1965 - U.S.A. The Alabama Freedom March

Selma was known as one of the toughest places for African Americans to register. Of Selma's 15,000 black adults, only 300 could cast a ballot in 1965. Lyndon Johnson saw an opportunity. To pass a voting rights bill, LBJ needed the nation to see a vivid case of discrimination against black people trying to register. He called Reverend King in Selma on January 15, 1965.

1965 : Following the...

Yoga is a lot like life. It is a balance between holding on and letting go.

Meditation means dissolving the invisible walls that ignorance has built.

If I can change my thoughts, I can change anything. Today I will make progress towards my goals. ...

Never underestimate yourself. You are capable of great things. ...

My greatest struggles, are my greatest lessons. I will always remember that I only have...

The scarcest asset we have is time, since each of us is apportioned a finite amount of it to live our lives. We can get more money, but not more time.

There is an optimal point to how much money it takes to make an individual happy, and that amount varies worldwide, according to research from Purdue University.

"That might be surprising as what we see on TV and what advertisers tell us we need would indicate that there is no...

“for many of us the only thing we gained in 2020 was weight. Who would have thought that saving humanity meant sitting in front of our TVs and doing nothing.”

I read that in 2020 “‘He chewed too loud’ became the number one cause of divorce.”

“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” —Friedrich Nietzsche

“Coronavirus has turned us all into dogs: We roam the house looking for food, we’re told ‘no’ if...

Same Plant, same water, different spot… flourishes in one spot and dies in another.

“We all can dance when we find music we love.” – Giles Andreae

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. – Dr. Seuss

“The nature of yoga is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body.” - Jason Crandell

We generate fears while we sit. We overcome...

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” —George Eliot

“The secret to living longer is to eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love without measure.” Tibetan Proverb

“The goal isn’t to get rid of all your negative thoughts, feelings, and life situations. That’s impossible. The goal is to change your response to them.” MarcandAngel

“Someday you will look back on your life and realize that everything...

Study on the effects of Yoga:

The review, published in the journal Brain Plasticity, focused on 11 studies of the relationship between yoga practice and brain health. “We see increases in the volume of the hippocampus with yoga practice," Gothe said. The hippocampus is involved in memory processing and is known to shrink with age, Gothe said. "It is also the structure that is first affected in dementia and Alzheimer's...

2.2 - Learning to Fly

“Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted — in body, mind, and heart — and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow — or we...

“Transformation is different for every person based on our constitution (what we are made of) and perspective to the world. The story of the potatoes, egg and coffee. Boiling water transforms the potato into something soft, the egg into something hard and coffee transform the water.”

"Today I refuse to stress myself out over things I simply can't control."

"You cannot heal in the same...

“The moment you take personal responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you change anything in your life.” Hal Elrod

"The reason people blame things on the previous generation is that there's only one other choice."- Doug Larson

"For most people, blaming others is a subconscious mechanism for avoiding accountability. In reality, the only thing in your way is YOU." - Steve Maraboli

“Everything you do is based...

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” - Martin Luther King...

“Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.” – Kobe Bryant

“Softening your attitude opens your heart.”

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” - Mother Teresa

When you are evolving to your higher self, the road is long and lonesome, but you’re simply...

What is Self-Realization

If in the middle of the ocean, suddenly we see the waves begin to grow and grow. All of a sudden, you are surrounded by 40-foot swells. You start to believe that the entire ocean is like this, but if you took a cross section of the ocean, you would notice that the stormy water is only on the surface and going down a mile deep, it is and has always been calm.

Our active surface mind is like the surface...

Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi

“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.” – Rumi

You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?

“I have been a seeker and I still am, but...

The average human's attention span is less than a gold fish.

According to scientists, the age of smartphones has left humans with such a short attention span even a goldfish can hold a thought for longer.

Researchers surveyed 2,000 participants in Canada and studied the brain activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms.

The results showed the average human attention span has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000, or around...

On Feb 11th 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from a South African Prison after 27 years.

