Life in OM

Life in OM: On Hiatus

 

Life in OM will be on hiatus as I will be in England and France until the beginning of October.  I look forward to sharing my experiences when I return!! 

Life in OM: There's No Crying in Yoga!

Actually, there is.

Sometimes there are ton's of tears and it is so very important for you to know that it's ok.

In fact, it's one of the best things that can happen to you.

Years ago I was attending my weekly yoga class when I went back into child's pose and started to cry. A few tears turned into a torrent and I rolled up my mat and raced to my car where I continued to sob like a baby.

I got so freaked out at my weakness that I stopped going.

Then the whole world came crashing in.

At the time, I had just experienced an awful break-up, was having extreme self-esteem issues and was punishing my body in every way possible.  My unhappiness with myself and everything in my world had reached new heights.

All of those emotions were pent up in my physical body as well as my mind and yoga was helping me release them, helping me heal.

Instead of giving myself that chance, I got scared and left.

Things went from bad to worse and everything just seemed to spiral out of control. Modern medicine was trying to "fix" me and I had zero interest in doing anything beneficial for myself.  

Nothing was helping and I was sick of everything.

Then, in a rare moment of clarity a thought popped into my head: life was better with yoga.  

Through the ups and downs of my time on this planet, life was always better with yoga.

I went back to my class with an open heart and again I cried. It was amazing, cathartic, healing...it was everything I couldn't give to myself. 

Getting my act together did not happen overnight and there are still rare moments when I feel less than 100% content with myself. But 7 years later I know I am a complete, whole person who isn't missing anything. 

My practice gave me this.

Don't be afraid if you turn on the waterworks during your vinyasas. Yoga helps us realize and release those emotions that begin to eat away at us in unhealthy ways.

Any good yoga teacher knows this and will make it as comfortable as possible for you to let go.

Yoga can do incredible things if you let it, including healing a person from the inside out, so rest assured that tears in your yoga class are excellent and nothing to be ashamed of.

Life in OM: Weekly Wellness

Transforming an unhealthy way of eating into a healthy one can be very daunting. Especially if you are used to eating a lot of processed foods on the go.

Instead of making sweeping changes that will end up being too difficult and frustrate you to the point of diving head first into a bag of potato chips, try to make small adjustments.

Try to eat one piece of fruit with your lunch 3 times a week for one month. Forgo the 100 calorie snack pack of chips or an energy bar or some other processed snack.

Pick your favorite fruit or try something new. If you're on a budget, look for what's on sale that week at your grocery and try it. Experiment and find out what you like.

Although those 100 calorie snack packs are convenient and low in calories (if you can eat just one),  not all calories are created equal.

An apple or a cup of grapes provides tons of nutrients not found in baked cheetos! Your body will thank you for it.

Remember to take small steps and take the change one day at a time. Enjoy!!

Life in OM: Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

This year alone 192,000 husbands, fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers and sons will be diagnosed with the disease.

27,000 will die from it.

It is the 2nd leading cause of non-skin cancer deaths in men in the United States.

Prostate Cancer is one of the most treatable cancers when detected early with "cure" rates at 100%.

If you or your loved ones are over the age of 40 ask your doctor about getting a prostate cancer screening test.

It could save their lives.

 

On February 7, 2008 my Grandfather lost his battle to this horrible disease.

 

Please join me in donating to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. For every dollar you donate The Safeway Foundation will match it. Their goal is to raise one million dollars for lifesaving research.

Please Donate Here

I thank you and so do the friends and families of the 2 million men currently battling this disease.

Life in OM: Happy? Miserable? It's Your Choice

 

Life is unfair.

Really, it is.

The thought might leave you feeling powerless, deflated, defeated.

Never fear though, you have a power mightier than anything life can throw at you: the power of choice.

You can choose to react without thinking, you can choose to let something eat at you,  you can choose to become angry, you can choose to be miserable.

Or you can choose to stay calm, you can choose to take a breath and think before reacting, you can choose to walk away, you can choose to look at things positively, you can choose to find joy whenever you can.

Take a moment to think about all the things that weigh you down. Ultimately, you have a choice whether you are going to let them affect you negatively or positively.

Example #1, you're driving to work when someone cuts you off. They pull up next to you, screaming that you were driving too slow and call you a terrible name before driving off. 

You have the choice to scream right back, get completely stressed out, let it put you in a foul mood, and ruin your morning as you spend hours ruminating over the incident.  Meanwhile the guy calling you names has forgotten all about it.

Or you can take a deep breath, choose not to react, let him scream and yell as you drive off. You have chosen to remain calm, you have chosen not to let something so trivial effect your entire mind and body, you have chosen to walk (or drive) away.

Example #2- something a bit more tragic. You get dumped. You have every right to feel sadness, anger, betrayal...the list goes on and on. There are countless emotions you will go through and you need to feel every one of them. Remember that choice is not denial. We have feelings and we need to let ourselves sit with them.

But that doesn't mean we want to wallow in them. There will come a point where you will choose to become negative, choose to feel sorry for yourself, choose to mope around being miserable.

Or you can choose to move on, choose to look at the break-up as a positive force for change in your life, choose to let you inner happiness and self love shine through, choose to find someone else or not. 

Choosing to be your own source of happiness and contentment is not easy. You need to learn to not react to every conflict and that takes practice. It also takes some getting to know yourself. You need to be able to step outside your current situation and try to look at it from a different perspective.

The best way to start to do this is through spending some time just sitting alone, quietly, doing nothing but breathing, otherwise known as Meditation. I'll save Meditation basics for another post but for now just try to take 5 minutes in the morning to sit and breath without distraction.

Then start to pay attention. There are countless moments during the course of our lives where we can choose to make ourselves miserable or choose to protect our contentment.

You create and take away your own happiness, no person or thing can do that to you unless you let it.

It's your choice.