Yoga Nuggets

Holding the pause links actions to results, thoughts into words, notes into symphonies and awareness into awe. Yoga is artistic; a mosaic morphology of unexpected insight. Like music, the arrangement of notes is a tether of frequencies pulling the listener in to hear. The practice of asanas awakens deeper physical awareness. The novelty of creating, developing and accomplishing unforeseen strength is personal excitement only the artist can appreciate. The glow others see is a reflection from within. Nuances of poses are polished. And, the frequency of the practice rises. Focus on breathing is sharpened. The timing, force and desired purpose of breathing is a self developed force. You can read about it. You can watch You Tube clips. You can study to understand the neurological and physical power of breathing. But, like music, until you practice your own instrument, you cannot master it. This is another level of commitment. Practice enough and you realize breathing is beyond inhaling...

My personal Toto...Ginger. Yoga is a personal, lifelong journey. The energy you emit pulls others to your frequency wave. You may have nothing in common on the outside; but, somewhere along the walk, vulnerabilities and sameness is exposed. Like a model drops a robe to share his or her naked body to unknown eyes; revealing personal rawness. Permitting eyes to draw whatever they see...this is what we consciously and unconsciously seek courage and liberty to do. In the 70's, we called it being real. It can be intense. It's a strong energy. And, it makes cool things happen. Yoga teaches you the wizardry of energy. What frequency you tune into shifts with a physical practice of personal integrity. It is a conscious step of surrendering to yourself. Yoga slowly strips the body and mind of reservations. Breathing clears the static. Movements clean the lines. It is an art. We think we need to pass physical edges to improve our practice. To advance. To be an image of perf...

Wow. Another year in the history book. Time for the traditional annual resolution to change something. Being creatures of habit, we resolve to do better at something and the cycle continues. Time to de-construct our approach to time. Resolution's results are the same year after year. You can tell by the attendance at the gym in January. We start with good intentions but relentless habits keep pulling us back. Routine/habit embed their feet as we remain oblivious to it until the consequences are seen or felt. Then, we resolve to change. It is an energetic tug of war. I say, forget resolutions. Start re-construction. We tear down old houses to build new, improved ones. Individually and collectively, we are in desperate need of re-construction. Will-power. Desire. Focus. Flexibility to change. These are the hands on your side of the mental rope. The opposition is one hand on the proverbial rope with its other hand holding a sign..."take the path of least resistance....

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built." ~Rumi Have practiced yoga ten years; been teaching seven. Despite advanced training, constant self-guided studying, and nearly 2000 hours of teaching post certification; I balance scales of the known and unknown with a college freshman mind. Maybe Gemini energy pushes me in multiple directions; maybe that new candle joining the growing club burning on my birthday cake illuminates a hunger of urgency; maybe my philosophy of no regrets fans a flame. And, maybe it is my spirit making it uncomfortable for me to not venture out of my comfort zone. Maybe Springsteen's song plays in my subconscious to keep me 'dancing in the dark.' Legends that stepped beyond boundaries of outlined yoga declarations of the best way to practice are Ganga White and Tracey Rich. Founders of the eclectic, enlightening and liberating White Lotus Foundation . Their l...

Wondering and awakening is a complex shift of energies. Discard the 'when I have time' disclaimer for dreams. "In dreams, there is truth" (Latin quote: In sominis veritas) Live your truth. Time is elusive. Walk past fear. The road of fear is a dead end. Dream while awakened. Sip courage to step into uncharted territory. Remember that "those who wander are not lost." Nourish what and who you love. Include yourself. Keep the energy of delicious music dancing in your ears. Smile with the uplifting songs. Cry with the sad ones. Don't be afraid to feel. Save lists for the grocery store. Spend more time in the moment you're actually living now. Forecasting is so passe'. Weather in Nature and Life can change his mind at the last minute. Avoid the mainstream news like the plague it is. The owners are merchants of fear. They're selling and we're buying. Wisdom exposes the endless subjective layers of an event. Truth is not served on a plat...

In my parallel universe, thinking is exchanged with doing. People moved by words or actions share them forward. In my parallel universe, people welcome organic dosages of truth...stake no claim to superiority...are not compromised by greed. People of all walks are inspired to make a positive impact on another. It becomes the new routine. In my parallel universe, objectivity is understood to be subjective. We all have our personal slant on a story...it is an extension of our very unique and personal stories. In my parallel universe, humanity is not in a rush to fix...it learns to slow down to heal. In the healing process, it is realized how much can change. Some learn to forgive. Some even forget. Some are grateful to truly learn forgiveness and are finally free. Freed from their personal prisons of the past. Some decide to give more than they take. Some have the revelation that giving is receiving. It is a universal law of life established long before the current legal system...

