Time to come back to blogging

Wow. It’s been a long time. The only thing that I’ve done with my blog since October 20th of last year is use it for the sidebar links. Well, that’s about to change. Now that I’m not working, I’m going to make it a point to craft my ideas into blog-able articles and post them again.

Oh, and I’ve taken the last month off! This is the first summer that I can remember where I haven’t had to do anything. A few days ago I got together with my oldest daughter, that I hadn’t seen in over a month, and you should have seen the look on her face – ‘Dad, I hardly recognize you!’ Well, I’ve picked up a tan! Yep. Now that I’ve escaped the system, I’ve had time to produce some vitamin D. I don’t think my daughters have ever seen me tan before. 🙂

Next adventure: figure out how to make money without working for someone else.

Now, back to blogging!

Reflecting

Hi everyone. It’s actually kind of funny writing ‘Hi Everyone’, but I guess it’s literally true with a post on the web! Today feels like a great day to share.

I’m sure that everyone has brief periods of time in their life everything seems to come together – all at the same time – leaving no extra time for the things that you did and loved yesterday. Well, the last five months have been like that for me.

My time has been split between working full time, attending Yoga Teacher Training and being a husband, father and grandpa all at the same time. I’ve had both daughters in the house at the same time while also taking in my daughters good high school friend. I’ve had my truck totaled (no one hurt) and purchased a new car. I’ve juggled the holiday season and even managed to find time to gather a Christmas tree this year! It’s been crazy and nonstop.

The time that I had to blog, research (search the web) and play – doing yoga – all seemed to get pushed aside and set on hold the day I started Yoga Teacher Training.

It was hard adapting to the change. What was hard was losing that extra time that I spent blogging. What I’ve loved doing for so long, I simply didn’t have time for. That independent research and self discovery all got forced aside in order to explore someone else’s program. Even though ideas came to me and I wanted to craft something for the blog, there was always something more pressing that needed my attention.

Today, things are changing again.

Today, I took my final exam in the Teacher Training program.

Today, I completed my last class hours of sequencing.

Today, I am revisiting my blog! Yeah!

I would like to reflect upon some of my experiences during teacher training.

First off, the strongest memory that I have came during my first sequencing class. I’ve been practicing Yoga for years and naturally perform the moves – as a student – but when faced with that first sequencing class, I was a deer in the headlights. No, actually, it was worse. Not only did I draw a blank, but it shattered the image that I had of myself as a teacher. You know that image that’s similar to the image you’d create when you practice asking someone out or practice interviewing for a job. The scenarios that I’d created for myself, visualized, rehearsed and replayed to perfection in my head were clawed out, heaped on the floor and touched for everyone to see.

Fortunately (or maybe sadly, or with sympathy), I was not the only one. What I was feeling, I sensed, was being felt by just about everyone in the room. I was not the only one having that experience! It was a very traumatic experience that I’m sure will not be forgotten any time soon.

The best part about this experience is that I now realize that without that type of feeling, you never really develop the proper respect for the yoga instructor. The Yoga instructor puts herself/himself in a vulnerable position with every class. The vulnerability requires tools for support. That vulnerability must be based on strength.

Now that I’ve completed the basic training, I can see that the act of teaching yoga requires that you be – open – in that state of vulnerability or the yoga is just robotic. Being open requires a combination of humility and selflessness. Being open requires that you accept your own imperfections in life. Being open requires a non-judgmental attitude. Being open means you’re going to have to be sensitive – possibly even get hurt.

The second thing that really stood out today – in the closing circle – was that there are a lot of people willing to be vulnerable. The emotions (and words) shared by others that went through the same program come from an internal location that I can truly identify with. As I felt their words, I knew what they felt even if we can’t intellectually share the experience.

It was really unspoken, but it’s now my experience that the tools needed to teach yoga involve removing the personal defenses and letting the soul shine through. You have to simply step on stage. It’s like asking someone out. You have to understand that rejections come, but you can’t harden to them. In time, the love that you have and share will found and cherished by the right group of students.

Another way of looking this is that I’ve already failed and it didn’t kill me! The tools that I’ve learned should help me be able to set a good foundation and make forward progress. I don’t see failure as such a tragic thing any longer. It’s ok. Life’s ok. Things are going to work out just fine.

Even though tomorrow, I’ll be back at work doing the same old same old, I will treasure this new experience and find a way to get this experience to grow and bloom.

Have a great day!

A Good Day

How many times have you said good day to someone and not really thought about it? Some people speak these works with good intent, yet they are hollow. The essence that should back this phrase should be felt. It is a greeting (or farewell) that is only as good as the energy used to fill it – which is all too often, weak and forgettable.

The challenge to really having a good day is not so much a challenge for it to be good to you but rather a challenge to yourself to really see the day for what it is! It is a matter of perspective. It is a matter of awareness.

Each moment in each day is the correct time to experience life as it should be – felt. You, being a great receptor of life, have the ability to consciously feel every nuance of every moment. It is a choice you make. It is something that you do. It comes with active participation. It is what we do.

Your eyes are one of the most brilliant feeling organs that we have, for they can feel invisible (smaller then microscopic) light that has (nearly instantaneously) traveled great distances to bring us one beautiful wavelength of energy. That energy tickles our retina so as to allow our bodies to reconstruct that photon into the image that makes up this very moment of life.

