Contentment and lifes journey!

Woke up this morning in a funk! Bleh, I hate that!  

Thing is, I know I have the power to change it *smiles*.  


While asking for a sign of what to do about my bad mood, santosa came to mind. 


Santosa - Contentment 
Another niyama is santosa, modesty and the feeling of being content with what we have. To be at peace within and content with one's lifestyle finding contentment even while experiencing life’s difficulties for life becomes a process of growth through all kinds of circumstances. We should accept that there is a purpose for everything - yoga calls it karma – and we cultivate contentment 'to accept what happens'. It means being happy with what we have rather than being unhappy about what we don't have.


Niyamas are part of yoga's eight limb philosophy.  To read more about The Eight Limbs of Yoga see this website, I believe it covers them well.  http://www.expressionsofspirit.com/yoga/eight-limbs.htm

Being content with oneself does not mean that we can not be ambitious. 
It's just another tool that can help lead to happiness. 
Things can not MAKE you a better person, only you have the power to do that. 
Things can serve as tools to help you on your journey to becoming a more balanced, healthy person. 
Yoga has helped be that for me (all of yoga, not just the Asanas)!
What has helped you on your journey to greatness? 
Is your guide to life a religion, sport, martial art, the arts, music? 
So, there is about 7 billion people on planet Earth, in my opinion we have options because of our diversity.
Diversity is what makes us special, diversity in ethnicity, diversity in faith, diversity in love. 
Do what makes you happy, and let others do what makes them happy. 
Your eternal guide of emotions will not steer you wrong. 


Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.
Grenville Kleiser

Parking lot Wildlife

I've always been a child of nature.
Thankfully, I was able to spend most of my childhood surrounded by land, ponds, forest, and farms with lots of animals and native wildlife.  I can remember encounters with wildlife as early as 2 years old.  I remember walking through the woods with my grandpa naming trees and animals, it was the most exciting thing to me, and memorable.  This one time in particular, if you know me, you know I have a naturally loud voice and I talk a lot so, I was chitter chattering on and on and my grandpa turned to me and said, "if you don't hush up, your never going to see anything," in the very next second a deer jumped out from a bush in front of us an ran off.  I still remember the look him and I shared from that experience.  All of these memories came flooding to my mind while thinking about this blog.  The point of this blog however, is not my past memories but, of parking lot wildlife.  I still retreat to the outdoors and nature as much as I can, even volunteering at the Wildlife Education and Rehab from time to time but, suburban wildlife has always fascinated me.  The quote "suburbia, the place where they cut down trees then name streets after them," comes to mind.  It's always a sad thing to see new development, knowing that so many organisms will loose their home.  Although, just as we would prevail if something major destroyed everything we knew, so do they.    Not all of them of course but, it's bitter sweet seeing these wild animals and birds make due with what they have.  Another quote comes to mind, "Nature will prevail."  Just off my apartments back patio I can witness, bunnies, many different species of birds including birds of prey, fox, raccoon, and opossum, and no telling what else I haven't seen yet.  What really fascinates me though, are the cutest little killdeer, (a species of sandpiper) birds with their young, scurrying their long little legs so fast through empty parking lots at 5am in the morning.  I only see them really early in the morning but, they are the cutest thing.  They must live in near by retention ponds and bushes.  Just the other morning while driving to my 5:30am yoga class there were massive amounts of killdeer scooting through the parking lot with their sooo cute young, bobbin and weaving away from my car, (of course I would NOT hit them).  Furthermore, I saw two huge tricolored herons just chillin, walking around the parking lot.  This just goes to show that they will survive if their bare necessities are met.  I think it would benefit us greatly to have as many untouched, preserved places where this wildlife can live and thrive.  Even in suburbia, just creating as many spaces as we can for them will help them survive. Hopefully, eventually lead us to understand that they deserve more than that.  It will not only benefit our Earth as a whole but, enrich our communities, and our lives.  So, whether you believe in intelligent creation or not, science proves we are all made from the same stuff, killdeer included...  All I'm saying is that I enjoy those such encounters and I believe we need to share this space we occupy with wildlife better than we are right now if we expect to see things like this in the future.  I support all efforts to create more habitat for wildlife but, we also need to preserve the already matured environments as well.  Why not redevelop areas that are run down and wasting away, while we cut down more trees for more parking lots somewhere else instead? Ok - I'm done or I'll continue forever LOL, - Have a beautiful day - Stop and delight in all that surrounds you! 

10 quotes to inspire a crazy fun life or just make you smile!

