Yoga Is More Than A Keep-Fit Class

 

The wisdom that’s too often lost in the Western way of life

It’s pretty common that hyper-successful people can’t seem to find happiness in life. That’s because straying from your true self to succeed at work doesn’t bring lasting fulfillment. A fixation on the external world prevents most of us from finding happiness.

Indian mystic Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev claims in his book, Inner Engineering, that us humans have the capability to create our own experience of life. Unfortunately, many people depend on alcohol or drugs to feel happiness.

An Israeli chemist, Raphael Mechoulam, has shown that people can naturally form their own “bliss molecule”. It is a chemical called anandamide which stimulates the nervous system much like smoking and marijuana does.

When our bodies release this substance, it produces a sense of absolute pleasure without any adverse side effects. To do this, you only need to exercise or experience states of ease and flow while doing work.

Yogis take it a step further. They learn to control their bodies to an incredible extent and produce anandamide through concentration and will power.

Wouldn’t it be great to learn to control our own life experiences in this way?

First we have to learn to respond to life’s events consciously. This means to not obsess or react compulsively or replay painful scenarios in our minds for months or years. We should learn to reflect on these experiences and learn from them. This approach helps us to personally grow from adversity. This involves refraining from saying things that we might later regret. Keep in mind that each conversation might be the last we could have with a given person.

By becoming conscious of our reactions, we can step out of a bad cycle and take a different path.

In order to function properly, the different parts of our being need to work in sync. This is called the concept of enlightenment. So, to reach enlightenment, you need to form a tight-knit cooperation between your body, mind, emotions and energy.

Yoga is a tool to achieve this connection by bringing together the body, mind, emotions and energy. According to yogic philosophy, if the body is in balance but the mind craves food or sex, the body will rapidly fall out of balance. The same is true for emotions and energy. To achieve true balance, you need to meditate, practice physical yoga, pray and do exercises that affect your energy centers.

The key to inner happiness lies within yourself. Only you can control your experience and perception of the world, whether it’s one of bliss, pain or despair. By balancing your body and mind and attending to the present moment, you can find true peace.

Indecision-The Thief Of Achievement

 

Small steps can move us forward.

According to Marie Forleo’s book titled “Everything is Figureoutable”, indecision is among the biggest obstacles in the way of achieving our goals. It’s easy to find reasons to doubt ourselves and hesitate to make a decision.

Marie herself, an entrepreneur, writer, philanthropist and unshakeable optimist dedicated to helping you become the person you most want to be, claims to have spent years fretting about whether she could or should pursue her dreams before she finally decided to go for it.

It’s true that, if we’re not careful, years can turn into a lifetime, as indecisiveness turns into permanent paralysis.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think, plan or do the research before we delve into pursuing a goal. But we’ll never get anywhere sitting on the fence, and there’s only one way to test out an idea to find out if it’s a winner- and that is taking action.

We tend to need to achieve clarity before we can act on an idea and we let indecisiveness get the best of us. The point is that thinking alone will never get us there.

Thinking we have to make a big decision right away in order to pursue our dreams is another trap we get ourselves in. All we have to do to escape the clutches of indecisiveness is take a small step forward and get our feet wet.

For instance, I have been wavering about whether to move to a new country, but I could just visit to see what it feels like to live there.

It’s not necessary to have to immediately go big or go home, once and for all. I can just do something that takes me one more step closer to gaining clarity and making a decision one way or the other.

“Stop waiting to be ‘ready’ to pursue your dreams; the time to act is now.”

Marie Forleo

How To Meditate When You Can't

 

Try these techniques and reap the benefits

By now we have all heard that meditation is as beneficial as physical exercise. It improves sleep, reduces anxiety, and even helps with chronic pain. Even though I’m more than familiar with stress and insomnia, I long avoided meditation.

I managed my stress by going on long walks and listening to reggaetón. Then I learned that most of the successful people I look up to meditate every morning, and I knew it was time to take another look at meditation.

A Harvard University study revealed that the average person’s mind wanders 47 percent of the time.

Jamie Price, cofounder of the mindfulness app, MyLife, says that some of the most rewarding experiences come from things like walking through your neighborhood or eating a meal. Following are some of the techniques you can try. Warning: Some of these may have the power to change your life.

