Daily Inspirational Quote

“Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.” ~ B.K.S. Iyengar

Making Real Changes

Taking my yoga practice "off the mat" has brought many positive changes into my life. One of the strongest lessons I have learned has to do with change. Of all the things you will find in life, the only thing that is, truly, guaranteed is change. 

Change is constant, so expect, and welcome it. The past is gone, so reflect on the past as if there is something to learn from it, knowing you can never return there. The future is beyond our control, but dreams and goals are good for the soul. Now might be all we have, so make it count, enjoy it. Live in this moment, for this moment. 

Making substantial changes in ones life is a gradual process which can only be achieved through true desire, drive, and dedication.

If a person doesn't truly care about changing, and they are not willing to work towards the goal of evolution, then real change becomes impossible.

Change is something that has to cone from within, and it has to be done for ones self. Change is not something that can be forced by a second party. So if you have any expectations or desires about changing anyone but yourself, drop them. Its a futile up hill battle with the odds stacked high against you.

Learning to talk the talk is easy for most, but learning to walk the walk is something that many people struggle with.

Unfortunately, I know so many people out there who are all talk. Seeing this often, it was easy for me to decided that I had no desire to be that way.

I started by reflecting on myself. Every time a thought would cross my mind that went against the teachings I was studying I would consciously stop, look at myself, and ask "why is it that I feel this way?"

When another party and was involved in the situation I tried to put myself into that person shoes and remind myself that didn't know what the persons motives were and it wasn't my place make assumptions.

I also am learning to focus on meaningful conversation - Not speaking unless what I have to say is of some benefit to the situation. Sometimes this is still difficult for me. I have to consciously tell myself stop and think before I speak, and then ask myself, "is there any point to releasing this information.

Day by day and one step at a time, these changes are getting easier. I am happy in the here and now, but I am looking forward to the future, and seeing where my evolution will take me.

Quote of the Day

“Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.”

― Paramahansa Yogananda

The longer I work this into my life more true it becomes, and the easier it is to act this way.

A Journey Into Healthy Eating

Switching from junk food to an all natural and organic diet was not something that happened overnight. It was definitely something that happened gradually.

The change began with a vegetarian diet that I started in order to shed my winter weight before my 23rd birthday in the spring. It was only supposed to be for a few months, but on my birthday I made a discovery that would change the way I look at food forever.  

My birthday party was full of barbecue, ribs, burgers, and hot dogs. I had been looking forward to sinking my teeth into some juicy, red meat the entire time I was going without, but as I sunk my teeth into that first, long anticipated, juicy, bite, I quickly realized that it was not good as I remembered. Not only was the meat not as tasty as I had hoped, but almost instantly I felt sluggish, and weighed down. I never felt that after eating fruits and veggies. So went back onto the the all vegetarian diet and continued on it for one more year.

Going vegetarian forced me to rethink my eating habits.  There were less choices at first. It was no longer easy to hit up the fast food drive through and get a deep fried chicken sandwich on the way to work.

In no time I stopped going to drive troughs all together. Eventually I decided to add meat back into my diet, on occasion, in small servings. I also cut back largely on the amount of dairy products I was consuming. 

You know how on your birthday, people like to ask you, "Do you feel any older?" My twenty fifth birthday, or is my grandmother put it, "turning a quarter of a century old,"  was the first birthday in my life where I actually felt like the most genuine response to that question was actually one hundred percent, "Yes."

Maybe, it was the realization that I was only five years shy of thirty, realizing it seemed that only yesterday that I had turned twenty. Where did I hope to be by the time I was thirty? Maybe I felt as if I hadn't accomplished enough in most recent years, or that I had stopped moving  forward. Life is all about progression, and evolution. Perhaps I was behind?

This past year I have found many things, and made many changes. I set out on a quest for knowledge, driven by the desire for Sauca (purity) I focused my energy on basic yoga teachings, fitness, and nutrition. I scooped up every fitness magazine I could get my hands on, read online forums, and began watching every food documentary that I could find on Netflix. 

The first documentary to really shake my perception was Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. I felt like I had stumbled upon a gold mine of information. It all should have been so simple, but its easy to miss out on the way we are supposed to eat. Many of us are so sick, and we don't even realize that all we have to do is fix our diets, and we can become healthy again. 

I started to really think about over the counter vitamins. Most grocery stores have an entire isle dedicated to nutrition supplements these days, it didn't seem natural. Why so many pills? There was a time that people lived long and healthy lives, without over the counter help. Then the answer slapped me in the face. We, as modern people of the world, do not know how to eat properly. If somebody is eating right they should have no need to buy vitamins by the truckload at the super market

As I began to study the nutrients in specific foods, so that I could better stock my kitchen, I came across, yet another amazing documentary, Food Matters. Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicine, said "Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food." I believe he would be appalled if he were here to see the way we utilize health care today. 

