Our breath is the most powerful tool to bring about change in our lives. It is easily accessible, and it is always available to us. Most of the time we take our breath for granted. We can, however, actively take control of our breath, affecting the depth, quality, speed, and duration of it.

The quality of our breath is a direct reflection of what is happening in our mind, and our body. When we are stressed, anxious, or fearful, our breath is usually short, shallow, and rapid. This is part of the fight or flight response; an instinctive reaction designed to keep us safe. In the face of perceived threat, the brain releases a flood of hormones into the body, causing the heart to beat faster, dumping more energy into the blood stream, driving blood flow away from the internal organs, and out to the extremities. Historically, the fight or flight response was short lived. Once the threat disappears, the body returns to the “rest, digest, and heal” mode. In this mode, the heartbeat slows down, blood flow to the internal organs increases; the breath is slower, deeper, and longer.  Our bodies habitually want to return to the rest, digest, and heal mode, however, our modern life makes this all but impossible. The non-stop daily stresses like a challenging commute, difficult co-workers, financial issues, etc…means that the hormone flood doesn’t shut off. We find ourselves living perpetually in “fight or flight”, and it is damaging our health.

No  matter what is happening,  breathe and simply be.

• Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for 10 minutes.
  Sit comfortably with a tall spine. Feel free to sit on the ground. Using a chair is fine, so long as your feet are on the ground, and spine is tall. Eyes are gently closed.
• With the intention to relax, simply notice your body breathing. For 2 minutes, notice where you feel your breath in your body.
• Begin to comfortably deepen your breath into the belly, making the inhales the same length as the exhales. Continue for 2 minutes.
• Release your breath to its normal pattern. Let your awareness rest on the belly. Notice the navel moving away from the spine on inhale and toward the spine on exhale. Very effortless, very relaxed. Continue for 2 minutes.
• As the mind becomes quiet, the breath becomes softer, and more subtle. You may even begin to notice a brief pause in the breath between the end of the exhale, and beginning of the inhale. This space between breaths is a space between thoughts. It is a place where your mind can experience deep peace. Please continue for 2 minutes, or longer if you wish.
• Slowly begin to deepen your breath, gently open your eyes, and return to life.

Avoid simply jumping back into life. Make your next actions mindful ones. Savor the peaceful change you have just created in yourself. Pause regularly, and smile often.

Enjoy!

Each of us, throughout our lives, encounter others who profoundly impact who we are, and change the course of our life. Sometimes the effect is immediate. Sometimes the seeds of change take years to germinate. Some will test you, some will teach you. Remember those that brought out the best in you. Remember them in your heart. Be grateful for their influence. Without them, you would not be the person you are today!

Yoga, is an inward journey of self-discovery. It can be a profoundly personal, and intimate experience. The journey must be allowed to unfold naturally, at ones own pace. It cannot be rushed.

Undoubtedly, each of us will come across many tools, teachings, and practices to assist us on our path. Some of these will resonate with your heart, others practices will NOT.

In order to support the natural unfolding of your own journey, its important  to avoid engaging in practices that do not resonate with you. Learning about  various practices is fine…(information is always good!).

Any practice that makes you feel unwell, unstable, or unsafe,   physically, psychologically, emotionally, etc , should be halted, or avoided.   If the time comes when  a given teaching or practice does begin to resonate with your heart, you can always  explore it again.

You are, and always will be, your own best teacher.

In western society, we are conditioned to value self-esteem. Self-esteem is founded on comparing ourselves (self-image) to others. Do our achievements, jobs, grades, physical appearance measure up? When we perceive that our achievements rise above others, our self-esteem increases. Compliments increase our self-esteem. Hurdles, setbacks, disparaging remarks, bullying, all serve to lower our self-esteem.

At the heart of the human condition is the fact that each of us sees our own self from the inside, while seeing others only from the outside. Society teaches us to put our best foot forward. We are conditioned to advertise our strengths, successes, joys, & passions, while hiding insecurities, anxieties, the fear, the physical limitations, and psychological challenges. When we look within ourselves, we see the entire landscape, the flowers, the weeds, all of it. When we look at others, we cannot see their entire landscape. We predominantly see only their flowers. Self-esteem is based on an unfair comparison that cannot foster lasting happiness. What we need is self-compassion.

Self-compassion is similar to compassion. Compassion is the heart’s desire to help someone who is struggling. It is the nonjudgmental recognition that no one is perfect, and a caring acceptance and understanding offered towards the person, and their struggle. Self-compassion recognizes our own limitations, imperfections with a sense of kindness and understanding. Self-compassion fosters a realization that we share our imperfect-ness with every other human. These imperfections and struggles do not need to be hidden. When we are compassionate towards ourselves, we relieve the pressure of having to live up to the expectations of others…(that’s self-esteem). We free stuck energy! (Think about how much energy we waste spinning our wheels worrying about our struggles). We create space in which to view our struggles more objectively, and allow change to happen. It is in this space that we learn to harness the newly available energy within and can become joyful, blissful, and fearless.

