Living the Wisdom of Yoga in Modern Times

Motivation to Practice Yoga When You Know You Should But You Just Don't Want To

 
I'm not telling you it is going to be easy, I am telling you it is going to be worth it-anonymous.

People are always surprised when I tell them I practice yoga 5-6 days a week. It doesn't matter if I taught 4 classes, my daughter is sick, I worked a 10 hour day or if I frankly feel like shit, I still practice yoga.  Why? For two reasons. The benefits of yoga are cumulative and require consistency and my life will always be crazy busy because that's how I like it.   Sitting around waiting for a slow moment to practice is like waiting for a rainbow to appear in the sky.  Its beautiful, but it doesn't happen all that often.

Tips To Get You On the Mat When Every Bone in Your Body Says No

1. Music-It can instantly change your energy. Play whatever it takes. Krishna Das, T.I or Pantera. Whatever will get you moving.
2. Go To a Big Class-Being around other people is instant motivation. The energy of the other students is contagious. Catch the wave and ride it.
3. Drink Coffee-Yep I said it.  Sharath , Ashtanga Yoga Institute Director and Pattabhi Jois's grandson says, "no coffee , no prana".  Most days I agree with him.
4. Let Go of Expectations- I'm an Ashtangi and for years, If I didn't make it through a full sequence, I would beat myself up and feel like crap. I realized that if I didn't change my attitude, I was going to quit Ashtanga.  Instead of letting go of my mental garbage, I was allowing my practice to lay it on thicker. Ashtanga Yoga teacher David Williams taught me that if you don't enjoy yoga, you will not keep doing it, therefore, do what feels good. While attending his workshop, I asked him why he left out a few of the jump backs, he said with rock star attitude,  "because I felt like it".  When you have energy, go full out. If you don't, do the best you can and be okay with it. 
5. What constitutes a yoga practice anyway? According to the Yoga Sutras, "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind".  It doesn't say, "Yoga is 1 1/2 hours in a 105 degree room" or "Yoga is 20 minutes of meditation" etc.  So do something, anything that gets your mind quiet and you have practiced yoga.
6. Recognize reasons for what they are...excuses- If you really wrote down your schedule, I bet somewhere between Dancing with the Stars and your second glass of wine you could have done something yoga like.  I don't want to hear about how broke you are. That money you spent on pastries and Starbucks could have gotten you a $5 class at somebodies studio.
7. Its like brushing your teeth- Have you ever left the house without brushing your teeth and felt  self conscious and weird for the rest of the day? For 30 days, make yoga a part of your life like brushing your teeth or checking your e-mail. A ritual that happens everyday. Once your body and mind gets hooked, if you don't do it, you will feel like you didn't brush your teeth.
8. Keep a class package at a studio. Keep your money tied up somewhere at all times so you have an extra incentive to go practice.  Make sure it has an expiration date.

Video of the Day-The Joy Standard

 

Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life

We live in a world of contrast. Morning to Night. Summer to Winter. Young to Old. Good to Bad. By observing nature, the wise man discovers that everything is impermanent.  To attach happiness to any state or object that can never stay constant is an exercise in futility. True happiness starts with our attitude. We must learn to be happy regardless of any circumstance. Happiness must be chosen.

 

How To Turn Anything Bad Into Good

1. Learn From It- Look at the situation and see if there was anything that could have been done differently
2. Grow From It-Internalize the lesson and apply it to your life
3. See the Flip Side-Find the positives to the situation.  There is always one. 
4. It Could Be Worse-Start listing ways that the situation could have been worse. You will feel a little bit better about your own circumstances.
5. Acceptance -Make peace with the situation. Change what you can and just deal with the rest 
6. Surrender-Nothing lasts forever. If you surrender, it will soon be over and your energy would not have been wasted in fighting
7. See the Opportunity-See it as a catalyst for change in your life. A call to action.

 Video of the Day:  Gorgeous Backbends

 

 

The Wayne Gretzky Yoga Principle that Can Help You Overcome Fear

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. -Wayne Gretzky

OR

You will never be able to do any of the poses you never try.-Shanna Small

 Choosing to work on poses that scare the crap out of you is an exercise in overcoming fear and false limitations created by the mind.  Most people make all their decisions in life based on fear.  We stay in jobs we hate or treat our employees as less then human because we are afraid of not having money. We stay in relationships that make us unhappy because we are scared of starting a new life.    We let our kids run our lives because we are scared to say no.  As long as we make our decisions in life based on fear, we never realize our true potential.  We sign our lives away to mediocrity. We die without ever living.

 The result of a shot taken and missed is growth. We dust ourselves off, learn from it and evolve. Everyday moving closer to our highest potential.  The repercussions of a shot never taken are inertia and stagnation.  Without facing your fears, you decide that the cards you have been dealt are the ones that you will keep. That you or your life will never be any different then today.

 I recently attended a yoga class where we spent the whole time preparing for Pincha Mayurasana(forearm balance) but we never actually did Pincha Mayurasnana.  Fear also keeps you constantly preparing for things that never happen.

How many times have you went through a long conversation in your head in preparation for an upcoming confrontation, salary review or discussion to only have the conversation be something totally different? Did you calculate the time you wasted having this loony mental conversation?   The insurance industry is totally based on fear. How often does the average person really go to the doctor compared to the money shelled out every month to pay for policies? 

Because of fear, we save money to prepare for disasters that never happen. We spend hours preparing for opportunities we never take.  We do hundreds of planks and chaturangas building strength for handstands we never try.

Using your yoga practice to overcome your fears, allows you to strengthen your mind for even bigger boogie men that are outside of the mat. It also allows your save your practice and life from boredom and stagnation. Do at least one pose that scares you every practice and watch your irrational fears start to dissipate. 

