Spanish
This spanish class has really brought up a lot of insecurities for me. I was NOT good in academics. In my elementary and high schools there were three tracks. Honors, average, slower, then special people. I had a hard time learning concepts at the same speed as everyone else so I was put in the slower track. But my mom never let me think that I wasn’t capable!
My mom wanted the best for me and wanted me to be well educated because that is what Papou taught her and valued. I’m sure that my mom pulled strings to get me into University of Illinois. It wasn’t because I had the grades. Once in, I did ok… mainly because I found what I was good at. I can read people and create a space where people feel comfortable and trust me. I sometimes feel like what I do wasn’t something I chose but something that happened to me.
But here I am wanting to improve myself and being very drawn to learning spanish… but I struggle with it. It brings back all those insecurities of not being as smart as everyone else… Something has to come from the process and maybe that something is patience with myself? hmmm. Accepting that it does take me more time than others and accepting that and STUDYING more. Sometimes I think that I’ll never get it… but nothing that I have put on my “To Accomplish List” has just fallen off or not been accomplished.
A mixture of whats to come and what is..
I think that there are some people that you meet and you feel a very strong connection to and then there are those people that happen to be in your life (like family) and they are there for a reason. But sometimes those reasons are hard to know. There are people, like my sister, whom I have this deeper connection to than anyone else in my life. And its more than a sister connection!
I think that my sister is a strong part of my dharma. The minute that she was in my life I felt a connection that was strong. Its not just a sister connection either. Maybe it means, and I hope, that she will be a constant thread throughout my life.
Sebastien came into my life when I was heavily focused on myself. Probably more than I have ever been before. I had just committed to brining those things into my life that I wanted and that were good for me. I have to say that I worked really hard to get there and I know that I want to continue connecting to those things…
But there was something missing. It wasn’t complete. I wanted to find someone that I could share my passions and experiences with. A year ago, I was in no shape for attracting the right person. I attracted people where couldn’t see pass their own stuff. I think it was because I had never really dealt with the fact that my dad left me. So I kept replaying the loss (by picking guys who were only able to care about themselves) hoping that somehow I could change it. Like if I was fun enough, or athletic enough, or if I was just born a boy maybe dad wouldn’t have left. But luckily I have done enough work to realize that dad leaving wasn’t my fault and even if I was the prince of France.. he still would of left. (Yes I do know that there is not a prince of France.) But I also know that I haven’t done all the work. I haven’t accepted all the stuff that has happened along the way. Soo I am cautious about how that effects my world and especially in my attractions to others. But I feel that I am not going backwards and that I am making the steps (however slow and small) forward.
I feel fortunate enough to feel a strong connection to my dharma. Even when it would have been easier to just fall into the trap of what society believes is “right” or what our/my family believes is “right” I never did it for very long. I was to drawn to my dharma…
I know that the minute that I meet Sebastien and felt his presence I wanted to get to know him more and learn as much as I could about him. I felt very comfortable around him. We use to (not like it has been that long ago) walking down the beach together and talking for hours. I really enjoyed it because I think it was the first time that I exposed a more connected me. And I’m so excited that in doing so I have attracted Sebastien more and more. Its like getting rewarded for doing something right… Which is not a reinforcement I have been open to in the past. It makes me very happy and excited about whats to come.
I still have a lot of healing and accepting left to do. But I know that and I will do it… because its on my “List of things to accomplish”…he he.
Dharma returns
So I am taking a children’s yoga certification class through yoga well/progressive therapies and this weeks homework was to find a children’s nursery rhyme and make it fit for children in a yoga class. In the last class we had to list three songs we remembered from our youth. I spoke about a time when I was playing the our backyard and began singing “ring a-round the Rosy.” Then I heard other children singing it and thought to myself… “I started a new song and everyone knows it.” I truly thought that I had made up “ring a round the rosy.”
So today I was looking for nursery rhymes online to complete my homework assignment. When I stumbled on this article from www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduisn/essays/rosy.asp by Richard Stoney.
Basically is said that the nursery rhyme “Rina a-round the Rosy” owes its existence to the mythology of Shiva (god of Destruction). In a story about Shiva’s role as Natara’ja (Dance King” and Kapa’lin “adorned with Skulls” that he uses his Dance to re-energize life and the cosmos. And it said… “It is in both roles that he represents the inseparability between life and death, and therefore, reincarnation.”….
Did I make up ”ring a-round the ” in some other life? It feels like the truth. More and more I sense that things are lining up in my life.
Like yesterday.. I finally got to the gym and got myself on my favorite elliptical (because there is a tv with it) and started flipping through the stations. I love options! So Opra was on and I caught the section of a person under hypnosis and recalling a past life experience. This man, in his past life, had watched a woman get rapped and then was killed by someone who caught him. Under hypnosis he made the connection that the woman (whom he didn’t know during that life) was actually his sister in his life now. It was very moving and though they didn’t discuss dharma— it was obvious that this man was fullfilling his destiny. I sometimes wonder how people’s priorities would change if we all subscribed to the idea of reincarnation.
