Today's Joyful Affirmation

My life is a precious human life.

As the saying goes...

...when life gives you a lemon, make lemonade. Or maybe a lemonade popsicle this time of year!  In my neck of the woods, this winter has been a rough one. The new year rolled in and with it came snow, wind, and frigid temperatures.  Its been no ordinary Iowa winter.  Frigid temperatures this year don't mean single digits, it means sub zero highs and wind chills down to 30 and even 40 below!  Schools have been cancelled or delayed at least once a week since the semester started, driving conditions are treacherous, if not downright dangerous, and the snow just keeps on coming.  The number one topic of most conversations? The weather. So what to do with all of this?

How about that lemonade popsicle? Yes, the external conditions are unbearable. We're all feeling the cabin fever set in.  Our cars groan when we insist on going somewhere.  Our house, our clothes, and our shoes are constantly filthy from the snow and slush.  We have to shovel the sidewalk...again...and again...and again. It takes 15 minutes to get out the door (45 if you have kids) because we have so much bundling up to do.  But it is what is.  Its winter. Its cold. Its messy. The more we complain about it, the more negative energy we feed one another. It takes a lot of energy to be negative. Being positive is much more relaxing. So why not let it go and find the good?

What could possibly be good about all of this? Take all of your complaints and make them into a positive. Your car groans from the cold when you drive it.  Be grateful you have a car to get you where you need to go. This is no time to be walking or riding a bike.
Your house is a filthy mess.  Be thankful you have a house to keep you warm. Think of cleaning your house as a way to say "Thank you for your shelter."
You have to shovel. Its exercise. Be thankful your body is capable of the task. There are people out there who would give anything to be able to shovel a sidewalk again.
Its forever and a day to get out the door. At least you have all those warm clothes in which to bundle up.

Consider this challenging winter a gift instead of a curse.  This is your reminder of all that you have.  Your reminder to be grateful and positive.  Perhaps that's why we are challenged in our lives - because we need those reminders of all that is good.

Tonight, as the wind howls and rattles my windows, as my house quivers and creeks, and as my 75 pound bulldog gets blown into a snowdrift when he tries to go outside to relieve himself, I still find myself happy and content. The fire is crackling and I'm bundled up in my ugly but incredibly warm and cozy robe and fuzzy slippers. A warm dinner is cooking. I've been playing games and snuggling with my daughter and my hubby before taking a time out to write this. Our dog has climbed out of the snowdrift and is snoring (loudly) next to my feet. We are warm, safe, cozy, and happy.

Tomorrow I'll have to brave the forces of nature and go about my regular day, away from my cozy fire and snugly bathrobe, but I'll be free from resistance, free from negativity, and warm and content on the inside.

"The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation, but your thoughts about it."

~Eckhart Tolle

Namaste.

Your Divine Self, a poem

My joy is yours

And yours is mine

Our love unites

Each one, divine.

Shine our light

And you shall see

That I am you 

And you are me.

Our love is shared

Among us all

Believe in this 

And never fall.

Your peace within

Forever still

Comforts you

And guides your will.

My will is yours 

And yours in mine

Our connection shared

You are divine.

Namaste.

Today's Joyful Affirmation

I shine my light wherever I go.

Intentions

Today I intend to ask myself, "What is worthy of my energy today?"

I also intend to ask myself, "What is not worthy of my energy today?" That answer is easy - anything that causes fear is not worthy. Fear manifests itself in the form of worry, stress, anxiety, sadness, anger, and so forth.  Why would we ever choose to put our energy into those things?  We give nothing to ourselves or to anyone else by doing so.  There are things nearly everyday that we must do that we may not want or like to do, but choosing to allow that to cause stress is not a good use of our energy. Simply accept that certain things must get done and be addressed and then do those things with a light heart. There is no room for fear in your life. When you allow fear into your life, you allow it into the lives of others.  When you allow only peace into your life, you allow only peace into the lives of others.