It doesn’t feel like meditation. Some of the overachiever cooks say that an hour of stirring a sauce is “meditative”- and they are on to something. Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh says that “Washing the dishes is like bathing a baby Buddha”. Try focusing on your breathing or the scent of the sauce you’re making while you’re at the stove. Experts say that any activity can be meditative when you bring awareness to your five senses.

You can do it with your devices. There are many mindfulness apps that offer a variety of options, such as calming soundscapes and guided meditations. Headspace has programming on Netflix, and Calm has a series on HBO Max. In fact, Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe, a circus-trained, former Tibetan Buddhist monk leads many of the guided meditations. Many love his soothing British accent.

Moving meditations. If you’re hyper or anxious, that’s OK. Moving meditations such as walking, can deepen your focus and sense of tranquility. Kyle Miller, a yoga and meditation instructor in Los Angeles, recommends going outdoors for a five-minute walk and concentrating on the sights, smells and sounds. “When your mind wanders, simply bring it back”, she advises. Try a musical accompaniment- composer Murray Hidary offers 30 and 60 minute SilentWalk meditations. They are available to download for free at Mindtravel.com.

Let’s talk about love. Try a loving-kindness meditation-mentally sending good wishes to the people around you, from those closest to you to the strangers on the street. Tania Singer, a German neuroscientist, has research that shows that compassion (such a loving -kindness) produces a positive effect in the brain. A yoga and meditation teacher in West Marin, California recommends sitting for 10 minutes and focusing on yourself or someone you know and repeat, “May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be free.”

Sort of transcendental. I was surprised to find out that celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld and Katy Perry are devotees of transcendental meditation. This entails repeating a personalized mantra. Most commit to two 20-minute sessions a day. But experts say you can start with 5 minutes and that consistency is what’s important. There are many mantras that are attached to meanings and can bring forth those good vibrations we are all looking for.

Final thoughts- a wandering mind is not a happy mind. Gratefully, there are countless ways to benefit from meditation’s calming, head-clearing powers.

How To Talk About Climate Change

 

It’s a conversation everyone should have.

Climate change has become a hot-button issue. Various polls have revealed that the majority of American adults now believe climate change is actually happening.

What’s causing it? There is a divergence of opinions and passions. Only about one in three of us discuss it. Now it’s more important than ever to discuss climate change with friends and family. However, the conversation seems to be a source of social anxiety.

You may not be sure how to broach such an overwhelming topic with kids without setting off anxiety. Experts say to start the conversation early when your kids are little. Kids get the idea that the Earth is our home and we need to take care of it from early on.

It’s a good idea to go on a nature walk and talk about how the trees breathe in bad gases and breathe out good gases. Perhaps visit a greenhouse and let them feel how much warmer it is inside than out. A simple climate-friendly activity such as gardening and composting emphasizes a positive approach. There is also the idea of planting a garden to support bees because they’re important to our food supply.

There is such a thing as Eco-anxiety. Older kids and teens may be anxious or depressed about doomsday scenarios they encounter on social media.

Some of us may even have a kid at home policing our recycling habits. Now, that’s a reason for hope.

Research by YouGov found that about 15 percent of Americans are climate change deniers. They believe that either climate change is not happening or humans are not the cause of it. Having a discussion can be worth a lot. When doing so, it’s important to set a courteous tone so they’ll be more willing to listen to you.

Perhaps sharing your personal experience can be the start of finding a common ground. Perhaps you know someone who’s lost their home in the California wildfires, or you live downwind of a “belching” power plant. Other people don’t necessarily have to care about climate change for the same reasons you do.

Many people are concerned about climate change but they think it’s an issue for the future or in a far-away rainforest. They simply haven’t felt motivated to change their behavior.

Climate change can be linked to our day-to-day concerns. Has your favorite beach closed because of erosion? Do your kids suffer from itchy eyes and wheezy breathing thanks to worsening seasonal changes?

We can aim to inspire. Research has shown that when one person installs solar panels, it often leads to a cluster of adopters in their neighborhood.

These are conversations that change the culture and what we all find acceptable. They change the actions of individuals, workplaces, and communities. There is a kind of ripple effect. Remember when cigarette smoking was acceptable everywhere?

The Way To Call Forth Your Gifts

 

When we crave more than the sounds of silence, there is music for every mood.

I’ve known from very early in my life that music can be an exquisite source of pleasure and entertainment. But recently I’ve learned that it can be a powerful form of prayer, meditation, and healing.

Actually, musical therapy is an ancient tradition. Way back since the dawn of humanity, spiritual healers known as shamans have used drums, bells, and rattles to drive disease from the body, depression from the mind and despair from the soul.

