Gratitude in Each Breath

In this week of Thanks Giving, it’s important to take a moment to connect to yourself in the chaos that often surrounds this holiday.  Whether you are cooking a large meal for extended family, traveling to attend a gathering, or celebrating quietly, give yourself a moment today to breathe in the vibration of Gratitude. 

Gratitude vibrates at a level that dispels negative thought patterns, and Gratitude is the perfect antidote to the lower vibration feelings such as anger, fear, and hopelessness.  Gratitude enhances personal feelings of well-being and can bring you more contentment and satisfaction in the present moment, which, according to the Yoga Sutras, is one of the reasons we practice yoga.  Read more about the proven effects of Gratitude here.   

Today, I invite you to practice inviting a Gratitude in with each breath.  Allow that Gratitude to fill you up and permeate each cell in your body, raising your physical vibration.  As you exhale, imagine releasing the feelings that no longer serve you.  With each in breath, invite a new Gratitude.  Your Gratitude could be large or small.  You might start as simply as feeling grateful to having fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, and a warm and safe home to be in.  

I look forward to seeing after this Dia de Gracias.  Wherever you are, be peace.

A Moment of Gratitude

I have a confession to make, yogis and yoginis!  I am a bookworm, and I usually have at least one fiction or historical fiction book that I’m working through.  In that vein, I’ve spent the last few weeks steeped in the past – whether that be Russia’s Imperial Age as written in Anna Karenina or the times of slavery described by Octavia Butler in Kindred or Jewel Parker Rhodes in Voodoo Dreams: A Novel of Marie Laveau or stories of true history as shared by the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast.

Add my studies of various translations of the Yoga Sutras and and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (expect some posts exploring these soon), and you have an idea of where my mind has been lately!

Along with all the valuable lessons I am reaping from my recreation and study, I am left with a sense of appreciation and awe for this time and place we are all lucky enough to occupy.

I know – there’s plenty of crazy to point to that’s happening in our current time – strange fads, worrisome country leaders, and tragic events, but there’s also just so much magnificence, right? Continue reading “A Moment of Gratitude”

Travels with Shiva

I’ve been making a slow-travel through California on this little trip home to the US.  After a week of being spoiled by girl time and good cooking with a friend in Southern California, I hopped a train to LA and further north.  There was a moment of adventure at the train station when I realized that the tracks there were closed and no train would be arriving.  With only 10 minutes to get to the next station and catch my train, I had some luck with two guys and a pick up truck who generously loaded up me and my baggage and another poor soul who didn’t get the news of the closed station.  We pulled up to the next station just as a train was getting ready to leave and breathed a sigh of relief that we would make our destination.

Beach Tracks

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Folding In

Taoism states that we can only know a thing by knowing and understanding its opposite.  For example, how can we know light if we’ve never been engulfed in darkness?  How can we know happiness if we’ve never plumbed the depths of sadness?  Each is just one side of a coin, with oneness being the reality and dualism the illusion.

Another way we can know a thing is by its absence.  As Nataraja dances the world into existence, feet rise and fall, hips undulate, and we come in and out of being as we watch.   Each time a toe rises, happiness is there or it isn’t.  A hand waves down dancing to the universal rhythm, and a wish is granted.

Continue reading “Folding In”