SELF-TALK AS SELF-STUDY
April 1, 2011. Do you talk to yourself? I do. All the time. And if you believe science we all talk to ourselves nonstop. The question beneath the question is more so about the "Quality of communication" you have in your self-talk.
"We all have voices in our heads which ?talks to us on an almost constant basis. ?Our voices give us messages continually, ?and what they say to us affects us." - Juliene Berk
In yoga we actively observe our self-talk and we study ourselves to learn about ourselves. This is known as Svadhaya. For most of us this is a huge paradigm shift. We grow up spending close to 100% of our time studying what everyone else has attempted or accomplished. We learn how to be more interested in what others think about who we are than what we think of our own opinion. I look back at all the hours spent worrying and intensely studying how others talked to me than what I was saying to myself and now realize the emphasis was in the wrong place.
John Lembo says "Every waking moment we talk to ourselves about the things we experience. Our self-talk, the thoughts we communicate to ourselves, in turn control the way we feel and act." In yoga we not only observe our thoughts but we practice talking to ourselves on purpose, with purpose. "Self-suggestion makes you master of yourself." (W. Clement Stone) We learn that what we say to ourselves and how we say it impacts how we feel. We learn that we are responsible for creating our world from the inside out.
“Watch your thoughts for they become words
Watch your words for they become actions
Watch your actions for they become habits
Watch your habits for they become character
Watch your character for it becomes your destiny!”
The other key learning that becomes transportable from our yoga is the way we talk to ourselves is how we talk to other people (our partner, our children, our friends). These are never two separate things. Our communication is practiced with ourselves from ourselves first. Then the more life affirming our self-talk is the more positive we are in how we talk to everyone! Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia
FOCUS YOUR ENERGY USING LAW OF ATTRACTION
May 25, 2010. The law of attraction simply states that like attracts like. This includes all form of energy, including our thoughts. One of our greatest strengths as human beings is our power to focus our thoughts. And key things to know are (1) if you don’t focus your thoughts they will end up scattered in all directions starting and stopping and running about. (2) if we make no effort at all in directing our thoughts to something positive they will tend towards the negative or catastrophic. A philosopher said, “in a civilized world, if our strength are not determined to be valuable, we spend our life shoring up our weaknesses.”
When we practice yoga we practice focusing our thoughts (which then determine our actions). We on purpose set up our hands flat and wide fingers spread in table or plank or downward dog. And we stay focused on them otherwise if we don’t check in with the placement of our hands or feet they will get away from us like our thoughts if left unattended. On the mat we apply our minds to performing the poses and controlling our breath as a means to focus our attention. Yoga is all about the mind. We just happen to use the body as the technique to gather this energy.
The other main thing to really commit to memory is that applying the law of attraction means that our thoughts (and all energy) is like a magnet. The less distracted our thoughts the more powerful they become at attracting similar thoughts. Undistracted thought energy is highly potent. It works like this, the longer we are able to hold a positive thought in our mind the more powerful the positive energy becomes around us. And eventually brain science proves that we don’t need to focus on the action and controlling so much because we are already surrounded by the positive vibrations that draws more of what we want to us.
Like attracts like.
When you think about it there is never any reason compelling enough to hold onto a single negative thought. Not even one. Why? Because we don’t have time to waste our energy on negativity which only produces more negative energy. Life is too short to live like that. There is never any reason to focus on anger, fear or disappointment. Instead you are in charge of your life, your best life and responsible for making each moment count. As Deepak Chopra says it so simply, “happy thoughts create happy cells.” I get that. I apply it, And my life is forever changed for the positive and I want yours to be too! Love yourself, Love your day, Love your life! Silvia
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VICTORY – GETTING PASSED STUCKNESS
JANUARY 29, 2010: 9:15am & 6pm Class Themes Today were an opportunity to learn how to use the Psychology of Victory to get passed your Stuckness. Believe it, our thoughts are "trainable" to focus on what we want in life - what you think creates your reality. The world is not created “out there somewhere” and then experienced by us, it is first experienced inside us then that is what is reflected back to us.