Kleśa (sanskrit क्लेश, also klesha ) is a term from Indian philosophy and yoga, meaning a "poison". The third śloka of the second chapter of Patañjali's Yogasūtra explicitly identifies Five Poisons (Sanskrit: pañcakleśā):

अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः पञ्च क्लेशाः॥३॥

Avidyāsmitārāgadveṣābhiniveśāḥ pañca...

"Imagine how differently your life would end up, if it were your dreams instead of your fears that motivated you most." - David Scott

"Today is the tomorrow you promised yourself yesterday."

“She lacks confidence, she craves admiration insatiably. She lives on the reflections of herself in the eyes of others. She does not dare to be herself.” Anais Nin.

“Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other...

“Close your eyes and inhale the intoxicating perfume of your essence.” David Scott

“The quality of our breath expresses our inner feelings.” - T.K.V. Desikachar

Retreat is easy when you have the option. Just over 500 years ago, in Feb of 1519 the Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortés fled Cuba with 11 ships, 500 men, and 15 horses to conquer the Aztecs in Mexico. The Cortez story teaches us a great lesson about burning our...

“The goal of the Science of yoga, is to constantly gain ground on our ignorance’s through the science of knowledge. Today we stand on the solid ground of our finite knowledge to date, but we look out upon the vast expanse of the unknown infinite. Our duty as hums is to constantly explore the fringes and boundaries of our darkness’s and illuminate them with the light of what has been discovered so far, thereby exposing more truths and...

Surrender

“Try something different – surrender.” Rumi

“The moment of surrender is not when life is over, it’s when it begins.” Marianne Williamson

“Surrender is a journey from outer turmoil to inner peace.” Sri Chinmoy

“When total surrender happens, suffering is removed, duality is removed, too.” Mohanji

“Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing.” Eckhart...

"The powers of the mind are like the rays of the sun when they are concentrated they illumine." - Swami Vivekananda

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." Lao Tzu

Sometimes later becomes never. Do it now. Do something today that your future self will thank you for.

Wake up with determination. Go to bed with satisfaction.

“You should never beg for love and friendship like water, but instead offer it...

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we want to see them, based on our experiences that shaped our perspective." - David Scott

“People see what they want to see and what people want to see isn’t always the truth.” Roberto Bolano

“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” Leonardo da Vinci

“We fear most in life, not what we can see in the light of day, but what is unseen,...

“For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining, is to let it rain.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.” - Robert H. Schuller

“Part 1. This world is your best teacher. There is a lesson in everything....

Be a warrior and not a worry, the pandemic is being fed not by the corona virus but by fear

“Everything that has a beginning, has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.”

Stress, Illness and the Immune System. ... According to Harvard Medical School, Cortisol in short burst are good for us, act as an anti-inflammatory and protect us. Over a longer period of time stress great reduces the immune system's ability...

The hardest asana.... Letting go... Let it be…

“Each player must accept the cards life deals them: but once they are in hand, he or she must alone decide how to play the cards in order to win the game” — Voltaire

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. It is time to decide to keep moving and evolving. Take a deep breath and begin the journey of the rest of your...

“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”

“Quiet the mind, so the soul can speak.” – Rumi

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." - Albert Einstein

"Sometimes when things are falling apart they may actually be falling into place."

“We don’t...

What we practice, we get good at…

“Courage is about learning how to function despite the fear, to put aside your instincts to run or give in completely to the anger born from fear. Courage is about using your brain and your heart when every cell of your body is screaming at your to fight or flee – and then following through on what you believe is the right thing to do.” - Jim Butcher

There are no shortcuts to any place worth...

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.” - Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)

“It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.” G.K. Chesterton

Where flowers bloom, so does hope. - Lady Bird...

The Earth is the one things we all share in common.

“Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.” - Jimmy Carter

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” -George Bernard Shaw

April 22 (Earth Day - Protecting our species)

Wednesday marks the 50th annual Earth Day – a global event to celebrate...

April 25

“The wings of transformation are born of patience and struggle.” – Janet S. Dickens

"Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in. Breathing out, I know As the in-breath grows deep, The out-breath grows slow. Breathing in makes me calm. Breathing out makes me ease. With the in-breath, I smile. With the out-breath, I release. Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful...

