Do what you like; like what you do. I bought a coffee cup with that mantra on it to remind me that our work is meant to be something that we enjoy doing, that it gives us joy and fulfillment. Don't get me wrong, work can have it's moments, but overall it should be a happy place to go and to be. And what better way to receive that reminder than with your morning coffee? To start each day and ask yourself, am I doing something that expresses me today? More importantly do I like it.
So, why is it that sometimes we feel afraid of pursuing what we love to do? Is that step so far from our comfort zones? We take many steps to find our true path our true purpose, what our soul wants, what our heart wants. Some of us take the scenic route, some more direct but most likely this isn't the first life we've lived; and our experiences are golden. Every experience is a way for us to shine our heart lights….express our true Selves.
Shining your heart light is to allow our heart to take the wheel and direct our next move. Whenever we allow our heart to lead the way, to shine, we live our truth. We connect to our soul and take another step toward being awake in this life. To be aware of our divinity, our divine guidance that is always with us and the fact that our life is meant to be happy, joyous and abundant.
Tuning into your heart shifts fear to the side and embraces joy. Embraces the support of the universe. Yes, you are that powerful. Your heart is that powerful, to overrule your mind where your ego, aka fear, resides. Your heart takes you from fear-based reaction to joy-based flow. How do you know if your heart is shining? It feels better, it feels good, easy, fun, happy and inspirational….any or all of the above…simple as that. Do what you like, like what you do. Do what feels good and feel good about what you do.

If you've enjoyed this blog, please consider donating to the Bending Tree Expansion Project to help us enhance our services. Our goal is to help people find their strength and creativity from the inside out...meaning finding their joy and living it fearlessly, from the heart.  Levels include give from your heart; give with your light; or shine your heart light.
Thank you and Namaste, Karen

In yoga we put our physical bodies in postures to help us see what's going on inside of us, our minds, our hearts, our spirits. We then place our physical bodies into Savasana, the final resting posture on our backs so we can find a little stillness, at first physically, then mentally, spiritually. We aim to find just a moment of stillness where we can just be, just be with ourselves, just be in our environment. And, this carries over to our daily lives, amid the chaos, the sensory overload and the multitasking, we aim to find a little stillness. This might be in the form of looking at a picture that catches your eye; tuning in to the radio playing in the background;  or watching a bird eat a bread crumb on the side walk. Whatever it is for you, it's about allowing yourself to be absorbed in the moment; you are totally present in that moment; the breath is even.
Our breath….
Breathing is the most important thing we do, in our yoga practice. It is our life force after all and very powerful, so let's use it! Taking deep inhales and exhales is something that we may find ourselves not doing, so let's come back to it. Really fill the lungs on the inhale and feel the release on the exhale. Do this a few times to get comfortable in it. And take notice on what your breath is doing during your day.
When we find an even breath, the body follows, the mind follows, we find an evenness, a calmness that brings us to that moment of stillness when we can see our true purpose.

Sometimes when I want to find a little stillness I turn to nature. Here's a video of a rainy day in La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico that just brought a little peace to my morning:

If you've enjoyed this blog, please consider donating to the Bending Tree Expansion Project to help us enhance our services. Our goal is to help people find their strength and creativity from the inside out...meaning finding their joy and living it fearlessly, from the heart.  Levels include give from your heart; give with your light; or shine your heart light.
Thank you and Namaste, Karen
  

We hear that meditation brings us peace, it heals, it connects us to divine energy, it rejuvenates, it grounds, it balances, but how do we do this? In my discovery of meditation, I tried meditating on my own, and I sometimes had a moment (or several) of wondering, what the heck am I doing?

Yesterday on my way up the stairs to my apartment where I'm staying as I teach yoga for the month at a retreat center outside of Puerto Vallarta, a little boy passed me and said to his friend (in Spanish), "I am going to the river." The river is right at the bottom of the steps as the rain the night before increased the flow of it. The river is shallow, only  shin high, but very fresh and runs all the time right in front of where I live. The boy walked down a few steps to the bottom and proceeded to just jump right in, bend his knees so he can wet his face and jumped back up again.  It made me giggle. To see such uninhibited joy is so inspiring! And it got me thinking.

