First Class Free

  By Laura Mills

    The Beatles recorded a song called “The Long and Winding Road,” which I admit—even as one of my generation’s most enthusiastic Beatles fans—I usually skip when it rolls around on an album or collection. To be fair, the song is a stylistic masterpiece; much like the long and winding road they describe, the melody and lyrics curve back and forth, up and down, meandering from beginning to end. Style points aside, though, the plodding tempo makes me downright antsy after just a few moments. 

    Ironically, when I’ve attempted to meditate lately the image of a long and winding road has come to mind. Stretching infinitely ahead, curving into the distance, my heart tells me it’s my road. This image doesn’t surprise me, really, this being May… it’s the month in which I encounter my most notable life “landmarks.” Last week, for example, was the one-year anniversary of the day I first met my daughter. My second Mother’s Day was this past Sunday. My birthday occurs in May, as does my wedding anniversary. This month more than any other, I can’t help but feel a profound sense of time passing and of change. I also feel gratitude for the distance already traveled, as well as anxiety about the unexplored terrain ahead.

    I know the experience of a long and winding road, quite literally, as many times in the middle of a long walk or hike I’ve looked into a distance that both invited and frightened me. This translates so well into a metaphor for life, which leads me back to that Beatles song…which perhaps at some level, like the month of May, reminds me that plodding or no I am always on the move. It’s not always easy, and it’s not always pretty, but one foot in front of the other, my calling is to make every footfall count.

  By Laura Mills   

    Gloves, hats, and scarves in March? Maybe…but so late in March? With spring’s arrival, spring break approaching, and Passover and Easter right around the corner, the extra-frosty air and brutal wind seem quite out of place. Sure, we had a stretch of really mild weather back in December when we expected cold…now that the weather is “supposed” to be warming up, though, the cold just doesn’t seem to want to leave.

    But yogis, take heart! 2013’s weather so far has much to teach us. The lingering cold invites us to continue our practice beyond our mats, as unexpected challenges like this lead us—if we’re open and accepting—into new ways of approaching life, into places where we need to return to our breath and revisit our intentions. We slow down, look inside ourselves, and observe what’s there at the present moment. Meanwhile, the spring kept at bay invites us to step up our practice of patience. Not the strained patience of a parent or teacher begging Mother Nature to ease up so the kids can play outside, but rather the patience of a seed just under the earth, frozen, dormant, waiting for the perfect moment. This is a patience that reaches deep beyond the choice of how to respond; it reaches into the realm of following nature’s cues, of letting nature lead. To the seed, when it’s time, it’s time.       

    Remember that, no matter how we perceive our weather and its changes, winter never just gives up and spring never just takes over from there. Instead, winter flows away, and spring flows in. Any given year—when it’s time, it’s time. The planet breathes and moves in a practice all its own; no matter how long it holds any pose, it always encourages us to join in.

  By Laura Mills  

    Ah, mid-January…the time of year when we drag the last of the holiday decorations into the crawlspace, vacuum the remaining tinsel and tree needles out of the carpet, and add up and file away all those holiday receipts. The wind is cold and suddenly not so festive; vacation days once again need saving; we’re hearing the first advertisements related to tax time….

    Some days, the smallest bit of enthusiasm is totally absent. Accomplishing anything—from merely getting out of bed to productively working, or even just stepping on a yoga mat—requires considerable effort. We all have those days, during the worst of which we feel hollow and numb, like a robot squeaking through the motions of the next item on our to-do list. On such days I’ve found it futile to try to force myself to do anything; rather, I just stop for a little while. I close my eyes and turn my attention to my breath—the inhale fills my torso from bottom to top, lifting my heart, and the exhale releases anything that needs releasing at that moment. I focus on the space between and just above my eyebrows, and after a little while I almost feel like my breath is entering and exiting my body through that point. For at least a few minutes, all is right.

    And from there I find it’s not so hard to stand up and move on. I’m a little sharper mentally and more tuned in to the energies and rhythms of things around me. I might get something done, like cleaning my kitchen or planning my next class; I might even realize an entirely new—and better—direction for the day. And the next time any un-enthusiasm creeps back, I will probably stop and breathe again. Life’s just too short and precious to live any moment in a state of numbness. Any time spent cultivating awareness is time well spent. The house may be messier and the wallet lighter, but those “ordinary” days may really be amazing. 

  By Laura Mills

    “Time” just doesn’t mean what it used to in my house; every spare moment during which I can wipe the kitchen counter or (on the best days) sip some tea has dramatically increased in value. These days, I compose my classes and write my blogs during my daughter’s naptime—when she naps, that is—so of course I usually find myself trying to take advantage of every minute.

     One day shortly after Thanksgiving festivities had upset our usual routine, my daughter started crying as soon as I put her down and didn’t stop as usual. I waited a few minutes outside her door; I went downstairs and set up my computer; optimistically, I even filled my teapot. But the crying intensified, so I returned to her room to check in. Suffice it to say she did NOT want to nap in her crib that day; half an hour later I was sitting in the middle of her floor, rocking her as she sniffled and snuggled into me. Finally, she fell asleep, and not knowing how to return her to her crib without waking her and beginning the process over again, I stayed put.

    My mind wandered, but before long my back hurt and my legs numbed, which drew my attention to my body. I knew my options for changing position were limited, but I was able to pull my belly in, extend my spine, and draw my shoulders slowly up and then back and down. I lengthened the crown of my head to the ceiling, tucked my chin a little more, and then begun to coordinate my body’s rocking with slow and measured breaths. After a little while my daughter’s breaths seemed to synch with mine, and for over an hour that afternoon she slept while I held her…both of us at peace.

    Yoga doesn’t get much better than that.

 

As the weather transitions at this time of year, I start to droop much like the potted flowers on my doorstep. I hunch over, cross my arms, bundle up as much as I can, curl up into the smallest space possible at every opportunity, and desire more than anything to stay indoors until the next warm, sunny day.

So when Nature blesses us with that once-in-a-while Golden Day, I rejoice. We've had a few recently: fall days when the sun highlights everything with an extra glow and the slightly-more-comfortable-than-usual air hugs us like an old friend when we step outdoors. They're days when we almost donít mind heading to the yard to rake the lawn. Such days enliven me, and it seems many others, for I truly feel an all-around happy vibe as with sudden enthusiasm I go about my usual activities. I think at some level, on these days most of us feel some sense of having received a special gift.

At least for the time being, which is, I think, the most crucial aspect of Golden Days. Itís what makes them so precious. Like so many wonders in our lives, theyíre here and then gone. Today might be golden, but tomorrow might easily be gray. If we miss our opportunity to relish what Nature gives us at the moment of the gift.

Every day, golden or not, take note of the ìtime beingî and really live it. Never just watch from indoors as it passes.

 

Perspective Reflection

 

By Laura Mills

 

After this summerís heat, the first 65-degree day felt so good; my sweatshirt seemed like a hug from an old friend, and walking around in it was one of the highlights of my week. As was sleeping with the windows open, huddled under a blanket, snuggling with my cats.

Am I looking forward to fall weather? Yes. For now.

In the midst of rejoicing over the crisper weather I did realize I wasnít celebrating the weather itself, but merely the change. A 65-degree day in June, I know, would irritate me to no end. I would lament summerís delay and wish more than anything for a temperature reading of 90-plus just to kick-start the season. In June, I am always thrilled by that first really warm day, which in fact never fails to inspire me to fold the sweatshirts away.

If nothing else, I believe we should frequently pause to appreciate the changing nature of our perspectives, the extent to which our individual opinions, feelings, and even actions depend on variables like circumstances and timing.

Really makes one stop and think.

 

By Laura Mills

“Every breath is another opportunity.” It’s one of my favorite things to remind my yoga students; it’s one of my favorite things to remind myself. The words are not mine, at least I don’t think so-I honestly don’t know where they came from, whether I heard them somewhere or read them in something. But one day they rose from the reaches of my memory to the front of my mind, and I said them to my students just before Savasana.

The more I think about the expression, the more I like it. Of course, it applies to the tiniest pieces of a yoga practice: we inhale to lift arms, exhale to bow, inhale to lift half-way, exhale to fold…. But we also inhale and exhale as we roll our mats, find our shoes and leave the studio; we inhale and exhale as we enter our cars, leave the parking lot and turn out at the light into the rest of our day. Every inhale and exhale is an additional moment of choice and possibility—even with regards to the smallest, most seemingly-insignificant things—and as long as we’re breathing, it’s never too late….

Your next breath may be your best yet.

April 17, 2011. Epic day of mountain biking with the most amazing friends.  So many meaningful conversations as we cycled our yoga! Peace in all ways, Silvia

 

AM MORNING YOGA PRACTICE DAY 2

Shavasana/Deep Relaxation, Shiva Rea

I Know Places, Lykke Li

No Jive, De-Phazz

Lebanese Blonde, Thievery Corporation

Heart Skipped A Beat, Xx

Crystalised, Xx

Dolly Parton Vs Jay Z - Jolene Is Mine (KMT Mix), KMT

Blue Monday, Flunk

Black Eyed Dog, Nick Drake

Infinity, Xx

Afterlife, Glorybox

 

 

April 5, 2011. Ah Spring! A great reminder that it is "never too late, or too early, to consider sequencing your life today for a healthier tomorrow." As anyone that has practiced with me has experienced I think of sequencing as both an art and a science. This practice of Vinyasa Krama is one which anyone can do because we start where we are. All you need is the desire and attention to stay focused from the beginning to the end of how you want to sequence your life.   Western science proves that the best form of exercise involves learning complex movement, including balance and coordination and that this type of MOVEMENT provides physiological release that we need to bring our body back into balance while at the SAME time it is also good for our brain because coordinated sequences of movement help form more connections between the neurons in our brain.  Other benefits of learning coordinated movements which in yoga we call Vinyasa include: improved mental well-being; increased neurotransmitters; mood regulation; anxiety control; ability to handle stress better; better socialization; ability to better process more information; enhanced attentiveness and improved ability to choose appropriate responses.   I believe learning new routines (sequences) of yoga poses helps us learn how to adapt to new routines in life. As our yoga poses change we become more open to seeing new potentials and possibilities in our work, family, diet, and even in our travel adventures. This Spring spend more time on the mat to help you learn to sequence your best life ever! Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia

MARCH 19, 2011: This time of year as we transition from Winter to Spring our To Do Lists seem overstuffed. While we have more ways to make our lives easier through technology we insist on overwhelming ourselves on purpose by engineering these massive lists of stuff “we have to do” this Spring.  

So today I invite you to create a TO BE list. 

Say to yourself “how am I going TO BE no matter what gets done, or the outcome of this situation.” 

When we focus on a TO BE List it is giving ourselves permission to do the hardest pose of all which is TO BE YOURSELF. And I can promise you that being yourself is the most important decision anyone can make. There is a serious paradigm shift that must take place especially if you’ve been used to trying to be who everyone else wants you to be.  And as a result you will temporarily disappoint some people. Especially if you have been consumed on making your To Be Lists to prove your self-worth to other people. 

To me the motivation for moving away from To Do Lists towards To Be is that it returns us to place where we can make peace with ourselves.  That space of radical self-acceptance that demonstrates unconditional self-love.  We are all a work in progress but that awareness of letting ourselves be who we are is vital to positive mental, emotional and spiritual health. Eckhart Tolle in the book A New Earth says it like this on page 184:  "Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the isness of the Now. You can't argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer."

This is isness of now is where we allow ourselves to surrender into being: no fighting, no resisting, no arguments.  I can tell you during times of challenge the mat was the only place I felt like I could BE myself. And I mean my real self. And where I felt safe to laugh or cry or both at the same time.  And the more we accept ourselves in this state of beingness the more we know how to accept others being themselves.  It is a straightforward spiritual law.  You cannot offer to others what you don’t practice for yourself.  If you don’t have peace you can’t make peace, if you don’t love yourself you can’t really love someone else, if you don’t fully accept how amazing you are, you WILL NEVER accept others, if you don't know how To Be you won't allow others To Be either.  

So today practice making a To Be List. And the first thing on that to be list is BE YOU!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

PS If you need time off to help your To Be List then come on retreat with Alchemy Tours. Allow us to support you unconditionally. It will transform your life!  www.alchemytours.com

 

March 30, 2011

“Yoga is the practice of creating the conditions for opening to occur.  We learn to relax and open up to more feelings than just those that are comfortable or familiar.  This kind of opening allows us to being to make friends with the variety of our own human repertoire of experiences.” This explanation from Cindy Lee of Om Yoga really hits home. 

I have learned through this practice that I create my reality from the inside out.  Or as James Allen writes "The outer conditions of a person's life will always be found to reflect their inner beliefs." I come to the mat to purposefully create the conditions that I want to experience in my life.  If I want more ease then I practice the poses in an easeful way. If I want more enthusiasm then I perform the asanas joyfully! If I need more courage then I face my fears going upside down and stoke my courage.  Whatever I want my world to be more of I try out on the mat so it is reflected back to me when I go out into the world. 

And I have learned that the conditions I create in my mind relate not just to the next moment of my life but sequentially to the moments that follow.  Or as the Buddha says, “All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.” 

Today take responsibility for your life! Create the conditions that serve you best and renew your commitment that this is the day we no longer blame situations or people or things for our happiness but we see the world from the inside out.  I wish you all your own best courage, gentleness and clarity.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

YOGA PLAYLIST

Yellow, Jem, Sweetheart

River Flows In You, Yiruma, First Love (Yiruma Piano Collection)

Gobinday Mukunday, Spirit Voyage Artists, Yoga Living Series - Temple Spa

Ardes Bhaee, Mirabai Ceiba, Jamtse - Love & Compassion (An Offering for the Tibet Fund)

Song for You, Alexi Murdoch, Away We Go Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

New People {Empire Remix}, Blue Scholars, New People {Empire Remix}

Hate It Or Love It, 50 Cent & G Unit, The Massacre

Morning Mr Magpie, Radiohead, The King Of Limbs

Karaoke, Drake, Thank Me Later

Still, Wade Imre Morissette, Strong As Diamonds

Gayatri Mantra, Bruce Becvar & Nada Shakti, Samadhi

Chandra (The Moon), Michael Mandrell and Benjy Wertheimer, Anjali

River Flows In You, Yiruma, First Love (Yiruma Piano Collection)

 

March 29, 2011.  The practice of yoga is not about doing more or asserting more effort it is actually an experience where we try to make the smartest least effort or effortless effort.  There is this space in a pose where we find that sweet space of "doing nothing." That is something I know well from my Father who was born in Italy and the Italian people have a deep respect for the philosophy of enjoyment. This is the idea of IL BEL FAI NIENTE which means "the beauty of doing nothing."  Remember this passage from Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love "Generally speaking, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure.  Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one.  Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused but that's not exactly the same thing as quiet enjoyment.  Americans work harder and longer and more stressful hours than anyone in the world today.  Of course we all inevitably work too hard, then we get burned out and have to spend the whole weekend in our pajamas staring at the TV in a mild coma (which is the opposite of working, yes, but not exactly the same thing as pleasure.) Americans don't really know how to do nothing. But against the backdrop of hard work, il bel fai niente, has always been a cherished Italian ideal. The beauty of doing nothing is the goal of all your work, the final accomplishment for which you are most highly congratulated. Anyone with a talent for happiness can do this."

"My own ambition, my deepest and truest ambition, is to find within myself someday, somehow, the ability to do likewise, to do NOTHING - and find it enough."  Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

Another way I personally experience this doing of nothing is going to Moab. Utah.  When I am there I understand what Edward Abbey is writing about since that is where he wrote the book Desert Solitaire.  There is a quiet in the desert unlike anything I have found elsewhere in the world.  And the joy of mountain biking or practicing yoga there feels so in the flow of this effortless effort that you come away from any excursion with more energy and calm.  I can't wait to return April 16-19 to introduce a new tribe to the beauty of Il Bel Fait Niente!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

*To join us in April or in October in Moab visit www.alchemytours.com or www.silviamordini.com or facebook Alchemy Tours

March 26, 2011.  "When we understand sensations perfectly, we will see beyond this conditioned world." - Samyutta Nikaya

Do you know which grows first in the human body?  Your heart or your brain? Answer is: Your heart.  

That is a pretty good indication that the energies greater than us want our heart energy to be more predominant than our intellectual capacity to analyze.  And at the very least something within our DNA is saying to us pay attention to both.  You may also find it interesting to know that your heart & brain maintain a constant and conscious 2-way dialogue.  And in this conversation the heart sends far more information to the brain, than the brain to the heart. The heart also generates the strongest rhythmic electromagnetic field in the body & this actually can be measured in the brain waves of people around us.  

So then why do we so often try to rationalize the emotional space of the heart?   Why do we try to over direct our lives with only our brains? And then wonder why this doesn't feel right?

When we come to the yoga mat we are dialing back into our heart's intelligence. And the gateway into the heart is the breath.  The first breathing technique we learn is Anapanasati, awareness of breath: its duration, it's orgination, its temperature, its cadence, its rhythm, is it rough or smooth, easy or labored, where do you feel it and where don't you feel your breath? This renewed sensitivity to our life energy transfers into everything else we do.  And as a result we begin feeling more.  

"The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist." Lord Byron

And of course the asana are on purpose to help us feel both Sensitive and Fierce sensations.  We want to feel the full spectrum of emotion and sensation. Yoga helps us unite our hearts intelligence and intellectual understanding together.  “These two teachings, the supremacy of the heart and the uniqueness of each human being are very important to me.  They give me the fullest understanding of my membership in the human family.”  Robert Muller

The more we feel the more we become expert in our own human experience and then as a result the more expert we are in the overall human experience. We learn to feel what other people feel.  And when the constant dialogue of our hearts with one another becomes a way of life then the more gently we live with one another sharing this beautiful planet without war, without fighting, without aggression. Then and only then will peace prevail.  So please use your yoga to connect to your sensorium of experience and bring peace on earth.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia

"Different winds come from all directions. Some are clear, some carry dusts, some are cold or hot, fierce gales or gentle breezes. In the same way sensations arise in the body - pleasant or unpleasant or neutral. When we see sensations as we do the winds, coming and going, clear or dust laden, fierce or gentle, we will fully understand them and be free from dependence on them." - Samyutta Nikaya

 

March 20, 2011.  I often ask myself what is the true test of my Spiritual Growth? Or more simply put I meditate on the question "Am I still growing?"  When I was little my Mom measured us (me and my brother) against the door in our house and marked the little lines proving I was actually growing physically.  You did that too, right? Well, I loved that.  I was sad the day she stopped doing it and I stopped growing.

Well that's speaking to physical growth.  I am as tall as I'm going to be (although to be honest by practicing yoga I've gotten a little taller, just a quarter inch but that's pretty cool).

However what I'm speaking about is emotional and spiritual growth.  My aspiration continues to be that I grow into the BEST version of myself.  And that's what I hope for you too. 

Or as True Nobility is defined: it is not about being better than anyone else, it is about being better than you used to be, much better.  This is the barometer of our ability to raise our spiritual energy. Are you better than you used to be?  Are you growing?

"The only difference between a flower that is alive and one that is dead is that the live flower is still growing."  - Dr Wayne Dyer

For me I received so much nourishment, like a flower, from my daily yoga practice that I wanted more. That's when I started taking yoga workshops: first they were the 2 hour kind, then the half day, then the full day, finally entire weekends both locally and eventually I started traveling all over the U.S to attend 2-3 day trainings and workshops until I went all the way by signing up for a one week yoga retreat in Italy with Sadie Nardini.  Well that did it for me. I could experience for myself that to keep growing I had to keep investing in myself and more time dedicated to evolving my consciousness was required to do that.  And traveling to new places and exploring new territories externally matched the growth I was making internally.  They went hand in hand.

And that's when I made the commitment to start leading yoga retreats combined with other ways to express one's yoga and vitality like cycling and hiking. I want to give everyone a chance to really invest in your own growth and raise your energy by visiting places that support your evolution.

You see, until the last breath, I don't buy into wellness as defined by the AMA as the "absence of illness". I believe in the potential for radiant health (shakti) as the World Health Organization defines wellness.  I am growing! And I am learning. And the higher my vibration the softer I get on the outside. I am kinder, more patient, nicer and easily more loving.  I think we all are when we're growing.  So make that commitment to yourself keep affirming your life! Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia

 

In the words of Lao Tzu, 

"At birth all people are soft and yielding

At death they are hard and stiff

All green plants are tender and yielding

At death they are brittle and dry

When hard and rigid we consort with death

When soft and flexible we Affirm Greater Life."

March 5th, 2011. Our playlists for Xinalani Mexico Yoga Retreat. Enjoy! Love, Silvia 

 

ALCHEMY TOURS XINALANI RETREAT FEB 26-MAR 5, 2011 MUSICAL INSPIRATION: PLAYLIST SUMMARY 

DAY 1 MORNING

Gobinday Mukunday	Spirit Voyage Artists	Yoga Living Series - Temple Spa
Hope (Live for the art of peace)	Rush	Songs for Tibet - The Art of Peace
Hard Sun (Main)	Eddie Vedder	Music for the MOtion Picture Into the Wild
Escucha Me	Gipsy Kings	Best Of The Gipsy Kings
Nogo	Issa Bagayogo	Timbuktu
Xoxoxo	The Black Eyed Peas	The Beginning (Deluxe Version) [+digital booklet]
Mahamrtyunjaya Mantra	Reema Datta	NuTONE Music to Inspire: Sampler - Fall 2008
High Low (feat. Zap Mama) [Acoustic Mix] {Bonus Track}	Michael Franti & Spearhead	All Rebel Rockers (Bonus Track Version)
Escaping Arkham	Common Market	The Winter's End EP
No Rest for the Weary	Blue Scholars	Blue Scholars
Queen Bee	Devendra Banhart	Cripple Crow
Faust Arp	Radiohead	In Rainbows
While My Guitar Gently Weeps	The Beatles	Anthology 3 (Disc 1)
Guru Mari	Shri Anandi Ma	Yoga Rhythms compiled by Shiva Rea
Shavasana/Deep Relaxation	Shiva Rea	Yoga Sol

 

DAY 1 EVENING 

Earth	Uwe Neumann	Jala: Compiled by Shiva Rea
Helplessly Hoping	Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young	So Far
Fire And Rain	Jonatha Brooke	Back In the Circus
Track 01 Raga Indian music Ghandi Fave		Movie Music
Allah Hoo	Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan	Monsoon Wedding
Anand (Bliss)	Snatam Kaur	Jamtse - Love & Compassion (An Offering for the Tibet Fund)
Long Nights	Eddie Vedder	Music for the Motion Picture Into the Wild
Dust in the Wind	Kansas	Point of Know Return
Buckets of Rain	Bob Dylan	Blood On the Tracks
Old Fashion Morphine	Jolie Holland	Escondida
Dawg's Waltz	Jerry Garcia & David Grisman	Jerry Garcia & David Grisman

 

DAY 2 MORNING

Om Namaha Shiva	Sheila Chandra	Weaving My Ancestors' Voices
Assaisin's Tango	John Powell	Mr and Mrs Smith Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Mustt Mustt (Lost in His Work)	Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan	Mustt Mustt
Lumière [MAIN]	Blue Scholars	Fixxie Riddim
Dream Machine (Down Tempo Mix)	Mark Farina & Sean Hayes	Hôtel Costes: Vol. 8 by Stéphane Pompougnac
Boda Boda Rap	Fossil Fool, the Bike Rapper, with Lawi One	The Bike Rapper
Boee (Come to Me)	The Idan Raichel Project	The Idan Raichel Project
Quelqu’un M’a Dit	Carla Bruni	Quelqu’un M’a Dit
Hope	Shaggy	Hot Shot
Govinda Fly	Sharon Gannon (Mixed By Mike D)	Sharanam
Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part I)	Kid Cudi	Man On The Moon: The End Of Day
Hey Baby	Stephen Marley featuring Mos Def	Mind Control
Just Breath	Pearl Jam
Yellow	Emily Asen	Proof LP
Second to Numb	Kings of Convenience	Declaration of Dependence
Yellow	Jem	Sweetheart
This Years Love	David Gray
Bayaty	Anja Lechner & Vassilis Tsabropoulos	Chants, Hymns And Dances
Conga Jog	Al Gromer Khan	Yoga Rhythms compiled by Shiva Rea

 

DAY 2 EVENING

AMAZING GRACE
Om Ram Ramaya	Deva Premal	Embrace
Amen Omen	Ben Harper	Diamonds On The Inside
For What It's Worth	Buffalo Springfield	Retrospective - The Best of Buffalo Springfield
Queen Bee	Devendra Banhart	Cripple Crow
Tenfold	Layne Redmond	Shakti Rhythms With Shiva Rea
Everlasting Love	Lifescapes	Inner Peace
Sitara Dreams	Rasa	Saffron Blue

 

DAY 3 MORNING 

Om Namah Shivaya	Wade Imre Morissette	Sargam Scales Of Music
The City of New Orleans	Arlo Guthrie	Hobo's Lullaby (Remastered)
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)	George Harrison	Best Of George Harrison
Helplessly Hoping	Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young	So Far
Shiva Shambho	namasté	Magical Healing Mantras
Ananda	Solar Quest	Namaste Experience Ibiza
Hara Hara Mahaadeva	Krishna Das	One Track Heart
Govinda Jaya Jaya	Dave Stringer	Mala
Sita Ram	Girish	Shiva Machine
Hanumana	Wade Imre Morissette	Strong As Diamonds
Maintenant	Rupa & The April Fishes	Extraordinary Rendition
Madrugada 8	Twinkle Engine	Jala: Compiled by Shiva Rea
Seen It All Before	Amos Lee	Amos Lee
Trois morceaux après des hymnes byzantins I	Anja Lechner & Vassilis Tsabropoulos	Chants, Hymns And Dances
River Flows In You	Yiruma	First Love (Yiruma Piano Collection)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot	Jane Siberry	Hush
Guru Brahma	Shaman's Dream	Kerala Dream

 

DAY 4 MORNING

 

Time In a Bottle	Jim Croce	You Don't Mess Around With Jim
Operator	Toby Lightman
Time After Time	Matt Ketteman & Cameron Mizell	Follow Through
The Times They Are A-Changin'	Bob Dylan	Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
Tiny Dancer	Elton John	Classic Elton John
Tajabone	Ismaël Lo	Ismael Lo
Time Of Your Song	Matisyahu	Youth
Matadjem Yinmixan	Tinariwen	Aman Iman: Water Is Life
I Ka Barra (Your Work)	Habib Koite and Bamada	Muso Ko
They	Jem	Finally Woken
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right	Bob Dylan	The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
I'd Rather Be With You	Joshua Radin	Simple Times
Stand By Me	Various Artist
He got game	Public Enemy	He Got Game by Spike Lee
Talk to You	Tracy Chapman
I'll Be	Edwin McCain	Misguided Roses
Time After Time	Tuck & Patti	The Best Of Tuck & Patti
What's Been Going On	Amos Lee	Last Days At the Lodge
Solo Para Ti	Armik
Still	Wade Imre Morissette	Strong As Diamonds

 

DAY 5  MORNING

Incense	Erykah Badu	New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh
La Niña De Fuego	Concha Buika	La Niña De Fuego
The Only One	The Black Keys	Brothers
Mamacita	Collie Buddz	Collie Buddz
Hey Girl	Damian Marley, Rovleta Fraser & Stephen Marley	Welcome to Jamrock
Movement song awesome
Sabura (Desert Delight Remix Reconstructed By Max Psahm)	Ekova	Arabian Travels
Paper Aeroplane-Angus & Julia Stone	Hotel Costes X	Hotel Costes X
Io	Gianna Nannini	Grazie
Where I'm From	Digable Planets	Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time & Space)
Window Seat	Erykah Badu	New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh
The Sweetest Thing	Lauryn Hill	Ms Hill
It's Okay	Land of Talk	Some Are Lakes
Sterne	Martinek & C-Deluxe	Fruit Lemon
Afterlife	Glorybox	Coffeeshop - Finest Selection
Dreamcatcher	Bahramji And Maneesh De Moor	Tandava
Conga Jog	Al Gromer Khan	Yoga Rhythms compiled by Shiva Rea
Prayer	Anja Lechner & Vassilis Tsabropoulos	Chants, Hymns And Dances
Longing	Ty Burhoe	Invocation

 

DAY 6 

Dream	Priscilla Ahn	A Good Day
Tesegu	Danone O'Sow	African Lullaby
Land Of Anaka	Geoffrey Oryema/Brian Eno	Pure Moods III
Blue Indian	Widespread Panic
Nogo	Issa Bagayogo	Timbuktu
Stars All Seem to Weep	Beth Orton	Central Reservation
Promised Land	Grateful Dead
Friend Of The Devil	Jerry Garcia & David Grisman	Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
Cat's In The Cradle	Johnny Cash	20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection
What's Been Going On	Amos Lee	Last Days At the Lodge
American Tune	Simon & Garfunkel
Stay Human	Michael Franti	Songs from the Front Porch - An Acoustic Collection
Madrugada 8	Twinkle Engine	Jala: Compiled by Shiva Rea
Infusion (Bombay Mix)	Adham Shaikh	Jala: Compiled by Shiva Rea
Chão de Estrelas	Baden Powell	Personalidade - The Best of Brazil: Baden Powell
Ganashyama	Dave Stringer	Planet Yoga: Music for Yoga, Meditation and Peace
Pascal's Waltz	Gary DeMichele	Big Night
Consciousnesss Unfolding	Saggio	The Thunder Of Silence

 

DAY 7

Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu	Chandra Om	Be Receptive
Song for You	Alexi Murdoch	Away We Go Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Escaping Arkham	Common Market	The Winter's End EP
Evening Chai	Blue Scholars	Blue Scholars
Boda Boda Rap	Fossil Fool, the Bike Rapper, with Lawi One	The Bike Rapper
Now That We Found Love	Heavy D and the Boyz
Paris, Tokyo	Lupe Fiasco	The Cool
Hey World (Don't Give Up Version)	Michael Franti & Spearhead	All Rebel Rockers (Bonus Track Version)
Just Breath	Pearl Jam
Yellow	Emily Asen	Proof LP
Second to Numb	Kings of Convenience	Declaration of Dependence
Breathe	Alexi Murdoch	Time Without Consequence
Yellow	Jem	Sweetheart
Have a Little Faith In Me	Solveig Slettahjell	Pixiedust
Shavasana/Deep Relaxation	Shiva Rea	Yoga Sol
Stand By Me	Various Artist	Dave to Jen

 

February 26, 2011.  I am so excited to lead another Yoga Retreat February 26 through March 5th at Xinalani in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  To be with a small group sharing and growing and relaxing together on our own private island is like a dream come true!  Some of my teaching themes next week will include:

Themes for this upcoming week Feb 26 – March 5

M*Engagement, Observation, Participation:  How to apply for the best life ever!

