Thoughts for Today

"When you meet people, don’t talk to them; feel them. Come to them and open your heart. Then you will find them in your heart."

"We are born perfectly spiritual beings, and spirit has no limit. We were born to have a human experience. Practice kindness, compassion and caring, than all the powers of Mother Earth and Heavenly Father will start flowing through your hands, from your sight, from your presence."

"If for the whole day you believe in yourself, yourself within yourself, and you talk straight, you will have no depression, no anxiety, no anger. And that will give people trust, longing to talk to you. And then your psyche will attract all those who are in need, with whom you can share your psyche. You will have the most powerful domain."

- Yogi Bhajan

(Thanks Yogiji!!!)

INCREDIBLE India !!!

So, we just got back from India a few weeks ago and I am still reeling from the experience...It was AMAZING AWESOME INSANE. Its a whole other reality going on ever there, and its so much fun. The people there may not have as many material possesions but they are rich with HEART. You can see it in their eyes, the way anyone will meet your gaze and more often than not will shine their heart through a wide smile..just passing on the street. But it's nuts there. Traffic, smog and a kind of unsanitary way of life that if you havent been there ---well it's hard to fathom. Its BAD. So bad that just travelling through that environment as a westerner makes you extremely vulnerable to severe sickeness.. We kept Grape fruit seed extract on us CONSTANTLY and used it all day every day- and it worked- we were pretty healthy throughout our trip when alot of others with us were laid up pretty badly.
We went with an amazing group of people lead by our yoga teacher Harijiwan- We went to Darjeeling, Sikkim and Amritsar, doing yoga every day and visiting many incredible Tibetan Buddhist Monesteries and then the Golden Temple in Amritsar- which was hands down the most wild awesome golden energy spot i have ever been fortunate enough to go to!
If you want to see my pictures visit my album here - and let me know how you liked them!

Everything is a broad term

What do I mean by everything is yoga? Well, you see, when you say the word yoga , people get this idea alot of times that you are talking about stretching and chanting om. This is not what I mean when i say the word yoga. If you have ever read ANYthing about yoga, you probably already know that the word yoga literally means union. The union of you to YOU. That small 'everyday chore of life' self uniting with the 'big picture open heart all here' SELF. Its an actual experience, its something we can all FEEL and KNOW. And it doesn't have to happen in a yoga class or the result of some kind of pretzel position. It can happen with anything you truly love...when you let your small mind become just a part of the grand flow of your experience.
And yet..sometimes it doesnt seem so easy..right?!! For me too (oh if you only knew!). HOWEVER i know that peace - that connection really can be found in anything. For example these Cheetos I am eating right now- I am feeling very united with them. Ok I'm kidding. but not really. Anything you enjoy - anything that brings you IN TO JOY, is a kind of union with something higher in you, to a higher octave of experience. If we can all find those things in our lives- and APPRECIATE ( thats the real key part) them-then we can transform the mundane to sublime within each moment, with just our power to notice it and appreciate..because we know , where attention goes , energy flows...and energy is everything right...which brings me to my next post.... which i promise won't take me 7 months to get to !!!!

Yes!

“If you have not understood what is the purpose of your life, let me tell you the purpose of life. Purpose of life is to make the life such a bright light that all you desire to be should be at your own lotus feet. Make yourself so high, make yourself so excellent, make yourself so gracious, make yourself so virtuous, make yourself so calm, serene, quiet and saintly, so that all those who are finding shelter, who are finding inspiration, who are finding to be, get a chance from you to be. That’s the highest charity. That’s the highest gift a man can give to anther human being. There’s nothing you can do for anybody…nothing.

Uplift yourself and leave the space for somebody in your place. If there are so many coming in, go higher and higher till you merge with the Infinite Light and the Golden Chain of House of Guru Nanak continues.”

Yogi Bhajan

perfect words for today, thanks JC

“Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called “the love of your fate.” Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, “This is what I need.” It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment—not discouragement—you will find the strength is there. Any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow.

Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.”

