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:)

“Music Takes Us Out of the Actual…

…and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are,

and for what, whence, and whereto.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today I am greeted with the question…what moves you?  And I answer, inspiration.  Inspiration by way of the unthinkable, unforeseen and the  unspoken.  Yes!  Is it the forming of the word, the verbal expression that dissolves the truthful essence of the “now” experience?  We are here, in the present, seer and the seen…then we later share that experience via rational mind.  Unless we are so completely absorbed in a state of oneness where our words are pure intuitive, consciousness, then what  is the true essence of what we are sharing?

This brings me to music.  I attended the 7th annual women & culture festival here in Miami. Representing my dedication to the study of life, health, and love was a performance of our mighty sun salutations.  A sister yogini and I moved with our breath through the sounds of Haiti to the samba of Brazil, to om namah shivaya streaming out of bhaktis that sang for the name and not to promote their name.  As my heart melted my soul danced and my nuyorican  blood remembered from whence it came.  Listen carefully and you will find in the midst of music your true nature revealed.  The one that has no words or interpretations, yet is moved by the sound that describes the word that could not be thought of.  For in the yoga that is between the musician, the instrument, and the listener therein lays one verse…the universe.

Gratitude to the non-profit community arts and culture of Miami.  May your passion and intention create ripples throughout the rest of South Florida to remind us that unity forms through the unity of languages.  And most importantly the language of the heart.

With love and respect

Project Joy

Project Joy

This past weekend I was a part of a trainer’s training intensive with my fellow team members of Project Joy.  It was a journey into the depths of my past, and an arrival at what I believe to be the birth of a new family and movement of greatness. The doorway into my childhood is one that I’ve attempted to enter and explore time and time again, yet seem to continually come across murky waters, rooms with strangers and blank pages that I feel hold stories.  Stories that I am beginning to think were written in some magic, invisible ink at the time of the events.  And perhaps maybe for good reason, but nonetheless have shaped the work that I do in this life.

I have been blessed with teachers and guides since an early age.  I believe they have come into my life in order to show me the gift that this life truly is. They provided me with the roots and sensitivity that allowed me to capture and live a way of life that I did not even consider was available.  As I enter this new stage of my adulthood I am reflecting on how it seems as though the extraordinary experiences I’ve had thus far have been a result of treading, and at times diving, into a sea of uncertainty.   Not to say that in my risk taking and daring to step into the unknown, certain natural talents of mine did not make opportunities flow towards me with greater ease than some. Along with the strong moral foundation that my family has built for us for many generations.  Nevertheless, I am learning how to take ownership of the fact that I truly have put in the hard-work and commitment, and made the sacrifices necessary to share what I’ve been blessed with and give it a voice.  That it’s not random.  Like I heard someone in a T.V. interview once say, “Luck is the residue of Desire”.  Love that!

I am thrilled and proud to be a part of the Project Joy Team of Trainers, and not just because the idea of spreading joy to our country’s most vulnerable children is the “humanitarian” thing to do and its the new fad these days along with being green (that’s another post).  But I truly believe that all the choices I’ve made in my life up until this point has prepared me and molded me to take on this revolutionary work. Like I’ve been participating in an apprenticeship but without knowing what I was training for?  The real bonus is being able to play and fill up my own joy tank in the process.  Giving as you receive is the Tao…

Some people I guess have jobs, some careers, and some a calling.  Do you know what you have?

• When was the last time you have felt joyful?
• On a scale of 1-8, how would you measure your playfulness in the past month?
• How can you bring more joy and playfulness into your life?

Hope your calling has given you the most fabulous job, career, and life that you can call your very own Project Joy!

“I Live My Life In Widening Circles…

...that reach out across the world.

I may not ever complete the last one,

But I give myself to it.”

-Rainer Maria Rilke

The more I seek and wander into my inner world, the more I am captivated by this sweeping dream called life.  And in the stark, pregnant moments of my meandering I cannot help but feel anxious about feeling like I should become more like the rest of the world and their predictable lives, slaves to their possessions, and disillusioned by their mind’s precedence over their body & soul’s wisdom.  Apologies if I sound pretentious and judgmental, but I am learning to just run with the river and not wade so much in it.  Why is that puritanical, American dream seeker  path up the ladder of success seem so attractive sometimes? To sound, be, and do what the past has done just feels so comfortable at times I guess.  Dream and reality, back and forth… back and forth like a waltz it is!  But to music that is always in the background, never quite matching up to the raw expression of the moment.  Anyways..

But who am I to cast judgment over my own kind, as if I am that wildly different and superior to the more mediocre, regular homo-sapien.  Who’s to say that one who contemplates enlightenment and evolution by way of an adventurous spirit,  should stand side by side among some of our great philosophers just because our free-thinking, or should I say raging river mind, ruffles the feathers of family and friends while causing frequent bewilderment.  I am referring to myself by the way, as I am being slapped in the face more than not lately with this identity crisis of Jodi the bohemian, fluid lover of love who chooses to live by a calling rather than a job, and the very normal urban, cultural mutt from Manhattan whose depiction of her life is what makes it intriguing…rather than what it may really be.  These are the circles, the rounds that I go through day to day as I sit with myself and play the game of life.

I am embarking upon some new endeavors down here in South Florida and I must say that our current economic situation is offering me some deep challenges around trust, optimism, and persistence.  I am relying on what I know best which is intentionality, honesty, and balance between letting go and taking action.  Easier said than done huh, but I fully recommend living by the above, as well as:

• What ever choice you are making right now in your life…give yourself to it fully and with all your heart!
• Have a vision, stay with that vision, and surround yourself with people and things that nurture that vision
• Remember that this is a great test to our egos and what a gift it is to learn from one of our wisest teachers, Ego!
• Remember that you become stronger moving with the pack and not alone so suck it up and ask for a helping hand, you’ll get them back on the way around.
• Learn about what inspires you and use it, ritualize it, and then share it with your friends.
• Take time to be grateful for whatever lands on your plate even though it does not seem appropriate at the time.  Sometimes at the end of the day that could be the only moment you opened your heart to something bigger than you know.
• And if you need a little more hands on, tangible approach to your financial woes try this site: zen habits

With respect, love, and guidance wherever needed.