“The pathway to an abundant life is to have a mind open to everything and attached to nothing. For many, the portal to our potential is shackled and padlocked by heavy chains of FEAR. As humans, anything we first encounter, posing a threat is feared until it is understood. To open the lock and remove the bondage of fear, we must use the key of knowledge and wisdom. We always must always maintain a mind capable of change. When our...

“The quality of our breath expresses our inner feelings.” - T.K.V. Desikachar

“Whenever you are in doubt, it is best to pause. Few things are so pressing that they cannot wait for a moment of breath.” - T.K.V. Desikachar, The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice

What are we doing to prepare to open up and return to normalcy:

“Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we...

On this day – May 6th - 1954 Roger Bannister of the UK becomes the 1st person to run a 4 minute mile, recording 3:59:4 at Iffley Road, Oxford (66 Years Ago)

“Remember the entrance to the sanctuary is inside you.” – Rumi

“Yoga is a light, which once lit will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter your flame.” — B.K.S. Iyengar

"No one ever says, 'I wish I hadn't done Yoga today...'" Unknown

Yoga teaches us to...

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."--Lao Tzu

“Get out of your head and get into your body. Think less and feel more.” ~Osho

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. - Diana Robinson

Develop a sense of your core values – know the difference from envy to inspiration

Think of someone that you truly admire. Not someone you love, depend on or take care of, but...

“I am in charge of how I feel and today I am choosing happiness”

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The most important part that happens during a yoga class, is not what happens outside the body, but what happens inside the body.” David Scott

“Allow your dreams to pull you just a little bit harder than your fears hold you back.” – David Scott

“Love is the...

“When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place.”

May the benefits of your yoga practice tonight benefit all those around you.We are human beings, not human doings. Give yourself permission to just be.

...

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - Reinhold Niebuhr

I would like to invite you to have a conversation with yourself tonight during class. Meet yourself where you are and not where you want to be. Process all that you have been through today; as you reconstruct and heal your nervous system rebuild and repair you mind stronger...

"The goal of yoga and meditation is not to control your thoughts, but to stop them from controlling you."

“The most important part that happens during a yoga class, is not what happens outside the body, but what happens inside the body.” David Scott

“Meditation can help us embrace our worries, our fear, our anger; and that is very healing. We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

"Practice...

hand-prints

“Watching a lightning bug glow bright on a summer night, I realized that our lives are mere flashes of light against the canvas backdrop of an infinitely empty universe. As humans, we become so conditioned to routines, controls and predictable repetition. Sometimes we forget that we are born to explore this earth and not just endure it. So many controls society has in place, are merely illusionary dogma,...

Week 23.1

“We don’t grow when things are easy; we grow when challenged with adversity. The tallest trees in the forest, such as the giant redwoods, grow where there is already tall trees.. Competition and challenge force us to grow taller.” - David Scott

However, “There is a fine line between challenging yourself and overwhelming yourself.” - Brittany Burgunder

Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a...

Approach your practice with no expectations. Instead of asking yourself what you hope to get out of your practice, ask yourself what you would like to get rid of….

“Yoga is a mirror to look at ourselves from within”

“Experience the boundaries in your practice tonight. Explore and identify where the restrictions are in your body, your heart and your mind. What is preventing you from going just a little deeper and farther in your...

“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” ― Aldous Huxley

The reason a car has a tiny rear view mirror and a large windshield is because the future that awaits us is much more important than our past. We should only look back to see how far we have come.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Henry David Thoreau

“In this treacherous world/Nothing...

“Headline stress disorder”

In the United States 18.1% of the population suffer from Anxiety and 9% suffer from depression. Science is finding that one of the two main causes for their mental illnesses is News and Social Media.

An Israeli study in Gaza found that those who increased their normal viewing of TV news were 1.6x more likely to develop anxiety.

A new study published in the “Journal of Depression” found that when...

Week 24.1

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” - E. Joseph Cossman

“If we feed and nurture the present, the future will manifest itself.”

“When you relate to thoughts obsessively, you are actually feeding them because thoughts need your attention to survive. Once you begin to pay attention to them and categorize them, then they become very powerful. You are feeding...