“The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives” (William James)
This gets pretty radical. Albert Einstein suggested that we cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it. So there is this idea within that that “the world has no sadness in it, only people thinking sad thoughts.” (Spiritual Solutions to Everyday Problems)
How this happens is we have to think something, do something or as Einstein says “nothing happens until something moves.” So in vinyasa flow yoga we move and breath in alignment with our internal energies. We are not stuck our humanity is that of flow. Valerie Hunt in her book, Infinite Mind of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness writes, “Motion is more natural to life than non-motion – things that keep flowing are inherently good.” What interferes with FLOW will have detrimental effects.” So the conclusion is that when we stop our flow and as a result of fear or worry or past experience stop the flow we get stuck and this can certainly have negative effects physically and emotionally. Last week Yahoo News reported a story on January 20th titled “Experts: sitting too much could be deadly”
To embrace the flow means we are hugging in to a psychology of victory! That we see we can evolve to ever greater happiness. We have a choice to keep aspiring and growing beyond our fears. Of course we will hesitate but we need not make war with life, that is the ultimate stuckness. Instead take these words to heart from Vivekenanda, “observe the blossoms of the fruit trees. The blossoms vanish of themselves as the fruit grows. The apples do not get into a deep conflict with the blossoms that are in their designated space on the branches of the tree. There is no anger, no fear, no battle between the fruit and its blossoms. As the fruit grows the blossoms disappear.” Allow yourself to life yourself to higher energies and keep flowing, life is too short to remain stuck another moment….as Saint Teresa of Avila advises, “let nothing disturb thee, let nothing dismay thee, all things pass.” Love in all ways, Silvia
LAW OF ATTRACTION
OCTOBER 10, 2009: Today law of attraction: positive attracts positive. So no matter what the world is offering it is our choice to be happy. Sally Kempton says, "It is actually possible to feel happy regardless of how the world is treating you, or how horrible your childhood was or the fact that all your friends are more successful than you are, you can beven be happy when you’re failing something or when you’re sick.”
You see we create the world in our 60,000 thoughts per day. The world isn’t created out there and then experienced within it is experienced from the inside out. Einstein talks about the most important decision we make is whether we see the world as friendly or hostile. If you expect the worst you will attract that energy. If you have a positive expectation then positivity draws more things that are positive. So you choose! Love the day, Silvia
“The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” - John Milton in Paradise Lost
POSITIVE EXPECTATIONS YIELDS POSITIVE OUTCOME
May 31, 2009:
The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”
It is a Fundamental spiritual belief yogic or otherwise that we are meant to enjoy ourselves in this lifetime, right now. Our natural state is to love and be loved.
So ask yourself what attitude do you have about your life? What does this attitude say about you? I think we all understand that without stop we have a running commentary in our head. This mindstuff reveals what beliefs we have about who we are, our attitudes about life. My friend Sadie Nardinin says “The biggest mistake we make as humans is to look at our destructive thought patterns and think we cannot choose again.” I’ve known that feeling of being stuck. The thing is you guys YOU are not stuck. Choose again. Take back your attitude. Give yourself permission to get back to your natural state.
We do this by having POSITIVE EXPECTATIONS for a POSITIVE OUTCOME.
Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.” Brian Tracy
We can check in with our attitude all day long: Are you focused on your limitations right now or on your dreams? Are you expecting the worst of best from life? Simply put, are your expectations positive or negative?
Through yoga learn how to live like life is not being done to you but for you. This is a gift with a limited shelf life so enjoy it! Transform your life by expecting the best. If you are in a downward spiral or just feeling “ok” there is no need for you accept a flat lined life. Your attitude is your POWER TO HEAL yourself. Our best feature as human beings is our super hero power of positive expectation: determination, living with integrity, strength of character, compassion in the face of suffering, creativity, growth, renewal. You create your life and no one else does it for you. Start today, start now. Life is fleeting don’t miss the pretty colors. Love your day, Silvia
RIDE THE WAVE
MARCH 23, 2009: Life is like a wave. A wave may seem to have a beginning and end. A wave might be seen as high or low, big or small, different or not different from other waves.
