By Laura Mills   

    One of my favorite ways to begin a class is to have students sit with feet planted on the mat, arms hugging around knees. It’s sort of a seated fetal position; I’ve actually heard this referred to as Seed Pose. I love this pose, and I love the analogy of a seed, for to me few images speak more loudly to what we bring to our mats every time we approach them.

    If a seed could emote and communicate in a way we understood, I believe it would tell us of its fears as it’s placed in dark, cold ground. Yet that seed, small and dormant as it is, contains tremendous potential for growth and change, service and grace. Given water, a little warmth, and time, that seed will germinate; the embryo will emerge (While perhaps still fearful, imagine how exhilarated it feels now!) and thus continue its journey. 

    All of us begin each yoga practice with a little bit of fear, I think…. What poses will we do today? My hamstring is killing me. Will I EVER nail that headstand? I’m never going to get that project done. She still hasn’t called. How am I going to pay for that? Yet in spite of our fears all of us, like seeds, contain potential for growth, change, service, and grace. And time on the mat is always a journey. As we tune in to our breath and then link breath with movement, we travel deeper into the place where our outer shell falls away and the inner “us” emerges. Like any journey, it can be both frightening and exhilarating. Like any journey, it requires effort, maybe even some sweat, and most definitely patience.

    Seeds likely have no inkling of, and definitely no control over, what awaits them once they break the surface. Neither do we truly know or have control over what awaits us as we step off our mats each time. But with our roots grounded and our senses turned to the light, hope drives us onward. Someday, we may even realize our potential and become whatever we are destined to be.

April 20, 2011 “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them."  The Alchemist

 I have faced more than my share of fears.  The biggest one is of losing love, of being happy and then losing that happiness. As the Alchemist also goes on to talk about how the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering.  It is NOT about whether or not we are afraid. Of course we are all afraid of something.  But the question is do we allow fear to stop our experiences of life or let it inspire us?  Do you allow things to scare you so much that you ignore them, freeze, run away, fight them?  

Learning how to attempt the impossible to see that our fears are mere opinions nothing more or less is at the heart of the practice. And just as easily we can change that thought to believe in the impossibility of things.  You can by facing your fears learn to talk to yourself differently.  So here below was our playlist I hope you enjoyed the practice and that you see how deserving you are of living life FULL BLAST, inspire of your fear and try for your most important dreams!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

Twin Blue, Millions & Millions

Dreamcatcher, Bahramji And Maneesh De Moor

Those To Come, The Shins

Johnny B Goode, Peter Tosh

Track 11, Keiner+Carl

High Grade, Richie Spice

What a Feeling, Collie Buddz

Track 09, Keiner+Carl

Lively Up Yourself, Bob Marley

Stay Human, Michael Franti

Om Namah Shivaya, Govindas

Incense, Erykah Badu

 

February 16, 2011.  We have a CHOICE: As you think so shall you be.  What we tell ourselves is reflected back to us by the world.  How we see ourselves in term of the quality of our thoughts and healthy choices determines how others see us and how the world responds.  We actually are a sum of our choices. Eleanor Roosevelt said, "In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility."  Or in the song BIG BANK HANK by the Blue Scholars "Whatchya gonna do today?"

The yogic teachings on the mat remind us that within every moment we are faced with making loving choices in how we breath, how we stand, how we act (or react) to a new pose or sequence or teacher. We can walk in the path of darkness or choose the path of LIGHT. We can choose negative thoughts or positive thoughts. We can choose Fear or LOVE. And if we can practice CHOOSING LOVE in every pose then we'll stay with it off the mat. This is the yoga of knowing your heart well enough to choose wisely and from love.  And the fact is that all in all we don't have that long in this earthly body to choose the happiest life ever or as Robert Braul puts it, "Life is short, God's way of encouraging a bit of focus."

And every time I step on the mat I am reminded of this gift of asking myself "whatchya gonna do today", what am I choosing.  I hold to the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." And how do I translate this yoga into the yoga of life? I have been driving what is commonly referred to in Seattle as "the Mercer Weave" and moving across 3-4 lanes of traffic in 2 minutes to get to my exit into the city has been a practice of either choosing loving, positive thoughts (that on-coming traffic will let me cross over) or of expecting the worst and seeing those other cars as out to get me.  The more I consciously choose loving thoughts the better and smoother it goes.  But that's only one small example. We have opportunities every day and in every moment to choose love and happiness.  

The point being that we allow ourselves to keep making our own choices. Sadie Nardini wrote in her book Road Trip Guide to the Soul "Our biggest mistake as humans is to look at our destructive, habitual patterns and think we cannot choose again, because we have fallen prey to the illusion that what we have chosen repeatedly is how we are stuck with being.  You ALWAYS have the POWER - and the RIGHT - to CHOOSE again."  This is why today after some Sun Salutation A (the gold standard) we moved into variations of poses to feel that we can always keep experiencing other choices.  

You might wonder what suggestions I might have for choosing love?  Good news is that the Yoga Sutras tell us.  They actually give us the 4 keys to happiness - how to choose love.  The way to live with an open happy heart is nurture these attitudes in choosing "whatchya going to do today?":

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

At first these attitudes that enable us to choose love in all circumstances seem easy.  But applying these in day-to-day life is more challenging than we think.  But all we can do is take responsibility for co-creating our life saying to ourselves "I choose to be happy. I choose love” and let the rest unfold.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

 PLAYLIST FEBRUARY 16, 2011

Gobinday Mukunday, Spirit Voyage Artists

Cafe Noir, Akmusique

Song for You, Alexi Murdoch

It Iz What It Iz            , M.I.A.

New People {Empire Remix}, Blue Scholars

Hate It Or Love It (Remix), 50 Cent & G Unit

It Takes a Muscle, M.I.A.

The Fire, The Roots Feat. John Legend

BIG BANK HANK, Blue Scholars

Xoxoxo, The Black Eyed Peas

Waka Waka (Time For Africa), Shakira/Freshlyground

I Know What I Know, Paul Simon

Walk Like an Egyptian, Buckley

Don't Rock My Boat, Bob Marley

Redemption Song, Richard Bona and Michael Brecker

Ganapati, Girish

Don't Give Up, Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush

I Shall Be Released, Buckley

Guru Mari, Shri Anandi Ma

 

DAY  6 BLOGGING 21 IN 2011 ABOUT LOVE.

February 10, 2011.  Day 1 of blogging about love for 21 days in 2011.  Thank goodness I think to myself I didn't agree to blog for 201 days!  I am overwhelmed about where to start. The topic of love is just so enormous, infinite, profound...well even without the adjective overload you know what I mean.  Last year was the Year of the Tiger a period of change, turbulence, confrontation of our fears, friction and constant tapping into the courage well of the heart.  This now is the Year of the Rabbit. A more gentle earthy year in which to cultivate peaceful contentment.  This is a year of calm and quiet to focus on home and family.  

And so I find myself engaged fully with the year of the Rabbit because I need it and also at the same time at odds with it because it doesn't come naturally. I loved the year of the Tiger! I was tuned into the warrior energy of creating and promoting and building. I have that energetic vata/pitta thing of the Fire element going on without trying.  I sometimes even love with fierceness.  But Rabbit? This is going to be a real test of my love skills.

You see I am a doer and survivor! In many ways I loved the year of the Tiger. Even now I sometimes want to scream out BRING BACK THE TIGER!  But wait, last year was one of the most difficult of my life, felt like I was in a constant battle...yeah, on second thought i need the rabbit. And that makes more sense to the fact my sign is the Earth Monkey with traits like calm, considerate and honest.

When I feel the most grounded I feel in sync with love both from myself and from others.  Even my yoga poses get more stable, sthira and centered.  And from the yoga of promoting earth energy I feel more grounded, balanced, and centered with so much more to offer those I love.  I have never been more ready to welcome a peaceful love and will do all I can to manifest a drama-free year of my best possibilities! I hope you do the same because you deserve it.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

PS: The video here has nothing to do with anything or maybe everything to do with everything either way I liked it's gentle loving vibe. The Weepies: Be My Honeypie. Dedicate to my honeypie JMY!   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeZMTOSeHVw&feature=player_embedded

January 9, 2011.  I have often been asked "who was my first yoga teacher".  Well that's easy, it was my Father.  And as he really was a professor that makes sense and doesn't. My father was teaching me the Yoga of Life.  Yoga of Adventure. Yoga of Experiencing the world!

You see my Father, Enrico, was at heart a pure adventurer and my Mother's parents were serious spiritual seekers.  I grew up traveling all over the world with my brother and parents from the time I was an infant.  I guess the fact that I love to show other people the beauty of the world through Yoga Retreats and Active Vacations shouldn't surprise anyone since I was born in Ecuador, South America and my Father is from Northern Italy near Modena, and English was my third language.  One could say being a citizen of the world is in my blood.  And I learned from my Father, this spirit of Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha, to dream the impossible.  I saw with my own eyes, touched and tasted new flavors, experienced new landscapes and as a result I learned about myself.  Every time I traveled somewhere I came back different, I was changed and knew that anything was possible.  

