Concept : 10 :
Posted: April 11, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, Empathy, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hope, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, trail running, writing, yoga 6 CommentsResolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these-
I would like to wrap the week up by not talking about “No“ … But rather two extremely powerful words, two words that transcend our overuse of “no.”
…
I Understand
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Showing empathy does not drain or deplete our true spirit, our friends. Nor does empathy weaken the strongest of family ties. Empathy empowers us with a special sense of togetherness, a powerful sense of being connected. Empathy, the ability to powerfully understand another person, is invaluable, in every relationship of our lives.
Daily Meditation:
It feels good, doesn’t it? Satisfying and empowering, being on the receiving end of empathy. As parents, friends, yoga instructor(s), pilates even. A training partner at 5am on a rainy Saturday morning … Take a moment to pause and reflect on the people you have worked the hardest for in your life. The people who connect and powerfully understand – You.
I feel motivated, when I feel understood. How about you?!?
The Gift of Freedom
Posted: April 9, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: April, blogging, compassion, cycling, Cyclocross, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friendship, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, Omaha, passion, perspective, simplicity, Spring, Strava, Training, writing, yoga 7 CommentsThere is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature–
One vibrant morning in Omaha last summer. I joined a friend for bike ride and a “refueling” stop midway. We decided to try a little café in Countryside Village that is well-known for diverse, healthy fare and devilishly good treats. Both of us were trying to get our diets in order for the upcoming cyclocross season, so splitting a sandwich fit in perfectly with our plan(s).
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Moments after sitting down by the front window, a friendly waiter arrived to take our order. We asked for a club sandwich (which could feed four people) and two waters, one with a wedge of lemon. As our waiter was starting to walk away to place our order into the bustling kitchen, my friend threw in a side of homemade kettle chips. Needless to say – “things” just got real!
“Dude… You, of all people, know that I am not very good at saying “no.” Do you smell how delicious they are?Look at the young couple enjoying their order! Fresh kettle chips are simply irresistible I tell you! It’s torture! The humanity – Gah!!!!”
“I’ll have a few and toss the rest away …”
Finally I chime in …
“How about “no” kettle chips? Let’s say “no” to the order of chips now, so we don’t have to say “no” over and over when they arrive from the kitchen – begging to be savored and devoured!”
My friend finally relented and we kindly asked our waiter to cancel the order. Twenty miles down the road, my friend said he felt pretty good that he didn’t get the tasty, perfectly fried kettle chips. Who needs duck fat fried slices of potato heaven, when you can share good company and an awesome sandwich instead!?!
Daily Meditation:
This is when my Strava obsessed and quasi – superstitious friend discovered the strength and power of saying “No.” Did saying no to the kettle chips add watts and power to our hill training program? Who knows, and who cares. Although we did go back after finishing our century …
Gentle Season
Posted: April 8, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: April, compassion, courage, cycling, David Baird, fitness, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, perspective, pilates, Power Yoga, running, Spring, trail running, Value 6 Comments…
“Yes no yes no yes no?
Red blue?
Yes red, no blue?
No red, yes no?
In out, up down?
Do don’t, can can’t?
Choices sit on the shelf life
New shoes in a shoe shop.
If the in crowd are squeezing into a must-have shoe
And the one pair left are too tiny for you
Don’t feel compelled into choosing them
If you’re really a size 9, buy that size.
While everyone else
Hobbles round with sore feet
Your choices should feel comfortable
Or they aren’t your choices at all.
Why limp when you can sprint?”
– David Baird, Fiesta of Happiness: Be True to Yourself
Daily Meditation:
May I ask you once more? In a deeper, more personal way … Why limp through the day, when you can sprint?
