The winner of the yoga mat companion series is Sara Mellander!! Whoo Hoo!!! Check Your E-mail!
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April 2011
April 27, 2011
April 21, 2011
When Hanging In There Just Makes You An Even Bigger Loser
Giving up has gotten bad connotations in our society. We like to call it "letting go" just so we feel better about doing it. Our egos fight against it because we attach our identities to the circumstances in our lives. We feel like a failure. However, there are times when we have built up so much bad energy around a person or circumstance, that the easiest way to clear it up is to walk away.
Our lives, like our houses, need a Spring cleaning. When you throw out the old couches, it creates space for new ones. The same happens with our life. When we effectively clear out old energy, new people and opportunities start to move in.
It can be very hard to see the wrong turns we took when we are emotionally mired down by the situation. When we let it go, we can use hindsight to keep us from making the same choices. We can then try again and have different results and a better chance at succeeding.
In order to let go, we have to realize that the world is pregnant with new opportunities and that we will have a chance to succeed yet again. Failed attempts don't define us. By clearing our energy and starting again, the joy we once experienced can be ours again.
When Do You Give Up?
- When the situation no longer makes you happy
- When you have done all you can do
- If you realize that what you bring to the table is not what is needed
- You are not a good fit
- When the situation compromises your core beliefs
- When you are forced to become something you are not
- When hanging on is doing more bad then good
Giveaway: Yoga Mat Companion Series. Click Here For Details
Video of the Day: Amazing Krista Cahill
April 20, 2011
75 Peace Blockers
- Trying To Read People's Minds
- Speeding
- Leaving Late
- Not Getting Enough Sleep
- Spending More Money Then You Make
- Trying To Get Everyone To Like You
- Worrying About What Other People Think
- Trying To Please Others
- Not Forgiving
- Holding In Your Feelings
- Not Being Yourself
- Not Being Yourself
- Disorganization
- Clutter
- Spending Time with People You Don't Like
- Drama
- Gossip
- Not Asking For What You Want
- Envy
- Greed
- Not Taking Care of Your Body & Mind
- Working To Much
- Not Being Picky About Who You Let Into Your Circle of Friends
- Not Scheduling Free Time
- Procrastination
- Looking For Perfection In Others and Yourself
- Not Going with the Flow
- Not Taking Care of Your Home, Car and Business Matters
- Long Work Commutes
- Making Mountains Out of Molehills
- Not Embracing Change
- Expecting Others to Complete You
- Trying To Change Others
- Trying To Control Others
- Not Leaving a Bad Situation
- Confusing Love With Attachment
- Confusing Love With Control
- Confusing Love With Infatuation
- Speaking Without Thinking
- Ignoring Your Intuition
- Blaming Others For Your Current Situation
- Not Acknowledging Your Contributions To Your Current Situation
- Being Sad To Make Other People Happy
- Being Less Then To Make Other People Feel Comfortable
- Complaining Without Offering Solutions
- Not Knowing How To Say No
- Intolerance
- Being Closed To Feed Back
- Not Knowing How To Take Criticism
- Being Defensive
- Not Listening
- Talking Too Much
- Seeing the Glass As Half Empty
- Ungrateful
- Not Agreeing To Disagree
- Denial
- Being Too Serious
- Not Setting Boundaries
- Speaking While Angry
- Being Afraid to say "I Don't Know"
- Not Asking For Help
- Not Saying "Thank You"
- Comparing Yourself To Others
- Comparing Others To You
- Being Part of the Problem
- Not Being Present
- Watching the News
- Not Laughing At Yourself
- Depending On Things Outside of Yourself To Be Happy
- Making Excuses
- Being Angry At The World
- Addiction
- An Aversion to Being Still
- Over Analyzing
- Constantly Placing Blame
Giveaway: Yoga Mat Companion Series. Click Here For Details
Video of the Day:
April 18, 2011
Giveaway: Yoga Mat Companion Volumes 1-4
I am giving these away!!!
Master the science behind Vinyasa Flow and the standing poses of Hatha Yoga. Dr. Ray Long guides you on a visual narrative through the anatomy, biomechanics, and physiology of this ancient art, decoding each pose along the way. The Mat Companion series provides you with beautifully illustrated, step-by-step instructions on how to use scientific principles to obtain the maximum benefit from your practice. Each book includes the Bandha Yoga Codex, a simple five-step process that can be applied to any pose to improve strength, flexibility, and precision—no matter what style of yoga you practice.
