Lets start by knowing that you don't need to get rid of your Shadow. You can embrace the Shadow and in doing so, use it to your advantage. As I had spoken of in "Part 1 of The Shadow," if I see the opposite of "understanding others and listening" as my shadow, where and how does that serve me? In the beginning of my exploration I wanted to create abundance in my life through my classes and workshops. In delving deeper I had discovered the quality I love most about myself is to understand others, care and listen. The opposite is that I don’t always hang on every word spoken, I may judge and I am only half listening when family is discussing their problems. I am starting to see where after years of half listening while doing hair, I would automatically tune people out so I could do my work. I see this tendency in me with my children as well. "You aren’t listening to me," my daughter accuses. I would have sworn instead that I was losing my hearing. The truth is that I have become very good at repeating back bits of what they were speaking so they thought I was listening. Yes! I have discovered another nugget, a "glitch" and an opportunity to grow.
Embracing my shadow side for me means that I don't have to understand where every ones coming from. I can allowing myself to "tune out" from the drama of their situation, hold presence when I am with them, love them and let them be who they are. I can now become the teacher I wish to be. I can still care and in doing so, break down the barriers in my own heart. Instead of hating the Shadow part of me, feeling shame, I can embrace this new understanding. Once we uncover the darkness, we can see the light, removing any false sense of separation. As I create space around these old programs, I can question whether they are still true for me in this moment.
It can take a huge amount of courage to be honest with ourselves, to be vulnerable and open to change. We say we want to heal our relationships yet how can we if we are constantly judging ourselves and others. We get good at judging others as we walk thru life, but if we look deep enough, those are the same qualities we dislike in our self. When we are honest, the healing can begin. Those same qualities we judge in others are indeed the shadow part of us that we try so hard to hide.
The shadows begin as we download what we see from childhood on. The belief that we aren’t good enough, feeling shame if we didn’t work hard enough, berated for grades in school, feeling inept at sports, ect... The more we shove down those feelings of inadequacy, the harder it is to keep them down. We try all our lives to prove that we are not all those things that we hate. We are not our anger, we are not our fear, we are not our shame, we are not impatient, we are not, fill in the blank. In shoving down the wounded ego, it only gets stronger until it pops up unexpectedly. We hide behind the mask of perfection and hide behind a persona that we believe will bring us all the love and approval we strive for.
My Shadow had also been recognized as a compulsive shopper. So the question is how can I take that side of me and turn it around as a positive? One easy way to tell if your shadow side is running the show is if you feel guilty after wards. Recently I was acting out, storming around our house, angry at myself. When my husband pointed out my bad mood, I reluctantly took a look within. There is no one to blame, I am not a victim, so what is this feeling surfacing, ready to pop? As I seek to develop the strength to live in clarity, I also had to connect with that deeper place within, move past my self-centerdness and be honest. I was wallowing in guilt and shame for ordering a yoga outfit, when we said we were trying to save. Once my Shadow was pinpointed, I could choose to look for the positive attribute in this. As my husband helped me to turn that feeling around, he pointed out how important it was to feel confident on stage ,ie. feeling good about myself and exuding love and dignity to all my students. Maybe one way to exude that is professional, stylish attire, taking care of my self and feeling good as I step onto that stage. Instead of my Shadow using me in guilt and blame, I took action and found a way to use my love of shopping, contacted the company I love to order from to form an affiliate. I could promote the products I loved and also buy them for wholesale! As an added benefit, the process of not judging myself as good or bad has deflated all the urgency and need around shopping. As I slowly become free of the inner demander, I create an opportunity to expand beyond my Shadow.
Do you have a persona that you show the world and secret persona that others never see? It could be in an area that you are out of control, a habit or addiction that holds you hostage. Some people are kind to the check out person, but when the car door closes, scream and lash out at their kids for acting up in the store. Maybe you hold the persona of being successful, yet have maxed out all your credit cards, caught in the vicious cycle of borrowing from Paul to pay Peter.
