THE WISDOM OF FORSIGHT

"TAKE CONTROL OF EVENTS WHILE THEY ARE PEACEFUL. PREVENT DIFFICULTIES BEFORE THEY ARISE. PREPARE FOR ROUGH SPOTS WHILE THE GOING IS STILL SMOOTH. DEAL WITH THE SITUATION BEFORE IT DESCENDS INTO CHAOS"

Lao Tsu (c. 604- c531BCE) China

ONE WORLD...

"The world will be balanced, when WE are balanced"

Tarthang Tulku (b. 1935/Tibet)

Nourish Yourself First...

This past week, I read another passage that was very thought provoking to me. It deals with the act of "nourishing ourselves". Allow me to quote from the passage...

'By bringing your own mind, body and emotions into a state of harmony, you become better able to nurture others'.

This really rang true to me. I have recently had surgery on my foot, and have been spending way too much time lying on my bed, and not nearly enough time focusing on my "inner nourishment".

In this same passage, it mentions five pillars of yoga that we can practice, to better nourish our inner beings.

1. Right exercise.
2. Right breathing.
3. Right thinking.
4. Right nutrition.
5. Right relaxation.

Although I have had plenty of relaxation, I may not have had the PROPER relaxation. Exercise? Not much, while recovering from the surgery. Right thinking? Possibly, but there is always room for improvement. Right nutrition? When my wonderful wife prepares the meal, yes... when I am left to my own devices, probably not.

As you ponder these five things, take a mental note of what YOU can improve on. Make it a point to change just one or two things in your daily life, that will help nourish your inner spirit. By doing so, it will better prepare you for your dealings with others. And if we all did that, well... the world would be a much better place.

A Sacred Space, A Quiet Space

"YOGA IS SERENITY"
Bhagavad Gita (400-300 BCE)

I have a wonderful, little book (really, it's only 3" x 4-5" x 2" thick) called, 1,001 PEARLS OF YOGA WISDOM, by LIZ LARK. This book is a wonderful treasure, and is filled with wonderful bits of wisdom, ideas, poses, and general information that will help make your life a more relaxing AND fulfilling experience.

The one thing that caught my eye, the other day, is a little paragraph that talks about creating a "sacred space". Although this paragraph talked of creating a sacred space for your asana practice (yoga practice), I was inspired to take it a step further. First, let me quote the paragraph, word for word...

"Create your own personal, distraction-free space for meditation and asana practice at home. Make it a place you can return to where you can "switch off" completely. Site it beside a window if possible so that you can reflect on nature."

I think it was the part about reflecting on nature that made me think of one of MY favorite places. Our house is situated on a hill, although the hill drops off behind the front side of the house. It really isn't noticeable from the street, as the house looks like a one story house, with a possible basement. In reality, you enter the house on ground level, but it is actually the top level of a two level home. As you move through the top level, you exit through a sliding glass door on the back end of the house. Where the front of the house is on ground level, the back end of the house is actually a balcony, that is a full 7-8 feet off of the ground. We are also blessed to have one of the largest Cottonwood trees in the area. My "fortress of solitude" is on this balcony, where I like to sit in a comfortable chair, and do one of several things. I love reading, I love playing the guitar, and sometimes I just enjoy sitting and listening to the leaves of the tree rustle in the breeze. The house also sits on a third of an acre property, most of which is situated in the back yard. Although this is a small bit of land for you country folk (or wealthy folk), it's a decent sized yard for the area. I am not bragging (truth be told, there are times that I'd rather have a smaller yard) about the size of the yard, but because of the size, we sometimes have several winged friends that like to come and visit. Of all the places in my yard, this is probably the most peaceful. Well, with the exception of the planes that fly overhead, as we are right in the flight path of the Salt Lake International Airport. BUT, even the planes are peaceful to me.

Regardless, my piece of advice for you, today, is to find a place where YOU can find peace. Sometimes, in the chaos of life, we can lose control of our surroundings. Even if our houses are a bit messy, or just full of clutter, try and find one little place, that you can rid of stress causing messes, a make that your sanctuary. Even if our houses are complete chaos, if we have that ONE place where we can escape to, you will find an amount of peace in your life.

So, whether you are a yogi, and need a place for meditation and asana practice, or you are a stressed out single parent who needs a place to escape, try and create that place that will bring you that peace you need.
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Now playing: The Cure - High

Let's Burn Calories the TASTY WAY!

I should point out that it may not accurately be described as "burning calories", but your bodies can better metabolize the sugar that we consume, with the aid of one of our favorite spices! CINNAMON!

