My Month of Eat Pray Love

For those of you that haven't read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, it is about her taking a year to rediscover herself. She spends 4 months in Italy, India, and Indonesia. During that time she revives her passion for living, her awareness of self, and her ability to love others. I am hoping this next month will prove to be a mini-version of that experience for me.

I start my journey with family. Experiencing the chaotic world of children and Disney. As my mother-in-law put it, and very well I might add, this is an opportunity to bring a bunch of different personalities together and draw from their strengths to create a wonderful and memorable vacation that meets the needs of all. I am excited to spend a week with a group of people I look to often for inspiration and perspective. Having children around reignites the magic, and getting to see the parks through their eyes will be like belieiving in the Easter Bunny again. Perhaps I will find a way to bring that magic into everyday living a little bit more.

As the family returns home, Rich and I head to the cruise ship for a week of total relaxation. The practice of doing absolutely nothing and enjoying it. I plan to mostly sleep, eat, read, and lay around. Not only rejuvenating after a week of themeparks, but great preparation for intense physical and mental practice. Often times, in those moments of quiet, that is where the greatest journey, the journey of the spirit- can be known.

Finally, Rich returns home, and I continue on- flying first into Dubai, and then into India. To the state of Kerala on the southwest side. There I will spend 10 days at an Ayurvedic retreat. In sanskrit Ayurveda means "The Complete Knowledge for Long Life." It is a wholistic approach to health. I will be meeting with an Indian doctor to discuss my constitution and dinacharya(daily habits/schedule). The doctor will recommend herbs to take, food to eat, exercises to do, habits to change, based off of the constitution he diagnoses. The week will consist of massages, treatments, yoga, and meditation. I will have private sessions with both the doctor and the host of the retreat, a yoga master. I know this part of my journey will be the greatest challenge. I will be away from Rich for two weeks, and I will be spending the time working on me, which in my opinion can be the most challenging thing one can do. Yet, I am excited to be a student again. I have been out of balance in my role as teacher, and only through being a student also, can one progress as a teacher.

Through all of this I hope to deepen the harmony within myself and throughout my life, I hope to take what I have learned and bring it back to share with all of you. I'd like to thank everyone who has been a part of my life, shared their wisdom, and helped me grow. I am truly lucky. Namaste.

Enjoying the Journey Makes All the Difference

From the moment I could drive, I have always used a car that could simply get me where I needed to go. There was never much luxury to my traveling experience. Over the years, the dislike for driving a car, especially in inclement weather, grew and grew. It got to the point where I would not participate in activities because I did not want to drive there. I find this interesting since anyone that knows me knows I love to travel. Thousand mile road trips and flying to other continents, I’ll do at the drop of a hat- but getting into the car to drive downtown on a dark or snowy day, dreaded it and did anything to get out of it. My psyche still baffles me, but I’m okay with bafflement. Baffle is a fun word…

So anyway, a couple weeks ago I finally hung up the hat, threw in the towel, or any other euphemism you’d like to add in, and cosigned on a newer car with my Other. And, ohhhhhhhhh boy did my whole perspective on driving change! To have a car that heats up quickly enough to actually warm you as you drive, oh oh oh- and, heated seats are pure heaven to me. To have a car that can actually move through snow without getting stuck or sliding, a car that can play music without faulty wiring continually changing the station or volume level. A car whose engine purrs instead of creaking, clanking, sputtering at me in a constant threat to stop where it is in protest and not start again until I pay $1000 dollars.

All of the sudden, it was an enjoyable experience to drive. No longer was it all about the goal of a destination. I could actually enjoy the getting there part. I could enjoy the journey. And of course the moment I realized that, the yogi in me kicked in, and the metaphor spread to all the other aspects of my life. My car may be the tool that makes the journey to work enjoyable, but yoga is the tool that makes my journey through life more enjoyable. If you think about your body like a car, a vehicle that takes you through life, then it makes complete sense. If we don’t take care of our car- give it regular oil changes, fluid refills, tune-ups, tire rotations, etc- it breaks down, overheats, stops working efficiently and sometimes stops working all together. Fine-tuning my body with yoga over the years has made it possible for me to enjoy the ride through life with better health- physically, mentally, and immunologically. I have upgraded not only my car, but also myself, from an old broken down jalopy, to a nice new fully tricked out whip. Awwwwwwwww yeah(picture me in sunglasses on windy road, driving into the sunset, a rad beat in the background). Namaste.