All of life has an opposite, but we spend our life projecting our shadow on others afraid of our own unworthiness. "That person is stupid, what a horrible driver, that checkout person is a jerk," on and on we go pushing our own shadow out onto others. As we own our shadow, we begin to claim our life. What is standing in front of us, judging ruthlessly is usually the quality that we also hide within. Like attracts like. See those same people in life that we perceive as a thorn in our side as a gift for us to look within and now we have mastery. God loves us so much that he gives us every opportunity to grow, change and become our authentic selves. What we judge in others is a gift for us to see the same in ourselves so we can move beyond into our greatness.
The ego wants to react, judge and project on others the part of us that we hide beneath the surface. As I sat in the lobby at a water resort this summer, I judged the tired, hurried parents who were yelling at their kids to," stay in line, get back here, don’t do that." At first I wanted to shake my head in disbelief. In that moment, I remembered the same day when my family finally arrived at the water park after four hours or driving. As I got out of the car to unpack, I was grumbling to my daughter that this was the last time. In that moment of recognizing my shadow, I dropped the judgment and said a gentle prayer for the mother and son in front or me as she dragged him back into line. "May You be at peace, may you be safe, may you be happy." I then closed my eyes and decided to look for the positive, the families having fun, the parents enjoying their children. My experienced shifted as I looked within.
Who is the person who bothers you the most? A mother, ex-spouse, children, brother or sister? What do you say about them out loud and silently? How do you judge them? This is a clue to what you may be also hiding in your shadow. What would you say to them out loud if you could? As I looked at those parents struggling with their kids I wanted to say, "You're mean, you're out of control or you should get a grip!" In the next moment I also recognized those qualities in myself when I was tired, unaware and unconscious. The more we profess "I AM NOT THAT!", the more we are.
What do we try to do to prove to ourselves and others that we are not that quality? If you accuse others of being pushovers, do you get yourself in situations where you are over assertive? Do you judge others of being tight with their money and then spend more than you have to prove you are not that? Do you accuse coworkers of being sloppy and then prove you-are not that by being compulsively clean? Do you accuse others of being lazy and then go nonstop all day without taking a needed break?
How do we exhibit that same quality we judge in others? Give yourself a chance to look within to see how you display that same example in your shadow side. If you judge others as lazy, do you get lazy about taking care of yourself? If you judge another as unproductive, do you let areas of your health slide since no one is looking? The shadow can be tricky. Allow your own answers to come up becoming brutally honest. How am I like that lazy person? When am I unproductive? How do I display those same qualities that I judge in another? Be with what you are pushing against. If you don’t deal with your destructive patterns, they will eventually deal with you!
How can you incorporate your shadow into your life? How can you utilize it rather than waiting until it pops up in your face?
If you tend to get what some perceive as bitchy with your relatives, maybe you can place some of that assertive energy at work, in a business sense rather than your family life.
If your Shadow includes you in your neighbor's business, hovering over your children, taking care of problems without their asking, maybe you can volunteer for hospice or a nursing home where others would love your company.
As you recognize your Shadow, know that you can apply it in a positive way, serving you to be all that you are! The simple fact is that when we notice these tendencies and behaviors it is the beginning, creating a gap between our reactions and perceptions, creating space before we get totally caught up in the story of me. In that space we become more transparent and open to experiencing our selves as All of it.
F.Y.I.
Your shadow also includes all your positive qualities. See them reflected in another.
Whom do you really admire?
What qualities inspire you?
What can you do to develop these qualities in your self?
What actions can you take to experience yourself as that?
Remember we possess all the brilliance we see in others.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Are You Ready to Embrace Your Shadow? | Part 1
All our answers are within. Are you ready to face all the dreams you haven’t yet fulfilled as a result of your Shadow?
As we drive to our anniversary retreat, our car becomes the school of awakening once more.
We bring a DVD player along and pop in our new movie,"The Shadow with Debbie Ford." I'd watched it earlier in the week and decided it wasn’t for me. In that response, I knew it WAS for me, I just needed to get out of the way to experience it fully. I uncover another glitch in my belief system, without distractions of the phone, kids and emails as an excuse.
The first question asked of me in the interactive movie was to identify one break through I would like to achieve as a result of going through the shadow experience. My husband easily identifies that he would like to work on his fitness levels and get back in shape. I look to feel creative abundance as a result of the TV program, classes and books.
