March 26, 2013 at 7:30 pm (Ananda Balasana, Connecting to self, Happy Baby, Journey, Stress, Yoga, Zen)
Hello Beautiful ones. I appreciate you for taking a minute or two to read about the little nuggets that I find along the way on my Journey to Zen. As a business owner, its quite cathartic to come here to release and rejuvenate my spirit by sharing a little of me with you. This blog originally started out in my head to be a source for sharing my yoga journey and the beauty I find in the practice. Instead I have decided to just let the present moments lead me in my writing and just go with the flow of what pours out from my heart to the pages of this blog. Today I will speak Yoga and tell you about one of my favorite poses. I must say the first time that I did it, I felt a little exposed and a tad bit self conscious. It took me all the way back to the birth of my son. Truth is I LOVE this pose because not only does it loosen up my hips but it stretches out my inner thigh and groin muscles that don’t typically come in to play while I’m sitting at my desk handling business all day. The benefits of this lovely pose is that it will gently stretch the inner groins and the back along the spine. It calms the brain and helps relieve stress and fatigue.
I think of the little babies always seemingly fixated with grabbing their little tootsies and the bubbly smiles they have on their little faces while doing so. I have to admit at my age it brings a broad smile to my face as well. Why?? Because I can still reach both of my tootsies at the same time. Oh yes my muscles put up a little fuss and resist sometimes but eventually, breathing into the pose gives way to that opposition and the resistance just melts away. So next time you have a really hectic day where any and everything plucks your last nerve. Come on home, kick off your shoes, lay back on the floor or the bed and grab those tootsies. Let go of the day’s stress and return to the happy little baby that still resides somewhere deep inside all of us. Your brain and your body will love you for it. Ananda Balasana
Namaste
Yogini Kp
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March 21, 2013 at 5:40 pm (Uncategorized)
ellisnelson
I recently finished reading In Search of the Miraculous- Healing Into Consciousness by Eliza Mada Dalian. It’s a book for spiritual seekers wanting a manual on the path out of fear, pain, and suffering. This is a largely down to earth book that attempts to simplify the mystical and make it accessible to the average reader. It is not St. Theresa of Avila, The Cloud of Unknowing, a Buddhist sutra, or a Sufi text. Dalian grounds her work and for that we can be thankful.
The one section I found to be particularly useful was the part concerning the development of the ego-mind in each of the chakras. Chakras can be thought of as circular energy centers, and for our purposes, we will use the traditional Indian system of seven chakras. Dalian is careful to point out that spiritual development through the chakras is not necessarily a linear one. I take…
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March 17, 2013 at 10:44 pm (Appreciation, Grateful, Heartfelt, Journey, Kindness, Zen)
Today is my Birthday and even though I intended to stay in bed much later than usual, perhaps veg out with Turner Classic Movies it hasn’t quite turned out that way. I woke up at my usual time of 6:30ish and got up to let the cat out. Instead of going back to bed, I fixed myself a cup of ginger tea and gave thought to what I wanted to do with this day. I was excited and found myself overly energetic for some reason. I decided to venture out early this morning and go to the grocery store to grab a few things I had forgotten, pick up the cat’s food and grab some good old 7-11 Brazilian Coffee. It was so early the pet store wasn’t even open but the manager let me in to shop anyway. While shopping, my phone started to buzz, ring, vibrate and bong relentlessly with happy birthday greetings and text messages from all over the place. I returned home to find several more messages left on my house phone and even my Facebook wall was full of greetings from well wishers. The cards that had arrived during the week were sitting on the coffee table waiting to be opened but I’ve decided that I will wait to enjoy them a little later in front of the fireplace with a glass of red wine (yum), and my full undivided attention.
I returned home after shopping, cleaned out the fridge, cooked breakfast and dinner at the same time, dismantled my bathroom for renovation tomorrow and managed to pop in to write this blog. As I went about my journey today, I had a chance to take a look at my life and all the many blessings it has held. I took time to reflect on the miracle of just waking up this morning and on my Mom and what she might have been feeling the first time she looked into my little face decades ago. As a daughter have I been everything she hoped for that day? I thought about my brothers and sisters, my extended family, friends that have lasted a lifetime and people that I’ve never even met in person all with me on their minds today. I am so fortunate that I have so many loving people in my life. People who just plain old love me and appreciate me on so many different levels. The next time I start doubting the number of lives I’ve touched, I will reflect back on this day, my birthday and I will remember that I am appreciated, I am loved, I am wonderfully made in the image of God. It feels so good, so incredibly good to know not only is someone thinking of me on this special day but that so many decided to say so. Appreciated feels incredible. I love you all.
