No Limits

As I was walking down the beach yesterday I realized that I have found the secret to a happy life. Are you ready?! Just decide what you want and achieve it. Wow! Earth shattering news! Haha.

I have designed my life in such a way that I am happy so often that I can’t remember the last time I had a bad day. The only key I have figured out is that I decided what I want in life and I made it happen, there was no luck or secret formula or special circumstance – it was all purely making a decision. So tonight I was studying “The Sivananda Companion to Yoga” by Swami Vishnu Devananda and came across this verse:

“If you can bring your mind and thoughts under control, there is literally no limit to what you can do – since it is only our own illusions and preconceptions that hold us back and prevent us from fulfilling ourselves.”

He stated my “secret” in a much more profound way! It was just one of those serendipitous moments where life synced up and what I was just thinking a day before appeared in the book I was reading today. This brings us back to a common theme on The Spiritual GPS – what are your limiting beliefs? What are your illusions and preconceptions that are holding you back from the life of your dreams?

The Five Points

I am living at a yoga ashram for the next seven weeks and have found myself less disciplined than ever when it comes to online work that I need to do in the social media world. I have become immersed in my own self development and doing whatever makes me happy instead of focusing on responsibilities. I suppose that is what coming to an ashram is supposed to make you do! Whenever I come here it always makes me feel selfish that I am not giving back to the world. Coming here recharges my battery though, it makes it so I can better serve my clients and students. I think that is because there is an emphasis on living a yogic lifestyle that brings your body back into balance and gets rid of a lot of unnecessary distractions.

In the Sivananda lineage of yoga they teach that there are five points of yoga. Proper breathing, proper nutrition, proper exercise, proper relaxation, positive thinking and meditation are the five components you need to function at your prime.

If you had to create a pie chart with these five elements, what would your chart look like? How do you balance your five points? What do you need to focus on more? Is there anything you should focus on less?

Try it out by drawing a circle and thinking about your lifestyle and the amount of energy/time you spend on each of the five points. If everything was in balance it should take up twenty percent of the pie chart and you can take it from there. If your nutrition is completely balanced then it should take up 20%. If you don’t pay attention to it at all then it would be missing from the chart. Watching TV or listening to music generally doesn’t count as relaxing because your mind is still active. How often do you completely relax without any distraction at all? Even if you don’t make a chart just reflect on how to incorporate these five components into your lifestyle and how it would improve your life.

The Four Paths

There are four different paths of yoga. Karma yoga, jnana yoga, raja yoga, and bhakti yoga are all different spiritual paths to help attain enlightenment. When the four paths are combined they call it “the yoga of synthesis”. While living at the ashram we do the yoga of synthesis but the main focus for most people is karma yoga.

Karma yoga is great for an active temperament and is purely translated to selfless service. Most people are here as volunteers looking to focus on their spiritual path and become more disciplined. The routine here is scheduled from 6am-10pm every day so it is wonderful for people that are not used to discipline. Having the ashram schedule ensures that you will go to at least one 2-hour yoga class a day with pranayama, asana, and guided relaxation, you will meditate and chant twice a day, attend at least two lectures, and volunteer. I am a true believer that there is magic in your daily routine and this ashram has it perfected in their own way.

Take a look at your daily schedule for the week. How can you integrate a set discipline that will help you accomplish more and get you closer to your own personal goals whether spiritual or otherwise? Schedule in your non-variables first. The time you have to go to work, meetings, and set obligations. Then see how you can schedule your more flexible items like meditating, working out, yoga, reading, etc. Try to find a set routine that helps you find the balance in life. Keep trying new methods until you find what works.

 

The Land of Introverts

I got to the ashram in the Bahamas last night and it is quite the culture shock. Last week I was running a retreat in Nicaragua that was all about adventure and we had so much fun together and really created some special bonds. Now that I am in the ashram it may be a group environment and community but you can really feel that everyone is on their own path here and in their own little world.

