Day 285 Intention ~ Accept Impermanence

Day 285 Intention ~ Accept Impermanence

Things are in a constant state of change...that is one constant we can depend on. It is a lesson of yoga to learn to accept the now and not get attached to it because it is all impermanent. I am sure that seeing an old friend in the past week is what sparked my attention to past things, silly arguments I've had or just longing for younger days and friends. 

Through this, some old negative emotions have risen through all of this and it is silly. I know that these feelings are silly to dwell on, but yet, I still let certain things bother me. I need to let go. These past things are not really affecting the here and so fleeting now, except for my pain in my heart or gut about them. It's silly. They are over. These situations are long gone, but I sparked them back to life...in my mind. 

The truth is, every moment is gone in a snap. Try to enjoy them, don't attach to them. If you stopped and really found stillness in the right here, right now, it wouldn't seem so bad. Not dwelling on the past, not worrying about the future. Just being here in the moment...and then it is gone. 

Nothing is permanent. 

Til tomorrow...

Shanti, 

Marcia

Day 237 Intention ~ Continue...

Day 237 Intention ~ Continue...

Tru to continue what I need to get done without attachment. Although it is Sunday,  a day that many take as a day of rest, there are things that need to get done. In the past,  I would feel discontented if I had to teach or work on a Sunday.  Lately, I just continue to do what needs done.

That's it for today ;)

Til tomorrow...

Shanti, 

Marcia

Day 117 Intention ~ Flow Like Water

Day 117 Intention ~ Flow Like Water

Perhaps I should say, "go with the flow", but flow like water just sounded a little prettier to me this afternoon. Being a pisces (not to get all hippie dippy on ya), this isn't really a hard task. We tend to go with the flow naturally. 

Today, I was supposed to be at a pretty public venue for yoga demonstrations and drumming up business for a new place I am teaching, but plans change. I was actually looking forward to doing something new (to me) and meeting new people and potential students. 

It is just too gorgeous out today and this event is indoors, so I have been called off duty. Although I was looking forward to it, I am also excited to get to enjoy this afternoon outside also (after I get off the computer of course!)

So, in this way, I am going with the flow. Sometimes it's easier than other times. This was an easy one. When we learn acceptance of events in our lives and don't get so attached to the outcomes, we learn to flow a little bit more gracefully through life. A person that loses attachment to outcomes becomes sattvic, or pure and balanced in body and mind. 

Til tomorrow...

Shanti, 

Marcia

Find Happiness Within...

Well, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday.

Whenever I feel this crabby, I actually feel a little bit guilty about it~so non-yogic of me! I tried to tell myself all of the things that I say to my students about finding happiness within.

Wasn't working. In my own stubbornness, I convinced myself that I was being more "real" by being crabby and owning it.

Then a friend of mine shared famous yoga teacher/writer, Max Strom's Facebook status on her page. It read, "No matter how many chaturangas we do, no matter how much wheat grass juice we drink, no matter how many kirtans we attend, we will not have a happy life if we are carrying inside us resentment and hate. 'It's not what you eat, but what's eating you.' Our yoga will take us quite far down the road, healing past wounds, purging us of ghosts, but at some point down the road we have to do some work on ourselves which is also part of spiritual tradition; self-enquiry, and in that work, one of our greatest tools is the power of forgiveness."

Thanks Max. Okay, I will try. I will look inside and find out what is eating at me. I will, at the very least, try to forgive myself this mood even if I can't find the cause to forgive.

I continued my funk, putzing around the house, ending up in the kitchen. It is here that I found a fortune cookie fortune sitting underneath some items in a bowl.

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change."

Okay universe! I get it. I'm trying.

I went and sat down and started thinking about it. I came to one of my favorite yoga sutras that I love to teach in class.

Duhkhanusavi Dvesah: Aversion is that which follows identification with painful experiences.

Sri Swami Satchidananda goes on to explain that "We attach ourselves to pleasure because we expect happiness from it, forgetting that happiness is always in us as the true Self."

After stewing over that and getting a good night's sleep~I know that all of these statements I ran into are true. My mood, who knows, sometimes we just have good ones, sometimes bad ones. No need to attach to it in the end. No need to long for happiness or a better mood if that is the case that day, just know that if you let go from attaching yourself to your anger or resentments and do forgive whoever or whatever it is that is bothering you, you will find that happiness, that peace & that joy within. I know that I am trying...every single day.

Om Shanti~Marcia