June 17th 1885 - U.S.A. Statue of Liberty arrives

“Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better, it’s about befriending who we are.” – Ani Pema Chodron

“Water, if you don’t stir it, will become clear. Oil and vinegar, if you don’t shake it, will fall naturally into order.” Likewise, the mind left unaltered will find its own natural peace.

”Clouds come floating into my life, no...

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.

“Today the whole world may seemed to be spinning around you. In your practice tonight, operate from a grounded center of peace within you; like the axle of a wheel.” – David Scott

“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.” - Maya Angelou

Understand you own self first, then you will be ready to understand everything...

Week 26.1

The second of the niyamas (personal observances) from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, santosha is essentially the opposite of desire, of lack, of feeling that we need things to be different before we can be happy. In Light on Yoga, BKS Iyengar writes, “the yogi feels the lack of nothing and so is naturally content.”

“Today I choose to live with gratitude for the love that fills my heart, the peace that rests within my spirit,...

Why you do Yoga?, What you wish to gain from Yoga? But more importantly, What do you wish to leave behind?"

“The most important part that happens during a yoga class, is not what happens outside the body, but what happens inside the body.” David Scott

“It is the possibility of a dream coming true, that makes life interesting.” – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

When you get tired, learn to rest and not to quit.

In every...

“When the breath control is correct, mind control is possible.” – Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois

“It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intelligence.” - B.K.S. Iyengar

“Healthy plants and trees yield abundant flowers and fruits. Similarly, from a healthy person, smiles and happiness shine forth like the rays of the sun.” - B.K.S. Iyengar

"Life is so much simpler, when you...

Time is one of the most precious commodities we have. Each moment is like the water in a river - moving, fluid and never to be experienced again. How you spend your time will be the most important decision you can ever make on earth.

“Thoughts are mental energy; they're the currency that you have to attract what you desire. Learn to stop spending that currency on thoughts you don't want.” - Wayne Dyer

“Be an empty page, untouched...

Give yourself the space tonight, to listen to your own voice and your own soul away from all the background noise of our hectic modern world.

“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open. You were born with wings, why do you prefer to crawl through life?” – Rumi

We are held back in life not because of who we are, but who we think we are, who we have been told we are. Our self-beliefs develop during our maturity into...

"Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in. Breathing out, I know As the in-breath grows deep, The out-breath grows slow. Breathing in makes me calm. Breathing out makes me ease. With the in-breath, I smile. With the out-breath, I release. Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment." Thich Nhat Hanh

“Close your eyes and inhale your essence. If your essence expressed itself in aroma, what would...

I Am That By: Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

There is only one mistake you are making:

you take the inner for the outer and outer for the inner.

What is in you, you take to be outside you

and what is outside, you take to be in you.

The mind and feelings are external,

but you take them to be intimate.

You believe the world to be objective,

while it is entirely a projection of your psyche.

That...

Knowledge of others begins with knowledge of self. In understanding your darkness, you can better deal with the darkness you encounter in others.

There are hidden lessons in every struggle. In your practice tonight listen for the lesson.

“In meditation and in our daily lives there are three qualities that we can nurture, cultivate, and bring out. We already possess these, but they can be ripened: precision, gentleness, and the...

Forget about enlightenment

Sit down wherever you are

And listen to the wind singing in your veins.

Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones.

Open your heart to who you are, right now,

Not who you would like to be,

Not the saint you are striving to become,

But the being right here before you, inside you, around you.

All of you is holy.

You are already more and less...

Life is amazing. Then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in-between the amazing and awful it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary.

From ― Melody Beattie, Journey to the Heart: Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing Your Soul

“Stay conscious of who you travel with on this journey. See who you’re attracted to and notice who is...

“Be present as the watcher of your mind- of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations. Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react.” - Eckhart Tolle

“Avoiding triggers isn't healing. Healing happens when you are triggered and you are able to move through the pain, the pattern and the story and walk your way to a different ending.” – Vienna...

Rediscovering our True Nature.

“Lord Buddha himself taught that basically, human nature is pure, egoless, just as the sky is by nature clear, not cloudy. Clouds come and go, but the blue sky is always there; clouds don’t alter the fundamental nature of the sky. Similarly, the human mind is fundamentally pure.” - Thubten Yeshe, Becoming Your Own Therapist

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its...

