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Namaste Yogis, 

Have you ever thought in class or in life, "no I can't do this...this is too hard.. I am too old...my hamstrings are too tight..etc?" I know I have, especially when a yoga teacher makes something look so easy when I find it so hard. But my thoughts can either hinder or help my ability to move forward in my practice. I've realized the worst thing I can do is to not try. Please join me tomorrow when we will dive into ourselves to uncover our own power and potential through some core cultivation. Oh no, I just lost some of you...no this doesn't mean crunches...it means cultivating a connection to our source, enjoying our power all the while with a calm mind and open heart. It is through the trying, the laughing, and the believing in ourselves that our practice deepens in our bodies, minds and hearts. 

In specific, we'll talk about Yoga Sutra 11.33: When presented with disquieting thoughts or feelings, cultivate an opposite, elevated attitude. I think about this sutra often when I find myself experiencing frustration, irritation and anxiety, on and off the mat. No longer can I tell myself that it is the situation at hand that is causing me to feel the way I feel. I now know that it is my reactions to life that are creating my experience. This sutra is telling us to cultivate feelings and actions that fill our hearts to combat the times we feel off. So when we experience frustration, this sutra is suggesting we try to focus on ease. If we are tied up in fear, we can elicit courage. And if we are filled with anger, the answer is always to fill with love. This is not to deny our feelings but to remember that we have the ability to change our attitude. This is what tantra philosophy is all about: EMPOWERMENT!

So whether you feel fantastic and want to celebrate your power or if you need a little action and empowerment to remember your own unlimited potential, please come join me for class tomorrow. Level 1 at 11:00 and Basics at 12:30. Also wonderful David Romanelli is back for a weekend of yoga fun at 4:30 on Saturday, all levels.

Namaste! Mara

www.totalbodyyoga.com 

**Don't forget your October Special:  Refer anyone new to TBY and they can receive 30 days unlimited yoga for $30 and YOU get entered into raffle for 2 months of Unlimited Yoga!

Silence is an ocean.

Speech is a river.

When the ocean is searching for you,

don't walk into the language-river.

Listen to the ocean,

and bring your talky business to an end -RUMI

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010.  Are you talking too much?  I'm just now coming out of a more silent period and one of the greatest learnings I've discovered is that most of us TALK TOO MUCH.  And what happens when we are talking too much is that the subtle enemy of love, Talking too much about OTHER people, seeps into our life practice.  This much I know, no one has gained personal insight or spiritual growth spending too much time talking about other people and what they are doing or not doing or how they are doing it.  The antidote to healing this malady is to spend time in SILENCE which is why yoga, any yoga, is a form of silent meditation.  When your mind is running rampant with over talking you know you are stuck in the language river and are at risk of drowning.  So as Rumi writes, bring your talky business to an end.  Go inside.  Be Silent. Stop Talking.  Realign with your attitudinal alignment.  One of the vital elements of the elegant system of Anusara Yoga.  

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”  -James Swindoll

You are in charge of your attitude and what you are feeling and thinking inside is where truth lies.  Where ultimate Santosha, happiness exist all the time.Now what if you know you are the subject of other people's talky business and they are stuck in the river of speech talking about you, then what? How do you get them to stop? Again, all you control are your attitudes you cannot change what others say or do.  They must want to for themselves.  Follow the advice of Virginia Satir who says "We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us.”  Go beyond what others say about you and make time for silence in order to remain true to who you are.  As Emerson says, "Stay at home in your mind. Don't recite other people's opinions.  

Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

JANUARY 29, 2010:  9:15am & 6pm Class Themes Today were an opportunity to learn how to use the Psychology of Victory to get passed your Stuckness.  Believe it, our thoughts are "trainable" to focus on what we want in life - what you think creates your reality.  The world is not created “out there somewhere” and then experienced by us, it is first experienced inside us then that is what is reflected back to us.   

