Welcome Year of the Dragon

Today is the lunar New Year aka Chinese New Year. Welcome Year of the Dragon. 2012 is predicted to be a year of transformation. Today is a day for making new moon wishes and new year's intentions. Here's one of mine.

Yoga for Health and Healing

There's been a lot of buzz lately as to the "safety" of yoga. The New York times recently published an article called "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body." As might be expected, there was a huge backlash from yoga teachers everywhere. The truth is that you can hurt yourself in some of the poses if you are: A. not prepared to do them correctly, B. perform them without sensitivity, awareness, and good alignment, and C. even if you are prepared and know what you are doing, you can lose focus and injure yourself. Does yoga wreck your body? No! Can you wreck your body in yoga? Yes. Can you also wreck your body doing ordinary everyday things? Yes!!! i.e. walking and twisting your ankle, falling down stairs, transportation accidents, and so much more.

From my point of view, I think most yoga teachers were upset by the article because so many of us have experienced great health and healing through yoga. Like me, so many of us teach yoga because we want to share the gifts of the practice that have been so incredibly helpful in transforming our lives. We'd all really hate for people to be scared away from something that carries such great potency for healthy and happiness. I wanted to share my story today to demonstrate the healing potential that lies in Yoga.

My "body wrecking" began at an early age. My dad fought his way from Ireland, half-way around the world, to the United States as a professional boxer. As athletic as my dad was, my mom was more artistic. For anyone who sees me in an athletic light, I would say it was only by drive and dedication that I found myself here. My nature is more of the artist. I was a clumsy kid who tried really hard to be an athlete like my dad whom I admired so much. I was ALWAYS hurt. Gymnastics gave me a place to be both artistic and athletic but it also left me with more strains, sprains, and a degenerated lumbar spine (from trying to touch my butt to my head like Kristi Phillips.) When my body couldn't take the demands of gymnastics anymore - at the ripe old age of 15;-) I switched to springboard diving. Landing on the water was a little easier on my body but not easy enough. At the age of 21, as a college diver, I had a silly but severe mis-step off the diving board. I lost my space in the air and landed face first, flat on the water, off of the 3 meter board. I thought I could shake it off, dove again, and landed on the side of my head. I walked out of practice that day in severe pain that I couldn't shake for months. A chiropractor treated me for whiplash and the trainers treated me for strains and sprains throughout my neck, back, and shoulders. I pushed through the season even though I could barely sleep at night. I couldn't look up at the stars at night and it hurt to just tie my shoes. At 21 I felt like 81. 

Even though I pushed through to live a "normal" active life, I was in chronic pain. Finally armed with health insurance, I began the process to feel better. I was diagnosed with a laundry list of ailments: degenerated lumbar spine, two herniated disks, a touch of scoliosis, and fibro-mialgyia. There you go and thank you very much. Medication did not ease my pain. The orthopedic guy told me that surgery would be the only solution but because I was young he wanted me to wait as long as possible. He told me that I was already doing everything that they would have me do in physical therapy. So basically, push through young soldier. 

Chronic pain is exhausting and depressing. I did not want to live this way. I started reading some of the "new-agey" or rather progressive books about healing from chronic back pain. When my uncle told me about the Alexander Technique that he was using to help cope with his "wrecked" back, I went looking for relief. The Alexander Technique was unlike anything I had ever done before. My teacher spoke with a calm, steady, and quiet but powerful voice. She also helped me to be and move my body in this same way. For the first time in my life, I felt what it was to relax. I experienced the healing that lies in deep relaxation. My teacher, also began to introduce the concept of energy-work to me. I was surprised how clearly I could start to feel the energy flow in and around me. If the word "energy" puts you off, maybe you can just think of it as the electrical system of your body... you know.... your nervous system. "Energy" is real folks! Mindful practices like the Alexander Technique and Yoga help you tap into it and then change it. You can change tension to relaxation and chaos to harmony. Ok that's not really what this post is about but there you have it. 

I went through some ups and downs with the Alexander Technique. Some days I actually felt worse but I think it's because I was starting to feel again. When you have chronic pain sometimes it just feels better to shut down. I could feel myself coming alive again in many ways. Even though I hurt sometimes, I knew without a doubt I was healing. 

Around the same time, I began to take Yoga. I didn't really like it in the beginning. It was hard for me to focus. Sometimes I thought it was boring or weird. At the same time, I knew it was important for me to continue. Luckily I soon met some really great teachers who showed me the inspiring and fun side of yoga. I was being read poetry. I was practicing hand stands and backbends again. I was learning more about anatomy and energy and how they work together. I was hooked! And, I was feeling better and better. 

