Last week I had a bad cold.  It made it’s home in my sinuses and the only relief was laying down.  I drank a lot of tea and contemplated the wisdom instead of thinking about the pain and pressure in my head.  There is so much to be gained by slowing down and going within.  Which teabag saying speaks to you?

“Let Things Come to You”

“Love Your Soul”

“Our Intuition Lies in our Innocence”

“Let Your Heart Guide You”

“Practice Kindness, Mercy, & Forgiveness”

“Love Your Soul”

“Let Your Heart Speak to Other’s Hearts”

“Your Destiny is to Merge with Infinity”

“Understanding is Found through Compassion”

“Open up to Infinity and You Become Infinity”

“Meditation is the Medicine of the Mind”

“Old Age Needs Wisdom and Grace”

“Mental Happiness is Total Relaxation”

“Let Your Manners Speak for You”

“Oneness is Achieved by Recognizing Your Self”

Posted: February 5th, 2009 under meditation, present moment, yoga.
Comments: 4

I just reread a great book I’d like to share with you, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  The story is about a boy from Spain who became a Shepard in order to travel and see the world to follow the path of his Personal Legend.  As the boy travels, he meets up with a King, a fortune teller, and an alchemist, each of whom help the boy find his treasure.  The boy sells his sheep and sets out on his journey to the Pyramids in Egypt, encountering one obstacle after another.  He heeds the advise he received from a King to watch for and follow the omens that appear.  He meets up with an Alchemist who is known to change lead into gold.  The Alchemist, sees the strength of purpose in the boy and helps him reach his treasure.

I was struck by several passages that I’d like to share with you.  It reminds me of my own journey into yoga, from the first day I stepped into a yoga class, through all the yoga retreats, and teacher training.  To my upcoming trip to India and advanced training in Vedic Healing I’m scheduled to take later this year.  See if any of these passages also resonate with you.

When the boy first decided to look for his treasure, Paulo Coelho wrote:

“He still had some doubts about the decision he had made.  But he was able to understand one thing:  making a decision was only the beginning of things.  When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.”

Later, when the boy was fearful of being killed by the Arabs at war in the desert:

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.  And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

So when the boy forgot about his fear:

“his heart began to tell him things that came from the Soul of the World.  It said that all people who are happy have God within them. … Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him. …But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them – the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness.  Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”

Then the boy thought he had learned all he needed to learn about finding his Personal Legend, but the alchemist said there was one more thing to learn:

“before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. … That’s the point at which most people give up. … Every search begins with beginner’s luck.  And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

 There are so many thought provoking passages in The Alchemist, but I’ll stop here.  I’m sure that most everyone has had a dream they wanted to pursue sometime in their life.  Did you go after the dream or did you convince yourself it would never work out before you even began?  Were you afraid to go in search of your dream?  Did you have beginner’s luck but give up after you encountered some adversity?  Are you truly happy with your life?  If any of these passages or questions struck a cord, I encourage you to read The Alchemist.

 A few notes about the author:  Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1947.  He was a nonconformist and sought out new things.  He followed the teachings of Carlos Castaneda.  In 1988, he wrote The Alchemist which sold only nine hundred copies and the publisher decided not to reprint.  But following his dream, he found another publisher.  The Alchemist went on to sell more copies than any other book in Brazilian literary history.

 If you want to see more book reviews, stop by Barrie Summy’s Blog and meet others in the Book Review Club.  

Posted: February 3rd, 2009 under present moment, writing, yoga.
Comments: 9

This past weekend I was reminded about the benefits of communing with nature.  I was in Muir Woods, just north of San Francisco.  It was a holiday weekend and the park was filled with other nature lovers, but as I walked along the dirt path, I feel into silence.  I looked around at the giant redwoods, a thousand or more years old.  I noticed the furry bark, the gnarled swells along the trunk, the bright green moss covering the roots of a long dead tree.  It was at that moment that I felt compelled to step closer and touch that beautiful living thing.  I stood there for about a minute, breathing slowly, imaging the cells of the tree growing beneath my fingers.  I continued along the trail, listening to the breeze rustling the leaves and the chatter of people close by.  I found myself speeding my steps, searching for the solitude and quiet.  In the silence there was such peace.

 This morning I had another opportunity to commune with nature.  I woke up to gray skies, a rare sight in sunny Southern California.  I donned my raincoat and headed out for a walk.  The skies were misting and I uncovered my head, feeling the moistness against my face, picturing my skin drinking in the rain.  I began to remember my childhood on rainy days, taking walks in the warm summer rain, getting soaked, then washing my hair in the downpour before getting ready for bed.  As I continued my walk, I became aware of the smell of eucalyptus and pine.  I saw beads of water sitting on the leaves of bird of paradise plants and imagined all the plants drinking in the precious gift of rain, just as my skin was doing.

 In this fast paced world, we are so rushed to get from point A to point B, that we don’t often notice the wonders of life.  So let this be a reminder.  There is peace in nature.  All you have to do is notice.

