Last day of November

Can't believe it! December starts tomorrow!

Stay warm!!! Trying to remain healthy here. Keep getting in to classes near you or in your own house. Keep finding your seat for 15 minutes a day. With the holidays and travel and the challenges of the winter, stay commited to your practice. Let it be the tether back to yourself and your sanity.

--Charry

What Me Worry?

As I read today's LY365 email, I reflected that worry has been an obstacle getting in my way. Worry about what was right or wrong, worry about what might be, worry about what I should have done differently...

I am learning that I can use my breath to combat worry. Perhaps "Two days we should not worry" says it best.

"There are two days in every week about which we should not worry,two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever. The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens,its large promise and its poor performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise,either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,for it is yet to be born. This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down. It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time."

~Author Unknown

Namaste,
Sandee

Post Thanksgiving

Notice what happens when a big holiday winds down. The big adrenaline kick of being with family, the pressure of cooking the perfect meal, or giving the perfect gift. How can we be perfect? Plain and simple we can not. All that we can do is try our best with the best intentions. Give what you can, when and where you can. Show up. Engage.

The friends in my life always seem to show up for me right when I need them the most.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!

Share the gifts. Be open to receiving so that you can give more.

I have been thinking about how I am a much better giver than receiver. I read something somewhere that it was actually arrogance, this not being able to receive whole-heartedly. Aha! So, that is my goal, my intention for the next year. Get out of my own way and receive what is offered. Who knows, I might actually learn something!:)

--Charry

Surrender

The essential surrender happens within you, it has nothing to do with anybody outside you. The basic surrender is a relaxation, a trust — so don’t be misguided by the word. Linguistically, surrender means to surrender to somebody, but religiously, surrender simply means trust, relaxing. It is an attitude rather than an act: you live through trust. - Osho

Today in Charry's restorative class she used the word surrender multiple times. This afternoon, I have been reflecting on surrender and I realized it is truly not about giving up, but giving to yourself.

"Balancing Effort and Surrender"
http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/1469

Best,
Sandee

A place to sit...

I returned tonight from a 7-day cruise vacation with my husband. Since I promised him I would disconnect from electronic communication for the week, I was a bit concerned about how I was going to keep up with the daily LY365 emails. Charry alleviated my concerns by telling me to disconnect and find a place each day to sit. I thought on a ship of 4,000+ people this might be a challenge, but I found many places on board where I could achieve this. My favorite spots had a view of the water -- the beach, the balcony off our room, and the sauna in the thermal suite. The sauna became my personal favorite because of the warm, relaxing, quiet nature of the space and the floor to ceiling glass wall that overlooked the ocean.

Back home tonight, I reflected on my week away and especially my meditation time. I found the following link that I wanted to share:
http://www.saunatimes.com/tag/how-to-meditate-in-a-sauna/

Best,
Sandee


"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."
~Bruce Lee

Personal Understanding

I know this was a topic a few days ago, but I am just now able to get caught up. Although I am home with a sick kid and unable to do anything on my 100 item "To Do" list, I am trying to find some gratitude and solace for being forced to just sit. I knew I needed a good, healthy dose of yoga today to prepare, so I arrived at the 6AM class only to discover it had been cancelled. Sigh... accepting with grace that sometimes Life has another plan for us! And realizing I should have checked the website first! :)

I am presently on a "truth quest" that has become so filled with a cocktail of oftentimes, opposite, emotions that I'm wondering what I have gotten myself into??!! I only hope my yearning for this process of personal understanding and evolution continues to motivate me to make the very difficult (but necessary!) changes I need to make; I also hope the yearning starts to take the lead in the race against my FEAR!

Namaste!

Krys

Hey Girls & Guys,

I've just made a new (from second hand materials) veggie garden.
I'm doing the no-dig style, which is all new for me.
I think I've been bitten by the gardening bug, I'm just so psyched
about growing healthy food, just outside my back door. I had
some spinach and lettuce from my garden in my salad last night,
how good is that?
So much to learn...it's awesome.
Cheers
Bruce

Home for the holidays

Hi! Off to Vermont for a big Morris reunion over Thanksgiving! Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. Keep coming back to all of the abundance in your life.

I will let you know how the sitting on the road went when I get back. It is going to be a challenge, I am not going to lie, but it might have to happen early in the morning or late at night.:)

R and R

I am off for a week of R and R with my husband as a belated anniversary celebration. Practiced breathing last night on the plane as we circled and circled in the skies due to a ground stoppage and weather issues below. I could feel my anxiety fall when i was most focused on the pacing of my breath First stop today when we boarded the cruise ship was the spa for some pampering of the body Next stop a yoga class for pampering my mind. Third stop a fruity frozen drink.
See you in a week!

Best
Sandee

Testing, testing,
1,2
1,2
Is this thing turned on?

TGIF!

Got to walk and yogify this morning with some of the ladies in the group. We did some good breath work- Udiyana Bandha Kriya + Udiyana Bandha Kriya with belly pumping. We were flying after that!

In order to stay grounded we then did pigeon on bolster and blocks with various retention and breath counts.

