the Faith 
or a full concert (October 1992 – December 1993)

Friday: An Evening With Bon Jovi
Time to unwind with friends.
guided:  Tara Stiles videos from her playlist
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Hatha yoga with a few songs from Cross Road
or dive Keep the Faith: An Evening With Bon Jovi 

Saturday: Showtime! Cross Road/ These Days Tour
Time to bring it home and ROCK THE HOUSE!!!
guided:  Meghan Curry Playlist
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with These Days (1h)
or concert Cross Road/ These Days Tour (April 1995 – July 1996)

Sunday: Vintage Yoga,
Time to go back to how it all started.
guided: Playlist Vintage Yoga Videos + tv 
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
hatha yoga poses with Bon Jovi- Bon Jovi (1984) or Fahrenheit (1985)
or with their first concerts 1983, 1984, 1985

source:
https://dailybonjoviyoga.com/practice-materials-and-schedules/

So in the few days I have been doing this blog series – WHINING and worrying about how to keep doing this and that it’s not sustainable! –
I did crack a three year old riddle, of “What is Rock Star Yoga? What is the yoga that is mine to teach?”
That, that schedule with its weekdays and yoga practices modeled after a touring schedule;
THAT is mine to teach.

I finally have a structure to teach everything I wanted to teach but didn’t know how.

And I may even reverse my decision to not physically, visibly, teach instructional yoga videos!
That month old decision, may be reversed because by now I know the HOW and a WHY, of what it is I m doing.

I am able to see where I can create unique material, unique yoga videos, that are part of Daily Bon Jovi Yoga/ Rock Star Yoga.
And not just a lesser version of the videos I recorded 2015-2016, and that are uploaded/ unlocked on my YouTube.
You can find these older yoga videos here, among the playlists. https://www.youtube.com/c/SuzanneBeenackers/playlists
These older videos, which are still being updated and unlocked, were one of the reasons I felt I had little to offer or add, teaching yoga on video.
I m years older, and I m out of shape compared to those years when I was still a teacher, and teaching fulltime.
It felt awkward to be in front of the camera…

But next to offering me something to teach, a structure in support of anyone who wants to try Bon Jovi yoga;
This “yoga touring schedule” I discovered, the Bon Jovi Yoga weekly blueprint, has also inspired MY YOGA!
It’s very well possible that I will soon be rocking my yoga, and that the awkwardness I ve been feeling about teaching it, and about being on video doing yoga, will disappear.

So yes, this blog series is time intensive, its dictating my day, and has taken over my life.
But it has also given me the clarity teaching a new style of yoga, I have been looking for, for years.
Is the price too high?
No.

You re going to give your life for something anyway. If I give mine to teaching #dailybonjoviyoga by writing, and by YouTube?
I ll take it!
I have taken it already.

And the moment I realized that, I wondered if it had all been for nothing. The waiting, the missing years, the times I felt I was without profession, without anything to give.
All the times I felt I was SO close, and that I had been for years, and I was so incredibly frustrated, because the doers, the more pragmatic people who Nike-style “Just did it” and “Just took action”, seemed to have it made.
And I wondered if I had been closer to my dream, if I had DONE something?

But now I can see, that? Was never my dream.
My dream, to teach Rock Star Yoga and to be a rock star yogi who does #dailybonjoviyoga, never came from doing.
It came from dreaming.

Just like Jon Bon Jovi dreamed about Europe, walking along the shores of… Still at home, in New Jersey? 
Just like him, I needed to dream first.

Just like him;
YOU need to dream first.

Just like Jon Bon Jovi dreaming of Europe, and allowing himself to anticipate all the joys the tour would bring them, but also allowing the big picture, the meaning of it, to settle in;
Just like him, you need to fall in love with yoga first.

Before you can walk down the beach contemplating all the different ways in which you and yoga would hit it off?
Don’t do it.

Don’t do it, until you re as emotionally engaged as Jon Bon Jovi in Hannover 1996.
Don’t roll out your mat, don’t practice yoga, walk away from it and wait.
Wait until your voice would shake in Always. 

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 ~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🥳 PayPalMe 
🇳🇱Tikkie van de week 

new page on this blog! 
https://dailybonjoviyoga.com/practice-materials-and-schedules/
With a yoga “touring schedule” 😉
To rock your Daily Bon Jovi yoga.

+ On my Dutch YouTube channel you can find all my playlists,
including my beginner friendly one + international teachers.

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This Daily Bon Jovi Yoga blog is an element of “Rock Star” [phase 2]