Intuition

We are bombarded on a daily basis with conflicting messages from "experts". Sometimes I get so overwhelmed that I just want to scream!

Eat organic.
Pesticides don't really hurt you at all.
Pasta will make you gain weight- avoid it!
Carbohydrates are part of a balanced diet.
Vaccinations can lead to autism.
Vaccines are not the cause of children developing autism.
Don't spend too much time in the sun or you'll get cancer.
Your body needs vitamin D, which it can only get from sunlight.
The chance of divorce is higher if you live together before marriage.
Living together before tying the knot makes your marriage stronger.

What evidence can we really trust? It seems that there are always statistics supporting BOTH sides. I've studied a little bit of Feng Shui (the placement of your "stuff" to help create balance in your life), and I've learned something really important from this ancient tradition. There are many different branches of Feng Shui, and some of their practices contradict each other. But we all know instinctively when a room doesn't "feel" right. TRUST YOUR INTUITION. Do what's right for YOU! As the cliched saying goes: if your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you jump with them? Educate yourself before making important decisions. Read differing views on things you're curious about. Soak up all the information you can like a sponge and become an informed decision-maker. After all, you have all the answers you need deep inside you...you just have to learn to listen.

How can you start trusting YOURSELF more?

Choose love,
Grace

Enlightening Snow

Puffy white flakes descend from the sky like sifted flour. Icycles hang heavy on bowed power lines. I am blessed to have been given permission from my compassionate boss to work from home today. I am perfectly capable of navigating the roads in blizzard-y conditions, but today I am choosing to avoid the possibility of car or bodily damage today. The risk is too great.

So I sit stretched out on my futon with my laptop perched on my legs, fingers rapidly tapping the keyboard. I am facing the living room's picture window, and my periferal vision keeps getting interrupted by the pure whiteness of the falling flakes. I look up, and I am hooked. I sit mesmerized at mother nature's creative genius, and I begin to zone out. I am practicing dharana without even trying. Dharana is the fifth limb of yoga (there are 8 altogether, which when practiced together lead you to enlightenment), and it simply means meditating on an object. The possibilities are endless as far as what kind of an object to use. In my teacher training we practiced a meditation while staring into the flame of a candle, trying hard not to blink. Focusing on your breath (a popular form of meditation) is another form of dharana. It helps to bring you out of your mind and into a space of freedom, openness and lightness. I used to think that meditation had to be done in a cross-legged or lotus position, hands on knees, eyes closed, and you had to try to shut your mind off somehow. These expectations seemed very uncomfortable and pretty much impossible to me. But I am learning that there is a wide depth to meditation techniques, and this revelation brings me great joy.

All of my attention is focused on the falling snow, and I observe it without judgement, letting my thoughts flow in and out of my mind with gentleness.

What are some other objects that could aid in meditation?

Choosing love and safety,
Grace

Courage

One homework assignment for our yoga training this weekend was to create a pranayama script, which is simply guiding someone through a breathing meditation. I opted to work on the exercise that is the most challenging for me, nadi shudi. This is alternate nostril breathing, and I always seem to take my first inhale through the wrong side of my nose and then proceed to get all mixed up with the alternating. We practiced our scripts on our peers yesterday, and my friend gently corrected me as I stumbled and bumbled along. Eventually, she offered a visual aid to help me understand the flow of breath in this exercise, which I gratefully accepted with a sigh of relief. My friend admitted to me (with a giggle) that she had chosen a simpler exercise to script, taking the easy way out of the assignment. I nodded in understanding.

"There is a tendency for each of us to gravitate toward what comes easiest and avoid the areas where we need the most work." --The Sevenfold Journey by Anodea Judith & Selene Vega

It's easy to get stuck in a pattern of simplicity and ease, especially during my personal yoga practice at home. I skip a pose because it's not comfortable. I hold downward dog for only 3 breaths instead of 5. Cheating my body out of challenge and depth in my practice only keeps me from growing. Yes, it's scary sometimes to try new things, but we learn about ourselves and our bodies when doing so. And think about how amazing we feel when we open up areas of discomfort with a deeper twist or extension, or balance without crashing to the floor for the first time. Countless yoga teachers have said that the poses that we dislike the most are the ones we need the most! How true, and how wise. I chose to embrace my difficulty with nadi shudi as a learning opportunity, and I gained new perspective and am much more comfortable with the process now.

How can you exercise your courage muscle today?

Choose love. Choose challenge.
Grace

Positive!