M*Staying Curious – Telling our story

T*The Art of Enjoying Life: Hanging out as an art form in Italy "il bel fai niente"

W*What does MATURITY mean?(Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual)

W*The Healing Cycle: How to get out of victim mode/hurt mode and move on

TH*Your true nature is happiness! How to elevate the grumbling mind Pratipaksha Bhavana

TH*The 4^th Agreement: Do your Best to Enjoy life

F*Doing Our Best – Full responsibility in becoming our best selves: Shedding the old, becoming something new from the inside

F*Simple but Amazing: Using this as life philosophy

S*Sustaining a Life of Beauty

 

PS Join me on retreat in 2011 www.alchemytours.com

February 23, 2011. We'd love to have you join us for some well deserved quiet time.  We are offering a 2 for 1 which means each person only pays $499!  Register today www.alchemytours.com or email hello@alchemytours.com

WHERE IS PAGOSA SPRINGS/WOLF CREEK SKI AREA? 
Pagosa Springs is located in the Four-Corners region of southwestern Colorado which offers an abundance of interesting activities and attractions. The region is known for its access to archeological sites, unmatched mountains, beautiful rivers, canyon lands and a wealth of cultural history. The town of Pagosa Springs is nestled in a beautiful valley on the banks of the San Juan River, surrounded by the 3 million acre San Juan Forest and adjacent to the largest contiguous wilderness area in the nation, the Weminuche Wilderness. "Pagosah" means healing waters in Ute and Pagosa Springs is home of the world's largest mineral hot springs. 

Wolf Creek, thirty minutes from Pagosa Springs, is a mom and pop ski resort in the Southern San Juan Mountains of Colorado, mountains where some serious soul is to be found. Expect sun as this area averages 300 days of sun a year. 

TRIP COST: $999 

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE TRIP PRICE FOR 4 DAYS?
• 3 nights of accommodation at The Springs Resort and Spa
• 24 hour unlimited hot springs soaking access
• Daily breakfast, three lunches, two dinners and all snacks and drinks for each day’s activities 
• Transportation to and from the airport to Pagosa Springs, in private coach 
• 6 Yoga classes 
• Private Dharma and wilderness talks facilitated by your Guides 
• All gratuities for special events, transfers, lodging and group meals. 
• A special gift 

NOT INCLUDED?
Airfare to and from the trip, gratuities for your guides, spa services at the Springs Resort and Spa, other activities not listed and personal items purchased during your trip. Some meals are not included during this trip to allow you the opportunity to explore the cuisine on your own. 

ABOUT YOUR GUIDES:
You will be guided by Kendra Charts, Jacob Young and Silvia Mordini. 

Kendra is a soul rider. She adores nature, yoga, snowboarding, rock climbing, surfing, people with adventurous spirits and playing in the mountains, desert and beautiful bodies of water.  Kendra is Avalanche I certified, and has her CPR/First Aid and Outdoor Emergency Care certifications. Her love for snowboarding, powder and mountains has led her to the mountains of the West and South America. You’ll find her passion for the mountains and her wonder for nature contagious. 

Jacob is an avid cyclist, runner, and lover of all things outdoors, involving people. With over 10 years of guiding experience, beginning on Mt. Rainier, he has broadened his horizons by transitioning to guiding cycling trips around the world. He has been living in, and exploring the Olympic & Cascade mountain ranges of the Pacific Northwest for the past 11 years, and can often be found cycling, trail running, hiking and skiing in the greater Seattle area when not practicing yoga indoors. Jacob is a Certified Carmichael Training Systems coach and is CPR/First Aid certified, but his real experience comes from his passion for showing people new places and exploring along with them. 

Your Yoga will be taught by Silvia Mordini whose loving Anusara-inspired Vinyasa Flow teaching style is influenced by more than 10 years of Hatha yoga study. With over 7,500 hours of yoga teaching experience, as a nationally recognized Experienced Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance (E-RYT) she is dedicated to making yoga upbeat and fun, serious and informative, supportive and authentic. She brings inspiration enthusiasm and playfulness into each class through creative, flowing sequencing and a delightful combination of yoga philosophy and healthy physical alignment. 
TRIP ITINERARY:
Day 1 – Thursday, April 7, 2011 
Afternoon: 
1:00 Meet in the lobby of the Durango- La Plata County Airport in Durango, shuttle to Pagosa Springs 
2:00 Arrive at Pagosa Springs, The Springs Resort and Spa, check in and brief logistics 
3:00 Water yoga practice 
4:00 Free time

Evening:
7:00 Microbrew tasting at Pagosa Brewery and dinner
9:00 Orientation, Dharma Talk 

Day 2 – Friday, April 8, 2011
Morning:
8:00 Morning yoga practice
9:00 Breakfast 
10:00 Depart for Wolf Creek Ski Area 

Afternoon:
10:30 Boarding/Skiing at Wolf Creek Ski Area: Tutorial and skills clinic for boarding and free ski, boxed lunch and snacks provided
Evening: 
5:00 Restorative yoga practice 
7:00 Après ski at Kip's Cantina followed by dinner at place of your choosing and free time

Day 3 – Saturday, April 9, 2011
Morning:
8:00 Yoga
9:00 Breakfast 
10:00 Depart for Wolf Creek Ski Area

Afternoon:
10:30 Boarding/Skiing at Wolf Creek Ski Area: Tutorial and skills clinic for boarding and free ski, boxed lunch and snacks provided
Evening:
5:00 Special evening yoga restorative practice with live music by Native American Flute Player Charles Martinez
8:00 Après ski and dinner at Ole Miner’s Steakhouse

Day 4 – Sunday, April 10, 2011
Morning:
8:00 Closing yoga practice
9:00 Breakfast 
10:30 Check out and local snowshoe tour provided by Pagosa Nordic

Afternoon:
1:00 Arrive in downtown Durango and lunch 
2:30 Arrive at airport

**Please note that scheduled itinerary is subject to change due to the ebb and flow of life!

WHEN WILL I NEED TO ARRIVE AND WHEN DO I LEAVE? 
Arrival Location: 
You will need to arrive by 1 p.m. in the lobby of the Durango- La Plata County Airport (DRO) in Durango,Colorado on Thursday, December 9.

Departure Location: 
At the end of your trip, you will be shuttled back to Durango. The shuttle will arrive at the Durango-La Plata County airport by 2:30pm. Please do not schedule a flight before 3:30pm. (There are 3:43pm and 5:04pm redeye Flight options from DRO to CHI). 

HOW DO I GET TO PAGOSA SPRINGS IF I FLY? 
You can fly into the Durango-La Plata County Airport in Durango and drive to Pagosa Springs (about 1.5 hours away). If you plan on doing some site seeing on your free time, or if you plan on staying a day or two before or after our trip, then we suggest renting a car either way. Due to winter conditions and mountain passes it is advised to rent a vehicle with four wheel drive.

HOW DO I GET TO PAGOSA SPRINGS IF I DRIVE? 
Pagosa Springs is located 61 miles (about 1.5 hours) east of Durango. If you choose to drive to the trip start, to get there, take CO 172 north from the Durango Airport to the intersection with Hwy 160. Turn right and follow Hwy 160 east to Pagosa Springs.The final directions to our location will be emailed to you before our trip start. 

February 19, 2011.  I make the time for important stuff like googling LOVE MUSCLE.  Interestingly enough here is the best advice I found in looking after your Love Muscle:

1. Locate the love muscle

2. Remember to breath

3. Don't overdo it

4. Results should show in 8-12 weeks

 That's pretty good advice that could easily apply to yoga as well.  In yoga we always work our Love Muscle.  The love muscle is our mind.  We work our mind muscle by focusing our thoughts on positive expectations. Shakti Gawain says it like this, “When we create something, we always create it first in a thought form. If we are basically positive in attitude, expecting satisfaction and happiness, we will attract and create people, situations, and events which conform to our positive expectations.” The more we practice using our muscles the stronger we get.  In yoga class we move and breath practicing making our minds stronger.  Brian Tracy says, "Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.

I understand maintaining a positive expectation is not easy.  Yoga stretches our mind muscle, it teaches us how to connect with ourselves and accept the sense things make or make sense of things as they are.To me this is the ultimate definition of yoga: anything that wakes you up to who you really are, that makes you more aware of your life, that which works our love muscle. Love yourself, Love your day, Love your life! Silvia

 

PS Here is the salutation we practiced to stretch our mind through our body. 

7th Chakra Namaskar

*Start standing in Mountain with HASTA VINYASA – “Conductor arms” 

INHALE – Reach arms down and out lift left knee Crane

EXHALE – Arms to sides and reach forward Flying Lunge

INHALE – Low Lunge circle arms out and up

EXHALE – Half Splits circle arms down and out

INHALE – High Lunge circle arms forward and up

EXHALE – Prepare

INHALE – Warrior 3 circle arms down and out

EXHALE – Crane circle arms forward and up, lower foot to Mountain

Side 2 begins

February 18, 2011.  The choice to be FREE requires an enormous amount of inner strength.  It asks that we be courageous and believe in our own right to be free.  Yoga Sutras Chapter 2.26 talks about how if we believe we are limited, you will be limited; if you believe you are free, you are FREE.  In yogic terms Freedom is known as Jivamukti.  For whatever reason or reasons you feel trapped in your life know you have a choice to free your mind and heart.  It is always there.

Yoga teaches us that we are sovereign over the democracy of ourselves.  Living in a democracy we all can appreciate a thing or two about Freedom.  So ask yourself what kind of freedoms do you encourage in your life?  Are you afraid to stand up for your rights?  Do you promote shared responsibility amongst the constituents of your limbs, breath, mind and heart?  Do you keep yourself shackled to workaholism or do you imprison yourself with worry or self-doubt or critical self-dialogue, do you allow someone outside yourself to run your life?

In my personal work the greatest prisons I've experienced have been those of my own making.  It has been through the yogic practice that I started to place more daily importance on liberation. With time I embraced how crucial it is to find peace and happiness from the inside.  As we study ourselves the yoga helps us explore through movement a freedom in our bodies and a kind of flowing meditation where we can find peace and tranquility in our minds.   

So right now, sit in a way that elongates your spine and let’s your breath travel more freely.  As you free your breath you liberate your mind.  As the mind opens the heart opens.  You being to realize that you can choose to draw upon your own fortitude to free your heart from pain, to free your body from long held tension and to free yourself of unhealthy mindless habits (samskaras).  It is going to look different for everyone.  And it is a constant practice to remind ourselves that we alone are the most responsible in keeping the peace and joy within the democracy of self.  "You see the wider practice of yoga is not about arranging our life so that it is perfect and easy and non-challenging. Rather it is about using the discipline we find in asana practice to be able to remain “easy” in the midst of difficulty. That is the true measure of freedom. When we learn this then everything we do and everything we say becomes an “asana”, a position of body, mind and soul which requires the attention that brings us into the present."  I know what it’s like to feel imprisoned. I also can tell you I know what is it like to break free.  It’s not easy but I believe all of us can do it. So here I leave you with a final poem to inspire you to free yourself, love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

"May you listen to your longing to be free.
May the frames of your belonging be large enough for the dreams of your soul.
May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart
...something good is going to happen to you.
May you find harmony between your soul and your life.
May the mansion of your soul never become a haunted place.
May you know the eternal longing that lies at the heart of time.
May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.
May you never place walls between the light and yourself.
May you be set free from the prisons of guilt, fear, disappointment and despair.
May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you, 
mind you, and embrace you in belonging."    
-  John O'Donahoe

TODAY'S PLAYLIST:

Flow, Sade

Outta Control, 50 Cent

Xoxoxo, The Black Eyed Peas

Au Pays De Gandhi, MC Solaar

Groovejet (If This Ain't Love), Spiller

15 to 20 (Den Haan Remix), The Phenomenal Handclap Band

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, KT Tunstall

Every Breath You Take, The Police

Lumière [MAIN], Blue Scholars

Revelation Dub, Kabanjak

Twin Blue, Millions & Millions

Shavasana/Deep Relaxation, Shiva Rea

February 11, 2011.  Here on Day 2 of blogging about love for 21 days in 2011 I guess I should explain why I am embracing the Year of the Rabbit.  I met someone.  And when you meet someone you really want to spend time with in one place then the quiet concept of "Love is Patient" takes on a whole new meaning.  My yoga on the mat has served to make me strong enough now so that I want to practice the Yoga of Home and Yoga of Relationship more than ever.  To me after the hardest pose of being ourselves then the next hardest yoga pose is making a relationship with another human being that is calm and content.  What the ancient yogis call Santosha.  Not the New Years Eve fireworks crazy amped up experience but the gentle force of kindness. "Love is Kind" in action. I recently did a cyber interview for Xinalani Resort where I'll be leading a yoga retreat February 26-March 5th.  Part of that interview is here: 

Xinalani: How did the two of you meet?

Jacob: We met on a train in Italy...yes, it was one of those romantic things you read about in books, and yes, we get asked every trip about it. Perhaps that is one of the incentives for coming on one of our trips?

Silvia: The way Jacob tells the story makes everyone cry every single time. It was exactly as Rumi writes, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” In that moment of meeting I was returning from a Yoga Retreat in Tuscany where I had found much healing and growth. I had ever more fully let go of the barriers to loving myself. I was truly awake and more openhearted than ever before.  And that is when Jacob found me.

Through this yogic practice I have been able to get stronger on the inside so I didn't feel like I had to maintain the walls and barriers up on the outside. As a result I got softer on the outside.  In that softness love felt more welcomed.  Although I hesitate I feel I should caution you a bit here: When you arrive at that place where you are willing to be open to grace and be more gentle outwardly you will get hurt.  Some will take advantage of you.  You might wonder so how many times has my heart been broken? Well, more than most.  But would I trade this letting go of barriers to have it any other way? No I would not.  Once you start the practice of yoga the process takes over and what you thought was important before evolves to a whole new level.  You put your energy on creating and deepening the poses of your life and away from holding back or closing off.  It is in that receptivity that the yoga of relationship love will find you as it did me.  So today sweat off the old hardness, knock down the walls and welcome LOVE! Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

*Join me on a yoga retreat www.alchemytours.com

February 9, 2011.  I don't mean this to be dramatic or morbid but if I died today could I say that I've lived well.  And more importantly could I say that I've loved well.  You see today is the anniversary of my Father's death. Enrico Mordini died on this day many years ago, too many to even begin to want to count.  And yet the hardest day of my life is also a day of inspiration.  It is a reminder every year to ask myself am I loving enough?  Am I Creating more love in the world, not just following love but leading the way for love as a Love Warrior so to speak.  

For it's not enough to think about it or follow the leader in love it is also our responsibility to make more love in the world.  Today more than ever!  And yes for me this is also tied up in wondering on this date every year "is my Papa proud of me and how I'm loving my life." Would he think that I respect love enough to salute it every day (like a sun salutation)?  I have to believe he is proud of how valiant my attempts are regardless of the results which are sometimes messy and pretty often imperfect.

Funny thing about death is that the anniversary keeps coming back every year and reminds us that we don't know how long we have on this earth. So if you are thinking about getting started in loving more, creating more love, talking to love, talking about love then you should get started NOW.  Yesterday, in meditation I decided to turn up the volume of love in my life, mostly because I don't feel like I'm yet "doing" enough to promote love.  If I am a Love Ambassador (kind of like a Lululemon Ambassador) I have to get out there and keep the "brand image" of LOVE on the forefront.  I have to take more responsibility.  So I have pledged to write/blog/meditate about love for 21 days in a row (the length of time some scientists agree it takes to build a healthy habit).

Those of you who know me might think this will be an easy love assignment for me, but being actively pledged to love is not easy. It is simple.  Just not easy. That's a long time to be in love with love and maintain a fruitful, spiritually mature dialogue.  I say this because when my Father passed away the first person I was angry with was Love. I screamed and cried and shouted at love in my thoughts and out loud, because I couldn't understand why love would take away the first person on this planet who loved me (along with my Mama too).  Love seemed so unfair to me then.  So you see I haven't always been on good terms with Love, we've argued before and sometimes it's not been pretty.

But here I am, ready to really try to be the Love Ambassador that I want to be and that will make my Papa proud.  You see Love is a skill.  If you practice love, move like love, think love, behave in a loving way then we're bound to get good at it, just like anything else we practice (sadhana) repeatedly over time.

Eknath Easwaren says it like this “Love is a skill, a precious skill that can be learned. There are many other skills that are useful, even necessary, but in the end, nothing less than learning to love will satisfy us. The saints and mystics tell us that life has only one overriding purpose: to discover the source of infinite love and then to express this love in daily living. Without love, life is empty; without love, life is meaningless. The only purpose which can satisfy us completely, fulfill all our desires, and then make our life a gift to the whole world, is the gradual realization of the Self (LOVE) within, which throws open the gates of love. We cannot dream what depth and breadth of love we are capable of until we make the discovery that this divine spark lives in every creature.” 

And today as I dream of love I am just so grateful to breath and welcome a way that promotes living the biggest love possible. So happy am I to have another chance to love more! It comes down to a simple choice (here I really should tell you that my "not so secret" ulterior motive is to build an army of Love Ambassadors worldwide) and I'd like to recruit each of you.  The oath is easy.  You just say to yourself and then to everyone: I CHOOSE LOVE.

May you love yourself more, love your day more, love your life more! Silvia 

Namaste Yogi Friends, 

In yogic mythology NATARAJA, literally the King of the Dance of Existence represents the power of Destruction, Shiva, and yet in it's hands it holds in one the power to destroy but in the other the power of Creation. All of us are dancing between endings and beginnings. 

Some say this Cosmic Dance of destruction and creation creates this vibration which is the sound of OM (AUM), movement, stillness and then something beyond that.

So when we see Nature, which is always one of our best teachers, dance a dance of destruction with Snow (or anything else) we are reminded to appreciate endings as much as we do beginnings.  This is too why we practice savasana at the end of class, we let die a little our petty dramas, our real challenges and well all the rest. And upon rising up, we BEGIN AGAIN. We are creating a new life!

So let's follow the example of nature - we see it is making us pause. ALL CLASSES CANCELED FEBRUARY 2ND, 2011 (our first time ever)  Enjoy your families, your friends, yourself and remember you have been born in this body, this heart, this soul to CREATE something beautiful for your life.  

And this opportunity won't last forever.  Let's all give birth to our best lives ever once the blizzard ends.  Make a new beginning!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia   

 

PS - I would love to have 5 more Yogi Friends come to sunny Paradise with me! See www.alchemytours.com or www.silviamordini.com or email me at info@totalbodyyoga.com. Photos at http://www.xinalaniretreat.com/

January 17, 2011.  Here is my playlist from class on MLK Day.  Focusing on freeing up our intentions as the best way to show gratitude for all those like MLK that sacrificed so much in order for us to do our hardest pose of all: be ourselves.  That is the ultimate freedom! Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia www.silviamordini.com

PLAYLIST

Big Medicine, Mari Boine

Lumière [MAIN], Blue Scholars

Nungabunda, Ganga Giri

Grid Lok'd, Govindas

Just You & I, Dzihan & Kamien

Diarabi, Issa Bagayogo

Pitchblack Darkness (feat. Reazun, Paradox), Kyteman

One Moment More, Mindy Smith

Wonderwall, Ryan Adams

Wash Away, Joe Purdy

Child's Eyes (Jenny's Song), Scott Cossu

The Hill, Markéta Irglová

Samba Sadashiva, Donna De Lory

 

***Still time and room to join me in Puerto Vallarta Feb 26- Mar 5! www.alchemytours.com

JANUARY 5, 2011.   PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BREATH.  That's it.  This is yoga!  And this yoga can be practiced anytime, without any warm-up, anywhere, with anyone or by yourself.  I know you were probably thinking it would be harder or more complicated?  But nah, Yoga teaches us that when we are not present our minds become totally distracted and our thoughts are all over the place, starting stopping, wandering from one thing to the other at often break neck speed.  If we pay attention we harness the power of our thoughts.  As a human being this is what distinguishes us from other creatures and is our GREATEST STRENGTH.

 Forgetting to pay attention happens to the best of us. 

The Yoga Sutras say “enjoyment is the sweetness of noticing your life right now – smell, taste, feeling, sensation”  You see in times of doubt the key thing to know is that there is a point to it all. Even when we don’t understand why things are happening in our life we can rest assured as Sadie Nardini says, “alongside positive change, challenge appears.” This is why the greater point to spiritual practice is simply to drop in, tune in and PAY ATTENTION.  

 My teacher Shiva Rea says, "All beings have their yoga. This insight comes from a profound contemplation by Abhinavagupta. [He was] a prolific 12th-century scholar. He has this great axiom about yoga which is “tuning ourselves into our essential vibration.” We are learning how to tune ourselves into being present.  This is why we go a yoga class. We feel out of tune. We start to feel in tune after the practice. I think only human beings distort ourselves to be something that we already are, our essential selves. For instance, a tiger essentially knows its nature; where as human beings have this incredible capacity to forget who we are and then have to search for ourselves."

 I know from my own practice that the most powerful thing we can do is just be present to whatever is happening, tune in and trust that ability to focus one's thoughts will be enough to bring the clarity you need for the next moment. And we only live one breath, one moment at a time without needing to change anything. Today practice Anapana-Sati breathing and notice how this impacts the best of your day.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

ANAPANA-SATI BREATHING TECHNIQUE

Watch for the judgmental mind that discounts small movements as insignificant or unimportant
or the ambitious mind that jumps in to tell you to make your breath bigger or deeper,
or labels your perceptions as good or bad in order to arrive at a conclusion.
- Donna Farhi

 

DEFINITION: Anapana means breathing.  The full name of this technique is anapanasati or mindfulness breathing.

PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this breathing concept is to gather more specific information about one's breathing patterns, rhythm, and intelligence. Simply observing the natural breath, do not breathe in a certain way or make your breath imposing. It is helpful to enter this inquiry with curiosity and inquisitiveness rather than a desire to get it right. This technique will calm your mind and keep you in the present preventing thoughts from stimulating stress. Be watchful. Thoughts will sneak up on you. When you catch yourself drifting toward thoughts, you must bring yourself back to natural breathing.

TECHNIQUE: Lay on your back or sit in any comfortable position, place one hand on the belly and the other on the chest or place both hands on the belly with the fingertips below the navel. After observing the location of the breath, you may move the arms to the side with the palms facing up.

Location of the Breath: Where is the movement of the breath most noticeable? In the lower part of my body or in the upper part?

Origin of the Breath: Where does the movement of the breath begin? Just as an earthquake has an epicenter that scientists can locate, your breath has an epicenter.

Frequency of the Breath: Is your breath fast or slow or somewhere in between? Count the number of breaths per minute or if possible have a friend count them for you. Twelve to fourteen breaths per minute is consdidered a normal rate.

Phrasing of the Breath: Is there a noticeable difference between the length of your inhalation and exhalation? Are they equal?

Texture of the Breath: Is the textyrue of your breath smooth and even or is it jerky and uneven?

Depth of the Breath: Does the breath feel deep or shallow?

Quality of the Breath: If you could describe the quality of your breath what word or words would you use? Is it pneumatic, labored, billowing?...Let descriptive worlds or images arise without latering them in any way. Do you have any images that you associate with your breathing?

Reference: Donni Farhi, The Breathing Book

"I like Anapana because there is no judgment involved. It is refreshing to just feel the breath without trying, or feeling the need to change it. It creates a kind of self acceptance for me. I am where I am." - Shannon Barker

JOIN ME IN PARADISE FEB 26-MAR 5, 2011: YOGA RETREAT IN MEXICO!

"When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused." - Rainer Maria Rilke

Xinalani is a brand new resort center accessed only by boat. It is in Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on 10 acres of unspoiled jungle with a beautiful pristine beach, only 12 miles south of Puerto Vallarta International Airport. Xinalani Retreat is about discovery, admiration, love for nature, magic, conscious travel, eco-adventure, wellness, serenity and mindful living. Come enjoy the 1,302 square foot yoga deck set uphill amidst the deep jungle vegetation that can comfortable fit 40 students. With a panoramic view to the jungle and ocean, group practices here are a fascinating experience. Accomodations are ALL beach front with a choices of various private suites and a shared house if you are looking to save money. Xinalani Retreat features its own beach club where you will enjoy a relaxing break between your classes. Where you want to go swimming, snorkeling, or just sunbathe while sipping a natural fruit smoothie, this is the place to be. Take a walk in the soft sand, discover the hidden secrets of the naturally sculpted rocks scattered along the shore and explore the small private coves as you explore yourself. 

DETAILS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

ABOUT XINALANI
We have chosen for this retreat to stay at a one of its kind eco-resort named Xinalani because we fully believe Xinalani supports our guests on their search for mind-body balance better allows us to facilitate the setting of intentions so each person leaves more focused and open hearted to realize their full human potential. The name Xinalani comes from the Nauatl Xinaloani that means «seed». It is pronounced shee-nah-lah-nee. It embodies the shared vision that this world could be better if everybody planted and grew a seed inside themselves and let love blossom around it. We look forward to your registration! You are in excellent hands!

INVESTMENT:

OCCUPANCY                 SINGLE    DOUBLE
Eco-chic Suites           $2500     $1,999.00
Eco-Premium Suites $2100      $1,699.00
Petite Suite                 $1800      $1,399.00
Big Palapa                    $1,100      NA

PAYMENT POLICIES: 
Deposit: A $500 dollar deposit will reserve your space.

Register by December 31, 2010 Get $250 OFF
Register by January 15, 2011 Get $200 OFF
Register by January 31, 2011 Get $150 OFF

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE TRIP PRICE?