Is Yoga Enough to Be Fit?

I just read this fantastic article that reaffirms what I have felt and known for years. For all those out there who question whether yoga is enough, it is. I am going to attach the Yoga Journal Article Link below, but before I let you read it, pay attention to the comments at the bottom of the article. The first comment mirrors my experience almost exactly. For years I worked out in gyms daily, for hours, and never got the body I wanted. When I took on yoga full time my body quickly began to reshape itself into what I had been hoping for, and that is only the superficial aspect to fitness, lets not forget how much better I feel in every other way. Last of all before I let you read the article let me point out my favorite portion, pertaining to all my restore students, stretching muscle builds muscle. So when we stretch out, we are also toning. I have witnessed this in my own body, and this article helps explain this wonderful phenomenon. So without further ado: http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/739

Put Down the Fork, and Chew on This

With Thanksgiving in a week, I am already starting to hear the comments that are a strange conglomerate of guilt and gluttony. The desire for people to maintain their ‘diet’ but to also go hog wild and eat as much turkey and pie as their body can ingest without going into a coma, at least not a full coma. I thought, well isn’t this a good time to share my experience eating at last year’s Thich Nhat Hanh retreat?


There were over a thousand people at this retreat, and come mealtime we all packed into the YMCA cafeteria. The meals were silent meals. No talking whatsoever. Imagine a full cafeteria with the sounds of clattering dishes and silverware, but no voices. The food though, oh man, best cafeteria food ever! It was all vegetarian, and throughout the week we were encouraged to refrain from caffeine or alcohol. There was also very little sugar, no sections full of different desserts, mostly just bowlfuls of fruits and veggies.
We would stand in line starting outside the building and patiently work our way in toward the buffet. No conversation, just looking. Looking at one another, looking at the beauty that is Rocky Mountain National Park, looking at the people already seated and eating their food. Every 15 minutes or so there would be a gong from the large singing bowl in the middle of the room and everyone would stop what they were doing. The clanging would stop, the shuffling, the banging, and for 15 seconds of silence, all these people would be present with their breath and the sound of the bell. As the resonance died people would pick up where they left off and the sound would once again rise.
When we arrived at the buffet we would pause and bow in Anjali mudra (hands at heart) in respect for the meal prepared for us. We would then pick up a plate and utensils and select a bit of this and that from the wide selection of delectables set out before us. Rich and I would share a plate of food as we have made it our habit to do, and we had great fun pointing to this or that and adding it to our plate. The tables in the dining room were round or rectangle and sat 8-10 people a table. Each time a person came or left the table all the other people would bow in acknowledgement of the person.
In the middle of each table sat a paper triangle with the Five Contemplations. Before eating we would read the contemplations, thinking about the process from planting seed to the moment the food is placed before us, and cultivate gratitude for what we were about to ingest.

The Five Contemplations:

§ This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings and much hard and loving work.
§ May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.
§ May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.
§ May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet and reverse the process of global warming.
§ We accept this food so that we may nurture our sisterhood and brotherhood, strengthen our sangha(community) and nourish our ideal of serving all beings.


We then picked up our forks, took a moderate bite of food, placed it in our mouths, and set the forks back down. We rolled the food across our tongue, chewing slowly, 10 times, 20 times before swallowing. Savoring the flavor, the texture, and how that changed as we held the bite on our tongue. Taking moments to glance at one another and smile. Connecting in appreciation over the meal, the company of strangers so comfortable and inviting without the expectation for verbal communication.
Five days of enjoying meals in this way. Rich and I both felt we had eaten so much food, enjoying flavors and textures we had spent little time noticing in the past, the nuances of spice becoming more apparent throughout the week. By the end we felt we had cultivated our palates through mindfulness, like a master sommelier, but of food. We were amazed when we got home, weighed ourselves, and saw we had both lost weight.

I can’t think of a better way to practice giving thanks at Thanksgiving than this. We can take a plate, put a bit of everything on it, contemplate, savor each bite, feel completely sated at the end, and not end up regretting it later. All the while cultivating gratitude and appreciation for those that make it possible for us to eat.

Happy Thanks-givings and Namaste.

TRUE LOVE

A little over a year ago I went to my friend's wedding in New Mexico( If you're reading this, Hi Chrissy!) She asked me to say a few words during the ceremony that had an eastern philosophy. I did some research, and found my inspiration through Thich Nhat Hanh's translations of the Buddha. I feel an overabundance of love in my life these days, True Love, and so I thought I'd share what the Buddha and TNH had to say about what True Love is.

