Monday, February 19, 2007
"The Secret" Cotinued...
Wow, it was a rough week last week. I injured my shoulder a week ago last Friday. I was demonstrating an advanced Asana in class and did too much. This is the first time I've ever had an injury in my Yoga practice and I've been practicing since 2001. I ended up pulling my shoulder muscle and spent much of last week icing it each night. I hadn't iced any part of my body since I was eleven and had tendonitis in my knee from doing standing back flips in gymnastics.Even though it wasn't easy to go through, the experience of being injured was very enlightening. I feel much better now, I'm still taking it easy with my Yoga practice and there is a little bit of tenderness yet in my shoulder, but overall I'm on the mend. I literally had to back away from my practice the entire week while I was rehabing my shoulder. This was the first time I'd ever had anything keep me from Yoga. It was so emotionally challenging to not be able to practice Yoga to feel good in my Body, Mind and Spirit...
I now look at my injury as a blessing in disguise. Even though I couldn't practice, this was the best thing that could have happened to me. The injury made me stop and feel and be conscious of everything. I had to back away from my daily feel good routine and regimen, a.k.a Yoga, and just be with what I was experiencing physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
Sometimes backing away from our mechanical routine, our daily rituals, can be the best thing that can happen for us. Otherwise, we can end up functioning on automatic, and going through life without really feeling anything or being truly aware. Yoga is about feeling everything, and even our Yoga practice, at times, runs the risk of being mechanical or unconscious, i.e. just going through the motions, but not really feeling.
This Friday I will be heading out to L.A. to take classes at the Exhale Spa in Venice. I'm really looking forward to it and will be attending a Yoga Trance Dance class with Shiva Rea, who teaches at Exhale, while I'm there. I've wanted to take class with her for a long time, so it's awesome to have this vision become a reality. I will also be taking class with many other teachers, too, and am so excited to have this opportunity. In the meantime, if you haven't seen Oprah's shows on The Secret, I am posting two links here which will allow you to watch both shows she aired over the last two weeks on her program. These shows are amazing and have already supported me in creating transformations and, ultimately, greater alignment in my life. Be sure to watch the February 8th show first...
Thursday 2/8: The Secret-Episode 1
Friday 2/16: The Secret-Episode 2
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Happy Valentine's Day
I hope you are having a lovely day so far. Perhaps you are going to be spending this evening with your special someone. Beyond all the gifts we can give, the words we can say, and the loving gestures we can share, one of the greatest ways we can share our love for another person, is to be completely present with them. Sometimes I catch myself when I'm with one of my loved ones, be it my significant other or family and friends, not being fully present. Thinking about things, focusing my attention in other places when I'm with them. How often are you really present in the presence of another person? The practice of experiencing Yoga is the practice of Being Present. Not just sometimes, but all the time. So as you go through your day today, I encourage you to ground yourself in the present moment and BE present. And when you spend time with your loved one/s, give them one of the greatest presents possible...your Presence. Completely connected and in the moment with them in Body, Mind and Spirit."You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give." - Kahlil Gibran
Happy Valentine's Day!
Read moreSunday, February 11, 2007
"The Secret"
I received a countless number of e-mails last week about "The Secret" being on Oprah this past Thursday. So, I set my TiVo and watched it on Thursday evening. Oprah had on a panel of different teachers of "The Secret," as well as, the author of the book herself, Rhonda Byrne."The Secret" is the law of attraction. Law of Attraction says that like attracts like. At first I thought to myself, this is exactly what I teach and believe in and have been practicing for several years. This is much of what Yoga is about, i.e. the words of Patanjali when he writes about Vinyasa Yoga:
"Vinyasa Yoga is the sequencing of moments in time together to realize an intention we set for ourselves." - The Yoga Sutras
"Vinyasa Yoga is the sequencing of moments in time together to realize an intention we set for ourselves." - The Yoga Sutras
Or, as in the words of Buddha which I have written on my website.
As I continued to watch, however, I found myself looking at this idea that our thoughts create our reality in a completely new perspective. So many powerful awarenesses opened up for me as I watched so I will share a few of them with you here...
1) Indeed, our thoughts create our reality. But, not only our thoughts, but the feelings we have connected to the thoughts we are having. It is the feeling which is most powerful. Our feelings send out waves of energy into the Universe, which then in turn attract toward us whatever the frequency of that feeling is. If it is a high frequency, positive feeling, we will attract more of that into our life. In contrast, if it is a negative, heavy feeling, we will manifest more of this in our life. I recognize I have feelings attached to my thoughts, but I've never considered it's the feelings that are affecting what I'm attracting into my life. Awareness: Wake up and be conscious of what I'm feeling moment-to-moment throughout my day, not just what I'm thinking. I have the power to change my feelings into positive feelings, just as I have the power to change my thinking.
2) Ask, Believe, Receive. Ask once and only once. If you are asking for what you want more than once, than you are not fully faithful and fully believing you will actually receive it. Therefore, after you've asked once, believe fully you will indeed receive. And, finally, receive. Awareness: I've always believed in the Christian teaching Ask and You Shall Receive. However, I've often found myself asking more than once for what I would like to open up to or realize in my life. Now, I will ask once and only once and trust completely what's in my Highest Good will manifest for me on every level, personally with my health and wellness, professionally, financially, spiritually, philantrhopically, and in my relationships.
3) The Universe is like a restaurant. We place an order and we receive what we've ordered. For instance, "I'll never have a great relationship." Or, "I have a crazy family full of drama" or "I'll never be good enough at X,Y,Z to be successful." Any time we've had an awareness like this, we've placed an order. When we go to a restaurant and order our meal, we expect to receive what we've ordered. The Universe works in the same way. All day long we are having thoughts about anything and everything. In many of these thoughts we are actually telling or ordering certain things to the Universe both to our delight and our detriment. So, realizing our thoughts are this powerful, we have the ability to change what we're ordering for ourselves and our life. Awareness: Be conscious of what I'm ordering and asking for all day long. This takes practice because of course it's our unconsciouss thinking which has the power to be so detrimental. Spiritual growth is allowing that which is unconsciouss to become conscious. This is how we transform our experience by becoming conscious and recognizing what we are actually asking for each moment of the day.
4) Be grateful. So often we want more, more, more or at least better and different of what we have. Before we can attract "more" into our life, it's essential to be fully appreciative and grateful for everything we have, exactly as it is. Awareness: Open up to gratitude and being grateful for everything in my life, exactly as it is.
I hope you find these insights powerful for you. All of these teachings are the same awarenesses that have been taught since the beginning of time, but said in another way. It's amazing how the Truth expressed in a different way, can resonate with us so we actually hear it and listen to it and make changes in our way of thinking and ultimately Being. I haven't watched "The Secret" movie yet, but I intend to see it for the whole experience.
