Sunshine: That’s my Jive
Posted: March 19, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, Catch-22, compassion, Eight Limbs of Yoga, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, Niyama, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, Yama, yoga 2 CommentsMy fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them-
Niyama: A Simple Dudes Tale
Life unfolds in the present. Gotcha! However, every so often we let the present moment slip away from us, allowing time to float by unobserved. Squandering the precious seconds of our lives away as we worry about the future and ruminate about what’s happened in the not so distant past. We’re always doing “something“, yet we allow little time to practice stillness and calm.
Most of us don’t undertake our thoughts in awareness. Rather, our thoughts control every fabric of our being. Living in the moment (aka mindfulness) is a state of open attention on the present. When you become mindful, you realize that you are not your thoughts; you become an observer of your thoughts from moment to moment without judging them. Mindfulness involves being with your thoughts as they are, neither grasping at them nor pushing them away. Instead of letting your life go by without living it, you awaken to new experiences as they unfold around you.
Notes:
There are many paths to mindfulness and at the center of each, lies a Catch-22: You have to trust that the rewards of mindfulness will come and letting go of what you want is the only way to achieve this.
8 and 8 is
Posted: March 18, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, Eight Limbs, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, life, love, lululemon, meditation, natural, Niyama, paleo, passion, perspective, running, walking, whole foods, WOD, Yama, yoga 11 CommentsLet yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray-
What’s the big hullabaloo with yoga and exercise in the Western world? Why do we often forget/neglect/ignore the idea of the eight limbs of yoga providing us with a system for living authentically?
Notes:
What is the true nature of the posts this week? If you may recall our chat last Friday about Positive Doing … Begin the process of knowing what you “want“, and make certain that you’re getting “it“, as the “practice” is a deeply trans-formative experience that can and will change your life.
*Please note the lack of depth and background into the Eight Limbs. These posts serve merely as an introduction, so why not say hello, empower yourself and dig a tad deeper?
Never Come Down
Posted: March 15, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, crossfit, Emotion, emotions, fitness, free range, gluten free, Green Beer, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, nature, paleo, passion, personality, running, St. Patricks Day, Stars, whole foods, WOD, yoga 16 CommentsWe are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars-
Please take your shoes off before we embark on an early morning Walk and feel free to leave your clichés concerning “pints of green beer that are half-full and half-empty” at the door as well.
Optimism, is a proactive state of mind we often find ourselves in. Optimism is a belief that many of the outcomes we seek in life are indeed within our control. We cannot control all of the outcomes in our daily life although we do enjoy adapting our actions and emotions to reality as they unfold around us.
Pay little attention to the clichés about “positive thinking” as you meander through the rest of your day. Instead, begin to pay keen attention to your: Positive Doing.
For it is in our Positive Doing that we can begin to change the very core of our intention, creativity and reinvention. Oddly enough, positive doing is also a way of capitalizing on ‘Luck‘.
Notes:
Next week I will be writing (trying to at least) about Yama, Niyama, Pratyahara, Dharana and some other random stuff as well. So your patience as a reader will be on full display, thank you in advance!
While I have your attention, allow me a moment to say to each of you: “Thank you for your continued support of CultFit“.” The early days of blogging here were rather crass and down trodden, not something to look forward to everyday. What many of you have witnessed the prior two years is the gradual acceptance of ‘some dude‘ learning to be at ease and in harmony with himself. Nothing more and nothing less.
We often search for the solutions in our lives through inappropriate means (performing yoga to become flexible or enlightened is but one example). The thought(s) in the post above will resonate deeply next week, so please keep them in mind. Be well this weekend and take care.
You Often Say
Posted: March 14, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kahil Gibran, life, love, meditation, motivation, natural, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, philosophy, psycology, Red nose day, whole foods, WOD, yoga 6 Comments… I would give , but only to the deserving, The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and nights is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life-while you, who deem yourself a giver, is but a witness.
Notes:
Be well today and take care.
It’s Time
Posted: March 13, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: acceptance, blogging, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hippie, hipster, hope, life, love, lululemon, meditation, Mindfulness, minimalism, minimalist, motivation, natural, paleo, passion, peace, pilates, running, Surrender, whole foods, WOD, yoga 16 CommentsNothing like being scolded by a hippie-
The idea of acceptance, mindfulness, minimalism are so trendy of late. You can see this trend growing with the popularity of meditation/zen/whatever blog-o-posts, green this and green that folks, yoga-moms/dads from far and wide. You can read about it here, on this blog-o-thing if you pay attention for just a few weeks. People are being asked to come into better contact with the present; to be less attached, entangled by social media and humble; focusing more on purpose and meaning. All of these changes raise an interesting question (so I think).
Why now?
None of these topics and approaches to living authentically are new. Neither are single speed bikes, fedora’s, Pabst Blue Ribbon and black rimmed glasses for the sake of argument. Just like you, these ideals have been puttering along, kicking cans down the road for eons …
Why the sudden resurgence of popularity?
Hippies?!? New research studies and science!?! The inter-webz?!?
I suspect acceptance, mindfulness and minimalism are trending of late because normal folks are yearning for something remarkably simple right now: That acceptance, mindfulness and minimalism may help nourish and guide them in their busy lives.
How many of you read a yoga magazine while watching “reality” tv? Watch a streaming TV show while working on your computer? Heck, watch a TV while running on a treadmill even?!?
And what substance is in the gush of media and connectivity we have unleashed on ourselves? Everything imaginable in the world is available, for us to consume, all at one time. Although if you slow life down and actually seek? Through seeking you will discover the images of courage, bravery, unconditional love and connection that surround us are simply being overwhelmed by the pain and judgment we stream into our minds endlessly.
Acceptance, mindfulness and minimalism are immensely important right now for a simple reason. In order for us to prosper inside this modern bubble, that each one of us have created. We need to learn how to relate to our own minds in a different way. There is no retreating, unplugging or escaping … I implore you to move forward in life, just in a slightly different way.
Notes:
I’m not leaving until you surrender, peacefully.
CultFit 