According to Buddha, there are four elements to true love. Maitri, karuna, mudita, and upeksha.

Maitri translates as loving-kindness or benevolence. This is not only the desire to bring happiness and joy to another person, but the actual ability to do so. This ability comes from understanding. Understanding is the essence of love. In order to understand a person we must have time; we must practice looking deeply into this person. We must be there, attentive; we must observe, we must look deeply.

Karuna means compassion. This is not only the desire to ease the pain of another person, but the ability to do so. Knowledge and understanding are at the root of compassion. The practice of compassion is the practice of meditation. To meditate is to look deeply into the heart of things.

Mudita means joy. If there is joy in love, it is true love. If there is no joy in your love, you cannot be sure that it is true love.

Upeksha means equanimity or freedom. In true love you attain freedom. When you love, you bring freedom to the one you love. Love in such a way that the person you love feels free, not only outside, but also inside. You can ask your dear one, do you have enough space in your heart and all around you for your love to comfortably live?

Above all, in the context of Buddhism, to love is to be there. The most precious gift you can give to the one you love is true presence.

Namaste.

AUTHENTICITY

A curator will spend weeks, maybe months, examining every layer of an art piece. His eyes will trace every cubic inch from start to finish in search of flaws. He will dust for foreign particulates. He will take paint samples and break them down to their most basic components. He will look for any indication that what lies before him is fake, knowing that the majority of what he does receive falls in that category. But once in a while, something real finds its way in front of him. And after every possible test that can be done, it is found that the object is exactly what it claims to be. When that happens, on the rare occasion that happens, the object becomes priceless.
I am often reminded of the existence of a cultural norm of fabrication that can greatly devalue verbal expression and human connection.
Take a moment and think about how often you tell someone what you think they want to hear and not what you really think. Even more basic than that, in a day, how many automatic unconscious phrases flit from your lips, without even the realization that what you say and what you feel have absolutely no correlation.
You ask someone, ‘How are you?’ with no interest in stopping and hearing about their life. Someone asks you, ‘How are you?’ and despite what is going on you respond, ‘good’ automatically. Or even better, someone asks, ‘What’s Up?’ and you answer ‘good’ not even paying attention to the question they asked. Now, I know for myself that I do not want to share my life with everyone that asks about it, and I completely understand the automated response that can occur to allow the person to move on his or her way and for me to get back to my day. But I think everyone could benefit here from stepping back and thinking about what they are saying when they interact with people, and look to make each interaction as authentic as possible. I think we get to the point where we don’t truly believe what people tell us because we know this is a culture that often wears masks. Someone says, ‘I love your new haircut’ (I just got my haircut), and I can say a dubious thank you, because through years of watching others interact I have learned that, more often than not, if they don’t like my hair, they will tell me they like it because they believe that is what the ‘nice’ thing to do is, and then the minute I leave tell the person next to me they think it makes me look like an Edward Scissorhands victim.
Falsely doling out compliments devalues the compliments that are real because we learn to no longer truly believe what people tell us.
Have you ever met a person who to your surprise says, ‘I liked your hair better when it was long,’ and instead of being offended you smile and feel this internal sigh of relief because, whether or not is was something positive, it was authentic. And from then on out, everything that person says you tend to take a little more to heart because you can trust that what they say is the truth.
Next time an automatic ‘I’m sorry’ wants to burst from your lips, stop and think, what does that mean? Am I really sorry? What am I really feeling? The Spanish phrase for I’m sorry is ‘lo siento’, which literally translates to ‘I feel it’. I love that, because, if you’re saying it, shouldn’t you really feel it? Next time you ask someone, ‘Are you ok?’ think about what that means. What is ok? How do you define ok? What is it you are really asking? Can you move away from the generalizations that explain nothing and get specific? Do you really have a desire to understand this person inside? Now I say this with the caveat that tact should always be the framework within which truth is stated. When saying what you feel, the intention should be from a place of Ahimsa, or non-harming. If you feel the fuel for your words is anger and bitterness, then some time should be taken before anything is said at all. And there is vulnerability with the truth. There is a chance that despite best intentions, what you say will be twisted into a monster you had no desire to create. Yet, through the challenge of merging thought, emotion, and words into one flowing river, a deep strength could begin to form within you. We all know the power that rivers have to change the flow of things. I invite your soul to change the flow. Step back, re-route, and rise to the occasion. (Ha ha, get it, cause rivers rise- and prices when art is authentic…) Ok, anyway- I’ll end this now, with a great quote.

