Living the life story.

I awoke thinking of this physical body in space.

I also felt gratitude for housing this body in the physical space where I eat, sleep, nurture and do many other activities.

Both my physical body and the living space are "constructed".  Both need to be maintained and sustained, healed and repaired.

My thoughts create the emotions, the people who visit this living space create relationships.

I can live with the feelings of fear or love.   Similarly I can relate with fear and love with those whom I share the living space.

What am I constructing?  I ask!  Words and their associated emotions generate the feelings.

What thoughts and emotions are associated with words like "sadness, fear, anger, envy, jealousy, greed, low self confidence, confusion etc."

What thoughts come up when words such as "happy, gratitude, joy, confidence, clarity, beauty, compassion and kindness," are brought into attention; what kind of energy flows within the physical body?

I take a few breaths, conscious of the inhales and exhales.  The  new energy flows with those breaths.

I ask?  How do I begin to write my life story, how do I live this story.

Hope, a candle.  May it burn bright in all our hearts, housed in all the bodies.

Thanks is "forgiving" and only for giving.

Living with passion

To find the life purpose is to find what we like to do, and how we like to live when we are by ourself, it is our ‘passion'.  It is not to show outwardly, to brag, or to impress.   

When we are focused only on the outward then we are not fulfilling the purpose.  The result or the goal is an outcome and cannot be the life purpose.  

Be with people and around others but be equally with yourself.  

Say little, listen more. 

Let another find their own answer and their own path.  

When asked, help the other, if you cannot then say it.  

Come from a place of knowing yourself, your doubts and fears.  

Work through the fears and doubts. Doubts are are at times intuition. 

Live within your ‘means', in any given moment, be they financial, mental, emotional, or even the limitations of the body.  

Make regular efforts to extend and or maintain the edges, the boundary, of these ‘means’ and  limitations.  

Just like a daily practice of physical exercise for the body, also do breath exercises.  

Learn through books and learn by seeing yourself and others.  

The heart is the centre of the spirit feel from here.  

Feel compassion.  

The third eye is the home of the soul, see from here and paths will open.  

Move and travel to new places so you can see yourself through many 'mirrors'.  

See the story, create a new story through living your passion. 

Time for me! A full moon lunar eclipse.

I wonder what to name the title of this post? I decide to to write my thoughts instead...the title will happen.

The planetary movements, the shifts, the alignments, and the holidays celebrated by ancient traditions make me think of my existence.   An existence amidst the labels, definitions, and the physical body.

I listen to music tones for the upper chakras, the sixth and the seventh.  These chakras are a part of the physical and the material.   The seventh chakra or energy wheel begins to oscillate between the third and the fourth dimension.  Awareness of the six senses bring and keep us in the third dimension of time and space.   The moments of pause takes us into the fourth or the fifth depending on our personal practice of mindful living.

The moon is waxing into its fullness in less than 24 hours.    The earth's position will be in the middle, as the sun, the moon, and the earth form a straight line.  Its a lunar eclipse.  A time when all feelings and the resulting actions get intensified, exponentially.

I think of the association of the earth, moon, and the sun with our own physical and emotional bodies.

The earth being the 'root', where we feel grounded, to our sense of belonging, the tribe, family, and to the physical shelter our home.   The security, or lack, of being rooted affects the area governed by the moon.  Here we find the balance in relationships with the physical.  Where our personal relationships, our creativity, sexuality, and feelings are evoked or suppressed.   With a balance, or the ability to find that balance comes an inner assurance, self assurance,  the self-confidence.   Which is then the area governed by the sun, the solar plexus,  the home of one's 'action' or the 'will power'.   The fire that burns in our belly, the passion which drives and motivates us resides in the solar plexus.

Metaphorically we take the emotions associated with the 'earth', mix it with 'water' (the moon affects the water), combine the intention and will power from the fire of the 'sun', and live our daily life.  This balance, of the emotions and thoughts, associated with these planets, is important in allowing us to live with empathy, trust, and respect.   Compassion for ourself and others.

So what does this alignment signify.   A change in our expectations, sometimes what we are 'accustomed' to gets "off balance".

Are the intentions that are guided by 'known' expectations, being challenged?

The will power, and the feelings, has to contend with the material (values)...take time to understand and ask oneself: what is being challenged?

