What's Your Resolution?

What a difference a day makes! I have heard several people this last couple weeks of 2011 state that they can't wait for this year to be over...as if all will magically become puppies and rainbows come January 1st. Well, as that may not be true (if it is-lucky you!!), the new year does bring us a chance to hit the reset button on our goals and wishes-giving us a new determination to accomplish these things.

I used to tell people that I didn't set resolutions at the new year, but, of course, I secretly did. I didn't want people to know if I had failed to stick to my resolutions...especially after only 2 weeks!

But, in an effort to be more truthful to myself and others (one of my resolutions in 2012), I will publicly open up my resolutions for 2012:

1. Patanjali's Sutra 1.7: In a state of yoga, comprehension is different from comprehension at other times. It is closer to the true nature of the object. In an attempt to listen to this sutra, I will try to to get closer to my true Self. Which will allow me to be more true not only to myself, but to others that I meet and see in my daily life.
2. Deepen my asana practice and stop being afraid of those lingering poses that my mind is blocking me from achieving. I know I have the strength~now just do it.
3. Teach & live with an open heart and mind in EVERY class.
4. Find some balance in my mind, body & heart. That reminds me, #5 better be to meditate more...
5. Meditate more.
6. Teach more workshops.
7. Reach more people.
8. To remain in love with life & all living it!

Good luck with all of your resolutions for 2012 (if you make them that is...even secretly). Open your heart and your mind and surely you will find success.

Or as George Clinton says, "Free Your Mind, and Your *ss Will Follow."

Happy New Year all!

Shanti~Marcia

Simply You

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” ~John Jakes

It's easy to allow those we care about sway our thought process. Allowing their fears and anxieties come through and carry over to our own lives. But the truth is, on the road to happiness, you must take care of yourself first.

Some may say this is a "selfish" or "greedy" idea to have, but this is not the suggestion you see yourself better than those around you. No, it is a statement that if you don't stand your ground about the things that are the essence of you - you will never be the person you were born to be.

"OM"

The simplest mantra. The perfect sound. OM has not specific meaning, yet it means everything thing. It speaks of God, it speaks of you, it cleanses the air - it is the perfect mantra to clear away the cobwebs and clutter around our true self.

Pronounced A-U-M, each letter sung out through and through. It begins and ends most other mantras. It is many parts - yet still a whole, just like you. According to Sharon Gannon and David Life - the founders of Jivamukti, "The word OM beautifully expresses the four states of consciousness; jagrat (waking), swapna (dreaming), sushupti (deep sleep) and turiya (samadhi)... Each part of the symbol for OM represents a different state of consciousness."

That is why the very essence of OM is here to help you on your path. It is everything, just like you.

Anjali Mudra

Placing your hands together, at your heart and pressing your thumbs into your sternum - Anjali Mudra is synonymous with Indian Culture. Used to greet people hello and good-bye and it is the most common mudra used in meditation and most often accompanied with a bowed head.

In simplicity we will find freedom. The freedom to live, love and learn and the freedom to be ourselves.

Easy pose - Sukhasana - is when you come to sit in a simple crossed legged style. This pose has many benefits from stretching your legs and knees to helping you ground yourself. Finding easy pose may not be that easy, but once you find yourself centered - perhaps sitting on a blanket or a block. Pressing your hands together at your heart, allowing your eyes fall to close and inhaling deeply then releasing OM from the debts of your being.

Let go of the tensions of life.

Let go of the expectations of others.

Find your inner guru and just be.

~Namaste

Fear = Transition

I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong - Benjamin Franklin

The biggest fear that ruins life is that our dreams will end in failure. We move away from scary situations, clinging onto comfort and the illusion of stability instead of reaching for our dreams assuming that bravery is lined with ease, but not understanding that failure is just a lesson brought on to teach us what we are truly capable of.

The only true way to fail is to give up completely - if you have a dream or a goal and you keep working towards it, one day you will reach that goal. It may take hours, it may take years - but nothing worth having has ever been easy to obtain.

Bravery is pushing past your fears, it is to keep moving even when you're afraid. Strength is knowing that our imagination holds the trailers to our future and this moment is the future we were worried about yesterday.

AUM VAKRATUNDAYA HUM - Ganesha Purana

It is said if you repeat this mantra 1008 times it will bring you strength and healing. It will help when things aren't working either on a personal or universal level. Locally or internationally, this mantra - and Ganesha - is here for you when our minds drift off to bad places; become negative; depressed; or we feel simply discouraged by every day life. Turning towards Ganesha will help you move back to the brighter path in your life.

Abhaya "Fearless" & Varada "Giving or Welcome" Mudras

Abhaya "Fearless" symbolized protection, peace and dispelling fear. The Right hand is held at shoulder height with your palm facing outward. "I come in peace" it is a gesture that shows the hand is empty of weapons and a sign of friendship and peace.