Joseph Campbell

Moments of Grace

My aunt Grace is an amazing lady with a blog called Moments of Grace. The other day she wrote a post called " Finding Flowers in the Weeds". I asked her if i could re-post it here because I found it to be really a great idea. I am going to print these questions out and start asking myself these questions more often.
Here it is:

"I don't know about you, but I find that, unless a particular day contained something special or spectacular, most of my days fade away into oblivion in my mind after nightfall. All lessons, all experiences just sort of turn to mush and I wake up to the next day. If a day has been particularly difficult or even just blah, I will go to bed thinking of it in those terms.

The other night I suddenly realized this was happening and decided to come up with some questions to ask myself at night before bedtime. They are designed to help me see the value each day holds, especially if the day has been hard. Below are my questions, but I urge you to make up some of your own, questions that fit your priorities and your life. Whether it is one or two questions, or several, don't let another day slip away from you without saluting the glory buried in the mundane.

1. What were 7 of the best things about today, large or small? (It's easy to pick out 1 or 2 good things, but you've really got to stretch to get 7. And they will be there, I promise you, even if you just count the awful things that DIDN'T happen to you! That's what this question is designed to do, make me stretch to see every last bit of beauty. If I can come up with more, so much the better.)

2. What did I do today that I feel good about? (Maybe it's not snapping at someone who irritated me, maybe it's standing up for myself.)

3. What were some good connections I made today? (It doesn't have to be with the CEO, it might just be the cop you smiled at.)

4. What new or growing awarenesses did I have?

5. What would I do differently if I had to do it over? (This one might help you in the future.)

6. What service, large or small, did I offer to a person, an animal, or a larger group? (Everything from petting a dog to making a small donation in the tip jar to speaking to someone in passing counts.)

7. How am I different and better today than I was yesterday?

When each day is kind of a blur of a million different events, these questions bring everything into sharp focus. I can almost guarantee you that any day, no matter how difficult, will seem more beautiful through these lenses. "

It's so simple

Well, I sure *think* about posting to this blog alot, but don't seem to actually get to it very often. Its interesting trying to be so plugged into so many different online facets for my business. Twitter, My 11:11 life blog, updating my 11:11 website, Etsy store, Amazon store, not to mention Facebook or ichat or staying on top of emails!!!!!..... and I wonder why its hard to focus and make real progress sometimes. I am constantly going from one thing to the next and back again and sometimes forgetting what I set out to do in the first place.. and I know I am not alone in this. What is going on is that the information age is really and truly changing the way we live, and we are having to process more information in a month than our ancestors did their whole lifetimes. This alone is the reason why it is more important than ever to MAKE TIME to just be quiet and present with yourself. Call it meditation if you want and buy a special pillow... but all you really need to do is to start really paying attention to the breath. You know how its always the simple thing in life that are really true? Well this is another example. I've really gotten so much out of all the many very powerful pranayam exercises (Pranayam is simply energy management through the breath) that we do in Kundalini yoga, but truthfully its very simple and anyone anywhere can do it. You don't even need a class to start really benefiting. See I'll show you, give me 3 minutes. You have 3 minutes to feel better right?

1. Sit up straight wherever you are. Feel the spine and back of the neck get taller and longer and keep the head facing straight forward.
2. Start breathing veeerrryyy slowly through the nose. Just breathe and notice the sensations of breathing. Notice the stomach expand , notice the ribcage expand on the inhale.
3. Close your eyes and keep breathing longer and longer breaths, and really start to notice the sound of the breath.
4. As you inhale , start counting slowly in your head 1,2,3,4 etc and fill up the lungs slowly and completely. Whatever number you reach at the top of the breath, let the exhale be the same length of time.
5. With each breath see if you can add 1 or 2 counts onto the length , so your breaths are getting longer and deeper as you go.

Try this for just a few minutes, and see what a different headspace/mood/feeling you have created in yourself, just from paying attention and deepening the breath. To paraphrase Yogi Bhajan - "The deeper the breath, the deeper the life"

Its so simple yet there is layer upon level upon layer to the wisdom and power of the conscious breath... I intend to continue to explore and expand upon this topic as this blog progresses...as I progress....

Sat Nam!