What are you grateful for right now?

This is definitely the time to think about that. What am I grateful for right now? It doesn't have to be a special holiday. You can do it whenever you want. Everyday. Every minute. Every second. I am grateful right now for my husband for being so loving and accepting of my being. No matter what I do or what I say, he's so open and accepting. I can't think of another gift to have. To add on to that, I'm grateful for my job, the chair I'm sitting in as I write this, my friends, family, the community of amazing beings that I surround myself with everyday of my life, the person who prepared my soy chai latte this morning, the air I breath, the body that allows me to what I'm passionate about--dancing, yoga, moving, what else? I could go on and on! So I definitely have learned and appreciated that these things we're grateful for don't have to be these huge, in-depth declarations. They can be simple and small which I feel are so huge anyway.

So what you grateful for RIGHT NOW???!!!!!

The time has come

I feel ease and space in my body. I feel in alignment with what I want. I have started to clear my schedule and make time for what's important to me. It was hard and it took some time but it's happening because it NEEDED to happen.

I'm going to take a little hiatus from teaching yoga in order to pursue my career training as a massage therapist. It dawned on me this past weekend why I can't find time to practice and trade with my fellow classmates. I work full time, go to massage school and teach yoga. What about me? Once I made the decision, it was like a HUGE space cleared in my chest and abdomen. I even got someone to take over the class for me! So I know it's for the best. In the past, I used to just stick with things no matter what. Then I would get burnt out and physically ill. It was a way of my body saying, "You're doing too much!" "Stop it now!". As I get older, I can't ignore it anymore. I'm also not 21 or 25 anymore either. I want my thirties to be rich with knowledge and presence. I want to experience my massage training and career. I will always be able to teach yoga because it's a passion of mine that I've been practicing for almost 10 years! Sometimes we need to slow some things down when new possibilites come into our lives.

I'm so happy that I'm manifesting what I want and can feel, see and taste it.

What's the Rush?

Seriously, what IS the rush? This rings so true for me and sometimes it's more intense on different occasions. It's something I teach in my yoga classes, yet I find myself not even practicing it at times. But then again, who's perfect? This has been an ongoing issue with me and I really delved into it last week in therapy (I know I posted it in a previous blog entry). This week I've been cutting myself some slack; being more compassionate and understanding towards myself in regards to time and getting things done. If I can acknowlegde myself for getting one thing done, I feel great! Instead of saying, "I didn't do enough" or "I just wasted so much time". Please! I've gotta lot going in my life at the moment and it's things that I love to do, so there! If people were a little easier on themselves about time and their to-do lists there would be more room for joy and ease in their lives.

I know people have kids and families to tend to and I'm fortunate at this point in my life not to have any kids. If I did, it would be a totally different ball game. But this is the way it is and I just take baby steps. One thing at a time. My mom would say that to me when I was younger and I totally didn't know what she was talking about. Then I got older and I was like how do I do that?!

It takes years but I feel like it's slowing coming into play. I've recognized the importance of "me" time and self-care. I can wind down for at least 5 minutes here and there, maybe longer if I'm lucky. When I get those longer moments, I bask in them like I'm on a sunny beach in Hawaii.

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(From yogajournal.com daily insight)

Most of us are judged in life by how quickly we can get things done. Because of this, it's hard to develop the opposite mindset: one of slowing down, getting centered, and relaxing.

Many yoga classes start with a transitional period between public life and the privacy of the practice. In this period, students can simply build awareness of their own breath in order to prepare mentally, physically, and spiritually for practice. For some students, this process of slowing down is extremely difficult. Continually rushing from one activity to the next, many people are used to being hurried and impatient, so much so that it's almost impossible to relax.

If this is true for you, ask yourself: Am I rushing because I'm under stress or am I under stress because I'm rushing? Is it always necessary to hurry so much? Would you be able to run your life just as effectively at a slower pace? If so, take some small steps to slow it down, one day at a time.



IN THIS ISSUE
Being vs. Doing
http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/723


In the Zone
http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/199

Books for Inspiration

As I was creating my monthly newsletter, I thought about how cool it would be to list some amazing inspirational books on a monthly (or bi-monthly) basis. These are books that have either opened my eyes or turned my stomach (in a good way of course). So here are some books to enliven the spirit this month:

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hays

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Ask and It Is Given by Esther Hicks

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle