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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 12, 2011 Day 3 of Love Blogging 21 days in 2011.  Does yoga make you sexy?  Yes it can: when we feel peaceful our faces do look prettier.  And when we are kinder we are more approachable. And when we move more gracefully we are more attractive.  

Practicing yoga also helps us remember to celebrate life. During class we burn off, sweat off, twist off the spiritual amnesia (forgetting what fires you up!) In a nutshell it reminds us about what we love about our life: Dancing, hiking, playing piano, running, cycling, painting, traveling.  Forgetting what you love to do is a form of self-sabotage. If you can forget about your dreams, then you never have to risk failure. But just because you've decided to ignore your passions doesn't mean they no longer exist. Besides life is too short to stop doing what you love.

So today we invoked the Fire Element. Fire in Sanskrit is AGNI. 

“Fire is not seen until one firestick rubs against another, though the fire remains hidden in the firestick. Let your body be the lower firestick; Let the heart be the upper. Rub them against each other in yoga and meditation.”  (ancient writing)

Fire is the energy of transformation or change.  If you think about the power (Shakti) of fire it can take metal and change it into a beautiful gold ring. Fire is also symbolic of rebirth.  It cleanses, burns off the negative and energizes one to light the path forward. Then we move confidently in the direction of what we love with great PASSION. And that enthusiasm and confidence is SEXY!

It is visible to everyone. You can see it.  For instance if Leonardo DaVinci would paint your portrait would he see that fire of passion in your eyes?  Are you living life with enthusiasm? In the words of Philosopher Hebbel, “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” And no one else can tell you what fires you up, only you can decide “how to set your life on fire” (Rumi).

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs;?ask yourself what makes you come alive.

And then go and do that.

Because what the?world needs is people who have come alive."~ Harold Whitman

Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it and hold true to your biggest dreams! "Let no doubt into your dreams and intentions. The dreamers are the saviors of the world. Be one of those dreamers." (Dr Wayne Dyer)

This is the time to empower yourself towards transforming your life! Let's make today THE BEST DAY EVER!  Now that's sexy….Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

HIP HOP INSPIRED YOGA PLAYLIST
Fire, Coco De Mer

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

No Rest for the Weary, Blue Scholars

The Fire, The Roots Feat. John Legend

BIG BANK HANK [Main], Blue Scholars

Xoxoxo, The Black Eyed Peas

Just You & I, Dzihan & Kamien

Free Tibet, Hilight Tribe

Strong Will Continue, Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley

Coming Home, Diddy - Dirty Money & Skylar Grey

I Will Be Light, Matisyahu

One Of These Mornings, Moby

Lakshmi, Girish, Donna Delory, Greg Leisz & Georges Lamman

Beyond Time [ambient edit], Blank & Jones

BONUS: I’m Too Sexy, Right Said Fred

 

WARNING ADULT LANGUAGE: If you are still reading. I came upon this quote today from Bikram “With this one you are fucking until you are 90! You have seven orgasms in a row!” – referring to eagle pose, which he considers the best pose for good sex.  (Yeah we did that one in class today)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greetings Friends! 

January 1, 2011  Yesterday I posted my last blog of 2010. I have included it at the bottom of this final newsletter of the year in hopes it inspires your own dreams. And really that is my invitation to you: "dream a dream with me." Time on the mat helps us stay connected to what inspires us.  So here are some of my favorite quotes from a book given to me by my sweet friend Anne titled Dream by Susan Bosak.  May they connect you to spirit so you can awaken your greatest dreams ever in 2011!

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

 "Whoever would one day learn to fly must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying." - Nietzsche

 "The Possible's slow fuse is lit by the Imagination." - Emily Dickinson

"A hundred million miracles are happening every day." - Oscar Hammerstein

"The difficulty in life is the choice." - George Moore

"Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." -Langston Hughes

"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity." - Marie Curie

 

New Years Day Schedule:

5am-7am Sadhana Kundalini (FREE)

10am Level 1 with Wendy

11:30am Level 1-2 with Wendy

1:30pm Restorative Yoga with Samantha

 

PS - Join me January 14-15 Living Your Yoga Workshops

 

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December 31, 2010 Blog by Silvia Mordini: Adventure, Remembrance, Victory!

As I reflect on this past year, which was one of intense personal change one of the things I am most proud of is making a pilgrimage to Moab, Utah twice.  Both times to help nourish my spirit and connect to the quiet sense of adventure that exists for all that visit Moab.  For a while I forgot what it was like to make adventure.  This was the year I remembered again.