We can choose this time to go deep within, or we can use this as an opportunity to be on two extremes, staying only in our feelings or in our action.    The earth in the centre will pull us back, whatever values and structures 'define' us will hold us and guide our path.

Feeling the earth under my feet, going for long walks, a long drive.  Taking this day to go within, introspection as I notice the feelings that each moment, each encounter, brings to the surface.

As the moon comes to being full, its also a time to begin letting go.  Maybe one intention, something that seems doable, a habit that is not serving us needs to be released.

An idea, intention or suffering

Holding on to an idea.  I wonder about this.  

For example when I am putting out an intention or when I am dreaming how I want to live my life, it is after all an idea.   Should I hold onto that idea?  The answer comes back as yes.  Then I ask will attaching myself to the idea become the base of my suffering?

Sometimes the idea involves others or another person.  The idea finds a life of its own. It begins to grow and seems to find its nourishment through all the interactions.  It's like I begin to look at life in a skewed manner and yet to me it seems so real.  

This morning  after a night of vivid dreams I felt like the lifting of a veil.  I began to see how I had attached myself to an idea in the past few years and just like that I saw clearly that the idea will never be viable. It will not happen because it never was there.  I had been creating and reading a story, and repeating that story to myself.  All a figment of my imagination and my desires.  

And so as I prepare myself for the full moon, the first symbolically of 2014, and I intend to release that story.  Only by doing this will there be space for life to unfold and show me what is my purpose, the divine grace and what life wants me to have.  

Another release of a story.  A letting go of an illusion.  Of making my peace with life. 

Cold Moon - the last full moon in 2013

Full moon is on December 17....its a memorable day for me, as many special events took place on this day.   I release the bygones, and cherish all I have.

Reflecting on this year which soon comes to a close.  

It seems so recent in my memory when we were anticipating the year "2012", which was the "big" year.  That year ended, what we saw was an awakening or an awareness of people and their expression in forms of protests and wanting to bring changes where injustices were prevalent.  The world our external world as in the rising of the sun, the moon and the earth beneath us, still all guaranteed.   Although we are seeing some planetary shifts yet for all practical  purpose we did not witness any major world turning event.  

So we moved in to 2013; through this year some of us felt a "subtle" change or shift happening.  We couldn't take a pulse of this change, for we could not find that "pulse".   Were there internal shifts happening which were outwardly expressed or the other way, is another philosophical perspective. 

The symbolic endings, closing or beginnings tend to get us into a state of reflection.  We reflect on what has passed or gone and we contemplate our present life or place in life.   With contemplation we begin to see an unfolding and simultaneous co-creation of the blueprint to our life story.  

How deep we move within to understand our story is up to us.  In the unraveling of our selves a new story emerges, a new blueprint and a new picture.  What actions and role we see ourself playing in this new story begins with a thought.  That thought can be considered an intention which lies inside a seed, the seed contains a whole life story.  Each thought or intention in that seed, grows and is expressed in ones actions and in our relating.    

The seed or collective intention is planted in our conscious and in to the sub conscious mind.   It is good to remember the intention as we go about our day and bring it into contemplation on a regular basis.  The contemplation or the awareness is how the seed gets nurtured, the actions we take brings life to the intention.

As we continue to take stock of our life and we keep our focus on the intention, we see that the life begins to become a "crystallization of the intention."

  
The regular awareness of our intention also brings into focus our doubts and fears.  We learn from the doubts and fears and move away from them when we find that they are not serving to fulfill the intention.  

Intention is the awareness before any steps can be taken.  Understanding of oneself begins with the awareness of ones intentions.  The subsequent actions or steps in fulfilling the intention can be life itself.   Intentions manifest into life.  

Costa Rica, November Full Moon

The above words came soon after I finished meditating on the beach in Cahuita.  

The last five weeks have been busy, spent with six students, guiding, coaching and assessing them in their yoga teacher training.  

Each person who immerses themself in this journey of yoga comes out on the other side - changed in more then one way.  The long hours of the training are challenging and demanding.  Sometimes a person is faced with their fears and at times the strong filters of conditioning are brought to the forefront.  

Through all this, I am happy that Malorie, Lyndi, Chelsea, Joice, Rhéline and Miranda, came out smiling, confident and ready to share their practice.  

