Finding happy

Happiness is the sun shining, the smell of spring and the sounds of the rain. It's listening to the birds singing while the sun comes up, its sipping coffee before anyone else is awake.  Happiness is the tiny hand of your child in yours, its taking quiet moments for yourself and spending time with those you love.  Happiness is sitting in traffic, waiting in line, and running late for an appointment.  Happiness is tears of joy and tears of grief.  Happiness is set backs and achievements, mistakes and successes.  Happiness is peace and peace is realizing that you always possess the freedom to choose your outlook. 

External forces do not affect one who is totally at peace.  The situations in your life happen because they are the situations that you need. Eckhart Tolle says "The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it."  Its easy to resent that statement, especially when faced with real tragedy or extreme challenges.  But the truth is that happiness exists within, always and forever. We can't seek out something that we already possess, and this is why people who go looking for happiness may never find it. Its not about looking outward, to what is temporary, its about looking within.  Accepting each and every moment for exactly what it is and letting go of our expectations. On our yoga mat, its about releasing our desire to come into the full expression of a pose which our bodies aren't ready for and giving ourselves permission to be where we truly need to be.  Off of our mat, its about letting go of how we think an event or situation should unfold and surrendering ourselves to the events as they happen.  Surrender does not mean giving up, it means participating fully in the moment in which you find yourself, being present, and accepting fully and completely each moment as it is.  

Everything that you need, you already have. Its just a matter of remembering.  Keep your attention to this moment.  Let go of the past, release your worry about the future and cherish every moment as it comes to you.  Be happy and be at peace.


Finish every day and be done with it.You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Today is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
This day is all that is good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.
                           -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Living Yoga

I gave a presentation today on Yoga and Meditation. My notes included a little history of yoga, the benefits of a physical practice and of a seated meditation, and so forth - just the basics.  What came out as I began speaking was much more authentic than that.  Behind the rows of chairs where the audience sat, I had spread out yoga mats. As people began filtering in the room, I sensed hesitation about what on earth I was going to make them do. Yoga, the physical practice that Westerners think of anyway, is intimidating to many.  "I can't do yoga, I'm not flexible...I'm not strong enough..."is often how people react to yoga.  People often stay away from classes because they are worried that everyone else is looking at them, judging them.  Truthfully, this is one of the last places you will find judgement.  This is where you have permission, where you are encouraged, to let down your guard.  To drop your expectations and to simply Be.

The truth is, everyone can do yoga.  If you exist, you can do yoga.  It is our natural state.  I came across this quote recently: "True yoga is not about the shape of your body, but about the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed, it is to be lived." Living your yoga is not about being able to do the perfect Warrior II pose, or being able to stand on your hands and touch your feet to your head.  Its about finding unity within our mind, body, and spirit.  The asanas, the poses of a physical yoga practice, are intended to prepare our body for meditation.  Meditation is where we find stillness.  Its where we release pain, suffering, expectations, stress, worry, and everything else that doesn't serve us.  Its a place where we can just Be.

I told my audience this morning, "The less time you think have to meditate each day, the longer you should meditate each day.  If you don't have time for even 5 minutes of sitting and doing and thinking of nothing, then do it for 10 minutes."

We ended with a brief guided meditation on gratefulness.  And later, as I was doing some spring cleaning back at home, I began to think about all of the things in my life for which I'm grateful. Here is my list.  Share your own if you wish...

• The long winter...without it, I wouldn't appreciate the beauty and relief from cold that a Spring day like today brings.
• Constantly picking up toys and my husband's clothes, wiping handprints from the windows, and cleaning dog hair and drool off of every surface in the house...I never had those chores before I had a family, and so, I'm grateful for them.  
• Running injuries...they've made me aware of when I need to stop or slow down, in more ways than one.
• I'm grateful for every experience that has lead me to this moment.  Each one has been exactly what I needed to be where I am now.  
• Living yoga and sharing it with others...I see how yoga translates into my life every single day. We are hungry for this. We want guidance, peace, and stillness. When I can give that to someone, I am grateful.

~Namaste

Awakening

The lotus flower begins its life underwater. Beneath the surface, surrounded by darkness, in muddy waters, the lotus flower begins to sprout. Despite this displeasing environment, the flower overcomes all obstacles to blossom above the surface of the water into its pure and beautiful form.  Here, the lotus experiences light and freedom.  It is awakened from the darkness.  That darkness, while seemingly unpleasant, is what gives life and beauty to the flower.  

As such, our winter months give us the time to draw inward.  As winter fades away, and spring sets in, there is an energy that seems to grow. This year that energy is ten fold. After a winter of short days, long nights, snowstorm after snowstorm, and temperatures reaching unbearable lows, the veil is finally lifted from us. The world looks fresh and new. We see things with new eyes.  

Today as I sipped coffee, I watched the sun rise and listened to the birds chirping. I noticed the soft buds beginning to bloom on my magnolia tree.  As winter finally slips away, its as if I'm seeing this all for the first time. Spring is about birth and rebirth. Plants, trees, flowers, come back into bloom.  We feel energized and light hearted.  We appreciate the world around us. 

For all of us who have drawn inward in an effort to stay warm and cozy this winter, it is finally time to open up and feel energized.  The lotus flower represents awakening, enlightenment, and heart opening. Open your heart to energy and happiness.  Enjoy, honor, and cherish every moment that is given to you.

"As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water, and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world, having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world."

Life in Balance

"Life is a balance of holding on and letting go."
~Unknown

In the balancing act of our lives, we are faced with things which we must either hold onto and cherish, or let go and release.  We make decisions every day that either bring balance into our lives, or throw us out of balance.  Everything from what we eat, to how we treat ourselves and those around us, to the way in which we view our life situation determines our state of balance or imbalance.

As yoga has become integrated into my life, I've found that it was the missing piece that brings all aspects of life together.  From my love for my family, my passion for running, my desire to eat healthy, to my career, yoga brings all of these things together, giving me the greatest sense of balance I've ever experienced.  In recent posts, I've focused on a whole foods plant based lifestyle and the more I explore this way of eating, the more I see the connection to a yoga life.

My fitness manual states that "adherence is the primary factor in determining permanent weight management." While overall health, not weight management specifically, is my focus, this statement is why I always refer to the way I eat as a lifestyle, not a diet.  The word diet brings to mind fad diets and nibbling on little more than lettuce.  A diet is something we grasp for a temporary solution.  A lifestyle is the way we live our life.  And this is true not just in the nutritional aspect of our lives but in how we live our lives, mind, body, and spirit.

We must find balance in our bodily and spiritual selves.  One reason I find plant based eating so complementary to living a yoga life, if that fruits, vegetables, and grains must be combined and balanced together to insure intake of the necessary vitamins and minerals we need.  As such, we must find that balance in other parts of our lives - on our yoga mats in Warrior III pose, in our minds when we want to react in a heated argument, in our hearts when we are faced with extreme circumstances, both happy and sad.  We must find that balance within work, play, family, and the time we need to devote to our own selves.

A physical yoga practice focusing on balance brings calm and steadiness into mind body, and spirit. Try the sequence below to find your own centeredness, letting go of your fear and testing your limits in each pose.  Hold each pose for at least 5 breaths.

Downward Dog

Three-Legged Dog

High Lunge

Warrior III

Half Moon

Big Toes Pose

Plank

Side Plank

Return to Downward Dog and repeat sequence on the other side

Crow (Crane)

Boat

Headstand

Savasana