As  teacher of yoga and as a guide for international yoga trips: I want to inspire in you what my family inspired in me: To see with the eyes of my heart by transforming the ecology of mind that happens naturally when you change the routine pattern of daily life.  And to not apologize for being different and wanting to learn more about how big the universe is.  You see, I am not fearless, I haven't climbed Mount Everest or even Mount Rainer or cycled 100 miles in one day (my co-guide Jacob Young has though!) but I am willing to try anything.  I practice yoga every day to go on an internal adventure, to meet new people and push the boundaries of learning others ideas.  Yoga stokes my Rebel Spirit.  

It's funny (not haha, but funny weird) how yoga revealed itself to me. Yoga has been my faithful companion since a car ran me over more than a decade ago. My doctor prescribed yoga as part of my recovery routine, and my body and spirit began to transform. From my first class, I dedicated myself to live more fully. My loving Anusara-inspired Vinyasa Flow teaching style is influenced by more than 10 years of Hatha yoga study and I am gratefully committed to my three primary teachers: Shiva Rea, John Friend, and my students.

 My teaching style is upbeat and fun, serious and informative, supportive and authentic. I use my own intuition and demonstrations along with people's questions and past experiences to deepen the learning process.  My teaching intention is that while connected to their breath, students might feel each pose with an open heart and a quiet mind. Yoga then becomes a means to explore oneself more deeply in order to better face life’s challenges and open to the endless possibilities that exist for all of us.

 Less interesting but somewhat important: While in the corporate world, I worked as the HR Director for both Inc 500 and Fortune 500 companies, specializing in Training & Development. This parlayed well into opening my own Yoga studio in 2002 and teaching full-time. With over 7,500 hours of yoga teaching experience and the founder of a nationally recognized RYT 200 Yoga Certified Teacher Training Program in it's 10th cycle, I bring inspiration, enthusiasm and playfulness through creative, flowing sequencing and a delightful combination of yoga philosophy and healthy physical alignment all supported by inspiring music.  My life has a soundtrack, my yoga does too.

Just like music nurtures my spirit I want to support you to be more curious about your life.  One things for sure, going on a trip together will stoke the fire of creativity inside you, you will regain trust like what the Alchemist says "the universe is on your side" and you will learn to embrace uncertainty. You will become part of our tribe of Alchemy Adventure Seekers, or at the very least, you won't be afraid to try new stuff. To send me a personal email, write alchemytours@gmail.com. I'd LOVE to hear from you.

 

WWW.SILVIAMORDINI.COM OR WWW.ALCHEMYTOURS.COM

EVERYTHING SEEMS NEW

By Julia Jonson Cohn

 Cobrahhh! A collective spark of enlightenment beamed across the yoga studio as our teacher Rachel guided us into the best Bhujangasana some of us had ever experienced. We yoga teacher trainees rose up simultaneously with wide eyes and let out a resounding “ahhhh!” as we achieved near perfect alignment. It was like the grand finale of teacher training that day. Executing a pose that we had all likely done hundreds of times before yet this time it felt brand new because of what we had learned.

 Rachel’s enthusiasm throughout the day reverberated through me as she talked about ankle, thigh and shoulder loops. I was increasingly aware that I was much like a child learning a task for the first time. Yoga has been a trusty companion for almost half my life yet lately I feel like I’m just trying it for the first time. I suppose it is a renewed sense of wonderment about how many elements and layers of this ancient practice exist.

We began our day by taking class with our guru Silvia who challenged us to face our fears. This meant not just taking risks, but paying close to attention to everything around us so that we may be fully present as students of our own life. Silvia explained the worst part of fear is that feeling you get before you do something that scares you. She reassured us that the act itself is rarely as scary as the anticipation. We prepared, learned, watched and sometimes, in very human fashion, got distracted. The class hit a crescendo with Ahdo Mukha Vrksasana or handstand. How liberating to face my fears on the mat! As I supported the weight of my body on my hands (with a little assistance) my fear of heights, of illness and not accomplishing my goals didn‘t feel quite as daunting.

Back in the classroom we talked about opening to Grace at the beginning of practice. I cannot imagine practicing yoga without the life philosophy that our teachers so eloquently ooze. It is helping me to find the “realer” version of me and for that I am thankful. Albert Einstein said “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” For me, a greater understanding of life and yoga is emerging as I examine my own inner nature.

 Namaste to my amazing teachers for guiding me and inspiring me on this journey.

 

OCTOBER 17, 2010.  "People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them."  The Alchemist

This is about Fear.  That we limit ourselves mentally, emotionally as a result and unless we can see the fear as illusion, just a mental game we are playing it will paralyze us, stiffen us, make us brittle.  As the Alchemist also goes on to talk about how the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering.  It is NOT about whether or not we are afraid. Of course! We all are afraid of something.  But instead how we either allow this fear to stop our experiences of life or let it fuel the bouncing back.  We try, we experiment, we get a result, maybe not the one we wanted but still a result a karma and we bounce back to try again.

 

What is your bounce back factor?

 

Do you allow things to scare you so much that you ignore them, freeze, run away, fight them?  Today the family of poses we used to help us move beyond the illusion of fear was arm balances.  Learning to concentrate regardless of what was physically achievable.  Learning how to attempt the impossible to see that this opinion was only a thought...nothing more or less. And just as easily we can change that thought to believe in the impossibility of things.  You can by facing your fears learn to talk to yourself differently.  So here below was our class plan (not as cleaned up as usual but for sake of time I wanted to share it with you as is).  I hope you enjoyed the practice and that you see how deserving you are of living life FULL BLAST, get past the veil of fear and try for your most important dreams!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

Theme: Solving the "mystery" of arm balances. If this family of asana have you spooked or scared let's face that fear together and see what's really going on.

CLASS PLAN

 WAVE 1

Twist

Supine Bridge to Waterfall abs with brick

Core cultivation:  

Brick in inner thighs

cobbler abs, two bricks

step on brick get the twist

Pigeon abs

(Side 2)

Bridge

 

WAVE 2

Upward Facing plank, hands on bricks

--- pull backs

Janu sirsana forward, parsva janu sirsana

Vasistasana variation kneeling

Parsva Vasistasana other wise

Marichyasana C

Pascimotanasana

Side 2

Upward facing on bricks

Malasana (move bricks forward)

 

WAVE 3

Sun Sal A variations hands on bricks (3-4 times)

Half Moon A - different each time

 

 

WAVE 4

I leg dog

High Lunge to transverse lunge back foot

Standing splits, baby eagle once

High lunge, lunge push up, up fold in half repeat 3 x's

Revolved Lunge

Transverse lunge: bind, sit inside like parsva janu sirsasana

Face back

Basic vinyasa

Jump forward finish like Sun Sal A all the way to Down Dog

Right leg up again

High Lunge to transverse lunge

Standing Splits

HIgh Lunge, lunge push up to hands to ground standing splits 3's

Last time transition from standing splits

Pyramid

Revolved Triangle

Revolved Prasarita

Jump to prasarita

Exit back to front, right foot

Standing Splits

Crane to 1 leg pigeon chair (hands on bricks - prep for arm balance)

Plank, basic vinyasa with bricks all the way to down dog

Begin mandala side 2

 

WAVE 5

Frog

Malasana

Bakasana with head on brick, lift head

Downward Dog

I leg dog, hip open

Pigeon - twist and hold back foot for backbend

Swing back leg forward Janu sirsasana

Seated Pigeon

-- twist it

Stand from tip toe balance to Eka Pada Galavasana

Plank, basic vinyasa

Side 2

 

WAVE 6

Bhujaphidasana

Tittibasana with partner to crow or crow jump back

 

CLOSING WAVE

Cooling postures

Savasana

Meditation

 

PS CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW FALL TEACHER TRAINEES WHO ARE FACING FEARS AND CHALLENGING THEMSELVES TO LOOK WITHIN!

OCTOBER 1, 2010

The resistance to the disturbance IS THE disturbance.  ~ Siddiqui Ray

We all have that feeling of living inside a snow globe and having it shaken up resulting in utter chaos, stuff flying everywhere!  Yeah.  That happens.  Yoga philosophy helps us to see that the stuff flying around is not the problem.  The resistance to the disturbance IS THE disturbance.  We may not be able to control situations or people but we are responsible for how we think about the situation, person or thing.  And if our minds choose to fight which is resistance then we are in effect creating the disturbance.  Does that make sense?

So how do we know if we are resisting life?  Just ask yourself a real, simple question:  “Are you happier today than you were yesterday, last week, last month?” Well, are you? And if you're not then you are producing resistance in your life because the Yoga Sutras say that our lives are constantly evolving towards greater experiences of happiness (if we get out of our own way).  Let me put it like this.  In Seattle in August I was driving my best friends stick shift Element on hilly, steep streets. I was so afraid at times I was going to roll backwards into the person behind me that once I got going I'd be driving around wondering why I wasn't going faster or smoother and then realize I was driving with my brakes on.  (Ok don't tell him ok?)

