It’s a half hour before sunrise as I grab my cup of tea and head out the door.  The sky is cloudless blue as light ascends on San Diego.  The near full moon lights my way as the car snakes down Torrey Pines Rd, around Hidden Valley and up Capri.  My destination, Mt. Soledad National Park.  I can see the large cross in the distance, the center of the war memorial. 

 As I reach the top, I am alone.  Silence surrounds me, except for the background hum of early morning traffic along Interstate 5 and a couple of crows whom call this park home.  I grab my yoga mat and climb the stairs then take in the beauty around me.  The light blue and orchid sky surrounding the moon, the yellow and orange sky to the east, the calm ocean, the flickering city lights, the shadow of Mission Bay, the Coronado Bridge and the Coronado Islands. 

 I set up my mat facing south so that I can drink in the moon as I twist right and the growing dawn as I twist left.  My yoga asana practice is short, a series of three gentle vinyasa flows and warrior pose.  I keep my eyes open and notice a constant stream of jets rising from the airport.  I breathe in the clean, warm air during pranayama practice (breathing exercises): ten rounds of nadishodana (alternate nostril breathing) and 108 kalabati breaths (bellows breath).  I meditate on the phase: one breath, one body, one moment, one heart; then add ten rounds of mantra on my mala beads with one-pointed concentration on the eastern horizon as I await the sun.

 The bright light winks at me, then rises majestically over the mountains. 

 The lights of the city dim.  Cars arrive in the park.  It’s time for me to go.  I say good-bye to the moon and thank God for this opportunity to see, feel, touch, and drink in this magnificent planet.

Posted: January 12th, 2009 under Stained Glass, meditation, yoga.
Comments: 4

Each morning when I complete my yoga practice and come down for breakfast, I start the day with a cup of tea.  I tend to drink Yogi or Good Earth Teas because they have little saying on their teabags.  I look forward to opening the packet and reading what I’ve come to call “Teabag Wisdom”.

Today’s teabag wisdom is very familiar to all of us.  It’s an old Chinese Proverb:

“When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy.”

In yoga, we learn to live from the heart.  When we open our hearts to the world around us, we find peace.  Where there is peace, there is no stress, no anger, no anxiety, no depression.  There are many scientific studies that point to negative emotions being the direct cause of many illnesses.  Heart disease in particular.

Dr. Mimi Guarneri, a cardiologist at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla, CA. has written an excellent book “The Heart Speaks” that documents examples of how negative emotions effect your heart and your health.  In the book, Dr. Guarneri refers to living from the heart as the secret language of healing.  “The heart has a mind that some might call the spirit, the higher self, intuition or the small voice within.  How many times have you said to yourself, ‘If only I had listened to my heart.’  By not listening, we often pay the price in time and energy in cleaning up the mess afterward.”  Her reference to “cleaning up the mess afterward” is seeing a patient on the operating table to fix a problem with a heart.

Posted: January 9th, 2009 under Stained Glass, yoga.
Comments: none

The Yoga Sutras refer to negative thoughts (Vitarka) and how to get rid of them.  The solution is to think of something positive.  This is pratipaksha bhavana and is so much easier said than done. 

 How many times during the day does someone (usually a close friend or family member) say something and suddenly your gut tightens?  Maybe you respond verbally, maybe you keep your thoughts to yourself, but the cortisol in your body is already released and cortisol is the chemical that stresses your body. My cardiologist once told me that it takes 4-6 hours for the cortisol to be reabsorbed into your system.  When cortisol rushes into your system, your blood pressure rises.  You become distracted.  Whatever you were doing before is forgotten.

 This is a natural response, but for me I’ve found that the key to practicing pratipaksha bhavana is to catch myself, to be aware of what is happening, and either remove myself physically from the situation or stop to take a deep breath.  Depending on the circumstances, maybe it takes five or ten breaths.  Sometimes I take a walk in nature or look up into the sky and watch the clouds float by.  The point is to be aware of these circumstances as quickly as possible and come back to peace.  

Posted: January 8th, 2009 under Stained Glass, yoga.
Comments: none

While there are hundreds of resources on the Internet about heart health, I wanted to say a few words about an organization that I am affiliated with, WomenHeart. 

WomenHeart is the only national organization dedicated to promoting women’s heart health through advocacy, community education and patient support.

I first learned about WomenHeart after my heart attack in 2006 when I was into my twelve week rehab program.  While the description above was taken from the WomenHeart website, I wanted to give you a little closer look at the organization from the eyes of a woman with heart disease.

WomenHeart is women just like me who have had a heart attack, women who have congenital heart problems, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis,  stents, or have undergone bypass surgery and heart transplants.  Name any problem related to the heart, and you will find a woman in the organization who shares your concerns.  WomenHeart supports women in their quest for doctors who understand that women’s symptoms of heart disease are different than men’s.  They support women by listening to their stories.

