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Calendar Caution

  By Laura Mills

   With regards to the passage of time, in my experience two categories of people exist: those who dread it, and those who welcome it. I’ve known people who refuse to discuss “next month” or “next year” for fear of what the future may bring, people who view the world as an inherently dangerous place in which nothing ever goes right. On the other hand, I’ve known people who anticipate the future as an opportunity for further fullness of life, people whose “What if…?” questions end with positive words, hopeful smiles and playful laughs.
   The most interesting thing to me, here, is that in one way or another both categories of people believe anything is possible. We all consider the unknown ahead and sense that it’s loaded with possibilities; at some level, we all have that openness that allows practices like yoga to change our lives. But if we automatically dread those possibilities, I think we close doors that just might present us with the path we’ve been looking for all along.
   As we continue to move forward through days, months and years, none of us will succeed at keeping all doors always open. But we are capable of considering the unknown ahead one day at a time, breathing, and remembering we at least always have a choice.    

By Laura Mills

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

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

Your next breath may be your best yet.

Namaste Yogis, 

I am back from Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon  with a new spark to live life to the fullest, and to bring a sense of adventure into every moment. Adventure is the willingness to commit to an uncertain outcome with an open heart & open mind.  It's the ability to take a leap into the unknown with mindfulness and grace.  It's the ability to think big about who you are, how you live, and what you can do in the world, whether it's  climbing to the ridge of the Grand Canyon, putting all your $ on red, or flowing through asanas. Please come on an adventure with me tomorrow at 9:15 am.  I will have a new playlist from The Beatles  to Barry Manilow :)

Life is uncertain! Being adventurous means seeing that uncertainty as the gift of possibility!

Peace & Namaste,

Christine

*Don't forget this month refer a friend and they get 30 days unlimited yoga for $30!! And you get entered to win 2 FREE months of yoga

April 13, 2010:  Yoga is funny in that it is a great paradox. We feel this in the physical sense in the juncture point of the waistline where pelvic loop and kidney loops originate. Both draw back the side bodies but the the energy splits up. The pelvic loop draws waist back and DOWN and kidney loop draws the waist back and UP.  Yoga helps us to explore how to live with what the world is offering us and receive it gracefully while at the same time figuring out how to turn what is being offered into an empowered experience.  But this isn't the cliché of lemons into lemonade which is just plain annoying isn't it?   

Nope this is about staying centered within ourselves to a place of great depth and tranquility and remain steady no matter what life has served you today - when you most want to shut down, to remain open hearted by holding onto to that calm center.  And at the same time this is in no way apathetic. We are meant to action our lives and keep evolving towards greater and greater happiness.  

So we have to create an alignment between our desires and aspirations and what's really possible for us today, in this moment.  If what we want and what we do and what we think are out of alignment then suffering ensues.  This life of ours is asking that we learn how to hold and release and reach and expand all at the same time.  

Today, how are you doing? Can you live with what the world is offering you?  Peace in all ways, Silvia