No matter what we call or title the wave, the wave is at the same time the water. Water transcends the form of the wave, the idea of beginning, ending, high, or low. These notions apply to the wave but not to the water.
All watery things have to do with Second Chakra (circulation, orgasm, tears, urination). Water is always changing it flows and when your 2nd chakra is healthy it allows us to transcend the form of the wave and be the water. This means that we don’t try to force things to be different, who are we to demand to know why stuff happens anyway. Instead, this healthy chakra promotes that we just feel whatever arises and that we accept what is in front of us with grace. You will see for yourself the moment we relax our resistance to life it gets easier.
Just like the moment when the wave realizes that she is water, she loses all her fear and she enjoys much more being a wave. She is free from birth and death, being and non-being, high or low, because when we are able to touch our ultimate dimension, we are no longer subjected to fear-- fear of being; fear of non-being; fear of birth; fear of death; and most of all fear of change.
So together we practiced slow flow vinyasa and did our best to realize that we are not our thoughts, we are not our bodies we are the water. We are spirit and ultimately what we’re talking about is that we are LOVE. So that’s it. Be love, ride the wave. Love to you all! Silvia
CURRENCY OF YOUR THOUGHTS
JANUARY 12TH, 2009: We have 60,000 thoughts per day. If I said to you I'd give you this much money each day and you'd have to spend it that same day with no carry over how would you spend it? Would you buy things that didn't fit you, purchase furniture you didn't like, buy a car that wasn't your taste, order food you were allergic to? Of course not!
So why then would we ever spend the currency of our thoughts on things we Don't Want?
Today, practice spending your currency of thought and energy on what you want MORE OF IN YOUR LIFE. Spend wisely, you don't get to do today over and once today's currency is spent it's gone. Peaceful courage, Silvia (May the pretend money I gave you in class today serve as an ongoing reminder, or if you missed class take a dollar bill and write yourself a note on it.)
WHY DO YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO?
NOVEMBER 3RD, 2008: I have spent really my whole life trying to find meaning in why stuff happens, why stuff doesn't happen. Even when I was a little girl I wanted desparately to figure out what I had to do so I could be happier and my family could be happier and the world could be happier. I know you're saying "Whoa, that's a lot of pressure for one little girl." Yeah I know.
So through this practice and my own life experience eventually I figured out that living a happy, peaceful life lies not in what we are doing but rather why we are doing it. So for meditation today ask yourself (and be really honest) WHY DO YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO?
As we know we have 60,000 thoughts per day and whenever we think a thought the brain sends chemicals through our body that produce a feeling based on that thought. If we think the same critical thoughts over and over, these repetitive thoughts and their repetitive chemical reactions will create a negative view of life. They will drain our life of life. So ask yourself WHY DO YOU THINK THE THINGS YOU DO? The thoughts you have today will go through a gestation period (short or long) and will eventually give birth to the quality of your life. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE BORN FROM YOUR LIFE?
LIBERATE YOURSELF
AUGUST 20TH, 2008: I was reading about how bullying and adversity made Michael Phelps, eight time gold medal winner, stronger. People made fun of him, the fact he swam instead of played football, the size of his ears, his height, all of it. I love that he persevered! He didn’t give in! He found a way to meditate - to do yoga, his yoga happened to be swimming. Instead of getting bogged down or paralyzed by worry about what others thought about him he kept living his life to the fullest. As a result he is realizing his DREAMS!
Take this practice to liberate yourself, how? Let go of your worries. Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutras, “What you’ve already done, you’ve done – LET IT GO,
Now in your next breath just do your best, be kind to others, include more and more folks in “others” and be kind to them too.
And remember the ultimate key to liberation – “Love will set you free” As Michael Franti sings.
ANOTHER EASY WAY TO THINK OF THIS IS:
- Stop giving energy to the things you don’t want.
- Everything begins with a thought. Even Einstein says, “The ancestor to every action is a thought.”
- Once you understand fully that what you think about is what EXPANDS you start to get very careful about what you think about.
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”