 Video of the Day: Pema Chodron on Troublemakers

 

World Water Day + CSN Gift Certificate Winner

Today is World Water Day! Water is something we take for granted in America because we have a continuous stream of it coming out of our faucets. I recently watched an eye opening documentary, Blue Gold, that made me think differently about my relationship with water.  Could something that seems so infinite actually be a finite resource?

Blue Gold Website:

In every corner of the globe, we are polluting, diverting, pumping, and wasting our limited supply of fresh water at an expediential level as population and technology grows. The rampant overdevelopment of agriculture, housing and industry increase the demands for fresh water well beyond the finite supply, resulting in the desertification of the earth.

 
Corporate giants force developing countries to privatize their water supply for profit. Wall Street investors target desalination and mass bulk water export schemes. Corrupt governments use water for economic and political gain. Military control of water emerges and a new geo-political map and power structure forms, setting the stage for world water wars.

 
We follow numerous worldwide examples of people fighting for their basic right to water, from court cases to violent revolutions to U.N. conventions to revised constitutions to local protests at grade schools. As Maude Barlow proclaims, “This is our revolution, this is our war”. A line is crossed as water becomes a commodity. Will we survive?

You can watch this eye opening documentary on Netflix, You Tube or below.

Winner of $35 Gift Certificate to CSN stores is NYRA 17. Please Check your E-mail.

Videos of the Day: World Water Wars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lessons on the Pursuit of Happiness + $35 CSN Gift Certificate Giveaway

Article I liked from The Inspiration Tree.

The Pursuit of Happiness: 15 Lessons to Keep in Mind

1. The only person that can ever truly make you happy is yourself. Stop depending on everyone else.

2. People lie, stuff happens. Don’t take it too personally.

 3. Want people to think you’re amazing? Start believing you are, and then they will too.

4. Smiling is the ultimate anti-depressant. Smile and laugh out loud, it doesn’t look stupid, I promise.

5. The world is never just black and white, right or wrong, one way or another. Try and see things from as many points of view as possible.

6. "Let everything happen to you 
Beauty and terror 
Just keep going 
No feeling is final" 
— Rainer Maria Rilke

7. Have empathy.

8. Gossip, problems of the past, events you cannot control, negative thoughts and negative people; time spent on these is time poorly wasted.

9. When you're jealous or find yourself filled with hate for someone/something, stop. The only person its hurting is you.

10. Although the newest, most expensive material things may make you feel as if you’re a better person, they won’t hold you at night or listen to you when you need it. Make sure your priorities make sense.

11. Step outside your comfort zone- it’s when you’ll really feel alive.

12. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, the people who really matter, don’t mind

13. Let your emotions out sometimes, humans have them for a reason.

14. Celebrate the things you have. Think only positively of the things you don’t (but would like to have) and they too will come.

15. Love unconditionally ♥.

 

CSN Giveaway

$35 Gift Certificate to be spent on anything you want from office desks to yoga mats. 

To enter: You must be a subscriber. Go to CSN's website and leave a comment regarding what you would buy. Giveaway ends March 21

Video of The Day: Life Coaching Tips From Cats

 

 

Spiritual Teachers on Why Bad Things Happen

Today all eyes are on the tsunami and earthquakes in Japan and Hawaii.  Many questions surface about why bad things happen, death and the meaning of life. Below are some videos from some amazing spiritual teachers who have unique positive views on change and seemingly insane events that happen in our lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sky Is The Limit

It is the 14th anniversary of  the Notorious B.I.G's (Biggie Smalls) death today and he made a great song called " The Sky Is the Limit" that is in my personal Yoga Playlist. He was a young kid from the projects who had everything stacked against him but managed to find success in the rap world before his death. "Sky Is The Limit" is a song he wrote when he was at the top of his game to inspire other people to go for their dreams. 

"Sky is the limit and you know that you keep on

Just keep on pressin on
Sky is the limit and you know that you can have
what you want, be what you want, have what you want, be what you want"

Video of The day: Sky is the Limit

 

3 Simple Words To Make Anyone's Day Better

"Say, Pooh, why aren't you busy?" I said. 

"Because it's a nice day," said Pooh. 
"But you could be doing something Important," I said. 
"I am," said Pooh. 
"Oh? Doing what?" 
"Listening,"he said. 
"Listening to what?" 
"To the birds. And that squirrel over there." 
"What are they saying?" I asked. 
"That it's a nice day," said Pooh. 
"But you know that already," I said. 
"Yes, but it's always good to hear that somebody else thinks so, too," he said.

From The Tao of Pooh

 

I Appreciate You

There is always someone out there busting their butt to make things more comfortable and easier for you. 

• Garbage Man
• Spouse
• Employees
• Friends
• Family
• Farmers
• Co-workers
• The List Goes On

Three Little Words " I Appreciate You" makes everything worth it. Even though they may know deep down that you appreciate them, having it come from your mouth, as Pooh mentioned, is just good to hear too.

We live in a world where people think that if they are giving you money or allowing you in their lives that they are doing you a favor. That person may be you. How many times have you gotten annoyed when your spouse, child or employee made a request from you? You get upset because that is just one more thing that you have to do. Forgetting all the things they do every day to help make your life a little better. 

By letting someone know every day that, "I Appreciate You", you are reminded of how blessed you actually are to have these people in your life and you begin to honor their needs as much as your own.

We all need each other. All the mundane things we do in daily life like check e-mails, watch TV, drive our cars only happened because someone else made those luxuries available to us.  "I Appreciate You" brings more of those luxuries and cooperative relationships into your life.

It is so easy to say. Make it a habit. Your relationships and life will improve because of it.

 Video of the Day: Life Coaching Tips From Cats