Beauty & Vulnerability

Being able to trust is reliant upon the fact that we are vulnerable. Otherwise, we would never need the help of another, we would need nothing to satisfy our desires. If you're vulnerable, you're able to love, to share and to trust that what happened to you only makes you more beautiful.

All that we do, from the moment we open our eyes every morning is reliant upon the fact that we trust circumstances to take place, we trust that our bodies will be healthy, our jobs will provide us the support to pay our way through life, that our cars will get us to work each day, that we will eat food that is whole and full of nutrients for our bodies.

If I could sum up the last couple of months of my life it would come down to the reality that I was not able to trust. People would fail me and then come out of nowhere and surprise me with some grand act. I would be so busy with work making all sorts of money and the next week....crickets. I learned that I cannot trust to rely on anything. I thought someone was my friend, guess what, they failed me too. I had my car hit, my car broken in to, I had jobs disappear and then new jobs appear out of nowhere. I quickly realized that everything in my life is a gift. It can be taken away at any moment. This day is a gift, that you can spend how you choose.

How my thoughts, they spin me around.

How my thoughts, they let me down.

How my dreams, they spin me around.

How my dreams, they let me down.

….and then there’s you!

Savasana, Corpse Pose. Laying there on the mat, in utter silence, proves that we are weak. It shows the world that I cannot do everything. That I need rest, I need to rejuvenate my body in order to be what I was destined to be. Laying there makes you contemplate life, are you doing what you set out to accomplish, what is your true purpose in life and are you fully surrendering yourself to the ultimate purpose you were destined for? Are you ready to die? I find that the more I accept my life, I enjoy my life and appreciate each moment, each encounter with another human I realize that there is a plan for my life. I fully appreciate that I cannot do everything. I was meant to have friends, and someone in my life that comes on board, to assist me in areas that I am weak in. Being vulnerable is all about sharing that weakness, your mistakes, your human nature. But in that moment, true greatness is realized. Despite what flaws may be present, your still loved, you can still love in return. And that is beautiful!

I read this great explanation of Hatha Yoga this morning as I was preparing to write this. Hatha, Ha means sun or heat and tha means moon or cool. The sun, never fades as the moon is just a reflection of the light from the sun. Knowing and realizing that is yoga. I read that and it resonated with the thought that in order to truly shine we have to be vulnerable. That which reflects when we are truly uncomfortable is who we are. Are we happy when things don’t go our way? When we have to lay on the floor, sweating, tired and ready to just leave, can we find a place in ourselves that can surrender? Are we ready to let it go? Shine bright when the sun is out, when it fades. At all times, just shine on!

I leave you with that thought on this rainy easter sunday. Enjoy and be blessed! XO

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We all have the ability to love as deep or as shallow as we want. We try to push people out of our lives, we make them prove themselves, go through tests, a filtering system in order to see if they are genuine. We distrust people because it reminds us of a time "when" and trust people because they showed us some glimmer of a decent human being. I have been shocked, slapped and shaked over my life by people that have hurt me. I have also been shocked by random acts of love from perfect strangers.

I can keep the bandages on my heart, traveling through life closed off. I can go through life blaming others and keep repeating the same mistakes. Or I can remove the bandages and be a little more sensitive to love. To those who care. To those that have proven through actions, not words, how much they care. 

We can view the world as hostile, as angry and a fight for survival. That we are not worthy of love or to be surrounded by people who care.

We can view the world as nurturing and gentle, full of enough for everyone to have. We can all love and be loved. We can show love in little acts to people we don't know, we can show larger acts to those that have always stood by our side. Love is as deep and as beautiful as you allow it to flow from you.

I am putting it out there that I have enough love, enough support, enough money and enough strength. I wish that for everyone who reads this. I wish that for people that have hurt me, my friends, my family.

When someone shows us love, our heart opens and we receive. The same thing happens when we give love back. If love was a currency we would want all that we could get. We would wake up early, get in our car and drive to go get it. But love is all around us, it is in the grocery store, at a park, it is in your home, your office and everywhere you allow it to be. Light up the lives of others by loving them unconditionally. Giving what you can, where you are! You have $5 and you can spare $2. Give it up! You never know what that means to them. You never know until you do it!

Life is my yoga mat. I don't need to show up in a class and prove myself to anyone. I show up every morning and walk out my door being a light, showing love and understanding that we all are in different poses. I might be balancing on my head, completely submerged in a pose or laying in my back in complete bliss. All I ask is that you love me where I am today, where I was yesterday and where I am going tomorrow! Let's love deeper, be better than we were yesterday and enjoy each breath, each passing moment!

Love: Life

This life was given to you.

It is not your own.

And at any moment it can be taken from you.

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. --Thomas Carlyle

I sat down at a coffee shop in Las Vegas, over 3 years ago and started writing. I had lost a lot (money, my job, friends). But I had family, I had a man who stood by my side through it all and I had my life. It takes losing to really feel truly appreciative for what you have. How can you be happy when you have never experienced pain?