And that is really at the heart of yoga.  This practice helps us remember to remember.  We all sometimes experience spiritual amnesia.  Getting on the mat is that reminder of celebrating life and enjoying this time in this body on this earth right now. 

Edward Abbey writes in one of my favorite books about Moab titled Desert Solitaire "Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards." 

I will never again put my heart in a safe deposit box, I'd rather take chances in love, in life, in traveling and even in my poses so I can be a more active participant in driving my best life forward rather than sitting in the backseat waiting for it to happen.  I will until my last breath run and cycle and yoga and explore and discover the small victories that exist in taking pleasure in life! And I hope if you have learned anything from your yoga that you will find this true for yourself as well.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Happy New Year, Silvia

PS Join me on an adventure with Alchemy Tours www.alchemytours.com or visit my website to keep up with upcoming retreats www.silviamordini.com

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

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

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.  

Namaste Sweet Friends,

Did you know that every hour of every day, someone hears the words "you have multiple sclerosis." So for many personal reasons this is something very close to my heart.  And my Team Mile'n for Myelin is working hard to meet our fund raising goals so no one else ever has to hear those words, "You have MS."  

I would love your support!  Please consider donating even just $5.00 to me directly by going to:

 http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/WASBikeEvents?px=8721783&pg=personal&fr_id=13100

 And I found out today that if I collect the most money this last week I can WIN BEER!!! Yes, you heard me right. I could win BEER, great beer, two cases of 22 oz bombers from sponsor Forgotten Moon!! My goodness how cool is that?  So if I win because you donate to help me win BEER I will share this BEER with you.  Yup, that means we all win, for a great cause!  Thank you for supporting me, and appreciating good beer. Love, Silvia

Super Namaste!

Happy National Yoga Month! What a perfect time as we head into Fall and re-establish healthy routines of school, work, family and daily yoga to recommit ourselves to living our best lives ever.

So to celebrate guess what I‚m doing?  You guessed right! I'm doing a whole lot of yoga. And great news is that at TBY we have more classes and more awesome events than ever before!

Here's my personal yoga schedule of fun yoga stuff I am signed up for and hope we can enjoy together (PS I need a partner for partner yoga if you‚re thinking of coming but wondered if you should come on your own)

 9/11/2010      (Saturday)    2:00PM   Healing Crystal Bowls Concert

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

9/18/2010 (Saturday)      2:00 PM      Partner Yoga Workshop

9/19/2010 (Sunday)        6:30 PM      The LifeLine Technique

9/25/2010 (Saturday)      2:00 PM      Yoga For Runners

10/2/2010 (Saturday)      1:00 PM      Teaching Yoga to Kids

10/2/2010 (Saturday)      4:30 PM      David Romanelli Yoga for Overcoming Fear

10/2/2010 (Saturday)      11:00 AM   Mommy and Baby Yoga

10/3/2010 (Sunday)        12:15 PM   David Romanelli Yoga for Social Network Slaves

10/25/10   (Sunday)                         Tuscany Yoga & Cycling Retreat

11/4/2010 (Thursday)                       Moab Yoga & Mountain Biking Adventure

And of course I am gearing up for Teacher Training starting October 13th! And the more Yoga I do the more clear I become on what my intentions are for the Best Life ever. A fundamental intention I am rededicating myself to this Fall is participating more directly in making the world a better place.  As such I am donating part of the proceeds from all my classes this week to an event I am participating in virtually, Bike MS, sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. They remind me that it takes only 1 person to inspire hundreds!

Every hour of every day, someone hears the words "you have multiple sclerosis." So for many personal reasons this is something very close to my heart.  And my Team Mile'n for Myelin is working hard to meet our fund raising goals so no one else ever has to hear the words, "You have MS." If you'd like to donate $5 to me directly please visit here http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/WASBikeEvents?px=8721783&pg=personal&fr_id=13100

This Fall as you set up your intentions as part of your Spiritual Routine (lose weight, sleep better, decrease stress, exercise more, be more patient, gossip less, love more) I encourage you to think about being more involved with your community because to me the most important thing you can collect at TBY is friends, not poses. Please take a moment to check out all the great stuff we are offering to help you connect with yourself and with others. May this earth be blessed with your peaceful contribution!  With lovingkindess, Silvia  

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

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

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

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

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

MY PHILOSOPHY OF HAMSTRINGS & PATIENCE

Working with our hamstrings teaches us about patience. The hamstrings are layered with lots of tough connective tissue—the gristly fibers that help hold the muscles' structure together. So you can't rush or hurry the hamstrings into flexibility; they need time to change their length—time in the sense that longer stretches (90 to 120 seconds) seem most effective with connective tissue. And time in the sense that it can take months, if not years, for tight hamstrings to loosen their grip and become flexible. So take your time and relax, the goal is the process even more so than the end result.