And now it's time to relax in Cahuita. A full moon dance, a day spent in the sunshine of the beach, sand and ocean and this evening teaching and sharing a yoga practice by the evening light, besides the poolside.  

The clouds parted and the full moon was a sight to behold, brilliant and shining, reassuring as the next breath.  

August Full Moon - another blue moon

A full moon is referred to as a "blue moon", when one of the two happens:

1. two full moons in a given calendar month
2. third out of the four full moons occurring between two solstice

The full moon tonight or early hours GMT, falls in the second category.

The August full moon is also the time to "preserve what you have".

The full moon completes the cycle representing change, or tying up of loose ends.  It symbolizes the end chapter, shedding light on the things that we no longer need to hold on, discharging of physical and emotional pain.

It can be taken as a time for purging rituals, as the light of the moon illuminates those things that are interfering with our spiritual growth and advancement.  Doing healing rituals, finishing projects, coming into acceptance.

As we let go, we have space for creating.  Setting intentions, writing down goals, feeling a sense of fullness and abundance.  Knowing within that as moon starts to wane our obstructions will also clear.

A time for reflection, contemplation, and gratitude for what is in our lives, how we have lived our life.

"The gratitude is not a river moving from somewhere to somewhere, but is the ocean moving within itself.  As the full moon rises and sets, tears of gratitude arise and repose into the vastness of the self"
~Sri Sri Ravi Shankar~

This full moon in July twenty thirteen

.The sun sets on this day.  A full moon in Aquarius, reflecting the full energy of a Leo sun...

And I wonder, what a play of energy!

Through each pause in contemplation, I wondered! Full moon energy or is the energy of the sun as it enters Leo?  

Whatever the reasoning the mind and thoughts put to the feelings is a personal perspective.  Another thought to justify or understand the illusion of reality.  

No matter what I did, the energy felt like a lion wanting to roar.  Sometimes I challenged myself in balancing asanas keeping the focus on the chakras to sense which chakra was over and which under.  What were the blockages and where to balance.  The challenge kept bringing into awareness which Celestial bodies were aligning or playing with me, with the thoughts.     

I began to see why the Svadisthana was needing attention.   The balancing allowed me to get through most of the day.  Food helped in nurturing.  Peanut butter an old time favorite came to the rescue.  

The power of Manipura as the sun moved into Leo allowed me to keep working away at the list of tasks.  Will power was strong although focus was wavering.  Mercury, my birth planet, was going direct after three weeks of being retrograde.    

My heart listened to the favourite songs.   Music also expressed my Vishuddha, I sang and I danced, and I was open to connecting and communicating.  

The day ends by the water in Toronto, by a quiet spot of Sugar Beach.  I walk away from the crowds and the pink umbrellas; next to me the water is calm, a few runners in rhythm with my own breath.  I sit on the concrete.  The quietness of the soothing waves is exactly what my energy needs.  

The next few hours, days, as the moon starts to wane I am sure all the feelings too will ebb with the tides.   

Reassured that all felt was another expression of energetic processes called "me".   

It is the known "me", it knows no other.

Sturgeon full moon in Aquarius...

in Costa Rica the full moon is at 10:58 am on August 13th…

"The August full moon is often called the Sturgeon Moon in North America. The Sturgeon Moon harks back to the bygone centuries when this large fish roamed plentifully in the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay. The August full moon is also known as the Green Corn Moon or the Grain Moon"
http://earthsky.org/tonight/august-full-moon-named-for-fish-or-grain


The August full moon is also referred to as the "wort" moon, preserve what you have…


the effects of the upcoming full moon is beginnings to reveal itself in the emotions and the associated behaviours…

astronomically the moon is full when it is directly opposite the sun

we plan to channel the energies by performing 108 sun salutations…what is the significance of 108?

Here are some interesting insights on the number 108:

• diameter of the sun is 108 times the diameter of the earth
• average distance from the sun to the earth is 108 times the diameter of the sun
• average distance from the moon to the earth is 108 times the diameter of the moon
• silver represents the moon, atomic weight of the moon is 108
• 1 = higher truth, 0 = empty or complete, 8 = sign of infinity
• 108 is the Harshad number (a number that can be divided by the sum of its digits)
• in sanskrit Harshad means great joy
• there are 108 energy lines converging into the heart chakra