I've had so much fun appearing on Fox 4 Good Day. Each time I've gone, the anchors, producers, and people who work there have been so kind and welcoming. Today was a lot of fun, I felt more relaxed and at ease, probably because it was my second time on the show. They had me on to talk about easing Holiday Stress with Yoga. Afterward, I had the chance to hang out and watch the last 20 minutes of the newscast. After the show, Dan, who is one of the co-anchors spoke to me about Yoga. He mentioned that he practices Yoga and was so enthusiastic about it. It's so great to see people who are passionate about it, and experiencing the incredible benefits it can bring. I hope to have the opportunity to be on Good Day again sharing any valuable information I can to support people in their journey to optimal health and well-being. If you'd like to view the clip from the show, you can click here. Also, if you haven't checked out the new photo section there are lots of new pics of poses to see. Have a wonderful weekend! Read more

Today's post is actually from my mom. Yesterday, she asked me to read the Christmas letter she is sending to our extended family and their friends. As I read it, I began to cry. Not only because of the joy and triumphs experienced over the past year, but also the difficulties and sadness. Those of you who've kept up with the blog, are aware of those personal challenges as I've shared them with you.

What I loved about my mom's Christmas letter is what she wrote about in the last couple of paragraphs, after she had shared the joys and sorrows. So, here is an excerpt from the letter. Who knew Ebenezer was such a positively filled expression..

"So, here we are, some days, wondering what this year of joy, sorrow and fear is all about. We think it might be summed up this way. In a pre-Thanksgiving church sermon, our pastor talked about a tradition practiced by the Hebrews and recorded in the Old Testament’s Book of Leviticus. The Jews worried that over the course of time they would forget about God’s faithfulness to them and so as a reminder, they made small piles of stones in the fields each time they experienced God’s constancy in their lives. They called them “Ebenezer’s” (yes, as in Scrooge), and over time, to their wonderment, the field was filled with these small stone piles. The word “Ebenezer”, I am told, translates to “thus far, God has sustained me.” That is the story of the Hall’s 2006 – as we look out over the landscape of this past year, it is filled with evidence of God’s faithfulness and He has sustained us.

We’ve had the joy of watching Marky, Samantha and Brandon grow; Lesley and Mark lovingly parent their children; Randy marry Jennifer, the girl of his dreams; Leanne achieve the personal fulfillment of her professional goals. As the world has tested their character and caring in difficult times, Fred and I have been blessed to observe each of our children lovingly care for their Grandmother, their Dad, and their Mom and we are blessed and filled with joy. Our faith has grown as a “family” and God has been there for us “thus far.”

We pray that each of you will have a Merry Christmas, a New Year filled with joy and awareness that your life, too, is filled with Ebenezer’s." - Pat Hall
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The Holiday Yoga Class at Exhale Spa was yesterday and it was wonderful. I compiled a wide selection of Christmas music together and taught the class to some of everyone's most favorite tunes. I also wore a Santa Claus hat when I taught, decorated the Yoga altar with colored Christmas lights and gave everyone a personally hand-painted Christmas ornament with the Om symbol and Namaste '06 on it. It seemed like everyone had a great time and we all felt the incredible and uplifting Christmas Spirit after the practice together. It was a special moment together in time and one I will remember forever, much laughter, singing to the songs together in class, and even some tears at the end in Savasana as the class relaxed to Silent Night, sung in Irish, by Enya, a truly moving and beautiful piece of music...

I wanted to let you know I will be appearing on Fox 4 Good Day this Friday morning in the 8:30 am hour. I will be sharing Yoga tips for relieving Holiday stress to be able to feel peaceful and joyful this time of the year. This will be my second appearance on Good Day and I'm really looking forward to it. I will post again this week but just wanted to share the news!

Here is a great quote by Osho and a nice reminder for each of us:

"Become more and more innocent, less knowledgeable and more childlike. Take life as fun - because that's precisely what it is!" - Osho

Namaste!