As a city grows, it is in a state of construction. That yellow sign tells you to drive with caution at a slower pace for your safety. Consider practicing yoga with the foot a little lighter on the gas pedal. Your body is under a constant state of construction. Muscles . We like them strong, tight, shaped just so and flexible. And, we want it to happen pretty quickly. Young grasshopper yogis (no chronological age here), have patience. Technology is atrophying the mind's ability to stay still long enough to experience increments of time. Advanced technology is a time thief. Ganga White says it best: "Yoga doesn't take time, it gives time." Motion is lotion for the body. Muscles, after warmed up, can extend one and a half the original length. The muscle's fibers get micro tears; however, the healing process closes the gap and the message to get thicker, longer, and stronger is processed at the cellular level. Go too far, too fast and muscles, or worse, ligame...

Can you get addicted to yoga? I think so. A physical practice of moving and breathing. With cloaked stealth, the moves expand inner space. Feels good, right, real. Keep internal motion flowing and external ripple seen. Gets smooth, like satin sheets. One day you slip into a pose and it happens.You cross a mysterious line of no return from life before yoga. It's not in the way you move or way you breathe. You feel a magnetic force pulling you. It's like love. It's like music. It's like sex. Your moves generate alluring...hard to resist trying...empowering...poses of constant change. You want more of the energy you stir within. It's a rush like no drug. Can't say there is a cure; much less a need for one. One more practice. Oh, yoga...hold on...I want to be what you can make me be. Your body and mind let you know they want it. "Come on...they need a lift" beckons the spiritual warrior. Hearing pleas to step on the mat? You're officially hooke...

Divine intervention...the Source that succeeds every time. It happens more than you realize. Auspicious timing goes unnoticed because nothing happened. Intervention timed to perfection. Day goes on and some complain it was uneventful. Best not to complain and convert to gratitude. It is easy to forget. So, something big happens to give you a spiritual re-alignment, so to speak. It's not in the news. It's not heard in routine conversation. It takes place, with you as a cog in the time machine, and only in hindsight do you see how the mighty Hands of Time turn. I have 20/20 vision to the past. I am not a psychic. I know a story that is better shared than shelved. It's true. I played a small role in the front end and blessed to hear the rest of the story from the one selected for the leading role. It's Friday. 8 a.m. Grace reports to the dental office I manage for a routine cleaning. Vibrant, healthy...couldn't guess her age if you tried. Smiling, she informs me o...

Yoga Nuggets: Space, Ocean, and Yoga : We Are Dead Stars "What is human existence? It turns out it's pretty simple: We are dead stars, looking back up at the sky.&qu...

We Are Dead Stars "What is human existence? It turns out it's pretty simple: We are dead stars, looking back up at the sky." Posted by The Atlantic on Thursday, February 5, 2015 Matter is organized energy. One of your body's six chief ingredients is hydrogen. The life of stars. How you practice yoga emanates your practice of life. The multi-task thinking approach is apparent in several defined styles of yoga. No wrong or right. It is how the person needs to move their energy. The body ultimately conveys a message to the mind when it is time to change. Just like stars burn hydrogen until new elements are born from the heat; the same for a yoga practice. The longer it is practiced for well-being, the brighter the core shines. Creating a pose happens in suspended expectations. So subtle. Starting and end point untraceable. Each breath of a pose eclipses the last one. Mind and matter lose their separate identities. By holding the space...or, rather, allowing ...

Practicing, teaching and learning yoga pushes the line in the sands of dynamics further. It is a matrix of connections. The body's composition is a 99% blend of six elements: Water, Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Calcium and Phosphorous. The other 1% is a blend of minerals, metals, and other elements on the periodic table. The human body is an alchemy of densely compressed energy. Energy changing to adapt to its vessel's actions. A committed practice necessitates studying, research...delving beyond superficial. Committed, as in, you want to progress beyond ego restricted boundaries. Ride the mind's wander of wonder in the learning process. Bottom line, exercise studying how the body works so you can practice the heart of fitness. Save the "how to maximize" this and "how to reduce that" thinking until you know the foundation of what you're doing. Let's start with the first organ to develop in utero and the last to stop. The heart. One pound musc...

Following rules is not what makes you...it is the exceptions that define you. Exceptions expose a part that aches to be seen...to break free of restrictions...breathe with ease. Rules maintain a sense of order...balance integrity to a degree. Keeps the proverbial house in order. Exceptions present themselves to balance and expand life's bridges of connections. Above your shoulders, resides a 3 pound brain meshed with millions of synaptic connections built by conscious and subconscious actions. Two totally different hemispheres in play. Left hemisphere...analytical, logical, linear dominant. Right hemisphere...intuitive dream weaver of awareness. Both unite via bridge of the corpus callosum. A neurological yin and yang of work enabling communication between these two neighbors. And, you have an intraconnected extension network in your digestive tract. The 'butterflies' you feel in your belly are neurons fluttering to tell you something while the two neighbors upst...