There is a very active online support system.   You’ll find women from all walks of life, all across the country, sharing their stories and asking for advise.  In addition to the online support system, WomenHeart has a network of trained women leading one-on-one support groups in hundreds of cities.  You are not alone in your struggle.

WomenHeart is at the forefront of advocating for legislation that will lead toward better heart health for all women.  Legislation like the Heart For Women Act,  and Wise Women Legislation 

WomenHeart is also an education website, focusing on women and heart disease.  Are you looking for statistics, diagnostic tests, questions to ask your doctor, symptom’s of a heart attack, the latest research, or a heart clinic in your area?  WomenHeart has it all.

Posted: September 8th, 2008 under Stained Glass, heart disease.
Comments: 1

Stop thinking and talking about it and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

I’ve been rereading Julie Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” and came across this Zen paradigm in the margins.  After reading it once, I stopped to think about what it meant.  When I see two negatives in a sentence, it always gives me pause.

Stop thinking and talking about it and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

When I encounter a statement I wish to ponder, I like to reword it, pull it apart and think about it more.

Stop thinking and talking about it.  That alone is something to ponder.  How often do we think about writing a book, getting a new job, making new friends, taking a cooking class - anything that requires action.  Yet we think about it and think about it until we decide it takes too much effort or we drop the idea and start thinking about doing something else – again, thinking but not acting on the thought.  We spend so much time in our heads and get nothing accomplished.

The same could be said about talking about something.  We talk to our friends when something is bothering us. We talk about our dreams, our worries, our desires, our complaints, but if we don’t take any action to change the situation, we are caught in an endless cycle of wishes and negative talk.

The second part of this Zen paradigm, there is nothing you will not be able to know.  Reworded, it says you will know.  Stop thinking and talking about it, and you will know.

What do we know?   We know the answers. 

The answers to what?  To whatever we are dreaming about and worrying about.

If we are in touch with who we truly are, we can bring the question or discussion to our heart.  Our heart knows the answer.  But in order to hear the answer, we must be still.  We must find a place of solitude and silence.

Try it now. Find a quiet space.  Sit comfortably on the floor or a chair. Take several deep breaths and let the air out slowly.  Become relaxed.  Pose the question to your heart .  Sit for several minutes or as long as it takes.  In the silence, an answer will come.

In the process of meditating, we become intuitive.  We know the answers to difficult questions.  Each of us has the capability to move from inaction to action by being silent.  Try it out.  You’ll be surprised at the answers you receive from your heart.

Posted: September 4th, 2008 under Stained Glass, meditation, mindfulness, present moment.
Comments: 1

How many times have you heard someone say “Pay Attention”?

I can remember my teacher from first grade saying that all the time.  In school, we were asked to pay attention so that we could learn.  At home, our parents would tell us to pay attention when they were giving us instructions on cleaning the house or cooking a meal.  But I don’t remember anyone telling me to pay attention to life.

We go through each day doing things, time passes.  We eat, we talk to people, we go to work, we exercise, we play video games, we email and text message, we watch TV.  Yet I wonder as we go through our day, how much of the time are we paying attention?

What does it mean to pay attention when we eat?  How many meals do we gobble down while engaged in another activity?  Eating breakfast and watching the morning news or checking email.  Eating lunch with co-workers, catching up on what everyone is working on or talking about the drama in our lives.  No one’s ever really taught us to pay attention to our meals. 

Have you ever engaged in a Mindful Eating Meditation?  It’s fairly simply.  Take a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts.  Engage all your senses in the process.  Let’s say you have a strawberry in front of you.  Pick up the strawberry.  Feel the texture between your fingers, the softness of the leaves on top, the fuzziness of the fruit.  Rub the fruit along your lips.  Smell the strawberry.  Sense the sweetness.  Lick the strawberry to get a glimmer of taste.  Take a small bite of the fruit.  Feel the juice drip into your mouth.  Chew the piece of fruit thoroughly before taking another bite.  Listen to the sound coming from your mouth as you eat.  Maybe you release a sigh of enjoyment.  Eating one strawberry in this manner may take you several minutes, but you will discover that you’ve never eaten a more flavorful strawberry in your life.  By paying attention to your food, you enjoy it more.

The same concept hold true for everything else we do in life.  If you are talking with people, listen intently to what the other person has to say without thinking of what your response is going to be.  Don’t cut off someone in mid-sentence.  If you are working, concentrate on your work and let go of your thoughts about what happened yesterday or what you’re going to do this evening.  If you are responding to email, text messaging, watching TV or playing, no matter what you are engaged in, do with the utmost attention. 

By paying attention, we live in the present moment and enjoy our lives more fully.

So when you find your mind wandering, gently remind yourself to pay attention.  You’ll have a happier day.

Namaste´.