Many of the documentaries, and sites refrence Dr Max Gerson, who was able to cure almost every type of cancer, as well as many other chronic ailments and deseases in the 1940's using  an organic, unprocessed diet.He didn't use drugs, or radiation. He cured people WITH FOOD.

 It is illegal  to treat cancer in The United States using the Gerson Therapy, but his daughter, Charlotte Gerson, is still spreading the good word, and saving lives at the Gerson Health Center in Tijuana Mexico.

 Dr Gerson died in 1959, after completing his master work, A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 cases, for the 2nd time. (The first time he completed the book, it mysteriously vanished.)

Click this link to watch The Gerson Miracle Documentary and find out more about Gerson's natural Miracle therapy.

With all my new found information, its hard to imagine going back to eating chemically engineered, gmo, super processed, Frankenstein foods. WOULD YOU EAT POISON JUST BECAUSE SOMEBODY TOLD YOU IT WAS SAFE? Do you?

I cant even rationalize paying for empty foods, that contain little to no nutrition. When did people forget, that we eat to nourish our bodies, not just fill our bellies? 

I hope to ease myself into a mostly raw vegetarian diet in the next few months, because the more I learn, the more I feel that it is the healthiest path, and if I really want my body to be a temple, then I should start to really treat it as one.

Sauca - keeping the temple clean. Is your body your temple?

My Journey into Yoga

My Introduction to Yoga

I only began doing yoga about three years ago. I wanted a "yoga booty," tight core, and open hips.  Though it was no spiritual quest, and I was not making an attempt at changing my life, there were many gradual changes, unknown to me, that began with that very first (sloppy) downward dog..

My first goal, splits and handstand, were high considering I was nowhere close to attaining either one of them, but "reach for the stars and even if you miss, you'll end up on the moon." Right?

Now, almost three years down the line, I still haven't completely mastered either technique, but I am getting pretty close. I learned that progress is not only measured by the skills one acquires, but the effort and progress that comes out of a dedicated practice. Also, different people advance at different rates, so using other people as a point of reference is not always helpful. .

Before beginning my yoga journey I never would've claimed to be fit. I wasn't even a healthy eater. Fast food dollar menus and I never made it a point to work out. The starvation diet was always easier then working out and eating healthy.

For most of my earlier yoga adventures I continued on that same path. I felt no need to change the way I was eating or the way I treated my body if I was becoming more flexible and getting skinnier and stronger. Eventually, that gave way to a new found respect for my body and it was no longer logical to be working so hard on my body only to ruin it with garbage food, and neglect. Finally my choices were starting to become healthier.

 (Side note - now that I work out, and eat healthy foods, not only am I fifteen pounds lighter, and a constant weight, I eat all day, every two hours, and never think about if what I eat is going to land on my butt or gut.)

Luckily for me, I have a few good yoga teacher friends, who are always very helpful anytime I have questions.

Eventually my questions lead to a conversation about yoga teacher training. I was surprised and encouraged upon learning how easy it is to become a certified yoga teacher. The idea of making a living doing something I love filled me with excitement. However, I realized, I was not yet quite ready to take on this task.

I still have a lot of class material to learn before I consider myself ready to teach other people. There are also some physical goals I still would like to reach, before I even think about starting teacher training. I am, actually thinking about doing some business classes in the meantime while I continue to prepare myself physically, and mentally. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. This is something I care about so I don't want to do it half assed.

So I begin to study. I read things online. I download free yoga books to my phone. I looked up YouTube videos, and started to learn about the teachings of yoga. I learned about the Yamas and Niyamas. I studied  chakras, and The Eight Limbs Of Yoga, anything I could find. I was thirsty for knowledge.

Someone very close to me once said, "Don't speak about it. Be about it." Wise words that many cannot live by, or choose not to live by. I am no better than anyone else, and often found myself guilty of this, what was I going to do to change it? I realized that if I wanted to become a good teacher it would be necessary for me to be a good example as well.

The teachings of yoga are good ones and I was unable to find any reason not to apply these things into my day to day life:

Being understanding, and tolerating, honesty with ourselves as well as others, avoiding endless chattering with no clear purpose, not coveting things we do not have, and appreciating what we DO have, eating healthy natural foods, looking at yourself before judging others, what purpose, surrendering. The list goes on.

All of these things seemed very positive, and reasonable, to me. If there was a reason not to attempt undertaking them in my day to day life, I couldn't see it, so  I decided that was going to "be about it."

Recently I took some time off from Asanas  to complete a month long, four day a week, endurance and bodybuilding course. Needless to say I was more than a little bit excited to get back into yoga.

In my off time I still tried to keep my mind open and focused on my goals. I abstained from junk food, and eased myself into an all natural, mostly organic, diet.

Back into Asanas for a month now, and I'm ready to grab life, and yoga, by the balls.

LETS DO THIS THING!