Friday, November 29, 2013

a note for me

As Thanksgiving rolls around this year I start to appreciate all the people in my life, the people that are no longer in my life and the people who were taken away too soon from life. If there is one person that comes to mind this Thanksgiving it is my grandfather. The vision of strong, a provider, an innovator and when I walked in the room his heart would melt, his stubborn ego would all melt away.

While he was in my life he was the perfect example of love, a love that I have strived the rest of my life to find. My parents, showed me a love that is from the tough love category, to them I owe a lot more than just a blog post. A lover, ends in love lost, time lost and wounds open. But my grandfather taught me of a love so deep and profound that can only be given from a grandparent to their grandchild. It is an unconditional love that can only happen between two people that are so profoundly opposite; me in my innocence and him in his wisdom.

Roll out my mat, see my practice today, the frustrations that I have. I realize that I have hit a place where it is time to start a new chapter of my life. It is a shift that looks like this, my life is starting to reflect how I feel inside. What is the attitude that you have toward yourself? Do you reflect outward what is going on inward? A clean car, a clean diet are all reflections of how you truly think and feel about yourself. If you think your going to fail, then you set yourself up to fail. If you look at yourself with the greatest intention, a goal to achieve and a set of shoes that you will grow in to, patience, faith and trust is all that is standing in the way of your success.



As I come in to this holiday season I think back to my Grandfather, who saw all the possibility of who I will grow up to be. A love so deep, it has taken me 25 years to understand. A love I should have for myself, the belief that I am enough, that I want to see myself the way my Grandfather saw me. So here's to Grandpa, to spoiling myself with love and positive thoughts. To being thankful for my body, my life, my dog, my job and life exactly the way they are. 


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

the other 7...

Yoga is meant to clear out and open up the physical body, the mental binds that have kept us closed off for so long. Letting go of old habits; eating habits, drinking habits, over-spending habits and habits that ultimately leave us sad, alone and crying out for help. As we start to practice yoga, those habits start to loosen. We decide to eat clean, healthy food. We drink more water. We even let people cut us off in traffic and smile. How does this happen? And more importantly, will it last? Do we want it to last or is it another temporary fix for a much deeper issue?

Yoga does involve physically rolling out your mat, becoming present and keeping the body healthy. But yoga is more than just being flexible, in fact it has nothing to do with flexibility, stretchy pants or even a yoga mat. It is about having the awareness of what your body needs, giving yourself everything that it deserves. Making this a habit, a part of your being, who you are. That you desire to eat healthy, to speak the truth and to do good in all that you put your hands to.

We are all smart. We all have the ability to discearn what is real and unreal. Everyone must know who they are, where they are, what they are doing and what they should do.




When we start to examine the practice of yoga, it devours our bad habits and it asks us to be true. To be true to ourselves, those around us and to live a life of integrity. This is what yoga really is, people who are working on this, call themselves a yogi and it has nothing to do with standing on your hands, being flexible or wearing black stretchy pants.

Listed below are the 8 Limbs of yoga, they are equal in measure, in work and when applied, balance you out to be the true essence of you. Practical, Rational and Real.

1. Relationship (Yama) to yourself and to others. How are you conducting yourself, is it honest and true? Do you want too much from others, even from yourself? Are you being honest, in relationships both personal and professional? Are you being genuine, true to yourself and making yourself happy with the decisions you make.

2. Lifestyle (Niyama) involves cleanliness, contentment, practice, self-reflection, self-surrender. What is the attitude that you have toward yourself? Do you reflect outward what is going on inward? A clean car, a clean diet are all reflections of how you truly think and feel about yourself.

3. Body (Asana) is all about keeping your body in tune. Keeping the body in working order, correcting any mis-alignments and keeping the body in physical shape is important in a long and happy life.

4. Breath (Pranayama) keeps the body calm, through the nervous system. Breath (oxygen) keeps the systems of the body in working order. The breath reflects the state of the mind, thus when you can control the breath, you can clean the body and keep your mind in the present moment.

5. Senses (Pratyahara) are hard to control, especially in an enviroment so driven by being stimulated. We can be stimulated by so many images and sounds. Even touch. That to withdraw from those, to turn towards being still, makes our senses that much stronger, our intuition that much more stronger to discern right from wrong.

The last 3 limbs are combined into Mind (Dhyana, Dharana, and Samadhi), they involve meditation and becoming more in tune with a deeper part of us, the spiritual aspect, the layers that are so deep, so in tune, that we must quiet everything else in our lives in order to hear it. Samadhi can be explained as that moment when all space and time is lost no matter what activity you are doing, getting so lost in the joy and beauty of the moment that all time is forgotten.

When we change the self, develop the self and work on the self, the world and all the problems it faces seem so much more tangible. Our self is truly the work that needs to be done, if we all focus on being true, honest and pure then the world will be better.

I will be leading an intensive 2 week detox program that starts Decemeber 1. If your interested in learning more about nutrition and wellness please e-mail me at giving.living.loving@gmail.com