But the question of resistance is one of whether or not WE ARE LIVING LIFE WITH OUR BRAKES ON.  I know at times I have found this to be the case for me.  Instead of a full blast effort something less because of fear, worry about what others might think or some other equally old story.  And then this practice of yoga wakes me up and I realize that I am holding back and only making it harder.  At that point everything changes and the flow returns and I feel grace carrying me once more on her easy current rather than fighting my way upstream.  So today, take a good look at yourself, where are you living with the brakes on?  And get out of your own way and try easier. It is what you think about your life that either creates the disturbance or lets you move forward gently.  Love yourself, Love your day, Love your life! Silvia

The resistance to the disturbance IS THE disturbance.  ~ Siddiqui Ray

 

*Spaces still left for Moab Nov 4-7, $250 OFF, hope you can join me and Alchemy Tours now or on one of our 10 retreats next year! Friend us on facebook and learn more.

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 12, 2010.  Some years back I as talking about how yoga helps us to face our fears (remember that first time doing crow pose or kicking up into a handstand or feeling the sensation of pigeon or even just standing still in mountain pose).  After class a student came up and told me I should never talk about fear and if I do she will never come back to class.  Guess how that made me feel?  Yup, I was totally afraid of her. I was afraid of what she'd say or do or tell people and I was afraid of what if one day I forget and she was in class and I said the word what would she do.  I resolved not to talk about Fear at that point because I WAS AFRAID OF BEING AFRAID.  That went on for over a year.  Then the more spiritual reading I did and the more Anusara Yoga became part of my life I realized there was something inauthentic about denying fear.  Anusara teaches us to embrace the full spectrum of who we are, even when we are afraid.

Mariann Williamson says, "Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts." So first thing we do when we come to class is as Baron Baptiste says, "drop everything you know."  From there we heed the sage advice of Yoda in Star Wars, "YOU MUST UNLEARN WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED." 

Interesting enough this works hand in hand with what positive psychologist (and favorite Harvard professor) Tal Ben-Shahar's lectures talk about that drills down into this: "to be a happier person give yourself permission to be HUMAN."  Otherwise when we suppress what we feel it creates more problems.  This is what "he refers to as ironic processing, which promises that suppressing an emotion will only ensure its clear announcement later."  Yoga is the science of happiness and encourages us to practice unconditional love for ourselves and what we practice on our own lives we know how to share with others.  You can't teach what you don't know.  You can't live what you don't know.  In great part the reason I teach is to be that spark to explain how yoga works so you too don't stay stuck in non-life affirming qualities of your humanness and realize that once you accept who you are, you can unlearn what you know and expand into your happiest life ever.  I want that for me, and I really want that for you.  Love yourself, love your day, lover your life! Silvia

Super Duper Namaste! I hope you can join me October 2 and 3 for some wonderful inspiration from my friend David Romanelli, author, yogi, all around good guy.  He brings new topics and chocolate.  What's not to like. Can't wait to see you next to me in class.  Peace! Silvia

Yoga for Overcoming Fear (with special guests: chocolate by Vosges, and tunes by Sinatra) 

"Think of life as a terminal illness, because, if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived." -- Anna Quindlen 

Would you rather 100 bland bites of mediocre chocolate or 1 deliciously amazing bite of an exotic truffle? Would you rather live for 80 years of so-so happiness or 57 years of ecstatic joy? Would you rather 10 so-so Savasanas or 1 deep, yummy, soul-scintillating Savasana that stays with you for weeks to come? This workshop will encourage you to stop stroking yourself with promises about what may or may not happen tomorrow. Pack all of your flavor and all of your love into one tiny little moment. This one. As goes the Chinese proverb, "Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think." David's vinyasa flow yoga class set to great music (from Sinatra to Sublime) will be followed by a tasting of exotic Vosges Haut-Chocolat truffles. You will finish meditating on the gentle reminder: life is short...we best slow down and savor it. 

Pre-registration is required by email help@totalbodyyoga.com or call 847-266-9642 (YOGA) 

TIME: 4:30 - 6:30pm

COST: $40 

JULY 14, 2010:  What if everything you wanted came true?  Could you handle it, would you accept it, how would you know it's real.  Are you still skeptical in your spiritual life so much so that when what you want is being handed to you, you still don't know how to be with so much grace?

The greatest fear is not of what we don't have or of suffering or of pain but of actually being happy. Of getting what we want as a result of living a spiritual life.  It is not easy to grow into spiritual adulthood and live the life of our dreams for then what will we have to complain about? 

If addicted to drama and the voices of complaint or seeing the world as lacking abundance and then one day the results of your efforts of living life as a good person get rewarded then what?  Are you so stuck in the old mental habit of seeing what you don't have that when you get what you want and need you still don't know it and contract?  Only you can grow up.  No one else can do this for you.  Only you can handle the truth (Satya) and know and receive the gifts the universe is offering you.  It is all right here, right now.

I AM EMPOWERED TO APPRECIATE MY LIFE!

Enjoy this mantra and see what is.  Be your beauty today.  Love, Silvia

JUNE 9, 2010:  Today is our birthday!  Good gosh when I started the studio 8 years ago the question I got asked for 2 years straight was “why would I leave a comfortable job in the corporate where I was overpaid to start a yoga studio?”  Most folks didn’t think it made sense.  And at the time I thought that was challenging but then as the years progressed I have come to realize the beginning of things is not the hardest part at all.  The most challenging part of our human experience is the spiritual practice of SUSTAINING.  To keep the fire stoked and burning bright, to stay inspired despite the challenges and ups and downs.  Essentially the hardest part of maturing spiritually is to remain persistent in order to persevere no matter what.

To be honest I didn’t leave Total Body Yoga for 7 years.  I taught every single holiday. We are open 364 days per year. I stayed with it from the first moment I woke up each day or as Robert Frost wrote, “First thing I do in the morning is make up my bed, then I make up my mind.” I made up my mind to keep the studio going and teach my heart out whether there was one student in class (lots and lots of those classes!) or if there were 5 or 10 or 25.  I refused to be bullied by my own fears. 

 

Have I ever wanted to give up?  Yes, yes, and yes.  So many times I lost count.  But the point is I didn’t give up.

 

The way of sustaining a determined effort is not to isolate or contract or give in to fear but to maintain a quiet courage, open up to the goodness that is the universe and trust each day to expect the best.  All of this is ON PURPOSE.  Persistence and Perseverance are ACTIVE.  Love is active.

During class we come in with our minds a mess rumpled up and scattered and its hard to stay with something in that state of being, so we breath ON PURPOSE and through conscious breathing (and a sustained interest in our breath) we cleanse our minds and make ourselves stronger.  We leave the practice knowing now again We Can Persevere. We can not only survive but we can thrive!  Our I CAN is way more important than our IQ.

STEP 1:  Determine what is important

So what is it in your life that really matters to you? What will it take to remain interested in that intention and not fall away from it no matter what? Not matter what other people say to you or judge you?

STEP 2:  Stay with it

It’s easy to forget what is important. We get busy. So find a practice like yoga that helps you remember. And when the momentum is lacking then put your whole heart into it even more. Do not hesitate.  You don’t get to do this life over again. This is it.

Please renew your commitment to your best life.  Way too often we give up in our heads way too soon.  We allow our self doubt to steal our energy or let our fears hold us hostage.  But today is different.  We know we can believe in the impossibility of things, we know we can do anything!  If we just stay with it.

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

May 16, 2010 Finally after 3-4 years of procrastinating I set out to finish up a project yesterday and I did! It took all of an hour. Yup. That’s right. I spent years worrying about, putting it off, debating it, starting and stopping it but when all was said and done it took one hour. Spiritual practice has taught me that procrastinating is a perfectionist tendancy. And as one psychologist I read years ago put it, “perfectionism is the worst form of self-abuse.” So I am back on track and went back to basics asking myself “what are my goals: personal, professional and health related”? What are your’s? In class we wrote them out for ourselves. I would love for you to do this now in 5 minutes. 

Then consider what is it that prevents you from going for your goals more fully and making them and keeping them important enough to check in on week to week? I would hazard to guess that the traitors of self-doubt and fear influence us to procrastinate.  The antidote is to stay actively involved in your life yet slowing down enough to remember to wake up to what improves the quality of your life.  What if everything you ever wanted came true? Yogic practice stands up to say of course that is not only possible it is your birthright to co-create with the universe the life of your deepest dreams, to tap into your greatest potential. So why not start today? 

To help us take a moment to write in your Accomplishment Journal about all the things you’ve accomplished this week. Use this in tandem with your goals and intentions to see how far you’ve already come and to provide yourself the validation you need to know you can do this! Don’t put anything off a moment longer that holds meaning to you.  Heed the words of Danna Falds and FALL AWAKE to your life!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

Soul Prayer by Danna Falds

“Lord, grant that I may fall awake, and not miss a moment of the mystery.

Dancing with the dawn, may I draw this day to my breast like a lover.

 

Rocked with laughter, let me lay waste the fields of doubt and fear,

finding there nor more substance than dandelion seeds flying weightless on the breeze.”