Namaste
Yogini KP
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February 28, 2013 at 2:52 am (Uncategorized)
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February 14, 2013 at 12:01 am (Connecting to self, Grateful, Heartfelt, Journal, Journey, Kindness, Zen)
Tags: giving, heart, Journey to Zen, Little, quiet, things
I was writing in my gratitude journal this morning and after doing so, I glanced back at some of the previous entries. I made mental note that there were several things I had repeated more than once or twice. Of course I am grateful for my family and friends and I repeat that often in one entry or another but I noticed the artwork that I had gleefully penned beside some of the entries.
Small things like, I am grateful for the little tin Angel that someone I’ve never met in person so graciously sent to me (smiley face). I’m grateful for a moon stone given to me by the sister of one of my best friends who has passed on (hearts). Every time I look at that stone I can’t help but smile about all the good times we shared. I miss him immensely but somehow I still feel connected through something as simple as a little stone. I am grateful for a card that showed up in the mail from my second Mom for no reason other than to say she loves me and that I’m appreciated(daisies and butterflies). I am grateful for a birthday card that my youngest brother sent to me a couple of years ago that had a hand written note that reduced me to tears in a matter of seconds (hearts). I will never ever throw that card away. The artwork beside those entries remind me of how I was feeling in that very moment.
For this Yogini, it isn’t the Armani suits, Dooney Bourke handbags, or grand gestures that cost lots of money. It’s picking up the phone to say I’m thinking of you. It’s sending a hand written note or making someone laugh when they are down. It’s an email that just contains a smiley face. It’s answering my phone and hearing my Granddaughter’s little voice on the other end saying “I love you Grandma” “I wanna come to you house”. Little things do count and if you have doubts, just reflect back on how you felt when someone said something kind or offered to make you a cup of tea or handed you a plate of home made cookies. One of the dearest friends I have, calls me often just to say “I love you, bye”. In less than 10 seconds, she can make my day. On my journey to zen, I have realized that I prefer to give the little things and I hope that the recipient of that small little gift gleans as much happiness from receiving it as I have in giving it. My hope is that I am an entry in several gratitude journals for that is something I can add to my list of what I’m grateful for. It’s the little things that mean the most, so today give away a kind word, a smile, a little note or a hug. Lift someone’s heart just because and I can guarantee that your heart will also be lifted.
Namaste
Yogini Kp
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February 7, 2013 at 5:29 pm (Connecting to self, God, holistic, Journey, Reiki, Spiritual, Spirituality, Stress, Yoga, Zen)
Tags: Breathe, Connect, Journey, letting go, praying, Reiki, Spirituality, Stress, yoga, Zen
When I woke up this morning, I made a call to my brother but strangely his phone went straight to voice mail. Even though we are miles and miles apart, I typically talk to him several times during the week before he goes to work. This morning I called him because I saw a story of a highway pile up on the news, where several people had died and quite a few were injured. Whenever I hear stories about severe weather or something going on in his residential state, I give him a call to make sure he is safe and far, far away from whatever is going on down there. This morning he didn’t answer his phone and instead I got a text message a few minutes later telling me he was in the ER. I know things have been really weighing heavily on him lately and even though he puts on a good poker face it has not been easy. His stress levels have been intense for several years and now that stress is showing up physically much more often.
That text message caught me off guard but more than that it made me take note of how I handle my stress. How do I handle it? Does my body react to the daily stresses that I incur while running a small business? Have I simply ignored the signs? Do the little aches and pains that just don’t seem to ever completely go away, take up residence in my body because of stress? Do I allow outside forces, something or someone I can’t control cause me stress? I practice yoga, I practice Reiki, I sit in meditation but have I truly learned the art of “stress-less-ness”? I’d like to think so but if I’m truthful with myself, I still allow things that others do or don’t do effect me immensely even if only for a short while.