What would motivate you to give your shadow the time and attention it deserves so you can uncover, embrace and grow from your shadow rather than it using you as a tool? The goal is not to get rid of the shadow or the ego, but to love it, embrace it and understand it. The shadow side is considered to be the negative behaviors that pop up from beneath the surface. It is made up of all the emotions that are too embarrassing or unacceptable to us to admit. In the embracing of our shadow side, we transcend the limitations of our past, loving every aspect of ourselves to finally be healthy and happy.
Driving down the road my truth unfolds. The first time I listened to this work I was also editing a Tv program, giving it only half my attention. This is where my nugget lies. to What and whom do I give my attention? My husband and I listen together this time, my intention is on getting clear. What do I want? What's holding me back from my success? Am I ready to uncover another piece to the puzzle? The more I inquire within, the deeper I travel down the path to my truth.
What are you hiding? I ask myself.
For years I hid behind addictions, presenting the world only the perfect self. I honed my image to a tee, allowing only the parts of me that were acceptable to the world to be seen. They had no idea of my troubled marriages, the addiction to food, the weekend binging of alcohol. I was the good girl, doing exactly what was expected of me by my family, coworkers, neighbors and friends. Over the past ten years these harmful shadows have been dealt with and recognized. In shining a light and allowing this part of me to be acknowledged, it lost power and its hold over me.
How do you go from being completely ruled by your addictions, your anger and the fear of being found out and shift to a person who is in love with life and eager for every day? It was only in embracing these parts of my life and replacing judgment with LOVING MYSELF that change could begin. I made the shift from unhealthy habits of smoking and binge drinking to a lifestyle that included a daily practice of yoga, feeding my body healthy food and taking the time to cultivate healthy relationships with myself and others.
What is this shadow self?
It is everything we don’t want anyone to see. It can be dark, secretive and embarrassing. It is the things we lie about to ourselves and others, the part of us that we desperately try to stuff down. It is the opposite of the light and shows up in ways we all deny. Lying to our children, cheating on your taxes, drinking too much after resolving to quit, stuffing ourselves with food after dieting for weeks on end, screaming at our kids after being the nice mommy in public, kicking the dog when no one is looking, overspending when we are already in debt. Most of us will deny any shadow parts for fear of being found out and then having to deal with that part of us.
Ten years later I am still looking to uncover the parts of me that hold me back from becoming the larger part of me, my higher self. These are the more subtle layers that are looking to be released. In releasing and uncovering my layers I can also help the collective shadow of the world. In clearing up my energy, I can assist in the healing of the Universe.
Instead of living in denial I choose to wake up and seek to understand my shadow. It may be painful, it may be easier to stay distracted, become a cynic or indulge in anger and resentment, but this will never create change. I seek to be the change that I want to see in this world.
If you are unsure of where to look for that shadow, begin with this first question.
What is the quality you like most love about yourself? You may be kind, patient, generous, loyal. What is the one great quality you would keep about yourself if you could only keep one?
It is worth taking the time here to look within, in doing so we can understand the self. I answer this question as my husband drives to our surprise destination hotel. The answer of “understanding “came up for me. I seek to understand rather than judge. I love to listen to others and help them to understand themselves better. I had no idea how this could help me embrace my shadow, yet I forge ahead to the next question to unlock my truth.
As you look at this one good quality, how do you display this outwardly to others? How do you get others to see this in you? My husband chose the one good quality of humor. He makes jokes to ease tension. He offers up laughs to break the ice. He loves telling jokes and being goofy with all the nieces, nephews and friends. I outwardly display understanding in my workshops and classes. When people want to talk after class, I take the time to listen. When family calls with situations or problems, I seek to understand to provide help in any way I can.
If your quality is generous, you may make grand gestures of generosity in public. If your attribute is thoroughness, you may take detailed notes at a meeting and share it with coworkers. How do you get people to see your finest quality?
In finding this quality that you love about your self, your work is to also find the opposite of this quality. If your quality is kindness, the opposite would be unkind, understanding/judging, generous / stingy, patient / impatient, ect... Allow the guidance from within to give you your own answers.