 

May 10, 2010, Gosh when you think about the biggest obstacle to feeling happy is letting our minds get all dirty with worry, stress, fear (basically all the unhappy thoughts).  If you think of your mind like a load of laundry and yoga is the washing machine we come into the practice to engage our breath which is like the detergent that cleans us on the inside.  Today, how big a load of laundry do you have to do?

Start there.

Then we have a better idea of how much work we have to do in order to Yoga citta vritti nirodhah, to calm the disturbances or dirtiness of our minds.  This is Yoga Sutra chapter 1 verse 2.  If you can engage in mindful movement connected to your breath you slow down and help your mind from being so agitated.  Otherwise, the mind stays in this cycle of obsessive churning and never actually let’s you get clean and easeful in your thoughts. And our thoughts are the predecesors to all our actions as Einstein says.

The biggest obstacle to a happier life is our own busy mind.  Once we access that contented, peaceful state that yoga brings where we no longer struggle in our thoughts then we can actually remember we have the key to our happiness and joy.  Or as Danna Faulds puts it so poetically,

“Within us lie the answers to our deepest questions and the antidote for all our fears.

The divine is not an abstraction – it’s as clear and intimate as a heartbeat or a whisper.

 

No matter how identified we’ve become with mind and body,

we can release the thoughts that blind us to the truth. 

Seek the still point where the words “you” and “I” lose meaning,

where we meet and merge as One.” 

 

April 11th, 2010:  This week's book I am basing my classes on is called "In the Face of Fear".  This book is described as showing us how to *remain open, joyful and caring, even when life is stressful; *avoid old behavior patterns that only make things worse; *turn difficult time into opportunities for spiritual development; *discover that our true nature is always awake, wise and good - no matter what is happening.

April 11th Theme: How to Keep Ourselves Present (Ezra Bayda)

April 12th Theme: Happiness Training - Joy and Happiness are born out of concentration (Thich Nhat Hahn)

April 13th Theme: Getting the Bottom of Our Stress (John Loori)

April 14th Theme: It would be a pity to waste a good Crisis (John Tarrant)

April 15-18: I'll be conducting a Yoga and Mountain Biking Retreat in Moab, Utah! 

MARCH 3, 2010:  What does CENTERED mean to you?  To me it means balance, peace, happiness, patience, a oneness with others instead of a tug of war, and most of all BEING PRESENT.  It is that “isness” of now that Echkart Tolle writes of in A New Earth. When we practice yoga we are actively seeking to make the adjustments necessary to be more present to keep returning to our center by studying ourselves or as Socrates says, "To know thyself."

The third chakra, often called the solar plexus, is our personal power centre, the magnetic core of the personality and ego. The Sacred Truth of the third chakra is ~Honor One-self~. The energies that come together in this chakra have but one spiritual goal; to help us mature in our self understanding - the relationship we have with others, and where we stand on our own and take care of ourselves. The spiritual quality is self-respect. We have all faced or will face an experience that reveals to us our own internal strengths and weaknesses and hence is what throws us OFF balance.  Here below is a beautiful summary of 3rd Chakra key learning points we went over in class together. And one of my FAVORITE TED CLIPS about the 9 life lessons rock climbing (which is so much like yoga!).  Enjoy!! Love and light,

Silvia

 

Primary strengths – IN BALANCE:  Self-esteem, self respect, and self discipline, ambition, the ability to generate action, and the ability to handle a crisis; the courage to take risks, generosity, ethics and strength of character.

  

Primary Fears – OUT OF BALANCE:  Fears of rejection, criticism, looking foolish and failing to meet ones responsibilities, all fears relating to physical appearance, such as fear of obesity, baldness or ageing, fears that others will discover our secrets.

 

How we feel about ourselves, whether we respect ourselves, determines the quality of our life, our capacity to succeed in business, relationships, healing and intuitive skills. Self understanding and acceptance, the bond we form with ourselves, is in many ways the most critical spiritual challenge we face. In truth, if we do not like ourselves, we will be incapable of making healthy decisions. Instead, we will direct all of our personal the hands of someone else; someone whom we want to impress, or someone before whom we think we must weaken ourselves to gain physical security. People who have a low sense of self esteem attract relationships and occupational situations that reflect and reinforce this weakness. Nobody is born with healthy self esteem. We must earn this quality in the process of living as we face our challenges one at a time.

 

Key points about the Third Chakra:

• When our thoughts are scattered in several directions at once and we are no longer conscious of what we are doing or why, it is time to center ourselves.
• When we center ourselves, we begin by acknowledging that we have become spread too thin and we are no longer unified inside.
• Our thoughts might be out of sync with our feelings, and our actions may be out of sync with both. The main signs that we need to center ourselves are scattered thoughts and a feeling of disconnection or numbness, as if we are no longer able to take anything in. In addition, we may feel unfocused and not present in our bodies. Centering ourselves is a way of coming to terms with all the different energies within us and drawing them back into ourselves.
• Centering yourself means that you are working from or being aware of the core of your being in the solar plexus area of your body. We naturally know how to center ourselves when we take a deep breath, for example, before making a big announcement or doing something big. Another way to center ourselves is to sit down and engage in breath meditation. We can start by simply getting into a comfortable upright position and noticing as our breath enters and leaves our bodies. Our breath flows into our center and out from our center, and this process can serve as a template for all of our interactions in the world. In conversations, we can take what our friends are saying into the center of our beings and respond from the center. Our whole lives mirror this ebb and flow of energy that begins and ends at the center of ourselves. If we follow this ebb and flow, we are in harmony with the universe, and when we find we are out of harmony, we can always come back into balance by sitting down and observing our breath. 
• When we center ourselves we can imagine that we are gathering our straying thoughts and energies back into ourselves, the way a mother duck gathers her babies around her. We can also visualize ourselves casting a net and pulling all the disparate parts of ourselves back to the center of our being, creating a sense of fluid integration. From this place of centeredness, we can begin again, directing ourselves outward in a more intentional way.

 

Matthew Childs' 9 life lessons from rock climbing (6 minutes)

1. Don't let go  (you think about letting go way before your body does, hang in there, watch for creative solutions)
2. Hesitation is bad
3. Have a plan  (plan ahead to get to the top but you can't forget you have to complete each individual move)
4. The move is the end
5. Know how to rest (best climbers know to to get themselves into a position where they can regroup, calm themselves)
6. Fear sucks (you are focusing not on what you're doing but on the consequences of FAILING at what you're doing, anything effective requires you focus on what you're doing)
7. Opposites are good
8. Strength doesn't always equal success (pull up example guys and girls)
9. Know how to let go (once you get to that point where you know its going to happen, think about how you are going to fall, that's how you won't get hurt, fall in a way that you can control the fall, don't just hang on until the bitter end)

  http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/matthew_childs_9_rules_of_rock_climbing.html

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

 

"Attend the birthing of the radiant light within you" - Vijnana Bhairava Tantra

 

JANUARY 12, 2010:  I was recently thinking of the game TRUTH OR DARE that we all played as kids.  Wondering if you were someone who chose dare or truth more often?  Me? Well I consistently chose Dare. I was more than a little afraid of the truth – I’d have to tell the 11^th grade boy Ben I was in love with him or maybe admit I really wanted the lead role in the next musical or that it hurt my feelings when I only got 2^nd chair in Symphony orchestra last week.  You know the important stuff.  The dare was a whole lot easier….I would rather take my chances and eat a bug than let everyone else know my truth, and reveal my heart. 

Well what you choose now as an adult? Truth or Dare. And more importantly why. 

Yoga helps to reveal the self to the self and we wake up to our own truth.  As John Donohue writes, “Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.”  So really Yoga is asking us to DARE TO TELL THE TRUTH.  First to ourselves then to be that real person out in the world.

Tapping into your own creative potential and full-filling the purpose for why you are here is what Yogis call “Sva-Dharma. This means self-duty. 

I can’t think of a more DARING thing to do!

"Your own duty done imperfectly
is better than another man's done well."  

-Bhagavad Gita 3:35

Yoga is Truth and Dare.  And when we each are following our true paths we are at peace with ourselves (no more pretending, no more 10^th grade self afraid to show others how you feel).  And from daring to fulfill our duty we give permission to everyone else to be themselves and the world finds peace.  This is not easy. So on the mat we try out new poses, we hold poses or we sustain a flowing sequence to experiment with daring ourselves to learn more about who we are. And the way we practice our yoga becomes the way we live our lives.

This year accept the Dare and stay connected to your intentions for meeting the destiny for which you’ve been called to in this life.  Follow your svadharma and go beyond your fear and what you thought possible. Don’t hide behind work (that’s the adult equivalent of eating a bug because you don’t want to be honest) and get on with it!  Be the peaceful warrior you are. Act as if your life depended on it….for it does.  Let the lovefire burn bright! Silvia

"Look to your own duty;
do not tremble before it;
nothing is better for a warrior
than a battle of sacred duty." -Bhagavad Gita 2:31

 

JANUARY 28, 2010:  Yoga helps us to believe in the impossibility of things.  That nothing is impossible.  This practices helps us to expand beyond our preconceived limitations into limitless possibility.  We do this every time we meet the sensations in our bodies and the associated emotions. So tonight we focused on inversions (the upside down pose family).  We faced our fears going upside down and if we can do that, gosh we can do anything!