• 7 nights of accommodation at Xinalani Retreat
• 3 complete gourmet vegetarian meals per day. Chef is expert in ayurveda cuisine and macrobiotics.
• A social hour on select evenings
• All transportation during the trip, including to and from the airport to Xinalani Retreat
• 14 Yoga classes with Silvia Mordini
• Yoga clinics and mini workshops with Silvia Mordini
• Sunset Yoga Ceremonies
• Guided Jungle Hiking
• Private Dharma talks facilitated by your Guides
• All gratuities for special events, transfers, lodging and group meals.
• A special goodie bag with loving gifts

NOT INCLUDED?

Airfare to and from the trip, gratuities for your guides

WWW.ALCHEMYTOURS.COM

Have you ever had a hangnail?  What about a pimple?  A splinter? 

This weekend I broke a nail. Tragic!!  Oooh the pain, the challenge, the distraction! Yeah, I know its not that big a deal. But at the time it hurt.  But to add insult to injury as life has a sense of humor, long past being a teenager I still get pimples.  Terrible stuff. And that too, if I let it, creates a little drama inside my head.  But enough about me, what about you?   Do you lets little things like pimples, broken nails, splinters fully absorb all your attention?

It's funny that way isn't it?  Here are these small inconveniences and yet we can get totally distracted where everything else seems to lose significance. All we think about is that one small thing!

One of my favorite writings puts it like this, "Negative emotions are like splinters. They pierce our consciousness grab hold of our minds and consume our thoughts to the point that we can lose sight of our desire for contentment compassion and deeper awareness. Most of us can recall the times we have felt hurt or angered by harsh words or actions of others and how we have held on to our pain processing it over and over in our minds like a never ending one sided argument.  We often hold on to these emotional splinters for weeks months and even years.  Holding onto negative thoughts always increases our pain, causing us to be distracted, dysfunctional and even depressed."

So what are your emotional broken nails? Do you have emotional splinters overriding your life right now?  I'll tell you day 1 of broken nail my mind kept going back to it, I saw this was a problem and by day 2 I was already able to retrain my mind to be more present, by day 3 I only thought about my broken nail 4 times, by day 4 I only let it absorb my attention twice.  You see yoga is for the mind.  There is an answer to our emotional hangnails.  Just like getting a splinter out of the body, once we decide we don't want to replay the negative or hurtful thoughts over and over can we begin to heal.  

And yoga does heal.  It has healed me, it has healed hundreds of students I've seen through the years, it has healed the teacher trainees I've had the privilege of working with for 9 sessions.  Yoga can offer you healing too.  This philosophy comes from the Yoga Sutras, Chapter 2.33 Pratipaksha Bhavana.  Where when we are faced with something hurtful we cultivate an elevated attitude, we move our mind away from the petty distraction and dramas. In other words WE DO NOT FREAK OUT.  Do not Panic.  All the stuff that is flying around outside us we call life is just external agitation.  Yoga helps us to quiet the mind through concentrated focus on breath, movement, sensation to move away from the external pimples and to the place deep inside our hearts where peace always exists.  Where there is no drama.

This comes as a result in great part simply by bringing awareness to the small stuff and often just laughing at ourselves and our humanness and what silly creatures we are.  We learn to shift from a splinter to the important experiences of loving ourselves, loving others, living honestly and with total commitment to our overall happiness.  

"Any of us in deep hurt know that shifting our feelings is much easier said than done. We actually become pyschologically and nuerologically habituated to sharp toxic emotions to that point we we often find ourselves over-responding making the tiniest splinter of perceived negative experience feel like shrapnel piercing our hearts. As we perpetuate this response it becomes such an ingrained habit that we often feel unable to control our behavior."  So  the firs step to healing your emotional broken nails is to know it is possible to change the habits of your mind.  Every yoga class you experience will help you do that.  And through this process of practice "we can transform our splinters to salve, anger into compassion, hate into love, fear into courage and yes even pain into joy!" Love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Silvia

Join me with alchemy tours in 2011 www.alchemytours.com

NOVEMBER 19, 2010.  Yoga has without a doubt made me more patient.  Don't get me wrong sometimes it's still hard but for sure I'm better at it.  What's changed? Well I don't want to feel that TUG-O-WAR with myself or with anyone else.  Impatience doesn't feel good and yoga teaches the antidote to impatience is, yes you can guess, patience.  Patience feels good.  It feels like a return to center no matter the chaos or what other people do or don't do. It feels like compassion, peacefulness and a constant return to balance. When I am patient I feel like I can attempt anything and be my most funky self without attachment to the result.  Yoga always teaches that detaching from the outcome through patience will bring peace of mind.

So rather than procrastinating what we really want to try we just do it accepting that the trying is the yummy fun part.  Patience feels like unconditional love and acceptance.  There are no ego issues when we are patient. You know what I mean, that feeling that if something doesn't happen right now in just the way we want it then it's not good enough. When Patient our minds stop playing the old games of pushing, pulling, creating anxiety, distrust, stress or simple heavy expectations.

 

Gosh if we could just take a lesson from the Moon.  Do you know that that moon's trajectory follows the Sun's trajectory, only 6 months later;  the full moon in winter comes as high as the Sun in the Summer.  And it takes the Moon 18.6 YEARS TO FULFILL ONE COMPLETE ORBIT! I love this!  If it takes the moon 18.6 years to complete 1 cycle well then in downward facing dog we really have 18.6 years to attempt it completely for one full time don't you think?  If the moon requires 18.6 years to process its orbit then we can try anything new we want to and give ourselves 18.6 years to really refine it.  

Yoga is NOT a quick fix.  Yoga is like the cycle of the moon.  It takes a long time, consistent practice and a whole lot of patience is developed while trying.  So today through infinite patience may we all demonstrate unconditional love and excitement for life! Be your FUNKY Self! No need to pressure ourselves, give yourself at least 18.6 years on attempting any one thing.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia 

 

PS would love to work with you while on retreat through active life coaching and inspiration. Join me with Alchemy Tours visit my website at www.silviamordini.com

 

 

WAKE UP AND TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE!
Join us for a rejuvenating retreat in paradise. The experience will be grounded, playful, and fortifying as we refine our intentions for the best year ever! Our journey will include two energizing yoga classes each day, as well as open air accommodations and vibrant local cuisine. There will be ample space for rest, reflection, adventure and community connection. Explore the land and culture through surfing, watersports, jungle hikes, horseback riding, bird/whale watching and much, much more. The name Xinalani comes from the Nahuatl Xinaloani that means seed. It is pronounced shee-nah-lah-nee. It embodies the vision of transformation from the experiences and teachings from our past into the great potential of our future. 

Xinalani Retreat Center is an eco-chic spa hotel, hidden on a pristine beach surrounded by a luxuriant jungle on the south shore of Banderas Bay, near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Conceived as a tropical haven to host group wellness retreats, Xinalani is a place filled with serenity that shelters individuals in their search for a more balanced life style. It is a small private all suites hotel where each guest can feel the intimate closeness to the natural elements, and receive a well-deserved personal attention.

Join us in paradise for experience of awakening a renewal of the body, mind and soul.

DURING THIS 6-DAY YOGA RETREAT YOU WILL: 
• Integrate Spirit and Nature as you practice yoga, and experience truly stunning eco-discoveries, play and meditate with a group dedicated to doing the same. 
• Fully discover (or rediscover!) the Joy of Yoga. 
• Experience a place filled with serenity that shelters individuals looking to establish a more balanced lifestyle.
• Enjoy becoming an active conscious traveler.
• Enjoy exceptional yoga, hiking, eco-adventures and camaraderie, connecting with pristine beaches, organic food, relaxing jungle spa treatments, all designed to help you spiritualize every aspect of your life!
• Recharge, refresh and renew, leaving totally more inspired about your life! 

INVESTMENT: 
OCCUPANCY SINGLE DOUBLE
Eco-chic Suites $2500 $1,999.00
Eco-Premium Suites $2100 $1,699.00
Petite Suite $1800 $1,399.00
Big Palapa $1,100 NA

PAYMENT POLICIES: 
Deposit: A $500 dollar deposit will reserve your space. 
egister by November 30, 2010 Get $400 OFF
Register by December 15, 2010 Get $350 OFF
Register by December 31, 2010 Get $250 OFF
Register by January 15, 2011 Get $150 OFF

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE TRIP PRICE?
• 6 nights of accommodation at Xinalani Retreat 
• 3 complete gourmet vegetarian meals per day. Chef is expert in ayurveda cuisine and macrobiotics.
• A social hour on select evenings
• All transportation during the trip, including to and from the airport to Xinalani Retreat 
• Full transportation by water taxi from Puerto Vallarta to our cliff-side beach paradise
• 9 Yoga classes with Silvia Mordini
• Yoga clinics and mini workshops with Silvia Mordini
• Sunset Yoga Ceremonies
• Guided Jungle Hiking 
• Private Dharma talks facilitated by your Guides 
• All gratuities for special events, transfers, lodging and group meals. 
• A special goodie bag with loving gifts

NOT INCLUDED?
Airfare to and from the trip, gratuities for your guides, spa services, other activities not listed such as whale watching, surfing, bird watching.

TIPS AND GRATUITIES
Gratuities for your guides may be given at your discretion in response to their leadership and professionalism throughout the trip. We suggest 5-10% of the trip price per individual to be divided between the guiding team as an industry standard. Gratuities for all restaurants, hotels, transportation and local events are paid for by the retreat organizers.

TO REGISTER AND SAVE YOUR SPOT: 
You can pay with check, direct bank deposit, or credit card or Paypal on line but we most prefer checks. Please send checks to Alchemy Tours c/o Total Body Yoga, 210 Terrace Drive, Mundelein, IL 60061. Contact us at info@alchemytours.com or call if we can answer any questions.


WHERE IS XINALANI, PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO? 

Xinalani is a brand new resort center accessed only by boat. It is in Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on 10 acres of unspoiled jungle with a beautiful pristine beach, only 12 miles south of Puerto Vallarta International Airport. Xinalani Retreat is about discovery, admiration, love for nature, magic, conscious travel, eco-adventure, wellness, serenity and mindful living. Come enjoy the 1,302 square foot yoga deck set uphill amidst the deep jungle vegetation that can comfortable fit 40 students. With a panoramic view to the jungle and ocean, group practices here are a fascinating experience. Accomodations are ALL beach front with a choices of various private suites and a shared house if you are looking to save money. Xinalani Retreat features its own beach club where you will enjoy a relaxing break between your classes. Where you want to go swimming, snorkeling, or just sunbathe while sipping a natural fruit smoothie, this is the place to be. Take a walk in the soft sand, discover the hidden secrets of the naturally sculpted rocks scattered along the shore and explore the small private coves as you explore yourself. Visit http://www.xinalaniretreat.com/ and fall in love!

DETAILS YOU SHOULD KNOW: 
LIVING XINALANI
We have chosen for this retreat to stay at a one of its kind eco-resort named Xinalani because we fully believe Xinalani supports our guests on their search for mind-body balance better allows us to facilitate the setting of intentions so each person leaves more focused and open hearted to realize their full human potential. The name Xinalani comes from the Nauatl Xinaloani that means «seed». It is pronounced shee-nah-lah-nee. It embodies the shared vision that this world could be better if everybody planted and grew a seed inside themselves and let love blossom around it. We look forward to your registration! You are in excellent hands!

LOW IMPACT LIVING
All guests accomodations have low consumption lights (LEDS) and are equipped with two outlets to reload cell phones and camera batteries. Our construction method was extremely organic. No concrete, no land modification. We never cut a single tree and hardly pruned any branches. We promote an intelligent use of resources. All guests are provided with high-end eco-friendly soaps and shampoo. Toilets are low-flow, and all water is recycled and used to irrigate our gardens. We use natural and biodegradable cleaning products, we recycle and compost wherever possible in an attempt to minimize our environmental impact. 

YOGA STUDIO
Come and enjoy our unique 1,302 sq ft (121 m2) yoga deck set uphill amidst the deep jungle vegetation. It can comfortably hold up to 40 students. Practicing and learning in Xinalani Retreat is a truly enriching experience, the awe-inspiring Yoga Center was tastefully designed to infuse peace and serenity. With a panoramic view to the jungle and ocean, ideal for group practices.

HEALTHY NATURAL CUISINE
Xinalani cuisine is gourmet vegetarian and may or may not include fresh fish and seafood. The chef is well versed into principles of raw food, ayurveda cuisine and macrobiotics if you need special adaptations. You will be served 3 complete meals per day in the dining room following this schedule:

Breakfast: 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM - Buffet Style 
Lunch: 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM - Buffet Style
Dinner: 7:00PM - 9:30 PM – Chic

SPA
An array of treatments, massages and facials will help you relax, detox, heal, and reach a greater sense of mind- body balance through your stay. 

TYPES OF ACCOMODATION
All the accommodations are beachfront, spacious, palm-thatched cabins floating on stilts. They were designed with refined elegance and built and furnished by local artisans. Their cozy interiors inspire feelings of calm and serenity. You will enjoy the closeness of the natural elements, the stimulation of the open-air private showers and the stunning views of the Pacific Ocean from your terrace.

Xinalani offers 2 different types of accommodation: private suites or a shared house. All suites have private bathrooms. The suites are classified into 3 categories depending on their size, location and view. Also offered is a collective accommodation in a big palapa with up to 8 single beds and 2 complete bathrooms.

TRIP ITINERARY:
XINALANI PUERTO VALLARTA DAILY AGENDA
8:00am - 9:00am Breakfast
9:30am - 11am Vinyasa flow yoga
11am – 12pm Yoga clinics, mini workshops
12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch
1:30pm - 5:30pm Daytime Fun (Beach, Spa, Hiking, & More)
6:00pm - 7:00pm Vinyasa flow yoga and meditation
8:00pm Dinner
9:00pm Dharma talks

NOVEMBER 10, 2010.  Jon Kabat Zinn says, "too often our lives cease working because we cease working at life."  

Yoga teaches us that when we are not present our minds become totally distracted and our thoughts are all over the place, starting stopping, wandering from one thing to the other at often break neck speed.  If we pay attention we harness the power of our thoughts.  As a human being this is what distinguishes us from other creatures and is our GREATEST STRENGTH!  Yet our least utilized.  When we start the practice first thing we do is remind everyone to be conscious of their breathing, to pay attention to the breath: anapana sati breathing technique.  Not being bossy just watching it. For as Gabrielle Roth writes in the book Sweat your Prayers, "the breath is promiscuous, and if you don't pay it attention it will find another lover."  

Consider how tuned in to your breath you have to be to experience this from Pieree Teilhard De Chardin “The inhale and the exhale. Breathing out carbon dioxide to the trees and breathing in their fresh exudations. Oxygen kissing each cell awake, atoms dancing in orderly metabolism, interpenetrating. That dance of the air cycle, breathing the universe in and out again, is what you are, is what I am.”  Wow!  All he is talking about is paying attention to the breath. 

 Then by paying attention to the breath the breath reveals your state of mind and heart.  “If you want to know the past, to know what has caused you, look at yourself in the present, for that is the past’s effect. If you want to know your future, then look at yourself in the present, for that is the cause of the future.”  Majihima Nikaya

And as we pay attention to breath, we then pay attention to aligning our movements or poses with the breath.  There is this really on purpose experience of where we put our hands and feet and energy without judgement, just observation.  For what we know and don't know eventually become one.  Rumi says it like this: 

why are you so busy

with this or that or good or bad

pay attention to how things blend

 

why talk about all 

the known and the unknown

see how unknown merges into the known

 

All that you know, all that you don't know are no longer things to be feared or apologized for or worried about.  Just by paying attention the universal intelligence that loves and supports us all is working on our behalf.  All we have to do is pay attention and the rest works itself out for our greater happiness.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia 

PS And if you need a way to re-establish the ability to pay attention without distraction come on retreat with me. Stretch your mental and physical boundaries! Alchemy tours. Facebook us, facebook me anytime, visit our website www.alchemytours.com or www.silviamordini.com

OCTOBER 24, 2010.  With more and more yoga options all the time.  And I am not talking about types of yoga I am simply talking about the temperature of which a yoga room is heated for your practice. You have to make the best choice for yourself 120 degrees?  95 degrees or 80 degrees?  The bigger question is not about the temperature of the air but how does it make you feel?  If you are practicing in a cold room and you leave the practice a Hot headed yogi well that's a problem.  If you are practicing in a super duper hot room and you leave a cold hearted yogi that's a problem.

 My hope is you find what you need in the world and you leave the practice warm hearted with a cool clear mind.  That's all.  And whatever you have to do to get there is all good.  The world needs less hot yogis or cold yogis and simply needs loving warm yogis.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

My Tribe

By Julia Jonson Cohn

10/17/10

I hugged them, said goodbye and actually got misty-eyed at the thought of not seeing them again for ten days. Thing is, I only met them last week! My new tribe, as our leader calls us. My fellow yoga teacher trainees, who I will be learning and growing with for the next several months, made an imprint on my heart.

We are a diverse bunch. Our ages span 50 years. Our occupations range from dog groomer to doctor and the tribe has an array of talents and interests -- we have musicians and runners, one who has a green thumb and another who has studied to be a monk.  Some of us are parents and there are group members who were born in other countries and we all share a love of yoga. Over the course of 4 days we shared what makes us awesome, finessed each other’s poses and literally sat on each other’s lap (while tweaking Utkatasana or chair pose). We laughed a ton and some of us even cried a little, but mostly we grew.

Each training session began with taking a yoga class. Then we’d come back to our classroom, sit in a circle and talk about our practice.  The bulk of early learning for our tribe, as teacher Silvia calls it, came in the form of self-work. Silvia told us she wanted to build us up and she did. 

She taught us that yoga and meditation will help us clear away the chitti vritta, or chatter in the mind.  We were encouraged to feel deeply, live fully and love completely. Our foundation is one of self-love and how you are the lover of yourself as well as the beloved.  Silvia used tons of humor and amazing analogies to drive home the point that the more open and seeking you are the more potential you have to recognize your greatness (because we are already great she told us!).

 I witnessed myself and my tribe transforming -- we went from being a group of acquaintances to trusted comrades sharing a common mission in life… the desire to help humanity through yoga. Author Jane Howard says “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”

Ultimately, the most profound lesson I learned in my first four days of training is that I am already perfect and whole and that my path as both a teacher and student will be more joyful and fulfilling if I am kind to myself and others. I think my tribe would agree.

Namaste!

 

OCTOBER 14, 2010.  The breath accepts us unconditionally. It is always all forgiving and accepting.  Think about it, we ignore our breath, treat it with total disregard, prevent it from entering our body by holding our breath out when stressed, we behave casually towards it making little to no commitment.  If we were a lover and the breath was our boyfriend, he'd leave us!  

But not our breath. It lovingly accepts our human imperfection and gives us another chance, and another, and a million and more.  There is a lesson here: when we breath we have another chance to try our best, We are not practicing to be perfect.  We are practicing to make real, to realize the beauty of our humanness.  Yoga philosophy helps us to see that we are perfectly imperfect.  Eventually the more you practice becoming enamored with your breath you allow it to become your best teacher.  And a shift happens.

As the breath accepts you, you start to accept yourself.  Then as you practice this advanced yoga of self-acceptance you become more compassionate and forgiving of others, just as you are towards yourself.  If you love yourself, you know how to love others unconditionally.  And even when other people in your life make mistakes, you appreciate their imperfections and give them a second, third, millionth chance.  

 "You see the wider practice of yoga is not about arranging our life so that it is perfect and easy and non-challenging. Rather it is about using the discipline we find in asana practice (and in the other practices of yoga as well) to be able to remain “easy” in the midst of difficulty. That is the true measure of freedom. When we learn this then everything we do and everything we say becomes an “asana”, a position of body, mind and soul which requires the attention that brings us into the present." And in that present moment there is perfect presence.

Practice breathing on purpose today.  But pranayama is not about belittling the breath or forcing or making it perfect.  The literal translation is below.  And it doesn't say anything about perfect.  It says conscious, deliberate. So we try.

Tasmin sati svasa prasvasaho gati-viccheda pranayama

Pranayama is the conscious, deliberate regulation of the incoming and outgoing flow of breath replacing unconscious patterns of breathing. It is possible only after a reasonable mastery of asana practice.
- Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.49

Our key breath learning in this practice was about chest breathing.  I have included a quick summary for you below.  The greater take away is how the breath accepts your imperfections, it knows you will forget and will welcome you back to try and in that trying may you be PRESENT.  Love yourself, Love your day, Love your life!  Silvia

 

CHEST BREATHING
This is probably the most common breathing pattern in today's stress-filled society. Also known as paradoxical breathing, it is a natural reflex when we are suddenly startled or frightened. We gasp, pull the abdomen in and breathe high into the chest. The lift of the abdomen and pelvic floor prevents the diaphragm from descending completely as we inhale. Chest breathers restrict breath movement in the abdomen, forcing it higher up into the chest, while shoulders move up and down.

Effect on mind/body
Chest breathers rely on weak upper body muscles. Thereby developing chronic tension in thoracic spine, shoulders and neck. Moreover, this tension is resistant to massage or any other relaxation therapy as it recapitulates the moment the person resumes chest breathing, which is an incredible 22,000 times a day! Since we can't breathe in fully, we can't breathe out fully also. So we resort to breathing more quickly to make up for lack of oxygen. Scarier still is the fact that it sets the stage for an even more serious breathing problem: hyperventilation. Chest breathers normally sit on the edge of their seats and exude anticipation in their entire bearing. They never seem to have enough time to do all the tasks they set out on and often experience a chronic, free-floating state of anxiety. Scientific evidence now points to the connection between chest breathing, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Identify it
Place one hand on your abdomen and the other on your chest. Observe the movement of both. If both your shoulders and chest are rising, you are probably not a chest breather. A chest breather suppresses breath in the lower abdomen, forcing it to move higher up into the body.

How to let go
Relax your shoulders and upper back. Consciously follow normal breathing pattern. Mentally assess yourself without judgement.  Ground yourself in the present.

(If you want to explore deeper learnings join me on retreat, yoga vacation www.silviamordini.com or www.alchemytours.com)

"Let go of your worries and be completely clear-hearted, like the face of a mirror that contains no images. If you want a clear mirror, behold yourself and see the truth." - RUMI

OCTOBER 10, 2010

The mat serves as a mirror for each of us.  The opportunity to let go of anger, fear, stress allows us to open up to our happiest selves.  This process requires we see ourselves honestly. Its easy to stay upset and hold on to grudges and muddy up the picture of what we really feel or who we are.  So this experiment is quite radical if you're used to masking or hiding from your truth.  

There is a Chemistry to Truth.  And we have in every moment a choice about how to influence the balance with the chemicals of our thoughts and our breath.  If you do not breath out fully you are in fact poisoning yourself.  Or if in your thoughts you are self-critical or judgmental this drama is creating a stress and hormones like cortisol are being released.  

Writes Donna Farhi, New Zealander yoga teacher, in Holding Your Breath (Yoga Journal, April 1996): "Stress may be real or imagined. Just imagining a stressful event can reduce inhalation volume. When we are continuously exposed to stress, then the body just forgets to relax." Obviously, the breathing pattern changes, and "it just might become a statement about what happened in the past rather then what is happening to us in the present".

Every exhale, every pose can help us relieve the past and be more conscious of the moment we are living.  You can by breathing wisely and thinking healing thoughts dilute the concentration of the harsh chemicals in your body.  But first the practice of studying yourself, svadhaya, asks that we see ourselves truthfully.  You engage when you hold your breath, where you get overly dramatic for no reason, where you are making yourself TOXIC.  And the diluting can be accomplished through mantra as well, what you are thinking on purpose. A favorite of mine is the lovingkindness meditation:

Think of yourself, offer healing and a way to let go of sadness, anger, worry saying inside:

May I be happy

May I be peaceful

May I be loved

 

Then think of a challenging person, who you need to heal the relationship and say to them inside:

May You be happy

May You be peaceful

May You be loved.

 

Then think of how to influence the chemistry of the world (of which you are a part of) by saying to all people:

May We be happy

May We be peaceful

May We be loved.

The answer to stress, anger you feel towards a situation or a person or thing is not eye for an eye. Fighting is only going to make it more acidic, more poison will kill us eventually.  The only answer is love.  Love dilutes the pain, the worry and relieves us of this toxicity.  And in that truth we see our best most beautiful selves!  Love your day, love your life, love yourself!  Silvia

October 3, 2010:

What is your most common knee-jerk reaction?  Is it impatience, anger, gossip, worry, self-cricism? Well through the mindfulness practice of yoga I want to help you replace all that by choosing happiness as your automatic reaction, response to all things, situations and people.  How do we do this?  The Yoga Sutras tell us.  They actually give us the keys to happiness.  The Yogic model proposes that the four keys to an open happy heart are to nurture these attitudes:

1. Kindness and friendliness to those who are happy
2. Compassion for those that are suffering or less fortunate
3. Respect and honor for those that who embody noble qualities
4. Equanimity for those whose actions oppose our values

At first these four keys to help enable us to retain our inner peace in all circumstances seem easy.  But applying these in day to day life is more challenging than we think. We often fool ourselves into believing we are kinder than we really are and can use this practice to really see where our actions are not aligned with what we believe ourselves to be.  Most of all this teaches us that we are responsible for co-creating our life. We have the four keys to our happiness.  Love in all ways, Silvia

So first step is to create some space. Here at the start of a new month let's just empty and let go of all the grievances, grudges we kept up with throughout September.  As the bible says Love keeps no records of wrongs.

You have a choice.  You can say to yourself "I intend to allow more joy into my life" or "I choose to be happy."  Just five words if you want to keep it really simple!  And notice the power of intention is not placing prerequisites or conditions but just doing it right now.  I know these four keys to happiness seem easy, but applying them to day to day life is pretty challenging because of that knee-jerk reaction, the old way of thinking and doing things.  But you have a choice and can change.  You are happiest when you think yourself happy.  And ultimately you are responsible for co-creating your life.  You have just this one lifetime and there are no do overs. So why not choose happiness starting right now?  I know you can do it!    Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 PS - We practice Mandala Namaskar 1 (Salutation) to help us see the power of our own choices!

Mandala Namaskar I 

INHALE -- Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana (1 Leg Downward Dog)

EXHALE – Anjaneyasana (Lunge)

INHALE – Parsva Anjaneyasana (Side Lunge)

EXHALE – Skandasana (Transverse Lunge)

INHALE – Ardha Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge)

EXHALE – hands down

INHALE – Ardha Plank (1 legged Plank)

EXHALE -- Chaturanga Dandasana

INHALE -- Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

EXHALE -- Chaturanga Dandasana

INHALE -- Plank

EXHALE -- Adho Mukha Svanasana 

 (To create circular pattern, Mandala, go through series right foot, right foot, left, left)

 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010.  I am so excited to announce our February Puerto Vallarta Mexico retreat at Xinalani Retreat.  This is a new eco conscious yoga resort that I am sure you will all love.  So save the date and here's a cool way to save money doing it too! Big Love, Silvia, total body yoga, Alchemy Tours  www.alchemytours.com

FIRST 6 PEOPLE TO REGISTER GET $250 OFF Puerto Vallarta, Eco Adventure Yoga Retreat Feb 26- March 4tH, 2011!!! Plan your sunny holiday now and save some cash....what's not to love?

We stand apart in being able to help clients plan their best future. Our retreats give the coaching, time and support to design the next chapter in your life and manifest what you really want for yourself. Join us to take time to align with your purpose. Start living your dreams! Leave here ready to offer your heart to another person, build a business, quit a job you hate, but get clear on your potential to celebrate your best life ever!

WHERE IS XINALANI, PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO? 

Xinalani is a brand new resort center accessed only by boat. It is in Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on 10 acres of unspoiled jungle with a beautiful pristine beach, only 12 miles south of Puerto Vallarta International Airport. Xinalani Retreat is about discovery, admiration, love for nature, magic, conscious travel, eco-adventure, wellness, serenity and mindful living. Come enjoy the 1,302 square foot yoga deck set uphill amidst the deep jungle vegetation that can comfortable fit 40 students. With a panoramic view to the jungle and ocean, group practices here are a fascinating experience. Accomodations are ALL beach front with a choices of various private suites and a shared house if you are looking to save money. Xinalani Retreat features its own beach club where you will enjoy a relaxing break between your classes. Where you want to go swimming, snorkeling, or just sunbathe while sipping a natural fruit smoothie, this is the place to be. Take a walk in the soft sand, discover the hidden secrets of the naturally sculpted rocks scattered along the shore and explore the small private coves as you explore yourself. Visithttp://www.xinalaniretreat.com/ and fall in love!