In his book Awakenings, author & neurologist Oliver Sacks says he believes that, because music can reach beyond the barriers of our conscious mind, it can become a key to unlocking a sense of self.

When all else has failed, Alzheimer patients who have lost their inner bearings often respond to music.

As I learn to nurture my creativity, finding the personal music that calls to me has been empowering. Music loosens the grip of my conscious mind during the process of writing. I listen to classical music when I’m researching and writing.

Anais Nin believed that music was “a stimulant of the highest order, far more potent than wine” when creating. Novelist Amy Tan listens to the same music each day as she writes, because it helps her pick up her narrative thread where she left off.

This technique also works with other creative projects — painting, sculpting, pottery, handicrafts — which are started and stopped over a space of time.

If you need to focus your concentration, listening to Mozart can increase your clarity — which is why it’s the recommended accompaniment for exam cramming as well as creative brainstorming. It’s not surprising, given that Mozart was a genius, that his arrangement of musical notes affects our brains positively.

Piano nocturnes- romantic, resonant, ruminative compositions for solo piano- are what I consider a virtual pharmacy. I know someone that uses piano nocturnes to calm her cats when they’re confined indoors because of injury, illness or severe weather. Some say Frederic Chopin’s exquisite nocturnes can restore a ravished soul even if a broken heart can’t be mended.

On a happier note, ten minutes of reggaeton can shake the deepest doldrums because rhythm reduces anxiety. When I write at night I find light jazz energizing. For cooking I enjoy Celtic music. I enjoy country music when I clean.

I invite you to carve out the time to gradually build your personal collection of musical selections to help you calm down, collect your thoughts, channel your creative energy and call forth your gifts.

The Little Sprout That Could

 

In a time when the whole world is stressed, this sprout can be a big help.

Over the years, I’ve developed a deep respect for superfoods and the effect that they have on our body.

When life events surpass our ability to cope, we feel stress. At the moment, the whole world is stressed and for very good reason.

The issue is that stress turns into inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s response to a threat; whether it’s foreign — like a virus, or emotional, like anxiety, worry or depression. It can rise through our body and can make us feel like we’ve got the flu whether we do or we don’t. The likelihood of developing other conditions in our body through inflammation get higher and higher the more we stress.

One way we can reduce our stress is to consume broccoli sprouts. I learned about broccoli sprouts while listening to a podcast and I instantly became intrigued.

Broccoli sprouts are simply the humble beginnings of broccoli. They look like tiny little plants or seeds with a stem and green leaves protruding from it. While most veggies are great sources of nutrition and powerful disease-fighters, sprouts are known for their extremely high concentration of nutrition.

Broccoli sprouts are the best source of a compound called sulforaphane. This little sprout is now notoriously known as a mighty protector against several types of cancer including breast, lung, prostate, skin and stomach cancers. It is also known to slow the rate of development in tumor growth.

If that’s not a mouthful, sulforaphane also reduces the risk of respiratory issues, ocular disease, and heart disease. There are immense benefits if we consume broccoli sprouts on a daily basis.

In case you’re not convinced yet, here are a few more reasons why you should have some sprouts:

• It can boost the immune system by promoting natural killer cells, as evidenced in studies with mice.
• Sulforaphane has anti-viral properties which can reduce the virus load in the body, leading to fewer symptoms and quicker recovery rates from common viruses such as the flu.
• It’s also loaded with both antibacterial and anti-fungal properties which can help fight off unwanted “visitors” in the body/immune system.
• This compound can help protect the skin against UV damage, partially due to the cellular protection it offers as well as its anti-inflammatory properties.
• Sulforaphane can improve digestion because of its anti-inflammatory abilities.

How do you eat broccoli sprouts?

This superfood is easy to eat and add more of into your diet. Here are some of my favorites:

Add them to a smoothie. You will easily be able to blend (and the taste is easily disguised) into a tasty fruit or veggie smoothie.

Toss them into a salad. Since all green veggies are superfoods in my opinion. Top a bed of romaine, spinach, arugula, or any of your favorite mixed veggies and greens with broccoli sprouts for a powerful and tangy boost.

Add them to sandwiches and wraps. This will add a layer of crunch to any wrap recipe you like.

Broccoli sprouts can be found at health food stores amongst the other produce. You can check out your local food co-op for a good selection, farmer’s markets for a local selection. Your big-box grocery may also be carrying them.