“Don’t worry about making a mistake, you definitely will.  Nothing bad will happen to you.”  -Rimpoche

So the pressure is off.  The upside of facing our fears is that there is nothing left to be afraid of.  Once we dissolve the barriers to ourselves our potential is tuned into forever.  This is written about in Chapter 2 of the Yoga Sutras that speaks to how dissolving the 5 Kleshas or veils brings forth the radiance of our most beautiful self.”

1. Avidya – our forgetting, because we are forgetting we start to identify with things ever changing rather than the stillness of our HEART.  We want stuff and then we get it and these are like snowflakes that melt when they hit the ground instead of finding that inside at our center is stillness and peace always
2. Asmita –our self esteem is based on things outside ourselves and other reactions
3. Raga – excessive fondness for fleeting pleasures
4. Dvesa – excessive avoidance of unpleasant experiences causes disdain
5. Abhinivesah – elusive awareness of immortality – instead live in the now.

 

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.

--RUMI

JANUARY 5TH:  A reminder of my personal manifesto I've made the focus of my new years intentions every year since it first formed.  I hope it inspires you to try to life your life more fully this year!  Love, Silvia

MANIFESTO "There is no such thing as failure.  Please trust this. You can’t really fail at anything. If you go up to bat and miss the ball it’s not a big deal. You produced a result so then act upon that result and try again.  This is why I love Vinyasa Yoga, (1) anyone can do it and (2) you can’t do it wrong.  There is no failure. Now that’s a big shift coming from a reformed perfectionist.  This goes to show the yoga works to inspire a REBEL SPIRIT in all of us and reduce our fear because through this practice the self-abuse of perfectionism is diminished. 

There is no failure.  Maybe there are some happy mistakes? But as the song by Teitur goes, “All my mistakes have become masterpieces.” 

Now you’re probably asking how do I engage my REBEL SPIRIT? Well lift your heart up and shift your mind down (let it rest). Don’t think but feel. If we convince ourselves to decide only with our minds we will talk ourselves out of the best experiences of life.  It is possible to over analyze any situation or decision all the way into procrastination or fear. However, if we let our heart consciousness take an active role we’ll find we become more decisive and present.

I know this is scary. Feeling is always more vulnerable than thinking. But making decisions from the inside is the only way. Rumi says “If you want to find the greatest treasure, don't look outside, Look within, and SEEK THAT."  We can collect opinions from others but they will always be only opinions. No one can decide for us what actions to take in our lives. We can try to give up our choices to others but this will only lead to frustration in the end. No one else knows our hearts the way we do so know its ok to be afraid. Susan Jeffers writes, “Feel the fear and do it anyway!’ 

So get started on your life now with a Rebel Spirit. "All glory comes from daring to begin." (Eugene Ware) The key to raising your vibration to this level is to stop worrying about the outcome.  Just try to be patient and trust that life keeps flowing and keep going up to bat!  Don’t be afraid to keep going “dream like you will live forever, live like you might die today.” (James Dean)

Flow, flow, flow!  And remember on the mat and off. “It is you who must raise your sails – the winds of grace are blowing.” (Tagore)  May this inspire you to find your own Rebel Spirit so you love yourself more, so you love your day more, so you love your life more!" 

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:)

Joan Baez says, “You don’t get to choose how you are going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live. Now.”

NOVEMBER 20, 2009: I know this much, Life is a celebration and it is our responsibility to enjoy it to its fullest! But I also know to enjoy life you must renounce your fear and anxiety. I spent a good portion of time being terribly afraid (afraid of not being perfect, afraid of what others might think, afraid of failing, afraid someone I loved would leave me if I didn’t do my life right according to them, afraid perhaps of really being fully happy, afraid of being myself). I don’t want that for you. I really don’t. Life is happening right now so stop waiting, stop wasting time, stop being afraid of living it on your terms because life is already here.

Next month I am learning how to surf. I have been doing my homework, reading up, talking to everyone I know that has surfed, watching DVD’s. It both energizes me and sometimes I get a little nervous. However because I feel free in my choices I am not frightened. In February I went skiing for the first time in ages and here at the end of the year I am again in water…why not? These are my soft spots. (Stay tuned next I go rock climbing!)

Rinpoche talked about how we all have a soft spot and that fear and fear like responses such as worry or resentment occur because we are trying to cover up that soft spot. We tend to hurry past pain but this hurrying causes more tension instead of healing. If we spend more time with what we fear we can look into that pain and release some of the tension. We practice vinyasa flow and enjoy the repetition to feel relationship between poses, we feel power of flow, becoming more confident, growing more fearless. Use this to heal and release fear.

When folks ask me how did I get past a way of fearful living I tell them I practiced a ton of yoga. I came to the mat, going upside down, trying holding a pose into sensation like bending my knee deeper in Warriors or balancing on one leg and by facing me fear on the mat I then was able to recognize that fear off the mat and do something about it. The Buddha says, if a person is struck by an arrow and is in a lot of pain there is that but what if a 2nd arrow hit the person in the same spot the pain would be 100 times more intense because he/she was already wounded. If you recognize pain and fear or worry then you can help STOP another arrow of fear or worry hitting you in that same spot.

The time on the mat helps me to prevent the 2nd arrow. I have slowly grown more confident and now I “practice with elegance and openness so as to open the body in a resplendent expression of my hearts inner luminosity.” You see you guys when we cultivate fearlessness we experience our hearts as more open. I also repeat this mantra to myself

I AM FREE
I AM NOT FRIGHTENED
I AM NOT HUMILITATED BY GUILT OR WORRY
I AM IN LOVE WITH THE MY LIFE!


So may we use today to notice our lives right now, facing them as they are, learning how to stop avoiding ourselves but instead BEING OURSELVES. This may be the most courageous challenge we can possible accept. Free yourself, be your own knight in shining armor. You need not be afraid of anything. Love and light, Silvia

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

OCTOBER 28, 2009:   Halloween is just around the corner. A chance for putting on costumes and becoming someone else for a little while. This idea of wanting to change who we are I believe represents as Donna Farhi says, "the enormous challenge of self-acceptance" we all face on a daily basis. 

JULY 29, 2009:   Love thinks, it is not a mindless feeling and falls asleep mentally.  It keeps busy in thought, knowing that your thoughts precede your actions. (Quote from where I can’t remember but totally inspiring me today and everyday!) 

When you first fall in love don’t you think about the other person a lot?  Don’t you think about where are they, when will I see them, what are they doing, what are they wearing, when can we talk again and on and on. We even tell them, “I’m thinking about you.”  So this makes the point that LOVE IS ACTIVE.  It is not something passive.  Love thinks!  It moves it flows.  It is like water always engaged with the rivers banks, flowing around the fallen trees, boulders or whatever comes into its path for it seeks out to keep moving forward while it caresses all in its path. 

 

We are like water, actually the human body is 60-85% made up of water science tells us.  This flow is a way of vinyasa krama hatha yoga.  Vinyasa yoga is a great way to release some of the tension in our lives so we can transform our bodies, and learn to be present so we can transform our minds. In class we are invited to move smoothly, let out our aggressions, and leave behind bad feelings we might've been fostering.  (Tension is resistance to change)

 

We must think love and turn away thoughts of fear (fear is stagnant, smelly, unhealthy, sleepy, passive).  But when we think love we find ourselves being passionately at home in our bodies and honest in our emotions.  This makes us desirable and alluring.  Folks that are rooted in loving themselves are MAGNETIC.  So if we are thinking love we give off this vibe that we are fascinated with the ‘e”motions/motions and flow of our hearts.  And cool thing is others will feel this as well

 

So today do not let your mind restrict your flow.  Think LOVE.   Invoke this second chakra, the water element, to help you think love into a more creative, powerful, patient, adaptable and receptive way of life! 

 

Enjoy my personal mantra:

I love myself

I am love

I offer love

I receive love

 

JULY 19TH, 2009:  So I’ve been meditating on these two questions that have arisen as a result of conversations with friends.  I owe to them this inspiration and further growth.

1. If you knew what was going to happen to your life would you trust it to be the right thing for you?
2. If you know what’s good for you do you take that action or avoid it

If someone told you this is exactly what will take place in your life even then would have so much fundamental trust in the goodness of life and the desire of the universe to work on your behalf that you’d ride the ride? Or if some of the stuff wasn’t what you had envisioned for your life would you rebel towards it? Because the thing is either you TRUST the universe and see all as good that will unfold in your life or you see it as an enemy not trusting spirit.  These are mutually exclusive. 

 

 "Through my inner trust for my life I choose to embrace the unfolding of my future."