Here's a little ditty/poem/string of phrases for you. I wrote this last year on July 1st in a super jazzed up moment:

"Get charged. Tune in. Just be. Soak up the sun. Breathe light in nature. Share your path with others. Follow your heart. Let your intuition guide you. Be you. Be present. Love what is. Trust the universe. We are one. Live for one moment at a time. Open up. Think positive. All is well. Love."

Notice how they're all POSITIVE, affirming statements. It can be challenging to turn around negative ideas into positive ones, but I dare you to try it! The next time you catch yourself thinking like a pessimistic person (cuz you WILL catch yourself now that I've pointed it out to you!)- PAUSE - and come up with a more pleasant and positive version to keep you feeling good and keep your energy vibrating and lively! After all, you have the option to choose the way you think. Why not choose optimisim?

What would it feel like to think ONLY positive thoughts?

Choosing love one moment at a time,
Grace

Rest

Last week I woke up with a sore throat, but felt fine otherwise, so I decided to head into the office anyway. I immediately started my immune boosting regimin of Zinc-C lozenges, herbal cough drops, Zand Echinacea/Goldenseal tincture (I LUV this stuff- check your local health food store to see if they carry it), and garlic pills galore. After only a few hours at work, my muscles started to ache, and exhaustion washed over my whole body. I had a pretty intense debate back and forth in my head about whether or not I should take the rest of the day off. I hate missing work. It's not because I love my job (although I do!), but more the principle of being a dependable employee. This is not a new phenomenon for me: I strived for perfect attendance at school every year. My co-workers and I joke about not wanting to waste our paid time off on sick days- we'd rather be at the beach or doing something fun! But as I get to know my body better through yoga and become familiar with the unhealthy warning signs (you're going to get sick if you don't slow down!), I have discovered how important it is to listen to what it's telling me. If I ignore my body's signals and push through a long day at work, I more often than not end up even more sick for a longer period of time. So I sucked up my stubborn perspective and headed home to the comfort of my cozy down comforter, a mug of tea, and a relaxing movie. And I was proud of myself for making a healthy choice and trusting my body.

Do you allow yourself rest when your body requests it?

Choose love.
Grace

Inhale, exhale.

The temperature here has been consistently below freezing recently, and I've been super aware of the misty cloud of breath that bursts from my lungs into the cold air when I step outside. Yoga has taught me about the importance of breath. I've never thought so much about something that happens without thinking about it! Inhale, exhale. The deep ujaii breathing that we practice in yoga helps to drown out our rambling thoughts, quieting our mind. The breath creates a flow from posture to posture, fluidly linking the movements together. But when I step off my mat after class, the breathing switches back to automatic, and my thoughts start to spin, bounce, jiggle, and swirl around in my head. Inhale, exhale. Sometimes during the day at work, when my stress level is rising, I notice that my breathing becomes really shallow, or I'll even catch myself holding my breath. I'm thankful that I recognize this correlation- the relationship between stress and breath in my life.

"the most important thing to me
as a songwriter is the breath
the most important thing I could
ever say to somebody is,
'sometimes I just breathe you in'".
--Tori Amos

Inhale, exhale. If I ever decide to get a permanent tatoo it will be calligraphy of the word EXHALE, so I have a constant reminder to release and let it all go. I offer this reminder to you: your breath brings you back into the present moment, which is the only place you really need to be! So the next time you start to feel off balance, STOP! Inhale, exhale....

How can you savor and relish your breath throughout the day?

Choose love,
Grace

Mornings...

I admit it: I'm a morning person. My alarm rings, and I bounce out of bed! Part of the reason for this is that I turn into a pumpkin around 9:30pm, so I usually get a pretty full night's rest. My body is jazzed up and ready to go, sometimes even a few moments BEFORE the alarm rings! But even when I am super awake when I get to work, sometimes the daily habits and routines get in the way of recognizing the day as NEW. New possibilities, new opportunities, new growth. It's challenging to see something different when you are looking through the exact same lens. A friend of mine who runs an organizing business impressed upon me the importance of finding something inspirational to read to start your days. Think of it as coffee for your mind. I have signed up for a few daily e-mails from various environmental organizations that send me a green tip every day and also a daily quote. My suggestion is to go to your favorite website and see if they have a free daily e-mail list you can join. Or you could get one of those desk calendars about your favorite hobby or beautiful images to reflect on. It's the idea of something to get the gears turning. See how fun it is to start the day with a fresh perspective!

Do you have a favorite morning inspirational activity?

Choose LOVE!
Grace