OR …if you’re looking to cut down your grocery budget, growing your own broccoli sprouts is a fantastic option. You don’t need a green thumb to get an abundance of sprouts growing at home in jar for easy and fresh consumption. It’s quite simple to get started on this endeavor with a few simple ingredients and tools. There is a variety of videos on YouTube and other websites on how to grow your own broccoli sprouts.

It is most important to note that receiving your sulforaphane through real food versus a supplement will ensure your body can actually use it and reap the benefits.

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. — Mahatma Gandhi

What To Hold On To After Covid

 

Even though the world is becoming more familiar, I don’t see it returning to how it was. And that’s not exactly a bad thing.

With each shot of the Covid vaccine, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel that grows a little brighter, a little closer each passing day. I’m starting to have hope that the end of social distancing and isolation is getting nearer. Almost every day, I see businesses and schools reopening.

I believe there are aspects that should remain after coming out of the Covid gloom. There were incidents and disciplines that made our lives safer, healthier and more considerate.

Covid was the biggest remote working experiment in history. It revealed that it’s possible to give employees choice without sacrificing productivity or experience. Employers will need to adapt and transform to support this massive shift in working culture. Needless to say, this is here to stay.

We should continue to wear masks when we’re sick. I think we’ve learned that protection should be looked at as smart and not frightening. This is about appreciating and protecting the people we interact with on an everyday basis and respecting their boundaries.

We should not force people to hug us and continue to protect personal boundaries. Hugs can certainly be nice, but the truth is that not everyone wants a hug. The pandemic has raised the awareness for physical boundaries. Respect for physical boundaries is a basic human right and shouldn’t be discarded once it’s over.

We should not abandon essential workers. The pandemic has brought big ideological shifts in how we see the world and how we conceptualize the value of work. Especially essential workers who were always “essential”- because the work they do has long been the only thing that has kept our society functioning at some level of “normality”.

We should continue to celebrate with loved ones around the world and keep holding virtual parties. Zoom has been the great convergence of a captive audience. We can now gather friends from earlier times and time zones in one virtual room. The ones we love but don’t see enough shouldn’t be taken for granted. We should re-arrange our living arrangements and use technology more to be closer to them.

We should expand restaurant culture to eating outdoors throughout the year. Now when we say we are “going out to eat” we literally mean we are not going to sit inside a stuffy restaurant. American dining can now go back to nourishment and socialization. A 2019 study by the Outdoor Foundation found that nearly half of all Americans do not participate in any outdoor recreation, while only 17.9 percent even go outside at least once a week.

We should continue to go on walks in the middle of the day and without a specific destination. With the work day expanding and the world narrowing, walking became the thing to do. It was time to wander, and focus our eyes on something other than an LED screen. Even small periods of movement matter. Who had time to go on walks during the workdays before?

Being aware of our mortality keeps us in touch with what’s meaningful. Covid has brought into focus one of the great certainties of life: death. The reality of mortality is now part of our consciousness. As things ‘lighten up’ we move forward with the awareness that we remain mortal.

In essence, I think we have all started to accept that there are forces greater than us at play.

The E.T. In All Of Us

 

We need to learn to outsmart the enemy within…

For most of us, it’s hard to accept that we can be our own worst enemy. This is so difficult to grasp that we jump through hoops to rationalize it. We say it’s fate, circumstances or just plain bad luck that messes up our best-laid plans.

When all you get is disappointment after disappointment as you pursue your dreams, it’s natural to start feeling sorry for yourself.

Sound familiar? It should, because it’s your ego, or your Evil Twin (E.T.), as I like to call it.

Our E.T. has derailed more dreams than we will ever know. Capable of causing physical distress, racing hearts, pounding heads, and nervous stomachs. These are just some of it’s first assaults when we dare to get near the edge of our comfort zone. It may feel excruciating to make a phone call, speak up during a business meeting, or drop off your resume to a prospective employer. You get the picture.

Interestingly enough, our E.T. has everything to lose once you are strong enough to act consciously on your behalf, guiding your choices, decisions, ambitions, and actions to do your best.

We have to learn to recognize the physical manifestations of our E.T. and acknowledge them. The trick is to calmly reassure yourself that this feeling is passing through you and will go away as long as you keep on moving forward. I know, easier said than done.

A lot of successful people have learned to tame their E.T. and transform it into the creative energy of forward motion. Hats off to them.