According to Buddhist History, the Buddha made this gesture right after receiving enlightenment.

Varada "Giving" or "Welcome" mudra symbolises charity and compassion. It is the mudra of accomplishment of the wish to devote oneself to Human Salvation. Almost always made with the left hand, it can be made with the arm hanging neutral or your palm sitting up and open on your knee.

The five fingers symbolize: Generosity, Morality, Patience, Effort and Meditative Concentration. This mudra is rarely used alone.

Crow - "Bakasana"

Crow, or Bakasana, helps to strengthen wrist, forearms, and abdomen. It improves your balance - yet crow can be a rather scary pose. Balancing all of your weight onto your two hands, with your face inches away from the floor can feel daunting and like a recipe for disaster - but crow teaches us how to let go, to be free and to fly. When you are properly aligned there is nothing to fear.

Place your hands on your mat, this is your foundation. Fingers wide and creases of your writs facing forward, walk your knees onto your upper arms - but before you begin to lift your legs be sure that your arms are aligned above your writs and that you are engaging your core. Then try to lift one foot at a time, taking your gaze forward and then organically moving into the pose.

Fear is the moment we realize that what we want is worth being brave for, and it is the moment we understand that what we were is not the only thing we were meant to be. All great things come out of conflict, transition and they push past fear.

Now go find your crow and fly.

~Namaste

This yogi's holiday reflections...

As the holidays are upon us, like many others, I find myself pausing to reflect on the events of the past year. Not only what has happened in my life, but also in the lives of my family and my friends. There have been births and deaths, sickness and triathlons, weddings, separations, graduations, anniversaries, jobs lost and new careers found, moves all over this country (and out of this country) and lots of laughter, tears, stress and love.

This fall found me transforming into a full time yoga teacher rather than continuing to run myself ragged working in an office full time and teaching almost every night and weekend. Transforming from the "frazzled yoga teacher" to the broke, but blissed out yoga teacher who actually gets to practice yoga herself!

This fall also found my family coming together as my father underwent quintuple bypass surgery and my friends enveloping me with love and support as my dog, George, underwent surgery to remove his cancerous tumors.

Two difficult things back to back. If these things had occurred earlier in the year, I can't say how I would have reacted. I was definitely flying off the handle more back then, just a few months earlier. No matter how hard it was, I felt a calm during the sadness, concern and stress that I felt during those weeks. Don't get me wrong, I was upset, but it felt different. I do firmly believe that it was getting my own yoga practice back during that time that really helped me get through it.

My father is doing great and well, George, he has another tumor that has already grown back in, but I know that I can handle that and take care of him.

Yoga means union. Really it is your union with the Divine, whatever you believe the Divine to be. I'm not a particularly religious person. Yes, yoga has made me tap more into my spiritual side, but when it comes to organized religion, I am not really a "believer". My spiritual journey is definitely still growing and I may never figure it out what I truly, deep in my heart believe.

I may not know yet what my Divine is, but I do know that I believe there is something out there bigger than myself...than all of us. I know that yoga has gotten me closer to figuring it out. I also know that in all of those good times and hard times this year, somehow I still feel bliss. I feel so blessed for all of the people that are in my life. You are all amazing.

I wish you all happiness and health in this great celebration called life. Enjoy this time spent with your family, friends and fellow man. Hear their laughter, feel the warmth of their hearts. Have a wonderful holiday.

Shanti Om~Marcia

Patience

When you decided to add a mantra to your meditation practice it's easy to begin a quest trying to seek out the mantra that is right for you. By surfing the internet, reading books like "Mantras: Words of Power" by Swami Sivananda Radha, then you may feel overwhelmed by the amount of mantras out there for the taking.

Should it be in Sanskrit?

Should it be Buddhist?

Should it refer to the doctrine I was raised under?

This task can become daunting and that pressure may lead you to just give up all together. So simplicity is key. Just like all things in the Universe, when we are meant to have something - it will come to us. The Buddha stated that "Money is like water, try to grab it and it flows away, open your hands and it will move towards you." This is true with everything in life, not just money. The riches of love, happiness, companionship - patience is the key.

When you are seeking out your mantra and you are met with the myriad of questions from "Who is Lakshmi?" to what the intent is, is it the same as yours?

Just wait.

I find that when I feel it's time to find a new mantra, after looking and reading and researching - somewhere in the middle of my day I'll find it rolling around in my head, my own voice chanting the words.

In Catholic Doctrine they list 52 attributes known as virtues that range from Assertiveness to Unity, but while all of them server an important purpose in life - patience should always float to the top.

