Positive : Balance :
Posted: January 28, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: beauty, Body Image, cycling, Enviroment, gratitude, Identity, kindness, life, love, lust, meditation, Mindfulness, passion, running, Spirituality, teaching, writing, yoga, Zen 17 CommentsExpose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free-
The way in which our environment conditions us is more prevalent, and dare I say – perverse, than we appreciate. This topic is wide-ranging and fairly dense with meaning and purpose. In order to present it to you openly, and with an honest heart? We need to look into the dark areas of our souls.
…
Seldom do we realize that the appearance of unnatural looking/tasting and pretty benign “things,” like the latest carbon fiber/electronic shifting bikes, chestnut praline latte’s, yoga mats and attire, tasteless candy, processed food, and trendy running attire owe their tantalizing properties to the way in which we are conditioned. The way in which the environment we live in shapes our behavior – no drool or droll needed, well maybe just a little?!? I caught myself recently lusting over a new Stevens Super Prestige Disc CX bike for no apparent reason other than it looks like good sex. Why is this so? I have some nice bikes already … The same holds true for other savory objects, such a new the colorful yoga mat for the aspiring yogi, an empty Starbucks cup for the coffee connoisseur , and new shoes for the runners lurking out there.
What scares my personally and as a society, is that, as sophisticated as this conditioning may seem, much of it is mediated unconsciously to us, beneath the nadir of our conscious and awareness.
Daily Meditation:
Why do I desire a new pair of Brooks running shoes, when I can’t even run? This is really scary!
There Will Never Be Another :You:
Posted: August 26, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Authenticity, Body Image, Doctor Who, gratitude, healing, health, Identity, kindness, love, Media, meditation, Mindfulness, OCD, Omaha, passion, Power Yoga, social media, teaching, writing, Zen 9 CommentsThe privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are-
Does our reflection in a mirror define who we really are? What about the mirror at work, in the car, the one that magically adds twenty pounds at the department store? Becoming uncomfortable in some way or another with our own behavior, as our thoughts and emotions gradually take over. This discomfort, what we feel out in public, maybe … Is another other aspect of who we really are, perhaps this is even our authentic self?!?
How do we know which reflection is real? Thoughts and feelings that originate from the authentic self, while uncomfortable at times, also bring us peace when we pause to listen, and accommodate the wishes of this kind and gentle voice.
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As someone who has felt guilty about my appearance in one way or another throughout life, I begin to feel deep resentment even as I’m feeling guilty. I find myself uncomfortable with this resentment because it isn’t “kind” nor is it any “good” … This identity I’m striving for. Although, if I begin to see that the resentment is actually telling me that I’m doing “things” out of guilt and a false sense of responsibility, that I don’t quite have the compassion to accommodate, or even the desire … I might even allow it to help me choose to stop obeying the guilt as if it were the only right thing to do.
After a few moments, a deep breath or two – Peace, and this Peace is all the evidence I need of my true authentic self.
Daily Meditation:
At what point do we stop asking what is right in our lives, and start asking what is real?
That Reminds Me
Posted: July 17, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: art, blogging, compassion, freshly pressed, friends, happiness, health, Home, Identity, kindness, life, Literature, love, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Ogden Nash, Omaha, passion, perspective, Poetry, teaching, Wonder, writing, Zen 7 Comments…
Just imagine yourself seated on a shadowy terrace,
And beside you is a girl who stirs you more strangely than an
heiress,
It is a summer evening at its most superb,
And the moonlight reminds you that To Love is an active verb.
And your hand clasps hers, which rests there without shrinking,
And after a silence fraught with romance you ask her what she is
thinking,
And she starts and returns from the moon-washed distances to the
shadowy veranda,
And says, Oh I was wondering how many bamboo shoots a day it
takes to feed a baby Giant Panda.
Or you stand with her on a hilltop and gaze on a winter sunset,
And everything is as starkly beautiful as a page from Sigrid Undset,
And your arm goes round her waist and you make an avowal
which for masterfully marshaled emotional content might have
been a page of Ouida’s or Thackeray’s,
And after a silence fraught with romance she says, I forgot to or-
der the limes for the Daiquiris.
Or in a twilight drawing room you have just asked the most mo-
mentous of questions,
And after a silence fraught with romance she says, I think this
little table would look better where that little table is, but
then where would that little table go, have you any sugges-
tions?
And that’s the way they go around hitting below our belts;
It isn’t that nothing is sacred to them, it’s just that at the Sacred
Moment they are always thinking of something else.
Don’t Start Me Talking
Posted: September 27, 2012 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: bikes, cycling, exercise, family, food, health, hippie porn, hipster, history, intensity, jogging, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, marathon, motivation, paleo, pilates, rest, riding, running, teaching, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 38 CommentsIf I can bicycle, I bicycle-
Last week we posted a list of links about the perils facing runners when they lace ’em up and head out for a brisk run This morning while sipping on some freshly brewed orange tea we decided to put together a list of perils facing cyclist. Few things in life are worse than getting hit by a car. Typically driven by a yoga mom experiencing difficulties navigating to the studio with her new iPhone 5. Unlike runners who are advised to run against traffic, cyclist or at least the law-abiding ones should follow the rules of the road. Which present a fresh set of challenges to our two-wheeled friends to say the least. So without further ado … Allow us to suck the joy out of your lovely Thursday morning.
Injured Courier Warns Other Cyclist
UPDATE TO ADD CRITTERS TO THE LIST:
The Plan-
Click HERE because you know you want to!
The Workout-
Rest Day … The temperature outdoors begs us to go for a Run yet our bodies scream for a morning filled with Yoga and Meditation. Not in a crowded Yoga Studio …Maybe a trip to the park would do the trick?!?
Notes:
If you are a cyclist and see this image in front of you while stopped at a red light? Consider yourself lucky … ENJOY!!!
CultFit 