Tuesday, January 01, 2008
my 2008 wish for you
My New Year's wishes for all my loved ones are more or less the same wishes I have for myself: a life well-lived, full of love, bliss, grace, compassion, success and peace of mind.
2008 is going to be our best year yet. I can just feel it. My most sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of you faithful readers for helping me through 2007 and making it memorable and mostly positive. May we each continue on our individual paths of personal growth and fulfillment in 2008, with new breakthroughs and ever more profound epiphanies.
I send my love to you and to those who only read rarely or not at all. We create our own destinies, and 2008 will surely be a year of fulfillment of those amazing, terrific, empowered destinies.
Please use the comments to set your intention for the year and share it with others so that we may all be inspired by it. My biggest intention for 2008 is to manifest the resources and the courage to create the life for myself that I want to lead, which may or may not take me to NYC permanently.
Your turns.
2008 is going to be our best year yet. I can just feel it. My most sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of you faithful readers for helping me through 2007 and making it memorable and mostly positive. May we each continue on our individual paths of personal growth and fulfillment in 2008, with new breakthroughs and ever more profound epiphanies.
I send my love to you and to those who only read rarely or not at all. We create our own destinies, and 2008 will surely be a year of fulfillment of those amazing, terrific, empowered destinies.
Please use the comments to set your intention for the year and share it with others so that we may all be inspired by it. My biggest intention for 2008 is to manifest the resources and the courage to create the life for myself that I want to lead, which may or may not take me to NYC permanently.
Your turns.
Labels: celebration, growth, hope, moving, new year, New York, opening to grace, personal, strength, success, transformation, wisdom
Sunday, December 30, 2007
the benefits of yoga
I've blogged quite a bit about the benefits I've realized through my yoga practice, but I recently discovered two very tangible benefits that I thought I'd share.
The first has to do with my recent vacation. While in New York, I did not have the opportunity to physically practice, nor did I meditate at all. And even though I was having my dream vacation, I could feel the same positive energy running through me that I had only previously attributed to a good practice. This endured even after I returned to Tucson, before I had a chance to attend a class or sit down to meditate. It's like there's this kind of yoga residue that sticks with you, that we store up, even when our practice lapses for a short time. I didn't really believe that was true, though I'd heard about it, till I recently experienced it myself. Very cool!
The more tangible benefit that I attribute to my yoga practice is really to me the more remarkable of the two. I hadn't weighed myself in five or six months until earlier today. What a pleasant surprise to look down and see that I've gained 10 to 15 pounds! Really. I weighed myself again just to make sure I didn't read it wrong the first time. I believe most of that weight gain is muscle, and some of it may be due to how my yoga practice has helped normalize my metabolism. Either way, I'm very pleased.
So if you're contemplating starting or delving deeper into your own yoga/meditation practice as a new year's resolution, I'd strongly encourage it. It worked for me!
The first has to do with my recent vacation. While in New York, I did not have the opportunity to physically practice, nor did I meditate at all. And even though I was having my dream vacation, I could feel the same positive energy running through me that I had only previously attributed to a good practice. This endured even after I returned to Tucson, before I had a chance to attend a class or sit down to meditate. It's like there's this kind of yoga residue that sticks with you, that we store up, even when our practice lapses for a short time. I didn't really believe that was true, though I'd heard about it, till I recently experienced it myself. Very cool!
The more tangible benefit that I attribute to my yoga practice is really to me the more remarkable of the two. I hadn't weighed myself in five or six months until earlier today. What a pleasant surprise to look down and see that I've gained 10 to 15 pounds! Really. I weighed myself again just to make sure I didn't read it wrong the first time. I believe most of that weight gain is muscle, and some of it may be due to how my yoga practice has helped normalize my metabolism. Either way, I'm very pleased.
So if you're contemplating starting or delving deeper into your own yoga/meditation practice as a new year's resolution, I'd strongly encourage it. It worked for me!
Labels: joy, new year, transformation, yoga
Saturday, March 17, 2007
"does he even have a spine?"
"Beautiful."
"Amazing."
"Wow."
These were the remarks of some of my classmates this morning in yoga when I was asked to demonstrate Dhanurasana (boat pose).
If you slogged through my first post last Tuesday, you know that I was complimented for my Dhanurasana by a classmate that night who is also the teacher whose Saturday classes I usually attend.
It was a great feeling to be complimented like that and to being put forward as the example. It's amazing to me how far I've come in this practice in only three months.
There's still so much to learn and so much growth ahead of me, but this path has been one of such transformation and grace.
"Amazing."
"Wow."
These were the remarks of some of my classmates this morning in yoga when I was asked to demonstrate Dhanurasana (boat pose).
If you slogged through my first post last Tuesday, you know that I was complimented for my Dhanurasana by a classmate that night who is also the teacher whose Saturday classes I usually attend.
It was a great feeling to be complimented like that and to being put forward as the example. It's amazing to me how far I've come in this practice in only three months.
There's still so much to learn and so much growth ahead of me, but this path has been one of such transformation and grace.
Labels: opening to grace, personal, transformation, yoga
Thursday, March 01, 2007
feels like a dylan kind of day
Labels: Jay Brannan, journey, self-awareness, transformation, truth
Monday, January 01, 2007
maha challenge, day four
After spending a leisurely day doing not very much, I really didn't feel like going to class. But I went.
As it has been for the past few days, the place was packed. We'll see what happens tomorrow when we're off a holiday schedule and the traditional work week starts to pick back up.
Tonight's theme was icha, the universal burning desire for transformation. I definitely felt the physical burn tonight, especially in my legs. I think part of it is fatigue. I guess yoga every day will do that, even if it's still been only about half a week.
Despite the fatigue, I am definitely noticing progress. I am now able to spread my hips and touch the floor in Uttanasana, standing forward bend. A week ago, I had to use blocks on their highest stance.
If I can keep progressing noticeably like this, I will gladly work through the muscular burn as it keeps fueling my inner burning.
After all, my burning desire for transformation, my icha, is greater than my burning calves and thighs.
As it has been for the past few days, the place was packed. We'll see what happens tomorrow when we're off a holiday schedule and the traditional work week starts to pick back up.
Tonight's theme was icha, the universal burning desire for transformation. I definitely felt the physical burn tonight, especially in my legs. I think part of it is fatigue. I guess yoga every day will do that, even if it's still been only about half a week.
Despite the fatigue, I am definitely noticing progress. I am now able to spread my hips and touch the floor in Uttanasana, standing forward bend. A week ago, I had to use blocks on their highest stance.
If I can keep progressing noticeably like this, I will gladly work through the muscular burn as it keeps fueling my inner burning.
After all, my burning desire for transformation, my icha, is greater than my burning calves and thighs.
Labels: personal, transformation, yoga