“So what happens is this refusal to confront one half of our existence, the dark side, what’s difficult about our lives, what’s grief-filled about our lives, what’s painful about our lives, what’s flawed about our lives. And the hope is that you can just concentrate on this other side and everything will be marvelous and good and all the time one side of us is just atrophied. And the soul doesn’t seem to make the distinction between the light and the dark. It chooses both. It doesn’t care if you do something successfully or fail at it; it just wants to know did you do it in your own way? Was it you who failed, or were you trying to be someone else when you failed. If it was you, then the soul’s happy. That was your experience, your failure; no one can take it away from you.”

~David Whyte, The Poetry of Self Compassion


Namaste.

Ad'dress' Your Fears for Halloween

Halloween is a celebration of fear. It is coming face to face with that which may frighten us, and befriending it. It is finding the fun and excitement that fear can bring. We all have our fears, some more than others. When it is our own fear, it can seem very serious and very personal. We can look at the source of our fear and create suffering, physically and mentally.
I spent today putting together my Halloween costume, and as I was lying in bed this evening contemplating the whole ritual of the holiday, I thought about the different costumes we wear, the decorations. It seems to me that we either make these popular fears friendly through humor or caricaturing their features, or we actively seek our edge of fear through haunted houses full of dreamt up nightmares. I thought, what if we did the same to the fears that we hold personal to us? It is easy to step back and take a third-person perspective and enjoy other people’s goblins, but what about our own?
What are our worst fears, the fears we consider ‘real’? Is it death, worthlessness, illness, rejection? What fears cause us to suffer? What would happen if we took a similar approach to our real fears that we took to the imagined fears of Halloween? What if we dressed up as our worst fear, cartooned it, befriended it, and actively sought it out- just as we do the witches, ghosts, vampires, and frankensteins of October?
I don’t know about you, but as I lay there in bed, imagining what a rejection costume might look like, imagining myself walking through my own internal haunted house, the spooks I’ve held onto seemed much less scary, still a bit thrilling, but the thrill, the thrill had a smile to it.

Namaste.

Family Trees Shed Leaves

I have a good friend whose parents died when he was 6. It is easy for people to see the tragedy in this. Yet I watch he and his two siblings interact, as if they were best friends as well as family, and there is new perspective. At first I covet, wishing that my family had the same relationship and interaction. Yet I quickly acknowledge that unhappiness comes from not accepting what is, so I let that desire go and look at today, and what is. The leaves from yellow to red, piling up outside my door.
My family tree, I think is deciduous. Though it may live in harsher regions, causing leaves to shed, the tree turning in on its self to conserve life, this is only necessary so that the past scars of severed limbs can lead to greater growth in spring. If this did not happen, the tree would not last the winter, trying to care for foliage with energy it does not have. We do not mourn the loss of a leaf in fall, we see its beauty, and know it is only temporary. Yet a connection lost within family, can seem devastating.
I like to think of my family tree more akin to a Pando, that giant grove of aspens, where one is unsure to label it a single tree with one massive root, or many trees interconnected. My family does not come from one trunk. It has spread beyond the blood, and where one trunk may have separated from the rest to begin its own path, another has connected its roots. Or, perhaps the roots themselves have suckered a new branch into existence. There is no loss here. The Pando has existed for thousands of years, in continual cycles of death and rebirth. If one member lets go in the fall, there is new growth in spring.
Have you ever sat outside and listened to the sound of quaking aspen in the breeze? They almost trace the silence. Their color, in its absence, mimic the sun.

In the wake of winter, let the leaves go. Come to center, root down. Nourish within, only then, will you have energy, when the spring comes, to grow.

Namaste,

Reina

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First session includes:
-an initial consult to talk about what you are looking for in your yoga practice.
-some basic mind/breath/body work.

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- a personal yoga practice designed and written for you based off the initial consult.

Special available through December 1st. Email now to set up a time and place.

September 21st, Support your Yogi Night!

Here is a reminder to come to my Yin Yoga class at Avenues Yoga on Tuesday, September 21st. I'll be bringing new knowledge and practices that I learned at my 5 day intensive yoga training with Donna Farhi. Hope to see you all there!