 

WHAT DO THEY DO?
The hamstrings have two primary actions: (1) knee flexion (bending the knee) and (2) hip extension.

• When you're squatting, your hips are flexed; you bring them into extension when you stand upright, placing the thighbones in line with the torso.
• When you stand on your right leg in Virabhadrasana III (Warrior Pose III) and lift your left leg to hold it parallel to the floor, your left hamstrings are creating hip extension. When you lie on your stomach, bend your knees, and lift your feet so you can grab your ankles for Dhanurasana (Bow Pose), the hamstrings are creating knee flexion. (The hamstrings also assist in rotational actions at the hip and knee.)
• To stretch your hamstrings, you need to keep your knee straight and flex your hip (in other words, fold the front of the thigh and the abdomen toward each other). One of yoga's classic hamstring stretches is Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), in which the knees are straight, the torso hangs down, and the abdomen eventually rests on the front of the thighs.

WHAT DOES THE QUAD DO?

• Contract your quadriceps (the muscles on the front of your thighs) in forward bends by simple actions like lifting your toes. If your hamstrings are tight, this is an excellent way to help them loosen up. The quads will stabilize your knees and hold them straight in forward bends. By contracting your quads, you'll be taking advantage of a kinesiological law called "reciprocal inhibition," in which your nervous system tells a muscle to let go of its contraction when the opposing muscle has work to do. In forward bends, contracting your quads facilitates the release of the hamstrings.

WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HAMSTRING MUSCLE?

• The hamstrings are the large group of three muscles that fill the back of the thigh.
• The hamstrings insert below the knee on the two lower leg bones, the tibia and fibula.
• Two of the muscles, the semitendinosus and the semimembranosus, are in the medial (inner) section of the thigh. The third, the biceps femoris, is in the lateral (outer) portion of the back of the thigh.
• All three muscles originate on the ischial tuberosity—the bony protuberance at the bottom of the pelvis that is commonly called the sitting bone—and the biceps femoris has an additional attachment on the back of the femur, or thighbone.

 

SUGGESTED POSES TO RELEASE HAMSTRINGS:

COBBLER (BADDHAKONASANA)

• Both hips are externally rotated
• This is abduction of both hips
• This is outer spiral
• How to perform:  Hold feet and press elbows into the lower leg while firmely pressing up wiht the legs, hold for a few breaths then release slowly and press kneeds down with elbows.  Repeat this process then squeeze outer buttock muscles and press lower and upper leg together

 

SEATED FORWARD BEND (PASCHIMOTTANASANA)

• Internal rotation of both legs
• This is adduction of both legs
• This is inner spiral
• How to perform:  place hands at a point on thighs with bent knees and push into it breath in and then exhale relax deeper into the pose with legs more straight, Repeat this process a little at a time.
• Why this works:  this small amount of pressure to trigger muscle spindles that helps release

 

HALF SPLITS (ARDHA HANUMANASANA)

• Contract front psoas muscle to go deeper by titling pelvis
• To stabilize hips one psoas is moving one way the other is moving in opposite direction.  Try to drag back knee to front leg, drag front heel backwards to feel this.
• Contract back leg buttock and front leg quad strongly.
• Apply shins in manually with brick under calf.

JANUARY 24, 2010:  The healthy link between yoga and weight loss is not so much only about normalizing weight as much as it is about sustaining weight loss.  But first yes, one of the most effective and ancient ways of promoting health and effecting transformation is to practice yoga, especially poses, breathing and meditation. Increasing research in the fields of health and well being indicate that the stress-reducing effects of yoga practice are significant and powerful in normalizing WEIGHT. And as Judith Lasater writes, “We no longer have a choice about including practices in our daily lives that create health and spiritual growth. If we want a world worth living in today, as well as one worth leaving to future generations, we must take responsibility to create health in our lives, as well as to support others as they choose healthier lives for themselves. It is up to each of each of us to lovingly transform the world simply by first transforming ourselves.”

