New Beginnings

The change of seasons always offers an incredible opportunity for New Beginnings. Summertime is coming to an end and although we technically have a few more weeks of Summer, Labor day signals the end of the Summer Season for most of us. Here on the East Coast, the change of seasons will happen before any of us truly know it. Soon we will be putting away our summer dresses and pulling out our knee high boots and sweaters.

New Beginnings can symbolize so many things for each of us individually...maybe moving on past a relationship that didn't work, accepting and receiving and new outlook on life or even shedding away the layers and the baggage of whatever you are holding onto. It also offers a new perspective to receive with Love. Marianne Williamson references in her book "Return to Love" that acceptance and forgiveness all come from finding a place of love within each person that we encounter. It may be a love relationship, a family relationship or even a friendship that has you in a twist. Once we are able to approach anyone from a place of love, we can find healing regardless of the distress, discomfort or pain that we have felt in relation to another. With this comes the ultimate freedom that anyone can have....letting go and starting over!

By Starting over, we naturally let go of the past. With letting go comes emotional freedom. And with that emotional freedom, anything can happen....Happy Birthday!

Namaste

Namaste literally translates as "the light within me acknowledges the light within you." A simple gesture and statement, sometimes finding our own light can seem daunting when our mind tells us otherwise.

Marianne Williamson says it well in her book "A Return to Love"

-'We get in life that which we focus on. Continual focus on darkness leads us as individuals and as a society, further into darkness. Focus on the light brings us into the light.

"I accept the Christ* (light) within" means, " I accept the beauty within me as who I really am. I am not my weakness. I am not my anger. I am not my small mindedness. I am much, much more. And I am willing to be reminded of who I really am."-

By focusing on our lightness and the truth of who we really are, true happiness and peace are abundant and available to all of us. We are all pure and perfect at the core of our being and by recognizing this essence we all have a unique opportunity to realize something truly beautiful, devoid of what are mind is telling us and what the world tries to dictate.

Yoga for accepting and embracing the lightness within you-

Sit in a comfortable seat and place the right hand on the energetic center of your heart (anahata chakra) place the left hand over the right. Close your eyes and breath into your heart center. Finding love and compassion for yourself is the key to happiness.

*Christ in this context refers to the light within us and does not denote a religious connotation.

Forgive to Live

Forgiveness is a heavy word...not just for the implication of what it means, but for the energy that is usually surrounding it. I had a dear friend who I had lost touch with recently say to me...."thank you for forgiving me".... for events that had transpired years and years ago. I stepped back for a moment when I heard this and thought about it. Yes, we had not spoken in many years (at least in the way this conversation developed) but forgiveness now???? I hadn't really thought about it in so long, because I had forgiven this person ages ago.

So why was it so important for me or for anyone to forgive? Especially, when there is no guarantee or even hope that you will ever see or speak to someone again in your life! I believe forgiveness is a path to freedom. We have all have witnessed people in our own lives that literally spend a majority of their time holding grudges against people who have done them wrong and have literally wasted their energy feeling bad about something that happened in the past. I am not proposing that you ignore your emotional process, but why hate, despise and fester when the only person that it is holding back and hurting is you???


I realized this many years ago after my life dramatically changed and my reality became something completely new and different. My new reality was born out of heart ache and pain....as I went through my emotional process, I immediately realized that the only person that was being hurt by not forgiving was ME! You see, the other parties don't ever feel your pain....as much as we would like them too, not so much. You are the only one who feels your pain....and the grudges and the anger....so unless you have magical powers, put away your voodoo doll.


What's not to forgive?...we are all human and all make mistakes, some bigger than others. The important thing is that we are sentient beings with the ability to learn from our mistakes (and other people's), forgive the pain that we have been dealt and to truly be free to LIVE an abundant and joyful life. Do whatever you need to do to get there....forgive yourself, forgive someone else, and you will find that you be truly LIVING, happy and free.


Find some compassion...try Supta Baddha Konasana to connect with anahata chakra (the heart center) and release tension and anger in the hips....a perfect pose to open yourself up to forgiveness.

Notes on a Scandal....

Today, I am grateful that the universe ejects things out of my life that distract me from my goals, purpose and desires....Tracy Matthews

Yes, I just quoted myself....hilarious. I talk about the shedding and releasing of old patterns here and in my yoga classes all of the time....sometimes this wisdom is VERY difficult to put into practice while you are in any given situation. I am REALLY hard on myself most of the time...but also extremely compassionate. Today when I was teaching, frustrated that my iPod was being temperamental....I felt as if I was losing it...just for a sec...and after calming down realized that this was all in relation to some outside frustration, resistance to surrender and a rebirth that has been happening within me. You see, the universe keeps reminding me of my old patterns and my desires to seek what is comfortable rather than what I truly want.

So, after a second of collecting myself, I went inside myself and although I forgot all of the profound things I was going to say to the students, I ended up teaching a great class....and offered my blessing and offering of gratitude to them...I am grateful today that the universe ejects things out of my life that distract me from my goals, purpose and desires (bruised ego and all). I ended class with a round of kapalabhati breathing or cleansing breath to clear the mind and cleanse the soul.

I have learned my lesson....thank you for sharing....time to move on!