Today, I intend to bring peace into my life and into the lives of others.

Namaste.

Our Truth

We are, without a doubt, spiritual beings.  Yet we connect ourselves with being human.  As humans, we worry over what people think about us, what they say about us, how we are perceived.  Instead of wasting our energy on fear - worry, anxiety, sadness, are all manifestations of fear, after all - why not focus our energy on what lays beneath the surface; our true, inner selves.  Eckhart Tolle describes us each as a lake. On the surface, there may be sunshine and warmth, but there is also wind, rain, thunder and lightening.  When the weather turns, the surface of the lake becomes choppy and turbulent.  Yet beneath the surface, deep within the lake, the water is still, calm, at peace.  This place of peace and solitude is where your true self lies.  When we can quiet our mind and body we can experience our inner self.  As I've read and studied Eckhart’s teachings, I've discovered that I’ve already known and experienced the inner self he describes.  But until now, I never realized what it was - the light within, the Divine, the inner spirit.  Call it what you like, but what I know is that it is Me.  And it is You.  

The few times that I've been completely aware of my inner self, I was only a child. The most vivid of these occasions was when I was probably 7 or 8 years old.  I was in the backseat of my mom’s car, driving up the road to our house.  As I was staring out the window, I became intensely aware of what it felt like to be alive. I could feel every part of my body, inside and out, from my toes, to my fingers, to the top of my head.  It felt like something inside wanted to burst forth. It was like my body was a shell and there was some sort of intense energy radiating within and trying to break free. It felt like a wave sometimes.  After several seconds, probably not even a full minute, it became overwhelming and I’d have to shake myself out of it to come back to “normal.”  At the time of course, I had no language to explain what was happening.  Tolle describes it as a “subtle energy field that pervades the entire body and gives vibrant life to every organ and every cell….it will feel as if every cell is becoming more alive.”  

Knowing that our inner Self is there is wonderfully comforting knowledge.  Until recently, I’d lost that feeling since childhood, but with practice, I’ve begun to find it again.   Meditation has been the key player in this connection.  The idea of seated meditation has always been daunting to me. My meditation has always happened while I’m running.  The bodily sensations take over. I hear the sound of my breath, I feel the fall of my feet and the strength in my legs as they push off the ground. The first time I tried seated meditation on my own I didn’t even make it two minutes. After a few guided practices, though, I began to feel a sense of calm take over.  Awareness and acceptance of stillness uncovers the inner Self.  It releases worry, anxiety, fear. 

In their search for peace, calmness of mind, freedom from pain and suffering, Tolle talks of people approaching him asking him to give them what he has – spiritual enlightenment, stillness. His response is “You have it already. You just can’t feel it because your mind is making too much noise.” We are bound to pain and suffering by our own minds.  Yet yoga teaches us that there is a way out of it.  Through stillness.  But most of us are plagued by the endless chatter and ongoing dialog of our minds. 

In my yoga classes I sometimes have my students practice feeling this inner Self.  This exercise was shared with me and I pass it along whenever I can.  To do this, lie on your back and close your eyes.  Rest one hand on your belly and the other over your heart.  Begin to notice your breath.  Notice the rise and fall of your belly and your chest.  Don’t judge or change it, just notice.  Next begin to bring your full awareness to one part of your body.  Maybe it’s your hands.  Become completely aware of what your hands feel like, feeling them from within.  Notice if you feel a slight energy, a low vibration.  Don’t think about it, just notice.  Allow that energy to begin to make its way up your arms, then down through your abdomen and into your feet and toes.  Let the energy make its way to the top of your head.  Continue to feel the energy, allowing it to become stronger.  Let every cell in your body vibrate with this energy.  This is what its like to be alive. As you slowly open your eyes, try to stay connected to your life energy.  That life energy is our spirit.  I say ours because it is mine and it is yours.  We are connected through our spirit.  We cannot hate one another because that would be to hate ourselves. Love yourself and love all those around you.  Find peace in this. 

