Be Careful of the Company You Keep

My good friend and fellow yoga teacher Natalie Maisel (of goddessdownload.com) put this up on her Facebook page this morning and it really struck a cord with me. Keeping a good sangha (community) around us is an important part of being a yogi. It can make all the difference in how our practice unfolds, and it is certainly a great factor in how happy and positive our everyday life is. I go to great lengths to surround myself with POSITIVE PEOPLE. I highly recommend them:-)

Good advice for us all...

“You must constantly ask yourself these questions:Who am I around?What are they doing to me?What have they got me reading?What have they got me saying?...Where do they have me going?What do they have me thinking?And most important, what do they have me becoming?Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay?”
- Jim Rohn

Angels in the Yoga Studio & the Spirit of Breath

Last week I was asked to be on a wonderful radio show: Alicia Tucker's Light as a Feather Angel Show on The Barefoot Broadcaster's network (part of Blog Talk Radio.) Alicia's show airs weekly on Fridays at 1pm EST (you can tune into it here.) Alicia teaches and shares on all things connected to angels, creating abundance in our lives and clearing negative energies and patterns; she also does live readings (you can call in and the reading is free). You can learn more about Alicia and her fabulous abundance program, Love = Money = Love, here.

Alicia was kind enough to invite me on last Friday (3/4/2011) to speak about Yogic breathing and how it helps us to raise our consciousness to higher levels, as well as healing the physical body and calming the mind. You can listen to the entire show, here.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the show generously provided by Carl Munson, the Barefoot Broadcaster himself. The first is me speaking about my own experiences with angels, in particular before teaching my yoga classes, and the other is me talking about pranayama (yogic breathing.)

Enjoy! May peace and love be with you always.

Breathe out Winter, Breathe in Spring

Crocus, daffodils and forsythia in bloom in my back garden!

This week Gastonia, North Carolina has come alive with daffodils and forsythia, and it seems that everyone (myself included!) is bursting at the seams to get outside, plant their gardens and enjoy the Spring air. As you head outside I hope you will take your mat with you! This is the time to benefit from the energy of our Earth reawakening. Place your feet softly on the earth, raise your finger tips to the sky and drink in the wonderful prana (energy) of life renewing itself.

This is also a great time to clear out and clean up – not just closets, but energetically speaking, as well. In our yoga classes at Blissful Body Yoga this month we will be working to lighten and detoxify the body, and open the heart and mind to new abundance and possibilities. This Friday is the New Moon which carries the forward moving energy of new growth, so it is the perfect time to "plant the seeds of change" in your life. In the words of Joseph Campbell, who has so inspired my life, "Follow your bliss!"

Meditation is the way to cultivate the most fertile ground for all personal growth. Developing a meditation practice calms the "vritts," or fluctuations of the mind, and allows us to see a clear, unwavering reflection of our True Self, rather that an image that is just a distorted reflection of who we really are.

Walking Meditation

Spring is a wonderful time for walking meditation. Walk outside and take a deep breath. Take your shoes off and walk around taking care to plant your foot from heel to toe with each step. Savor the sensations of your feet touching the earth, enjoy the transfer of weight from you, to the ground, and back as you walk. Stop, close your eyes, and listen to the sounds around you: the birds, the wind, little creatures running to and fro...maybe you will even hear the petals of a flower unfolding. Let your mind unfold. Let go of the past and soak in the present moment. Let the warm rays of the sun soak your Anahata chakra (heart center) and fill it with love and compassion for your self and for all of our planet. Repeat the following affirmation three times:

Breathing in, I breath in light and love

Breathing out, I release all that is dark and negative

I am light, I am love.

I love myself, I love all of the world.

Breathing in, I breath in light and love

Breathing out, I release all that is dark and negative

I am light, I am love.

I love myself, I love all of the world.

Breathing in, I breath in light and love

Breathing out, I release all that is dark and negative

I am light, I am love.

I love myself, I love all of the world.

May your walk, and all of your journeys be fill with joy and peace. Om shanti.

P.S. I realize that much of the country and world are still under a blanket of winter cold and snow. You can still do this meditation in your winter coat and boots on a sunny day, or even in your living room in a patch of sunlight coming in the window. Enjoy!