STEP UP, STEP BACK
SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2008: So this weekend from Netflix I was watching the movie Step Up 2 (The Streets). Good stuff! Amazing dancing and not a single curse word. I loved it! The kids in the movie really had to make the commitment to achieve their goal of participating fully in a dance competition. They had to figure out where the time was going to be spent and then maintain the discipline to show up and do it everyday.
Yoga asks that we Step Up when we come to the mat. That we be there fully. All we have to do is turn to our breath and feel how alive we are. 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, I WILL STEP UP to my greatest potential! Now for the kids in this movie it wasn’t all easy. I feel that. I consider myself an underdog and have had to step up time and again in the face of adversity, discrimination, illness and a myriad of other challenges. That’s the hard part to keep stepping up and believing in our own innate goodness and the good within our world even when things are not okay.
After we heat and move the body to release agitation, confusion or distress we can have greater clarity on that feeling that we are going to be okay, even when things are not okay. Equally as important to stepping up is our ability to STEP BACK and let the pose support us. Surround yourself in friendships that are life affirming. Beware those folks that want to gossip, speak in ugly ways about others for they will destroy your energy. There is a give and take here but trust yourself to step back in safety. It's written God helps those who help themselves, yup we step up and love life and in return life loves us back even more. Allow yourself time to step back and feel that sense of grounding that comes from being supported by the goodness in the universe!
PEOPLE ARE LIKE GARBAGE TRUCKS
SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2008: Life is about how you look at things right? Today in class I asked you about what your perspective was about what I should provide you in class. And I asked what your perspective was about what you should provide. Are these two expectations weighted the same or differently? Do you expect more from me than what you expect from yourself? Do you play this pattern out in your other relationships?
It’s interesting isn’t it that Perception is really just another word for judgement. And judgment is like cholesterol: There's a "good" kind and a "bad" kind. A friend of a friend calls the bad kind "the enemy of love." When it comes down to it Life is ten percent what you make it and 90% percent how you take it! A new favorite story shared by Masters Circle Lee Woods really speaks to this. Enjoy! - Silvia
STORY - PEOPLE ARE LIKE GARBAGE TRUCKS:
One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And man, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.
Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...
Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't.
DON'T GIVE UP! ENLIGHTENMENT IS HERE NOW
SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2008: Have you ever thought about giving up, throwing in the towel? Imagine if you quit your job, sell your stuff, give away your money, and go out into the wilderness. Sound interesting? Such is the premise of a movie I love Into the Wild, the powerful true life story of Chris McCandless. McCandless graduated from
Why would we even want to move away and give it all up? Isn't it because we think if we go somewhere else we'll be happy? Right? Haven't you day dreamed about switching jobs, changing partners, moving into a different home/neighborhood with this grass is greener, I will be better off elsewhere philosophy?
You are not alone, many folks feel like they have to travel to really far off places or do something dramatic to achieve enlightenment. Now this might be right for certain people, but it is by no means necessary to attaining enlightenment. Enlightenment can take root anywhere on earth, as long as we seek to open up to a higher consciousness. As long as you want to WAKE UP.
All we need is a powerful intention, and a willingness to do the work necessary to moving forward on our path.
Robin Sharma writes, “People who study others are wise but those who study themselves are enlightened.
Those we are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually. Clearly defined priorities and goals for every aspect of your life gives you direction. Lasting happiness comes from steadily working to accomplish your goals and advancing confidently in the direction of your life’s purpose.”
So may you all use this practice to discover your purpose and gain the strength to work towards it! But how we view strength is important. Think of it not as ability or a set of circumstance but as tenacity. To never give up. To stay the course!
What I wish for you all is that you can confidently stay in one place, knowing that everything that we need to attain enlightenment is always available right where we are. Just don't GIVE UP.
MOTIVATION FROM WITHIN
AUGUST 10TH, 2008: The more you practice yoga the more you want to practice yoga. It just happens you guys. Really! Ok maybe I didn't believe it at first some 15 years ago but all these years later its true.
But the practice and discipline to practice is from some inner force. It doesn't come from a gold star, bronze medal, trophy, cash bonus, promotion...this drive for excellence in being your best self is deeply inside. The drive far surpasses the desire for wealth and a number on a scale or other such things. And the most surprising thing is that it is very easy going, it's not obsessive at all (or at least it never has been for me whereas other stuff has been).
I love how Dennis Waitley describes motivation as a contraction of motive and action. In yoga this contraction and expansion is known as spanda! He goes on to write, the success of our efforts depends less on the efforts themselves than on our motives. The most successful men and women in almost all fields, have achieved their greatness out of a desire to express what they felt had to be expressed. Often it was a desire to use their skills to their utmost in order to solve a problem. William Shakespeare, Thomas Edison, Estee Lauder, Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey, Sam Walton and Bill Gates - all were motivated by the desire to produce the very best that was in them. So don't delay let the discipline you learn on the mat help you motivate your greatest efforts off the mat! JAI! Silvia