When I was in my twenties, I strongly identified with Joni Mitchell’s song, Cactus Tree. I had lots of suitors and, although I knew that I had so much love in my heart, looking back, I can see that at the subconscious level, I didn’t know how to be in a healthy relationship. I had not witnessed one in my formative years. I thought that I was a free spirit. Now I can see that I was a lost soul, looking to find happiness though my external experiences, rather than cultivating it within myself and loving from inside out into the world! So, “She will love them when she sees them. They will lose her if they follow.” …
Happiness is an inside job. If I tap into the self regularly through my yoga practice, including meditation, awareness comes, and with awareness, I have a choice to decide whether I am going to sort out any unfinished business in my life. The deepest part of me lets me know what has to be clarified or cleared first. That deeper awareness informs my intellect. Whether my intellect acts in accordance with that deeper knowing is a whole other story (because I am in this human form)! Thank goodness that we are all in this mess together or I would feel rather silly! “Pragyapradh” is a Vedic Sanskrit term often translated as “mistake of the intellect”. The term is comprised of two words; i.e., …
As I turned 50 on Sunday, I have been reflecting on how grateful I am that, as a post-menopausal woman, I have been feeling more balanced — mentally, spiritually and physically — than I ever have in my whole life. Part of the physical balance has even meant feeling super sexy, a feeling that largely eluded me since my husband fell ill in 2013. Yoga as a way of life (which for me is branded as Iyengar Yoga and Transcendental Meditation) has made me much more in sync with my body mind and much more apt to have regular sleep, healthy eating habits and my personal practice is a non-negotiable these days. …
It’s important to eat a bit of humble pie once in a while. People sometimes figure that because I left my career in International Development to become a Coach & Yoga & Meditation Teacher, that I am now somehow ‘sorted.’ Whilst I do have heaps more peace in my life these days than I have ever had, sometimes I still overdo it! How do I know when I am overdoing it? For me, overdoing it shows up as: becoming accident prone; letting down people; and not sticking to good natural rhythms.
A few examples of me being accident prone in the past week are: at one of my corporate gigs, I stumbled over a ‘yoga ball’ and into a pilates bed; in a cafe, I gauged my forehead on the bathroom door hook; and, just walking down the street yesterday, I nearly walked into someone’s raised elbow (sure, it popped up suddenly, but it would not have been an issue had I not been so close to it)! I have scabs a bruises to show for the first two incidents — ouch! When I lose that feeling of being in ‘flow,’ like I have left myself all of the time in the world, a feeling that I have come to know intimately in the past four years, I know that I am in trouble! …
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