Love (My)stery
Posted: November 19, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: Alternative, blogging, compassion, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hope, Jain meditation, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, Mindfulness, motivation, musings, nature, Omaha, pain, passion, pilates, Religion and Spirituality, running, trail running, whole foods, Zen 6 CommentsThere are no facts, only interpretations-
When I began walking my current path, my motivation was existential …
I struggled each painful morning to answer burning questions such as Who am I? What is my true nature? What is the nature of the world around me? These questions still linger to this day, although meditation practice and mindfulness practice in particular, have helped to define the path unfolding in front of me.
…
During a painful period recently, with profound feelings of sadness. In one sense, I tried to be gentle with myself, allowing my body ample time before engaging it fully. As time went on, motivated by the desire to be fully alive and fully functioning, I began to observe closely just how my pain constituted and unfolded, how I participated in it, and how my attentiveness and lack of it affected “things.”
When I was aware and mindful, I would be feeling fine and then – within a moments notice … I would find myself back at the start. When I was able to both engage and observe, I could begin to see that my experience began as a kind of spasm, a contraction, a rushed breathe. I could notice (however arduous as it was to stay present) how my manner of paying attention, what I attended to and how, could either accelerate or decelerate the rhythm of the process.
Attention to the process is what meditation brings to my life, especially when the dynamic themes play, like a broken record.
Daily Meditation:
We may not be able to control what arises each and every day. However we do have a say in how we respond, moment to moment … These fruits of daily life, can be liberating.
(Con)Fidence
Posted: November 18, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: Belize, blogging, compassion, exercise, family, fitness, flow, free range, freshly pressed, friends, fun, gluten free, happiness, health, hope, intensity, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, recovery, running, trail running, whole foods, writing, yoga 12 CommentsConfidence is ignorance. If you’re feeling cocky, it’s because there’s something you don’t know-
After many years of “coaching” and helping other cool and inspiring folks, I am often struck by their relationship with fun. When we first meet, they often talk at great length about training plans, intensity, goals, effort and lastly they mention: “this needs to be fun.”
I have a problem with Fun.
Fun (when used above), conveys a sense of a trivial and purposeless living. Fun … Is hedonistic. My definition of fun does not seem to sit right with many people who are engaged in uber-competitive activities and have a competitive mindset. There is no magical switch you can flip, then manage to stumble into a yoga studio one afternoon to “center” yourself. Fun is a lazy vacation, sipping mojito’s on a white sand beach in Belize, not an early morning wind sprint session and killing the weights before bed.
Should we abandon the idea of “fun” all together? Nope, I just ask that you think about “fun” in a different light, a different Sense …
Daily Meditation:
All aspects of our lives ought to be enjoyable, interesting word(s): Enjoyable, Enjoyment, Enjoy.
My definition of fun? Is “enjoyment.”
(El) Perro
Posted: November 15, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: Alternative, blogging, compassion, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hope, Hum (sound), kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, music, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, perspective, pilates, Pranayama, Religion and Spirituality, running, trail running, whole foods, writing, yoga 15 CommentsThe wheels hummed lullabies on the liquorice road-
A little challenge to start the weekend off right: Limber your lips up, and hum your favorite song for the next 30 seconds … Now don’t you feel better? In fact, there’s no better way to calm your mind and boost your spirits than by humming a happy tune.
Are your lips, heart and spirit ready to go? Cool …
Pausing for a moment to consider how humming plays a role in meditation practice … I’ll share just one quick example: “Some” yoga folks use a breathing technique called brahmari or “the bee breath.” In essence, the brahmari technique involves taking a series of slow, deep breaths through the nose with tightly sealed lips. On each exhalation, you make a humming sound similar to a bee buzzing about in a midlands prairie.
Daily Meditation:
For whatever reason, I deeply enjoy humming the occasional tune. Humming (the brahmari technique) is a gentle, calming method to settle our mind(s) and an a soothing way to relieve stress. Little did I know that a seemingly frivolous, cheeky activity may turn out to have some tangible daily benefits. In addition, who would had ever thought that Hall & Oates would help me center my mind?!?
Take care this weekend and please be well!
así (que) sin
Posted: November 6, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: Alternative, blogging, compassion, Curiosity, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, trail running, whole foods, WOD, writing, yoga 7 CommentsI set out to discover the why of it, and to transform my pleasure into knowledge-
I ask myself this morning, running in from the rain:
What does it take to receive myself with an open heart?
Every encounter we have during the day, life changes us. Every fleeting experience rewires a part of our consciousness. We are constantly changing. To truly befriend ourselves, to be open to who and what we are, we can practice the willingness to discover ourselves anew.
What do we actually know about our intimate selves? We have “experts” who flippantly tell us what is “right” and “wrong.” We have “standards” that we are “supposed” to meet, against which other people will measure us. We have competitions we can enter that will allow us to “win” and to “lose.”
To discover ourselves requires us to look at who we are without bias and certainly without judgment(s). It requires us not to measure, not to compete. It requires us to receive ourselves with the willingness to discover ourselves, just as we are, right now, with a pure heart.
Daily Meditation:
Practice befriending yourself, open your hearts in receptive curiosity.
Better (Off)
Posted: November 5, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, fitness, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, perspective, pilates, Rumi, running, trail running, Vinyāsa, walking, whole foods, writing, yoga 14 CommentsYour task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find
all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it–
In the pedantic game of tennis “love” is a score of zero. Implying that when we’re in love the score is even, our hearts are content and all is well in life. However, how often do we keep a competitive score in our relationships with those who love us, the person next to us in yoga class, running a race … Who can find the best parking spot this holiday season?
Instead of comparing myself constantly and competing against others I challenged myself to compare “me” in this moment, to the person I was one year ago. Am I kinder, happier, more confident and peaceful? If not, I take a deep breath to explore what has caused me to lose focus, and how I might learn moving forward.
I’ve found that by trying to keep the score zero in my life, trying being a key word … By giving generous doses of gratitude, making caring gestures to other(s) daily, witnessing the passion and abundance growing around each one of us? Is an inspiring “thing“.
Daily Love Meditation:
Keep a loving score today. Count how many times you utter something loving and positive …
CultFit 