 

DURING THIS 6-DAY YOGA RETREAT YOU WILL: 

• Integrate Spirit and Nature as you practice yoga, and experience truly stunning eco-discoveries, play and meditate with a group dedicated to doing the same. 

• Fully discover (or rediscover!) the Joy of Yoga. 

• Experience a place filled with serenity that shelters individuals looking to establish a more balanced lifestyle.

• Enjoy becoming an active conscious traveler.

• Enjoy exceptional yoga, hiking, eco-adventures and camaraderie, connecting with pristine beaches, organic food, relaxing jungle spa treatments, all designed to help you spiritualize every aspect of your life! 

• Recharge, refresh and renew, leaving totally more inspired about your life! 

 

DETAILS YOU SHOULD KNOW: 

LIVING XINALANI

We have chosen for this retreat to stay at a one of its kind eco-resort named Xinalani because we fully believe Xinalani supports our guests on their search for mind-body balance better allows us to facilitate the setting of intentions so each person leaves more focused and open hearted to realize their full human potential. The name Xinalani comes from the Nauatl Xinaloani that means «seed». It is pronounced shee-nah-lah-nee. It embodies the shared vision that this world could be better if everybody planted and grew a seed inside themselves and let love blossom around it. We look forward to your registration! You are in excellent hands!

 

LOW IMPACT LIVING

All guests accomodations have low consumption lights (LEDS) and are equipped with two outlets to reload cell phones and camera batteries. Our construction method was extremely organic. No concrete, no land modification. We never cut a single tree and hardly pruned any branches. We promote an intelligent use of resources. All guests are provided with high-end eco-friendly soaps and shampoo. Toilets are low-flow, and all water is recycled and used to irrigate our gardens. We use natural and biodegradable cleaning products, we recycle and compost wherever possible in an attempt to minimize our environmental impact. 

YOGA STUDIO

Come and enjoy our unique 1,302 sq ft (121 m2) yoga deck set uphill amidst the deep jungle vegetation. It can comfortably hold up to 40 students. Practicing and learning in Xinalani Retreat is a truly enriching experience, the awe-inspiring Yoga Center was tastefully designed to infuse peace and serenity. With a panoramic view to the jungle and ocean, ideal for group practices.

HEALTHY NATURAL CUISINE

Xinalani cuisine is gourmet vegetarian and may or may not include fresh fish and seafood. The chef is well versed into principles of raw food, ayurveda cuisine and macrobiotics if you need special adaptations. You will be served 3 complete meals per day in the dining room following this schedule:

 

Breakfast: 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM - Buffet Style 

Lunch: 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM - Buffet Style

Dinner: 7:00PM - 9:30 PM – Chic

SPA

An array of treatments, massages and facials will help you relax, detox, heal, and reach a greater sense of mind- body balance through your stay. 

TYPES OF ACCOMODATION

All the accommodations are beachfront, spacious, palm-thatched cabins floating on stilts. They were designed with refined elegance and built and furnished by local artisans. Their cozy interiors inspire feelings of calm and serenity. You will enjoy the closeness of the natural elements, the stimulation of the open-air private showers and the stunning views of the Pacific Ocean from your terrace.

Xinalani offers 2 different types of accommodation: private suites or a shared house. All suites have private bathrooms. The suites are classified into 3 categories depending on their size, location and view. Also offered is a collective accommodation in a big palapa with up to 8 single beds and 2 complete bathrooms.

 

INVESTMENT: 

Shared house: $1,600

Petite Suite: $1,825

Eco-Premium: $2,000

Eco-chic: $2,300

All the prices are per person. The prices of the suites are based on double occupancy. There is an option for triple occupancy (15% discount) and quadruple occupancy (25% discount) and those would comprise people doubling up in double beds.

 

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE TRIP PRICE?

• 6 nights of accommodation at Xinalani Retreat 

• 3 complete gourmet vegetarian meals per day. Chef is expert in ayurveda cuisine and macrobiotics.

• A social hour on select evenings

• All transportation during the trip, including to and from the airport to Xinalani Retreat 

• 9 Yoga classes with Silvia Mordini

• Yoga clinics and mini workshops with Silvia Mordini

• Sunset Yoga Ceremonies

• Guided Jungle Hiking 

• Private Dharma talks facilitated by your Guides 

• All gratuities for special events, transfers, lodging and group meals. 

• A special goodie bag with loving gifts

 

NOT INCLUDED?

Airfare to and from the trip, gratuities for your guides, spa services, other activities not listed such as whale watching, surfing, bird watching.

 

TIPS AND GRATUITIES

Gratuities for your guides may be given at your discretion in response to their leadership and professionalism throughout the trip. We suggest 5-10% of the trip price per individual to be divided between the guiding team as an industry standard. Gratuities for all restaurants, hotels, transportation and local events are paid for by the retreat organizers.

TO REGISTER AND SAVE YOUR SPOT: 

You can pay with check, direct bank deposit, or credit card or Paypal on line but we most prefer checks. Please send checks to Alchemy Tours c/o Total Body Yoga, 210 Terrace Drive, Mundelein, IL 60061. Contact us at info@alchemytours.com or call if we can answer any questions.

 

PAYMENT POLICIES: 

Early-bird discount: $200 discount if you register by December 31st, 2010 

Deposit: A $500 dollar deposit will reserve your space. 

 

TRIP ITINERARY:

 

XINALANI PUERTO VALLARTA DAILY AGENDA

8:00am - 9:00am Breakfast

9:30am - 11am Vinyasa flow yoga

11am – 12pm Yoga clinics, mini workshops

12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch

1:30pm - 5:30pm Daytime Fun (Beach, Spa, Hiking, & More)

6:00pm - 7:00pm Vinyasa flow yoga and meditation

8:00pm Dinner

9:00pm Dharma talks

 

FAQ

When will I need to arrive and when do I leave?

Arrival Location:

You will need to arrive by 2pm on February 26 at Puerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR) where we will meet you and bring you to the resort.

 

Departure Location: 

At the end of your trip, you will be shuttled back to Puerto Vallarta International Airport. We will arrive at the airport between 1pm-2pm on March 4th.

 

How do I get to Xinalani Retreat Center?

Upon arriving at Puerto Vallarta International airport we have organized group transportation to and from the resort. If you choose to you can get to the resort on your own. Just be sure to download their destination map from the Xinalani website.http://www.xinalaniretreat.com/

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010.   

Losing the Past Opens the Future.  It is such a simple statement and rolls up yogic philosophy so easily....and yet not always that easy to put into practice.  Our humanness boasts to us in little mental self talk that of course we can rewrite the past! Why wouldn't we be able to?  But we intellectually know we cannot.  And until we surrender to our own letting go known as vairagya we cannot fully welcome the best future of ourselves.

The past and the future energies cannot fully occupy the same exact space.  How or what happened yesterday is done.  All we have now is this moment and the intentions for the next moments.  Replaying things past only clutters our minds, leaks our energies and prevents us from engaging life right now.  Through physical practice we let go of the old stories stored in the tissues of hurts, frustrations, disappointments and clear the way for our best experiences.  And yoga works all day long mentally and emotionally to help remind us to lose the past, whether pleasant or unpleasant, so the world opens us up to the most magnificent future.

it is up to us not to hold ourselves back, to not remain stuck, but to create the space by letting go that opens the future.

I work on this everyday and I've experienced amazing results. it is still often very hard and sometimes easier but nevertheless always really powerful in letting grace and love flow towards my open heart.  I wish for all us to find the courage to lose the past, and open to your future.  Your best life.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

PS If you feel like you would benefit from more dedicated time to do the serious work of letting go then join me on an upcoming yoga retreat in Moab, Italy, Oregon, California, Colorado, and more!   www.alchemytours.com or www.silviamordini.com

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010.   

In 1948 a study began known as the Framingham Heart Study.  It was the most comprehensive of its kind.  Now 60 plus years later scientists have studied other aspects beyond just heart disease.  One of their findings ins related to happiness theory.  And of the factors studied a key part is that happiness is being connected to other people.  We experience happiness through social connections.  And therefore are very much influenced by clusters of other people around us.  Check this out:  a change in one person effects you and all in the cluster, your probability for increased happiness improves 15% if your most immediate friend is happy, 10% if a friend of your friend is happy, and so on until four degrees of separation. 

They are figuring out and measuring what yogis have known for thousands of years:  happiness is contagious.  

This means everyday we have the opportunity to save someone's life.  You practice yoga today, so you can practice tomorrow.  What you do to manage your thoughts to create happy cells impacts not only you but those around you.  In this way we are creating our world thought by thought, day by day.  And it can be heaven on earth!  Maybe it is.  The sutras spell out that if we are imbalanced mentally, physically, emotionally which means we are not living our true nature - which is naturally happy then we must practice chapter 2.33 Pratipaksha Bhavana.  Engage happy thoughts.  So simple.  It is our Namaste:  Seek the still point where the words "you" and "I" lose meaning, where we meet and merge as one. 

Try this breath meditation when you need to elevate your attitude. And be the change you want to see in the world (Ghandi). Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

Inhale: I welcome happiness,

Exhale: I am grateful

Inhale:  I welcome inspiration

Exhale:  I am grateful

Inhale:  I welcome love

Exhale:  I am grateful

Inhale: I welcome hope

Exhale: I am grateful

 

“Heartfelt gratitude really is the fastest way to experience happiness now.  It is impossible to be truly grateful and neurotic; it is impossible to be truly grateful and not happy.”  (Happiness coach Barry Kaufman author of Happiness Is A Choice)

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010.  As I sit here sweating and itching discovering new mosquito bites by the minute, I cannot help but slip away to the idea of the snow.  Don't be fooled - I adore the summer.  But something about the winter, the glittering snow on the trees, sitting in warm hot springs on a cold night, the mountain peaks, and snowboarding with friends pulls at my heartstrings.

I love snowboarding equally as much as I love yoga (and that is a whole lotta love).  This is my story of snowboarding, a practice that is now one of my greatest forms of meditation and prayer.  A friend of mine likes to say, "Snowboarding is my prayer and the mountains are my chapel".  This I wholeheartedly agree with. This has not always been the case, not even close.  Just like when you first tried handstand perhaps you were extremely afraid to go upside down, couldn't get your legs up or just all over the place and toppled over in a big pile.  I was like that when it came to snowboarding.  Years ago, I decided to go with my brother and his friends to Upper Michigan to learn to board-I figured I was with a bunch of guys with no fear who knew what they were doing.  They would help me out and it would be awesome.  Wrong!  The first time I did not get it at all.   I'd go an inch and then crash, go another inch and then crash again and best of all my brother's friend (on accident) hit me in the head with the snowboard edge which resulted in a lovely gash on my forehead to bring home as my souvenir (I still have the scar - ask me about it and I'll be glad to show you).

Do not be deterred by this story.   With practice I was finally able to link turns.  And the feeling was like nothing I had ever experienced.  It changed my perspective and I was hooked. It was not until I truly made the commitment, relaxed, slowed down, checked my ego at the chair lift that II was able to connect with the board and surf the mountains.  Or in yoga terms that I was able to do that handstand with grace, ease and control.  Believe me I have put my whole heart and soul into this love of mine but not until I surrendered did I find the pure joy of this meditation.  Frederick Lenz in his book Snowboarding to Nirvana puts it like this:  "When you snowboard...your thoughts stop and you rise above time.  You enter into a timeless dimension where you experience great joy.  When you rise above ego, you experience the pure joy and ecstasy of the web of life."

I have many other stories like the first time I learned to board but I have even more stories of the true awesomeness snowboarding allows.  I've come a long way since that first day.   I've lived the dream in Aspen, CO; I've competed; I've trained; I've done ski patrol on a snowboard; I've traveled the world; I've taught; I've visualized; I've taken gnarly falls and gotten back up again; I've ridden backcountry; I've connected with mountains; I’ve driven for hours all night long to be able to ride; I’ve ridden powder and ice and the list goes on and on.   But above all, the mountains and the board continue to teach and humble me, and it’s with great respect for both that I write this.  

Yoga has truly enhanced my snowboarding and life as it yokes my mind, body and spirit.  How you may be wondering?  Yoga conditions your body to be strong and flexible allowing better form and technique so you can ski or board with grace and flow with the mountain rather than resist and attack it.   It can be scary out on the snow covered mountains when you are first learning or if you’re a veteran when you are pushing the edge.  The breathing techniques you learn in yoga allow you to relax the muscles and mind when you face a situation where you need to be calm.  And one of my personal favorites, yoga lessens the risk of injury and quickens your recovery time.  This means you can get out on the mountain day after day feeling good each time.  So as I sit here on this hot summer day I am quietly preparing full of excitement for the snowboarding season that lies ahead.

Keep exploring and living your dreams,
Kendra Charts

If you have always wanted to learn to snowboard or ski or already know from experience what I am talking about please consider these amazing adventure Yoga and Snowboarding retreats with Silvia, Jacob and myself.  We’ll combine yoga, hot springs and boarding/skiing in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, December 9 - 12, 2010 or Banff, Canada, February 23 - 27, 2011.  Visit www.alchemytours.com for more information.  And if you can’t wait until then please join me for the pre-season Yoga for Snowboarding and Skiing workshop at Total Body Yoga, October 24, 2010.  You may contact me at kendra.charts@gmail.com.  

SEPTEMBER 11, 2010 NEWSLETTER

Salutations Friends on the Path!

This week the hot yoga topic in some circles has been about the marketing of yoga to make you slim and sexy. My first concern as a yoga instructor is not so much about sexiness as it is teaching folks that yoga is really about the Science of Happiness. I know that with consistent, regular practice you will reconnect with what you're feeling, learn healthy stress-reducing techniques (like breathing on purpose), appreciate your life more and generally engage the world in a kinder way. 

As yoga teacher Donna Farhi says, "What the world needs are kinder, more compassionate, generous people." The time on the mat is our opportunity to cleanse the mind of all its distractions that make us less attractive.  And as I often say in class, the biggest obstacle to a happier life is our own busy mind, and yoga is for the mind (which we access through the vehicle of the body). 

Does yoga make you sexy?  Well I guess so.  When we are feeling peaceful and centered our faces do look prettier.  And when we are kinder and move more fluidly we are more attractive.  And the yoga does slow us down to make more heartfelt connections to other people. So if you come to yoga for the mental or physical reasons it doesn't matter you are a complete package as a human being and you will receive ALL the benefits: happiness, sexiness, calm.  And most importantly you will naturally engage more unconditional love into your life!  So love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia   

PS Don't forget sign up now for Moab Nov 4-7th, get $500 OFF and next person who registers gets FREE Private with me1

EAT PRAY LOVE at Total Body Yoga!
Embark on a 2 1/2 hour "Restorative Reading" Yoga Workshop based on the best seller Eat, Pray, Love! 

EAT! Discussion of the 1st portion of the book and the savoring of organic chocolates with vinyasa mixed in! 

PRAY! Discussing the "Pray" section, we will learn mantras and chants using our new mala beads. 

LOVE! We will exemplify "Love" as we practice restorative yoga during book discussion and finish with a special svasana. 

About Sandra Coyner: 
I received my 200 hr teacher certification through Silvia Mordini at TBY and am Yoga Alliance certified. I currently teach at three locations but teach the majority of my classes at Living Yoga in Aurora. I teach theme-oriented Vinyasa, Gentle, Restorative and Kid's Yoga classes. I am a Level 2 Reiki Practitioner and enjoy incorporating essential oils into my yoga classes. For more information, please visit my website at www.inspiredbyearth.com. 

TIME: 6:30-9pm 

COST $45/person

Pre-registration is required by email help@totalbodyyoga.com or call 847-266-9642 (YOGA) Price includes workshop, mala beads and organic chocolates!

"I am so happy, I cannot be contained in the world; If the foot of the trees were not tied to earth, they would be pursuing me;But like a spirit, I am hidden from the eyes of the world.  For I have blossomed so much, I am the envy of the gardens." RUMI as translated by Keshavarz

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010.  More than ever I aspire to this feeling of spirit day in and day out. I've tried looking outside myself for this experience, and through my yoga practice I've made time to look within.   As you know, this last month I took it to a new level.  I've had regular yoga teachers that took a month out for their own development every year whether it meant traveling to Thailand to be with their teacher or going on month long silent retreat or just taking a time out from teaching to more deeply commit themselves to the Yoga of Relationship.  So I did all of that this last 31 days.  And I am so happy I did!  I attended an awesome yoga teacher training and practiced many styles of yoga with many, many teachers, I spent time in quiet contemplation/meditation in nature and most importantly I consistently practiced unconditional love for my best friend. I learned how to expand my capacity to be more fearless in loving someone and allowing myself to be loved in return.  This is the trinurti (3-fold) nature of yogic practice like a tripod that needs all three legs to remain standing: study, practice, teach.

I have blossomed so much.

I went into this personal sabbatical with many questions and in some way as a spiritual seeker I was looking for answers.  I return with more questions than I did when I took time off.   What I do know is "I am so happy"!  Making ourselves important and setting aside time to design our intentions is not easy.  It is hard work to still the mind in order to get to that point of asking the questions, it is what Elizabeth Gilbert writes about in her book Eat, Pray, Love, "You cannot see your reflection in running water, only still water."  I can see better who I am, what I want in my life and I am asking better harder questions of myself. 

Why would I put myself through this? Because I want to keep evolving my happiness. A little happiness is not enough for me, I want a lot of happiness and I deserve that today be the best day of my life and I take this to a new edge tomorrow, just like we do in bending our knee in a warrior pose.  And I realized my happiness would remain stunted if I kept repeating old patterns or ignoring what those patterns in my mind or actions are.  As Miss Gilbert writes, "Take care of the problems now, or else you'll just have to suffer again later when you scew everything up the next time.  And that repetition of suffering - that's hell.  Moving out of that endless repetition to a new level of understand - there's where you'll find heaven."  Fundamentally this is where Yoga holds our hands and encourages us to be happier than we ever thought we could be by quieting our minds, helping us see the old problems and moving beyond them to our best lives ever.  So thank you dear students, friends, teachers for understanding my desire for personal growth and evolution and as you support me, please know with great passion and simple love I support you in your journey's as well.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Silvia

If you need a break consider joining me on Yoga Retreat in Tuscany October 24-30 or Moab November 4-7, or in December either Pagosa Springs or Hawaii

“The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mood of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change, for happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up”  - Unknown author

AUGUST 30TH, 2010.  Today my meditation focused on what combination it takes of Directing and Allowing in your life to achieve ordinary happiness.  To me it is like Alternate Nostril breathing.  The inhale is a directed effort but then we allow the exhale to empty and there is that pause at the end of the out breath that purifies that allowing.  You must wait for it to occur for extraordinary change is within that pause.  Now at the same time we surrender to the changes that are outside our control we exert effort in directing our lives.  This is a nondualistic happening: one not more important than the other.  Directing and allowing, allowing and directing.  Inhale, exhale.

"One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular."  -Tony Robbins 

The challenge is the constant sensitive adjustment necessary to manage especially the directing side of life.  It is too easy to let life be done to us and give up all control of plans for the best life ever.  I know this, we get on the treadmill of daily life (work, home, sleep, work, home, sleep) and convince ourselves to not make time to focus our attention.  The time on the mat in yoga class or going on retreat is that period of directing our thoughts and processing what we are allowing for in our lives.  So today engage more directly with yourself. You are the audience and the actor on the stage of your life and this is on a daily basis the performance of your life!  "In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently." -Tony Robbins 

And just like we learn to refine our awareness of breathing we can refine the consistency of how we direct our lives.  Go big, dig deep and go for it!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Silvia

AUGUST 28, 2010.  My friend Sadie Nardini Omega Fall retreat named on of the best by Well+Good New York City.  See link here 

And if you are looking for other Yoga retreats consider joining me in Tuscany Oct 24-30, 2010. $500 OFF early bird pricing if you join with a friend. Or Moab, Utah Nov 4-7, 2010. Pagosa Springs, Colorado Dec 9-12, 2010 and Hawaii Big Island Dec 14-19, 2010.  
Get back to yourself!  

AUGUST 24, 2010.  Yoga Teachers talk a lot about sequencing.  Sometimes they speak about it with awe and reverence and go to workshops to learn more and more.  And if you get even two yoga teachers together they will undoubtedly start whispering excitedly about a new sequence or someone's class they went to that had a totally rad sequence they'd never done before until they end up gigglng like little children.  Yoga teachers are stoked about smart sequencing! And that is one of the definitions of Vinyasa.  To place the order of poses in a special way and with intelligence.  A great teacher makes the practice easier and more accessible to all students when they treat sequencing like a gourmet chef would treat the creation of a meal.  It is easy to make the physical practice of yoga hard, just do it without intention and order and there you go!

The greater lesson here is the Vinyasa of life.  There is a smart sequencing to the order of how things are evolving in your life.  There is a beginning, middle and end to all cycles.  And if we allow this then the currents of grace more easily carry us moment to beautiful moment.  These are also referred to as Kramas (stages or waves). However, what happens is that we try to push or pull things out of order in life and sometimes as yoga students on the mat.  Back to school time means many yogis who took the summer off return to their practice and try to advance too far too fast rather than going with the step by step progression which is vinyasa.  We respect the start of where we are in this moment and then based on how we are feeling we move from there.  You will avoid injury in class and in life when this spiritual recipe is followed.

I have appreciated this teaching from my teachers Shiva Rea and John Friend for many years.  It doesn't mean I always apply it to my life.  I do however consistently apply it to the yoga on the mat as both a student and as a teacher until one day it seeps into everything I do.  Too many times I still get stuck in the past replaying how I could have done things better when the step I'm in is right now and going backwards is not intelligent vinyasa.  Neither does rehearsing and worrying about 10 steps from now make for smart sequencing in life.  But those pulls and pushes of past and too far into the future continue to challenge the sequence of my life practice.  The good thing is at least I see and know why there exists a wisdom to sequencing.  

So is sequencing the Holy Grail? Well yes it can be defined that way as long as you let go of that part of the legend that says you have to "prove" yourself before achieving it or finding it.  In Yoga come as you are, figure out what you're starting point is and build the intelligent sequence of your life from there.  Keep in mind this one suggested definition of the Holy Grail that Grail means "a derivative of cratis, a name for a type of woven basket that came to refer to a dish, or a derivative of Latin gradus meaning "'by degree', 'by stages', applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during a meal"  Life is happening in stages, stay tuned in to where you are at right now and do your best not to go backwards or too far forwards but savor the yummy and delicious nature of where you are in this moment. Love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Silvia

 

**And if I might, Happiest Birthday to my brother Federico!!!

"Prayer is a relationship; half the job is mine. If I want transformation, but can't even be bothered to articulate what, exactly, I'm aiming for, how will it ever occur? Half the benefit of prayer is in the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well-considered intention. If you don't have this, all your pleas and desires are boneless, floppy, inert; they swirl at your feet in a cold fog and never lift." — Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)

AUGUST 11TH, 2010.  In a phone interview a couple days ago I was explaining to a TV producer the purpose of yoga in 100 words or less.  And what I shared with him is that yoga practice makes us stand up with FULL awareness to be FULLY present to our lives and take FULL responsibility for the quality of our existence right now.  

It is all about the FULL spectrum of who we really are.  Not who we were yesterday or who others want us to be but harnessing the power of our minds to focus on being in charge of our own lives.  This means we stop blaming others for what our lives were or are like and stop making excuses for delaying the next steps of our lives.  We accept that the job of being ourselves is ours alone.  And Elizabeth Gilbert speaks to this in this quote.  Hey if you can't bother to show up and speak your truth about what you want for your life then how will you ever achieve it?  The thing is you won't.  So yoga is a way of praying with our bodies, meditation in motion so to speak.  And grace shows up to be co-caption but at the very least the universe is expecting you accept the other half of the job.  

Today get clear on what your intention is for your life.  Let go of the kinda, sort of statements even remove the I will statements and just make it more direct. I AM CONFIDENT, I AM ACCEPTING OF MYSELF, I AM BEAUTIFUL, I AM COURAGEOUS.

And yes from there the inertia that comes from not taking responsibility for your intentions will disappear.  TAPAS, the engagement of discipline and effort in yoga will burn off the self-doubt, worry, apathy forever.  Start now....and repeat throughout the day your intentions.  I AM AMAZING!  Love your day, love your life, love yourself! Silvia

AUGUST 10, 2010.  Have you ever wanted to experience Italy like a true local?  Have you wanted to live in the land of Elizabeth Gilberts Eat, Pray, Love?  Well here is your chance, join Silvia Mordini and Jacob Young to learn why Tuscany is a life-changing place for many. This Chianti region of beautiful vine-filled countryside is nestled between Florence and Siena and is the setting for this Yoga, Cycling and Cultural Adventure of a lifetime!

We will be guests at an 800 year old classic Tuscan farmhouse converted into a stylish yoga retreat. Looking out one of the many windows of the different accommodations in Ebbio, you will be captivated by the undulating hills swept with thriving vineyards, olive trees and enchanting evergreen forests. The amazing part of Ebbio is that it is still a working organic Tuscan Farm with its own Chianti wine production to create the exquisite fine foods we'll be served. Located in the breathtaking countryside of Tuscany, it is close to Florence, Siena, Castellina in Chianti and Monteriggioni, a little medieval castle. Activities include yoga, cycling, hiking, and of course visiting art cities like San Gimignano, Volterra, Montalcino, and Siena along with a trip to the natural hot springs of Petriolo and a day at the beach (the Mediterranean!), private wine tastings and Tuscan cooking class.Investing in yourself is the best investment!!

SPECIAL TUSCAN CULTURAL PROGRAMS DURING OUR 7 DAYS:
Day 1, Oct. 24, 2010: Arrivals, Deplane Yoga, Farm Hike, Welcome Dinner
Day 2, Oct. 25, 2010: Monteriggioni castle morning, Siena afternoon 
Day 3, Oct. 26, 2010: Cycling Morning, Radda in Chianti Wine Tasting and private walking tour afternoon
Day 4, Oct. 27, 2010: Morning drive to the Meditteranean relax on the beach, afternoon lunch and visit to Petriolo Natural Hot Springs, Tuscan Cooking evening 
Day 5, Oct. 28, 2010: Morning free time or bike trip, San Gimignano and Volterra afternoon and evening 
Day 6, Oct. 29, 2010: Morning free time or bike trip, Montalcino afternoon Wine Tastings and tour, evening closing dinner party 
Day 7, Oct. 30, 2010: Final Yoga, Breakfast and Departures

RESERVATIONS:

$500 deposit to hold your spot.
Early birds by September 1st, $1,900. 
Regular price $2,050

BOOK NOW: Visit www.alchemytours.com

INCLUDED IN THE TRIP PRICE: 
-7 days and 6 nights accommodations 
-Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-Airport transfers
-All day trips and walking tours 
-Private wine tours and tastings 
-Traditional Tuscan cooking class 
-Soaking in the healing crystal waters of the Rapolano hot springs
-Visits to the art cities of Italy
-Two Daily Yoga Classes and Evening Group Activities
-Spa Treatments are available upon request
-A quality bicycle and an experienced cycling guide with knowledge of the greatest rides in the region
-Entrance fees to all group events and activities
-All transportation during the trip 
-Comprehensive trip literature
-All gratuities for special events, lodging and restaurants

NOT INCLUDED IN TRIP PRICE: 
Airfare to and from the trip and gratuities for your guides.

Download Tuscany Yoga Retreat Brochure Here

Click for all details on the Tuscany Yoga Retreat

AUGUST 9, 2010.  MY ODE TO WHY I LOVE TUSCANY.  And remember if you email us retreats@totalbodyyoga.com or post why you would love to visit Tuscany you are entered to win $500 OFF our Tuscany trip October 24-30, 2010.  Just go to Facebook Alchemy Tours to post your response or email us through facebook or at above address.  www.silviamordini.com for more information.