How your yoga practice can let you know how healthy your relationships are…
So yesterday I went over to my boyfriend’s casa and practiced yoga for 60 min. In the past, I have done yoga around previous significant others but last night was different. I realized how much progress I have made because of the difference I feel in this relationship. In the past, I have needed the OK from others to do what I wanted to do. Or I would not do what I wanted to do because I was too wrapped up in their needs. Part of me seeks out energy and approval from others…. Who doesn’t like getting the, “Oh you are so good at that!” or “It makes me so happy when you…” But yesterday was different. I stayed completely centered and focused on me. From my first tadasana to my final savasana I remained centered. I actually took savasana for longer than I have in the past while my boyfriend was sitting doing his work in the same room.
Now I could say that it has been my yoga practice that allowed me to become more comfortable being able to stay within myself or it is because I am with someone who appreciates me and supports me in doing things that make me happy. But I think that it was when both of these relationships came together I realized how much yoga affected my energy. If it wasn’t for yoga I don’t think I would have been ready to meet Mr. Page. I also feel that as much as yoga has influenced my well being, making me open to the right person, I think that the right person has influenced my yoga by taking away some of the some of the fear and making it safe to go deeper.
My dharma would give me a clue about what “this” but I never would have thought that the real thing would be so magical, peaceful, and beautiful as what is truly unfolding.
Mental Health Therapy and Yoga
When one practice comes together with another we get a mixture
When should you start teaching your child yoga?
About 5 years before you give birth.
The Vibration Of Peace
If there is one thing I would like more than anything…. it would be that grown-ups would remember what they learned in pre-school. Be kind to each other. Share. Get along. Work things out with words. Use your I-feel statements…. because I feel sad when children are abused because their vibrations turn into anger. For energy is neithercreated nor destroyed… it is transformed. The older we get the more hardened we get towards each other and the less tolerance we have. Its so sad when you see a 13 year old with no patience left because their energy is constantly being used to survive than to experience the joys in life.
Pregnancy and Yoga
Pregnancy is a life-changing event, and Ayurveda stresses that a woman should be in good health before becoming pregnant to help the chances of the baby being healthy and to make the pregnancy and delivery go more smoothly. Ayurveda also says that the father should also be in good health, as it is the constitutions of both parents that determine the constitution of the baby. Both parents need to cultivate love and affection during the pregnancy, so that the child feels it as well. Here are other ayurvedic recommendations during pregnancy:
- Diet: No drugs, caffeine or alcohol. No extremes of any kind – no de-toxing or drastic dieting. Follow a Vata pacifying diet. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh juices, whole grains. Listen to the signals your body gives you. Drink lots of fresh water.
- Exercise: Gentle exercise like walking, swimming, and yoga is good. A pre-natal yoga class may be beneficial to understand what modifications are necessary. Avoid any strain.
- Stress: Cut back on your workload as much as possible. Use your support system, friends and family, to help you out. Take care of yourself mentally, physically and emotionally.
- Rest: Takes naps when your body signals you to do so. Make sure you get enough sleep at night.
- Massage: Abhyanga (ayurvedic self massage) is a wonderful daily practice. Pay special attention to the belly to avoid stretch marks. An ayurvedic massage therapist can help to stimulate marma points to relieve some of the discomforts that come with pregnancy, like sciatica, heartburn, or swelling.
- Meditation: Meditation is especially beneficial during pregnancy to help you relax and relieve stress. Enjoy quiet times by yourself before the baby comes!
Yoga Alliance
As yoga becomes increasingly popular in western culture so has the need to legitimize the discipline. Yoga Alliance has been the in the forefront of creating standards for yoga training programs. At this time, one does not have to be a registered yoga instructor to teach yoga. However, as health insurance companies are drawn closer to yoga services they set the stage for the future of yoga as a profession. In doing so, they look to Yoga Alliance to find appropriate providers.
Dalai Lama
CNN) — Envoys for the Dalai Lama have arrived in China for talks with representatives of the Chinese leadership, a spokesman of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said Saturday.
Beijing has been under intense international pressure to re-open its dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Tenzin Takhla, secretary to the Dalia Lama, told CNN from Dharamsala, India, that the meetings would be brief and that no information would be released until after the envoys return. The Dalia Lama lives in exile in the Indian city.
The meetings will be the first since since violence broke out in the Tibetan regions of China in March. I was uncertain where or when talks would be held — Takhla would not confirm a time or location — but media reports suggested they would take place Sunday.
“During this brief visit, the envoys will take up the urgent issue of the current crisis in the Tibetan areas,” said Chhime Chhoekyapa, another secretary to the Dalai Lama.
“They will convey His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s deep concerns about the Chinese authorities’ handling of the situation and also provide suggestions to bring peace to the region.”
Special Envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen will represent the Dalai Lama at the talks.
Pro-independence protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa began March 14. While peaceful at first, the protests descended into violence with demonstrators burning and looting stores.
Beijing blamed followers of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, and said 18 civilians and one police officer was killed.
Tibetan exile groups said many times that number died in the violence and the subsequent crackdown.
China has periodically invited representatives of the Dalai Lama to meetings, but no meetings have taken place since last July. With the outbreak in violence and the resulting crackdown, Beijing has been under intense international pressure to re-open its dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
When the talks were announced last week, China said it would resume meetings with representatives of the Dalai Lama in hopes the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would use his influence to stop anti-Chinese protests that threaten to disrupt the Olympics, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.
The international torch relay ahead of the Olympics in Beijing was dogged along the way by protesters supporting the Free Tibet Movement. The remainder of the relay will take place within China and its territories and was in Macau on Saturday.