In knowing myself as understanding, the opposite would be to judge or not care. As you look at your opposite, how do you feel about that quality? Do you find yourself judging this quality in your family and friends? Is this the one quality that can get under your skin with your children or mate? The more we push against that quality, the more we attract it into our life. Above all, be easy on yourself when these qualities do show up. Welcome it all, thank it for showing up so now you can release it. You don't even need to figure out where it came from or why it is showing up now. Simply remember to breathe, love the self for another opportunity to get clear and then let it go. Allow yourself to be silent, in that quiet space we can check in and find those inner resources. The more we welcome those emotions, the faster we can shift through the pain, the fear and the shame.
One of the biggest keys to moving through the shadow side is to embrace the attributes of the shadow and in doing so, you can use it in a positive effect. We will go into that further in "Part 2 of The Shadow."
Please feel free to post a comment and share your thoughts and experiences about releasing your Shadow. I'm sure everyone would love to hear any advice and inspiration as we all create a collective change together. If you have any questions, feel free to email questions to: sarahspeaks@gmail.com
As we drive to our anniversary retreat, our car becomes the school of awakening once more.
We bring a DVD player along and pop in our new movie,"The Shadow with Debbie Ford." I'd watched it earlier in the week and decided it wasn’t for me. In that response, I knew it WAS for me, I just needed to get out of the way to experience it fully. I uncover another glitch in my belief system, without distractions of the phone, kids and emails as an excuse.
The first question asked of me in the interactive movie was to identify one break through I would like to achieve as a result of going through the shadow experience. My husband easily identifies that he would like to work on his fitness levels and get back in shape. I look to feel creative abundance as a result of the TV program, classes and books.
What would motivate you to give your shadow the time and attention it deserves so you can uncover, embrace and grow from your shadow rather than it using you as a tool? The goal is not to get rid of the shadow or the ego, but to love it, embrace it and understand it. The shadow side is considered to be the negative behaviors that pop up from beneath the surface. It is made up of all the emotions that are too embarrassing or unacceptable to us to admit. In the embracing of our shadow side, we transcend the limitations of our past, loving every aspect of ourselves to finally be healthy and happy.
Driving down the road my truth unfolds. The first time I listened to this work I was also editing a Tv program, giving it only half my attention. This is where my nugget lies. to What and whom do I give my attention? My husband and I listen together this time, my intention is on getting clear. What do I want? What's holding me back from my success? Am I ready to uncover another piece to the puzzle? The more I inquire within, the deeper I travel down the path to my truth.
What are you hiding? I ask myself.
For years I hid behind addictions, presenting the world only the perfect self. I honed my image to a tee, allowing only the parts of me that were acceptable to the world to be seen. They had no idea of my troubled marriages, the addiction to food, the weekend binging of alcohol. I was the good girl, doing exactly what was expected of me by my family, coworkers, neighbors and friends. Over the past ten years these harmful shadows have been dealt with and recognized. In shining a light and allowing this part of me to be acknowledged, it lost power and its hold over me.
How do you go from being completely ruled by your addictions, your anger and the fear of being found out and shift to a person who is in love with life and eager for every day? It was only in embracing these parts of my life and replacing judgment with LOVING MYSELF that change could begin. I made the shift from unhealthy habits of smoking and binge drinking to a lifestyle that included a daily practice of yoga, feeding my body healthy food and taking the time to cultivate healthy relationships with myself and others.
What is this shadow self?
It is everything we don’t want anyone to see. It can be dark, secretive and embarrassing. It is the things we lie about to ourselves and others, the part of us that we desperately try to stuff down. It is the opposite of the light and shows up in ways we all deny. Lying to our children, cheating on your taxes, drinking too much after resolving to quit, stuffing ourselves with food after dieting for weeks on end, screaming at our kids after being the nice mommy in public, kicking the dog when no one is looking, overspending when we are already in debt. Most of us will deny any shadow parts for fear of being found out and then having to deal with that part of us.
Ten years later I am still looking to uncover the parts of me that hold me back from becoming the larger part of me, my higher self. These are the more subtle layers that are looking to be released. In releasing and uncovering my layers I can also help the collective shadow of the world. In clearing up my energy, I can assist in the healing of the Universe.