Play around with your own practice. See what works for you. Do you feel agitated and need to quiet the mind or are you lethargic and need to rev the body and the mind up? Find what breath pattern works for you.

See if and when a 4 second inhale 2 second pause, 6 second exhale 2 second pause is what you need versus a 6 second inhale 2 second pause, 4 second exhale 2 second pause.

See what happens if you hold your breath for a minute! 30 seconds, 15 seconds, normal pauses at the top of the inhale and bottom of the exhale.

Become like a child and play with your breath. Have fun!--Charry

The Beginner's Mind

Imagine waking everyday with a Beginner's Mind!  But, in the world I live in the label "beginner" has a negative connotation.  It means inexperienced, novice, and even amateur.  I'm slowly opening to the idea that in fact, to be a beginner is the ultimate way to approach a task.  With no preconceived thoughts or  ideas,  stories or status...maybe I could begin to grow in a new way.  Do you think if I were able to drop all the ideas, labels, and judgments of how I should be my neck wouldn't constantly ache?

Jackie

Preoccupied

Verb preoccupy (third-person singular simple present preoccupies, present participle preoccupying, simple past and past participle preoccupied)

1. To distract; to occupy or draw attention elsewhere.
   

   The father tried to preoccupy the child with his keys.

What are you trying to preoccupy your mind with?

I like to throw myself into something- hello soccer... hello yoga... but at what point does that mean shutting down somewhere else? Becoming so preoccupied that we lose sight of the big picture?

At what point does that mean getting so caught up in what someone said to us that we lose the ability to move on with our day?

--Charry

Poetry...

Today, I read poetry described as "art with words for colors."

One of my favorite poems is "I am Me" by Virginia Satir. This poem is special to me, because my parents gave my Sisters and I each a framed copy as a gift. This poem has hung above my desk for 25+ years. It reminds me of the support of my family and to remember that I am me and I am ok.

I am me.

In all the
world, there is no one exactly like me.
There are persons who have some parts like me,
but no one adds up exactly like me.
Therefore, everything that comes out of me
is authentically mine because I alone choose it.
I own everything about me
My body including everything it does;
My mind including all its thoughts and ideas;
My eyes including the images of all they behold;
My feelings whatever they may be…
anger, joy, frustration, love, disappointment, excitement
My Mouth and all the words that come out of it
polite, sweet or rough, correct or incorrect;
My Voice loud or soft.
And all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself.
I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears.
I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes.
Because I own all of me I can become intimately acquainted with me.
By doing so I can love me and be friendly with me in all parts.
I can then make it possible for all of me to work in my best interests.
I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me,
and other aspects that I do not know.
But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself,
I can courageously and hopefully, look for solutions to the puzzles
and for ways to find out more about me.
However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think
and feel at a given moment in time is me.
This is authentic and represents where I am in that moment in time.
When I review later how I looked and sounded, what I said and did, and how
I thought and felt, some parts may turn out to be unfitting.
I can discard that which is unfitting, and keep that which proved fitting,
And invent something new for that which I discarded.
I can see, hear, feel, think, say and do.
I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive,
and to make sense and order out of the world of people
and things outside of me.
I own me, and therefore I can engineer me.
I am me and I am okay

~Virginia Satir

Best
Sandee

Blog process

Still trying to iron out the kinks with this thing. If you have already joined the blog, please try to comment and post something. Email me if you can't post anything. Thanks!--Charry

Some days life is harder than others

A fresh start. With each "crisis" or "teachable moment" comes the opportunity to change our patterns for reacting. Yesterday, I was rolling right along on autopilot, sad that my friends visiting from Vail had just left, a little tired, all the normal stuff. Today, I was rocked by the behavior of my 5 year old son. Today, I realized how alive and involved I needed to be and was not! Leave it to our closest relationships to rock us to our core and remind us that we need to be awake or we will miss something very, very important. I will try to be a better, more attentive and compassionate parent today than I was yesterday...boy is this relationship/life thing difficult!-- Charry

What to do while traveling...

This is always difficult. When and how do you fit in a yoga practice when you are away on business....

You need to invest in a nice, thin, lightweight mat if you are planning on doing something asana related in your hotel room. Otherwise, most studios rent yoga mats.

If you can't fit in a physical practice, you can fit in a seated meditation practice. Sit anywhere you find space- even the chair in your hotel room. Sit tall. Ground through the sit bones. Breathe. If you want to, work with the ujayi breath first. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth as though you were fogging a mirror. Once you feel the vibration and get in touch with the sound of the breath, close your mouth and breathe in and out through the nose. Be here and feel that tidal quality of the breath. This is pranayama- or breath work.

From the pranayama, mediation evolves. Quiet the breath to your normal breath pattern. Let go of your mental and physical control of the breath. Become a witness to whatever arises without judgement. This is the mindfulness- coming back, over and over to the tether of the breath.

Enjoy, even if you have business meetings all day long, you can find your tall straight spine, drop into your breath and be present.--Charry

New Year!

Welcome everyone! We will use the blog forum to answer questions and create an online community. Please blog at least once a week. Even if you think you don't have anything worthwhile to say- blog something!

Sincerely,
Charry and Elena