E.T. has many guises. It can even begin a whispering campaign, sounding very similar to our intuitive voice. How do you know the difference? If the suggestion you hear doesn’t bring you a sense of peace, it is not the voice of your authentic self. It’s your E.T. in one of it’s many guises.

All of us, including the megastars who’s lives seem so successful, experience ambivalence about success. One quality that stands out about the people we admire is that they have identified their personal patterns of self-sabotage and learned to be their own best friend and outsmart the Evil Twin within.

And so can you.

Learning To Dance With Fear

 

Why do we hate getting out of our comfort zone?

One of our biggest hurdles to becoming a great learner is fear. The fear of the unknown. The fear of messing up. The fear of looking bad. These are a few reasons we prefer to be in our comfort zone.

The good news is that any of us can develop the skill of learning how to dance fear. How we do that differs greatly from you might think.

Where does fear come from? It’s actually wired in. It comes from a region of our brain called our amygdala or “lizard brain”. It is in our brain for survival, to keep us alive. It generates fear, keeping us away from danger. Therefore, we duck when we see a flying object coming our way.

But there is a glitch. Our amygdala doesn’t know the difference between the good challenges and the dangerous ones. It also doesn’t know the difference between the good and bad risks. It tends to just avoid them altogether.

While it’s true, that fear is present in a dangerous situation, it is also present in our best learning opportunities. It is present when we compete and perform in art or in music. Learning involves a lot of the elements of fear.

Yes, fear keeps us safe from bats flying at our head but it also keeps us from asking questions when we are in a group. Those little moments when we are stretched out of our comfort zones and we feel fear so we don’t ask.

The biggest thing we have to sacrifice to be great is our comfort. We all want to be successful, yet most of us choose a short-term comfortable activity over long-term, pleasurable results. If it were easy to be successful, all of us would be.

So many of us have incredible qualities, but so few of us actually make of ourselves even a fraction of what we can become.

If we can master our desire for comfort and learn to dance with fear, then we may place ourselves among the few people who truly reach their goals and dreams in life.

What comfortable activity are you choosing over your own success? Decide right now to eliminate one comfort activity from your day, and replace it with an activity that gets you result to where you want to get. At first this may be difficult, but if you forget, just notice and get back on track.

The Happiness Magnet

 

Do you feel happy where you are? If you’re not feeling happy with your life, something is missing.

Of all the traits I’ve observed in people living a quality life, gratitude consistently rises to the top. However, I’ve learned lately that living in gratefulness is different than being grateful.

Gratitude is transactional — a response to something. It is very specific. Every day I write in my journal the things I’m grateful for.

When you feel life is good and things are going your way, you get a sense of gratitude. How about when it’s not going your way? Are you not grateful all of a sudden?

It seems that, for most of us, gratitude is highly conditional and based on circumstances. It is transitory and transactional.

We should be thinking of gratitude as an approach to life, much like mindfulness is an approach to life. Grateful living should be a set of habits and practices that lead us live more gratefully. Think of gratefulness as a proactive, kind of like gratitude in advance.

So when we wake up in the morning, we should be waking up gratefully. Nothing has happened that you can express gratitude for, yet we are grateful for just being here and able to put our two feet on the floor and live life.

Grateful living is based on the idea that life is a gift. Think of it as unconditional gratitude.

Living in gratitude also has health benefits. When you live gratefully, you live with less stress. Stress causes inflammation in the body that leads to disease. Among other health benefits, studies have shown that living in gratefulness benefits the immune system and heart.

Your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others and to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships is among the personal benefits or “emotional intelligence” that living gratefully provides.

The spiritual benefit is a sense of well being and feeling joy, knowing that happiness does not depend on what happens to us. Gratefulness is the gratitude that does not depend on getting something.

In essence, when you live gratefully, you reinforce the relationships around you. They become deeper, more gratifying and generous. We become more appreciative and respectful of people.

The manner in which you participate in society changes when you live in a state of gratefulness. You don’t come from a place of scarcity or greediness or a need for comparisons or competition.

As we age, we tend to have a more organic, natural increase in our gratitude for life. The fleeting nature of our gift of life and the idea that life is too short makes people savor it more as they get older.

Go out and experiment today by giving compliments you’ve never given before. When we express gratitude out loud to others, it makes a difference in us as well.

Blow out gratitude to people. It comes back to us. It’s a happiness magnet.