The Power of Remembrance

For those of you Galileos out there who understand the words, “Mercury in Retrograde” then you probably are well aware of the challenges that come along with this shift.  The obstacles that we face during this time like technical difficulties (and not just our computers, but our own mechanics like digestion) and the inability to “go with the flow” gives us an opportunity to practice things like, taking the path of least resistance.

How do we do this?

• For example, if you are waking up in the morning to prepare for your routine work-out but you are feeling lethargic or uninspired to do so…sleep a little extra and enjoy a nice breakfast at home.
• If you find yourself feeling frustrated or uninspired to start that new project or come up with that innovative idea at work, stop trying for a moment…close your eyes, lay back on a yoga bolster, and remember a time in your life when you were most inspired and full of joy and excitement.
• After doing this, (and it make take a few times and patience) notice how you feel in your body, then recognize the freedom you have to choose to remember the things that uplift you.
• Make a choice this month to keep remembering the good memories and explore ways to conjure them up again…remember that inspiring blog post you wrote last year, or advice you gave your friend a few months ago, how about remembering your very first time experiencing true peace of mind??  Close your eyes, think of a soothing image that helps you to relax…and journey into your heart to remember how you have become such an amazing, powerful person!

Ready, Set, Goal!!!

Welcome back!

Summer is drawing near and as it gets warmer here in Miami I feel my body wanting to shed more and the desire for burning away impurities is increasing.  So past seasons toxins are rising, I’m experiencing the weakness and cold symptoms, yet my spirit is strong and wants to do like a 108 sun salutations too!  Argh!  The mind-body paradox and who, what, when to listen to and kind of action to take.  I choose the combination of gentle- consistent physicality coupled with deep breathing, and choosing my thoughts wisely.  The goal…steadiness.

So I am sitting today with the intention of keeping a steady mind as I jot down my goals for the future, and I must say its not as fluid as I’d like for it to be. I find that when I act and think with just the right amount of energy throughout the day, being careful not to over exert in mind and body I am able to accomplish more. When I see and think clearly I can attend to my personal goals more effectively.  But this is tough when I’m a little sicky:(  And this whole goal setting thing has been on my mind lately especially with my new Lululemon Ambassadorship and their mission statement being very goal oriented.

So I am deciding to be patient, compassionate towards myself because I am not feeling in perfect health, and instead Blog about it! Hehe, I find that writing helps to filter out the random and leave behind the plot…you know, the meat and potatoes.  And as write I am realizing that writing more is one of my goals!  I used to have journals stacked one over the other when I was a teenager, filled with poetry, randomness, sketches, bitching episodes, and truly profound revelations too!

• So GOAL #1: Starting Monday, I will be writing a couple times a week on days when I only teach in the evenings.
• Goal #2:  By July I will be ease-fully writing a few times a week (including blogging) and being steady in my thoughts and actions on and off my yoga mat. The result will be a happier me and a renewed abundance in all aspects of life.
• Goal #3:  I am throwing this in because it has been jumping and shouting for attention for a long time:   By July 1st I see myself dancing more with grace, ease and joy with my salsa team and performing by August 1st!!

SO BE IT!

Lead Me From the Unreal to Real…

Lead us from darkness to the light,

lead us from the fear of death,

to the knowledge of immortality.

I have been delving into the Upanishads again lately.  I wonder if I am seeking refuge in the sacred texts because of a little lack of inspiration for asana practice, but in any case it seems as if just the act of reading what the sages realized puts me into a stream of steadiness.  I long to be caught again.  Hooked by the unconditional love, bliss that washed through me when I sat, spoke the mantra, and danced the divine dance.

The scripture says we are what our deep driving desire is.  I contemplate this, and  beginning to discover that I may not be certain what I truly long for.  But then I come to the realization…it is that splendid unconditional love I was just talking about.  Yes, that is what I most desire every day, but not to hold for my own and drown in my own pleasures and not just for my lover and I only, but to merge once again with that greatness until I never feel separated from it, and then share it unconditionally with everyone and everything I encounter.  I can honestly say with all my heart and soul, this is why I am here.

Asana as a Tool

Gary Kraftsow, one of my most highly respected teachers and authentic transmitter of the teachings of Krishnamacharya, talks about our multi-dimensional nature and how yoga is meant to serve all of these dimensions.

The Flow

So doing yoga we know isn’t the only way of experiencing the “flow”….Here is one of my newest practices:)

DANCE DANCE DANCE!

“Man is a stream whose source is hidden…

Welcome Back and Happy Fall!

Do you ever stay long enough in your own questions to eventually arrive at the very origin from which the question arose in the first place?

I know it sounds like jibberish what I am attempting to discuss here, but this very dilemma I keep running into is what brings me back to Self.  To that thing that notices, and is “aware” of, and observes the world around us and within us.  No I am not talking about the brain and all of the sophisticated lobes, cortex’, systems and such that we hear and read about from the field of neuroscience, but that mysterious presence or experience that we all have every now and then, when we are not caught up in what we think we are seeing or knowing or thinking, but when we are just “being” or dwelling in pure presence.  Like arriving in your meditation or like those moments when you and your lover slip into that steady embrace of contentment and all there is…is love.  If you know what I am talking about stay in it, stay in the curiosity, in the inquiry of this very enigmatic experience of life.

I feel like it is here where we can find some truth.  Maybe.

What do we really know for sure?

Well, this is what has been going on for me lately…and to cut myself some slack I will not resort to my normal conditioning of feeling like I owe people something by giving them every minor detail and reason why I have been on blog hiatus for the past 3 months.  Its very simple…Samskaras, or more simple, the Mind.  Now despite all of the books and amazing teachers that have bestowed their light and wisdom upon my life, I can say that I still don’t know very much…awesome.  But what I do know for sure is:

The only thing that is constant is change, and the thing that keeps me from being more extraordinary than I can possibly imagine is my own patterns of thinking.  A new book just came out by the author of Conversations with God, and its all about change…we must change our way of looking at change in order to change.  Love that!  So that has been my contemplation these days, as well as diving deeper into my practice and the abyss of my core by standing on my hands, head and other bizarre things too:)  I told you, I’m moving differently in order to move towards change.

Anyways, yoga, family, sun, and the unknown are the gifts that life has blessed me with abundantly.  And my oh my how much they take hold of me like sparkles to glue.  (i know, my niece has been quite an influence on me lately).  I am deeply inspired by her taking the reigns in my kids yoga class the other day, she is om-azing!

Decisions!

I thought that at the end of your saturn’s return one is supposed gain a clearer insight into your own life’s purpose, calling, and well you know all that stuff the new age section likes to preach about.  In my case however, I have been on the never-ending roller coaster ride of making choices where like a swing, I exhaustively sway from feeling like I am acting on pure intuition to my own mind’s fear of risk taking and the unknown,  and potential transformation.  At the end of the day all I can do is surrender, right?  So I did…and I almost bought a business!  Geez!  The endless dialogue led me to being firm towards one choice, not knowing that in the end that choice was not the right one for me.  The moral of the story here :  Is that we need to arrive at a choice in order for the “real” or (right) choice to reveal itself.  Oy!  So thats the dance of life lately, and I feel ready for Saturn to end its freak’in return because I am over ripe for change, clarity, and a feeling of ahhhh in whatever it is I’m doing.

Good things come to those who wait.  Or like one of my drum corp. teachers used to say…”Good things come to those who make it happen”!   Thanks April:)