Week 34.2 - Witnessing the dance...

“Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.” – Amit Ray

“What if what your after can not be pursued. What if what you are seeking is seeking you and instead of searching you just need to prepare yourself for it to find you?”

Lao Tzu, “when you let go of what you are, you become what you might be.”

“May you see sunshine where others see shadows, and opportunities where...

Thomas Edison and Our Potential

At age 12 Thomas Edison came home from school and handed a sealed envelope to his mother. He told her, “My teacher gave this to me and told me to give it only to my mother.”

As his mother Nancy read the note here eyes became full of tears... "What does it say mother?" She then took a breath and read it out loud to her child: "Your son...

WEEK 35.2 - WHAT EVER IS GOING TO HAPPEN WILL HAPPEN

“The yoga pose you avoid the most you need the most.”

"Yoga is not about self-improvement, it is about self-acceptance." - Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

Mastery of yoga is really measured by how it influences our day-to-day living, how it enhances our relationships, how it promotes clarity and peace of mind. T.K.V. Desikachar

“He who overcomes others is strong, but he who...

WEEK 36.1 - I AM ROOTED BUT I FLOW

“The most important part that happens during a yoga class, is not what happens outside the body, but what happens inside the body. There comes a time in the lives of those destined for greatness when we must stand before the mirror of meaning and ask, what is it? What restriction in my life is preventing that seed of hope inside my heart from blossoming into the flower of human potential that I am...

"You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes a day, unless you are too busy. Then you should sit for an hour." - Zen Proverb

“Meditation will not carry you to another world, but it will reveal the most profound and awesome dimensions of the world in which you already live. Calmly contemplating these dimensions and bringing them into the service of compassion and kindness is the right way to make rapid gains in meditation as well as...

BAMBOO

In psychology, “a flow state”, also known as being in the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

Goals should stretch you in a good way.

What lights you up in life today?

Explain your anger, don’t express it, and you will immediately open the door to...

“Some fall into the flames and are consumed, other’s fly out victoriously, with their wings on fire, but forever transformed, purified and forged stronger by the experience.” - David Scott

“Some walks in life, you just have to take alone,” – David Scott

“It was when she walked alone, that she discovered her strength. It is hard to walk alone, but sometimes that is the walk that makes us the strongest.”

“Do not judge her,...

“You have the right to work, but for the work's sake only. You have no right to the fruits of work. Desire for the fruits of work must never be your motive in working. Never give way to laziness, either. Renounce attachment to the fruits. Be even-tempered in success and failure: for it is this evenness of temper which is meant by yoga. Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety, in the calm of...

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something,

for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,

because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new...

WEEK 39.2 - THE GREEK FISHERMAN

A businessman took a short vacation to a small Greek coastal village in Santorini. Unable to sleep he walked the pier. A small boat with just one fisherman had docked and inside the boat were several large tuna.

“How long did it take you to catch them?” he asked.

“Only a little while” the Greek fisherman replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” he asked.

“I...

As Gandhi said, “Fearlessness is the first prerequisite of a spiritual life.” Fear means we’re either worried about something that’s already taken place, or anxious about things that haven’t even happened. Bringing ourselves into the present moment can help us to loosen fear’s stranglehold. . . .

Charlie Chaplin, said that the problem with man is that we think too much and feel too little.

Summary

We can only see our world...

WEEK 40.2 - HUMILITY

Humility is the ladder to divine understanding.

“The asanas are useful tools for mapping and exploring, your inner world. Instead of trying to be good at something in a pose, feel your practice and enjoy being good to yourself. Use your practice to unlock your potential, lying just beneath the surface of the stormy ego. Letting go of your need to achieve is the hardest asana. Your destiny has always been...

“When the breath control is correct, mind control is possible.” – Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois

"In Meditation we journey inward; beyond the superficial vale created by the ego. Slowly as the false, manufactured self, dissolves, our real pure conscious self steps forward, emerging from the mist of illusion. Once we enter our inner sanctuary, we know we have arrived home and feel joy. The soul's vitality is restored and nothing but...