Then I met Sianna Sherman. She subbed a class I was taking and told me about these "loops and spirals" in this new yoga style called Anusara® Yoga. Her teacher John Friend had created this formula to use in all the yoga poses that was easy to remember and would help you "line-up" in a way that would give you a "soft, bright heart, a healthy body, and a clear mind." Sign me up!

So while my Alexander Technique teacher opened the door to healing, Anusara Yoga drove it home and gave me tools to help me encourage healing within myself and in my life. I could now move my muscles to adjust my own bones so that I was aligned in a way that would bring optimum health and harmony. I learned how to cultivate all the qualities I wanted to experience in my life like peace and joy. I was inspired to shift my focus from the negative to the positive and because of that and many more benefits of Yoga, I am an all-around better, healthier, and happier person. 

There are so many styles of yoga and so many teachers out there these days. I do think it's important to look for a style that you like and that feels beneficial to your particular state of being. It's also worth checking out a variety of teachers. Different teachers know different things and teach in different ways. The most important thing is to be sensitive and respectful to your own experience. In all the back talk after the NY Times article there was one quote that stood out to me. "If it hurts you, it's not yoga." We each need to take responsibility for ourselves and have the courage to do what's right for us. Sometimes that means holding back and sometimes that means surging forward. Although we can all learn from each other, our individual truth lies within. This, not whether you can put your foot behind your head, is the real call of yoga.The purpose of Yoga is to know and honor your true-self, as John Friend puts it to "Align with the Divine," and to unleash pure joy, health, and well-being. 

Yoga is good for you! Check it out.

2012 Winter Quote Collection

“You have to make mistakes to find out who you aren't. You take the action, and the insight follows: You don't think your way into becoming yourself.” — Anne Lamott

"It's the small, incremental changes that vault us to a new experience of ourselves... we too can affect the probability of something spectacular materializing by the energy we put into supporting the new." ~Kathy Freston

"...imagine that you are in a rowboat, and everything you do is one push of the paddle. Is it a strong stroke, moving you forward? Or is it sideways or chaotic, leaving you vulnerable to the current? Think of this wellness journey as the rowboat. Once you get the hang of rowing with the current and not against it, in harmony with who your truly are at your highest potential, every move you make will move you forward with greater efficiency. Just follow the rhythm of the current, add to it some of your own muscle, and you'll soon be amazed at how your momentum increases and you start meeting and surpassing your goals." ~Kathy Freston

‎"Whether we're seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises." Pema Chodron

Marianne Williamson

The one good thing about failure is that it makes you consider doing things a different way.

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”—Confucius

‎"I don’t know the secret to success, but the secret to failure is trying to please everyone." Bill Cosby

"One way to ward off cravings for non-nutritional sweets is to add more naturally sweet foods to your diet. Winter roots and squash offer that welcome addition to any meal." ~Terry Walters, Clean Food

"I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, quality, and freedom for their spirits...". Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"What you are looking for is what is looking". ~St. Francis of Assisi


“Love yourself first and everything falls into line.”―Lucille Ball


Children are not casual guests in our home. (Nor are they our "property." They have loaned to us temporarily for the purpose of loving them and instilling a foundation of values on which their future lives will be built. ~James Dobson


Within every person is an in-dwelling consciousness that is magical and wise observing all with a sense of neutrality and observation. When you see through the eyes of this Witness within, you're able to see broader vistas, new perspectives, and choose from a peaceful center rather than a reactive ego. This Higher Self, is ancient and is always connected to Source, greater than our small selves. When this card appears it is a sign to step back and observe, take inventory of your thoughts, and only cultivate the ones that are peaceful and good. -Colette Baron Reid




How to Make a Friend
There are many ways to be a friend. 1) Introduce yourself then let your new friend introduce her or himself. 2) Ask them a lot of questions. 3) Ask them if they want to play.

How to make them become your besties: 1) They cant’ tell your secrets or crushes. 2) They have to be kind and sweet. 3) They need to help you with your problems and help your friends with bullies.
Alexandria (2nd grade)

Prescription:
For Beautiful Eyes, Look for the Good in Others
For Beautiful Lips, speak only words of Kindness
For Poise: Walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
Audrey Hepburn

A Poem for the New Year

For A New Beginning

John O'Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart, 

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming, 

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire, 

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plentitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.