Through the practice of yoga, we can begin to feel connected to ourselves, to our body’s rhythm, our breath, and our emotions.  We can tune into how we feel about ourselves and to what degree our eating is emotionally based.  According to studies the number 1 &2 reasons for weight gain is emotional stress and habit.  And then once we’ve gained the extra weight we get dissatisified which may develop elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn ENCOURAGES stress-related eating (known by scientists as FOOD-SEEKING BEHAVIOR). Which results in more weight gain which may fuel more stress and stress–related eating.  Gosh that’s the pattern?  Yup. 

I hope this class helped to make sense of some things. And that you will join me again week after week to maintain this awareness and learn to be the best YOU possible!  With love in all ways, Silvia

 

So how does the Yoga work?  Here’s a quick summary we talked about in class:

• Yoga burns calories by doing poses and breathing techniques which make metabolism more efficient (food + Oxygen = fuel)
• Yoga is proven to fight stress (and lower cortisol levels). Cortisol makes conversion of calories into fat (especially fat in the abdomen) more efficient.
• Yoga helps us see clearly. Before you can change something you have to acknowledge it for what it is which can be a problem (Study 1992 New England Journal of Medicine study looked at obsese people who considered themselves resistent to diets they told doc’s they exercised and limited calories but when asked to keep a food journal the patients had on average underestimated their food intake by 47% and overestimated their exercise 51%  (They were tricked by their own minds)
• Patterns (samskaras) – the behavior grooves we dig through repeated actions.  Many people who overeat are on autopilot.  Yoga helps us be mindful of the moment, which helps us notice and savor our food instead of gulping it down. 
• Also the mindfulness helps us realize when we are not hungry but simply eating out of habit or emotional neediness.
• Consider this (relapse rate on most diets is 100%).  If you lose one ounce/day that’s almost half a pound/week which = 23 pounds in a year.  To lose an ounce/day you’ve only got to burn about 250 calories more than you take in. (Breath how it works)
• Many people view food as the enemy. Yoga view of food is that it is a manifestation of the divine, a gift from God.  In the Upanishads, food is equated with the divine force in the universe, Yoga would say food is one of life’s great pleasures.

 

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

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

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

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

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

OCTOBER 31, 2009:  So last Friday night for a Halloween Birthday Party for a friend I made butternut squash soup for the first time.  Amazing recipe given to me by a dear student.  Now this was quite something for me to attempt to cook something new, but knowing that someone else had made it before and was encouraging me to try for myself helped immensely.  Yup, that sounds pretty much like yoga.  You may not know the poses but rest assured that your instructor has years of experience in the poses and wants to help support you as you try for yourself.  And yes it can be a bit scary.  But we learn from this practice that we don’t have to do it perfectly the first time and the whole reason for coming together to practice in a group is to have the group encouragement along with that of your teacher.  Like family and friends that serve as the container of our greater life experience the kula embraces us.  And we always know we are safe within the container of this sacred space of the practice room. 

 

In this safety we can realize that as sutra 1.30 says “The Perception of our true nature which is peaceful joy is often obscured by physical, mental, and emotional imbalances. 1.31 These imbalances can promote restlessness, uneven breathing, worry and loss of hope. 1.32 These imbalances can be prevented from taking over our lives by consistently practicing yoga.” 

 

Knowing I have a place to go when I need to replenish and address these imbalances has saved my life many, many times over.  I could come into the practice room, into the group energy and be contained within myself so I could process whatever was going on in my life.  I could let it cook and as a result feel more healthy upon leaving class.  Speaking of containers I had to go out and buy my first crock pot at the Target on Friday (what an amazing selection!) because I realized once I made the soup I would need something safe to carry it in to the party.  The container served to hold what I had personally created (along with help from my friend Janet dressed as Pee Wee Herman at the time) and as she drove us to the birthday gathering she made sure we were safe in her car until we arrived into the warm embrace of gentle friends.  The whole thing was about containers.

 

We serve ourselves as that container of peace and love within and we connect to others in groups, tribes, families contained in that same way.  So from my heart to yours know when you come to class you are safe, you are cared for and you can take time to feel all that is good within you.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much I did and just like doing a yoga pose, I will be making this soup for years and years to come.  Love and light! Silvia

 

 

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup From Don P.

 

This recipe makes about 3 1/2 quarts which is about 18  6 oz portions so feel free to cut this recipe in half.  It freezes well however so you can save it for a super quick lunch or dinner.   I freeze this in 2 or 4 serving size containers let it cool before you freeze it.