Posted: January 23rd, 2009 under mindfulness, present moment, yoga.
Comments: 4

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

I’m reading David Frawley’s book “Vedantic Meditation.”  He writes about how our lives present us with both limited and unlimited views of the world.  So this morning when I completed my morning yoga practice, I walked onto my back patio and contemplated my view.  I have an enclosed space, surrounded by other buildings.

There are a lot of things to see in my back yard: trees, shrubs, flowers, flower pots, a stream, a bridge, a sun umbrella, table and chairs, barbeque grill, surrounding condos, the sky, clouds, the sun shining on the tree tops. 

Yet, as I stop to focus on one tree, I am awed by it beauty.  I am looking at the tree from a distance of about fifty feet, my view is limited, yet there is so much to see.  The tree contains thousands of green leaves, a gray-brown bark that’s smooth in some areas and rough in other.  Each leaf has veins to receive nourishment from the earth.  There are varying hues in the leaves.  When the sun kisses a leaf, the color brightens.  I don’t know the name of the tree, it doesn’t matter.  All I know is that it stands tall, reaching into the beautiful blue sky.  I can look at this tree every day and see something new.

How many times have I passed this tree and been blind to it?  How many times have I gone through my day limiting my view of the present because I’ve been caught up in past memories or the future?  How wonderful to start the day noticing more of my life.  I can not yet see the unlimited, but I’m one step closer to seeing today.

Posted: January 5th, 2009 under present moment, yoga.
Comments: none

Thanks to Barrie Summy  and to Larramie at Seize A Daisy for organizing this roundup about the people we admire.

For the past several days, I’ve thought about which person I most admire.  I’d never really thought about that question, so it was difficult to come up one name, so I’ve decided to list several.

Mahatma Gandhi

Paramahansa Yoganada

Greg Mortensen

Elizabeth Gilbert

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) lived a humble life in search for peace.  His philosophy on the subjects of truth, trust, and self-sacrifice is admirable.  If you are interested in reading more about Gandhi’s life, you can check out his website: http://www.mkgandhi.org/

Paramahansa Yoganada (1893-1952) was a pioneer bringing the teachings of India’s ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and meditation to the United States.  He founded the Self-Realization Fellowship to disseminate his teachings.  To learn more about Yoganada, see his website: http://www.yogananda-srf.org/ or read The Autobiography of a Yogi.

Greg Mortensen, author of Three Cups of Tea, also deserves my admiration.  His journey from mountain climber to fulfilling a promise to build schools in Afghanistan is awe inspiring.  His life is a wonderful example of what can be accomplished if you follow your heart.  To learn more about this humanitarian, go to his website: http://www.gregmortenson.com/

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, is another person I admire.  In addition to being a good writer, she inspires millions to search inside themselves and discover who they truly are.  Only when we know who we are can we give of ourselves fully in love.  If you’d like to read more about Elizabeth Gilbert, go to her website: http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/

Posted: October 13th, 2008 under yoga.
Comments: 8

A mantram is a word or phrase with spiritual meaning.  I learned mantram in my yoga class.  I repeat Om mam everyday. These are Sanskrit words that translate to God heart. I began sayingthis mantram after my heart attack in 2006.  I say these two words 1,080 times in the morning.  I use mala beads (108 beads strungtogether in a necklace) to keep track of the count.  It starts my day in a quiet reflective mood that keeps mecalm the rest of the day. 

I just came across a item in a local health newsletter.  Researchers confirmed what I alreadyknew.  Mantram repetition is helpful for managing stress, emotions other than stress, insomnia and unwantedthoughts.  The article by JillBormann can be accessed online from the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Posted: May 3rd, 2008 under Stained Glass, heart disease, meditation, yoga.
Comments: 5

As I drink my cup of of sereni-tea, I’m reading more teabag wisdom.  Here are two to get you through the weekend.

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” Carl Gustav Jung

When I was younger, I dreamed a lot.  I dreamed about graduating college, dreamed of my ideal career, dreamed of marriage and having a family, dreamed of buying a home, and a car.  While I managed to accomplish most of my dreams, I found only temporary satisfaction in the accomplishments.  It felt like riding a rollercoaster, a series of ups and downs.  I’ve heard many say “That’s what life is all about.”  But for a long time, deep inside, I felt something missing.  When I finally began to look inside myself, to see and feel the essence of me, I found the dream that had always eluded me.  Peace.

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

This second teabag saying goes hand-in-hand with Carl Jung.  As I went through life on my rollercoaster, I not only rushed through each day, but was filled with negative emotions – anxiety, depression, stress, anger.  At the same time, my body reacted with back pain, osteoporosis, arthritis, heartburn, heart disease, indigestion.  After looking inside myself, letting go of expectations, forgiving others and myself, my aches and pains diminished.  My body became healthier.  I no longer hold onto negative emotions.  I began living in the present moment.  I became mindful of my thoughts, my actions, my words.

So as you go about your day, I encourage you to find a quiet space.  Take some time.  Look within and see what happens.

Have a great day.

Posted: May 2nd, 2008 under Stained Glass, mindfulness, present moment, yoga.
Comments: 2