WEEK 41.2 - FINDING OUR PURPOSE THROUGH FOCUS

Self-actualizing people – highly functioning people who live at extraordinary levels of awareness – train their minds to focus on what they intend to create and what they intend to manifest, and they won’t let anybody change their mind. Wayne Dyer

Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, and too many distractions lead to a heavy mind. Naval Ravikant

Knowing what to leave out is just...

“how you love yourself is how you teach others to love you” - Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

“One of the best guides to how to be self-loving is to give ourselves the love we are often dreaming about receiving from others. There was a time when I felt lousy about my over-forty body, saw myself as too fat, too this, or too that. Yet I fantasized about finding a lover who would give me the gift of being loved as I am. It is silly, isn't it,...

“Get out of your head and get into your body. Think less and feel more. Your thoughts have to understand one thing: that you are not interested in them. The moment you have made this point you have attained a tremendous victory.” -Osho

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” ~Etty Hillesum

Some people will not love you regardless of what you do. Other people will love you...

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”– The Bhagavad Gita

“You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.” – Sharon Gannon

“Yoga is a way to freedom. By its constant practice, we can free ourselves from fear, anguish and loneliness.” – Indra Devi

“A photographer gets people to pose for him. A...

Be Kind – Make someone smile today…

"Be selective with your battles. Sometimes peace is better than being right."

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."

“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”

“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

“If we...

“You push the TRUTH off a cliff, but it will always fly. You can submerge the TRUTH under water, but it will float back to the surface. You can place the TRUTH in the fire, but it will survive and become purer. You can bury the TRUTH beneath the ground, but it will arise. TRUTH always prevails!”

The powers of the mind are like the rays of the sun when they are concentrated they illumine. - Swami Vivekananda

“To a mind that is...

Week 43.2 - Growing our wings on the way down

Our Perspective, finding our wings on the way down

"Yoga uses the body to discipline the mind and to reach the soul." ~ BKs Iyengar

“Mastery of yoga is really measured by how it influences our day-to-day living, how it enhances our relationships, how it promotes clarity and peace of mind.” T.K.V. Desikachar

If you seek peace, be still. If you seek wisdom,...

Week 44.1 - SHE LIVES ON THE REFLECTIONS OF HERSELF IN THE EYES OF OTHERS

If you don’t take time for your wellness, you will need to make time for your illness.

“We can only grow and develop as far as we can see, we are limited by our own self-imposed horizon. In our practice, our higher self is elevated into the clouds; we witness our true infinite potential for brief moments between breaths.”- David...

Not sure who wrote this, but true:

1. There are no bombs raining on our heads.

2. I am not a prisoner held in solitary confinement, as millions are.

3. I am not a refugee trying to escape with my life.

4. I am not standing in line waiting to fill a pot of water.

5. I have access to fresh food and I'm not starving.

6. I have hot running water.

7. My country has not been ruined by years of...

Week 44.2 - Do they love you or the mask you put on every day?

“Halloween reminds us of the illusions we all live in and participate in every day. Halloween began as a pagan holiday to celebrate the beginning of winter. As the leaves changed colors and fell; the landscape appeared to die. Celtic people believed that wearing masks and costumes would be a way to protect them from ghosts and evil spirits causing this death and...

“Many people are alive but don’t touch the miracle of being alive.” – Thích Nhất Hạnh

"We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see." ~ Taoist Proverb

“There is no greater wealth in this world than peace of mind.”

“Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have.”

“Whatever you are doing, love yourself for doing it. Whatever you are...

Allow your mind to start class empty and blank, “Be an empty page, untouched by words.” – Rumi

Just being aware is the beginning of change. “Awareness is the birthplace of possibility. Everything you want to do, everything you want to be, starts here.” ~Deepak Chopra

“Have you ever found yourself angry at someone, only to find out some time later that they were not the real cause of your suffering? Something in them had triggered...

Week 46.1- “Determination is the wind in our sails pushing us onward, over and through the waves of fear and doubt.”

FEAR by: Khalil Gibran (was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist, also considered a philosopher)

It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains,

the long winding road crossing forests and...

“The concept of Emptiness – Formless Awareness - in Buddhism – (shunya in Sanskrit).

“Silence is not empty; it is full of answers.”