 

And it’s ok right not as you think about this to say I don’t know if I trust in the good.  Trust is so much about the future and those things we don’t know.  All we can do is try and open our minds and hearts to the potential for life to evolve in the direction of happiness. To believe that the universe really is working on our behalf (even if it doesn’t make sense).  Mahatma Gandhi said it like this, “Glory lies in the attempt to reach one's goal and not in reaching it.”  So just trying and making an effort is TRUST (no matter the outcome).

 

So if you take the second question, if you know what’s good for your life why do we so often look the other way? Why do we avoid the TRUTH? I mean it’s ok to go through the vetting process and get others opinions but ultimately we have to TRUST our own truth of what we know to be the way.  Shakespeare said, “Learning to trust ourselves is a worthy practice, the practice of authenticity. This is the work of aligning the standards we have for ourselves with our deepest passions and dreams. It’s the work of making promises to ourselves and keeping them. It’s the work of creating and discovering the kind of resources that can and will support our success. It’s the work of knowing who we are without judgment.”  We have to look inside, we can’t approach our lives from the outside.  As Rumi says, “Knock and you shall find you have been inside all the time."  I just wish it was easier to look inwards when we’re so good at the external stuff.

 

Ultimately trust is about LOVE.  Dr Joyce Brothers says the best proof of Love is trust.  Yeah I see that, feel that, live that.  Life wants us to love more but loving more means first we must trust more.  The tough part is that there is no guarantee that we won’t get hurt (well actually of course we will).  But we must trust that as Cheryl Richardson writes in Unmistakable Touch of Grace, “Every event we experience and every person we meet has intentionally been put in our path to help raise our level of consciousness.  When we awaken to this fundamental truth, life becomes a true adventure, a spiritual adventure.  The failed relationship that left you broken hearted is no longer a source of bitterness and pain.  Instead it’s seen as a blessing in disguise, a gift that makes you stronger, more conscious, and ultimately, more alive.”  No matter what you relationship with trust today, let’s strengthen the love and peace in our hearts.  Let’s start with making love a new way of life, so that we may live in love and trust the unfolding of the rest of our lives.  Be love, Silvia

JULY 11TH, 2009:  Are you doing things because you love to do them or because you feel like you have to do them.  What percentage of the time would you say?  Well if you are spending more of your time doing stuff because you feel like you have to instead of wanting to then this is a formula for misery.

 

Trust yourself create the kind of life you will be happy to live with all your life.  Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into the flames of achievement. – Foster McClellan

 

The purpose of life is a life with purpose.  This is one of my most favorite quotes from the Monk Who Sold his Ferrari.  So to honor this.  We took time tonight as you could right now wherever you are when you read this to write out what you’re passionate or excited about.  Why write it if we can just think about it?  Well science tells us that by writing out your desires and goals on a piece of paper you send a red flag to your subconscious mind that these thoughts are more important than the other 59,999 ones you’ll have today!

This helps us to filter out what is unimportant and focus only on the important.  We will enjoy life more fully if we stop focusing on the minor stuff and figure out what we want to major in life.  And the greatest thing is that we can have fun while we’re progressing along our path.  We can reclaim the joy of waking up each day excited about our life!  Don’t you want to wake up filled with energy and enthusiasm?

 

I was thinking as I was preparing my class about having a passion for adventure and facing one’s fears about the movie Into the Wild. You may remember it  was the true life story of Chris McCandless. McCandless graduated from Emory University in 1990, gave away his savings, burned the rest of his money, and stripped down to the bare essentials before winding up in the extreme wilderness of Alaska. His was an inspiring journey on many levels and regardless of how it turned out for him I think one of his greatest lessons was about living an inspired life.  McCandless wrote, “It is the experiences, the memories, the greatest triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found.” 

 

Even when it’s scary the unknown in life is what makes it an adventure!

 

So ask yourself right now: Where are you going, what path are you on, is this the right direction for you, if I could choose any path which direction would you go?

 

Or as Pantanjali says in the Yoga Sutras, "When you are inspired by some great purpose all of your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world!"  Be the cause of your own future happiness! I hope this next half of the summer is a wonderful adventure for you doing what you love!

 

And take to heart, what’s written in the Alchemist, “Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” 

 

Here’s to first steps!  Love you all, Silvia

 

MAY 21, 2009:  Where do we make decisions from?  The heart put the mind down tonight, let it rest. Don’t think but feel.  If we convince ourselves to decide only with our minds we will talk ourselves out of the best experiences of life.  It is possible to over analyze any situation or decision all the way into procrastination.  However, if we let our heart consciousness take an active role we’ll find we become more decisive and present.  Vanna Bonta puts it like this, she says “heart needs only its own voice to do what is right.”

 

I know this is scary.  Feeling is always more vulnerable than thinking.  But making decisions from the inside is the only way.  Rumi says “If you want to find the greatest treasure, don't look outside, Look within, and SEEK THAT."  We can collect opinions from others but they will always be only opinions.  No one can decide for us what actions to take in our lives.  We can try to give up our choices to others but this will only lead to frustration in the end. No one else knows our hearts the way we do, not even our partners.  So be afraid but be real.  Susan Jeffers writes, “Feel the fear and do it anyway!’

 

Most of all BE DECISIVE!  In the fortune 200 corporate world the greatest push back I would receive having come from an entrepreneurial background (worked for two Inc 500 companies) was about making decisions. I would advise we do something and if it didn’t work, we could always make a different decision. The “we’ve always done it this way” but it’s not working didn’t play with me.  If it is not working then change it. Try something, for goodness sake try anything!

 

Do this practice on the mat. Practice here so you can be more decisive in your life decisions.

 

Another area where we lose ground in being decisive is obsessing about why others make decisions the way they do.  We cannot control the choices others make so analyzing it to pieces won’t help. All we can do is make decisions for ourselves in spite of what others do or don’t do.  You are the only one that decides your actions!  What I am invoking here is that we see ourselves as INVENTORS, CREATORS.  Creative in how we choose to live life.  Being in charge of our lives is the ultimate form of creative expression!  So embody the TBY Rebel Spirit Manifesto.  Own your own life - start today, be decisive.  Love life and it will love you back! Silvia     

 

TBY Rebel Spirit Manifesto:

Be FREE

Break out of the box

LOVE Fiercely

Throw OUT the rules

Take a  RISK

Say I CAN

Say I WILL

 

 

 

MAY 14TH, 2009: When you think about it doing what feels good should be pretty easy.  Two of my friends at dinner last night were sharing stories of their kids: 1) her son was on stage in second grade and front and center put his hands down his pants until he caught his Mom’s eye and realized I probably shouldn’t do that here. But he had a point, it felt good to him so why resist. 2) Another friend’s daughter as a tiny tot at dance recitals liked to lift her dress all the way up over her head. No fear, no doubt, just felt good to do it so why resist. 

Yet as adults if feeling good is natural then why do we stay in hurtful relationships, jobs we hate, drive commutes that make us nuts, live where we don’t like the weather, edit who we really are for the sake of our neighbors?  Why do we resist life’s natural inclination to move us towards happiness?

Can you imagine the energy you’d have if you stopped resisting life and lived without apology, without any embarrassment whatsoever?  So when you come to the yoga mat I urge you to stop over thinking and begin feeling more.  For if we are to live more authentic lives and begin to realize how Futile Resistance really is it has to happen from the inside out.  Have the courage to acknowledge the person standing in our way is ourselves. 

 

A friend recently gave me the book “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield and the author starts off by talking about those activities that elicit Resistance including but not limited to: “Any health regimen; any program of spiritual advancement; any program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit; Any act of ethical courage – including the decision to change for the better some unworthy patter of thought or conduct in ourselves; any act that entails commitment of the heart.” Well, if you look at the list that’s pretty much what yoga touches upon in every class. 

 

So for me the question is then what is resistance?  Sadie Nardini writes “Resistance happens any time we stand in the way of our own forward momentum. We block ourselves from real happiness, love and fulfillment in countless ways.  There are the obvious ones, such as self-doubt, but also the more covert, including procrastinating, rationalizing and engaging in drama.  Resistance is the destroyer of dreams. And we must weaken its power over us or it will paralyze us.” 

 

How do we address our resistance?  It is the first principle of Anusara yoga, to open to grace.  We soften, we say Yes, we expand into the flow of love.  Otherwise when we resist or fight life we stop ourselves from LOVE, we stop the flow of all good things coming into our lives and instead build up walls.  This spiritual practice takes down the walls so we can align again with love.  Through love each and every one of us has the power to TRIUMPH over resistance!

 

What is resistance?

Pressfield says its invisible yet it has the power to distract us, prevent us from doing our life’s work. He calls it the enemy within. You know the one that is obsessive, constantly worried, filled with anxiety, overthinking. It is fueled by fear and we feed it the more afraid we are of admitting our fears. I believe it is most often fear of being really happy that is at the heart of resistance – at least this is what I’ve found in my life.  Ask yourself, if everything you ever wanted came true tomorrow, how would your life be different?  How would you live?  Resistance is felt as UNHAPPINESS. This is why it is the enemy of love. If you are honest with yourself are you standing in your own way today of being happier, more peaceful more in love with life? 