Researchers have shown that a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon with food helps metabolize the sugar up to 20 TIMES BETTER than food NOT eaten with cinnamon. How does this benefit us? Well, sugars that are not utilized through our everyday activities, including exercise, are stored away as fat. Fat is our bodies proverbial "72 hour kit", and is stored away, in case the body needs it for fuel at a later time. In most cases, we will always consume more calories than our bodies need to work, so we just keep adding to our fat stockpiles.

So, if this is the case, utilizing cinnamon in your diet will help to break down the sugars, and speed up the metabolism process used to convert sugars into energy. So, that means LESS fat stockpiles.

Does this mean that my Hot Tamales will metabolize faster than Mike and Ike's?
What? That's not the same thing?? Curses!!

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Now playing: Bel Canto - Summer
via FoxyTunes

My favorite new Yoga DVD!

Who would have thought that one of my cheapest yoga DVDs, ended up being one of my favorite? I have yoga vinyasa, taught by some of the world's leading yogis, including Cyndi Lee, Baron Baptiste, Rodney Yee, Michael Franti (with his yogi friends), among others.

Several months ago, I picked up a DVD at NPS (to find out more about NPS, go to my music blog http://unclezekesmusicemporium.blogspot.com/ , and you will more fully understand the type of store that it is), by Natural Journeys (a company that I had not heard of), entitled "Sacred Yoga: PURE TRANQUILITY" Practice Vinyasa Flow with RAINBEAU MARS. Now, maybe my two years of reading, studying and practicing yoga are not sufficient for me to know the work of Ms. Rainbeau Mars, but the name was foreign to me. If it weren't for the fact that the DVD had a $3.99 sticker price, as well as a possible discount of 40-50% (a common thing with NPS DVDs), I probably would not have made the purchase. As it was, I bought the disc.

As happens with many of my NPS discs, it sat for a while. Finally, a couple months ago, I pulled the disc out and tried out the vinyasa found on the disc. I was immediately drawn to the peaceful atmosphere created by the disc, even though the quality seemed rather low budget. It was recorded on the shores in Hawaii, where a platform was fitted along a lava rock shoreline, with the ocean waves breaking in the background. You also see the occasional traditional Hawaiian canoes passing by, in the background.

The other thing that sets this disc apart from all my other yoga DVD workouts, is the absence of many of the traditional yoga poses, including Sun Salutations, etc. This disc has one primary focus, which is preparing your body for meditation. Now, before some of you roll your eyes at the thought of meditation, please understand that meditation does NOT always involve the chanting of OM, or any other sacred mantras. Meditation can simply be a time set aside to sit in silence, where you allow yourself to focus on one particular thing, or as you become advance, NO particular things. The peace that stems from controlling your thoughts is one that is tough to describe. Just as your physical body needs to occasionally be purged of food and toxins (through special diets, or simple "fasting"), so does the mind need to be cleared of the clutter that bogs us down.

The other night, I was especially frustrated by a couple of situations in my personal and family life, and after realizing that I was on a particularly short fuse, I simply gave myself a "time out", and went into my room to engage in some yoga... something of which I haven't done in a while. I pulled out this Sacred Yoga disc, with Rainbeau Mars, and proceeded to do the stretches to prepare myself for meditation. This 30 minute workout features ONLY seated poses, and works to stretch your back, including your lumbar back (lower back), as well as your legs.

For anyone that has participated in any form of sitting meditation, you know that your back can begin aching, if you are not adequately prepared. And sometimes AFTER preparation. That is all part of the meditation process... overcoming discomfort, and focusing on other things. Not only did this series of stretches give me the physical relief that I needed, but it prepared me for a simple ten minute meditation. When all was said and done, I not only felt better (physically), but I was in a state of mental well being.

As a Letter Carrier, for the USPS, I need to regularly do yoga vinyasa, just to bring relief to my backaches that I occasionally feel. But the meditation, in addition to the vinyasa, brings a complete sense of inner peace, as well as physical peace.

In addition to the 30 minute yoga vinyasa, there is also a fifteen minute bonus guided meditation on this DVD, that takes you through the seven chakras, and gives you meditations for each.

For anyone remotely interested in the peaceful side of yoga, which is MY personal favorite, this DVD hits the spot. I just browsed www.naturaljourneys.com to get a picture of the DVD, and see that this disc is part of a four DVD set, as well as an individual disc. The individual disc was listed on sale, for the low, low price of $1.98. I wholeheartedly recommend this disc for those of you who need a little inner peace.

The Power of Being Present (Thought 1)

THE POWER OF BEING PRESENT

OBSERVE how the mind labels an unpleasant moment and how this labeling process, this continuous sitting in judgment, creates pain and unhappiness...

Eckhart Tolle

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Now playing: No-Man - Truenorth
via FoxyTunes