Home Is People – Robert Drake

“There will be times when we feel like we are meant to be alone; Like this love we seek is not real and we created it to make sense of our emptiness.

And because of that; sometimes, some of us become bitter with the idea that love is only the anticipation of...

“To do two things at once is to do neither. – “Publilius Syrus

“In 1519, the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés landed on the beaches of Veracruz, Mexico to begin his great conquest of Central America. Upon arriving, he gave orders to his men to sink and burn the ships, to avoid mutiny and his crew returning to Cuba. Sometimes in life we just have burn our boats and burn our bridges, in order to gain the courage to conquer our fears...

“Inhale love, exhale gratitude.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

"Your body is listening to everything your mind is saying."

"If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths."

“The wise man lets go of all results, whether good or...

“If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.” - Chinese Proverb

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change” -Albert Einstein

...

48.1 - Healing Relationships

“Mindfulness is a wonderful vehicle through which we clean and refocus our lens; adjusting how we see the world; witnessing once again, what is truly important. With clearly restored, our mind becomes a fertile soil for our hopes and our dreams to distill into our reality.” – David Scott

“Every moment of your life is a second chance.” ~Rick Price

"You can't fly, unless you are...

“To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to trim the lamp of wisdom, and keep our mind strong and clear.” - Buddha

“To keep the lamp burning, we must continue to put oil into it.” – Mother Teresa

“Adversity causes some to break, others to break records.” William A. Ward

“In order to change, we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

“You...

The Dead Rabbit

This guy comes home from work one day to find his dog with the neighbor's pet rabbit in his mouth. The rabbit is very dead and the guy panics.

He thinks the neighbors are going to hate him forever, so he takes the dirty, chewed-up rabbit into the house, gives it a bath, blow-dries its fur, and puts the rabbit back into the cage at the neighbor's house, hoping that they will think it died of natural...

Week 50.1

December 9th 343rd day of the year. There are then 22 days left in 2019.

"You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes a day, unless you are too busy. Then you should sit for an hour." - Zen Proverb

Parsvottanasana – Pyramid Pose

Prasarita Padottanasana gets its name from Sanskrit where "Prasarita" means " Wide/Stretched Out", "Pada" means "Foot", "Uttana" means "Intense Stretch" and "Asana" means "Pose or...

Your home should be a living space and not a storage space. Before us lies two paths, which will determine the future landscape of our planet. On the path of scarcity we must frantically attempt to fill our basket, with as many possessions as possible. In the end while our basket is full, we feel nothing but profound emptiness inside us. When the credit card bills arrive and the things start to break, the possessions we collected first to...

51.1 - CHARACTER BUILT BY FIRE

“Your body is like the glass surrounding a lamp. Remember always, that you are not that lamp, but instead that flame burning bright inside.” – David Scott

“Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.” - R.J. Palacio, Wonder

Character is not a virtue we are not born with. Character does not develop...

“Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted — in body, mind, and heart — and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow — or we begin to flow more in our...

"The light that Yoga sheds on life is something special. It is transformative. It does not just change the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees. " ~ BKS Iyengar

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world." ~ Buddha

"Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It is a way of entering into the quiet that is already there - buried under the 50,000...

52.2 - The Tinture of Time

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” — William E. Vaughan

“As we grow older and wiser, we begin to realize what we need and what we need to leave behind. Sometimes there are things in our lives that aren’t meant to stay. Sometimes the changes we don’t want are the changes we need to grow. And sometimes...

Change proclaims it’s dominance.

“Just try and stay the same,” it taunts.

“See how long the status quo will last before it’s blasted into newness by the now.” Change isn’t always flashy like the Grand Canyon. Sometimes it’s subtle, like the blinking of an eyelash or the floating of a feather on the wind. Say yes, and change will take you somewhere unexpected. Say no, and you’ll end up in the same place, resisting all the while....

“Knowledge of others begins with knowledge of self. In understanding your darkness, you can better deal with the darkness you encounter in others.” – David Scott

There are hidden lessons in every struggle. In your practice tonight listen for the lesson.

“In meditation and in our daily lives there are three qualities that we can nurture, cultivate, and bring out. We already possess these, but they can be ripened: precision,...