Quick note to self as I sit in tranquility on a Sunday evening, perhaps it’s a note that speaks to you as well:
Appliances take batteries and electricity to charge, humans need love and friendship. When appliances run out of power they merely need to have their batteries changed, or be plugged into a power source.
If only it were that easy for humans-or is it? Is there a way we can plug in to get charged that we may have forgotten about?
We are living in a world of an uber-connected state. That is to say we claim to be connected, yet what if it is that very connection that is actually draining us of our power?
What if our true power lies in the ability to disconnect in order that we may reconnect, and in doing so, power up from the inside?
Sometimes the simplest way to power up yourself is to power down everything else-get offline, put the phone down, better yet turn it off, put it away. Airplane it, it will all be there later for you.
You don’t have to become a hermit, but you perhaps do need to find yourself a middle way-a way to be with it all and a way to be with all of you. This is where powering down to power up comes in.
If your inner power light in is on low, turning off your devices can be one way to charge yourself back up. In our Get Your Happy Back Reset Lifetime Membership Program we do four 40 days practices a year, working on small habits to bring about big change.
This season, as in many others, I am implementing a technology curfew-my phone has an alarm at 7.45 PM to let me know I have 15 minutes to curfew. I then put the phone on airplane. At 8 AM, another alarm sounds and lets me know curfew has been lifted.
That gives me 12 hours on and 12 hours off-I don’t look at my phone, nor do I check email and social media during the off time. You can make your own times, but imagine how you might feel not scrolling through your SM of choice just before going to bed, or immediately upon waking-and yes, this includes checking email as well.
Your nervous system will thank you in so many ways. Could some kind of technology curfew be just the power up you are looking for? What’s possible for you when you turn off the outside world and become open to what’s inside?
I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or over on our FaceBook page. I will be back with Part 2, because there is more to you powering up than turning off your devices, but it is the place to start.
Alone we can do so much, and together we can do so much more. When we each share our experiences, we connect into the universal consciousness. And it is there that we can truly realize we are not alone, we are not the only ones feeling the way we do, and that there is a path we can each carve to find our middle way to be be more of who we were born to be.
Join me today as I share a quote that reminds me of the beginning of this volume of my life. When I nearly died I realized how truly precious this human life. and the simple things we take for granted, really are.
How about you? Is time clicking by as you run around being everything to everyone? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
One thing all challenges seem to have in common is timing, they always come at the most inconvenient (or so it seems) of times. Of course another thing they, challenges that is, have in common, is that on the other side of the challenge, over the crest of the mountain, is a vista with its own rewards. And not to mention that to get from the untimeliness of the challenge and over the mountain to vistas green, there is a journey to be undertaken.
And this is where the work and fortitude come in. Some hills we keep climbing only to slide back down and try again. Addictions can be like this, but keep getting back to climb and one day you might just gain traction to the top, you can’t do it if you don’t try, as my gran always said to me.
And here I am, at the bottom of that bloody mountain again, just when I thought I had a handle on it, my kidney function tests have come back and confirmed that oxalates are accumulating in my kidney. So I need to eat a low oxalate diet.
I will be sharing more about this no doubt but for now suffice it to say some of my staples are in the very high list, tofu, soy (my chai), nuts, black beans, potatoes, quinoa, chocolate, most flours…oh and many leafy greens and veggies, and some spices including curry.
You see, oxalates only occur in plant based foods. Meat, fish and dairy are fine, in fact some recommend increasing calcium, such as ice cream (suggested to be a lower sodium source than cheese) to bind with some of the oxalates.
To be quite honest it leaves me scratching my head. If you know me, you know I am pretty fussy eater, and this list contains many of my staples, but my body is asking me not to have them so I guess a change is gonna come.
As Heraclitus so wisely counseled, the only constant is change.
On the one hand I am reluctant traveler on this path, I want to go back to May when I felt so frigging good in body, mind and spirit, I want my kidney to feel better, it;s been through a brutal time and still is, but I am cannot go back, forward is the only way, and happiness is not found in feeling good when all is well but in finding all to be well when all is not so good.
And here I find myself, spinning away to the music that I’ve been singing along to but not fully living, and here it is, the ultimate invitation to take it and make the most of it, to rise to the challenge, oh I so don’t want a challenge, but here I am.