 

To overcome resistance in the body we have to stop forcing, fighting or holding ourselves back.  Instead practice from softness, desire, gentle courage and resistance is futile in the face of you Being Love, Being Beauty, Being Happy! What am I suggesting?  At a minimum I am promoting you get RADICAL! That you start a revolution from inside to overthrow the invader of resistance because it is NOT YOU.  Will this be scary? Yes. Is that reason enough not to do it? You have to decide the life you want to live. For me the answer is easy, I want to be peaceful.  And by facing what scares me I am starting a revolution I’d like you to join within yourself.  Love to you all, Silvia

 

May 3, 2009: 

Ok you guys, I’m a little embarrassed to admit I used to be one of those people that would take forever to order food at dinner. I’d be at the table waiting for everyone else to order first because I didn’t have the confidence in the truth of my first instinct in what to order for myself.  Now this may not be a big deal at dinner but it’s a tough way to go through life being indecisive or confused to the TRUTH of who we are (starting with what we want to eat).  Why didn’t I order what I wanted to?  I was too afraid of disappointing someone at the table because they wanted me to order something different than what I wanted or I felt guilty ordering something too expensive.  Really in all honesty I was just afraid of standing up and being myself, declaring to the world “Yes, this is what I want based on who I am.”  This is me remaining true to my truth.

 

This is how I was living life at the time.  I felt constant guilt over what everyone else wanted me to be.  So I tried desparertly to be who they wanted me to be by wearing that costume.  I never felt like myself inside the costume and the longer I wore it the more itchy and uncomfortable it became until I just couldn’t deny any more that the costume was NOT ME.  My soul was sweating and dying inside from not revealing the true me.  So my spiritual practice evolved and I stopped trying so hard to be who other people wanted me to be. 

 

I realized that I was trying to be a photocopy of someone else and as we all know photocopies are never as good as the originals.  I would only ever be the second best someone else.  The only person I could be the best at being was ME.  In Yoga that’s known as Satya, “Truth and authenticity” of acknowledging our unique humanness.  I don’t to want to be a PHOTOCOPY PERSON.  Do you?  Because take it from me, you don’t have to be.

 

In yoga we peel of these outer layers or costumes, masks we wear to rediscover our TRUE selves.  It’s not always easy work, there are tears, laughter, sweating, sometimes even a bit of pain.  But overall it’s a whole lot easier than trying to wear an ill fitting costume the rest of our lives.  And it makes ordering dinner much easier too!

 

So how do we maintain it?  Well what we are talking about here is a daily spiritual practice (known as Sadhana) where you make time to stay connected to your own truth otherwise the resistance monsters of fear, doubt, guilt come back.  And it is achieved through self-love, seeing who we are is just perfect (without condition) we are each vitally important to the world as we are true.  This is where we found ultimate freedom from mental torture and stress.

 

Does this seem a little self-centered? Of course, it should.  As Sadie Nardini says, “spiritual disciplines like yoga are built around this concept of moving into and from our center.”  The cool thing is by being more authentic we give everyone else around us permission to be themselves.  There is no pretending and relationships deepen.  It’s a neat way to live, really the only way to live.

 

The alternative it seems is to keep wearing the costumes, building really great “Life Resumes” as if you were trying to apply for the job of your own life.  I did that.  I put together a Silvia Resume (didn’t really feel totally like me because I was trying to impress everyone else).  Then through yoga funny thing happened.  As the true me was allowed to shine out I realized I already had the job of being Silvia.  And I was only going to get this one chance, this one lifetime to enjoy remaining true to my own truth. 

 

Today, even for a little while take off the costume, be your funky self!  So you’ll love yourself more, love your day more, love your life more! Silvia

 

APRIL 21, 2009:  The heart is a bit foolish you know?  Overall, life is really lovely.  Each day brings its own charm and delights (even as the shadows of fear and self-doubt add flavor).  Yet we often catch ourselves up trying to “carry too much” in our arms.  And then funny thing we ask ourselves why can’t I invite anything else in?  Why is this stuff all in the way?  Well the easy answer is that we have to put something down in order to pick something else up.  So today’s class is from a Western view “STRESS MANAGEMENT 101”.  From a yogic view we are focusing on Chapter 2, verse 10 and 11.

 

We begin with a moving meditation:  Imagining that as we stand tall, shoulders back, palms together that as we inhale and separate our hands we are pulling back the curtains of Fear, Self Doubt, Worry.  This curtain is paperlight, see through and by observing it as such we can essentially dissolve it away.  This reminds us that the Obstacles we have to face are really of our own mental creation.  They are not insurmountable.  They are just like a veiled curtain waiting to be pulled open so we can see to the other side.  We know this as we held our arms out to our sides thumbs inside peaceful fists for 2 minutes imagining a 4 oz cup of water in each hand.  It is not the absolute weight of the water that matters.  It is about how long will we force ourselves to hold on and carry around the mental obstructions?  If we hold our arms out 2 minutes that won’t hurt us, but an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, years?  Then even though the water is light in weight the duration of carrying the burden of the water will do us harm.  So it is with our thoughts. Replaying disastrous thoughts over and over for 2 minutes won’t kill us, but doing this day after day will create the stress that destroys our lives. 

 

So really take 5 minutes to ask yourself what is it that needs to be released from my life?  What mental obstacles can you put down right now? What can you clear out that is detrimental to living happier, lighter?  Are there old habits you can release that don’t reflect your current needs and desires? 

 

Then once relaxed and refreshed from the burden of carrying so much, ask yourself what is ready to be born in my life?  What do you want to pick up?

 

And remember that only you can welcome the positive changes that transform your life. But don’t make it such a big deal.  Remember as Sharon Salzberg writes in Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, “The next step is not the last step.”  In order to take the step, we have to put something down, in order to pick up something else.  So let down the obstacles, and pick up LOVE.  Let love heal.  Love your day, love your life!  Silvia

 

 

APRIL 20TH, 2009:  Spiritual practice doesn't mean we don't ever face self doubt or worry.  We do.  The difference for me in my life is that when this happens I know better questions to ask myself.  Then it’s a matter of believing, trusting, having pure faith.  In what?  It's easy, LOVE.

Love does heal, will heal, if you step into the currents of grace and allow it to flow into your life. 

What blocks the flow is fear, the enemy of love. Fear is any form of negativity. Don’t wait, remove the blocks of negativity that is slowing the flow of love into your life and you'll come to believe this yourself. 

In yoga we are the lover and the beloved:  As Rumi writes, We are the mirror as well as the face in it.  We are pain and what cures pain both.  He encourages you to, “Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.”  He puts it most simply when he writes:

I love myself...I love you.

I love you...I love myself.

 

5 ELEMENTS MEDITATION: LOVE HEALS

Part of my healing took place as I practiced a technique based on the teachings of Swami Kaleshwar. You sit or lie down, holding your hands just above your shoulders. You repeat the mantra, "Oh God, my heart is open to you, please come sit in my heart". You say this once for each fingertip. Your thumb is the Earth, your index finger is the Fire, the middle is Sky, the ring finger is Water and the small finger is Air.

You say the mantra for each fingertip giving each one a little wiggle as you say it. You may feel heat or a tingling sensation after a few weeks or months of practice. Each fingertip contains a chakra for receiving energy that corresponds to the five elements energy. When you are asking God into your heart you are drawing natural energy in through your fingertips.   Performing this meditation technique for 15 minutes twice a day will open your heart to pull the divine energy in you. It will help dissolve your layers and problems in love. It is said that Shiva (Father energy), is flowing in the five elements. Shiva is said to be the Lord of five elements, Namashivaya. He is the pure consciousness, the highest person to reach in the universe. He's where you will find peace. Connecting to Shiva brings you the deepest peace and silence. This deep peace helps you transcend your problems and emotional blocks. When you are in a negative state of mind it helps you come back to your natural states of Love, confidence and happiness. It aligns you with divine peace, intelligence and creativity. This technique is for charging and aligning yourself with LOVE energy. Try it for yourself and see.  Big love, love, love to you all, Silvia

 

MARCH 31, 2009:  I have often asked myself the simple but powerful question, "Am I more afraid of being happy or more afraid of Fear itself?"  How would you respond?

I can tell you that for many years of my life I have been more afraid of being truly happy.  Why? Becaues really being happy day in and day out requires COURAGE, PERSEVERANCE, HOPE, INNER STRENGTH and most of all SELF-LOVE. The messages of "I'm not really worthy" or "I don't have time" or "I'm afraid of being hurt again" can show up at any time even in the most spiritually mature person.  It's easier to give in to the conditioned response of Fear than face ourselves and change our mental habits.

Yoga offers us a safe place to get strong, mentally and physically.  It can help us view our habits and make the change from within so that we choose happiness over fear.  And then it is a continuous practice.  If you really want to be happy it requires your committment from this day forward.  In a way it is like deciding that we want to "Marry ourselves".  And part of the vow we take is to promise to at least try to be happy each and every day. 