Breakfast is the most important meal of your day. A healthy, balanced breakfast wakes up the metabolism. It provides the energy you need, improves concentration, and performance, and generally sets the tone for your entire day.

Practicing mindfulness in the morning releases you from residual stress, calms the mind, and balances the nervous system. 10 mindful minutes in the earlier morning helps you find the calm center in your life, and allows you the freedom to respond to life, instead of simply reacting.

If you have ever experienced the “busy mind syndrome”, then you can relate to how exhausting this can be.  Can you imagine your  email account without a spam filter? Sorting through that email noise wastes a ton of time, and energy. A morning mindfulness practice engages, and strengthens our mental spam filter before the “busy mind syndrome” can take hold during your day.

Reduced stress, increased vitality, and creativity, its all yours!. Grab hold of mindfulness in the morning and find the freedom to live as you choose!

Freedom is the ability to live your life as you choose.
It is those conditions that enable you to unleash your innately boundless imagination, creativity, & aspiration, and realize the  deepest driving desires of your highest self.

Not sure where to start? Keep it simple.

Do what makes you happy.
The thing that makes your heart soar, and your eyes glow… – do that.
Do it as often as you can. Unleash your limitless, creative self.

Build someone up.
Let them know that they are worthy…magical.
Remind them of their uniqueness, and how their purpose is critical to the unfolding of the Universe.

Be a light in a world where light is in short supply.

Our thoughts become our words. Our words become our actions. Our Actions become our habits. If we want to truly change our life, we must first change our thoughts.

Like many people, I came to yoga for the stretch, and discovered so much more. As the benefits of my practice unfolded, I discovered something really cool about yoga, the benefits carry-on outside of the yoga class. When we feel better after a class, and that feeling carries on for a while, we realize that Yoga affects our future…at least for a period of time after the class. The powerful truth about yoga, however, is that it affects your past, present, AND future.

Yoga changes your relationship to your past

Every experience in our lives lands somewhere in our body. Each experience, whether it is joyful, sad, exhilarating, stressful, etc, is accompanied by an emotional response. Each emotion lands somewhere in our body. Emotions can create or release tension. Some experiences can help heal past hurts, or potentially deepen them. Our current physical, emotional, and spiritual condition is heavily influenced by our own unique life experiences.

Yoga is a wonderful container in which to have a full “in body “experience. Most of us initially come to a yoga class for the physical stretch or work out. It feels good. Fewer muscle knots, less tension. Through practice, we build awareness of the physical body and, in particular, the many layers of physical tension/ stress in our body. We learn to recognize, and accept our current physical limitations. With this acceptance as a base, our yoga practice begins to unwind the many layers of built up tension. Through regular practice, our body opens slowly, unwinding the muscles knots, and tight hamstrings. Unwinding the tension in the body, disentangles us from the pain and negativity of our past. This effect manifests itself as an ever increasing sense of calm, clarity, and wellness. At the same time as we are enjoying the physical benefits, yoga is unblocking energy channels (Nadis) in our body, allowing for improved flow of prana. By unwinding the physical knots, and improving the flow of prana, yoga changes our relationship to the past by guiding us to let go of past hurts / negativity that keep us stuck.

Unlocking the power of the present moment

The human mind experiences some 60000 thoughts per day. On average, people spend approx. 50% of their time lost in thought. Most of us can identify with “monkey mind”. This is our minds tendency toward future thinking, past thinking, or fantasy thinking. Much of the negativity in our lives is a result of our mind being anywhere but the present moment. Anger, guilt, hate, regret, etc, are the result of too much “past” thinking, and not enough presence. Stress, anxiety, worry, fear, etc are the result of too much “future” thinking, and not enough presence.

Yoga teaches us to follow our breath. Let the breath start and stop each movement. In any posture, we learn to find the edge, and allow the breath to guide you deeper. Paying attention to our breath builds awareness. Breath awareness helps keep us safe in our physical yoga practice. It invites us into a deeper exploration of our inner landscape by aligning the mind with the body in the present moment.

The body is always in the present moment, the mind is often somewhere else; past thinking, future thinking. When we use our breath to bring the mind into the present moment, past thinking, and future thinking, stop. When the mind is present in the current moment, there is no anger, guilt, regret, stress, anxiety, or fear. By practicing breath awareness, and training the mind to be more present, yoga changes our relationship to the present, drastically reducing negativity in our lives.

What we think, we become.

Our thoughts become our words. Our Words become our actions. Our actions become our habits. If we want to change our lives, we must change our thoughts.

In yoga, the physical practice (Asana), and  breath awareness support our preparation for meditation. In the stillness and space of our meditation practice, we learn to recognize those habitual thoughts, words, and actions that do not serve us. As we continue to practice meditation we learn to connect with our highest intuition. By learning to connect with, and listen to this infinite intuitive intelligence, we start to move away from our non-helpful habitual ways of behaving. Through meditation, we change our thoughts. In this way, we change our relationship to our future. We gain the freedom to live our lives as we choose, rather than simply running on auto pilot.

Past, present, and future, Yoga is the technology of freedom