 

2 Tblsp  unsalted butter

2 Tblsp good Quality Olive Oil

4 cups yellow onion med dice

1 tblsp Curry Powder ( The curry is an interesting flavor combo that adds depth but you could substitute a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg if you dont like curry)

5 lbs butternut squash

1 1/2 lbs McIintosh Apples

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 cups water

2 cups apple juice or cider.

 

Heat the butter and oil in a large stock pot over med heat,  add the curry and the onion to the pot and cook for 15 min stir the misture a few times and scrape the bottom of the pot.  Peel the squash cut in half and remove the seeds with a spoon or the handle of your peeler and  cut into 1 inch chunks. Peel quarter and core the apples and cut into 1 inch chunks as well.

 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2009:  I am inspired by this beautiful poem called The Awakening.  It fits in perfectly with our dedication this week to the importance of dreaming and envisioning our lives as we really want them. All we have to do is stay the course with this amazing practice of yoga so we can see through the Kleshas or veils that build up and stop us from dreaming as big or bold as we did when we were in love with life with less complications. It can be that way again.  May this time on the mat help you “remember everything!”  Love and light, Silvia

 

 

The Awakening

"In the early dawn of happiness

You gave me three kisses

So that I would wake up

To this moment of love

 

I tried to remember in my heart

What I'd dreamt about

During the night

Before I became aware

Of this moving

Of life

 

I found my dreams

I saw how my heart had fallen

On your path

Singing a song

 

Between my love and my heart

Things were happening which

slowly slowly

Made me recall everything"

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

How yoga can help:

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

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

 

METTA (LOVINGKINDNESS) MEDITATION

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

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

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

 

JULY 23RD, 2009:  I have been meditating on the word RESOLVE this week.  Like what does that mean exactly?  In yogic terms it is Tapas. What is Tapas? I would in practical terms define it as relaxed sustainable determination with consistent undertones of passion.  Or simply put it means SHOWING UP.  It may so seem easy to show up for our life but how often do we get so busy, worried or afraid that we aren’t really attending the life story where we are the star.  When I did theatre in High School and College there were moments in a couple shows that by the end of the run I would be acting on stage but sort of on autopilot (not really aware that I was totally there).  I’ve found that to be true in regular life early in spiritual practice.  Like we are the actor on the stage we are also the audience but neither as actor or viewer would I be tuned in. 

 

So TAPAS helps us to be awake to our lives and articulate our intentions.  In practice the determination to hold true to our dreams or visions for ourselves is Tapas in yoga.  It is like this poem below:

 

"Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be."
-Karen Ravn

 

So today challenge yourself to show up.  Whether this means showing up for yoga class or just showing up for what makes you excited about your life.  What is your vision for your life?  Not just the idea but what can you resolve to make happen, to be with day after day until you see the fruition of your dream. Leonardo Da Vinci once said, "A good painter has two main objects to paint, man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard."

 

Ask yourself:  If he would paint your portrait would DaVinci see that fire in your eyes?

 

Resolve starting now to find the inner strength and quiet determination to hold true to your biggest dreams.  Big Love! Silvia

 

 

"Let no doubt into your dreams and intentions. The dreamers are the saviors of the world. Be one of those dreamers." (Dr Wayne Dyer)

MAY 19, 2009:  Without apology I hope this practice bumps you into your limitations!  I really want that it pushes your buttons and makes you uncomfortable at times. What are examples of discomfort? Frustration, risks, the unknown, adventure! It is through that we meet our real selves. Once you see yourself as you truly are then you remove the veils, kleshas and you dream your best dreams.  You start living life on your terms.  So through this practice use your discomfort open the door more widely so you can DREAM WILDLY!  Let the poses show you what you are capable of becoming! Don’t focus so much on what you are now but more so let this spark within you something greater, your potentiality for beauty, for love, for amazement!  Time in life is short.  Dr Wayne Dyer says, "Let no doubt into your dreams and intentions. The dreamers are the saviors of the world.” 

 

Now we have a choice. We can stay in the “comfort” zone a little apathetic or not totally turned on by life. What a friend once had described to him as “flat lining” one’s life.  You know how this feels. Everything is just OK.  Spiritual practice implores us to live life more than OK.  That we need not give up when we meet uncomfortable situations for that’s exactly when we are about to break free.  The author Jaimal Yogis says, “the story you’ve been telling, you know the one, about the way you have to compromise that dream.  Bend that rule. Cut the cornerstone of logic for breakfast. That story is old and tired. Do you see how FREE you are without it?

