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Freedom

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I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend celebrating Independence Day!

Freedom has  been a big theme in my life and personal practice. Look at the the title of all of my yoga classes and you will see! Early on, I didn’t know what I was seeking freedom from (I only knew that I felt bad), but it became clear that it was my self imposed bondage that had me under lock; with shame, unworthiness and burden holding the key.. All deceptively coated with my idea of what perfection should be.

My body and mind felt the heaviness, in that I did not want to fully participate in my own life and escape seemed easier. But luckily I am stubbornly determined and wasn’t giving up.

As I was going through a particularly Hellish journeying with a shaman, she kept saying to me, “Feel what you are doing to yourself. I am showing you this so that you will stop!!”

 

I have heard the message before and at that point, I think it finally sunk in. I began to identify all of my stories and how strongly I was holding on to them. I had been feeding them for so long that they were powerful and deeply entrenched. It took all of my practice, surrender, humility, presence and determination to disempower them and it is still a journey in progress.

In doing so, life seems softer somehow with nothing to prove.. nothing to run from or to run to.   Even though I can still feel the tentacles of my old beliefs creeping in, telling me that I am not OK and that I still must prove something, I pay them no mind. For once, each day can  simply be a naturally unfoldment- sometimes profoundly beautiful and other days, deeply sad. 

Some days are wonderfully inspired and other days are painfully empty. I have also come to know blissfully empty, which is a new one for me. I mean, I have heard of it but thought it was just a myth.

 

Freedom from the bondage of  my old stories and freedom to just be, are what fuel my practice and teachings. I hope that you are well on your way to finding yours!

 

The Efficacy of Your Yoga Practice

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Yoga is an inner journey that goes beyond just building a flexible and strong body. Here are a few means, aside from checking asanas off of your list, which measure the effect your yoga practice is having on your life:

  • A natural desire to make healthy lifestyle changes- ridding yourself of habits that are unhealthy.
  • A shift in the way you relate to others- more patience and forgiveness; increased honesty and authenticity; more collaboration and less competition; meaningful conversations and less gossip; being present with others.
  • Taking responsibility for your own life and happiness- no longer blaming others and outer circumstances for the way your life unfolds; looking inside yourself instead.
  • An increased appreciation and ability to see beauty, even in the smallest things that you may have taken for granted in the past. Everything becomes a miracle.
  • More sensitivity and compassion to nature and all living things. Making more conscious decisions so not to cause additional harm and suffering.
  • A growing sense of purpose and knowing that you can make a difference; even if it’s in the way you cook dinner and fold laundry. Instead of looking to gain meaning from outside of yourself, you are able to infuse meaning and care into all that you do.
  • More power in your words. When you speak, your words are more potent and people want to listen. Your words become truthful, authentic, uplifting and trusting.
  • Having frequent moments of feeling peace and fulfillment RIGHT NOW instead of waiting for something to happen or change to bring you contentment.
  • Increased enthusiasm about waking up in the morning because life seems less burdensome and heavy. You have acquired a discipline to be more present and to not let your thoughts go unexamined because you know that an undisciplined and unexamined mind is hell’s playground. This discipline keeps you from falling for the same mind tricks that have weighed you down.
  • Feeling more integrated and accepting of yourself and all of your shadows. Being comfortable in your own skin therefore more accepting of others and their own unique qualities.
  • Increased synchronicities. It just happens and it is the coolest thing.
  • Becoming less self-centered and more thoughtful without taking things so personally. Instead of impulsively reacting, you are able to “see” without looking through the lens of your own unexamined and therefore uncontrolled emotions. So instead of always making it about you, you can see that perhaps the other person is hurting and then are able to interact in a more meaningful way.
  • Increased steadiness and centeredness- Life is designed to be messy and will always have challenging moments, so it’s not that these challenges go away, but your response to the challenges begin to shift since most likely, you have cultivated strategies to help you through. You begin to see that obstacles are often growth and learning experiences. Even though you feel pain and discomfort, you learn that if you lean in and hold steady in your truth, your perseverance will refine and soften all of those hard edges, making you all the more wiser.
  • Having the most profound and mind blowing experiences of the Witness and “I Am” presence that is inside and all around. These moments of grace are the sweetest moments of all.

From Baby Steps To Infinite Possibilities

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“Anything you think of doing, however insignificant, should be done immediately. Spur yourself on and carry it through without becoming discouraged. If this becomes an ingrained habit, things you thought were impossible will become possible, and closed doors will open, as you will discover in many ways.”

― Shinichi Suzuki, Nurtured by Love: The Classic Approach to Talent Education

I dedicate this post to my beloved 9 year old son who is one of my greatest teachers. As I watch him unfold into a vivacious young boy and musician, he reminds me of what is possible when we choose NOT to buy into our limiting beliefs that tells us we are not good enough. Of course we get discouraged, as I have seen many tear filled tantrums come from this child.. and let me tell you that practice ain’t always fun, BUT when we hold to a vision of what is possible and we allow ourselves to be carried by the current of our dreams, then magic happens.

WATCH THE MAGIC UNFOLD!

Earth Day Blessings!! A Message from Pachamama

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Every day, we wake up with an opportunity to make decisions about how we are going to show up on this beautiful planet.  As I am sure you have already experienced, this world is wonderfully yet paradoxically designed to both bewilder and enlighten us. The beauty of this human ride is that we are ALWAYS blessed with the freedom to choose which way want to go, so our time here is DESIGNED for us to make stupid, dumb and bad choices. Then perhaps, we become motivated to wake up and choose differently. Seriously, if we wanted to be enlightened all of the time, we wouldn’t have been born, as our light is already a given.

For this reason, I have no desire to tell you what is right or wrong and what you should and shouldn’t do for our planet because honestly, my belief is that our magnificent earth will survive just fine with or without us. In my years of communing with our beloved mother, she has whispered to me time and again that our need for her far outweighs her need for us and that we would destroy ourselves way before we could destroy her. So what’s the point of all this and why bother being concerned about our planet, you may ask?

Because my friends, our sanity, our healing and our opportunity for moving out of our own suffering become far greater with her appreciated and intact.

Because she is a constant holder of consciousness and through her display of beauty, perseverance, abundance and freedom, we are reminded of our own.

Because in our darkest hours, when we are shattered in pieces, she wraps us in her sweet embrace and puts us back together again.

Because she lovingly holds the parts of ourselves that we have discarded until we are ready to once again claim them for ourselves.

Because, through our relations with her and all of her creatures, we learn compassion and unconditional love so that we can in turn be a vessel for compassion and love.

As Eckhart Tolle so beautifully says, “Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now. Let it teach you Being. Let it teach you integrity — which means to be one, to be yourself, to be real. Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem.”

I say, let nature teach you that Life’s ONLY promise is the unfoldment of your consciousness. When Nature blooms, she does not bloom for recognition or entitlement. She blooms only for Life itself. We let go of struggle and destruction when we remember that our planet, even though she gives us everything, OWES us nothing. Living for Life itself, without expecting anything in return- now that is an ultimate lesson.

Perhaps think about honoring, appreciating and taking care of this beautiful earth not because you have to or because she needs you to, but because by doing so, you get an opportunity to make a choice that reflects not only a love for this planet but a love for yourself.

Earth Love = Self Love

How wonderful is that!! Earth day blessings to you all!