Not taking anything too seriously today, (or any other day for that matter)!  Really excited to blog but, nothing to blog about or, too many things to blog about and nothing to settle on.  Instead, ten quotes that made me laugh. Please post a favorite funny quote of yours!  All from Goodquotes.com 

"Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what you're up to."

If you can't fix it with duck tape you have'nt used enough.

Life's Tough, get a helmet!

you say physco like it's a bad thing.

don't regret doing things, regret getting caught

 "We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams."

"There's nothing wrong with being a loser, it just depends on how good you are at it."

OUT TO LUNCH: IF NOT BACK BY FIVE, OUT FOR DINNER ALSO

Most good judgement comes from experience. Most experience comes from bad judgement.

Bumper sticker - " Watch out for the idiot behind me!"

Enjoy your life today! 

ZombieLand

The poster to the movie ZombieLand gave me an idea for my blog post this morning...  Zombie definition from wikipedia: The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli.  It's pretty reminiscent of how a majority of people behave on a daily basis.  I  speak of cultivating sensitivity in my yoga classes a lot.  Throughout our daily lives some how we've become living zombies, we wake, dress, brush our teeth, say I love you and go through our motions... Sometimes we aren't even aware of ourselves as we drive to work. We get there and think back wondering, how did we arrive?  Did we even notice anything along the way?  These zombie like motions affect everything we do.  People come to yoga class to escape the stress of daily life only to zombie through their  asana poses not feeling anything other than muscle tension and physical effort.   Cultivating sensitivity to our bodies and our yoga practice will cultivate sensitivity off of the mat into our lives.  Just like anything else, practice makes permanent.  Even if you don't do yoga, practicing sensitivity will deepen the experiences you have in your life, from washing the dishes, to hugging someone you love.  By paying attention to the task at hand, you begin to cultivate sensitivity.  For example: when you eat; see the colors of your food, what textures are there, is it hot or cold, where did your food come from, how many hands did it take from creation to your plate, how does it feel in your mouth, is it salty, sweet?  Most of us don't even taste our food, we are too busy watching TV, or scarfing it down our pipes; leading to overeating and feeling not satisfied...  This is just one example.  Creating sensitivity is creating mindfulness, practicing mindfulness is what adds meaning to your life.  Many books have been written on this subject but, in brief, when you add meaning to everything in your life, you begin to delight in the "smaller" things.  If you're always wanting more and more, you're not paying attention to the beauty and awe in what you are experiencing now.  Back to yoga; when you create sensitivity in your yoga practice you are paying attention to the sensations in your body, by practicing this simple thing your practice all of a sudden has meaning, you can flow into your poses with greater ease and comfort, feeling exactly where you need to take your pose in that moment. Creating sensitivity and mindfulness in your life leads to contentment, contentment leads to lack of suffering.  Start today, just bring your attention to whatever task you are doing and enjoy the moment.  You don't have to win the lottery or keep up with the Jones's to have a meaningful life.
There is a great section on cultivating sensitivity in a book by: ErichSchiffmann. Link below...

http://www.movingintostillness.com/teachings.html
With love and light - Namaste.

A Starving Art!

Recently, I decided to take a leap of faith and change careers. For the past ten years I've been dreaming of my days filled to the brim with yoga! A yoga practitioner by night and a medical office assistant by day, that filled the time in my life throughout my entire twenties but, something was missing!  I had always been independent financially and personally but, my next decision would put my financial security to the test.  Taking the Universe will provide approach, I took that leap!  Here I am 3 months later.... realizing that the full time yoga instructor is very much like a starving artist.  Putting forth a lot of energy, creativity and time, for a meager salary! It's still early in the game but, a profession such as this one, like artist, musicians and other creative people, we must be constantly hustling our wares and services to make it.  Don't get me wrong, it's the most rewarding career, and I got exactly what I wanted.  I get to spend my days in stretchy pants, barefoot and in the most peaceful environment imaginable for a career.  People crave to live a "better life", I feel like I've reached the end of one chapter and am just beginning another.  A chapter where I can incorporate all those things that I love on a daily basis and try to make a decent living at it. I guess my whole point to this blog today is that, even though you don't know how to start or how it will end, sometimes you have to take that leap of faith, for the sake of your own livelihood. 
I'll end this short, vague blog with a quote -

"Another year is fast approaching. Go be that starving artist you’re afraid to be. Open up that journal and get poetic finally. Volunteer. Suck it up and travel. You were not born here to work and pay taxes. You were put here to be part of a vast organism to explore and create. Stop putting it off. The world has much more to offer than what’s on 15 televisions at TGI Fridays. Take pictures. Scare people. Shake up the scene. Be the change you want to see in the world."
— Jason Mraz

Here's to my exiting new life filled with endless possibilities.