 

Please don’t compromise your life, this one life any longer.  Be uncomfortable. Face the fear, the discomfort to live your life heroically.  It is really the only way.  As I wish myself my own best strength I offer you the same.  Let’s all just go for living the adventure of life! Love to you, Silvia

“A man practices the art of adventure when he heroically faces up to life; When he has the daring to open doors to new experiences and to step boldly forth to explore strange horizons. When he is unafraid of new ideas, new theories and new philosophies. When he has the curiosity to experiment--to test and try new ways of living and thinking. When he has the flexibility to adjust and adapt himself to the changing patterns of life. When he refuses to seek safe places and easy tasks and has, instead, the courage to wrestle with the toughest problems. When he has the moral stamina to be steadfast in the support of those men in whom he has faith and those causes in which he believes. When he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints. When he has the nerve to move out of life's shallows and venture forth into the deep. When he keeps his heart young, his expectations high and never allows his dreams to die. When he concludes that a rut is only another name for the grave and that the only way to stay out of the ruts is by living adventurously and staying vitally alive every day of his life.  By Wilfred Peterson. Source: The art of living, Albert W. Daw Collection

 

APRIL 17TH, 2009:  The most challenging way to live is in love. Talk about taking courageous action!  Karma is the Sanskrit for action.  The idea being this is that we have a choice about the actions we take each and every moment.  Behind the action is what we call Tapas or determination.  Something has to fuel the action, especially when choosing love over hate, or peace over anger, or flow over inertia.  If we take action we are spiritually taking responsibility for our lives.  The cool thing is that as we consciously look for opportunities to feel excited about life it answers back.  This is a spiritual truth.

We can bring to life and make manifest our intentions if we do the work.  One of my favorite African proverbs says, "When you pray, move your feet".  YES! We can easily get bogged down in the heaviness of life and deaden out.  This is no way to live.  When we need to move and pray for the life we want then we just gotta do it!

 

So through this practice may you find your own strength to be a lover of life.

 

As Leo Buscaglia says, “to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of a child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the dedicated, the knowledge of the scholar, and the fortitude of the certain.  All these qualities will grow in him who choose love for these are already part of his potential and will be realized through loving.”  So that’s the boomerang effect of Karmic seeds that we action.  If we love life, it will love us back!  It’s just that easy, it “becomes then a matter of loving your way to love!”

 

So start now, without delay, get up stand up for your right to love and be loved!  In truth and light, Silvia

 

APRIL 13TH, 2009: This week join me in class to focus on a philosophy of living life BIG & BRIGHT, without limitations.  Now of course we can't control everything that happens around us or the choices that others make but this need not limit us. You have in a sense a "magic wand' that can transmute even the greatest challenge into an opportunity for greatness. Ghandi said, "be the change you wish to see in the world." Through the energy of your thoughts, which demonstrates your perspective, you can experience your limitless potential for happiness, peace and most of all love. 

The thing is you are already choosing moment by moment what you want your life to feel like, be like, look like. No one else is choosing your thoughts for you.  Consider it like this, (1) your heart and mind create your reality so you must be able to create other views, (2) if you can create different perspectives (victim, martyr, champion, lover) then you must have more than just one choice so that means you can choose which perspective you want. Well then why not accept responsibility to see your life as limitless in passion, prosperity, and Love?

There are two simple universal laws to better appreciate this: The law of abundance simply put says you can't be resentful and receive abundance at the same time. They can't co-exist, you have to choose one or the other.  You either think you're running out of stuff & are being picked on, victimized by the universe or you are grateful for your blessings. You either focus on what you don't have or acknowledge all that you do have.  You see and say YES to opportunities surrounding you everywhere or you force limitations on yourself and say no to life at every turn. These are mutually exclusive.  The law of attraction says Like attracts like. Positivity draws in more things that are positive. Negativity draws in more things that are negative.

What you put out there to the world comes back to you amplified. You can't look to someone else to manage your dreams or to highlight your potential to the world. You must do it yourself.  A boss I had at PwC once said to me, "no one wants to see you promoted more than you do yourself". We can engage in negative self-talk, self-doubt and obsessive worry but these will only create negative energy and won't get you promoted or loved or anything else good. Instead, if you think of yourself as your own "brand" and everyday you have a choice to promote your brand to the world as amazing & brilliant you will attract to you the best life possible.  