All of the practices that I have put into place have certainly helped me to talk myself back from the ledge many, many times. Yoga helps me to energize and focus on my breath. Reiki is a very calming practice that puts me in tune with areas of my body that are blocked or stagnant. Meditation is my favorite but oh how I wish that just for that small span of time I could turn the volume of the world to silence. I am grateful that I have an arsenal of holistic and spiritual weapons to draw from. I am grateful that I have found a connection to God that allows me to speak effortlessly from my heart and then listen for an answer. On this, my journey to Zen I am grateful for another day to practice all the things I love and stay mindful to stress LESS.
Namaste
Yogini KP
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January 24, 2013 at 3:44 pm (Uncategorized)
So here’s the thing, a lot of us go about our daily lives at a dizzying hurried pace. We deal with jobs, children, traffic, noise, pollution and so many different daily challenges that we rarely pay attention to our breathing. I am a shallow breather and I know that breathing this way actually robs my body of the oxygen that it needs to nourish my blood cells and my brain power. But really who pays attention to how they are breathing? We take for granted that as long as we are breathing, how we breath is fine. I decided to conduct a little experiment. I decided to take a week and spend 30 minutes per day on my mat and instead of going through my asanas connecting movement to breath, I would just sit or lay on my mat and just breath deeply and rhythmically.
With closed eyes I mentally repeated “I am breathing in, I am breathing out” and believe it or not that’s a lot harder than it sounds. Focusing on the breath takes a concerted effort because your mind will inevitably wonder off to this or that but just gently let those thoughts go and bring your attention back to your breathing. I’ve found that after 30 minutes of stillness and breathing deeply there’s a peaceful energy that starts to build. I’ve been practicing vinyasa yoga off and on for several years now and even though I connect my breath to the movements, sitting still with my breath and connecting to God
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January 14, 2013 at 11:58 pm (Journey, Spiritual, Yoga, Zen)
Tags: inner spirit, Journey to Zen, letting go, praying, Release, Rodney Yee, Surrender
This morning I decided that instead of doing my usual practice I would tune in to Veria TV and join Jai Sugrim and his students. At the end of the class he did an interview with New Age Yogi Rodney Yee. Mr. Yee shared a story about a very elderly man and how that man performed his version of a back bend. He said the elderly man simply knelt on the floor and tilted his head back. For that man it was his back bend. I realize that I am critical of my poses and sometimes I push a little harder than I need to in an effort to hurry progress along. Mr. Yee was really saying to release the thought of a perfect asana or what it should look like and just surrender to what it is for you right now.
His story resonated with me this morning because I’ve been struggling to fix the set backs that a year of sporadic practice has left me dealing with. I stepped away from the mat to heal and now I’m rushing to regain the ground I lost. I’ve also been dealing with a fractured heart over a situation where I have no control. Certainly I know you cannot control other people nor should you try. It’s funny how life works sometimes and how utterly profound some things can be. A few years ago I was given an Angel card that has been a permanent resident of my office desk. It’s almost as if that card was given to me in advance as a precursor to unknown events to come. It’s a reminder to me that I can’t always instantly fix things. Some things simply take time to achieve. The card says “Release & Surrender”. It goes on to say:
You’ve been trying to fix a situation single-handedly. You need to surrender and release the situation. Surrender simply means that you’re tired of struggling. It means emotionally letting go, with faith that the divine wisdom of Spirit (which includes your higher self) can do a better job. Surrender doesn’t mean that you’re giving up or that you want to be controlled. Through surrender, you’ll be assured of a better outcome. Don’t worry about how your prayer will be answered. Let God figure out the details. Be willing to ask for help. Release tension and the need to control and things will go better. Avoid power struggles in your relationships. Simply own your power and you won’t have to fight for it.
This Card spoke to both my heart and my practice. What is the worse that could happen if we just release and surrender to how things are in the now? My bet is that we will accomplish just what we want and end up just where we should be.