I am taking it one step at a time. I immerse myself in research (there is still a lawyer in me) and then let it go. I will be saying goodbye to many things but not all right now, and not all at once. Step by step, I remind myself, look for the blessings along the way love.
So here I am again, at the bottom of the mountain, staring up, change is in the air and its time for me to breathe it in, ready or not.
How has change knocked at your door? What mountains do you find yourself climbing over and over again?
Sending you buckets of love on this ever changing path.
In Kundalini Yoga, Sat Kriya is known as the “everything kriya”. It is probably the most powerful of all Kundalini Kriyas. And though it is only one posture, it considered a complete kriya, and a very powerful one at that.
Working with a powerful breath from the navel, and the mantra Sat Nam, which means truth is my identity, I come from truth, this Kriya can truly transform feelings of blah to ones of vitality.
According to Yogic wisdom, some of the benefits of Sat Kriya include (but are not limited to):
Strengthening the entire sexual system, stimulating the natural flow of energy from the second chakra to the sixth;
Stimulates and strengthens the nervous system to bring you strength and fortitude from the inside out:
Improves general physical health by gently massaging the internal organs, including the heart, from the rhythmic pumping of the navel and breathwork;
It works on the known and the unknown, making it a powerful weapon against stress, anxiety and depression;
Build up slowly, this kriya is powerful and should always be practiced with Savassanah. Sadhana Guidelines recommends twice as long for relaxation as practice. For a 3 minute practice the guidelines stipulate 2 minutes of savassanah as a minimum, with 6 minutes as recommended.
Don’t worry if it takes a moment to get familiar with the rhythm, once you do it will be like riding a bike every time you come back. But don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself and see.
Yogi Bhajan always said, Jeep up and be kept up. This Kriya is the perfect practice to keep up and be kept up. If you have time for nothing else do this Kriya for 3 minutes a day and watch your world transform from the inside out.
I hope you enjoy this rainy day video from the heart of our local town, Sebastapol, we had a lot of fun filming it and staying dry as the rain crept further into the pagoda, rain will not stop yoga :). Once you have the hang of Sat Kriya, and for the days you want a shorter practice, check out the 10 minute Express Sat Kriya video.
Let us know below how you feel after this kriya, we would love to know.
I’m tired tonight and I don’t have it in me to be bright and breezy, or write a long post. To be honest, I have been scratching my head trying to think of something short n sweet to share, and you may have noticed that I don’t really do short.
But tonight, I am. I am showing up, check, and in doing so keeping my commitment to write every day for 40 days. I will be back tomorrow, and maybe my wings will be shinier (smile). But for now I am going to go and curl up next to Cemaaj with my heat pad, it’s past my bedtime.
And yes, there’s a big part of me that feels like a failure, or worse still a wimp, for not sucking it up one more day for one more post. And so it is an even bigger part of me says. And here we are. And off I go.
There are so many reasons I love Cemaaj. He knows how much I love to sleep outside and usually I would be the first to set up camp, but I am not my usual self. Today he took a break from work and set up the tent by the eucalyptus grove overlooking the hills of Bloomfield where the sun rises in the morning.
It’s 16 years this very weekend since I realized how much I love nature and camping-I will be sharing more of that as we approach the anniversary of the fire that saved my life.
Nothing makes me feel better than sleeping outside. As I type my eyes are closing and I am looking forward to walking across the moonlit orchard to my bed.
We may live in a teeny cottage but we are blessed to have lots of open space to play. Tomorrow we will be collecting Zola, our favorite four legged, from San Francisco, she loves camping with us at home.
The back of the tent showing the view when we wake up. To be honest, I am (once again) very tired and am going to make the walk across the orchard to the tent. We will be sharing more of our camping at home with you very soon.
Looking forward to my morning yoga and read right here. It literally makes my heart sing just thinking about sleeping outside. And as I said, we will be sharing more about what we love about camping and why.
In the meantime I would love to know if you camp at home, nothing beats sleeping on the earth, breathing fresh air and waking up to the elements.
View from behind the tent, across the orchard, the little green roof is our cottage, this is the walk we will make each night to our bedroom under the stars.
Sending you so much love, this 40 day daily writing challenge is almost done, and we have made every day so far, it always feels good to do what we say we are going to do. And now I am going to sleep under the stars.
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