So I thought today would be a good time to just reflect on your own social life and how it distracts you from your goals and personal development. I definitely think you need both and it is difficult to find the balance. I know I often find myself in one mode or the other. I am either focused only on helping others or I am focused on my own self development. I also definitely get distracted by not only social gatherings but social media. I catch myself going online to research something and ending up on facebook for way too long. Are you stuck in the daily grind of all your obligations? Do you give yourself any set quiet time to just be? I always say have a practice of “littleties”. Fifteen minutes of yoga a day is better than a one hour class a week. How can you create a practice of a little introversion and self reflection each day? Hopefully this blog will help!

Spiritual GPS

As I head to the ashram and shift gears, my blog is also shifting gears! I am starting to guest blog for ReadySetDream to help with their fitness and wellness department so I don’t want to re-blog the same things here. I have been meaning to start a blog/facebook/instagram to help guide people with a spiritual intention of the day and it is time for The Spiritual GPS to begin!

I have always liked the quote by Zig Ziglar “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” We often get caught up in the day to day grind and have so many components in life to balance that spirituality is the first to go. I am hoping to be able to give some guidance and help people set a tone or intention for the day whether it is a question to ponder or a nice quote to inspire you. While I am at the ashram for the next couple months I will also be posting notes and experiences from the guest speakers.

The yamas and niyamas (the ethical practice) of yoga are the first two steps on the yogic path, so why do most people start with the third step of the physical practice? For me yoga is much more about living my yoga off the mat rather than the postures on the mat and I hope to inspire others to do the same.

To err is human, to forgive is divine…

Forgiveness is pardoning or overlooking a debt. It begins as a mental disposition but it is truly a disposition of the heart. If we don’t forgive, we are the ones that truly suffer. We must learn to forgive ourselves before we can forgive others. When we sincerely want to become better we will be quicker to have insights that will allow us to forgive on a spiritual level. Remember your mistakes and learn from them but don’t let them get you down. It is like the expression “Don’t cry over spilt milk.” You want to remember the lessons constructively and not destructively. Forgive and forget but learn.

There are many levels of forgiveness including mental, emotional, and spiritual. With mental forgiveness we arrange our thoughts in a way that allow us to forgive but this is extremely superficial. When you forgive on a mental level you will still have feelings of bitterness, it is superficial to just pardon someone. A seed of suffering will still remain deeply planted within us. With emotional forgiveness we arrange our emotions in ways that allow us to forgive. If someone hurts us it is because of the way WE see things. It is usually hurting our pride or our ego – a collection of thoughts we have about ourself. Spiritual forgiveness comes with insight we learn from the experience. It allows us to see the Divine nature of things and our hearts are full of compassion. There is no trace of emnity and forgiveness is real and not superficial. Real forgiveness is very rare; it comes from mercy and compassion. Love others as they are and don’t be a fault finder. Most likely the faults you will see are your own. (It takes one to know one!) When you love others as they are it doesn’t mean that you see their shortcomings and love them anyways, it means that you see them as Divine. Spiritual forgiveness is not instantaneous, it will take much time. The pain we experience when someone hurts us serves a purpose for us and the spiritual insight comes when you look upon the situation.

It is said that if you die and still have not forgiven a person then you will have to work out that karma in the next life. For example, if you die and are angry with you parents, in the next life the roles will be reversed and you will be their parents. When you are drawn to someone there is a karmic lesson waiting for you and it requires work. Most of us don’t like work that much so people don’t get very far and once the infatuation is over they say “bye-bye!”. This causes the karma to remain instead of being worked out.

Practice forgiveness and you will become mentally strong, noble, and slow to anger. Mental strength is the amount of stress we can handle without becoming irritable. Forgiveness is the antidote for anger because it destroys it at the root. You will become slow to anger because you will not be looking for others faults, a trait that can trigger anger. When we ask for forgiveness we are actually trying to ease someone’s anger. Once you forgive, truly forgive so that it cannot be recalled again – there should be no resentment.

I find the more compassion you have, the easier it is forgive. Compassion takes time to develop but like anything else, practice makes perfect! When I awake in the morning I use the following meditation:

As I awake this morning, I smile.
Twenty four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully present in every moment,
looking on all beings with eyes of compassion.