"Tuscany has been a life-changing place for me. From the moment I arrive and smell the air I feel washed in the rich sights, sounds and smells of this beautiful place. The energy here has brought me great healing and love. The love is a beautiful story whereby I met by chance on a train and fell in love with the most amazing man.  Ahhhh yes just like in the movies such as Eat, Pray, Love but it was my real life (as it was for Elizabeth Gilbert too) and it is as my Italian grandmother, Nonna, used to say "tutto e destino". Everything is destiny.  I am so grateful to appreciate the endless vistas, the serene vineyards of the Tuscan countryside, to marvel at the imposing fairy-tale architecture, or ride through the rolling hills that never end. Of course I also enjoy making time to shop, eat and sample a Chianti Classico or perhaps a little known SuperTuscan. Perhaps what I find most peaceful is the gentle pace and rhythm which I try my best to bottle up and bring back with me, holding these memories forever close to my heart.”

This is why I love Tuscany and will continue to bring friends to experience firstand this mystical place forever!  Love your life! Silvia

"Whilst on a lonely beach in Tasmania, three days hike away from any form of civilization, alone,Brent Morton had an epiphany: “No matter where I travel, however far away I get from civilization, how high of mountains I climb, one thing always remains the same: Me.” This began a 180 degree shift from exploring the physical world to a deep systematic journey into the inner world, which has continued intensively to the present day." - Brent Morton

AUGUST 8TH, 2010.  These are the words of a lovely teacher I have just met.  It speaks to so much of what I hope this practice brings to light for you sooner rather than later.  However, the difficult part of exploring the inner world and taking this inward journey of self-exploration is making time.  And when we are in our day to day world of grocery shopping, laundry, working, oil changes it's hard to make that time.  Yes, it is hard.  So for me the catalyst for inner change has often come as a result of traveling somewhere (maybe not as far as Tasmania!) but someplace where I could feel time as BIG.  And in that space, the changes in my outer world would almost force me, encourage me to go inside.  So here I am writing this from far away as each day I have my ecology of mind refreshed and look at ME.  No excuses, nothing more to do but see who I am and why I am.  

The longer my days, the more I find myself wanting to help others to do this too.  To facilitate inner healing and self knowledge by traveling away from the old paradigms even if for just 4 days or a week.  Join me in Tuscany October 24-30 or Moab November 4-7 or Pagosa Springs or Hawaii in December.  Love yourself, Know thyself.  

Peace out, Silvia  (Facebook Alchemy Tours or visit www.silviamordini.com)

SAVE THESE DATES FOR UPCOMING FUN AT TBY!

Call 847 266 9642 or help@totalbodyyoga.com to register

 

Date-Time-Event

7/28/2010 (Wednesday)-5:30 PM-Third Eye Threads Trunk Show

7/31/2010 (Saturday)-11:00 AM-Reiki I - Learn to Heal Yourself

8/9/2010 (Monday)-Morning-Kids Yoga Camp with Mary Scudella

8/13/2010 (Friday)-7:15 PM-Hula Hoop Dance, Yoga, Fun!

8/14/2010 (Saturday)-11:00 AM-Reiki I - Learn to Heal Yourself

9/4/2010 (Saturday)-12:30 PM-Mommy and Baby Yoga with Rachel Dewan

9/11/2010 (Saturday)-2:00 PM-Yoga For Runners with Rachel Dewan

9/12/2010 (Sunday)-2:00 PM-TBY Intro Workshop with Mara Campbell

9/17/2010 (Friday)-6:30 PM-Eat, Pray, Love Workshop with Sandra Coyner

9/18/2010 (Saturday)-2:00 PM-Partner Yoga Workshop with Liz Leffert

9/25/2010 (Saturday)-2:00 PM-Anusara Yoga 101 with Mara Campbell

10/2/2010 (Saturday)-4:30 PM-David Romanelli Yoga, Miracles and WINE

10/2/2010 (Saturday)-12:30 PM-Mommy and Baby Yoga with Rachel Dewan

10/2/2010 (Saturday)-1:00 PM-Teaching Yoga to Kids with Mary Scudella

10/3/2010 (Sunday)-12:15 PM-David Romanelli Chocolate Covered Happiness

10/17/2010 (Sunday)-2:00 PM-Family Yoga with Mary Scudella

10/24/2010 (Sunday)-7:00 AM-TUSCANY YOGA & CULTURAL RETREAT

10/24/2010 (Sunday)-2:00 PM-Yoga for Skiers and Snowboarders with Kendra Charts

11/4/2010 (Thursday)-12:00 PM-Moab Yoga, Hiking and Mountain Biking Retreat

11/6/2010 (Saturday)-12:30 PM-Mommy and Baby Yoga with Rachel Dewan

11/13/2010 (Saturday)-12:00 PM-Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training with Rachel Dewan

11/14/2010 (Sunday)-12:00 PM-Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training with Rachel Dewan

12/4/2010 (Saturday)-2:00 PM-Pranayama (Breathing) and Meditation Workshop

12/9/2010 (Thursday)-9:00 AM-Colorado Skiing, Snowboarding, Yoga Retreat

SEE DETAILS AT WWW.TOTALBODYYOGA.COM/SPECIAL-EVENTS.ASP

WHY DO A SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE:

What are you waiting for? In these chaotic times, it is imperative to slow down more than ever so that we can again find our center and realize what is most important to us. A spiritual adventure help you heal your soul and learn how to make healthy choices for your greater happiness. Each retreat provides loving accommodations, inspirational talks, expert instruction, and healthy, delicious meals.

Remember that you don’t need anyone else’s permission but your own to sign up. You will be part of an intimate group of people just like you who are looking for a “time out.” The prerequisites for attending have nothing to do with athletic ability or experience, and everything to do with an open heart, a playful curiosity, an inquisitive mind. And a desire to Design Your Best Life ever!  

When we think about why we want to take folks on retreat to various places in the world a great part of that reason is because we want to help people regain what we call “The Innocence of Hope”. Innocence, wonder, curiosity are such loving human characteristics that require an incredible amount of strength to maintain throughout our lives for its easy to get jaded, or scared or cynical. When we lose the innocence of hope we stop living our dreams whether it be about offering our hearts to another person or building a business or quitting a job we hate. We know that by achieving something physical this innocence and hope for the unknown are transportable and could change someone’s life.  Save these Early Bird dates below and save money too! 
Keep it real, stoke the fire, Love in all ways, Silvia

“The better you feel physically the easier it is to be happy.” –Martin Rush, Partner Yoga

EARLY BIRD SAVINGS:
Tuscany Oct 24-30, 2010 Early Bird by Sept 1st $1900Regular $2,050
Moab Nov 4-7, 2010 Early Bird by July 15th $899Regular $999
Pagosa Springs CO Dec 9-12, 2010 Early Bird Sept 9th $1195Regular $1300
Big Island, Hawaii Dec 14-19, 2010 Early Bird by Sept 14th $2400Regular $2580
Moab April 16-19, 2011 Early birds by December 21st $899Regular $999

QUICK CALENDAR 2010 - 2011

October 24-30, 2010: Tuscany, Italy

November 4-7, 2010: Moab, Utah

December 9-12, 2010: Pagosa Springs/Wolf Creek, Colorado

December 14-19, 2010: Big Island, Hawaii

April 16-19, 2011: Moab, Utah

June 2011: Tuscany, Italy

June/July 2011: Dolomiti, Italy

JULY PROMOTIONS:
Buy 1 month unlimited $80!!
36% OFF, SAVE $45! Must buy by July 31st, Good for 30 days!
Alchemy Tours on Facebook "Like Us" by 7/31 to enter to win $200 Gift Certificate (Good on any retreat in 2010!)

SUPER DUPER NAMASTE!
We are having a heat wave, gosh when we devoted the month of May to stoking the fire of designing our Best Lives Ever who knew it would create so much heat you guys!  Well, I love it. 

Keep doing the yoga on the mat so you can explore and experiment with how transportable yoga is off the mat. Quite frankly that's why I love to go on retreat. I get to see first hand how the courage, freedom, guts we cultivate on that mat impacts every other area of our lives.  I see YOU changing every time you come to class from beginning to end. I see the miracle of YOU realizing how powerful you really are in living the life of your dreams. 
And because of YOU everyday I am inspired to keep dreaming even bigger for myself and for the world.  With immense gratitude and love, Silvia

PS Thank you everybody for voting us Best Yoga Studio as part of Mindful Metropolis 2010 Readers Choice.

May, 23, 2010.  I have found selling my house an opportunity for continuous spiritual growth.  The last 3 weeks I went without hot water, not even warm water. All I had until yesterday was COLD (no make that Very Cold) water.  The first couple days showering like this was ok.  Not the end of the world, but as week one became week 2 and then 3 it was liking camping indoors except I wasn’t doing it on purpose.  Then with the help of friends finally I had hot water again! YES! I was so grateful. 

During the time my house has been on the market I moved my unsightly microwave to a dark corner of my basement on the ground for that was the only place I could figure to plug it into an outlet.  I don’t rely heavily on microwaving, actually am trying to break myself of the habit 100% but being merely human yes I succumb to its ease. Except during the last 3 months in order to warm anything up I had to travel long and far into the nether regions of my basement to sit on the floor to open its little door and sneak my food in. It was very much like being Alice in Wonderland, I’d be small then once warmed I could grow big again and return to the land above ground.  Not the end of the world, but gosh as each month wore on it became a chore.  This weekend my house sold and I was able to return my microwave back to the kitchen, on the first floor and stand up while using it.  YES! I was so grateful.

Many years ago I was run over by a car by a very sweet apologetic 80 year old man while I was walking from my garage to my townhome after church on a sunny Sunday morning. One moment I was mobile and easily walking, moving, breathing and then next (since the car was bigger than my petite frame) I was lying on the ground.  Eventually through yoga and the love and support of doctors, family and friends I recovered to a place of healthy even beyond what I had before. YES! I was so grateful.

So I have been asked many times over the years why or how did I begin teaching.  The main reason is that I don’t want you to experience having to lose anything and do without in order to get the lesson that GRATITUDE unlocks the fullness of life. As Melody Beattie says and goes on to say “It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."  Sometimes all it takes to reconnect to active Gratitude is coming back to the mat to gently remind us of how fortunate we are in this moment.  You don’t have to be without Hot water to give thanks when you shower each day of what a cool blessing it is that you just turn a faucet and out it comes.  You don’t have to loose mobility to realize how awesome it is to walk onto the mat of your own volition.  When I need a simple kick in the pants I return time and again to the words of the Buddha:

Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn't learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didn't get sick,
and if we got sick,
at least we didn't die;
so, let us be thankful.

No matter who we are or what our situation is, we can always find something for which we are grateful. It is most often when we work too hard, or stretch ourselves too thin that we have a tendency to feel impoverished which Trungpa Rimpoche called, "poverty mentality."   If unsure just breathe and remember to be grateful that you were chosen to be alive today!  Gratitude is a form of meditation and promotes an elevated attitude to any negative thoughts. This is known as Chapter 2.33 Pratipaksha Bhavana.  A simple favorite of mine is:

Inhale: I welcome happiness,

Exhale: I am grateful

Inhale:  I welcome inspiration

Exhale:  I am grateful

Inhale:  I welcome love

Exhale:  I am grateful

Inhale: I welcome hope

Exhale: I am grateful

My sincere hope every class I teach is that the gratitude meditation becomes part of us and we never have to lose something to recognize how grateful we are to have that person, that situation or that circumstance in our life.  From this point forward say thank you to everyone you meet for every kindness they offer you.  It will change your life!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

APRIL 5, 2110: This is according to the author the most important one and most difficult to honor. It is to be impeccable with your word.  He writes, "through the word you express your creative power. It is through the word you manifest everything. Regardless of what language you speech, your intent manifests through the word.  What you dream, what you feel and what you really are, will all be manifested through the word."  

What I want to point out is that we are not talking about just verbal language here. Although it is curious that of all animals on earth we are the only one who speaks.  But think of internal dialogue that becomes external expression. 

"The word is not just a sound or a written symbol. The words is a force; it is the power you have to express and communicate, to think and thereby to create the events of your life."   "The word is the most powerful tool you have as a human; it is a tool of magic.  But like a sword with two edges your word can create the most beautiful dream or your word can destroy everything around you.  Being impeccable with your word is not using the word against yourself. If I love myself I will express that love in my interactions with you, and then I am being impeccable with the word, because that action will produce a like reaction. If I love you, then you will love me.  If I have gratitude for you, you will have gratitude for me."   

"Being impeccable with your word is the correct use of your energy; it means to use your energy in the direction of TRUTH and LOVE for yourself."  

In yoga this concept is known as Satya.  When we are able to live with integrity always speaking with loving truth to ourselves and to others we will immediately realize an experience of lightness and ease. Every pose on the mat is a chance to practice being honest with ourselves. The power to live in truth is the same as the power to live in love.  So may you be happy, may you be peaceful, may you be loved! Sat Nam, Silvia (In Truth and Light)

APRIL 5, 2010:  Each first Monday of the month our 10:45am and 7:30pm Basics classes are Restorative Yoga.  The ultimate goal of Yoga is liberation, freedom from pain, stress, suffering. In the Hatha Yoga Pradpika it’s written, “Breath is the key to ultimate emancipation.”  We use the breath while holding poses in a supported way in Restorative Yoga to help our brain’s relax.  Our normal breathing pattern is brain initiated which creates tension. It’s a lot of work! But in conscious breathing our brains become more passive and relaxed.  Here is more about the specific type of yoga known as Restorative Yoga.  Love to you, Silvia

Restorative Yoga

Yoga can work for many different types of bodies, many different stages in life, and for each person's many different moods. All yoga is healing.  The restorative effects of yoga should never be over-looked, no matter what age, and sometimes slowing down the practice, going deeper in poses, and just feeling the restorative power of them does wonders for the body.

Benefits of Restorative Yoga

Restorative Yoga focuses on relaxing the body in restful postures. Rest provides the body an opportunity to renew and heal. Countless studies have proven the physical and emotional benefits of this.

Restorative yoga, as well as other forms of yoga, help to trigger the Parasympathetic nervous system also known as the PNS. The PNS is responsible for balancing the body and bringing its response system back into equalibrium. Stimulating the PNS helps to lower heart rate, blood pressure; it helps to healthily stimulate the immune system and keep the endocrine system operating healthily. When this system gets out of whack, or when the Sympathetic nervous system, SNS gets over-stimulated, the PNS helps to bring all back in balance. It is believed that is the PNS is tapped out or under-active, illness pervades. Thus, forms of relaxation, such as yoga and meditation, that help to stimulate the PNS are generally beneficial for overall body health.

David Spiegel, M.D., author of Living Beyond Limits, reports, "In medicine, we are learning that physical problems, such as high blood pressure and heart disease, can be influenced by psychological interventions, such as relaxation training. Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration issued a report recommending these non-drug approaches as the treatment of choice for milder forms of hypertension. Mind and body are connected and must work together, and this should be a powerful asset in treating medical illness."

MARCH 10, 2010:  As you know I just put my house on the market. As part of this process the experts encourage you to simply, streamline, neutralize and otherwise declutter your living space. So I had this big indoor plant that got moved into the garage, then a week later I felt bad so moved it into the basement from the garage (mostly because you know plants do like light) well then I forgot to water it because it was now in the basement. This all went on for a month, just last night with the help a dear friend finally moved it outside in our 60 degree temperatures today. It finally got light, water and is not forgotten. 

This plant had a strong intention and desire to LIVE! After all I put it through and changed about its surroundings it kept steadfast to the intention of surviving and thriving.  I have to believe that if a plant can stay single minded in its intention we can too. So today ask yourself:  HOW DOES THIS CLASS INSPIRE YOU TO BE MOVING TOWARDS MEETING YOUR EXPECTATIONS? 

When we begin class and take our hands together at our hearts we create SANKALPA MUDRA a Mudra of internal commitment, a gesture of commitment in outer form and everything that goes into it is our intention.  Intention is defined as setting an expectation for yourself, an expectation to your OWN GROWTH AND EVOLUTION.  

Take a moment to think about deepening your breath into the commitment you've made to grow.   The breath expands our connection to this promise we have made ourselves.  And what I wish someone had told me a long time ago was to expect that there will be times that will be a little challenging – this is part of the growth process.  Spiritual maturity comes as a result of using our expectations as little markers demonstrating our progress.  And we have all COME A LONG WAY ALREADY.  So on the mat we keep breathing to deepen our commitment and our intention whether the poses are easy or hard or whether we hold them a breath or a long time.  We stay focused on experiencing ourselves. 

The power of our intention is that focus on one clear thing. Not 50 things at the same time. It is like the Buddhist parable of how to dig for water: it is not fruitful to dig 100 holes when instead we should focus and dig 100 times in the same place and then for sure we'll strike water.  So we took time to think about one pose from this practice that we woudl want to develop mastery of and promised to do it for 1-2 minutes per day for 28 days, a minimum of 28 minutes total to see if we could develop mastery in this pose and stay with one intention for this period of time.

So today, refocus your promise to yourself and the kind of life you want for yourself. And with Spring approaching let's really grow in our lives what is most important to us, to our health, to our hearts, to our peace of mind.  Love the day! Silvia

PS - My plant is doing great!

MARCH 9, 2010:  So I read this great article abou Gary Lauder's clever idea to reduce traffic accidents: a traffic sign that says "Take Turns".  I love this. It's solo yogic! It's simple, cheap, smart and kind.  And if 50% of traffic accidents happen at intersections it could save lives. The yogi in me takes this suggestion and applies it to our emotions. So imagine you approach the intersection of your emotions (just like you would in your car) and you look around and politely allow the emotion you are feeling to cross over.  Then the next emotion takes its turn quite politely.  Splendid!

Yet as human beings we often push back our feelings creating in the flow of our lives a flood at some point of pent of emotions. Or we deny what we are feeling trying to run away from it.  Neither of these works.  When we allow our feelings to take turns we are really CARING FOR OUR FEELINGS.  As Rumi writes;  "It's good to leave each day behind, life flowing water, Yesterday is gone and it's tale told. Today new seeds are growing."

This is really getting to the heart of a Tantric practice which encourages us to embrace all of who we are.  The sadness and the joy, the tiredness and the vigor, the fear and the love.  This is a nondualistic approach to see that there is not a winner/loser or bad/good that we don't have to battle our emotions, thoughts or feelings any longer.  Running away from what we feel will only prolong it.  And all of our feelings can be put into 3 buckets: pleasant, unpleasant and neutral.  So as hard as it might be to heal and remain in a state of being healed we are taught through yoga to embrace your feelings, care for them.

A great meditation from Thich Nhat Hanh suggest we take a feeling, let's say sadness, and talk to your feeling: say to your sadness "breathe - I am taking care of you now."  Acknowledge this feeling is you and as you breath out, let it go.  Then allow for the next moment to unfold and the next feeling. Breath into that one.  Take one at a time and stay with the flow taking turns. 

Most importantly know that whatever you're feeling is part of your humanness, love and hurt co-exist, one is the compliment to the other so to prevent staying in a state of suffering it helps to embrace all you feel and care for yourself.  We literally learn about ourselves as we experience emotion, feeling and thought.  We also become expert through this in the human experience. We can by caring for our own feelings learn how to care for how others feel.

If we can take turns in our emotions we can allow others to feel what they need to feel and take turns appreciating them too for their humanness.  Through this we create a more polite world. A world of peace and authenticity.  Love yourself, Love your life! Silvia

 

Gary Lauder's new traffic sign: Take Turns | Video on TED.com  

 

TUSCANY, ITALY YOGA & CULTURAL ADVENTURE JUNE 20-26, 2010:

EARLY BIRDS ONLY $1825 ALL INCLUSIVE!!!   

QUESTIONS? retreats@totalbodyyoga.com or 847-772-9642

 

Tuscany is a life-changing place for many, including myself! Explore the dimensions of your yoga practic e while exploring the rich Italian culture by biking, hiking and walking tours. Jointly led by Vinyasa Flow Yoga teacher Silvia Mordini and International Travel Guide Jacob Young, this spiritual and cultural gem is found in the heart of the Tuscan food and wine country.

We will be guests at an 800 year old classic Tuscan farmhouse converted into a stylish yoga retreat. Looking out one of the many windows of the different accommodations in Ebbio, you will be captivated by the undulating hills swept with thriving vineyards, olive trees and enchanting evergreen forests. The amazing part of Ebbio is that it is still a working organic Tuscan Farm with its own Chianti wine production and uses only garden-fresh produce or goods from open aired markets to create exquisite fine food for our meals prepared by our private host Franz.

 DAILY AGENDA
8:00am - 9:30am Vinyasa Flow Yoga and Meditation
9:30am - 10:30am Breakfast
10:30am - 12:30pm Daytime Excursion or Free Time
12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm - 5:30pm Afternoon Excursion or Free Time
5:30pm - 7:00pm Vinyasa Flow Yoga
7:30pm - 11pm Dinner, Group Fun and Relaxation

 

SPECIAL CULTURAL PROGRAMS (ALL INCLUDED!)

• Day 1, June 20, 2010: Arrivals, Deplane Yoga, Farm Hike, Welcome Dinner

• Day 2, June 21, 2010: Monteriggioni morning, Siena afternoon

• Day 3, June 22, 2010: San Gimignano morning, Chianti tour afternoon

• Day 4, June 23, 2010: Morning drive to Rapolano Hot Springs, afternoon wine tasting at Castelnuovo Berardanga

• Day 5, June 24, 2010: Morning free time or bike trip, Volterra afternoon

• Day 6, June 25, 2010: Morning free time or bike trip, Montalcino afternoon

• Day 7, June 26, 2010: Departures

ALL IS INCLUDED IN THE TRIP PRICE

• 7 days and 6 nights accommodations

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner

• Airport transfers

• All day trips and walking tours

• Private wine tours and tastings

• Traditional Tuscan cooking class

• Soaking in the healing crystal waters of the Rapolano hot springs

• Visits to the art cities of Italy

• Two Daily Yoga Classes and Evening Group Activities

• Spa Treatments are available upon request

• A quality bicycle and an experienced cycling guide with knowledge of the greatest rides in the region

• Entrance fees to all group events/activities organized TBY Travel Adventure

• All transportation during the trip

• Comprehensive trip literature

• All gratuities for special events, lodging and restaurants

PRICE $1950 (Early birds only $1825 by April 1st!)

You can pay with check, direct bank deposit, or credit card or Paypal on line but we most prefer checks. Please send checks to Total Body Yoga Retreats, 210 Terrace Drive, Mundelein, IL 60061.

Early-bird discount: $100 OFF before April 1st! Deposit: A $500 dollar deposit will reserve your space. Balance must be received by May 20th, 30 days prior to retreat.

 

NOT INCLUDED:

Airfare to and from the trip, gratuities for your guides, and personal items purchased during the trip.

FEBRUARY 6, 2010:  As Americans we spend a lot of time thinking about physical digestion (what we eat, when we eat, what we're not going to eat, how many calories stuff has) but what about Mental Digestion.  When we have poor mental digestion we experience stuff like poor sleep, obsessive worry, lethargy, impatience, fatigue, anger and an annoying degree of anxiety.  How does this happen?   

1. Being too sedentary keeps us in our heads, leading to overall mental stuckness. We need to move and breath, like we do in yoga.

2. Watching others move like on dancing with the stars doesn't help our mental constipation.  We still need to move and breath.  

Two articles that support this:

(1) Well, health experts say that sitting is deadly.  "Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods - even if you exercise regularly - could be bad for your health. ANd it doesn't matter where the sitting takes place - just the overall number of hours it occurs.  Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die. After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals says Elin Elblom Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences as reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.  

(2) In the January 29th, 2010 issue of the The Week, page 23 an article suggests "TV can kill you.  Watching too much television may shorten your life by years. Australian researchesrs tracked the medical conditions of 8,800 healhty adults for several years; the more television the participants watched, the more likely they were to have died during hte years examined.  On average, for every hour per day spent watching TV, a subject was 18% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease, 9% more likely to succumb to cancer, and 11% more likely to die of any cause.  The culprit is the inactivity TV promotes.  Prolonged watching of TV equals a lot of sitting, which invariablly means there's an absence of muscle movement, study author David Dunstan tells CNN.com.  Long, unnatural periods of doing nothing physically, he says, clearly lead to premature death.  The antidote is to just get up and move, he adds. The more you move, the greater the health benefits likely to be."  

Our mental digestion is relieved by using the breath led poses in vinyasa yoga to help us circulate our energies, both physically and mentally.  Otherwise our minds feel both WIRED and TIRED.  We have this need to burn off excess energy that's pent up from sitting too much and we also need to breath and refresh our brains.  Remember as John Doulillard, Director of LifeSpa School of Ayurveda in Boulder, Colorado says, "everyone thinkgs that when you can't sleep, you have too much energy, but usually people have too little energy: they are TOO exhausted to get to sleep."   Please stay with your commitment to yoga and let your life be free of all constipation, mental or otherwise!  Peace and light, Silvia  

FEBRUARY 23, 2010:  Better sleep has been touted for years as one of the benefits of yoga. 

• Today we learn about Yoga for Sleep and improved emotional well-being since there is a link between inability to sleep and anxiety. What is Anxiety?  It is how we manage stress.  What is Stress? The opposite of relaxation.
• Insomnia—the inability to get to sleep or to sleep soundly—can be either temporary or chronic, lasting a few days to weeks.  It affects a whopping 54 percent of adults in the United States at one time or another, and insomnia that lasts more than six weeks may affect from 10 to 15 percent of adults at some point during their lives
• If you've ever had trouble falling asleep at night or staying awake during the day this meets the practical definition of insomnia.  This can be caused by a number of factors.  Yoga offers you a number of ways to relax the parasympathetic nervous system. 

1.       The poses work to reduce muscle tension which can impact our ability to get to sleep and the quality of our sleep. This in turn lowers the levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

2.       The breathing techniques raise levels of carbon dioxide a natural sedative as well as melatonin levels. Both of these helps us sleep.  The other mental payoff from deep breathing is that it increases levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter associated with happy, calm feelings.

3.       The breath linked movement known as vinyasa is a form of meditation that focus the mind through self study known as "Svadhyaya".  Observing what we're thinking and feeling gives us the opportunity to shift our perspective which is known as cognitive-behavioral therapy.  We learn in yoga class techniques to break negative thinking patterns (samskaras).  Simply put you can learn how to worry less by thinking happy thoughts.  And as Deepak Chopra says, "Happy thoughts create happy cells that create happy souls."

BREATHING:  At the core of most anxiety is the breath, or the lack of it.

When you are anxious, natural breathing is inhibited. The diaphragm freezes, failing to move air downward as you inhale, which means that you don't let your lungs fully expand and fill with air. "And when you don't get enough oxygen, the brain receives a 'danger' signal, which perpetuates your mind-body state of anxiety," explains Jonathan Davidson, M.D., director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program at Duke University Medical Center. "Your breathing quickens and becomes even more shallow; in an extreme case this can lead to a full-blown panic attack, in which the person begins to hyperventilate."

POSES:

According to Baxter Bell, inversions help people switch from the sympathetic nervous system (which includes the fight-or-flight responses) to the parasympathetic nervous system (which handles relaxation) by sending the body a signal that the blood pressure has gone up. In response, the blood vessels constrict and the heartbeat and breathing begin to slow, which causes the mind to relax.

• forward bends such as Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend), Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose), Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Pose), and Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend). You can do them supported if you wish, on blankets or bolsters, and they should be held for five minutes.
• While all of these poses should help, the most important of all is Salamba Sarvangasana (Supported Shoulderstand). When practiced immediately before bed, it prepares the body for sleep. And if done during the day, it may help compensate for some lost sleep. You can also practice it supported on a chair. All inversions—such as Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand), Halasana (Plow Pose), and Viparita Karani (Legs-up-the-Wall Pose)—are helpful to practice when you can't get to sleep.
• Finally, don't forget to practice the very important Savasana (Corpse Pose), unless you do Sarvangasana just prior to sleep. 

