California Pacific Medical Center is honoring one of our beloved yoga teachers. CPMC’s Institute for Health & Healing has selected Matthew Sanford as the recipient of its Pioneer in Integrative Medicine Yoga Journal conference in Boston this April. Congrats, Matthew!
View post:
Congrats to Matt!
I’m reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers” right now, and boy, does that guy ever know how to change a worldview. Each time I finish one of his books, my perception of life shifts. This time around the book reminded me that everything we come into contact with–whether it’s a relationship, a challenging situation, or even a yoga pose–gives us the opportunity to choose how we want to look at it, and how we’d like to use the energy of it (constructively or destructively) to meet our goals. Gladwell calls this the ability to “customize” our surroundings to meet our needs. In this paradigm, we never again have to be the victim of someone’s choices; instead we become the master of our own design. In order to make this leap, especially when an experience is dragging us down–a bad breakup, for example–we must remember one thing: truth is relative. I kept ‘truth” lowercase on purpose, because the little “t” signifies the things we think, do, and see. In yoga, we call Truth with a capital T “Satya.” Satya is our foundational nature, our birthright of light, love, and inner goodness. When we rest in Satya, we are already that which we seek to become. Our happiness begins to exist independent of external circumstances. Everyday issues lose their power to easily dim the brightness inside us. To access the big “T,” we must remember that we exist in a state of inherent equilibrium–our cells, our breath, our bones, and muscles are all naturally built to balance stability with mobility. For example, in our yoga poses we push past our point of equilibrium, then at some point the body is going to “go polar,” toward too much strength (which will create tension), or too much freedom (which can lead to injury). Life is like this, too. Go polar with how you view it (”I can’t attract money…I’m terrible at relationships…there’s too much competition…that will never work…you did this to me…”), and you’ll be stuck in the diminished worldview of the little “t.” Try to remember, as you look around from day to day, to widen your perspective. Do this by remembering that love and opportunity and capability do surround you, no matter how restricted the options may seem in the moment. They’re not. Practice broadening your view of the world and your place in it, by realizing that much of your truth is relative, or changeable, by you, at any time. Then, change it to something that empowers you and suits you better. You’ll return to your original Satya-state, and polarity will dissolve back into the clarity and ultimate abundance of true center. And that rocks. Core Tip: Today, walk around as the rock star you really are, and see what a difference it makes! Let us know what happens, and how you’ve changed your truth to serve your goals. Inspire us! Core Pose: Breath of Freedom Lunge In your High Lunge, keep your tailbone and side waist long, reach your arms back, palms facing outward, and breathe. Sweep away old, limiting stories, and invite in all the truth that aligns with your greatest Truth. Be you fully for 5 to 10 breaths here.
Original post:
Remembering Truth
Today I awoke to find that I’m sore in every single muscle of my body. I know. I checked them all. Pinkie toe? Check. I undertook a photo shoot yesterday at a studio in SoHo, where my husband works. He took over 500 images of me in every conceivable pose, so that I can use them to create visual sequences for online sources, magazines, and of course, my loyal readers. After all, you deserve high resolution too! I did yoga for 3 1/2 hours straight. It was intense, but I wanted to do it for myself, and for my Tribe, those yogis, past, present and future, who might get a spark from something I teach that lights their inner fire. To continue giving so freely, which means finding more free time, I recently did what some yogis consider to be the unthinkable: I recently signed with a yoga talent agency. Here are a few more reasons: * Way more people want me to come teach at their studios, conferences, or events, than I can handle communicating with by myself and still stay sane, much less focused on my classes. * I want to be free to continue doing what I do best, which is to create and teach my beloved practice, not emailing 20 people a day about booking arrangements. * My life’s purpose is to teach the healing benefits of yoga to as many people as I can, not teach less people because I think being on TV is “unyogic”. *I seem to have the right combination of things that makes me attractive to the national level, and that level requires a skill set of negotiation and organization that is not my strong suit. Don’t even ask me to balance a checkbook! I’m proud of the direction in which my 15 years of study and commitment are taking me. I also love that people pay me to do what I love, so I don’t have to do anything else. Most of all, I adore connecting with so many students. In all of this I want to be represented as accurately and with the same level of integrity as the photos I worked so hard to create this weekend. YAMA , started last year by Ava Taylor, a lifelong yogi, is changing the paradigm of what an agent can be, from greedy to generous, from competitive to conscious. I’m incredibly happy that Ava is there for those of us who want more help, and like their representation to come with a dash of good karma. Some in the community aren’t feeling it, yet this yoga-life-money balance is possible, it’s happening . . . and I hope the yoga world will embrace it more and more as a part of the practice–not separate from it. Sometimes, though, when it comes to making a shift, you can’t wait for everyone around you to ‘get’ it. If you believe in yourself, and you feel called to what is a right action for you, then you will simply have to go first. This is the first step towards leading by example. Core Questions: What do you think about this direction of yogis in the mainstream? Do you think we can hold our ground while dealing with the entertainment world and money, or are we just seeking fame for its own sake? When have you had to lead by example, and what happened? A Core Tip: To get more grounded, try my free Slow Hip and Leg Stretch Flow video for a great root energy release using the earth for support! See it here .
See the original post here:
For Success . . . or Sanity