Posted: August 19th, 2008 under Stained Glass, meditation, mindfulness, present moment.
Comments: none

Here’s a little teabag wisdom to get your day going.

“Mental happiness is total relaxation.”

Now, this is good.  What does it mean to be mentally happy?  No worries.  No arguments or judgments about yourself or others.  No anxiety about the past or the future.  No negative emotions.  But instead of defining mental happiness in terms of what it is not, let’s define it in a positive way.

Mental happiness is waking up from a good night’s sleep.  It’s gazing at a sleeping newborn.  It’s sitting alone by the ocean listening to the waves roll in.  It’s enjoying the magnificence of a sunrise or sunset.  It’s smelling the clean air surrounded by pine trees in the mountains.  It’s taking a few minutes out of each day to be silent and marvel at the wonders of the universe.  It’s being grateful for everything you have in your life.

I’m sure the list is endless and different for everyone.  What does mental happiness mean to you?

Posted: August 3rd, 2008 under Stained Glass, meditation, mindfulness, present moment.
Comments: 4

As an adult, we remember too many things and think too much.  We worry, become anxious and fearful.  We tend to remember the bad stuff and forget the good stuff.  But take a moment to look at life through a child’s eyes.

A child wakes up in the morning and wants to run and play.

A child looks up in the sky and imagines faces and cats and hippos in the clouds.

A child picks a bouquet of dandelion flowers and gives them to his mother.

A child sings happy songs.

A child steps in all the rain puddles as she walks down the street.

A child sits quietly and plays in the mud with his mother’s baking dishes.

A child enjoys playing baseball, soccer, and other group sports.

A child eats peanut butter off a spoon.

A child jumps on a bed.

A child learns language so she can talk to others.

A child crawls around on hands and knees.

A child oo’s and aa’s at the beauty of nature.

A child likes to stop and pet a dog or cat, their fur is so soft.

A child builds sand castles on the beach.

A child collects sea shells on vacation.

A child stands on his head to experience the world upside down.

A child smiles at friendly faces.

So for today, let’s look at life through a child’s eyes.  Let’s go through our day with a sense of awe and wonder.  Let’s be present to each moment and rejoice in it’s beauty.

Posted: June 14th, 2008 under Stained Glass, present moment.
Comments: 3

I woke up early this morning with a feeling of gratitude.

I have so much to be thankful for, as a human being, as a woman, a wife and mother, an American.  I sit here sipping my tea, looking all around me.  As an American, I have my freedom and live in a beautiful country, free to vote, to wear what I want, to choose the food I want to eat, free to do what I want in life.  As a wife and mother, I have a family to love and family that loves me.  My immediate family is small, yet the number of my extended family and friends is large and grows with each passing day.  As a woman, I am grateful to have the ability to bear children.  As a human being, I am thankful for my compassion, kindness and love, for my ability to think and reason and make my own decisions.

My gratitude also extends to the material world.  I am grateful for the home that shelters me from the weather, clothes to cover my body, furniture to sit comfortably, food that is nourishing and plentiful.  I read the newspaper and listen to the news hearing reports of so many people living in poverty, without food and shelter.  Countries are at war, destroying what little these people have.  There are so many who are out of work and don’t have the money for basic staples.  I do what I can to help, but the need is so great.

I glance outside at the green leaves of the magnolia tree, the lilies, petunias, and ornamental grass.  The sky is overcast in early morning fog, yet I know that to the west is the ocean, to the east are mountains.  Down the road there are rivers and lakes, waterfalls and streams.  The sun will appear later today, the moon will rise later this evening and fill the sky with millions of stars.  I am so grateful for this beautiful planet and this wondrous universe.

What are you grateful for?

Posted: June 11th, 2008 under Stained Glass, mindfulness, present moment.
Comments: 1

If you take the time to stop and look around, you’ll discover that you can learn a lot about life from nature.

Gaze at the clouds.  Watch them float by.  Each cloud is different.  Each day, the number of clouds are different.  Clouds are constantly changing, just like everything in life.

Smell the early morning jasmine.  It’s scent can be detected several feet away and linger in the air.  The jasmine and other natural scents remind us to take a deep breath.

Listen to the birds singing in the trees.  Their songs remind us to stop and listen and enjoy the moment.

Notice the morning glory on the vine.  It’s petals close at night and open to the sunlight.  The morning glory reminds us to get a good night’s sleep and to enjoy the day.

The river flows slow and smooth.  It reminds us of our journey in life.  Look forward, appreciate the present, don’t worry about the past.

Every beautiful tree grows tall, but bends due to the way it was planted or forces put upon it like a constant wind.  The trees mind us that each of us grows up differently - different parents, different education, different circumstances.  Yet each one of us is beautiful in our own way.

I know that there are many other ways that nature shows us how to live – what is your favorite comparison?

Posted: June 6th, 2008 under Stained Glass, present moment.
Comments: 2