I'm sorry to say I'm feeling "under-the-weather." I rarely feel ill, so I suppose it's my time to really slow down and be with everything I've been going through during this stressful and emotional time of a relationship separation. It's funny how some part of me, as a Yoga Instructor, feels a little ashamed to admit I experience stress...I guess I tell myself I'm supposed to be the one who knows how to handle and deal with stressful situations so they do not affect me negatively, and then, of course, enlighten others how to do the same. It's a nice thought, but it simply isn't reality. I cannot remember one time I've been sick, since I began practicing Yoga and cultivating emotional awareness, that I haven't felt that the sickness was directly related to something I was dealing with emotionally. Even now, I know the sickness I'm feeling is not just physical, but a manifestation of something happening with me on the emotional/energetic/mental and spiritual plane. Everytime I find myself in the place of illness, it is because I haven't been allowing myself to fully be with and feel what I'm going through, but instead, have been operating from survival or flight-or-fight mode...

Speaking of this, if you've never heard of Louise Hay, she recently appeared on Oprah last week. I first read her book, You Can Heal Your Life, about five years ago when I had just started practicing Yoga. My Yoga teacher recommended it to me. Louise Hay healed from cancer and believes every kind of disorder, or disease, we experience from the common cold, to acne, to cancer and everything in between, is caused by an emotional blockage or tension which causes DIS-ease. She prescribes the use of affirmations to help heal ourselves from whatever we are struggling with emotionally, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. You can read some of the DIS-eases and their prescried affirmations here.

And, speaking of Oprah, her new Book Club Book of the Month is A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle. Oprah and Eckhart Tolle are offeirng an exclusive online class about this best-selling book which you can register for online. The FREE class begins March 3rd and it is recommended to read it prior to the start of the class. I will be reading it and look forward to a transformational and enlightening experience.

And, one more thing...the Online Editor of National Geographic Adventure e-mailed me a fascinating story which was just featured in their magazine. It is about a couple's retreat to an Ashram in Kerala, India. The couple went there to deepen their spiritualtiy and to discover the true depth of their relationship and connection. The girlfriend of the article's author was inspired to go to an Ashram in India after reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I must say, I've always been interested in spending some time at an Ashram in India, but this feeling grew a lot stronger after reading that book...so, I can certainly relate. After transforming through everything I am currently going through in my life, I have wondered if this is the next step for me...to spend some time...a couple weeks or a month in India. Only time and the mysterious unfolding of the Flow will reveal the way to go. I'll talk to you again soon...

Namaste!

p.s.-Here's an excerpt from the National Geographic Article:

"In ancient India, ashrams—a name derived from a Sanskrit term meaning "religious exercise"—were cloisters set in nature where swamis, or sages, sought spiritual enlightenment through, among other sacred disciplines, the practice of yoga. Over the centuries these swamis began hosting commoners seeking spiritual instruction. Ashram life remained primarily an Indian phenomenon until after World War II, when Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and others began blazing the '60s Hippie Trail across Central Asia. But it was in 1968, after the Beatles retreated to an ashram in Rishikesh, on the banks of the Ganges, that the ashram concept shot straight into the Western mainstream. By the '70s terms such as "ashram," "guru," and "karma" had become commonplace in the West, and yoga an accepted form of exercise. Today tens of thousands travel annually to ashrams in India. Some of these retreats are little more than sex clubs with stretching, while others, like the one Mara and I had come to, offer no-frills yogic beatdowns. And that's what I reminded Mara while we huddled under the rosewood tree. This love test was her idea, and if we were ever going to be "drenched in spirituality," this had to be the place. Plus, we had nonrefundable airline tickets."
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