Vegan Steel Cut Oatmeal Cookies

As my desire to be more aware of the food I eat increases, finding recipes to suit my needs decreases. I now have to modify, or create from scratch, most recipes. Now, although I look to make the majority of my food fruit and vegetable-based, I will not deny that I love chocolate and cookies. I am constantly looking for that line where healthy and delectable meet. I think this recipe has done a pretty good job. The steel cut oats add great texture and all the benefits of oats. The agave nectar adds some sweet, but is low on the glycemic index so blood sugar won't shoot through the roof(you could substitute stevia for less calories). The oil is an option if you are looking for some healthy fats(supposing you use grapeseed or olive oil), but if you are looking for lower calorie you can use all applesauce. Even the dark chocolate in moderation is a source for antioxidants. Anyhow, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from this recipe and requests to share, so I made some yesterday and wrote down the recipe for you. Enjoy!

Vegan Steel Cut Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup steel cut oats
1 ½ cup water
1 ¼ whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup agave nectar
¼ cup organic unsweetened applesauce
¼ cup oil (I use grapeseed oil, can substitute applesauce)
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup chopped nuts of choice (I’ve used hazelnuts and walnuts)
½ cup dried cranberries
1 organic dark chocolate bar, chopped (I used chocolate dream dark bar, it has no dairy)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet. Boil the water and pour into a bowl with the steel cut oats. Let sit for 20 minutes, until most of the water is absorbed and oats are cool. Drain excess water. If oats aren’t cool, chocolate will melt. Add agave nectar, applesauce, oil, and vanilla extract.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in another bowl. Pour in wet ingredients and blend. Add cranberries, nuts, and chocolate. Mix. Place spoonfuls on cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes.

about 120 calories a cookie.

Yoga and Stress, Part II

As a Time article I read states: Studies long ago showed that mental and physical health are intertwined and that stress, anxiety and depression can exacerbate such conditions as hypertension and heart disease. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of psychiatry who studies links between severe stress and health problems states, "There is growing evidence that inflammation is a risk factor for cancer and also for mortality from cancer. And there is lots of evidence that stress enhances inflammation."(TIME A-Z health guide).
Through my many conversations with people about yoga, it seems yoga has become generally accepted in two capacities: its ability to stretch and to relax. What people are less aware of, I think, is how profound an effect that relaxation practice can have on overall health. As stated above, stress causes inflammation. Inflammation of the body leads to a myriad of health issues, as well as worsening current health issues. Stress prevents healing and causes illness. If we don't alleviate stress, how effective will our other health practices be? I invite you to integrate a yoga session or two into your weekly routine. Notice if the practice effects your other activities whether they be running, biking, working, eating. You might notice that practicing relaxation could not only promote physical health, but enhance your ability to enjoy the present moment.

-Namaste

Yoga: Lose weight while you relax!

I read the following article in Time magazine, and was given another validation that yoga brings well-being on many levels. For years yoga has helped me maintain a healthy weight through cultivating mind, breath, and body. This article shows that people are beginning to think outside the conventional box maintaining that all we have to look at is calories consumed versus calories burned. That type of thinking is so oversimplified that it can completely disregard wholistic health and overall well-being, and here's why:

STRESS
LESSONS FROM CHUBBY MONKEYS
TIME MAGAZINE A TO Z HEALTH GUIDE

Ice cream, cheesecake and 18-oz burgers can all get you fat, but at least you enjoy the journey. Here's something that packs on the pounds but is no fun at all: stress. Worse, the kind of fat that stress makes you add is the most dangerous. In studies of monkeys at Wake Forest University, researchers found that those lowest in the social hierarchy- and thus highest in stress- tended to be fatter than others and tended to add their weight around the middle. This so-called visceral fat is more metabolically active than subcutaneous fat elsewhere in the body, secreting hormones and other agents that increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes. What is true in monkeys is true in us. People who have high levels of the stress hormone cortisol are likelier to have a bulky waistline and thus carry a load of visceral fat. Eating well is key if you want to stay healthy- but chilling out may be just as important.