Master the science behind the hip openers and forward bends of Hatha Yoga. Dr. Ray Long guides you on a visual narrative through the anatomy, biomechanics, and physiology of this ancient art, decoding each pose along the way. The Mat Companion series provides you with beautifully illustrated, step-by-step instructions on how to use scientific principles to obtain the maximum benefit from your practice. Each book includes the Bandha Yoga Codex, a simple five-step process that can be applied to any pose to improve strength, flexibility, and precision—no matter what style of yoga you practice.
Master the science behind the backbends and twists of Hatha Yoga. Dr. Ray Long guides you on a visual narrative through the anatomy, biomechanics, and physiology of this ancient art, decoding each pose along the way. The Mat Companion series provides you with beautifully illustrated, step-by-step instructions on how to use scientific principles to obtain the maximum benefit from your practice. Each book includes the Bandha Yoga Codex, a simple five-step process that can be applied to any pose to improve strength, flexibility, and precision—no matter what style of yoga you practice.
Master the science behind the arm balances and inversions of Hatha Yoga. Dr. Ray Long guides you on a visual narrative through the anatomy, biomechanics, and physiology of this ancient art, decoding each pose along the way. The Mat Companion series provides you with beautifully illustrated, step-by-step instructions on how to use scientific principles to obtain the maximum benefit from your practice. Each book includes the Bandha Yoga Codex, a simple five-step process that can be applied to any pose to improve strength, flexibility, and precision—no matter what style of yoga you practice.
How To Get The Whole Set:
1. Must Be a Subscriber
2. Answer one or all of the following questions:
- If you attend a specific yoga class at a specific time every single week, what keeps you constantly going to that one class?
- If you are not consistent to any particular class time, please explain why?
- If you just practice at home, what keeps you out of the studios?
Last Day of Contest- Monday: April 25
April 01, 2011
Serious Yoga Practice Or Seriously, Just Practice
If you can't laugh at yourself, life is going to seem a whole lot longer than you'd like.- Garden State
After class, I like to ask students, "how was it?" At least two or three times a week, I have a student shake their head, give me a disgusted face and then start to list all the things that was wrong with their practice. "I couldn't t do my binds, I was tired, My butt hurt, I couldn't do what I normally could do...etc..." Essentially they leave filling horrible because they didn't accomplish an ideal that they inflicted upon themselves. Yoga is supposed to help release stress but if you are too serious within your practice, you actually create it.
Signs That Your Yoga Practice May Be a Stress Inducer Instead of a Stress Reliever
- If anything in your environment is off, your whole practice is shot. Examples-Room temperature is off, there is a sub, you don't get the spot you wanted in the class, you don't like the teacher's music choice or lack thereof etc
- When you fall out of a pose you curse, roll your eyes, pout, obsess over it for the rest of the class, keep trying the pose even though the whole class has moved on
- You obsess over getting the next Ashtanga series, jump throughs, jump backs, back bends, binds etc
- You grunt instead of breath
- You won't be caught dead in child's pose
- You have injuries but you refuse to modify poses
- You go to workshop after workshop trying to find that one teacher who can get you into that pose that keeps alluding you
- When you finish practicing you are mad, frustrated, stressed out
- You stop going to a certain class because you can't do a certain posture
How To Get Over Yourself and Seriously, Just Practice
- Embrace the present moment-just roll with what is going on. It is what it is.
- Make the practice your own-There are only a handful of yogas out there that are strict about what should be practiced. For the most part if you add or take away poses doing class, the average yoga teacher doesn't mind. If it is not hot enough, get closer to a heater, breathe deeper, do full versions of all the postures, practicing using your bandhas. Whatever you feel you are not getting, see if you can take charge of your practice and add it in.
- Life is a journey not a destination-Find joy in your current practice and don't worry about where you think is should be going.
- Laugh at yourself-if you fall out of a pose just laugh then try again and keep it moving.
- I doubt on your death bed you will be wishing you could have just done one more plank-put your yoga practice into perspective. Well getting that bind make you a better person or is it the thoughts in your mind and your approach to the bind that can be applied to your every day life?
- Time is on your side-even if it isn't, take a look back at the bullet point above. There will be another opportunity to practice. If you really want to do a pose, practice makes perfect. If the class environment wasn't to your liking, you have time to find another one.
- Your yoga practice only lasts an hour, but you need your body for at least another 70 years-Imagine how stupid you will sound and feel as you explain to your doctor, insurance company, family and friends, that you had extensive surgery and had to learn how to walk again because you just couldn't give up on leg behind the head
- Think about the other people in the room-cussing out the teacher and loud mouth breathing doesn't just effect you but ruins it for everybody else
Video of the day: This teacher feels overwhelmed