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(This is a post I wrote last week.)

"If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may be."- John R. Miller

I feel joyous. The Christmas tree is decorated and it glows with an intese vibration of happiness. Yesterday, I felt so inspired by the Spirit of the Holidays that when I practiced Yoga in my studio space at home, I put on KVIL and practiced to Christmas music. It was awesome... In fact, I will be leading a special Holiday Yoga class to everyone's favorite Christmas songs on December 16th at Exhale Spa to share in the joy of the Holidays together. I hope you'll be able to join me.

I can remember feeling this joyous and spirited when I was a child about this time of year, but it's been several years since I've felt this infectious feeling of
joy for the Holidays in every cell of my Being. The feeling probably began to dissolve somewhere around my teenage years, when the innocence of childhood
was waring off. But, in the last four years, I would actually get annoyed everytime I'd hear a Christmas song on the radio. All those songs about happiness,
joy, peace and love. I found myself resenting everything because of the struggles and pain I was experiencing in my life, with my relationship, family,
finances and business.

My journey over the past four years was one of intense struggle and difficulty. You can read more about my experience in a blog I posted last December, in which I share about some of the challenges I faced. What I see more and more all the time, though, is how necesssary the pain and suffering was and how I'm actually grateful to have experienced it. Somehow the joy wouldn't be of any value without the pain.

"The difficulties which I meet with in order to realize my existence are precisely what awaken and mobilize my activities, my capacities." - Jose
Ortega y Gasset

When I finished my practice yesterday I spent 15 minutes in a very deep state of relaxation in Savasana, Resting Pose. When I came out of it, I felt tired and even a little depressed. "What's happening?" I thought to myself. "Why am I feeling this way?" I had just felt so intensely
positive that I even did Yoga listening to Jingle Bell Rock and Joy to the World and now I was feeling depressed and down?

As I was driving to class I called my girlfriend to talk with her about my feelings. Perhaps, the deep state of relaxation I experienced in Savasana, helped to ground me and bring me back to Earth. I felt a heaviness physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

"There is a lot happening for you...so much that you've worked so hard on is coming into alignment," she commented. "For almost five years you've hoped
for your family's acceptance of you and the person you're sharing your life with, and you have that now."

"I can't believe it's been almost five years of struggling with this pain," I replied.

"This will probably be the first Christmas in a long time that not only you, but your whole family will feel joyous," she said.

As I felt the feeling of joy begin to surface again, I thought about the gift of
being able to share in and experience this joy, not only with my self, but with my family. As I felt these intensely positive feelings, I remarked, "I feel joyous and yet I want to cry." And, as we continued to talk, I began to cry. What I
realized while I was crying, was that the tears were really about experiencing and releasing the pain and the unfelt feelings.

"We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full." - Marcel Proust

It is through the experience of our pain that we awaken to our joy. And, as I cried I continued to become aware of how my ability to experience such intense, heartfelt joy, was because of the depth of the pain I've experienced. Perhaps, the pain is also a gift. Perhaps, the only way to know joy, is to know pain.

Life is suffering, is not pessimistic at all, but rather, the opportunity to know unbounded bliss. Maybe that's what Jesus, Buddha and the Great Prophets were teaching us. Yoga teaches us consciousness is Bliss, and that we are pure,
unbounded consciousness.

And...

"There is no coming to consciousness without pain." - Carl Jung


So, it is only through our experiences of knowing the depths of pain that we can open up to and awaken to the deepest depth of joy possible.

"Never to suffer would have been never to have been blessed." - Edgar Allan Poe

May we open up to the gift of each moment, exactly as it is, be grateful for wherever Life leads us, and discover our connection to Source in every breath
we breathe, knowing Grace and Peace, as we open up to our true unbounded and blissful nature all along the way.

"Let Heaven and Nature Sing..." -Joy to the World

Namaste!

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