March 2018 | Spring in to a Good Life

March brings hints of spring, the waiting and stillness is over and new life emerges with sweet, moist dew and the promise of something new. Can we do as much internal spring cleaning as external?

Some people wait all day for 5pm, all week for Friday, all year for the holidays, all their lives for happiness.  But you don’t have to be one of them.  Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how good it has been. The good life begins right now, when we stop waiting for a better one.

What if we use Spring to pay more attention to the beauty and practicality of living a simpler life.  A life uncluttered by most of the meaningless drama, distraction, and busyness people fill their lives with, leaving us with space for what’s truly meaningful: a life that isn’t constant rushing, worrying and stress, but instead contemplation, creation, and connection with the people and projects that matter most to us.

To be practical in this endeavor we have to be honest about the drama, distraction, and busyness in our lives. I'm looking at my own choices as a way to begin that internal spring cleansing.

• How often do you engage in the exchange of valueless conversation or even gossip?
• How often are you thinking about other things when someone is talking to you?
• Do you check social media apps on your phone when you’re working, or when you’re spending time with loved ones, or just constantly without discretion?
• Do you send the occasional text message while driving?

The biggest cost of filling life with drama, distraction, and busyness (assuming you don’t crash from the texting and driving), is a gradual, long-term decline of effectiveness, contentment and happiness.  When we get in the habit of persistently dividing our attention, we’re only partially engaged in every activity, but rarely focused, much less calm, about any one.  And this dizzying lack of calm focused energy eventually trips us up and brings us down to our knees.

It doesn't have to be this way!!

The bottom line here is that too often our minds are set on getting somewhere else.  Too often another beautiful day comes to an end with hundreds of unnoticed moments behind us—we didn’t notice them because they were insignificant to us.  And over time our entire lives can become a massive pile of unnoticed and insignificant moments on our way to more important things.  Then the important things get rushed through too… to get to the next one, and the next, until our time is up and we’re left questioning where it all went.

SO what to do? Here are some steps that have helped me.
 

• Identify what’s most important to you, and eliminate as much as you possibly can of everything else.  In other words, be ruthless about putting first things first.  Say “no” to unnecessary commitments that do not support your priorities.
• When you start an important activity, turn to it with your full attention and set a conscious intention to be fully present with the act—to do nothing but this one activity for a set time.  You might think, “Just write” or “Just run” or “Just be here with this amazing child of mine.”
• When you notice your mind drifting and thinking about something else, or if something happens and your attention momentarily gets pulled elsewhere… just notice.  Then take a deep breath and return to being fully present with the activity
• Treat each moment with reverence, as if you are one with what’s happening. See the brilliance of the activity and the present moment.

Happy Spring Cleaning!

With Peace,
Anisha

February 2018 | A February Full of Love

As we enter in to one of the coldest months, it’s easy to lose heart. Some of us are quite ready for winter to be over. The cold dreary days can be discouraging. I encourage you to get out in the sunshine and warm your body and heart. If there isn’t any sun, know that it’s still shining behind the clouds and connect to that. Be with friends to warm your spirit. Have tea with your beloved and remember why you love each other. When you look in the eyes of another, see yourself. Never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you, yet keep seeking joy in the saddest places and beauty to its lair. Never look away, never forget. Love and be loved. Look at the sunshine and remember the good in the world. ️<3

The sun shines down, and its image reflects in a thousand different pots filled with water. The reflections are many, but they are each reflecting the same sun. Similarly, when we come to know who we truly are, we will see ourselves in all people.

Amma

January 2018 | No Regrets 2018

When you look back on the past year, it's easy to think of the pain you felt. What if you could instead think of the strength you gained, and appreciate how far you’ve come? You’ve been through a lot, but you’ve grown a lot too. Give yourself credit for your resilience, and then step forward again, with grace.

The next best step forward?
Take more chances on the very real and accessible opportunities you have today. Try doing something uncomfortable, (outside your comfort zone), that will move your life forward. Life is very much about trusting ourselves and taking chances, losing and finding happiness, learning from experience, appreciating the journey, and realizing that every step is worth it, the gains and the losses. However, we must be WILLING to take each step.  We have to give ourselves a fair chance.  Because in the end, more than anything else, we regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were too busy to nurture, the big opportunity we procrastinated on, the friend or family member we never called, those important words left unspoken, and the decisions we waited too long to make.

But why do we do these things to ourselves?
There is a common weaknesses of the inner mind—a weakness that encourages us to avoid discomfort. Discomfort is a form of pain, but it isn’t a deep pain—it’s a very shallow one.  It’s that feeling you get when you’ve stepped outside of your comfort zone.  The idea of exercising every morning, for example, brings discomfort—so we don’t do it.  Eating green vegetables brings discomfort too.  So does meditating, or focusing on a difficult task, or saying no to others. The problem with this is that by running from discomfort, we are forced to participate in only the (easy) activities and (unexciting) opportunities within our comfort zones.  And since our comfort zones are relativity small, we miss out on most of life’s greatest and healthiest experiences, and we get stuck in a debilitating cycle that often leads to regret.

Lets turn things around in 2018!!

Are you tired of dealing with the same types of headaches and heartache over and over again? Then it’s time to break the cycle, purge some bad habits, and embrace discomfort as you prepare for the year ahead.  It’s time to learn from your mistakes rather than be conquered by them, and let your errors be of commission rather than omission.

Remember, you ultimately become what you repeatedly do.  If your habits aren’t helping you, they’re hurting you.  Which means it’s time for a change. Life's richness comes from venturing out, away from the familiar, growing stronger and more capable. We can hold to our core values while at the same time opening our heart and mind to new ideas, feelings and experiences.  Your own perspective will become clearer when you look at things from different angles. 

Sometimes life's best lessons are learned at the worst times, If we can lose the expectation that everything in life should be easier, that there are rarely shortcuts to any place worth going, then its more likely we can enjoy the challenge of our achievements.  If we can see the value in our efforts then we can be patient with ourselves. Patience is not just about waiting, it’s the ability to keep a good and positive attitude while working hard on our important goals.  It’s knowing deep down that doing the hard things is worth it. Why?  Because those are the things that ultimately define us.  Those are the things that make the difference between existing and living—between knowing the path and walking the path—between a life of mediocrity and a life filled with progress and fulfillment.

For me, I'm taking an expansive step forward this year professionally to expand my teaching and offerings further. Pangu Yoga workshops will each have a unique theme, I've created a new Restorative Yoga & Essential Oils & Energy Healing class (being offered on Valentines Day) and Raleigh friends I'm returning to Bliss Body Yoga this year to teach workshops again! Please check out all the upcoming events below!

May you love yourself first and foremost every day, instead of simply loving the idea of other people loving you.  Your needs matter.  Start meeting them.  Don’t wait on others to choose you—choose yourself!  And remember that once your needs are met, you will be better equipped and capable of meeting the needs of those few people who matter most to you. 

Namaste,

Anisha