"A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner." ~English Proverb Ok yogis, let's set aside yoga's splintering history, the ancient Sanskrit language, and the patented or patent pending styles of practice and talk respect and responsibility. The opportunity to unwittingly experience what I bet a lot of could or would have been yoga practitioners lit a fire in me I have to put out with words. Went on vacation...found yoga studio nearby to check out as a student. I'm not an advocate of hot yoga; however, thought I'd give it one more try to determine if I was being closed minded. Besides, the class was a Flow and I was feeling pretty strong. I introduced myself to the teacher/owner and when he asked if I had practiced yoga before, I let him know I had been teaching for seven years. No further inquiry. Room has a beautiful hard wood floor emanating heat. Cool frosted glass is the wall sunlight hits. Dominant age bracket in mid twenties and a few in mine. (Le...

As children, we often succumb to the circumstantial environment initially presented. We glean from experiences, emotions and either acquiesce to the assumption of fate or fight to rise above the suffocation of it all. Contrary to collective thinking, there is no age limit to rising above the surface. You determine if you're satisfied with the status quo of your existence or not. If not, the process of change is stirred and becomes a mysterious quest. No one ever said you have to be the best of the best to do what makes you happy, feel alive or purposeful. That is your own ego holding you back from doing what you love. I will admit...I want to be considered one of the best yoga teachers someone has ever had; however, it is more important to me to be the best I have the potential to be. Big difference. The latter demands constant work, effort and sincere love of it. Connections, timing and perhaps less than authentic intentions create the first; however, a price is paid. The secon...

A long term yoga practice cultivates amazing results. Muscles get stronger, more flexible. You feel physically and mentally relaxed and invigorated. You learn your body's anatomy first hand by actually listening to cues it gives. If you move and breathe with the same focus you give your cell phone, you find internal "apps" you didn't know you had. The physical exterior awareness mysteriously migrates mental awareness of what is happening beneath the surface. Once you get past acknowledging the muscles changing, you acknowledge the bones giving the foundation for everything to have a place to hold onto. Between the skeleton and skin is a unique recipe of elements being stirred...not shaken, in your yoga practice. Experts in various fields advocate yoga for specific results. Practice with one intention and you are destined to experience the un-thought of revelations. It is expounded upon to have a personal practice. You know, get on the mat, alone, and do your mo...

I predict the new quest to be energy fitness. Many are tired of being tired. Can't figure out what to do. Energy drinks are at a hand's reach in every gas station. A good dose of B-12 is the morning cocktail. The vicious cycle of getting inspired to do something...anything, expires as energy is depleted. Stress and lack of self care chip away motivation. Low energy used to be a complaint of older folks. Not anymore. Perhaps constant neurological processing of information via technology always at your hands is sucking physical resources out. Imbalance of energies find a way to break out. Could be physical...could be mental...emotional. Energy can intensify or stagnate. Emotions, thoughts, actions, body chemistry, and physical activity (or, lack of), diet and more affect the ever vacillating invisible horsepower. Fear and excitement are examples of energy moving rapidly upward. Gets you on your toes until body chemistry compensates to stabilize. Your body is incessantly work...

Ironic twist of fate...my earlier words of the late student...got thrown back at me. I didn't even see them coming. My heart must have deflected them...being a quiet warrior making it impossible for the logical, rule oriented, professional fraction of my brain to even remember the rule. Staring at my computer, waiting for words to assemble into article idea, it happened...right after reading an employer's reminder about the company's rules. A year ago, I wrote about the "late student" and leaned to establishing the rules to follow mindset. Mixed responses legitimately set stable defenses for both sides of the fence. I kept my opinion and I am sure each of us did despite the opinions/experiences of another. Things sure change when love presents itself to validate your well established opinion. Yoga. we're on a first name basis now, you certainly have made me more flexible. You gave me an energy to let go of what I used to see or think. I needed that en...

Anatomically, virtually all mammals, including us humans, have 7 cervical vertebrae. They are numbered C-1 through C-7 with C-1 being the first one at the base of skull. C-1 is called the Atlas vertebrae and C-2 is the axis. The Atlas is named after the mythological Titan who held the Earth on his shoulders. Atlas is able to shift balance on the axis. Clarified, C-1 enables you to shake your head 'yes' and C-2 turns the head to say no. These vertebrae hold your head up high, which averages 10 pounds, and is essential in transmitting information to the body. These 7 vertebrae are some of the smallest and lightest bones in the entire skeleton; yet, perform some of the most critical functions. Might add some merit to feeling like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders when stressed. We are not alone. Dogs, lions, giraffes, and practically every other mammal has 7 cervical vertebrae. They've got their own world to survive and thrive in. Dog eat dog world mean...