FWD: How Accepting and Loving of Yourself Are You?

(click for this post) How Accepting and Loving of Yourself Are You?

There's a meditation in this post called "Accepting and Love Myself! meditation". I just read it and now want to try it. Acceptance and love for myself is something I've been practicing in my life with pretty much everything I do and say. This is especially big with me when it comes to making decisions and choices. Once I accept and love where I'm at, I become more clear with what I want and what I want to create for myself. It's a hard practice, but it definitely works!

Thanks, Catherine Hidalgo for sharing this post!

Family Meditation

Wow, what a concept! If only I had this growing up. I hope to share this practice with my children one day :-)

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(From yogajournal.com daily insight)

Introducing children to yoga, meditation, and spirituality is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. It can set their future on a nourishing and creative course. But how do you present this knowledge so that children of different ages will receive the most benefit from it?

When we teach meditation to children, we need to choose age-appropriate techniques that foster their total growth and development. Meditations for children cannot be the same as those taught to middle-aged business people or spiritual aspirants seeking higher knowledge. Rather, in this context, meditation is a process that supports the growth of the body-mind of the child, fosters the development of each child's own unique personality, and supports creativity and expression.

Meditation techniques for children can help them relax and focus better during school, so that they can concentrate and memorize more effectively. From the spiritual perspective, good meditation techniques teach children self-awareness, encourage them to be themselves, and help them face life with greater belief in their potential.

IN THIS ISSUE
Teaching Meditation to Children

http://www.yogajournal.com/for_teachers/1856
Meditation 101

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/1307

All You Need is Yoga

For me, not necessarily. I know for myself I love a dance class or combo aerobic/dance class to get the blood and oxygen flowing. I guess the "yang" side (active side) of me needs it. Also, to each his own. I feel everyone needs something different but including yoga in your routine is a wonderful thing. What I love about it is you can attend to your own body's needs. For instance, if you're feeling fatigued or run-down, do some restorative, relaxation yoga. If you have a lot of energy or stress, do a few rounds of sun salutations and/or standing poses to ground and center yourself. There is also meditation. Being able to sit with yourself for a few minutes or longer helps slow down the breath, blood pressure and nervous system. There's opportunity to tune into your emotions as well. The benefits of yoga are immense!

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(From yogajournal.com daily insight)


Yoga might be good for flexibility or relaxation, but to be truly fit, do you have to combine it with an activity like running or weight lifting?

Yoga may improve strength, aerobic capacity, and lung function. If you practice yoga, you already knew that. But if you've been told by friends, family, doctors, or even other yoga students that you need to add some power walking for your heart or strength training for your muscles, there's growing evidence that yoga is all you need for a fit mind and body.

Yoga tunes you into your body and helps you to better coordinate your actions. When you bring your breath, your awareness, and your physical body into harmony, you allow your body to work at its maximum fitness capacity. Yoga class is merely a laboratory for how to be in harmony with the body in every activity outside of yoga. The improved physical wellness and fluidity that yoga brings can enhance more than just our physical well-being, as it permeates all levels of our being.

IN THIS ISSUE
Is Yoga Enough to Keep You Fit?

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/739
Yoga for Runners

http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/192

Stay-cation appreciation

Another alternative to vacation: stay-cation. I just learned this term yesterday. Sometimes just staying home for a week can be just as relaxing and replenishing as going away somewhere. I have found that, for me, it's truly a vacation. Last week, my mother came to visit. Since she's been to San Francisco before, we didn't have to do all those touristy things that you would normally do when visiting a new city. We would wake up whenever; have coffee, tea and breakfast; and then either go shopping, walking, visiting her brother in hayward, museum, or just lounge around. I'm very close with my mother these days than I have ever been in my life. I appreciate everything she has done right down to giving birth to me. I feel all the work I have done (and still doing) on myself has really made a difference in the people in my life, even those who would push my buttons or drive me crazy! This stay-cation really allowed me to appreciate everyone and everything around me--my apartment, the materials in my apartment, my job, my health, my husband, my family, my cats, the sunshine and sky!

So I decided to start a meditation practice for myself. Since I'm really busy at this time in my life, I decided to meditate for up to 10 minutes when I can. Focusing on what I'm grateful for and what I want to create for myself--career, life, with my husband, etc. This is something that my therapist recommended to me and I have found such wonderful value with it. I have experienced the joy and grateful-ness through my whole body and being and I want others to experience it too. Down the road, I want to build up my practice to a daily exercise. That's my goal and declaration.

Find Another Use for Your Phone

This is hilarious. Of all things to assist in meditation practices, you think a phone would be something you turn off and forget about. I'm totally going to try this!

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(From yogajournal.com daily insight)


Often, we instinctively categorize experiences or things as either "good" or "bad." We imagine those qualities adhere in the thing itself. But sometimes, it is our approach to those things that creates their value.

Take, for example, your telephone. Few of us would suggest that a telephone would be helpful to a meditation practice. But if we change our relationship to the telephone, we change its meaning into something more positive, beneficial, and relaxing.

Don't let the telephone be one more stressor. Just as Buddhist monks use temple bells to remind themselves to come back to the present moment, let a ringing telephone be a signal to stop and center yourself. Practice "telephone meditation" by never diving for the phone on the first ring. Instead, when you hear the phone ring, stop what you're doing, breathe deeply and smile. Then answer the phone on the second or third ring.



IN THIS ISSUE
Life Dancing
http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/446


Mindful Nature Walking (One Step at a Time)
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/773

Money Meditation

(From YogaJournal.com Daily Insight)

When economic times are bad, remember that everything that arises in the world of form is impermanent. The impermanence of our economic well-being—which, for many of us, is synonymous with "survival"—can, of course, create a sense of freak-out. But such fears are rarely based on a present-moment experience of lack. The mind's tendency is to extrapolate today's minor disturbance into something much larger and more threatening tomorrow.

Experienced yoga practitioners are not necessarily immune; many a yogi and wise sage lose their cool when it comes to the possibility of financial loss. But if we know where to look, yoga gives us many tools that we can call on in times of distress.

While you're in the midst of worry, anxiety, or any negative emotional states, try this twist on a traditional lovingkindness (metta) meditation: "May I feel this fear for all the other who are worried and anxious right now, so that they don't have to." This takes you out of your self-concern and reminds you of your interconnectedness with all beings, which will create a profound sense of relief.



IN THIS ISSUE
Financial Freak
http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/2737


Wallet Worries
http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/2738