Instead of living in denial I choose to wake up and seek to understand my shadow. It may be painful, it may be easier to stay distracted, become a cynic or indulge in anger and resentment, but this will never create change. I seek to be the change that I want to see in this world.
If you are unsure of where to look for that shadow, begin with this first question.
What is the quality you like most love about yourself? You may be kind, patient, generous, loyal. What is the one great quality you would keep about yourself if you could only keep one?
It is worth taking the time here to look within, in doing so we can understand the self. I answer this question as my husband drives to our surprise destination hotel. The answer of “understanding “came up for me. I seek to understand rather than judge. I love to listen to others and help them to understand themselves better. I had no idea how this could help me embrace my shadow, yet I forge ahead to the next question to unlock my truth.
As you look at this one good quality, how do you display this outwardly to others? How do you get others to see this in you? My husband chose the one good quality of humor. He makes jokes to ease tension. He offers up laughs to break the ice. He loves telling jokes and being goofy with all the nieces, nephews and friends. I outwardly display understanding in my workshops and classes. When people want to talk after class, I take the time to listen. When family calls with situations or problems, I seek to understand to provide help in any way I can.
If your quality is generous, you may make grand gestures of generosity in public. If your attribute is thoroughness, you may take detailed notes at a meeting and share it with coworkers. How do you get people to see your finest quality?
In finding this quality that you love about your self, your work is to also find the opposite of this quality. If your quality is kindness, the opposite would be unkind, understanding/judging, generous / stingy, patient / impatient, ect... Allow the guidance from within to give you your own answers.
In knowing myself as understanding, the opposite would be to judge or not care. As you look at your opposite, how do you feel about that quality? Do you find yourself judging this quality in your family and friends? Is this the one quality that can get under your skin with your children or mate? The more we push against that quality, the more we attract it into our life. Above all, be easy on yourself when these qualities do show up. Welcome it all, thank it for showing up so now you can release it. You don't even need to figure out where it came from or why it is showing up now. Simply remember to breathe, love the self for another opportunity to get clear and then let it go. Allow yourself to be silent, in that quiet space we can check in and find those inner resources. The more we welcome those emotions, the faster we can shift through the pain, the fear and the shame.
One of the biggest keys to moving through the shadow side is to embrace the attributes of the shadow and in doing so, you can use it in a positive effect. We will go into that further in "Part 2 of The Shadow."
Please feel free to post a comment and share your thoughts and experiences about releasing your Shadow. I'm sure everyone would love to hear any advice and inspiration as we all create a collective change together. If you have any questions, feel free to email questions to: sarahspeaks@gmail.com
Friday, January 1, 2010
Resolve Your Resolution | Why New Years Resolutions Don't Work
Do you have the confidence and certainty it takes to stick with your New Years resolution this year? Are you ready to know without a doubt that you can lose the weight, create happier, more playful relationships, give up smoking once and for all or finally go for it on that new promotion or idea? What are you going to do this time that is different than all the other times you've tried or started that new exercise program?
Why do we stop 2 weeks into the new year after whole-heartedly buying the new gym membership, the nicotine patches or self help books? When asked most would answer "I don't know."
To succeed this year your resolution needs to be looked at as a process that you will be vigilant in moving towards, rather than waiting around for a miracle to happen, reciting the affirmations or making more empty promises to yourself. Remember in the Law of Attraction, the last six letters is ACTION.
I sit at the computer to make my first "screen play." its like going shopping for a new life. What do I want to create? What is is that I want to do, experience, be and have? I take the time to answer these questions one by one for each area of my life. How do I want to feel in my body? How is it that I want to serve life? What kind of relationships to I want to enjoy? What kind of home to I want to live in? What and where do I want to teach? What places do I want to see in the world? I had taken the time to go over these questions and find my answers within as well as the answers to what I may believe is holding me back from all I want to live. Fear and analytical thought can easily squash and can also determine what we create and experience. As I let go of the excuses to living my dream life, I can finally sit down and feel good about focusing on living a fulfilling, joyful life that we all came here to experience.
The reason we quit? Usually it's because we forgot the action plan or specific steps we are committed to taking. Willpower and persistence can only create change in about 4 - 6% or our long term behaviors and actions. So the new years resolutions, without a plan to change the behavior, is essentially a waste of time.