The world will give you back what you're sending out. So make this Spring a fresh start shift your perspective to one of INFINITE potential so you love yourself more, so you love your day more, so your love your life more! Silvia

 

MARCH 28TH, 2009: 

For yesterday I hold no apologies,

For tomorrow I hold no answers,

Today is a gift and I will honor it by fully living in it."

 

My Healer at Holessence says “If you don’t take time for wellness now, you’ll have to make time for illness later.”

 

We always have opportunities to be kind to ourselves.  When we refuse to take the time to treat our bodies, emotions, and minds with reverence and love, they will often remind us – not so kindly – by failing to respond when we need them.  Our ability to think clearly recedes when we aren’t looking after ourselves.  It’s weird how we can be super tired and have a really busy mind all at the same time. To bring the frequency of our bodies and the frequency of our thoughts in sync we are obligated to take time for ourselves without apology.  In yogic philosophy we call this Ahimsa.  The idea of loving ourselves is a way to demonstrate love for all people.  But we must start with ourselves.  (SUTRA 2.35 EMBRACING REVERENCE AND LOVE FOR ALL (AHIMSA) WE EXPERIENCE ONENESS)

 

The Buddha put it like this, “The object of your practice should first of all be yourself.  Your ability to love another person, depends on your ability to love yourself.” 

 

WHAT DON’T WE MAKE TIME FOR OURSELVES?  I’ve come to think that the main reason is that we are worried about what other people think.  We actually make  the opinions of others even MORE IMPORTANT than our own opinion of ourselves.  And when you think about it there will never be a shortage of opinions about us form other people.  Yoga teaches us that we are sovereign over ourselves, we can’t be responsible for how others see us all we can do is have the authority of leading our own peaceful life. Why because life itself is a gift!  MARK TWAIN says “ A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval”

 

WE ARE PRETTY AMAZING!

Think about this formula proposed by John Maxwell in his book Talent is Never Enough. Maxwell says that “every person is capable of doing something better than the next 10,000 people.” That something is called your STRENGTH ZONE.  From the yogic view we are capable of far greater things than what we often deem possible.  We realize our potential only when we see that we are worthy of making time for ourselves and that each breath is another opportunity to dream even bigger dreams. 

 

FEBRUARY 2ND:  My Dear Yogi Friends, as you know I was away this weekend for four days in Colorado.  I was totally getting that Rocky Mountain High:  breathing, skiing, yogaing, enjoying the sunshine!  I benefited from many life lessons as a result of this trip that I will share in classes this week related to yoga philosophy.  As always the most important of which is to wake up, pay attention and BE PRESENT in order to live life more fully in each moment. A fave quote that speaks to this is:

“Most of the time we don’t even pay attention to the depth of life. We only see flat surfaces.” -Anonymous 

Some other topics that came up during this weekend:  AHIMSA - a fundamental principle of yoga often known as non-harming, kindness and safety. Every day we are fighting for our lives but how do we do so without hurting others.  How do we create a safe situation for ourselves where we aren't driven by fear but by the desire to be kind?  COURAGE - not the front page stuff but the quiet courage that requires trust, faith and a really brave heart.  HABITS - those habits with attachments that prevent us from growing spiritually. You know those one's that give us a false of sense of ease because we grow dull doing the same thing over and over again.   OPENING UP - When we close down we are like fish moving towards dry land, when we open up and even allow vulnerability we flow with grace towards the ocean.  The mountains helped me remain open even though all I wanted to do was contract during challenging moments.  BE PRESENT -  It is easy to see everything as flat and "ok" but that means we really aren't paying attention. This is when we are not awake for if we were living in the moment (where true happiness lies) then we'd see the depth, like the mountain ranges I experienced this weekend.

Ok, many other lessons learned over the weekend like Managing Doubt, Simplicity, Facing Our Fears, Body Prayer, Spirtual Seeking, Peace of Mind, but I'll save those for my book.  Please join me this week to learn more about these key one's above.  I look forward to being with you on the mat! And remember today is not a rehearsal - this is IT! Love to all, Silvia 

FEBRUARY 2ND, 2009:   Ahimsa is a fundamental principle of yoga often known as non-harming, kindness and safety. All living beings thrive on kindness!