FEBRUARY 22, 2010:  We focused tonight on the breathing practice of Anapanasati.  This is usually the very first breathing technique we learn in yoga. This ability to watch our breath and practice mindful self observation.  As we watch ourselves we gain insight into whether we are breathing in a way that shows us fearful or peaceful.  We then can link this to how we are living our lives. Are we judging ourselves each moment? Or is it possible simply to be with your life, feel your breath, without needing to change it.  Can you use the practice of mindfulness breathing to create a self-acceptance for yourself and let go of the fears you might have?  Can you ultimately choose to view your thoughts, your breath, your actions through a prism of love without so many labels of good enough or not good enough but just be.  I know you can, this practice if you let it will help you achieve the hardest pose of all, self-love.  Love and courage to you, Silvia       

ANAPANA-SATI

Watch for the judgmental mind that discounts small movements as insignificant or unimportant
or the ambitious mind that jumps in to tell you to make your breath bigger or deeper,
or labels your perceptions as good or bad in order to arrive at a conclusion.
- Donna Farhi

 

DEFINITION: Anapana means breathing.  The full name of this technique is anapanasati or mindfulness breathing.

PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this breathing concept is to gather more specific information about one's breathing patterns, rhythm, and intelligence. Simply observing the natural breath, do not breathe in a certain way or make your breath imposing. It is helpful to enter this inquiry with curiosity and inquisitiveness rather than a desire to get it right. This technique will calm your mind and keep you in the present preventing thoughts from stimulating stress. Be watchful. Thoughts will sneak up on you. When you catch yourself drifting toward thoughts, you must bring yourself back to natural breathing.

TECHNIQUE: Lay on your back or sit in any comfortable position, place one hand on the belly and the other on the chest or place both hands on the belly with the fingertips below the navel. After observing the location of the breath, you may move the arms to the side with the palms facing up.

Location of the Breath: Where is the movement of the breath most noticeable? In the lower part of my body or in the upper part?

Origin of the Breath: Where does the movement of the breath begin? Just as an earthquake has an epicenter that scientists can locate, your breath has an epicenter.

Frequency of the Breath: Is your breath fast or slow or somewhere in between? Count the number of breaths per minute or if possible have a friend count them for you. Twelve to fourteen breaths per minute is considered a normal rate.

Phrasing of the Breath: Is there a noticeable difference between the length of your inhalation and exhalation? Are they equal?

Texture of the Breath: Is the texture of your breath smooth and even or is it jerky and uneven?

Depth of the Breath: Does the breath feel deep or shallow?

Quality of the Breath: If you could describe the quality of your breath what word or words would you use? Is it pneumatic, labored, billowing?...Let descriptive worlds or images arise without layering them in any way. Do you have any images that you associate with your breathing?

Reference: Donna Farhi, The Breathing Book

 

FEBRUARY 20, 2010

Dear Friends,

During the Winter we are simply more in our heads than in our bodies (if you live in colder climates). I remember when I was working an office job during the Winter I'd end up working longer hours.  If for no other reason then it felt like it was too cold to be outside.  I'd literally run from my car to the Metra station to wait inside or run to the bus to go to my office.  In an effort to avoid being in the cold I'd eat more lunches at my desk.  At some point (about now) I'd start to feel the Stress growing bigger and bigger. I'd get more tired, more stressed from working extra and go home and crash.  My balance would get lost.

Thank goodness yoga offered me a healthy solution.  In our Chicagoland Winter's we NEED yoga more than ever.  Otherwise we get stuck in our head's working too much & thinking too hard when we need some play time too. Yoga is like recess for Adults. 

Hey you don't have to wait for Spring Break (like we did when we were kids). YOGA CLASS IS SPRING BREAK!

So get back to moving and breathing your body. Come have some fun, take a break from work, home, and all the seriousness of life.  Instead be a serious student of FUN for 2-3 hours per week. Yes, you heard me right, I'm proposing you give yourself more than one yoga class per week in the Winter.  Come warm times then by all means, walk from Union station to your office, stand outside the Metra station and do jumping jacks, hike, cycle, run outside.  But for the next couple more months of colder weather don't just lose your balance accepting you'll just feel lousy and cranky when the solution is right here. Do something!  Come spiritualize every aspect of your life by staying tuned into to the blessing it is to be alive.  And then plan to join me for your summer vacation for the Spiritual & Cultural Adventure of a Lifetime in Tuscany June 20th-26th!!  But in the meantime, play more now! Love your life, Silvia

 

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

 Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

 

FEBRUARY 14, 2010 This above is my favorite poem so I share it with you this Valentines Day.  It honors the breath!  The theme today was about being our own valentine and that yoga helps us see every day as valentine’s day not just once per year as we come to the mat to Fall in love with ourselves.  When we are spiritual babies we tend to look outward for love but eventually as we mature into spiritual adulthood we look inwards for love. We are born as physical beings but at some point through this or any spiritual practice we are born as spiritual beings.  We wait until that point when we wake up to love, for when our soul which may be asleep awakens. At that point as Gabrielle Roth writes in a favorite book of mine, Sweat Your Prayers, “When your soul is in charge, your life becomes a LOVE STORY. A love story between you and yourself.”

May this practice help you make the beautiful discovery of how great you really are, not because someone else tells you so but because you think so. You see yourself as unique and wonderful and through self-care you nurture all the qualities that you admire most about you.  And in loving yourself, you are acknowledging that you are special.  This process on the mat and in our life Sadhana takes time.  It is a personal process (just like learning handstand that we practiced today). Take your time, be kind and loving to yourself and all will blossom from the inside out!  Thank you to all who shared part of your day with me you made my valentines one I’ll never forget! Love in all ways,  Silvia

FEBRUARY 9, 2009:  I love that it snowed all day today! It means that every single person in Chicagoland is practicing YOGA! I couldn’t be happier about that. Everywhere I went I saw folks SLOW DOWN and PAY ATTENTION.  When we have nature asking us to practice patience we should listen.

So today my theme is Patience. From yogic teachings this means that we find equanimity towards all objects, situations or things - be they joyful or sorrowful or easy or hard, snowy or rainy.  When we find our yoga we enter a state of calmness and clarity that reflects perfect presence within the chaos or tension, even a snowy day.  It is that feeling where we are in sync with what is going on and don’t feel compelled to fight the situation.

Joan Baez said, “you can only decide how you are going to live.”

So when we are faced with the snow, we are reminded to slow down and be mindful.  It is actually then that we realize the snow is just water and has no agenda for or against us. Yoga teaches us that the ANTIDOTE to impatience is "going with the flow". To be in sync with the way things are happening remembering that whatever the present situation we know "it will change."  Snow is water, water is flow and it will eventually melt and move onto a different form. 

If you need more patience instead of fighting or getting mad at the snow just slow down, keep breathing and enjoy.  The time you spend in your car then becomes an oasis from the chaos of life instead of a prison.  Make this the best Winter EVER!  And remember, “love is patient, love is kind.”  Love to you all, Silvia

FEBRUARY 7, 2010:  So here's what is at the heart of yoga: Yoga is the practice of revealing yourself to yourself.  Our time on the mat is an experience of pure self-exploration.  And although we often begin the practice with familiar poses or sequences from there we expand and create something unique and never before experienced.  As much as we think we know exactly where we are going, as Martin Buber says, All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. 

I just got a Mac. I’ve been a PC girl up until this point in my life. I have been very afraid of exploring new territory in this way.  I knew it could be better but the mediocrity of how my PC worked was fine.  What’s weird is that I’m not like this anywhere else in my life.  I will happily travel to new places, try new foods, experiment with creative flow of poses, I’ll seek out the next spiritual adventure! But not when it comes to my laptop.  Then I think of RD Laing’s words, “Creative people who can't help but explore other mental territories are at greater risk, just as someone who climbs a mountain is more at risk than someone who just walks along a village lane.”

Life is too short to just keep walking on the beaten path. I know I could see more if I opened my eyes to being at the top of the mountain.  Yoga inspires us to reveal our fears or hesitations so we can grow beyond them into new uncharted potential.  The way yoga has changed my life is that it made me realize the briefness of our life as human creatures.  There is not time to waste.  We must keep exploring!

“After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it?” – Richard Dawkins

I believe as Neale Donald Walsch writes, “Every decision you make - every decision - is not a decision about what to do. It's a decision about Who You Are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do.” I came here to make a difference and trying out new poses on the mat during yoga class gives me the opportunity to explore myself more deeply.  From there I’ve realized anything is possible.

This combined with the support of dear friends, one of whom in particular was vitally important in encouraging me to adventure away from the PC world into Mac land.  They saw before I did my ability to enhance my ways of working, my way of being.  And the decision I made to take this risk is a reflection of who I am in the world, just like trying new or challenging poses in class offers me the same opportunity.  So don’t hold back don’t get stuck in the SMART goals (specific measurable achievable realistic) break free of that crap.  As is written in the book How We Choose to be Happy, “When you step away from the confines of realistic you become an artist painting your own masterpiece, an explorer charting new territories. You are creating new ways of looking at situations; you innovate at work and at home..  It’s impossible to be bored with your life.”  Love your life! Silvia

Namaste Beautiful Friends,

To be happy is DEEP WORK, it is not surface stuff.  And the reality of  yoga is that it helps us explore ourselves to find out as Anthony DeMello writes, "there is not a single moment in our life when we do not have everything we need to be happy."  As we study ourselves the yoga helps us explore through movement a freedom in our bodies and a kind of flowing meditation where we can find peace and tranquility in our minds. This in turn allows our hearts to open to our own best adventure. 

"Exploration really is the essence of the human spirit!"

There is this great story in the book "How We Choose to Be Happy" and the individual being studied for why they are happier than everyone else says this, "I tried my hand at a lot of things. Some of these I liked, some I didn't.  And I have no regrets. The point is, I kept moving. Any one of these choices was far less important than the fact that I just kept choosing. 

I have a philosophy: Any choice can be reversed, but not choosing at all is irreversible."  So this Winter please keep choosing to make time to explore yourself more deeply.  And if you can take a break join me for the Spiritual Adventure of a Lifetime in Moab April 15th (here I am at Arches National Park) or in Tuscany June 20th!! It would be so awesome to take this road trip together.  But no matter what keep finding your own best adventure! Big love in all ways, Silvia

"It's better to have traveled and gotten lost than to never have traveled at all."  -George Santayana

 

Namaste Yogis!

JANUARY 25TH, 2010:  I was out at Target this morning and overheard two ladies one saying to the other: "I'm so over Winter. Yeah I've been over it since it started." Ok. I get that.  I'm one of those folks for whom staying well in Winter is hard.  My balance is constantly disturbed in the Winter (I’m more sensitive to sound & emotions, more easily agitated, more difficulty concentrating, relationship to food is vastly different – my digestion is more sluggish, I want to eat more but don’t get full, can’t warm up, harder to relax, hold my breath more, tired but not sleepy). Does any of that sound familiar?

For most of my life I thought I was alone. Thank goodness I found Yoga and eventually my studies expanded to include the sister science to Yoga called Ayurveda.  According to Ayurveda, we are all made up of the 5 elements; ether, air, fire, water and earth.  The 5 elements combine to create the three doshas; Vata (air and ether), Pitta (water and fire) and Kapha (water and earth.)  We are each born with varying quantities and qualities of the doshas, denoting our unique psychobiological make-up or constitution.  One of the three doshas is usually primary, one secondary, and the third least prominent.  Health depends on maintaining this proportion in balance.

Here’s the thing.  STAYING WELL IN WINTER IS HARDER FOR US IN COLDER CLIMATES.

It is much easier to maintain balance (mentally, emotionally, physically) let’s say in Spring and Fall. So what do we do? Give up? NOPE. That’s not it. If we don’t get off the couch the downward energy and sluggishness INCREASE and we feel worse. Bummer. The answer to maintaining balance (or at least have a shot at it) is to address the high degree of Kapha in all of us this time of year and keep moving.  YOGA ENERGIZES:  it helps restore energy to a tired body allowing cells, senses and nerves to quiet down.  It increases circulation to the adrenals, thyroid and kidneys which are the storehouse of energy.  YOGA REDUCES STRESS: it reduces cortisol and other stress hormones which drain the body of energy from being in fight or flight response.

However, the Yoga we should do is a steady slow-flow with some holding of poses and more inversions.  So that’s what we’ll offer you.  All you have to do to feel your best this Winter is show up for class.  You guys we have to keep the momentum going, it’s only January 25^th….we have a ways to go until Spring my friends. Just don’t give up! Stay the course. 

 

My themes for evening classes this week:

Jan 25^th Level 1 at 6:15pm-7:15pm and Basics 7:30pm-8:30pm:  Lazy People’s Yoga

Jan 26^th Basics 6:15pm-7:15pm Yoga and Weight Loss and 7:30pm-9pm Level 2 Yogapalooza (linking a gazillion poses gently, sweetly to one another)

Jan 27^th 6:15pm Level 1 Slow Flow for Home Practice

Jan 28^th 7:30pm Level 1 Using Inversions Safely for Healthy Metabolism

Jan 29^th 6pm Level 1 Avoiding Stuckness

Jan 31^st 4:30pm Level 1-2 followed by 6pm Wine and Cheese Party (Why Do A Yoga Retreat – Benefits of Spiritual Adventure)

 

So let’s plan a date. Make and keep this appointment with your LIFE, don’t skip Winter, get out there, stay involved and active in your life! Love the day, Silvia (Bonus article below)

 

 

 

”Staying Well in Winter Conditions

Winter brings in a handful of elements that may disturb the healthy balance we maintain during more moderate seasons. Cold weather disturbs, and increases vata. Add the dryness in the air, caused by indoor heat and it increases doubly. Kapha is affected in damp, cold conditions and can also be also exacerbated from not getting much fresh air and natural light.

When the air outside remains cold, it provokes the Vata quality in us all; inside the constant blowing of dry heat can also disturb vata through the quality of dryness; remember that balancing Vata is key to all individuals since when Vata moves, it directly affects the complementary elements, or doshas, for better or worse. Cold, windy and dry conditions can be hard to avoid altogether, and the following actions can counteract disturbed Vata:

* Staying well covered in cold climates - hats, scarves, and gloves 

* Nourishing the insides with warming foods, drinks and spices to promote internal fire

 

*Do more Yoga. Slowly flowing and interspersed with longer holdings an inversions to keep energy moving upward. Make sure to stay warm during the whole practice and cover up during savasana at the end of the practice

* Special attention to skin care in cold/dry conditions - keeping the skin, hair and nails hydrated and lubricated 

* Establish and keep to a daily routine - balancing vata in this way will help to keep all the doshas in balance”

JANUARY 3, 2010: So today we started in Vajrasana where after some initial acknowledge of where we are in this moment, like looking at a chalkboard in front of us we rubbed our hands together like two sticks of wood to create friction/heat and then cupped our eyes. We used this as an opportunity to open our eyes and imagine our hands as a mirror. Asking ourselves in our OUTWARD reflection what did we see? Who is the person staring back at us? Then we closed our eyes in the warmth of our hands and turned our gaze INWARDS to view the inner reflection and ask what is our purpose, our Dharma? WHO AM I?

And this means it is something more than the role we play at work, the labels we wear like son, daughter, partner, parent. When we get onto the mat it is a special time to rediscover ourselves. Or for many of us, to discover ourselves for the first time. Through these poses and conscious breathing we learn to gain control of our emotions and harness the power of our mind to direct our 60,000 daily thoughts towards our great purpose. But first we have to know WHO WE ARE before we are able to give direction. It’s like using the GPS on the car, you have to know the destination. This practice breaths life back into us or as Rumi writes, “I was dead, then alive, weeping then laughing. The power of love came into me!” With every physical sensation we feel our humanity. As Stephen Covey puts it, “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” So as a human being what is your Life’s Purpose or Dharma?

So right now say to yourself, “I AM THE CREATOR OF MY LIFE. I will listen with total attention to my experience, I will relish each sensation, I will love every minute of being with myself today.” You see the poses are the QUESTIONS. They are not the answers. They help us to be aware of our attitudinal alignment. For instance they ask us the fundamental question of whether or not we are focusing on our limitations or on our DREAMS, are we expecting the worst from life or the best from life? To co-create with the universe means we are taking responsibility to know who we are and are actively sharing our unique contribution with the world. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States said it like this, “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world.” So how do we do this? We get to work on the mat, anchored in our body to try to peal back the layers to look inside where all the answers already exist. As the Buddha says, “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”

It is not always easy. But we have to work harder than our fear, we have to work harder than our pain to make the truest discovery of WHO AM I. And the answer only comes from within, no one else can tell us who we are and why we are here. I know it’s sometimes scary (like doing a handstand against the wall) but through the poses we break down the self-doubt and grow more determined to live as who we really are. Eventually by the end of the practice we meet ourselves or as Derek Walcott puts it, “The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the others welcome, and say, sit here. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life.”

So this year face your fears, do not let them stand in the way of discovering the answer to WHO AM I. Best put by Earl Nightingale who says, “Don’t let fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” Love to all, Peace to All, Courage to all! Silvia

JANUARY 2, 2010:   On the beautiful winter day after the beginning of a new decade I have been meditating about the relationship between Grace and Coordination.  As we aspire to remain graceful in the way we coordinate our lives we will achieve that perfect balance. This is really what the Sutra 2.26 talking about Sthira and Sukha is getting at.  That we find a peaceful way to effort and forward our lives.  So on the mat we practice rhythmic breathing coordinated with movement to help release blockages or stuckness. This allows energy to flow in an optimal way and we feel mentally and physically balanced.  We know what happens when we hold our breath from stress:  our nervous system goes on red alert, there is a distress signal set off in the body/mind.  However gentle flow of breath coordinating easy and even in and out makes us more relaxed.

One of my favorite definitions of how Hatha Yoga works is “Hatha Yoga increases energy by aligning our physical and subtle energy bodies, through physical poses (asana) and enhancing our life force through breathing practices (pranayama) and encouraging our sense inward through deep relaxation (pratyhara)."  You see to live gracefully is whereby we keep returning to our center, that balance point.  But it requires a great deal of spiritual courage to coordinate the sensitive adjustments required to maintain this.  The sustaining part is the most difficult.

So here’s to the new year and wishing all of us much Grace and Coordination to find and KEEP to our center! Love, Silvia

 

Today in class we spoke about Yoga for Anxiety as the holiday season often brings about a bit more tension and anticipation. So here is the breath work and meditation we did in class. Peace to all! Love, Silvia

Breathing: At the core of most anxiety is the breath, or the lack of it. When you are anxious, natural breathing is inhibited. The diaphragm freezes, failing to move air downward as you inhale, which means that you don't let your lungs fully expand and fill with air. "And when you don't get enough oxygen, the brain receives a 'danger' signal, which perpetuates your mind-body state of anxiety," explains Jonathan Davidson, M.D., director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program at Duke University Medical Center. "Your breathing quickens and becomes even more shallow."

Meditation for Relaxation:

A very effective method to relax the body is by systematically stressing all the muscles, holding that 5 to 10 seconds, and then releasing the tension.
-Sit or lie in a relaxed way.
-Put an extremely tense expression on the face, straining as many face muscles as possible. Take a deep breath and forcefully hold it. ...... Now slowly release the breath and the tension of all the face muscles, feel as if you breathe out all stress.
-Inhale deeply again and stress all neck and shoulder muscles.... then let go
-Inhale, make fists and stress the arms... let go
-Inhale, stress chest, belly and back.... let go
-Inhale, stress buttocks, legs and feet... let go
-If you still feel tension at some places, just stay relaxed, don't hold the breath now, but release all the tension while breathing out.
-Enjoy your relaxed body.

DECEMBER 8TH, 2009: When we get on the mat it is that special time to rediscover ourselves. Or for many of us, myself included, when we first start practicing it is a FIRST time discovery of who we really are. What a great surprise to find that no matter what age you are currently you can still give birth to your spirit. Through yoga you learn to tell what your soul needs.

All of this is accomplished through mindfulness and conscious breathing. When you use your breath on purpose and breath as you, you gain control of your emotions, your harness the power of your mind and direct your 60,000 daily thoughts towards what you need from the inside to live happier and more peacefully. Each pose then is an opportunity to listen to our body. We can ask ourselves in any pose “How can I use this pose to be more accepting of myself, How can I use this pose to practice being less reactive in difficult situations, How can I use this pose to celebrate my life, How can I use this pose to love myself more?”

When we live life trying to be what everyone else wants us to be we lose who we really are. Then the grumbling mind tends to get bogged down in its own weariness of trying to keep up. But if we discover ourselves our personal story shines out and through our acceptance and expansion of ourselves we give permission to everyone around us to be themselves. May this practice bring the inner yoga alive in you! As Rumi writes, “I was dead, then alive, weeping then laughing. The power of love came into me!” May you love yourself more, love your day more, love your life more! Silvia

FROM TBY TEACHER LYNN MINTON (JOIN HER MONDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS)

NOVEMBER 20, 2009 CLASS THEME: I was cleaning out my email box and came across an email I had sent to myself while on a couples weekend in early October.

This is an excerpt from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert I would like to share with you...
"The Yogis, however, say that human discontentment is a simple case of mistaken identity. We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentments and morality. We wrongly believe that our limited little egos constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognize our deeper divine character. We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme Self who is eternally at peace. That supreme Self is our true identity, universal and divine. Before you realize this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair, a notion nicely expressed in this exasperated line from the Greek stoic philosopher Epictitus: "You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not."
St. Augustine wrote, "Our whole business therefore in this life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen."
As I reread this passage and my heart smiles.
Have a joyful day,

Lynn (847-269-8462)


I TEACH: Friday...Basics...1pm Monday...Level 1...1pm See you soon:)

NOVEMBER 15, 2009: “After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it?” – Richard Dawkins

So here's the theme: how Yoga is the practice of revealing yourself to yourself. The whole thing is about self-exploration. Hope you can rock with me with great music and fun flow to feel for yourself how “Exploration really is the essence of the human spirit.” Here are some favorite quotes that inspired this practice. I also emailed out the actual class plan that I hope you have enjoyed! Love in all ways, Silvia


Whenever there is a reaching down into innermost experience, into the nucleus of personality, most people are overcome by fear and many run away. . . The risk of inner experience, the adventure of the spirit, is in any case alien to most human beings. The possibility that such experience might have psychic reality is anathema to them. – Carl Jung

Creative people who can't help but explore other mental territories are at greater risk, just as someone who climbs a mountain is more at risk than someone who just walks along a village lane. – RD Laing

Every decision you make - every decision - is not a decision about what to do. It's a decision about Who You Are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do. - Neale Donald Walsch

If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative. - Woody Allen

NOVEMBER 9, 2009:  I wake up each day and begin with a gratitude meditation.  The meditation follows my breath and goes like this: 

Inhale: I welcome happiness,

Exhale: I am so grateful

 

Inhale:  I welcome inspiration

Exhale:  I am so grateful

 

Inhale:  I welcome love

Exhale:  I am so grateful

 

Inhale: I welcome clarity

Exhale:  I am so grateful

 

"Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life." Says Christiane Northrup.  So begin now, ask yourself as you breath what you are grateful for and if you experience any struggle with this then hold close these words of the Buddha:

Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn't learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didn't get sick,
and if we got sick,
at least we didn't die;
so, let us be thankful.

You see gratitude changes our attitude and helps us to stop feeling victimized by life.  This is Yoga Sutras Chapter 2.33 “When presented with negative thoughts or feelings cultivate an opposite, elevated attitude. This is Pratipaksha Bhavana.” If feeling down, hopeless, worried, doubtful then to bring the glow of positivity back all you have to do is practice gratitude.  And watch for those habits that detract from a gratitude habit such as:

·         Reverse any tendency you have to make comparisons.

·         Quit talking about what you don't have compared to what you have;

·         Stop complaining about how you are doing career-wise, relationship-wise, or any other-wise.

·         Instead, concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, saying to yourself from morning to night “I am grateful for…”

 

And I promise you will discover a life filled with gratitude wakes up and nurtures your soul and brings quiet happiness to even the most challenging days.  And know I am grateful to each of you deeply and truly.  Love, Silvia

 

 

From the Book A Year to Live by Stephen Levine – Essential Gratitude Meditation

“How very fortunate we are to have this moment in this body.   Even with the difficulties, even with the confusion, how blessed we are to be here. Grateful for the kindness of loved ones. Grateful for the moments of joy. Grateful for the clarity that arises even during pain.  Grateful for the blessings, great and small. Grateful that our pain is no greater than it is.  Grateful for our inheritance of happiness, that joy is our birthright.  Grateful for the sense of presence. Gratitude for simply being. Gratitude for the process.”

 

NOVEMBER  1, 2009:  “If you want to know the past, to know what has caused you, look at yourself in the present, for that is the past’s effect. If you want to know your future, then look at yourself in the present, for that is the ause of the future.”  Majihima Nikaya

 

What I would love for you to do today is just Pay Attention.  Start by paying attention to your breath.  When’s the last time you really thought about the power of your own breath?  Consider this prose from Pieree Teilhard De Chardin to help inspire you “The inhale and the exhale. Breathing out carbon dioxide to the trees and breathing in their fresh exudations. Oxygen kissing each cell awake, atoms dancing in orderly metabolism, interpenetrating. That dance of the air cycle, breathing the universe in and out again, is what you are, is what I am.”  Wow!  All he is talking about is the breath. 

 

Keeping the breath in mind helps us to focus our attention. It is an anchor to the present moment and if you use it the breath will always guide you back to yourself when your mind wanders.  The breath helps us remember that we can only live one moment at a time and that is right here, right now so we might as well be alert to whatever is actually happening.  If we stop paying attention to the moment before we know it we stop paying attention to our life and years or decades slip by.  Jon Kabat Zinn says, too often our lives cease working because we cease working at life.

 

Yoga teaches us that when we are not present our minds become totally distracted and our thoughts are all over the place, starting stopping, wandering from one thing to the other at often break neck speed.  If we pay attention we harness the power of our thoughts.  This is a human being what distinguishes us from other creatures and is our GREATEST STRENGTH.  I don’t care how much money you make or have in the bank, the value of the currency of your thoughts is worth more than anything! 

 

Probably the coolest thing I come back to time and again is that we get to choose on purpose our own thoughts!  Our thoughts then are like a magnet that attract similar energy (positive attracts positive, negative attracts negative).  So why would we waste time paying attention to negative thoughts over and over again?  Why wouldn’t we choose to pay attention to what makes us stronger.

 

Ultimately, when we are present and paying attention we can through practice have a meaningful dialogue with ourselves asking “WHO AM I” and as Swami Vivekananda says, “We are responsible for what we are and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.”  And from there we are so focused that we can ask ourselves “WHY AM I HERE?”  You’ll be amazed that this naturally evolves simply from paying attention.  But if your mind is disturbed its like rough waters on a lake you can throw a pebble in and you won’t be able to see the ripple effect because the water is too choppy…but if your mind is calm from paying attention you can throw a little pebble and watch it ripple.  When you practice yoga, you see these ripples of possibility every moment!

 

Today just say to yourself “My life is precious and glorious and I will pay attention.”  Love to you, Silvia

 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009:  Today the third day after Autumnal Equinox is so special. Our affirmation today:  I AM OPEN TO ACCEPTING LOVE AND HELP.

 

This represents our ability to receive support and love from other people as we allow ourselves to evolve towards greater experiences of happiness. And I assure you we are readier than we ever have been to receive and be happy.  I know this and more importantly you know this because in class when we breath more deeply into ourselves it feels wonderful! You guys, this reflects our willingness to breath in Life itself, to be more conscious, more present, more receptive.

 

BREATHING BREAK: Right now wherever you are Witness the breath, appreciate the ebb and flow of breath and how you can better feel and receive it.  As you deepen into your breath inhaling it smoothly and fully know that you have received an amazing gift. The gift of life, of energy, of opportunity!  Not everyone was chosen to breath today. Some in this world did not win the life lottery.  But you did!  And as you breath, be aware of the raw abundance of the breath. It is continuously meeting your needs.  Open and expand into this knowledge that on the most fundamental level all your needs are being met in this moment.

 

Then think about someone in your life right now that has done something for you, that has offered their love or help….what have you done to receive the gift of this offering?  How could you do better at receiving from them?  Receiving has this quality of surrender that all we need do is welcome the gift into our life (we don’t have to judge, question the motives, demand it be more) all we have to do is just accept it and let it come to us.

 

William Holden, PhD says in the book Be Happy, “RECEIVING is a prelude to giving.  Receiving and giving are two sides of the same coin.  In other words, your capacity to receive is what determines your capacity to give.  If you are not good at receiving, you will not give yourself fully to a relationship or to a job, because you will be afraid that giving will deplete you.  The only way to keep giving and not receive is to be in sacrifice.  And that can only last so long before you feel like you have nothing left to give.  Also in truth no one can give what he or she has not received.”