The Way to … कुण्डलिनी
Posted: April 7, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: कुण्डलिनी, balance, Bikram, blogging, compassion, exercise, family, flow, free range, freshly pressed, health, hipster, hope, Karma yoga, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, Vinyāsa, writing, yoga, Zen 2 CommentsThere are an infinite number of reasons to say no. Instead, try to focus on one good reason to say yes-
This weeks post will focus entirely on two harmless letters: N and O … And why it’s extremely difficult to put them forth in good faith, in a manner that honors and respects our true spirit. A little context is in order before we begin. This past Saturday my plans went sideways, really quick! My team fell apart at the last-minute for a gravel ride over in Iowa, which we had planned back in January over a few soul warming adult beverages. No biggie, such is the ebb and flow of life when you try to get five dudes together at once, add in work and kids?!? You know how it goes, anyways … A new yoga studio opened up not too long ago in West Omaha that I was curious about trying out. This is where I failed to say “no” for the first time on such a lovely Saturday morning. What do you think when you read “Hot Yoga?” For whatever reason, and maybe what my spirit needed at the time, was a hot vinyasa flow. I could rant about Bikram yoga, but I won’t – not here. I had hot yoga firmly planted in my stubborn mind, until class started that is.
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Saying “no” to anyone, about anything, is easily the most challenging part of our lives. Do you like being told no? Do you take comfort in telling someone, maybe yourself, “no?”. We want to avoid the discomfort and the consequences that might come our way for being fully “exposed” in our unwillingness (my stubbornness). Many of us continually strive to be caring and available, and we often find it strenuous to face a situation in which, for whatever reason, we don’t find the willingness, the courage or ability to say “yes” to what is being asked of us.
If we are able to keep our attention focused on attending to what matters most, and keep coming back to that intention, this beautiful “thing” called life may surprise each and every one of us. We begin to hear the needs of our True Spirit more clearly.
Daily Meditation:
When saying no eludes me, however much I am committed to “whatever” … Rather than closing my heart in order to say “No,” which is what I often do, I consciously choose to open my heart wider, in order to actually feel the pain of saying “no” and bear witness to its effect – To honor my true self, to tell the full truth, and to remain present to hear it.
Spring Vibes
Posted: April 4, 2014 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: Bliss, blogging, compassion, freshly pressed, happiness, health, hope, India, life, Light, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, philosophy, Poetry, simplicity, social media, William Quan Judge, writing, yoga 6 Comments…
Walking within the garden of his heart, the pupil suddenly came upon the Master, and was glad, for he had but just finished a task in His service which he hastened to lay at His feet.
“See, Master,” said he, “this is done; now give me another teaching to do.”
The Master looked upon him sadly yet indulgently, as one might upon a child which can not understand.
“There are already many to teach intellectual conceptions of the Truth,” he replied. “Thinkest thou to serve best by adding thyself to their number?”
The pupil was perplexed.
“Ought we not to proclaim the Truth from the very housetops, until the whole world shall have heard?” he asked.
“And then-”
“Then the whole world will surely accept it.”
“Nay,” replied the Master, “the Truth is not of the intellect, but of the heart. See!”
The pupil looked, and saw the Truth as though it were a White Light, flooding the whole earth; yet none reaching the green and living plants which so sorely needed its rays, because of dense layers of clouds intervening.
“The clouds are the human intellect,” said the Master. “Look again.”
Intently gazing, the pupil saw here and there faint rifts in the clouds, through which the Light struggled in broken, feeble beams. Each rift was caused by a little vortex of vibrations, and looking down through the openings thus made the pupil perceived that each vortex had its origin in a human heart.
Only by adding to and enlarging the rifts will the Light ever reach the earth, said the Master. “Is it best, then, to pour out more Light upon the clouds, or to establish a vortex of heart force? The latter thou must accomplish unseen and unnoticed, and even unthanked. The former will bring thee praise and notice among men. Both are necessary: both are Our work; but – the rifts are so few! Art strong enough to forego the praise and make of thyself a heart center of pure impersonal force?”
The pupil sighed, for it was a sore question.
CultFit 