Namaste,
Reina

Life on the Big Screen

How often do we see a movie where everything goes according to plan for the characters and they remain happy and content from start to finish? If there is a movie out there where that occurs please let me know, because I have yet to find it. I believe most producers and writers wouldn’t create such a script because they feel it would be boring, lack substance, and fail commercially. Think about your favorite film. Does it consist of a character starting at point A, going through experiences that are often difficult, then arriving at point B by the end of the film having changed or grown as a person? Most films seem to follow this formula because this formula follows the reality of living. The first scenario I wrote out where people are forever happy and everything goes exactly as planned, that doesn’t happen. So why do we keep fighting so hard in our own personal lives to create something we don’t even want to create in the fictional world we watch on the screen? Think about some of your favorite fictional characters. Are they ‘perfect’? Or are they full of ‘flaws’ that create intrigue and endearment? Would you be interested in the character if they never made any mistakes or had any troubles?

This month I invite you to examine yourself and the characters in your life. You might find those characteristics, once labeled as imperfections, are what create the dynamic interactions in your relationships. The interactions you learn the most from. Can we learn to accept and even love the quirks within others and within us? Can we step back a moment from our life and view it on the big screen? Can we see how over the years, through our trials, we have gained greater depth and richness of character, and that our character will continue to grow and change directly because of those difficult situations that inevitably arise? Maybe if we can allow ourselves to be okay with the experience of life, then we can choose how we view it in our minds. I, personally, like to see myself in a comedy where everyone is full of wacky hijinks but no one means any serious harm, and at the end of the day, there is always a reason to laugh. Namaste.

Make a Space for Love

When we practice yoga we flick out our mat, set it on the floor, place ourselves inside it and intend to stay there for a specified length of time. We have created a space for us to be with our breath, our mind, and our body. The way we structure our brain seems to be largely built upon this idea. Our mind being like chunks of realestate that we can split up, designate as commercial or residential, decide which is prime and which is industrial, which we’ll live in, which we’ll sell. We are inundated with choices of what to spend our time doing, who to spend our time with, and how to look at the time spent. With so many choices, quickly, unconsciously, our mind realestate becomes monopolized with the everyday, with the skyscrapers of unnecessary information.

These plots of land, being so malleable, must be maintained through our awareness, lest they be taken over by the Wal-marts of convenient habit. And though this concept can relate to dozens of different aspects of our lives, as it is February, I shall focus on one in particular, Love.

Now when I say love, although people tend to automatically relate it to intimate love, I am talking about any love, all love, that we experience in the many and varied relationships we may have, have had or wish to have throughout our lives.
In the beginning, when love is new, it is like a new house. We are very aware of our surroundings, we take in each angle and curve, the different colors of paint, the bright clean carpet. We learn every nuance of our dwelling, to become familiar with it, so that we can rest comfortably within, so that we can feel safe, secure, at home. Yet, as familiarity grows, the awareness fades, our body and our mind have learned our home and maneuver through it unconsciously, taking for granted that things will remain in their place. In that time, the paint dulls, the carpet wears, the house settles. Now, how many of us, established in our home, wait until a hole forms in the carpet to replace it? Wait until the wood is rotting to replace the roof?

I suppose this analogy comes to mind because I am replacing a broken sewer line in my home, but it seems so relevant to relationships as well. How often do we proactively create a space to show love for the people in our lives? It seems to be the trend to focus on what we don’t have, on what is wrong with what we have, on what needs to be fixed or changed or removed. We often, usually unwittingly, create tremendous space for hurt, anger, stress, resentment, guilt, judgement, and imperfection. How often do we step back for a moment and appreciate what we do have? To acknowledge the love we have, and why it is there for these people in our lives? To set out our mat, sit within that place of love, and just be?

Every February 14th, Valentines Day rolls around. In it’s truest form I believe this day is trying to facilitate the creation of that space. Yet, once again, people frequently fall into the habit of focusing on what they don’t have, on the expectations and the judgement. I invite a change in perspective. I invite us all to take a moment, more than a moment, and create a space. Sit within, and reflect on love. Who do you love? Why do you love them? Why have they been such an important part in your life? What have they shown you? Taught you? How do you feel when you are with them? Can you allow your love for them to be in that place, despite the past, despite baggage, despite what you think they feel toward you? Pay attention to the sensations in your body as these thoughts arise, notice what happens, be with it, allow it, express it.

As you are here, realize there is no wrong, no bad, no imperfection with any thoughts or feelings that arise. In creating this space where love abounds, don’t forget one of the most important persons to remind of your love for – you.

Happy Valentines, Much love, and Namaste.

Chinese New Year Practice Coming Up!