 

Today what can you do to receive more?  How can this help you see that recieivng is infinite and abundant you don’t have to limit yourself from receiving love.

 

On the mat you can practice by saying to yourself “How does this pose help me?  What gifts does it have, am I receiving them with an open heart?”  Allow each pose to be your teacher and before you know it you will find that you grow better at receiving.  And with time we all learn to just feel grateful for this immersion into the flow of abundance. That the universe is working on our behalf to offer us love and help inside every moment, in the guise of every Angel on earth that we crosses our path.  Question is, will you let yourself RECEIVE?  Big love to you all, Silvia

 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009:   I don’t remember the exact day that I learned through spiritual practice that the world is not created outside of us but that we create the world first on the inside.  WOW!  I had no idea that what we think is reflected back to us through what we see.  The fact that we have 60,000 thoughts that are “trainable” and that by managing the energy of these thoughts multiplied by 7 days/per week and the days in the month we influence the quality of our lives blew my mind.  I really believed that other people or situations put thoughts in my head and I had no control of that.  You can apply this knowledge to all aspects of your life.  The learning on the mat is transportable.  Maybe it’s something little like the fact today was a bit overcast does not mean it is a bad day. It is all in our perspective.  I CREATE MY REALITY.

Keep this mantra or affirmation in mind as an all time favorite!  One of the most inspiring things I keep going back to are the words of Jack Kornfield, "in the beginning of our spiritual journey, we become aware that much of what we do is a way of seeking to love and to be loved. Perhaps the enlightenment of intimacy is the same as love.” To me this is speaking to the fact that if we are loving creatures then we CREATE THE REALITY OF A LOVING WORLD, within us and then this becomes our experience.   

Love is mysterious. 

“We don't know what it is, but we know when it is present. If we seek love, we must ask where it is to be found. It is here only in THIS MOMENT. To love in the past is simply a memory. To love in the future is a fantasy. There is only one place where love can be found, where intimacy and awakening can be found, and that is in the PRESENT." (Kornfield)

The most difficult part of being responsible for ourselves and our thoughts is to remain present. To let go of the way we wanted things to be in the past and instead focus on the beauty that is here now in front of us. Equal to that is the pitfall of trying to get all the answers about what we want for the future before we love fully so as not to get hurt.  But we will never know the future outcome all we can do is influence it by staying true and loving now, planting seeds for then but surrendering to something greater.  This is a challenging degree of intimacy to have with oneself (let alone another person) but totally necessary to in order to awaken to the depth of love available to us.  WE CREATE OUR REALITY but this means now, not yesterday.

"To learn intimacy is not an easy thing. Growing up in a divided culture, marked by our wounds and longing, it is hard to be present." (Kornfield)  Use this practice to love yourself more, to stop holding back. Through this we learn how not to hold back our love from others and the more we wake up to all that is being offered to us the more it grows!  Rumi writes, "Today is like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer. Let the beauty we love be what we do."

May yoga wake you up to the beauty of your love so you love yourself more, you love your day more, you love your life more!  Create your reality.  Love in all ways, Silvia

 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009:   Today I realized as I was driving home after yoga class and my mind was freed up that I uncovered another Samskara.  Part of me said UGH! Not this again. And yet the other part of me after I stopped crying was like ok let me care for this and before I fall into the proverbial hole in the sidewalk (that I've been in before!) let's see what I can change.  But let me say seeing it doesn't make it easier to change especially as it relates to love it just makes you more responsible for yourself. And yup sometimes that's harder.

 

As is written in the Secret Power of Yoga my favorite translation of the Yoga Sutras, "our thoughts and feelings form these clusters of habitual patterns, tendencies and potentialities called Samskaras. These Samskaras accrue by the constant churning of our thoughts and emotions.  Whenever any thought or feeling is encountered it is easily fed into one of these patterns.  Then our habits and patterns become set.  The pattern of HABIT or samskara is difficult to change, as our consciousness is often unable to reconfigure the obvious."

 

You see our thoughts (all 60,000 per day) are trained by habit to flow in predictable patterns.  We are tuned out to most of these habits, especially the Unhealthy ones.  The practice of yoga inspires us to recognize who we really are, our true selves and we begin to see our "MINDLESS HABITS" (Samskaras).  We then begin making more conscious choices.  It is like we wake up.  Chapter 1.50 When experiencing the absolute true knowledge all previous Samskaras are left behind and new ones are prevented from sprouting. 

 

In the yogic model, two reasons exist for remaining stuck in negative emotions or unhealthy actions:

• The first is samskaras, or karmic knots, that develop over time.
• The second is a lack of prana, or vital life force, oxygen in our bodies. 

How yoga can help:

• Releases emotions/stress locked in the body.
• Brings in more oxygen/prana or life-force. (For instance we learn when we hold our breath)
• Balances the brain.
• Calms the mind and develops the “witness” - we see our thought pattern or physical habit.
• Helps us reconnect, become more awake or conscious. 
• According to Stephen Cope, MSW, LICSW, a psychotherapist and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (Bantam, 1999), hatha yoga's postures improve mood by moving energy through places in the body where feelings of grief, stress, worry or anger are stored. "Hatha yoga is an accessible form of learning self-soothing," he says. "These blocked feelings can be released very quickly, [creating a] regular, systemic experience of well-being." 

So today let's dedicate the metta meditation to where we are personally stuck in an less than healthy samskaras (patterns) and let's offer this practice to someone in our life that is living in the darkness, someone who doesn't see they are repeating the same negative cycle over and over again.  As I said to a friend yesterday, it is like being in a dark room and you have to first want to find the light switch, the thing is the light switch is always there on the wall (it doesn't move around) and it may take some crawling around to find it but all you have to do is flip the switch and all in your life will be illuminated! Sending you all courage to change your life for the better!! Love, Silvia

 

METTA (LOVINGKINDNESS) MEDITATION

May I be happy, may I be healthy, may I be peaceful and free

May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful and free

May we all be happy, may we be healthy, may we be peaceul and free

 

AUGUST 23, 2009: 

Gratitude is the state of mind of thankfulness.

Every day I practice some form of gratitude meditation. I just start off saying to myself inside my breath I am grateful for…and then as part of a stream of consciousness I let it flow from my heart.  It has taken years to find the ease in this flow. For a long time I would over think it, or rank some things as less or more meaningful than others.  Finally I realized through spiritual practice Gratitude is a constant state of being. It is a way of seeing the world and there is no ranking necessary, all things big and small matter equally when practicing gratitude.  

 

Gratitude increases our appreciation for life.

So many days it starts by being grateful for my life, for my breath. This awareness that just be breathing we won the lotto today! That not everyone in the world was chosen to breath on this day.  That’s pretty powerful eye opener.  When I was at the Chicago Field Museum yesterday I stopped by the Man’s Evolution section and amongst all the cool stuff there was a statistic that said “in the last 24 hours 33 species have become extinct.”  Hmmm it doesn’t take much to appreciate we are still promoting our legacy. But for many species of the world each and every day the experience of breath ends, that’s it.

 

Gratitude is a form of acceptance. 

Just as we are grateful for our families the more gratitude we experience for others happiness the more our gratitude grows.  Stephen Levine says “As gratitude is cultivated, we experience an increase in our sympathetic joy, our happiness at another’s happiness (this growing sense of gratitude for whatever happiness, great or small, that comes to those around us.)”  Through gratitude we accept the good in all. 

 

Gratitude is a return to balance

It brings balance to those parts of ourselves that are disconnected, or attached to suffering.  Gratitude changes our attitude and helps us to stop feeling victimized by life.  This is Yoga Sutras Chapter 2.33 “When presented with negative thoughts or feelings cultivate an opposite, elevated attitude. This is Pratipaksha Bhavana.” If feeling down, hopeless, worried, doubtful then to bring the see saw of our life back into balance we practice gratitude.

 

Gratitude is love.  Try this easy to remember breath meditation

Inhale: I welcome happiness,

Exhale: I am grateful

 

Inhale:  I welcome inspiration

Exhale:  I am grateful

 

Inhale:  I welcome love

Exhale:  I am grateful

 

 

From the Book A Year to Live by Stephen Levine – Essential Gratitude Meditation

“How very fortunate we are to have this moment in this body with some intuitive acknowledgement of that which goes beyond our understanding. 

Even with the difficulties, even with the confusion, how blessed we are to be here.

Grateful for the kindness of loved ones. Grateful for the moments of joy. Grateful for the clarity that arises even during pain.  Grateful for the blessings, great and small. Grateful that our pain is no greater than it is.

Thankful for our Great Heart and the capacity to become whole.

Thankful to be living in a world and time, in which the value of compassion cannot be overlooked. 

Grateful that among the billions now on this planet our hearts are so drawn by the possibility of liberation. Grateful for the path that has brought us each so far. Grateful for the love and the grace the spontaneously emerge from our true heart.

Grateful for our inheritance of happiness, that joy is our birthright.

Grateful for the sense of presence.

Gratitude for simply being.

Gratitude for the beneficent process.”

 

 

AUGUST 18, 2009:  I remember as a little girl loving the story of Sleeping beauty.  I wasn’t so into Snow White, that story freaked me out. And Goldilocks was too much unlike me so I couldn’t relate. But Sleeping Beauty, I understood.  Now I tried living my life literally to this story, waiting for my prince to come, to get married and have all my problems solved.  That didn’t work out so great.  The prince was there but problems remained or grew worse.  So for me the practice of yoga taught me that there is no prince (as in another person coming to make us happy, saved, peaceful, etc). We are the lover and the beloved in yoga. We use the poses to and breath to wake up our sleeping limbs and awareness. 

Yoga kisses us awake one way or the other.

 

Stephen Levine in the book Be Happy puts it like this:  “Most of us live life half unborn”  It is an in your face way to phrase this concept of what we call in the yoga sutras “remembering the self” Vairagya (Chapter 1.15 for reference).  Remembering is waking up to who we really are and how we want to live our lives.  And quite frankly you have to ask yourself don’t you want to complete your birth before this ride is over?  As Gabrielle Roth writes about in the book Sweat Your Prayers we are giving birth to ourselves.  YESSS! To see some folks that are totally awake check out this clip that inspired me today:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpacvA_ZQQc 

• So right now in this moment what will it take to free up your life? 
• On a scale of 1-10 how resistance are you to life? 
• Are you afraid of what others will think of you if you start to live life on your terms? 
• Are you afraid of being happy?

Well it is not too late, as long as we are breathing to begin to remember it can be better.  Even the Buddha said, “it doesn’t matter how long you have forgotten only how soon you remember.”  And for how much you’ve forgotten well let the poses tell you that.  As it says on page 26 in the book Secret Power of Yoga (a translation of the Yoga Sutras, “We are all in a constant state of grace, yet how often do we remember?”

Starting today let’s be more awake to every moment.  You have the power to change your life!  Love yourself, your life, you day! Silvia

 

AUGUST 6, 2009: 

It’s good to leave each day behind,
like flowing water, free of sadness.
Yesterday is gone and its tale told.
Today new seeds are growing.
~Rumi

 

This practice of poses and breath brings about an awareness of what we are feeling.  For most of us when we start yoga we haven’t made time to even ask ourselves this simple question. We’re either too busy going faster and faster or really good at avoiding what we are feeling.  Denial or argument with our feelings has become a way of life. But also a formula for suffering. 

 

Tantric practice encourages us to embrace all of who we are.  The sadness and the joy, the tiredness and the vigor, the fear and the love.  This is a nondualistic approach to see that there is not a winner/loser or bad/good that we don’t have to battle our emotions, thoughts or feelings any longer.  Running away from what we feel will only prolong it.  And all of our feelings can be put into 3 buckets: pleasant, unpleasant and neutral.  So as hard as it might be to heal and remain in a state of being healed we are taught through yoga to embrace your feelings, care for them like you would look after a younger sibling.

 

A great meditation from Thich Nhat Hanh suggest we take a feeling, let’s say sadness, and talk to your feeling: say to your sadness “breathe – I am taking care of you now.”  Acknowledge this feeling is you and as you breath out, let it go.  Then allow for the next moment to unfold and the next feeling. Breath into that one.  Take one at a time and stay with the flow. 

 

Most importantly know that whatever you’re feeling is part of your humanness, love and hurt co-exist, one is the compliment to the other so to prevent staying in a state of suffering it helps to embrace all you feel and care for yourself.  This practice of being human is put into poetry by the poet Kahlil Gibran who wrote, “all these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart.”  We literally learn about ourselves as we experience emotion, feeling and thought.  We also become expert through this in the human experience. We can by caring for our own feelings learn how to care and offer compassion towards how others feel. 

“In that calmness we begin to understand that peace is not the opposite of challenge and hardship. We understand that the presence of light is not a result of darkness ending. Peace is found not in the absence of challenge but in our own capacity to be with hardship without judgment, prejudice, and resistance. We discover that we have the energy and the faith to heal ourselves, and the world, through openheartedness.” (From book All About Love)  So may you all take away from your time on the mat the courage to “CARE FOR YOUR FEELINGS” as they arise, holding them gently and then surrendering them to the next moment. Love in all ways, Silvia

 

AUGUST 5TH, 2009:  A friend gave to me not too long ago a sweet little book that is powerful beyond measure. I have since purchased many copies to give as gifts to friends.  The book is "The Way to Love" and contains the Anthony de Mello's final thoughts as he grapples with the ulimate question of love.  In 31 meditations he implores his readers to break through illusion, the great obstacle to love.  "love springs from awareness, " de Mello insists, saying that it is only when we see others as they are that we can begin to really love.  This task, however, is not easy.  "The most painful act," he continues "is the act of seeing. But is in that act of seeing that love is born."

Today I meditated on the HARDEST YOGA POSE, being ourselves.

de Mello speaks to this as he offers us these words "Compare the serene and simple splendor of a rose in bloom with the tensions and restlessness of your life. The rose has a gift that you lack: It is perfectly content to be itself.  It has not been programmed from birth, as you have been, to be dissatisfied with itself, so it has not the slightest urge to be anything other than it is.  That is why it posseses grace and absense of inner conflict.  You are always dissatisfied with yourself, always wanting to change yourself. So you are full of violence and self-intolerance which only grows...any change you achieve is always accompanied by inner conflict.  And you suffer when you see others achieve what you have not and become what you are not."

So from a yogic view we have the power to make ourselves.  Our suffering comes when we try to bring about changes based on what other people want us to be or society says we should be or we compare and compete with our neighbors getting jealous or envious.  The INTENTIONS our aspirations we have for ourselves can manifest without our coercing, forcing or doing battle to be someone else, to be something we are not.  For if we try to find happiness being what someone else wants us to be we will only ever be second best. We can only be OUR BEST SELF. 

De Mello compares says this is "an exhausting self-defeating process like driving with your brakes on." Which by the way in my jeep I actually have tried...doesn't work that well.

To me what we are speaking to here is the difference between being selfish (which is good) and self-intolerant.  If we really like ourselves and have confidence in our life choices based on what is good for us then we ignite our greatest potential from within.  We "run our own race" as I'm fond of saying.  We no longer get upset, restless or dissatisfied with who we are. 

We are all just flowers in the garden of life. The universe respects our diversity and wants us to bloom as our unique selves.  I have often referred to myself as a delicate flower, and you are too, so let us selfishly love ourselves as we are while on the path to achieving our highest aspirations.

Love to you all, Silvia

 

AUGUST 4th, 2009:  Don't forget Michael Franti plays Ravinia August 27th 7:30pm, join TBY Friends in lawn for yoga on grass, drinks, food, fun before and after show.  Franti inspired me with his song, STAY HUMAN for tonight's class.

“It is not easy to keep your heart open in the face of the trials of being human.  Life can so often be difficult, disappointing; our dreams are so easily broken.  How precious, then, those shafts of sunlight that sometimes break through our daily preoccupations, our anxieties, and reveal the beauty that was there all along. 

Neither beauty nor love – for the eyes that see beauty are the eyes of love – need the absence of pain or suffering to exist.  Sometimes we know the grace of sheer joy…when the phone call comes that seems to break our world apart, does it mean that the love we once knew has gone away? 

 

No, say the poets, this is not what it means.  Even in the midst of our suffering, love can bloom.  Our weeping as well as our laughing, can open our heart to a deeper stream. 

 

When we finally stop struggling with life, stop wanting it to be anything but what it is now – not giving up but giving it over – then our heart will indeed fall open, and we shall know beyond all doubt that, however dark the night, all is already well.

 

Let us end with Rumi, and with these lines from his poem Zero Circle:

 

Be helpless, dumbfounded, unable to say yes or not.

Then a stretcher will come from grace and gather us up.

 

That will be the moment when we let go and feel the motions of tenderness that have been around us all along.”   (ten poems to open your heart by Roger Housden)

 

 

AUGUST 4th, 2009:  Don't forget Michael Franti plays Ravinia August 27th 7:30pm, join TBY Friends in lawn for yoga on grass, drinks, food, fun before and after show.  Franti inspired me with his song, STAY HUMAN for tonight's class.

 

JULY 18TH, 2009:  Good morning!  So today I passed out a handout with the suggested foot alignment for all standing poses.  We started by really talking about the detail and precision as well as precise modifications for all fundamental standing poses like Pyramid, Lunge, Warrior B, Triangle pose and Wide Standing Pose.  With that said I wanted to make the point that if we only emphasize technical precision we can get overly self-critical, perfectionistic and even downright militant.  The yoga practice can be used in an unhealthy way becoming way too constrictive and goal-oriented.  So as we focus on the elegant principles of alignment we also emphasize gentleness.  Otherwise the yoga can be a means to create more stress in our already stressful lives.

 

Our physical focus today was the psychological triggers of back pain.  In the book The Mind Body Connection by Dr John Sarno he argues the cause of back pain is usually entirely psychological.  He says back muscles go into spasm and cause pain because of mental tension and that if you can get to the root cause of the tension the pain will disappear. With yoga we can heal back pain by calming down our overactive stress response system.  The greatest tool we have to do this is the breath which is why we link breath with movement leading to muscle relaxation and mental quiet. A personal favorite breathing mantra to practice in and out of class is this:

Breathing in, I am aware I am breathing in

Breathing out, I am aware I am breathing out

Breathing in, I calm my body.

Breathing out, I calm my mind.

 

Practicing slow deep breaths triggers the "relaxation response" the antidote to flight or flight response. The focus on all three parts of the lungs (especially deep abdominal focus on exhalations) helps bring in more oxygen.  And the wave like undulation of deep inhales and exhales gently massage the spinal column which brings nutrients to our spinal disks.

 

The poses we practice today were specific to stretch all major muscle groups around the hip joints including adductors, quads, rotators, and hamstrings. What happens is that when our Hip rotators are tight they hold the pelvis too much and the force of movement transfers up to the low back putting strain from there on up the spine.  It hurts!  We held poses working on precision but then we also put a simple routine together you could practice at home for 5 minutes per day at a one breath per movement ratio, letting go of perfection.  This way we improved overall circulation that brings nutrients to the intervertebral disks while removing toxins.  The thing is that disks don't have an independent blood supply therefore they depend on movement of the surrounding structure to aid in the delivery of nutrients.  Movement causes the disks to be compressed which squeezes out stale disk fluid and then to expand bringing in fresh supply.  Judith Lasater says, “In the majority of cases back pain can be prevented.  The majority have to do with how we use our bodies."  We don’t hurt anymore!

 

Altogether we used this practice to learn how to manage addressing our mental and physical tensions so we could find stillness and gentleness by the end. The whole class intended to help us get to the final pose of Savasana where in the words of Eckhart Tolle in his power Practicing the Power of Now we experienced a feeling of letting go.  I hope you find this background on healing back pain helpful and healing. Love the day! Silvia

 

When you surrender to what is

and so become fully present,

the past ceases to have any power.

Suddenly, a great stillness arises within you,

An unfathomable sense of peace.

And within that peace, there is great joy.

And within that joy, there is love.

 

JULY 13TH, 2009: 

 

“We no longer have a choice about including practices in our daily lives that create health and spiritual growth. If we want a world worth living in today, as well as one worth leaving to future generations, we must take responsibility to create health in our lives, as well as to support others as they choose healthier lives for themselves. It is up to each of each of us to lovingly transform the world simply by first transforming ourselves.” (Judith Lasater)

 

Tonight at 7:30pm Basics we practiced the Art and Skill of Relaxation.

 

How did we do it?  The answer is to be present.

 

It all starts with the breath.  Even right now take a few moments and feel your entire body as you breath.  Ask yourself what is your experience of yourself right now, right here?  Keep paying attention to the breath to tune you into the present moment.  Inhale, pause, exhale pause.  As you breath remember no force, no over effort, think of your body as a glass and the base of the glass is your hips, the top of the glass is your collarbones.  Just fill up smooth and easy.

 

Through the meditation of breathing we learn to be more present.  This helps us connect to a quiet grounded sense of peace when our lives are filled with stress and messiness.  But I’ll be honest with you, RELAXATION takes practice.  So that’s where yoga comes in handy.  Our time on the mat is the classroom in which we can practice how to relax.  And once we take time to practice our yoga it can support us in our real life. Yoga can help us stay present and calm even in the most chaotic times.  How?  It reminds us that our natural state is one of love.  From love all good things flow.  And in a state of self-love we grow more relaxed no matter what is facing us outside ourselves.  I wish you your own best love. Please hold your heart gently.  Love in all ways, Silvia

 

“The present moment is always full of inifinite treasure.  It contains far more than you can possibly grasp.  Faith is the measure of its riches: what you find in the present moment is according to the measure of your faith.  Love also is the measure: the more the heart loves, the more it rejoices in what God provides.  The will of spirit presents itself at each moment like an immense ocean that the desire of your heart cannot empty; yet you will drink from that ocean according to your faith and love.”  --Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) France

 

JULY 10, 2009:  Get a life in which you are not alone.  Find people you love, and who love you.  And remember that love is not leisure, it is work

 

Yoga teaches us that we can only share love to the degree we feel it for ourselves.  So the question to ask ourselves first is “do we think we deserve to be loved?”  It is a simple question and requires the utmost heroism to respond honestly.  And if you say yes then we begin by practicing self-love.  This is the most advanced practice of yoga.  And I’ll tell you, it’s not easy at first. But the good news is the more you practice the less you’ll even remember the old ways.  It will be like breathing.  Oh yeah, we learn in yoga breathing takes work.  (Thank goodness the body keeps us breathing even when we don’t pay attention) But the best quality of life means we are loving our breath, we appreciate it we PAY IT ATTENTION. 

 

So on the mat we practice loving ourselves so we can love our live’s better.  It takes effort, effort means taking some action.  So we are reminded that love is not leisure.  Managing our breath is one activity of self-love and another is being in charge of our own thoughts.  As science tells us we know we have 60,000 thoughts per day and whenever we think a thought the brain sends chemicals through our body that produces a feeling based on that thought.  If we think the same critical thoughts over and over, these repetitive thoughts and their repetitive chemical reactions will create a negative view of life. They will drain the life from our life.  So ask yourself WHY DO YOU THINK THE THINGS YOU DO? 

 

The thoughts you have today will go through a gestation period (short or long) and will eventually give birth to the quality of your life. 

 

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE BORN FROM YOUR LIFE?

 

Even making love to another requires some effort, some action (you don’t just lie there inactive, unresponsive) this is the same for what we want to be born in our lives for growth only takes place through love and kindness.  And by actively generating love we organically open the doorway for the entry of people and experiences that are like the love we feel for ourselves.  So engage your life more, actively love yourself in thoughts, words, and actions each day and let your heart shine out!  Love in all ways, Silvia

 

Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-sweetening light! 

Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the center of my life;

the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love;

the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth.   -Tagore

JULY 4TH, 2009:  We began class today sharing something positive we expect from our day or holiday weekend. It was glorious!  I was deeply inspired for the next month at least!  We heard folks expecting to see old friends, to enjoy the fireworks, to eat well, to find more peace, to experience a state of relaxation, to get a house in Mauii, to have their son get into college, to visit their daughters away for the summer, to enjoy their 1 year olds first 4^th of July, to celebrate their 21^st birthday! And so much more.

 

This philosophy of positive expectation is fundamental to yogic and spiritual teachings.  Our attitude has the power to heal.  And what attitude we have about life says a lot about whether we are expecting the worst or the best from life.  Are you focused on your dreams or on your limitations?   This means that we take some level of responsibility to co-create with the universe the best life.  There are elements than of:

1. Positive Expectation
2. Allowing Life to Happen

 

Today say to yourself:

“I can be the creator of my life, I give myself permission to be happy, I will engage in fun, I will be playful, I will listen with total attention to my experience, I will relish each sensation, I will love every minute of being with myself today! When we set this tone for our day for our life we no longer see life as something being done to us but rather life is being done FOR US.  This belief is based in self-love that attracts love from the universe.  It’s about loving life! If you are in love with life then you expect the best.  In the Alchemist its written “When you are in love, things make even more sense, When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening, because everything happens within you.” THAT’S THE ALLOWING.

 

I understand maintaining a positive expectation is not easy.  I have like yourself given in to the pain, self-doubt and hopelessness.  I learned the hard way that didn’t help.  But I won’t kid you, to remain upbeat in the face of life’s challenges requires enormous strength of character. Good news is that we all have it.  From there, all we have to do is work harder than our pain.    

 

How?  Well Shakti Gawain says it like this, “When we create something, we always create it first in a thought form. If we are basically positive in attitude, expecting and envisioning pleasure, satisfaction and happiness, we will attract and create people, situations, and events which conform to our positive expectations.” Keep your attitude focused on positive expectations and what you tell yourself will change how others see you and how the world responds to you.  This allowing brings you the calm that comes with knowing all we have to do is have positive intention, the universe will take care of all the details.  Love you all! Silvia

 

 

Love after Love

The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the others welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life. ~Derek Walcott

 

JUNE 28, 2009:  Martin Luther King said, “In every age and every generation, men have envisioned a promised land. Some may have envisioned it with the wrong ideology, with the wrong philosophical presupposition. But men in every generation thought in terms of some promised land.”  This promised land is freedom and yoga teaches us that it is here right now inside us.  All that is necessary to FIND IT is to choose love, to allow yourself to feel more and think less.

Get on the mat, feel the breath, feel the sensations and let your mind unwind.

 

So today have the courage to set yourself free!  For Stress paralyzes life; love releases it. Worry confuses life; love harmonizes it. Anger darkens life; love illuminates it.  As Augustus William Hare writes, “The feeling is often the deeper truth.”  Embrace your truth, embrace what you feel and free your soul for love and peace! 

 

Lokaha Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu (May all beings everywhere be happy and free and may the thoughts words and actions of my life contribute in some way to that happiness and freedom for all!)

 

With lovingkindness,

Silvia

 

JUNE 21, 2009:  Make yourself comfortable… Let your body weight sink into the seat… Relax your body and close your eyes. As your awareness is interiorized, connect with the Breath of Life gently moving through you… Make all your senses alert to the breath… Enjoy its power and simplicity… Feel the sustaining energy behind the breath... Feel that life force coursing through your cells and thoughts.

 

On this Father’s Day and Summer Solstice I think of my Father Enrico who encouraged me never to give up.  As the heat of the summer rises we may find ourselves falling more lethargic or tired.  In those times think of the father sky energy that exists everywhere around us supporting us. This the breath itself.  What my Father, Papa, was trying to say is same as what Einstein says Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

 

Don’t give up.  We all want to be understood, we all want to be loved, remember always you are loved.

 

Didn't I tell you?
I am an ocean, you are a fish; do not go to the dry land,
it is me, who is your comforting body of water.

Didn't I tell you
not to fall in this trap like a blind bird?
I am your wings, I am the strength in your wings,
I am the wind keeping you in flight.

Didn't I tell you
that they will kidnap you from the path?
They will steal your warmth, and take your devotion away.
I am your fire, I am your heartbeat,
I am the life in your breath.

Didn't I tell you?
They will accuse you of all the wrongdoings, they will call you ugly names,
they will make you forget
it is me, who is the source of your happiness.