If we pause

If we breathe

If we wait

What we need will come to us, no, maybe not in the form we though it would - but it will be there, I can tell you that much.

Shuni Mudra "The Seal of Patience"

Formed by placing the thumb against the tip of the middle finger, the Shuni Mudra is said to prompt patience.

Shuni is translated to "Saturn" just as the middle finger is representation of the same planet, and Saturn is known as the Task Master. In charge of the Law of Karma, taking hold of responsibility, courage, duty. Saturn helps you to be disciplined. This mudra holds the ability to give you stability and strength.

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana "One Legged King Pigeon Pose"

This pose stretched out the thighs, groin, psoas, abdominal, chest, shoulders and neck. The first in a series of pigeon poses, beginning on the right with your shin parallel with the top of your mat and your left leg stretched out behind you - making sure your left foot is lying straight and not leaning to the right or left side. Breathing in and elongating the side bodies then folding over the front leg. Holding this pose on each side for a minute each.

Breathing into your groin and the psoas and letting go.

"We find that patience is the best means we have of defending ourselves internally from anger's destructive effects"

~ The Dalai Lama

May you have a beautiful week

~Namaste~

Why we meditate

What wise man is eaten up with doubts about happiness in this life and the next? Intelligent men make meditation the essential thing.

~ Atisa Dipankara Shrijnana

When we meditate we are taking a moment to clear out the mind, by silencing the voices in our head we open ourselves up to a whole new universe of possibilities and ideas. Yes, I'm sure you've heard this all before, and yes, it can be hard to take that time to get to a point where the clutter and clamoring noised in our heads cease - but once this has been accomplished... there is just so much more to come.

Meditation is an ancient practice that over time is still as relevant and important as it was when Siddhartha sat under the bodhi tree, and just as Siddhartha obtained enlightenment and became the "Buddha" ("Awakened One"), we can sit and take the path to enlighten even if we live in a one room apartment in the middle of an industrialized city.

Peace and understand is available for all.

Why do we meditate? Because it allows us to see what is around us, removing the distractions and obstacles we place in our own path, bringing us one step closer to peace of mind and relaxation.

Some disregard meditation as something only little men in orange robes sitting deep inside a damp cave somewhere in India or Tebet, but that is a fallacy brought on by miss communication and elitist attempting to keep to themselves. You can learn to meditate by sitting with a pet and merely petting them or cooking your favorite dish for the people you love.

The secret is this - breath and let go.

When I speak of mantras and mudras - these are things that fascinate me and that fascination and love drives me to share them with you - but you do not need to memorized the 216 verses of the Gurugita in order to let go and meditate. You're mantra can simply be, "Let go" or "Who am I?" or even "Today I will just be." And your mudra can be your hands placed at your heart, fingers buried in dirt as you weed your garden or brushing against the hair of your beloved cat/dog.

This week take 10 minutes for yourself and do something that you love. Whatever it may be remember to breath, to let go and to smile.

You're mantra for this week is: WHO AM I?

You're mudra is what ever feels right

and your asana is: FULL WHEEL

~namaste~

The Paradox that is Life

Actions are always more complex and nuanced than they seem. We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding.

 - Harold Evans

Sometimes living a paradoxical life is what we all do best. Saying one thing and doing another will always be one of the trials of our lives, because more times than not we believe both ideas to be truth and this can lead us to confusion.

We we choose to follow our own heart, rather than sleep walking through our lives - dancing to the beat of another man's drum - we have to accept the fact it will be paradoxical.

This is not an excuse to live in contradiction.

It is a simple fact that human nature is much more complex than we allow ourselves to believe. By taking notice and accepting the paradoxes we find in life, we can begin to walk a life filled with less confusion.

The Acceptance Mudra

The index finger is folded into the space between thumb and this finger, so that the nail touches the fold. The outer lower corner of the thumb's nail touches the inner lower corner of the pinky finger's nail.

This mudra is used to over come the unnecessary resistances in our lives, helping us find acceptance of ourselves.

Mantra: Om Mani Padme Hum

A mantra used by Tibetan Buddhists closest to the Dali Lama. Many stories are told of this mantra and how a disciple had been chanting it wrong only to show that it's the intent of the mantra and not the actual words.

The simplest translation is "Jewel of the Lotus" (Manipadme in Sanskrit). In a more deep translation it states that each part of the mantra will help you identify with yourself and then break down the walls of your life. Helping you achieve purity and wisdom, leading you to the path that is your truth.

Rabbit Pose

Rabbit Pose stretches out your back, neck and arms. It helps maintain a healthy balance of hormones, relieve insomnia and depression. As we curl into ourselves we release the tensions of our day in our back allowing us to see past the many nuances of our days and our lives.

May your week be filled with blessings and I hope to one day see you on the mat.

~Namaste