Every day we are fighting for our lives but how do we do so without hurting others.  How do we create a safe situation for ourselves where we aren't driven by fear but by the desire to be kind?  In learning how to ski again I got a guide, a ski instructor, Patrick Vaughn.  He helped me stay safe, control my speed so that I wouldn’t run other people down nor would I hurt myself.  This was an expression of kindness all the way around.  But the key thing here is to know it wasn’t about fear.  That’s something different to live in a way that restricts us because we are afraid all the time.  I have been there – I spent a great deal of time in my past afraid and basing my actions or inactions on fear.  That’s no way to live.  It drains you, it creates a constant feeling of being unsafe.  The potential for danger constant. 

One of the most interesting things about fear is that it exists in relationship to the future. So making sensitive adjustments going down a slope means you have to do so by staying present to all those that exist around us (life as we know it is not a game of solitaire) as soon as you get afraid in the what ifs then you move out of the present, you tune out, you drop out and you literally WIPE out. 

Ahimsa is directing our actions from a kind place of gentle thought.  The toughest practice of Ahimsa is paying attention to negative, violent thoughts.  And if we are really honest we all have to admit we don’t always think kind thoughts towards ourselves (or others for that matter).  But our existence as a global tribe requires we figure out how to manage kind thoughts because they lay the foundation of kind actions.  It is the intention behind the actions not the actions themselves. Otherwise we fall into the trap of being afraid to hurt others and then act in ways that can often hurt ourselves. 

We are all critically important to the universe. I saw this on the mountain it literally took a village to run the place.  So we all can work together in a kind, loving way and suffering will be reduced in the world (not eliminated). Pay attention to your breath and it will give you a sense of your depth of kindness internally, are you cutting yourself off from breathing? Is this a form of violence towards self, isn’t it life diminishing?

So today let’s invite kindness, peace into our practice.  On the plane I would say to myself ‘I am peaceful, I am feeling peace, I am peace” Take this as my gift.  The best practice of Ahimsa is making time for ourselves (like my mini holiday, or you being here tonight in class).  We are obliged to take time for ourselves the sutras teach us.  And it is much more pleasant and fun to do willingly before any disease invites itself into your life. 
LOVE FOR ONESELF IS LOVE FOR ALL.

NOVEMBER 9TH, 2008:  Today we declared BE GOOD TO YOURSELF DAY!  It was great!  According to statistics 40% of working women say their stress level is High, 56% of men and women say stress I hurting their relationships, as Americans we take less vacation than anyone else in the world, we work longer hours, 22% of us say we’re too busy for a lunch break and the list goes on.  You can easily see why it is vitally important to declare today a special holiday, Be Good To Yourself Day.

We did this by asking ourselves throughout our practice what is it that I need for myself here?  What is the kindest approach, the most compassionate way of being in my body, my heart?  The inspiration today was a 50^th wedding anniversary I attended the night before with the key advice from the couple when asked “how to stay together 50 years” was BE KIND.  Yup, that was it in a nutshell.  Well ok, then let’s practice being kind to ourselves.  May you be happy, healthy, kind and peaceful. With Metta (lovingkindness), Silvia

SEPTEMBER 21, 2008:

 

SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2008:  I know some folks reading this will say, Oh no not peace, again!?!"  That's cool.  I thought that a long time ago too.  But somewhere between "it's not my job" and "I can't really make a difference" I changed my mind.  So I will keep talking about peace until that day that all people everywhere live in peace.  With all my heart, I hope that day is soon...

We’re not going to be perfect in this quest.  In the words of the band Teitur, All my mistakes have become masterpieces.”  Let’s just keep trying, ok? “If peace is really what you want, then you will choose peace. If peace mattered to you more than anything else you would remain nonreactive when confronted with challenging people or situations. From A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle  "It would be powerful and effective and would make no person or situation into an enemy."

 

Now I really do believe that most folks agree that a more peaceful world would be ideal. However, its been my experience that a lot of us seem stumped as to how to contribute peace and make the world better.

 

From a yogic view it is really kind of simple in theory and is known as AHIMSA: 

“If we are to have true peace in this world, each one of us must find it in ourselves first. If we don’t like ourselves, for example, we probably won’t like those around us. If we are in a constant state of inner conflict, then we will probably bring conflict into the world. If we have fighting within our families, there can be no peace.”

 

When it comes to peace:  Our job is to say yes!, not when, how or maybe.  We must choose peace!   Join me and others all over the world in being a Peaceful Warrior.  As Michael Franti sings, “POWER TO THE PEACEFUL!”  (Visit www.powertothepeaceful.com to learn more). 

 

And take to heart these inspiring words:  of the Dalai Lama who said, “Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace starts within each one of us.”