Joy is being able to appreciate when it hurts, life when things go wrong and giving everything you have to help someone in need.

This month I was asked to co-host an event called World JOY Day. An entire day dedicated to doing what brings you joy and bringing joy to someone else. If you could do anything that brought you and others joy what would it be?

Love. That was my answer. If you can do all actions out of love, you are not only happy but full of joy. That is my mission statement in life. I live by it and follow my heart. If we are chasing something that is in the distance we will never find joy. When we look down at what is in front of us, the tools we have right now the answer becomes clear. We have money. We have time. We have social media. How can we bring all of those together to celebrate life, to give back to those who need it and feel joyful about it.

Joy comes down to ego. When you think you are better than someone else because of the car parked in your driveway or the clothes that are on your body then you will never know joy. Joy comes from looking outside of yourself, to this world we live in, the people that are all around us. You are exactly where you should be in your life at this current moment. You were drawn to read this blog. You are in essence a magnet and what you do in this life, no matter what you think of it, is a ripple in this world. Your joy can spread as far as you let it.

As you start to get older you realize the impermanence of "things" and you start to value quality in people that have stood by your side. You value truth and love above all else. Spread the knowledge of truth, the actions that are done from unconditional kindness is a memory, an experience that you create.
Live the life that you want.
Wake up everyday happy.
Love what you do, who you choose to be friends with and where you live.
Spread JOY!

Come celebrate JOY with me and Elise Joan on Wednesday March 20 at 6 pm. You can sign up here and select a team, you can donate money for World JOY or imagine1day or just come out and enjoy yoga taught by two of Santa Monica's amazing yoga instructors! Either way please take time out this week, especially Wednesday to being joyful, finding what gives you joy and spreading the joy in your life. I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible and sharing this wonderful gift of teaching that I have been so blessed with! XO

Listen.

I hear excuses all day long.
I can't
I am
I am not...
All followed by some reason.

We have concieved these notions about who we are, where we belong, what our limitations are.

Think of your mind as a giant cup, this cup is full of ideas, ego and knowledge. In order to grow and learn you have to release old habits, thought patterns and listen and apply what others are saying to you. A student understands that they know nothing. 

"You have to empty your mind of all it thought was so in order to take in what I have to teach you."

I have been going over and over that for awhile this past week and it started to take on new life. I looked at students while they practiced and noticed that they all fit into one of the following categories:

Empty Cup (Always Listen)

Half-Filled Cup (Half Listen)

Over-Flowing Cup (Never Listen)

I also looked at my relationships, past and present and saw that people who had an over-flowing cup never stayed in my life. I am someone that wants to be heard as are most people. There is this balance in life of letting go and taking in. When someone thinks they know better than you or there is not a give and take on both sides, growth stops and the relationship dies.

You come to yoga to correct your misalignment, your bad habits and to find that clarity. If your cup is already full, where will my instruction go? Why are you here? 

Yoga is as simple as you let it be. It is about being mindful in your actions, from day to day and moment to moment. Yoga is to happen everyday. It is a habit. It is a choice you make every moment. Yoga begins today. Tomorrow. And everyday after that. There is no accelerated course or a level you must arrive at.

I think if yoga has taught me anything it is that I am not in control of anything. Especially my students. It simply is. When you realize that the practice is simple. It does not change. You change. Then you will see the real power behind the practice. Stop trying to change sequences. Stop trying to add music to drown out the silence. Allow yoga to change you, to shape you and to be a mirror to all the bad habits in your life. 

Great Expectations

Setting yourself up for success means never quitting. It means taking the high road, doing the unexpected and taking a leap of faith that all your hard work will pay off. In High School I read the book "Great Expectations," a coming of age narrative. While this topic is not so much the same story line, each life has twists and turns in it. We set goals and then life happens, unexpected twists and so how do we deal with those twists and keep true despite conflict to finish and see the resolution. And so here I go again....

What are your actions and reactions saying about you?

What expectations do we set for ourselves? For total strangers? Friends? Family? Lovers? 

What happens when someone exceeds those expectations? When they fail miserably? What is our response?

Are they coming from ignorance (not knowing the expectations) or from spite, fear and jealousy? 

Yoga philosophy speaks about having non attachment, a letting go of what is beyond your control. I deeply believe in this and yet to have expectations comes with the attachment to the end result. You want to earn more money, you want to run a marathon are all great goals to have and very normal. I used to set goals, get injured and then my goal was never met. But what does that say? It says I was afraid or I was not ready to see that goal be met, I needed more work, more needed to be accomplished on my end.

We come as we are, to make an imprint in this world, and big or small it all makes a difference.

I sat down a couple months ago and wrote down my goals, my vision and how I can set myself up to achieve those goals. I know that life happens, injury happens and I am accepting that the path can always change. My passions and what I love about myself and others, that too can change but it is with an open heart and honesty that I dive into each day setting myself up for success and an abundance of wealth.

I will never expect perfection from anyone but I expect the right actions from an honest heart.