Didn't I tell you?
Wonder not, how your life will turn out,
how you will ever get your world in order,
it is me, who is your omnipresent spirit and protector.
If you are a guiding torch of the heart,know the path to that house.
If you are a person of spirit (God), know this,
It is me, who is the chief of the village of your life.
 

So today enjoy these poets words from all those that have served us a father figures, whether they are still of this earth or those that have gone beyond like my Papa. “I see you are a pioneer. You are full of courage and power. You are a transformer of reality. Transform the reality that no longer serves you. As you do, link with others who know Me and recognize the family of Life. When you recognize in someone what you know inside to be true, seek to expand that truth, for as light is shared and love is grown so shall the world change. You are my feet and hands, my eyes and voice. You do not live alone nor shall you die alone. The world is yours to craft as you
choose. Choose freedom. Choose the way that creates the best for all; children; men; women; bodies of water; mountains, the land; and all planetary species. I gift you with Life and the ability to care for it. Embrace the gift.”

 

MAY 27, 2009:  Change is happening all around us.  We need not push or shove or pull at change but learn how to get along with it keeping our hand on the tiller so to speak but with the inner knowing we can’t control people or situations outside ourselves.   So we practice gratitude for all that we have. Try it now:

 

INHALE THE GIFT OF THE UNIVERSE, YOUR LIFE ITSELF

EXHALE WITH GRATITUDE

 

Now with a more clear mind really feel that the changes you seek, which I call “dreams” are all around you like ghosts waiting to be seen.  So through this yogic practice love the gentle flow and let it lead you back to yourself.  Use your thoughts to keep your energy on positive changes while knowing we are always moving so there is no rush. Slow down, SHANI.  I understand more than you know how attached we can get to despairing thoughts that we want to run from. It only slows us down to be running from our suffering so take it easy, remain with your breath and let the river help you flow away from past pains.  And know this, you are not a prisoner. Everything is change, all is impermanent even the pain so keep flowing my friends.  This will keep your heart open and clear.  In the Alchemist its written,

 

“Continue in the direction of the Pyramids”, said the alchemist. “And continue to pay heed to the omens. Your heart is still capable of showing you where the treasure is.” 

 

“Is that the one thing I still need to know?”

 

“No”, the alchemist answered. “What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream.”

 

It will not only get better but as we progress mindfully towards positive changes, dreams we have for our lives we learn many lessons along the way. These are gifts as well, so slow down and be in the process.  With heartfelt love to all beautiful minds & hearts, Silvia

 

MAY 16, 2009:  Everyday we are working on our PhD on how to be a better human being. We are all doing the best we can.  So right now for 5 minutes can you let go of what you thought was supposed to happen, just breath and let things be.  Can you appreciate your life just as it is offered to you in this moment? 

 

There is that tendency we have to want things to be different than what they are but spiritual maturity impresses upon us to learn how to find a way to be content with what is in the present for it is a gift.  To help with this growth simply listen to your heart as you watch your thoughts.  This study of oneself will open up channels of stuckness in both the physical body and channels to deep reservoirs of clarity and wisdom within our minds.  This cultivates appreciation.  And there is an inherent gentleness when we practice appreciation for who we are.  Please make your observations not from a place of judgement but of understanding, compassion and self-love.  Know that you dissolve negativity through appreciation for this is the real enemy of love.  Practice appreciation and love triumphs!

 

So today take time to appreciate your breath, to appreciate your feelings (whatever they may be – joy, sadness, peace, frustration, love), appreciate being in your own skin.  I know this is not easy.  Just like the poses we practice on the mat are not easy.  They are often very uncomfortable. 

 

So I’m asking you to be uncomfortable. To actually stay with the discomfort of your reactivity until you can turn it into a loving response.  With time you’ll find the action of appreciation gets easier and this is the answer to dissolving the negative from all areas of your life.  And as luck has it life is going to keep giving us opportunities to evolve this practice.  From one perspective what we are talking about here is Santosha, to be with what is and find the good, experiencing contentment within the situation, with the person instead of getting angry or having to change the thing, situation, weather or person.  Now that’s the advancing of our spiritual selves.  Let the door of appreciation open the way.  Love you, love serving you! Silvia

 

 

MAY 8th, 2009:  On this beautiful Mother's Day weekend, where we honor the power of creation itself, I feel deeply inspired by all of the Mom's that practice yoga with us at TBY.  I see their strength and quiet courage in making time for their own nourishment on the yoga mat so that they have more to give their children and partners.  You are all amazing in that you are modeling such healthy choices for your families! Keep shining out for you are making the world better not only for your kids but for the children of your children.  This ripple of self-love lasts forever!

And I'd like to especially recognize all the current pregnant goddesses practicing with us in almost every single class.  What a humbling expression of love to be in the practice with such a powerful being growing inside.  

Finally I bow in gratitude to one of the most powerful women I know, my mentor Shiva Rea, who inspires me with such infinite goddess energy to be a better person and teacher each and every day.  Yesterday she wrote these words that I totally embrace and want to share with you, "All praises to the men who love women and the women who love men...Ah Shiva-Shakti!" 

                                                         

You see this practice is one of finding the balance and honoring the power of creation and the action required to direct that energy into new realms.  We are Shiva Shakti, we are sun, moon, Zeus and Athena, Sita and Ram.  Through spiritual practice we can find that perfect harmony within ourselves.  We discover our potential for more and greater things!  Even if the way we are doing life now is good, it can evolve more as our nature is one of expansion and creativity.  So today let’s harness our own creative power to give birth to the next stage of our lives, to our best self ever!  Listen to your heart, Silvia

 

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Suess

 

May 4, 2009:  It’s easy to buy a sandwich and start to complain it’s not what we want exactly (that they could have put more mayo or less lettuce), and that if they did so then it could have been more nourishing.  But the thing is we are the one’s that by blessing our food (and making it what we need the sandwich to be) make it nourishing.  We are responsible for putting intention into things making life what we need it to be for us.  We could go to yoga class and say that it was too easy, too hard, not something enough but again here we have the opportunity to get from the practice what we need.  The class itself is offering a whole meal with different courses and we can choose based on the nourishment we need on a given day what is going to nurture our spirits and bodies the most.  This is how the practice is made unique to each and every person.  This is how life is offering itself to you at your feet…waiting for you to stop blaming or judging the offering and instead turning it into a nourishing experience each and every moment.

 

Donald Walters says, “There are realities we all share, regardless of our nationality, language, or individual tastes. As we need food, so do we need emotional nourishment: love, kindness, appreciation. We need to understand our environment and our relationship to it. We need to fulfill certain inner hungers: the need for happiness, for peace of mind for wisdom.”

 

We all need to be nurtured. If you look up Nurture in Webster’s dictionary it defines it as a “form of nourishment” and to “educate”.  These are both spot on with the philosophies of yoga.  In class teacher to student we are educating you on techniques you might use how to self-comfort yourself.  The flow of this self comforting is love.  Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself- if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself- it is very difficult to take care of another person. “In the Buddhist teaching, it's clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.” [Shambhala Sun March 2006]

 

We all deserve to love and be loved. 

Love is a form of nourishment. It requires action in thought in words and movement. 

So we meditated together on how we might nourish our spirits through our inner dialogue, how to speak words of kindness to nurture others, how to take actions in honoring our bodies as sacred, nourishing their health.  For a healthy heart lives in a healthy body.  We spoke of the junk food of life things like gossip or complaining and that these do not nourish us but leave us empty and drained.

 

I so want you to appreciate the forms of nourishment: Breath, Thoughts, Words, Actions, Sleep all of which make for a sweeter life!  Please let your time on the mat be that opportunity where you learn how to nourish yourself with bigger breaths, poses and self-observation. All of this leading to greater and greater self-growth!  Happy National Sleep Better Month!  Love you all, Silvia

 

APRIL 16TH, 2009:  Lately the dreams I have in meditation are getting BIGGER and BOLDER all the time.  Many things I've put off thinking about doing I am going for and doing them this year.  I feel this amazing YES inside that I want you to feel the vibration of so you too can say yes to life and DREAM WITHOUT LIMITS.  Yup that's what the theme is tonight.  A very special class from my heart.

And just so you know, next Thursday through Sunday April 23-26 I am out of town on a Spiritual Adventure pursuing one of my dreams. So if we don't have our regular Thurday night date together I won't see you for two weeks.   

In preparation for tonight's class please watch this clip below (3 minutes long).  I want to thank Ned Miller for sharing this clip with me yesterday and changing my life with the creation of our own inspiring video collection called "Loving Your Day".  It helped me shift even more brightly towards dreaming without limits, it is NEVER TOO LATE.  I know it will inspire you, make you laugh, make you cry, make you clap your hands like it did me!  What we can take away from this clip is that it is never too late.  You deserve to materialize your dreams. So "Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going." - Rainer Maria Rilke.  Do not let the Kleshas, the veils that hide our true potential and beauty yoga tells us from speaking your dreams to yourself!  Love you all, Silvia Mordini 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=haxa_popt00us00

 

 APRIL 9TH, 2009: As long as I believe that others are the source of my suffering, I will continue to suffer.  Others may be the stimulus for my suffering, but they are never the cause.  My thoughts are the cause.  Today remember that others are not the problem whenever you can, and it will soften your day.  - Judith Lasater.  It is easy sometimes to get lost in angry feelings, that's part of our humanness.  It comes about mostly when our mental state is uneasy, restless, anxious.  We then can't think of ourselves. Instead we agitate ourselves by only thinking of the person, the situation, the catalyst for our anger. The more we think about it the more angry we get.  And the cycle continues.  Sigh. 

Yoga works to calm the anger because the poses and the breathing techniques (Like the one offered below) remove tension.  Anger subsides and we feel more sane. An easy way to think of this is that Anger is too much PITTA (fire dosha).  So if a fireman was entering a home on fire what would he/she do first?  Answer? They would put out the flames first. Only later would they analyze why or how it got started.  So do the same for yourself.  Use Yoga, Breathing to put the flames of anger out there is time later to observe why or how we came to be angry.  Let love heal.  Silvia

Breathing in, I know that I am angry

Breathing out, I know that the anger is me

Breathing in, I know that anger is unpleasant

Breathing out, I know this feeling will pass.

Breathing in, I am calm.

Breathing out, I am strong enough to take care of my anger

 

  

APRIL 8TH, 2009:  I came to the practice because of pain in my body but what has kept me coming back for 15 years is the relief this practice gives my mind.  I was always a good kid, so I never was given a forced time out but I like the idea. Maybe I didn’t have to get a time out because I gave them to myself. When I needed to I’d go chill out and rest.  I like time outs.

So when you come to the mat, give your mind a TIME OUT from having to figure everything out.  Tell yourself for this class or even just a few minutes “you are not going to solve any problems or think about anything stressful.”  Even right now at your desk while you read this join me in a virtual TIME OUT. 

 

Take a big breath, draw your shoulders back.

·         Inhale Peace, Exhale “I am Worthy”

·         Inhale Patience, Exhale “I am Great”

·         Inhale Love, Exhale “I am Present”

 

We all need time out’s.  Otherwise we can overwhelm ourselves on purpose with the vast amount of knowledge we take in every day.  Knowledge is important but it is not enough.  We can know everything and still be unhappy. You can know all the facts and still be miserable.  Information is not sufficient for a happy life.  If it was we’d all be blissed out all the time and no one would stressed out.

 

The answer is to take the time out, open your heart and feel the moment, feel your breath instead of only engaging your analytical mind.  I want you to understand the practice but more importantly I want you to feel the energetics.  Happiness, true happiness, is an inside job. It lies deep within us (regardless of whether or not all the surface stuff is going smoothly or falling apart).  Take the TIME OUT and you’ll find you will love your life more!  With great affection, joy to the world within you! Silvia

MARCH 26TH, 2009:  Yoga for me from the beginning, after coming to it seeking physical healing from injury was about self comforting.  I wanted to heal.  I intrinsically did not want to accept what life had served me as a car accident and major life change.  I just was not going to accept limitations!  I now know this was the universe whispering to me to dream of optimal health and to not give up. 

In the Yoga Sutras HEALING is written about as:  A process of rejoining; A rejoining body to heart; A rejoining of spirit to consciousness.

 

What does HEALING mean to you? 

 

What it means to me is a letting go of hurt or angry feelings, an absence of conflict, relief from pain, and a belief in miracles - that things WILL GET BETTER.  Too often we get bogged down in thinking we are alone and stuck in the pain forever, or as Author Alice Walker says "we are being consumed with our suffering."  But we don't have to be.  Yoga gives us that opportunity to realize the healing for ourselves, to self-comfort.  Even right now take 5 breaths and use your thoughts to keep your energy on healing whether it be directed at physical or emotional healing or both.

 

This will go far to remind us that miracles are happening all the time.St Thomas Aquinas writes "MIRACLES ARE SIGNS NOT TO THEM THAT BELIEVE, BUT TO THEM THAT DISBELIEVE.

 

So where does healing come from?  It comes from that still place inside, in the quiet chambers of our hearts.  This time on the mat helps us to hone our visions for our lives.  Ultimate healing is that feeling that we are co creating with the universe and are partnered together in all good things.  At the end of class we then ask ourselves from our own healing, what do you want to bring out into the world? 

 

How do begin the healing process?  Join me tonight on the mat.  We will start with the breath, as we inhale we will say to ourselves inside LISTEN, LISTEN and in the exhale we will start to hear ourselves respond with healing intentions.  A very sweet practice, perfect for you to realize your dreams of peace.  We all deserve a life of serenity and please don't think this excludes you.

 

Love and peace to you all my dear, dear friends,

Silvia

 

 

 

MARCH 8TH, 2009:  I mediate often on the power of freedom and what this means in relation to having room to breath.  Some years ago I read the book by Thit Nhat Hanh Peace in Every Step. In the book there is a story titled "Breathing Room".  Sorry to say I didn't read the story until recently.  But just the title had a huge impact on me. 

What does that mean to you "breathing room"? 

So you can interpret it in different ways.  I took it literally, like wouldn't it be cool to have a room where we breath.  That is in many respects the sacred space of the asana room at the studio.  Interesting enough this is also what Thit Nhat Hanh is suggesting as follows: 

"We have a room for everything - eating, sleeping, watching TV - but we have no room for mindfulness.  I recommend that we set up a small room in our homes and call it a "breathing room", where we can be alone and practice just breathing and smiling, at least in difficult moments.  That little room should be regarded as an Embassy of the Kingdom of Peace.  It should be respected, and not violated with anger, shouting or things like that.  When a child is about to be shouted at , she can take refuge in that room. Neither the father or mother can shout at her anymore.  She is safe within the grounds of the Embassy.  Parents sometimes will need to take refuge themselves.  Therefore, that room is for the benefit of the whole family.  I believe that every home should have one room for breathing.  Simple practices like conscious breathing and smiling are very important.  They can change our civilization."  (the rest of this story is found in the book Peace Is Every Step)

Please enjoy this and look around your own home is there a closet, a corner, a room that you could designate as your BREATHING ROOM?  I know there is.  Why?  Because we all had this as children except we called it a tree house, under our bed, secret spot by the big tree...you still have that available to you now (it just might be fancier).  Wishing you freedom in breathing forever! Big Love, Silvia

MARCH 5TH, 2009:  Yoga is a process towards looking inward to develop insight, awareness and understanding. To do this, we must practice Shani-- the slowing down between impulse and reaction. This slowing down naturally facilitates mindfulness and introspection and gives us the choice on how to respond rather than impulsively reacting to situations and events. So tonight the focus of our practice is SHANI.  When we multi-task too much we actually create that buzz where life seems to be going faster and faster.  Our nervous systems get wacked out and the constant flight or fight response goes into overdrive.  Yoga helps us to slow down to the sweet speed of life, which some psychologists call "easy speed." 

I personally slowed down this week by making more space to let the story of my life unfold on its own without too much over organizing. I made my To Do List but then crossed off all but 3 things on it each day.  I put down my IPHONE and stopped to breath more.  I took more yoga classes, practiced more pranayama and hung out more.  It has been a wonderful week as I slowed down enough to enjoy each moment!

One of my all time favorite ads for the lifestyle/yoga company prAna was where there was a picture of the middle of the woods and posted on a sign it said, "Slow Down, People Breathing."  Think how different the world would be if from this point forward everytime you approached a stop sign there would be a sign underneath it saying this same thing, "slow down, people breathing."  The thing is this signpost is in our mind.

So today enjoy the sunshine, stop multi-tasking so much, slow down and BREATH MORE!  Love in all ways, Silvia

DECEMBER 26TH, 2008:  Yoga is a journey into revealing the truth about who we are, what we are capable of and how our actions affect our lives.  We start each practice inhaling the gift of the universe and your life And exhaling with gratitude. 

Jon Kabat Zinn, a favorite writer of mine, says “too often our lives cease working because we cease working at life.  The idea of wherever you go, there you are” which is the title of a book of his I highly recommend.  He says, “You can think if you change location, change partners, change circumstances that everything will fall into place, you can start over, have a new beginning. This is very romantic.  However, we carry our same patterns of thinking, living, breathing with us.  Transformation and discovery of who we are is right in the middle of what is here and now.  In the long run there is no escaping form ourselves.”

 

So when we come to the mat we might as well ask ourselves Where We Are In Life, Who Am I?  Try to get behind the I DON”T KNOW.  That doesn’t serve.

 

And it may be like what Gabrielle Roth writes in Sweat My Prayers, “GIVING BIRTH TO OURSELVES.”  I hope this practice gets you moving, breathing and contemplating why you have been chosen to move and breath.  This alone I am certain will birth your greater purpose.  After that it is as Swami Vivekananda says, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT WE ARE AND WHATEVER WE WISH OURSELVES TO BE, WE HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE OURSELVES.

 

Love yourself, Love your life, enjoy the ride!  Peaceful blessings to all, Silvia

 

DECEMBER 22ND, 2008:  Swami Satchidananda says Illness begins with "I".  Wellness begins with "We",  do we practice together and begin by connecting to the medicine of our breath, using our breath to send a gently flowing stream of loving energy from our hearts to any physical or emotionally injured area. 

The experience of yoga, the "we" was achieved by partnering with someone and sitting back to back to make the evidence of our own breath stronger.  By staying in the "we" we stay in wellness.  And what is wellness if not healing.

So healing could be defined as a process of rejoining, a rejoining of body to heart, spirit to consciousness.  To me it means letting go of hurt or angry feelings, the absence of conflict, relief from pain, a belief in the miracle that things WILL GET BETTER.

We dedicated 3 sets of vinyasa flows to the past, present and future, keeping our energy on healing thoughts the best we could the whole time.  Why do I work so hard to promote healing? Well, I don't wish anyone to stay in a state of suffering. I've been there. I don't want to suffer, I don't want you to suffer, I don't want your families to suffer.  So this practice of studying ourselves (svadhyaya) through this we realize stuff about ourselves.  We figure out what is REAL.  Eventually you figure out that life is really happening right now, that it is not a dress rehearsal and there is no need to wait to be happy, to make real your intentions for love and freedom.  So here's wishing you your best dreams!  Courage to you, Silvia

 

DECEMBER 9TH, 2008:  At the core of most anxiety is the breath, or the lack of it. When you are anxious, natural breathing is inhibited. The diaphragm freezes, failing to move air downward as you inhale, which means that you don't let your lungs fully expand and fill with air.

"And when you don't get enough oxygen, the brain receives a 'danger' signal, which perpetuates your mind-body state of anxiety," explains Jonathan Davidson, M.D., director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program at Duke University Medical Center. "Your breathing quickens and becomes even more shallow; in an extreme case this can lead to a full-blown panic attack, in which the person begins to hyperventilate."

To use the breath to combat anxiety, though, is something we know intuitively. Frequently the first words we say to someone who speaks too fast or appears physically distressed are "take a deep breath"

So just let the breath relax you, listen to its rhythms, hear its soothing ocean sounds.

Once you surrender to the natural sounds of your inhalation and exhalation, you begin to invite a breath that is not fearful, that begins to calm the body and to lower the heart rate and blood pressure.  Take 5 minutes right now and just try it.  May all your conflicts be resolved through your breath! Silvia

 

DECEMBER 6^TH, 2008:  My friend Jennifer is in Paris right now.  Like the song goes I love Paris in the Spring time but I also love it in the Summer, Fall. Anytime really.  I like it most because of the feeling of wonder you cultivate looking and feeling part of some place with so much history. Along with the fact the pace of life and even walking are slower.  Being on the right side of the brain is a little like being on the Left Bank in Paris relaxing while watching the passing show, listening to music on the corner, savoring a rich glass of wine. It’s a place to sit around and wonder about it all. And of course most importantly to slow down. 

During yoga class we get to try out the art of being. We sit in wonder of it all in the moment and practice breathing.  Or like Ludwig Wittgenstein says, “That the world is, is the mystical.”  “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science. Whosoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes dimmed.”– Albert Einstein

 

So today put the left brain down, get into your body ruled by the right side of the brain and just sit in awe of the relationship between things.  Live in wonder of your own life! Don’t forget when you love your life, your life will love you back!  Silvia

 

 

NOVEMBER 28TH, 2008:  When we think about detoxification I think for most of us physical detox comes to mind.  However, for me the even more impactful detox that yoga brings about is the MENTAL DETOX.  Yoga has been proven to help us overcome the blues, negativity, stress and even depression.  Patricia Moreno, founder of the intensati workout says, "When we're in a state of stress, fear or depression, that attitude creates a sensation in the body, Yoga helps purge toxic thoughts by teaching you to move your awareness away from the chaos of the mind and back to the present moment. That practice is not a basic component of other fitness pursuits.”

 So we started our practice with Kapalbhati breathing which most literally translated means "sparkling clean". It makes the head clear out of negative emotions so it is devoid of toxins and becomes shiny and clean by very quickly eliminating Carbon dioxide and bringing in tons of oxygen.   

We also used physical asanas especially designed to work on the three main systems of the body that play a crucial role in the elimination of wastes. These systems are: circulatory, digestive and lymphatic systems.  Yoga impacts these three systems better than any other fitness because it focuses on stretching and compressing every part of the body.  Every part of the body is pushed, pulled, twisted, and turned my friends!  I hope that you will find the practice as powerful as I have in bringing back the sparkle into your life.  That it will help you fine tune the instrument of your body but even more will open your mind to the best life possible!  I want for you mental peace, physical health and radiant well-being!  Love, Silvia

 

NOVEMBER 22^ND, 2008:  I was thinking about Thanksgiving coming up and how we either made or received an invitation about Thanksgiving, right? Well, Yoga is an invitation. The practice is an invitation to affirm your choice to live fully each day.  Coming to the mat and opening your heart is a way to accept the invitation. 

What else do we do on Thanksgiving?  We nourish ourselves in community.  Well yoga is about loving ourselves. What does this really mean?  NOURISHMENT.  It is no different than Thanksgiving where we’ll nourish ourselves with food.  But there are other forms of Nourishment as well.

 

BREATH AS NOURISHMENT

·         Breathing is a method of nourishing the body with air. We breath oxygen into our lungs where it is carried in the bloodstream to nourish all our cells.

·         Without oxygen we feel tired.

·         With oxygen nourishing us we perform at our PEAK level, full of energy, vitality and confidence!

 

NOURISHING THE SPIRIT

·         Yoga is learning how to love yourself first.

·         Yoga is soul food. It provides us with all of the essential spiritual vitamins, minerals, and nutrition we need.

·         We require spiritual nourishment because otherwise stress can make us sick.

·         If we nourish in our thoughts and actions things like Kindness, love, and compassion these will expand and return to us (if we grow hatred, anger, isolation these will expand and poison us)

 

Now is the perfect time to open your heart, be sweet to yourself just as you are.  Please join me on the mat and allow this practice to revitalize, rejuvenate you and nourish you!  The cool thing is when you feel nourished on the inside you’ll more easily nourish those around you.  Love in abundance! Silvia 

 

 

OCTOBER 4TH, 2008: 

SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2008:  "Anxiety is mostly caused by two emotions: anger and sadness," says Gay Hendricks, Ph.D., author of Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery (Bantam, 1995). "People get anxious about not being able to control their anger or about not knowing how to deal with situations that make them sad. And that is what fear is—the inability to solve the problem that is making you angry or sad."

At the core of most anxiety attacks, though, is the breath, or the lack of it. When you are anxious, natural breathing is inhibited. The diaphragm freezes, failing to move air downward as you inhale, which means that you don't let your lungs fully expand and fill with air.  "And when you don't get enough oxygen, the brain receives a 'danger' signal, which perpetuates your mind-body state of anxiety," explains Jonathan Davidson, M.D., director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program at Duke University Medical Center. "Your breathing quickens and becomes even more shallow; in an extreme case this can lead to a full-blown panic attack, in which the person begins to hyperventilate."

To use the breath to combat anxiety, though, is something we know intuitively. Frequently the first words we say to someone who speaks too fast or appears physically distressed are "take a deep breath".

Inhale breath in the gift of life the universe offers you

Exhale with gratitude

 

It is no accident that we are breathing, we’ve been chosen because we are vitally important to the universe.  Breathing is a celebration a way of saying YES to life!  And if we love life, appreciating our breath life loves us back in return even more.  This removes fear from our life. 

AUGUST 15TH, 2008:  The practice of savasana is an interesting one especially today where we are all so good at promoting constant activity.  Even watching TV is an olympic effort with picture in picture, scrolling on top and bottom, and the main show that we're trying to watch somewhere in the mix. Generally we are very good at getting new projects started and  

Savasana helps us in key ways:

1.  To be ok with the non-doing which we talk about in yoga as BEING PRESENT

2.  To embrace endings with as much gusto as we embrace beginnings.  Art of CLOSURE (Pratikryasana)

3. To learn how to relax and self-comfort (this is the antidote to fight/flight response)

4.  To recognize and admit to ourselves everything has an EXPIRATION DATE (Even beer!)

So then what? How does savasana apply in every moment, every pose?  It helps us notice that life is right now.  There is no need to keep waiting to be happy, to keep looking for more or better but instead start enjoying the sweetness of our life right now.  Ok so here's the thing I love lying down and being still.  So maybe I was born to practice savasana but I think we all are, we just have to practice.  I hope you can through savasana learn to be more present, put closure to open elements of your life so you can stay with the flow, learn practical ways to relax and make the most of this moment!  LOVE LIFE AND IT WILL LOVE YOU BACK! Silvia 

AUGUST 13TH, 2008:  As Gratitude is something which none of us can give too much I wanted to tell you how thankful I am for you sharing your time with me. Your support encourages me to work even harder at serving you better. I really want to offer you the most beautiful, caring environment and inspiring classes possible so at the end of when you have a tough day you can regain clarity.

Our Gratitude for you can in the words of Melody Beattie "unlock the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

So from the bottom of my heart and with the utmost Gratitude I wish all your lives be filled with simple joy and happiness. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Silvia

BONUS:  Gratitude Exercise to Practice This Week

·         Reverse any tendency you have to make comparisons.

·         Quit talking about what you don't have compared to what you have;

·         Stop whining about how you are doing career-wise, relationship-wise, or any other-wise in comparison to how a friend or enemy is doing.

·         The next time you start chattering about wanting something more, better, or different, don't listen.

·         Instead, concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover your life will be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul and brings joy!

JULY 7, 2008:  We all know that Chicagoland summer is a time of activity.  However, the summer seems to be more and more a time for being SUPER BUSY, with almost a sense of hyper activity!  So in class this week we've been meditating on asking ourselves. "Is what I am about to do going to bring me peace?  Or is it going to bring me anxiety and stress?" 

Like life the practice on the mat always begins with an inhale into the first pose and it ends with an exhale in Savasana but really the depth of the practice comes from the quality of our breath between that first and final pose.  Wherever you go this summer if you're really just running from one thing to another but not enjoying the gentle pace of the natural breath ask yourself, is that bringing you peace?  Do you need to SLOW DOWN?

The time on the mat helps us find stillness so we can practice breathing fully. This tunes us into the gift it is to be alive so we don't miss the fun.  My friend and fellow TBY Teacher Mara Campbell mentioned an amazing quote from one of her teachers out in Arizona "sometimes we overwhelm ourselves on purpose and forget to be truly human." 

The practice of yoga and life is not about how hard we work but how effortlessly we work.  So if you're tired of running around and need a break just slow down...and practice breathing.

Peace in all ways, Silvia