When you are on vacation the beauty of it is you lose a sense of time. You don't know what day it is or even what time it is until you have to leave. And, even in everyday life we find ourselves losing our sense of time when immersed in a project we enjoy. But when it's unenjoyable our sense of time changes and we tend to count the minutes. Minutes seem like hours; hours seem like days.

As we move through postures in yoga, it becomes a journey of self-discovery; to peel away the layers revealing our Self with each choice we make with our practice. Self with a capital "S" refers to the Highest Self our absolute truth that is connected to Spirit (the universal subconscious mind and Creator of All that Is). And I wonder, during my yoga practice, who is the real me? Is it the one who stays in Wheel another breath? Is it the one who heeds the call of Child's Pose in the midst of Sun Salutations?  Perhaps all these choices are the essence of Me.

I've been so consumed with teaching these past few months that I've allowed my personal yoga practice to slip away from me. And the reason for this is simple, I just wanted someone else to tell me what to do. I wanted to be the receiver of guidance so I could focus just on me. Because I've tried to practice yoga in my own living area creating my own "routine," and as much as I think of myself as a decent yogi, I still have to get the phone when it rings. And because I know this about myself, I knew I just needed something or someone to give me that boost of inspiration to begin being a student again and more importantly stay focused. And without traditional classes readily available to me, I had to search elsewhere, and found it in the form of audio podcasts. For some reason when I hear the voice instructing me through my iTouch the urge to answer the phone, sweep the floor, feed the cats dissipates.

Note: This is the third in a 3-part series of Inspirational Shorts along with You are that Powerful and Clearing Past Programs and Beliefs

Now it's time for action. We've created our affirmation statements; visualized our dream happening. But now it's time to act on our dreams. And sometimes this is where we stop. Taking action is scary let's face it.

In the quest to harnessing our personal power and creating the life of our dreams, past programs and belief systems will surface and present themselves so that we can clear them. But how do we identify a past program or belief system? The easiest way is to notice when we are feeling stuck or there is resistance to what we are doing.

Yes, you are that powerful. Your thoughts create. We've heard this from all the masters such as Dr. Wayne Dyer, Abraham Hicks and don Miguel Ruiz. The problem sometimes comes in the believing it. In believing in ourselves and that this is our true power, our thoughts.

The other day in yoga class I found myself tuning into the "sounds of Mexico," which surrounded my studio. I then also realized that I was tuning in because one of my neighbor's was using a table saw during class. My first thought was "This is annoying and I wish he would stop! NOW!" … I didn't like it one bit and it got me thinking… How many times in our lives are we driven by likes and dislikes rather than what we want? So I don't like the sound of the saw, but I do like the sound of doves; I don't like the sound of a motorbike; but I like the sound of a donkey. Why is this? It's my past programming and perceptions that find the saw and motorbike annoying but donkey and dove acceptable.

The Bhagavad Gita talks of eliminating likes and dislikes to remain even in all situations, and in that way we can find peace and freedom. But this is hard. The more I thought about what the Bhagavad Gita tells us, the more I realized acceptance is the key part of what can dissolve our belief systems. If I accept that saw as a part of my yoga practice experience, all of a sudden irritation -- a distraction -- begins to fade and so does the sound of the saw; at the same time if I accept the dove, the feeling of joy -- also a distraction -- begins to fade and so does the sound of the dove. And all that's left is me and the sound within; the sound of truth and what is at this moment.

Practice with one of our podcasts here: https://bendingtreeyogahealing.com/podcasts/classes-gentle-yoga

If you've enjoyed this blog, please consider donating to the Bending Tree Expansion Project to help us enhance our services. Our goal is to help people find their strength and creativity from the inside out...meaning finding their joy and living it fearlessly, from the heart.  Levels include give from your heart; give with your light; shine your heart light.
Thank you and Namaste, Karen

This year is the year of the Dragon; a year of powerful acceleration and abundance. Each year I make resolutions and there's something exhilarating and uplifting as I write down my dreams, the limitless possibilities. Perhaps it is the one time per year that I dream without fear. I bring in the New Year with good intentions and a feeling in my heart that anything is possible.

