This Illuminating Dream

Being a person is such a fascinating mystery.  

I am not my body, but I have a body.

I am not my feelings, but I have feelings.

I am not my thoughts, but I have thoughts.

I am not my awareness, but I am aware.

Who am I?

What is I?

The awareness of my awareness as Tolle suggests?  Maybe.  The mystery that we call God as Chopra phrases it?  Possibly.  

I don't know the answers, but I know that when I allow what is to be, when I am balanced in awareness and surrendered to the flow of existence, I am at peace.

Being Myself

We don't know what our True Authentic Self really is or feels like.   Experience, human expression, it's all trial and error.  But not in that an error is wrong.  To err is human.  To miss the mark.  To continuously fall short in spite of our best efforts.  Yet salvation is in the journey.  Our "True Self", that inner core of unconditional love and ultimate oneness is only accessible through these unique, individual human perspectives . By delving in, being more "me", by trying out things that I am drawn to, finding the essence in them that attracted me, keeping that aspect and then trying out new expressions of me.  Ideas, looks, interests, passions all bringing me in contact with the world outside me and giving me all kinds of information about the world inside me.  Go for it.  Try it out.  Make a change unashamedly.  Be who you want to be now.  To err is human.  To not try is to deny yourself the depth of what it is to be human.  There is no failing.  You succeed in having experiences every time you try.  How they turn out is beyond your control, and the unexpected outcome brings the next Adventure.  What do you want? Just do it.

Yum

75 minutes of yoga culminating in headstand in warm pajamas.  With Macklemore, Sia, Mary Lambert, Awesome.  #ilovemylife #ilovemyself

Self-Care

Making some face scrub and about to pamper myself and then do restorative yoga before bed.  Show yourself some love today!

Self-Care

Making some face scrub and about to pamper myself and then do restorative yoga before bed.  Show yourself some love today!

Undoing

Yoga isn't about "doing the pose" it's undoing what is in the way of the pose. As children we generally experience freedom of movement in our bodies.  As we get older various factors contribute to our feelings of aging and limitation.  Approaching our adult body with compassion and curiosity and a spirit of removing obstacles is the heart of physical yoga.  Find ease and freedom!

Freedom

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-10544/10-things-everyone-gets-wrong-about-yoga-and-how-to-make-it-right-for-you.html

My 8 Limbs

Another day, another practice

An hour of breath-based yoga flee by... Sia's "Breathe Me" playing on repeat.

Notes from Leslie Kaminoff Workshop

Page one of more to come

Blessings

Good food 

after an insightful yogic lecture.  

Breathing in, I am grateful for my food. Breathing out...i am about to eat this shit UP! 

#zen #butforrealthough

From "Zen Keys"

Seeing into one's own nature is not the fruit of study or research.  It is a profound insight derived from living in the heart of reality, in perfect mindfulness.  There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.  -Thich Nhat Hahn

Morning

It's cold here this morning.  Someday I will live in a place that is never cold.  For now, I am learning not to judge "cold" as "bad".  :)

The past? That's SO over...

Housekeeping

Up And At 'Em

One nice thing about even semi-consistently blogging is that I can start to see patterns.  Recently I notice I have been feeling my practices slipping as far as length and regularity.  Since that doesn't align with my goals, now that I am aware of that imbalance I can take action to bring my habits more toward what I do want.  So today, up early!  Let's do this!  #motivated

Emotional Weather

Feeling crabby,

Grouchy, 

Irritated.

Needed to take personal time first,

But I mysteriously declined the chance.

Now I am most of the way through 

Quiet time, renewal practices,

but I can still feel the morning gunk

lingering on my inner landscape.

Now a little more space, easing up.

Still, I resist meditation.  

#ahumanexperience

Practice

Every day I get on my mat with intention and breath, my personal power becomes  more real to me.

Slacking Happens

So, I have been slacking.  Not only in my blog writing but in my homework as well. I was really on it and then my partner got sick.  And then friends keep coming over to hang out.  Also my schedule ia so busy that in the evening I "just want to relax".  All I have to say about this recent trend is that it is officially over.  Slacking happens.  It is human to fluctuate in dedication.  Here comes mine, roaring back to the top.  Day One again.  

Time Rolls On

Second training weekend done.  Being there is such a sweet retreat yoga-bubble with nothing to consider but my learning and practice.  It felt exhilarating. Refreshing.  Transitioning back into my regularly scheduled programming is a bit bumpy, but still I notice things I have gained that sustain my ability to be centered.  Its a fairly new mental/emotional muscle but I feel it growing.