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

BiG

 I always imagined that I would do something BIG. I would be important. I would change the lives of others. But what defines BIG? Why was it so important to me? Why did people tell me to dream big? And, if we all do something BIG, is it still BIG?

I started writing this in my journal last week. I was reflecting on goals that I had even as far back as childhood. When I was 9, I wanted to be an Olympian. When I was 13, I wanted to be a federal agent. In college I was studying to be an accountant. In this current moment, I am teaching yoga, writing a blog and enjoy living by the beach with amazing friends. 

Big goals are great to set and even more when they are achieved. But what am I doing today that will impact that goal tomorrow? I think we all want to make a big impact in the world, there is nothing wrong with that. Yet, each day I need to set out and let the little steps take me towards the larger goals. If I cannot inspire one person today how will I ever inspire millions of people in the future.

Your ultimate purpose is to be. To be present, to be aware, to be loved. And to show that to others in return. That is why my blog exists. To share. To inspire. To grow. To one person, and then to hundreds, thousands, millions, billions and then to infinity. And it started with one simple mission.

Give.
Live.
Love.
The End.

everyday be.

"Your duty is to act, not to seek a reward for what you do." --Bhagavad Gita

I am going to make this short because it deserves no explanation. Wherever we place our attention, we naturally overlook other things. Set you sights on what you want. Set your attention to the goal. No complacent energy. Withdraw from ordinary distractions and focus on the goal(s).

Everyday Yoga.

Everyday right living.

Everyday smile.

Everyday forgive.

Everyday eat clean food.

Everyday live fully.

Everyday sweat.

Everyday love.

Everyday be you.

Feet.

Keep the earth below my feet.

For all my sweat, my blood runs weak.

Let me learn from where I have been.

Keep my eyes to serve, and my hands to learn.

Our little piggies that go to the market. They go to work. They go shopping and eat roast beef. They cry wee wee wee all  the way home. We never give much attention to all the work our feet do, until they hurt. 

I challenge you to take an honest look at your feet. I look at them all day long. I see clean and dirty feet. Beautiful and ugly. Painted and yellowing at the edges....YUCK!  But for real, look at them! Check out why your feet look the way they do. Check out your shoes. Why are they worn down in the back, the front, the sides? I challenge you to question your feet, how you stand and hold the weight of your body. What do you do with your feet? 

I want to speak not only from the viewpoint of a teacher but from someone who has done tremendous damage to my ankles, toes and arches over the years. I had to stand on my feet, on one foot at a time until they were sore. I would crunch my toes in a towel, the sand and grass until they could not move any more then I would rub and ice them at night. Our bodies remember trauma, stress, and disease. They start to change, form new shapes. We walk differently, stand up less and hunch more. We get down on life and our feet take the pressure of the slouching in our walk. When you stood up straight there was less pressure on the joint causing us to walk with a little pep in our step.  Foot problems are huge and the only way to help prevent further damage is to be aware of how you walk, how you stand and how you place weight in your body. Yoga is the only form of exercise that helps to correct this over time.

Our feet not only want to be taken care of they want to breathe. They love being naked. They loved being touched just like you do. They want to stretch wide and long. They want to point and flex and move in all directions. Next time you get on the mat, look down at your feet. Pay attention to your feet in every pose, with every breath. Just become aware of your feet. Make them sore the next day! Then do it again,
and again,
and again.

Trust

Trust.

There are many forms of trust, some call it faith.
In life, who can you trust? Will you ever trust again once it has been broken?

As a yogi it is easy for me to stand on my hands, my head and contort my body in all ways. I know that I can trust my body. I rely on that trust to get me through each day. I have trained myself to trust no one, to not rely on anyone, to let go of people and any expectations that I will have of them. 

What is your story with trust? Maybe you trust friends and others more than you trust yourself. Is it time for you to challenge that. I know it is time for me to learn to trust again. It is time to let go of my independence a little and start to let people in again.

I would love to say that life is better on your hands but it's not. You can be a firmly planted tree with roots so deep you will never move, or you can be a leaf blowing in the wind, no roots and no plan of where you are going. No matter where you are in life trust that you are in the right place, you are growing as a human being and when it is time to move on, trust that you will go in the right direction.

Goodnight Moon

Yoga is both the movement toward and the arrival at a point. There are three main components of your yoga practice that you may or may not be aware of, they are: tapas, svadhyaya and isvarapranidhana. Don't even worry about pronouncing those what is important is what they mean and how they incorporate our practice to our daily lives. Tapas is what we do in order to keep up our physical and mental health, a process of inner cleansing that will always show forth in our outer body as well. Svadhyaya is the process of finding out where we are, who we are and what we are. It is in this step that we slowly start to learn that we are constantly changing and so is the world around us. The last component of our practice is isvarapranidhana literally translates "to yield humbly to God," you all have the freewill to decide what you believe in, in yoga this translates more on placing value on the quality of your actions rather than on the fruits that can develop out of it.

From all that, I want to take you to something that is a little more simple yet for some of you so hard to do, and that is sleep. As the winter rolls our way it is so easy to stay in bed just 10 more minutes. I want to focus on the isvarapranidhana of our sleep. Making the quality of our sleep better not so much the quantity. Do you really need 8 hours? NOPE! What you need is the deep, deep rest that can only come when you literally turn everything OFF. I know you have all read studies and books on how to improve your sleep such as stop eating before 8 pm and yes that all helps but here are two things that many of you have never heard.

The key is to keep all electronics OFF and AWAY from you. Here is why--your body is a source of energy, that energy depletes during the day. It will take about a week of no sleep before the body starts to shut down. However, many of us suffer from lack of sleep causing our work to suffer, attention spans to shorten and craving caffeine all the more. When you are not getting enough sleep or not entering REM that healing process is not occurring, thus making you more susceptible to disease and sickness. When you get sick it is because your body is sending you a signal, you need to rest, you need more sleep because the it is not just about laying your head down for 8 hours it is about getting to that place where you can shut everything off.

"Sickness is the vengence of nature for the violation of her laws." --Charles Simmons    

I have learned that phones should not be allowed at dinner or in bed- EVER! I hate when you have your phone out at dinner but for the first time, in a long time, I started leaving my cell phone in the other room at night. It reduced my stress probably 50% because I would not be focused on work--rule of thumb, put your phone out of sight after 8 pm! Electronics (cell phone, computer, alarm clocks and televisions) should be turned off when you are sleeping or at least out of your bedroom. Electronics are not natural, they are not supposed to be near us while we sleep. They, like us, have an energy source, when we are around them our bodies are not allowed to heal, just like a radio interference when your body is near your phone, computer or television it is not getting the best quality that it can. Think of it like you want to enjoy that 4G speed but until those electronics are off you are a CAR PHONE (with the bag and all!) Enjoy the detachment from them, turn them off and put them in the other room!

Lastly, sleep NAKED!! Clothing produces static electricity-think pulling clothes out of the dryer. That static electricity is just like having your phone in bed with you---not good. So turn your phone off, take your clothes off and be HAPPY!