Namaste
Yogini Kp
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January 12, 2013 at 12:28 am (Connecting to self, Thoughts, Yoga, Zen)
Tags: age, ardha chandrasana, Bakasana, Balance, Chaturanga Dandasana, Pattabhi Joi, practice, Virabhadrasana, yoga, Zen
Hello Beautiful Souls, today during my morning practice, I made a mental note that my balance was off. During the short meditation that followed I had a chance to ponder where I am in my life and what is in and out of balance. I noticed that as I have aged, my physical balance has decided that it no longer wants to be taken for granted. It will show up when it wants, just to say hello and remind me that while I’m no longer 20 my balance is still in there hiding. There are days when I am steady and strong in my poses and there are days like today where props were not only needed but required. So how do I fix that?? ahhh yes practice.
Let’s see there’s quite a few asanas (poses) that could help convince my balance that I am no longer taking it for granted, that I am paying attention. There’s Virabhadrasana III, Chaturanga Dandasana, Bakasana, Ardha Chandrasana and who could forget Garudasana (or what I fondly refer to as my I’m a pretzel pose) just to name a few. Age is just a number, so practice I will, practice I must.
My time on the mat this morning also left me reflecting on the non-physical things that are out of balance in my life. My diet is out of balance, my thought process is out of balance, my schedule is out of balance and even some of my relationships are out of balance. So how do I fix it? What came to mind is something that I learned while becoming an instructor. A simple quote by Ashtanga Yoga Guru Pattabhi Joi which says “Practice and all is coming”. I want to thank my brain for allowing that one quote to show up this morning right when I needed to hear it most.
Namaste
Yogini Kp
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January 5, 2013 at 5:13 am (Connecting to self, Yoga, Zen)
Tags: choose, Intentions, Journey, Path, yoga, Zen
How do I get there?
Sometimes the best of intentions are sidetracked for one reason or another. We give ourselves so many excuses to stop start, stop start, stop start. However many excuses we give ourselves it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we start again. Your Journey is just that, your journey. There is no perfect method, right or wrong way to go about it, it is simply your journey. I am guilty of examining my journey every step of the way, from every angle. I stop to ponder why, I stop to wonder how, I certainly wonder if. I have a pattern of allowing such fervent examination of my journey that it often comes to a grinding halt, where I usually put it up on a shelf to collect the proverbial dust only to be revisited again at a later date. I know what I want, so why do I spend so much time off of the path just looking at it? There are certainly things I have been considering needlessly that don’t have anything to do with the end result I am trying to achieve. I must stop trying to give my journey a rigid outline and trying to force the inclusion of things that don’t fit.
The word Journey is a verb for me. It means movement, going somewhere, putting one foot in front of the other. I decided several months ago to start my journey again with new resolve to stop examining it and just “BE” the journey itself. No questioning just stay in the moment and go with the flow and guess what, the accomplishments have been steady. I am now a certified Reiki II practitioner and considering Reiki III. I have stayed with my yoga practice and even did 108 sun salutations to bring in the New Year (OK, minus a few here and there while I rested in child’s pose). Intention means aim or objective: something that somebody plans to do. Not a bad word but for me planning or aiming gives me too much time to examine it again. It gives me too much time to consider what others think and what part they play in my journey. I think I’ve finally learned my lesson about that. What truly excites me is NOW, this moment, this space in time. Now is important. For a Yogini like me who is methodical in thought and a procrastinator by nature, it is imperative that I live in the now. Commitment in the moment is what has propelled me forward. I am happy with that.
Namaskar
Yogini Kp
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Hello Beautiful ones. I appreciate you for taking a minute or two to read about the little nuggets that I find along the way on my Journey to Zen. As a business owner, its quite cathartic to come here to release and rejuvenate my spirit by sharing a little of me with you. This blog originally started out in my head to be a source for sharing my yoga journey and the beauty I find in the practice. Instead I have decided to just let the present moments lead me in my writing and just go with the flow of what pours out from my heart to the pages of this blog. Today I will speak Yoga and tell you about one of my favorite poses. I must say the first time that I did it, I felt a little exposed and a tad bit self conscious. It took me all the way back to the birth of my son. Truth is I LOVE this pose because not only does it loosen up my hips but it stretches out my inner thigh and groin muscles that don’t typically come in to play while I’m sitting at my desk handling business all day. The benefits of this lovely pose is that it will gently stretch the inner groins and the back along the spine. It calms the brain and helps relieve stress and fatigue.
Journey to zen 