I’m not sure exactly what lead me to the following video, but I’m grateful that it came my way. It is both beautiful and heartwarming at the same time. It’s meditative and remember- able. I absolutely love the closing words of the old man “…And then, it will really be, a good day.”

I encourage you to watch this Louie Schwartzberg presentation, of a trailer, of a project that he’s working on (or worked on) for it feels like the project we are all currently working on with ourselves everyday!

I hope that this video touches you with as much sweetness as it brings to me.

May every one of your days be filled with moments that are as glorious as the moments that are brought to our attention in this wonderful video.

New Year’s Resolutions

Well, today’s the first day of 2012! The start of a new calendar year which isn’t too far off of the rise of the new solar cycle (tilt of the earth).  

But that’s not what brings me to the blog today. What brings me here is the observation that people seem to hate New Year’s resolutions. I don’t blame them. It seems pretty natural to not feel good about things that you don’t complete – if the resolutions that are made on New Year’s eve continually fail to come to life it would make sense that the emotions associated with resolutions would be inharmonious.

Last night, I got to do a little research into this feeling regarding resolutions at a New Year’s party. Absolutely everyone that I asked refused to make a New Year’s resolution sighting the fact that they refused to hold onto any previous New Year’s resolution that they’d ever made. This tradition made them feel like a failure.

It’s sad that this tradition made them feel like this. At the same time, it’s completely understandable. The pattern of failure is pretty pronounced so why would anyone want to make another resolution? I mean, if they did they might consider themselves a bit insane – for the common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results!

Well, I guess I might be a little insane.

Or maybe, I don’t see the New Year’s resolutions that I make as ways to set myself up for failure.

I see New Year’s resolutions as a seed of thought that gets planted in the heart of winter that you tend to throughout the year and, in time, that seed grows into what you originally crafted. And at the same time, I tend to select New Year’s resolutions that are in line with that I really want to do! I mean, who wants to do something they don’t want to do?

When selected correctly, that intentional commitment helps shape who you are. It’s an opportunity to keep on growing your spirit. It affirms your own strength and aligns your actions with intention. Ultimately, it is an uplifting process when done correctly.

Brother Sangha

This is where some people just need a little encouragement!

A short while ago, I came across a video that stuck with me from Brother Echo. I subscribed to his channel and found a nice inspirational video that I just have to share. This video is just over 14 minutes long, but it’s heart-felt and genuine. I highly recommend giving it some time.

Watching this guy is entertaining for he’s so dramatic and in tune with the words that he chooses. I especially like the part where his energy really opens up 11:30 minutes in. His sincerity shines through to the viewer in a way that can actually be felt. At the end, his wish for people to find that little jewel within themselves and let it shine is genuinely heart-felt and realistically doable.

On a personal level, his wish for mankind is in line with one of my own commitments which is another reason for making this blog post today. I’ve thought about them and will choose a few words to help bring these energies into manifestation.

Resolutions

Make more heart-felt eye contact with other people. It might seem strange to make this a commitment, but when I reflect upon how I’ve interacted in the past, the most treasured moments are those where I’ve let others feel the energy of my spirit via eye contact. This type of energy exchange is dynamic and immediate. There is no need for words and it is something that both people feel. Part of the process is to acknowledge that the energy experience occurred and to actively participate in keeping it alive for as long as what feels comfortable. Thus, I call this one of my New Year’s resolutions and it’s to actively share my spirit with others via eye contact.

 Now for a couple lesser resolutions.

Become a certified yoga instructor and teach yoga. That’s right, I’m going to put the energy into studying yoga so as to get the standard yoga alliance certification at the 200 hour level and I’m going to start teaching. The only thing that’s held me back to the commitment with regards to making it happen. Thus, the action item for me here is to find a program that will teach me the basics and actually do the work. I know that the correct teacher(s) will be available for me and the time needed for study will open up so as to make this a fantastic experience and, maybe more importantly, I see opportunities in teaching yoga that allows for interacting with others spiritually that doesn’t happen when your focused on being the student. I feel the energy is available for performing this task and the timing feels right.

And another…

Start producing videos for my blog. This one is a very simple first step resolution with regards to opening up more on a virtual level. The mechanics of it is to get a simple video camera where I can record myself, edit the video and place it on the web. The reason why this is a resolution is that it involves overcoming photo centric fears regarding seeing and hearing myself in a recording! Thus at the heart of this resolution is to find the truths in seeing myself on camera – are the thoughts that I carry with me the truth or not? I will get to analyze these feelings with this resolution. I know I can overcome this insecurity and this year feels like a great time to get that done!

That’s it. Looking these resolutions over, they seem really simple. They just seem like something you shouldn’t have to think about but rather just do. Thus, I’m going to just do these things and help myself grow a little more over the coming year.

Now is the time to make these things happen.

If Brother Echo inspires you to write down a goal for the upcoming year, I’m excited for you. The only time we change is in the now moment. Every little decision that we make leads us one step further on our journey. I’d encourage you to pick out something that you want to really see happen and feel if the energy is aligned to make it happen. If so, make it happen. Just like Brother Echo says, it’s your choice!

Good day!