Finding Focus

This week I spent a lot of time working on my meditation practice. I worked on doing it more frequently and tried different things to make it more focused.

First I tried listening to mantras set to music while meditating. My hope was that I'd focus on the mantra and go deeper into the meditation. What I found was that I actually became more distracted. I found myself planning my week ahead and was even more physically fidgety.

I tried sitting in a chair instead of on the floor. I fell asleep.

I finally went back to sitting quietly in a silent room with my eyes closed. I did notice thoughts coming and going but not as bad as when I played music. I was also able to sit still longer.

After my practices I thought a bit about a book I read a while back, "The Power of Now" Where he talks about thinking about the future is a waste because it never really comes. Worrying about the past is also a waste since it's gone and can't be changed. All we have is the present, the now. The hardest thing we can do is be present in the now and enjoy and live it. (I'm paraphrasing!)

Thinking about how to live in the now every day and not just in my meditation, helps heighten my experiences of life. I enjoy my friends, family, clients and people I meet.

I was able to consecutively meditate four days straight! Let's see if I can keep this up!

Next week: Zen in Vegas! Stay tuned!!

So it Begins...

The first week of this journey was interesting. Giving up sugar cold turkey was a lot harder than I remember from times past. So maybe I have a small cookie or a soda here and there, I'll survive! Going into the second week, having even less sugar than that went much more smoothly. I'm noticing a clarity of thought and focus, while being a little mellower. All good!

The positives about changing my eating habits and being more mindful about what is in my food is that I'm much more discerning while grocery shopping. Buying more fresh meats, vegetables, etc., our grocery bill has split in half! So, not eating processed foods or fast food frequently saves money. Not an earth shattering revelation by any means just an obvious reminder and the best incentive to keep moving on this path.

New foods I'm enjoying: Sweet potato chips (Low salt, even less fat!) quinoa, butternut squash anything!

Now that I'm exploring new food options and seeing the change in my body, I'm also noticing some clarity in focus. I don't seem to be as ADD as I seemed to be when I used to work on computers all day and ate from vending machines and junk food. I'm able to focus on my reading more and what I'm reading sinks in faster. Over all, I'm less distracted.

I'm already watching less TV (though did discover Conan this week--pretty funny!)

With the new focus I have, I'm becoming more aware of my stress points. Those little buttons that get pushed that send my into those moments when I want to pull my hair out. Not really game for being bald, (been there, another story...) I go back to my audio files, and my books and read some mantras and meditate. I'm starting to get to a place when I realize that I can't control everything. The things I know I can not control but also have trouble letting pass, drive me to go back and focus on my breathing and coach myself to let those things pass. They have to. They aren't mine to process or control. I need to get on with my things and not let all the chatter around me dig at me. It doesn't serve me or anyone else. I just have to keep saying that. Soon I will believe it and I will again meditate because I'm already at peace and want to stay that way, not just to bring down my blood pressure and stress levels.

Overall, the week reminded me that this is a process. I won't be an instant yogini. But with the awareness I'm gaining, I know from my yoga studies that I already have many tools at my disposal to assist me on my way to being the yogini I want to be.

Welcome to My Blog!

Welcome to my Blog! The purpose of the blog is to document my process of incorporating the eight limbs of yoga into my daily life. As a yoga instructor it is important to talk to your students from your own truth. Students expect yoga instructors to be fully immersed in the yogic lifestyle and to help guide them to a similar path if that's what they want.

In this blog I will document how I will expand my practice from simply doing asana to immersing myself in all eight limbs of yoga.

So, let's set the stage, show the 'before' image, shall we?

Where I am now: I practice asana about two times a week, three if lucky. I have little or no pranayama practice except during asana or in TT classes on Sundays. I meditate three, four times a week five on a good week. I'm truly a product of the western world in that I love fast food and processed food. I love TV and am getting addicted to reality shows (actually never saw that one coming!) My goal at the end of this is to change my lifestyle so that I live a more peaceful, fulfilling and healthful life. I hope to be able to share my challenges of accomplishing these goals with you and students to help them know that if I can do it, so can they. And they will be able to still live within their regular world without necessarily moving to the high mountains to obtain peace. (Unless they want to!)

So let's get started. Every week, sometimes more often, I'll post an update of my progress about where I am and what the challenges are at that time. I hope you will follow and find it interesting. Feel free to comment and let me know if you have good healthy recipes, meditation practice ideas or any other advice about living yoga. This is a learning process for me so I'd like to hear what worked for you and maybe I'll give that a try.

So, at the end of this process, will this mid-western, In-n-Out eating, "DWTS"-watching, jeans and t-shirt wearing girl turn into a granola eating, hemp wearing, chanting yogi? Stay tuned to find out!