Believe me, its not always easy but lasting happiness is only found a day at a time anyway.  So I know you can do it.  Face your fears and let LOVE make you strong!  Wishing you your own best strength and courage, Silvia

 

MARCH 12, 2009:  When you think about it we grow great by degrees. It’s the little wins, turning off the tv, eating well, getting enough sleep, surrounding ourselves with positive people that demonstrate our faith in making good choices.  The big stuff falls into place pretty much from all the little day to day, moment to moment decisions that we make.  This clearly reminds us that it is the quality of the journey not the place we arrive to that counts.  For we will get there, ultimately we all end up at the same finish line anyway.

We are destined to rise to life’s highest ideal if we just keep the faith and trust in ourselves.  This is like a promise we keep to ourselves, the most important kind of promise for it’s the promise of happiness.  Now what I like most about Faith. Trust, Confidence in ourselves is best offered in the words of Sharon Salzberg a favorite author of mine who says, “In Pali, faith is a verb, an ACTION, as it is also in Latin and Hebrew.  Faith is not a singular state that we either have or don’t have , but is something that we do.  We ‘faithe”.  It is the willingness to take the next step, to see the unknown as an adventure, to launch a journey.  Faith is what gets us out of bed, opens us to the possibility that our lives can be different.  Though we may repeatedly stumble, afraid to move forward in the dark, we have the strength to take that magnitude of risk because of faith.” 

 

I have had this experience when I traveled all the time and woke up in strange hotel rooms at first afraid, then comforted myself that I was fine and this kept me calm while my eyes adjusted.  I have had this experience in therapy, where all that was asked of me was that I show up. The showing up was sometimes kind of difficult for the journey towards continued healing can be ripe with challenges. But I believed in the possibilities of myself and kept going, kept healing.  These life experiences as well as time spent on the mat in poses facing myself that as much as others want good things for us we have to trust in ourselves first.  We have to want it, we have to believe in our own intuition based in love and all will be as it should.  BELIEVE, TRUST, FAITH – make these active day to day!  Big Love, Silvia

 

FEBRUARY 14TH, 2009: 

FEBRUARY 4TH, 2009: 

William Shakespeare wrote, "Learning to trust ourselves is a worthy practice, the practice of authenticity.  This is the work of aligning with our deepest passions and dreams.  It's the work of making promises to ourselves and keeping them.  It's the work of knowing who we are without judgement."

Take a moment and think about what holds you back from taking custody of your life. Not just temporary custody but really owning your life, your entire life, not just the work life but your heart and soul too.  Is it enough to tell yourself that fear of the outcome will prevent you from living more fully?  The thing is if you are waiting for a guarantee, 100% certainty of the result you are never going to get it.  Life is uncertain. 

All we can do is be present to what is in front of us right now and set our intentions for the kind of energy we wish to attract but ultimately we will never know the outcome until its present.  We can simply manage our reactions to the details or our lives and just keep paying attention.  Best advice I can give is take time every day to BE STILL, BE PRESENT, Silvia

 

DECEMBER 14TH, 2008: I know you saw FEARLESSNESS and thought Oh No, we re going upside down! So not true. You see for me the greatest practice of fearlessness is being really true to what we want for our lives. Now that s craziness! Balancing on your hands in the middle of the room, not as scary in the comparison.

Yes, I brought marshmallows for everyone to make a point today. Why Because to me our hearts are like marshmallows, they are pretty resilient you know Yoga will help us be strong on the inside so we can be soft on the outside in making choices for ourselves. We can move beyond fear, which is the enemy of love, to a place of fearlessness. Especially if our greatest fear is failure we can realize through yoga that we will bounce back, if you squish the marshmallow it regains its form (it really does, try it). Use this practice to experiment with the 3 P s: persistence, patience and perseverance! So as Rascal Flats sings I hope the day comes easy and the moments pass slow and each road leads you to where you want to go and if you re faced with the choice and you have to choose I hope you choose the one that means the most to you. So be fearless in what you wish for, in setting an intention today...and as the song goes, MY WISH for you is that this life becomes all that you want it to. So take a chance, dream big, your heart is supple and will support you!
BIG LOVE, Silvia Today s Mantra: If I was not afraid I would .
Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending. ~Author Unknown

OCTOBER 8, 2008:  NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE.  There is really only observation.  Please trust this.  You can't really fail at anything, if we're up to bat and we miss the ball no big deal we just produced a result so we act upon the result.  This is why I love Vinyasa Yoga, anyone can do it!  Everyone can do it!  No one and I mean not a single person can’t do it.  I hope this knowledge helps to reduce your fear of doing the yoga wrong.  There is no failure. 

How do we accept and trust this?  First we have to let go of any need to receive approval from others - let go of the "What will they think?" mentality or you stop your evolution.  Simply put this is fear based living.  I remember in the corporate world when facing on-going layoffs and down sizings thinking hey if I do everything right then I'll get to keep my job.  This sets us up for disappointment.  We can take whatever actions we choose to but the desired results may not be what we want them to be.  But we need not take this as a failure.  The key to finding the play in life is to stop worrying about the outcome.  Just try to be patient in trusting what is happening is right, trust in a greater wisdom and know that life keeps flowing.  Don’t be afraid to keep going!

 

OCTOBER 1, 2008:

 

From "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke

I want to beg of you much as I can to be patient
toward all that's unsolved in your heart,
and learn to love the questions themselves,
like locked rooms, or like books that are
written in a very foreign tongue.

Do not seek the answers, which cannot be given you,
because you would not be able to live them,
and the point is to live everything.

Live the question now,
perhaps you will then, gradually, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.

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. 

SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2008:  So funny how most of us react when we hear or see the word "core" isn't it?  Believe me until I understood the difference between ab strength and core work I had an automatic "oh no not that stuff" response.  I even perfected the I have to take a drink of water, go to the bathroom routine in traditional fitness classes when it came up.  To be honest ab crunches were never a favorite of mine and what kept me coming back to yoga especially in the first few years was the fact no traditional sit ups were performed.  I have now befriended the traditional sit-up and although we are not best friends we are friendly enough.  How did this dramatic turn around happen?  Well two things: (1) I learned that ab and core were not the same and that ALL of yoga is core centric and (2) I bought Shiva Rea's Ab DVD which was fun and because of this the struggle melted away.  So here below is the handout from the 6:15pm class this day.  May you too educate yourself on the difference between core and abs and hopefully you too will find the playfulness even in ab stuff.  Take the risk, find out! Peace, Silvia 

Yoga for Core Strength

 

Definition:  

"Core strength" is an often-misused term. Core strength and abdominal strength are not the same. One could have very strong abdominals but have no sense of core or inner stability. If we think of abdominal strength and core  energy as one, we risk missing the importance of a true center or core. Abdominal strength is useful and important but core strength signifies a healthy 3rd chakra and confidence in life decisions.  A strong core is linked to healthy emotional and spiritual balance beyond just the physical.

 

The core, says senior Anusara teacher Desirée Rumbaugh, "is what supports us spiritually in our lives, and physically in our yoga practice. If our core is weak, the ups and downs of life are much harder to take. A strong core makes us more resilient."

 

Core Strengthening Poses:

·         Pelvic Tilts:  From Bridge Pose and Cat/Puppy

o        How?  Simply lengthen your tailbone to lift your sacrum off the ground while keeping your lower back connected to the earth. If you do this 5 to 20 times slowly with your breath—lift as you inhale, and lower as you exhale—you will feel the benefits of strengthening your lower belly, lengthening your spine, and learning to connect the front and back of your core.

·         Gentle Backbends:  Locust, Cobra, Bridge with block

·         Warrior Poses: Low Lunge preparation with block, High Lunge, Warrior A, Warrior B

·         Twists:   Ardha Matsyendrasana, Side Angle Pose 

·         Stabilizers:  Plank, Dolphin, Dolphin Plank, Down Dog

·         1 Leg Balance Poses:  Crane, Warrior C, Eagle

 

"If we don't know how to get centered in our core, we're basically doormats for whoever's a stronger personality, we become susceptible to anyone who wants to push us off balance, whether it's a controlling mother or a boss that controls by fear."  - Ana Forrest, founder Forrest Yoga

JULY 18TH, 2008:  So this week I received an invitation to go somewhere that was out of my comfort zone and I found myself even as a grown up a little afraid.  Mostly afraid of the story I had made up in my mind about the potential judgement folks would have of me.  I had to really meditate on the future focused ILLUSION fear creates. 

"Open the window in the center of your chest and let spirit move in and out." --RUMI

So I asked myself as I often have when confronted with fear: IF I WASN'T AFRAID I WOULD....

Rumi says it best when we face our fears the windows to our hearts open wide.  Fear only separates us.  In class we use the asanas (poses) to help open our hearts, facing even the scary one's like going upside down with quiet courage.  It is sort of like when we wake up in a dark room and first open our eyes and we can't see anything, then slowly our eyes acclimate.  The same is for yoga.

There might be fear going inside our hearts where it might be dark or scary but with time and dedicated practice we learn to see clearly.  So take to heart the words of Mark Twain shared with me by student John P  ---  "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlnes. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER."    Jai Ma! Silvia