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SEPTEMBER 4, 2010:  From the teachings of yoga a teacher shared with a teacher that shared with a teacher that shared with teacher Pamela Bliss who shared with me, "One of the most profound bits of wisdom shared with me in a teaching yoga is that procrastination is severely detrimental to one's development on the spiritual path."  For me the truth of Yoga is that if you practice regularly you see swift changes mentally, emotionally and physically.  And if you step away from your practice chances are inertia takes over and it is epically difficult to get back on the mat again. Or as Jon Kabat Zinn says, "not practicing is a form of practice."  And the follow up from my friend Dr. Gregg "so how's that working for you?"

"The fault is in the one who blames. Spirit sees nothing to criticize." RUMI

This is not about blaming ourselves for our shortcomings. Not at all. Instead just think of yoga as TRUTH SERUM (SATYA SERUM).  The body doesn't lie.  When you are on one leg balancing and your mind is in a million places you will fall out of that 1 legged balance for sure.  If you are in a warrior pose and your leg is shaking after not practicing yoga all summer well, not doing something has resulted in your muscles responding by shaking when they didn't do that when you took action and came to class 3 times per week.  On the other hand your life is not a dress rehearsal so be happy you are pushing all your poses to that point you call the soft edge.

To me there are 2 kinds of procrastinators: (1) those that have gotten off the couch and attempted and (2) those that have never fully tried.  Interestingly, just because you might fall into category #1 of procrastinators doesn't guarantee you momentum.  For that you have to stay engaged.  So whether you've tried a little, a lot, or not at all procrastination in any of its forms will stunt your spiritual development.  You will forever stay a Spiritual Baby and never evolved towards spiritual toddlerhood or adolescence or adulthood.  The path is sequential.  

I have healed myself of procrastination is through yoga and my spiritual practices that support my yoga, because I grew up enough to ask for help from the universe.  The reason I would often get paralyzed by procrastination was I was afraid of having to do everything by myself, I even felt like I had to always offer my prayers for others but never for me.  "Where did you get that idea you aren't allowed to petition the universe with prayer? You are part of this universe. You're a constituent - you have every entitlement to participate in the actions of the universe, and to let your feelings be known. So put your opinion out there. Make your case. Believe me - it will at least be taken into consideration."  -Elizabeth Gilbert from Eat, Pray, Love

So start now or reboot, or restart today. Stop blaming, stop waiting for everything to be perfect, stop postponing your happiness and just ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT!  And keep asking, continue the momentum. And if you want a really easy way to to keep up with yourself and your intentions well then make regular, consistent appointments with your yoga mat and I promise you will see your life blossom beyond your wildest intentions!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Silvia
PS if you need a quicker kick off then join me on Retreat for a 4 day adventure in Moab, Utah or Pagosa Springs, Colorado this Fall come November and December. www.alchemytours.com

Yoga kisses us awake one way or the other.

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

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

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

FEBRUARY 24TH, 2009: "Love calls on parts of you that cannot speak."  To me the highest practice of yoga is self-love.  Time and again this is the purpose of practice.  And just like loving another person we have to work at it. We must make an active effort to fall in love with ourselves on a day to day basis (or at the very least week to week). 

The act of falling in love gets you centered to go to the next step in your spiritual journey!

This is Puja for your body.  In India Pura is a ritual where they take idols that represent spirit and give their love to them, feed them, sing to them.  Yoga poses (yoga asana) is like praying with our bodies in that the idea is that our bodies are temple.  When you practice giving love to every part of your body through the nourishment of breath and movement you plant seeds of love and when they grow you will love, honor and respect your body even more.  Life can be super easy when you LOVE yourself, when you LOVE your way of life, when you see everything through eyes of LOVE!

In the book Four Agreements a key section speaks to this, "in the search for self-love you will discover that its just a matter of time before you find what you are looking for.  It's not about daydreaming or sitting hours in meditation.  You have to stand up and be a HUMAN.  You have to honor the man or woman that you are. 

• Respect Your Body
• Enjoye Your Body
• Love Your Body
• Feed, clean, Heal Your Body
• Do what makes your body feel good

Today please repeat this Toltec prayer before bed and when you wake in the morning to promote this act of falling in love with yourself again and again:  Today help me to keep the love and peace in my heart And to make that love a new way of life, that I may live in love the rest of my life."  Be love, Silvia