Lotus

Lotus

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Get off the Couch and Bend

I have been stuck in Blah mode for the past couple of days. I just can't seem to shake it. I have tried sleep, chocolate and bitching to a girlfriend. None of them helped. So, what to do?

Yoga have been on my mind. I am seriously neglecting of this practice in my life. I am deeply in love with the practice of yoga. Problem is, I feel as though I have no community and no space in my life to support it. Everyone who "yoga's" is transient in my sphere of life. Time is another thing entirely. Mom to a beautiful toddler, wife to a handsome man and teacher to a roomful of hooligans I hardly have time to dress myself, let alone bend myself into heart and soul opening postures.

The other trouble is money. I have serious guilt about spending precious buckaroos to attend workshops and yoga classes. They are my resources, and guilt is unproductive, but it is there nonetheless.

What to do?

I have been searching the net for books to help me get into the mind space I need to be in. I am slightly unsure this is the correct route, but it is the one I am treading.

I will let you know how it goes :)

Happy Wednesday.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Blah

Feeling rather blah the last twenty four hours. I need either some motivation or a good solid day off to rest and recoup. Since I seem to have neither, it's on with my day.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Processing....

I recently came across some apparently age old advice that directed me to focus on the process rather than on the goal. One is more likely to achieve the goal that way. It's about making choices. Every time we turn around we are making a choice. Do we eat McDonald's or make our own lunch? Do we walk there or drive? Do we exercise or sit on the couch? Do we bitch about our day, or do we talk about the things we want to accomplish? Do we change, or do we stay the same? It's all a matter of choice.

We have the power to change ourselves. As a being, we are constantly in a state of flux. That person that we think we are changes from moment to moment. Our cells change, the position of our bodies change. The things we perceive change. Our thoughts change. That entity that we think of as ourselves is simply a shell that houses our true self, the one that observes our life from within. Are you really your haircut, or your jeans? Are you (and I truly hope you are not) your waist size? Or the shape of your breasts? The answer is no. These are all discrete parts of our outsides. Who we are is inside. We are tabula rasa, a blank slate on which we can write whatever we choose. Trouble is, we often choose the easy path, the one we recognize and are familiar with. Even if it hurts us. Even if we hate it. More often than not, we choose it. This is where suffering is born. Out of choosing from habit rather than from mindful reflection.

Do I sound like a self help junkie yet?

Choose to recreate yourself in your own ideal image. Choose happiness. Choose life. Choose you.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Blog day for the MOTHERS act.

On a different note, I also found some very interesting stuff on Postpartum Depression. This is a serious disease. I suffered from it after the birth of my son. It is debilitating. Sadly, very little is known about what causes PPD. I was one of the unfortunate few who suffer with it. It affects 20% of new moms. Only 7% of those get screened and properly treated. Something must be done. A Blog community that I am a part of is organizing some action and I would like to show my support by posting their button here. Please link to it. Take a look. Maybe save a life. Maybe mine. Maybe yours.



BlogHers Act: Blog Day for the Mothers Act

Take Your Soapbox and Go Home.

An interesting article in the blogosphere caught my eye tonight. It touches on an old controversy and struck a chord with me. I wanted to share it here.

Is God Pro Choice?

After reading this article I find myself chuckling over the amount of people there still are out there that feel the need to push their agendas on others . I realize that, just by putting this out there, this blogger was inviting a debate. I wonder sometimes, though, if these pro lifers lurk in the shadows of blogland just waiting for a Pro Choice article to be posted so they can assert their beliefs.

For Heavens sake people, take your soapbox elsewhere. We know who you are, and we know what you think. You make it crystal clear with all the dangerous protests you stage. Please, just live and let live. Worry about yourself and let the rest of the world do the same.



Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Vote. Be informed. Read. Improve yourself.

It's Voting Day today in Ontario. I have been asking everyone I know about the new political system that we are voting on, and I have found that surprisingly most people are either uninformed or against the idea because it is new. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but it makes me sad to know that people will be voting against the new system because they simply do not have a clear idea of what they are voting on.

On a different note, I have been diving into non fiction literature. I had found myself disillusioned with fiction. I was getting nothing out of it. Hence, I was not reading. Since picking up "Hip Tranquil Chick" I have a list of about a dozen books that I would like to read. I guess self improvement, and personal expansion seems more productive to me than spending time reading purely for the purpose of escaping reality.

Have a wonderful day :)

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Post Holiday Weekend Update

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! I have just completed my families first Thanksgiving without my beloved Nana, who passed away about a month ago. The table seemed empty somehow without her immense personality there to fill it. More through circumstance than planning a space was left empty at the dinner table, ironically where she most likely would have sat right between my Pippy and I. I noticed and felt her absence. I know most of us did.

My husband and son have stayed behind with the family for a few days, while I had to return to Toronto to work today. I will be sans family tonight after school. I think I am going to take in a yoga class and then come home to relax, regroup and write in my journal.

I hit the consignment store just before we left, and found this lovely pink lace tunic top with brushed gold hoop earrings and a pretty gold and pink necklace. I was dressed to my own satisfaction this holiday, and it only cost me 10$!

Picked up a new book; "Girl Seeks Bliss" By Nicole Beland. Quite good so far. She is reviewing Buddhism right now and hitting my own leanings quite squarely on the head. I have gotten a few book suggestions from this first chapter which I will be checking out after this book is completed. I am clearly on a new path, or rather more solidly and commitedly choosing to follow a path that I have been toying with for a number of years.

Yay Me!

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Yoga Thoughts

These thoughts were reverently stolen from Kimberly Wilson's "Hip Tranquil Chick" Blog. I was browsing through her archives last night and came across this. After I went to bed I found myself musing on a few of them. I went back this morning and copied them over. Very deep stuff.


- meditation, psychology, and yoga are 3 pieces of the well-being pyramid
- areas of closure are teased open with yin practice
- if you observe it, you are not fully lead by it (you become more mindful)
- restlessness is not your basic nature.
- meditation helps balance out the frenetic energy.
- our demons are fed by our resistance to them.
- no moment in life is trivial -- pay attention to subtleties.
- what you tell yourself becomes the experience.

These musings are attributed to Sarah Powers.
I can't wait to explore them at more length, when there's time.

Happy Saturday!

Friday, October 05, 2007

Friday Musings

I have been spending time every morning listening to podcasts on the bus. I have discovered that this is a time in my day when I am accomplishing nothing but moving from one point to another. What a perfect opportunity to expand my mind. This morning it was some seriously deep Buddhist Metaphysics from the Zencast library. Along the lines of what we perceive isn't actually there. As viewers we impose meaning and label upon objects, rather than them imposing their meaning onto us as viewers. Therefore, our perceptions are unique to us and are vehicles to the creation of suffering, which is the first Noble Truth. I had to back up and replay four or more parts of this podcast, just to get the subtle meanings straight. Yesterday it was Catching Suffering before it Begins. The message here was that our suffering is born of our own attachments and inner chatter. Our monkey mind, willing to jump at a moments notice, brings us to anxiety and suffering without our conscious will. If we are aware of it, and draw it back to the moment, we can begin to reduce our suffering. I think I am starting to see a pattern here. I think this week was about mindfulness.

How wonderful to start my day by focusing my mind and reminding myself to stay present and mindful throughout my day.

Now if only I could teach my grade ones this.......