“The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives” (William James)   

This gets pretty radical.  Albert Einstein suggested that we cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.  So there is this idea within that that “the world has no sadness in it, only people thinking sad thoughts.” (Spiritual Solutions to Everyday Problems)

How this happens is we have to think something, do something or as Einstein says “nothing happens until something moves.” So in vinyasa flow yoga we move and breath in alignment with our internal energies.  We are not stuck our humanity is that of flow.  Valerie Hunt in her book, Infinite Mind of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness writes, “Motion is more natural to life than non-motion – things that keep flowing are inherently good.” What interferes with FLOW will have detrimental effects.” So the conclusion is that when we stop our flow and as a result of fear or worry or past experience stop the flow we get stuck and this can certainly have negative effects physically and emotionally.  Last week Yahoo News reported a story on January 20^th titled “Experts: sitting too much could be deadly”

To embrace the flow means we are hugging in to a psychology of victory! That we see we can evolve to ever greater happiness. We have a choice to keep aspiring and growing beyond our fears.  Of course we will hesitate but we need not make war with life, that is the ultimate stuckness.  Instead take these words to heart from Vivekenanda, “observe the blossoms of the fruit trees. The blossoms vanish of themselves as the fruit grows. The apples do not get into a deep conflict with the blossoms that are in their designated space on the branches of the tree.  There is no anger, no fear, no battle between the fruit and its blossoms. As the fruit grows the blossoms disappear.”  Allow yourself to life yourself to higher energies and keep flowing, life is too short to remain stuck another moment….as Saint Teresa of Avila advises, “let nothing disturb thee, let nothing dismay thee, all things pass.”  Love in all ways, Silvia

 

 

AUGUST 19th, 2009:  Hi Total Body Yoga friends, I want to share my theme with you from class yesterday in case you weren't able to join us. I was inspired by the cyclical nature of life. In nature, we see the cycles of the seasons, as we now feel the height of summer beginning to crest and fall into autumn. The moon, the earth, the stars, the tides are all in their own cycles of life. I always loved being a school teacher since you are engaged in a yearly cycle with the students and staff and perhaps you are a parent or teacher about to make a turn into your own school year cycle.

The thing that inspires me about this succession of life is that it never ends. After every ending, there is a new beginning. For instance, when a bone breaks, some of the cells will die but the bone will quickly start regenerating and will actually seek out similar cells to mend. Then the place where it was broken but has come together now becomes the strongest part of the bone! It is the death, that allows the rebirth of a stronger, transformed body. Another example is the prairie, where the burning of fire is necessary to release the seeds that are captured in strong shells.

Shiva, the destroyer is celebrated in Hindu mythology as much as Bhrama, the creator, or Vishnu, the sustainer, since they are connected in a constant loop of life and death and rebirth. A study on longevity found a common thread among those who live long is their ability to endure loss. This shows me it is not the losses that define us but rather how quickly we recover our emotional equilibrium after difficulties and allow the healing cycle to take place.

The inspiration for me comes when we remember this succession of life as we live our yoga. When we are in a challenging situation in life, do we cling to the drama, rehashing it over and over, staying stuck in past and future? We can actually get in the way of nature's cycle by not loosening our grip on our difficulties. I know I do this as I over analyze my life, trying to figure out my next steps or trying to understand the why things happened the way they did. Yet, the gift of the present moment is constantly moving, with or without my connection with it. 

So we practice this on the mat; we present each other with challenges to learn about ourselves and practice the art of staying calm, centered and connected to the present moment. Our breath is there to help us on this journey and we practiced 4-part breath. We moved in circles to remind the brain that life is not a linear race but rather a series of cycles that expand and contract as we live our days.

As Rolf Gates states, We wake up, we are stiff, we are fatigued, our minds wander, we come to the mat, we forget, we loosen up, we relax, we have energy, we remember, we live, we sleep, we wake up, we are stiff, etc.

I hope to see you soon on the mat where we will continue to connect with our unique current moments within the cycles of life.  Much peace, Mara

September 1st, 2008:  I'm back! The blogging begins again.  I was on holiday Aug 27-31 in Ixtapa, Mexico. Missed you all! 

JULY 12TH, 2008: Enjoy the handout from this class with an exercise you can practice anytime! 

EXPERIENCE THE PROFOUND EFFECT OF CHANGING YOUR ATTITUDE

Sit or lie down comfortably.

Think of a quality that you would like to invite into your life.  A simple one or two word phrase is best.  It could be “peace” “joy” “patience”, etc. 

Bring forth as aspect of yourself that no longer fosters the person you want to be.  Can you tell where in your body it is stored?  If possible, put a name to it  - for example say to yourself “my hips feel stubborn”  or “my shoulders hold my anger” 

Now choose a quality that you would like to send out to the world.  It could be the same or a different one that you choose to bring into your life. 

Begin to take in and release deep, full breaths. 

As you breath in allow the mind and heart to integrate the quality of joy into your total body, heart and soul.  Feel joy infusing each cell, hugging the place where you are holding any anger or resentment and allow the unwanted feeling to dissipate.  

As you breath out, let joy transform resentment into peace and send it as your wish for the whole world.