True Hearts Yoga

Its madness. The way we feel we must act on Thanksgiving is like no other day of the year. Not only do we gorge ourselves on chips & dip, cheese spreads, crackers, bread, potatoes, turkey & gravy, etc. etc., but we feel obligated to stuff ourselves. We feel like we ought to, because its tradition, and because we can. And when its all over, we feel bloated, queezy, irritable, tired. But sleeping on a stuffed belly is never fun. So we veg. For the rest of the day. Then comes the guilt... But it doesn't have to be like this! It sure is a joy to be surrounded by lots of delicious food, so why ruin a good thing? Savor the flavors in smaller portions. During appetizer time, use a small plate, put small amounts of food on it, and step away from the table laden with goodies. And during dinner, do the same. Little portions; big flavors. In yoga, we believe that your stomach should be 1/2 full of food, 1/4 full of water, and 1/4 empty. To avoid feeling bad about yourse

I recently read a lovely article written by Chuck Miller, regarding Surya Namaskara, or Sun Salutations. I love teaching this in my classes, because of the many many benefits it offers, plus I find it fun to flow through the movements. While the body is in motion, you are concentrating on the breath, and barely realizing that you are stretching and strengthening your body. A piece of the article called, "Surya Namaskara is a Moving Prayer" says: "(Surya Namaskara) is no ordinary act. Your full power of attention is focused on the present moment. Dive deep within yourself to discover the power of the sun that resides in every cell and impulse of who and what you are. Move slowly with awareness. Movement and breath are intimately linked. As the breath becomes deeper and slower the movements also follow. No hurry. Lengthening the breath is symbolic of and has the effect of lengthening the life span. The breath is a reflection of the cosmic inhale and exhale; the creat

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."- Lao Tzu, China Most of us consider ourselves to be composites of all that we go through. We see ourselves as a bundle of past experiences, a grab-bag of emotions in a cycle of patterns that have played out time and time again. Most of the time we are on auto pilot; we don't notice that we are making decisions based on past experiences. We don't realize that we have preconceived ideas about people and events that shape the way we deal with them. Other times we tire of all this. We notice our hangups and become exhausted knowing how complicated we are. We wish we could start anew. Sometimes we just want the patterns to stop. Beneath the complicated layers of prejudices, we are pure and aware beings. The needy, reactive actions we take are merely coverings of our inner essence. The essence within only knows love, and wants to share love. When you begin to feel overwhelmed with your hangups, take a moment to step ba