And each year I find myself 3 weeks in; 2 months in; 6 months in; and I forgot what my intentions and resolutions were, never mind attempting to create them. But this year is going to be different. OK, I know what that sounds like, but the reason I know it will be different is because I am different. I am different because it was like a little light bulb lit up the sky as I realized that I am surrounded by inspiration and divine guidance 24/7. And, the fact is, we all are!

The energy for this month is accelerating everything to launch us into the abundantly powerful time of 2012. Although it can be exhilarating and joyous when things happen fast and move forward quickly it also can be scary and filled with feelings of fear, doubt and a general sense of being out of control.

So when I found out I missed the boat to get to the retreat center where I was working for a week, instantly I felt anxiety wash over me and settle in my stomach. Now what? Are they going to think I flaked out? What did I get myself into? Before I allowed doubt and fear to come in and take over, I took a breath and sat with that feeling. Allowed it to be and before I knew it, my boyfriend helped me get a water taxi and within 10 minutes I was on my way.

When I think of investing in myself, things like massages, pedicures, or a vacation, come to mind. But sometimes it isn't about the things we do but the things that happen. The experience is the investment. It is giving yourself the experiences in life to get to know what serves you and what doesn't. It's the journey.

Last week I decided to take some time off…no teaching, no special classes, no nothing at the studio. I thought it would be a good time for me to re-energize before I started my new Fall/Winter/Spring schedule. But my time off soon turned into getting a construction project going and mosaic-ing the studio bathroom.

What happened to doing nothing? Relaxing? And then I realized that, like my teaching and classes these projects gave me joy. To add pieces of tile, rocks, glass, action figures and beads to the cement that I mixed felt great. The creativity was flowing and I felt re-energized.

Giving, whether it is money, energy, time, love, support, strength or control can bring on feelings of anxiety. Anxiety arises when doubt creeps in and we second guess our actions. We may feel that the $20 donation to Girl Scouts was maybe too much and that you could have used it to put gas in your car. Or maybe saying "yes" to helping a friend seems like an energy drain.

When giving feels heavy and uncertain, let's look at "why" we're choosing to give… Is it because we are fearful that something bad will happen if we don't; is it because of a need for approval; or perhaps we believe that we must sacrifice ourselves to feel joy.

Happy and sad; bliss and frustration; easy and difficult; gaining and losing.

Life seems full of opposing forces, but the truth is, it's all the same. The universe is always cheering for us and giving us signs and nudges to keep us on our path of inspiration and pure joy. It's our perceptions that make it seem hard, sad and frustrating.

I recently got a new puppy and it's been awhile since I had one. Amid the joy of this adorable new being, I found myself missing my last dog intensely because he was so easy. Sure after 5 years of being with me he came when called, knew my running routine and didn't pee in the house. But now it's different. I felt as if I was starting over and I wondered; why didn't I just keep my life simple.

And the bottom line is my life would not have been as rich and magical as it is now without this new addition and, in fact, with all the change in my life that's happened so far. Without change my heart would not have known such opening.

The hard part, however, is letting go of the past, the attachment to the way things once were. Letting go amidst fear, doubt and that pesky ego, who tries to convince you that you're better off alone, isolated and keeping to yourself holding on tight to all your things.

I recently had an encounter with a friend and she told me about her vacation. While she was telling me the story, I felt a stab in my stomach. What the heck was that? Was that jealousy taking a shot at me? She's a good friend and I want to see her happy and yet I got this feeling seemingly out of nowhere.  Wait, check it. Yes, it's jealousy. What's up with that feeling? And more importantly, why? I'm not in high school, I'm so past this, aren't I?

We all seem to be our own worst critics, where the human tendency is to look at the "should haves" in every situation. I wonder, is it safer to think of what we should have done? Rather than just to have done it? Is there comfort in thinking that something better lies ahead rather than knowing the best is right now? Fear takes many forms and can inhibit our actions, but shedding the fear is easier said than done.

My mom told me recently, ‘when it comes to money, people become a different animal.’

Why is this? What causes the change? Why not change your thinking about money?