Today's Joyful Affirmation

I can make the world a better place.

Little Yogis

"Dissolving the five Kleshas, or veils, brings forth the radiance of the Divine Self."

Yoga Sutras, 11.3

The other day I taught "Yoga Play," or toddler yoga.  My little yogis ranged in age from 2 through 5, although most of them were 2.  While slightly chaotic, it was a fun and beautiful practice. We danced and sang, learned some poses, bowed to one another and said "namaste," and even laid in savasana for a full minute and a half!  What was so beautiful about this though, was seeing their uncluttered, eager, and accepting minds absorb everything we did.  This is where is all begins.  A yoga mindset is a peaceful and loving one, and teaching that to children from the beginning is what will make the world a better place.

To an adult, practicing yoga can be sort of like learning a foreign language - only its the language we are truly made to speak so it has only become foreign to us. Children come into this world with no misperceptions, their inner light shinning brightly.  They come in knowing and understanding far more than we know as adults. As we begin to invest ourselves into the world around us, however, and as we are influenced by our life situation and the people in it, our vision becomes skewed.  The Kleshas, or veils, which represent themselves as our mental and emotional mindset, draw thicker and thicker over our eyes until we have become lost from our true selves and fully invested in the material world.  Our inner light fades, and we accept our thoughts, emotions, and past experiences as our identity.

As adults, lifting this veil is far more difficult depending on how much you have invested yourself into what you think is the truth. As we get older, our minds and bodies are more resistant to things that are new or different.  Yet what we must understand is that it is a matter of remembering what we already know, not learning something that is new.  With children, we have the opportunity to lift the veil before it has been drawn shut.  Keeping that inner light glowing and lit in our children, preventing the veil from blocking their spirit, will make the world a better place.

Namaste.

Today's Joyful Affirmation

There is nothing to fear.

Today's Joyful Affirmation

I can handle any situation successfully.

Today's Joyful Affirmation

Today I choose to be joyful and full of energy.

Releasing Fear

We often ask, why is there suffering in this world?  The short answer is that we've forgotten our true selves.  We've let our ego take over and the ego has invoked fear, and in turn suffering, into our lives.  

The yoga practice of meditation and of pranayama, or breathing techniques, are powerful tools for releasing us from fear and guiding us towards a life of love, compassion, and peace. It is also, as the Bhagavad Gita reminds us, a release from suffering and a means towards happiness:

“In calmness,

the cessation of all

one’s suffering occurs.

Indeed, for one whose

thought has been calmed,

discernment is quickly established.

 There is no discernment for one

who is not absorbed in yoga;

and for one not absorbed in yoga,

there is no meditative state;

 And for one who has

no meditative state,

there is no peace-

for one who is not peaceful,

from where is happiness to come?”

(2.64-66)

When quieted, as through meditation, the ego is threatened because it is in this silence that we find our true light – that divine light that we all share and which is the Truth about our real selves.  The ego cannot work against this Truth and will be diminished if the Truth becomes known.  It therefore invokes fear as an attempt to prevent you from entering this state.  Quieting the ego and finding stillness in the mind takes practice. Meditation is a time to practice being in this space of “no-mind”.  When we can enter into this state of stillness, we release fear and find peace.  And with peace, compassion, love, and forgiveness come naturally. 

In meditation, we look inward. Asanas and pranayama assist us in this inward journey but it is in meditation where we become aware of the Self within, the true Self.  This is where we discover that everything we need to be whole does already exists within us. The unveiling of this knowledge can be frightening or even painful at times. Feeling compassion, for everyone, all the time, for instance, brings one tremendous joy. But it can also bring great pain. To feel another’s suffering is to feel your own, and this frightens us. We so often fear our own pain, our own vulnerability.  But when, as yoga teaches us, and as we come to know through mediation, we recognize and honor the Divine Spirit within us, we know we have nothing to fear because fear cannot reach the Divine and therefore it cannot reach us.