How do we impress a new habit into the subconscious, create a new pattern in the same part of the mind which is responsible for 96% of our behaviors AND reinstate a new affirmation or belief as we release an old one? Since behavior is hard to change long term, we need to have a different process, a process that works on the "implicit memory system." If we don't like the results that we are achieving in our life, then that means the behavior that has gotten those results must change by working with this "system."
I search through Google images to find pictures that evoke and imbue what it is I want. My daughter and friends are in the next room goofing around when they join to search for the most amazing destinations in the world. Beautiful pictures of Italy, Arizona, Australia and California get saved to my desktop. We then move to shop around for healthy body images to focus on. I save images of yoga poses that seem fun and that I would enjoy trying. I find homes that make feel joyful just looking at and the type of meditation room I wold love to relax in. Most importantly, I find pictures of all the teachers who have inspired me along my path to add to my screen play. One of the many affirmations I record in the background include, "I choose to teach and serve among the very same teachers who have inspired me to be my absolute best." I add affirmations behind the destinations like, "I'm so happy to travel through out the world filming and hosting "Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr" as I explore the beauty of mother nature with my family." It was not until I could feel how it would feel to actually be this that I could attract it into my life. My husband had started a month before me on his screen play and is a wonderful example of "ask and then get ready to move your feet."
What is the implicit memory system? Why does somebody earn what they earn, why are we in the types of relationships we are in, why do we weigh what we weigh? Granted some of it is because of genetic disposition which accounts for 50% of behavior and thought patterns. The other 50% we learn from our parents, friends, teachers, ministers, siblings. Once we repeat these lessons over and over again they become fixed in our subconscious mind. As we reach our mid teens and mid 20's we have most of the habits and thoughts that are guiding our lives, creating a pattern in the implicit memory system.
You can sit around and think about losing the weight, be hopeful and set your intentions, but that won't cut it alone. "I am so thankful that I feel healthy and strong," this is the goal. Great! Now here is my plan for achieving this,,, I will go to the gym this many days, I will eat this food to feel more energetic, I will meditate for this amount of time on creating a healthier body... here is what I will do so I can achieve the goal. It is the action part in the law of attraction.
We need to unlearn habits and what we know that are causing the unwanted results in our life. So how do we develop new thought patterns, beliefs and habits? The brain has the ability to create new software and if we take a properly written affirmation and impress it through repetition, emotion and the right language patterns into the brain, over the course of 3 months, 6 months, 9 months we would start to develop a new habitual pattern. When we are able to learn how to visualize the new belief, pattern and outcome, now we can create a new image in the subconscious mind. The brain then starts to look for things that match in the physical world with matches in the internal new software that we've created.
"Why don't we stop and write the number down," I say as we drive past the new gallery in town. I swing the car into a parking spot. David pauses a moment and then gets out, grabbing a napkin from the car to write the number. Before he even gets a chance to sit down I prompt him with a smile and a challenge, "Now call it," He looks at me a bit dubiously. "Really, call right now. There is no better time then the present to take action." He does and a few days later David is set up for a gallery opening. He paints some of his most beautiful pieces, creating from the heart and enjoying the opportunity of a smaller show in his hometown. Rather than judging how and what's next, he paints as if this is the big chance.
When we look, its not the eyes that see, its the brain that sees and it looks for patterns and images that resonate or match our internal reality.
Very few people think about what do thoughts actual do? In quantum physics they have proven that our focus actually causes the intelligent energy field that is energy,to change into particles, from nothing into something. It only seems like nothing because we can't see it with our eyes. But right now most people can't hear any music, but there are waves of music all around us. There are tv waves and microwaves in the air all the time. Just because we can't see it, hear it or explain it doesn't mean that it doesn't work. Most of us don't know how the light goes on in the house but we turn on the switch anyway.
Once David is signed for a solo artist show, the gallery owners introduce him to another artist and gallery owner from Chicago. In sync with Davids work, he offers him a gallery opening in New Orleans and the future of a New York Gallery opening. David could have spent years lining up interviews and submissions with what now came swiftly. What are even the odds of a gallery opening up four blocks from our home, in a small town of three thousand and then to have the gallery close shortly afterward? He became picture clear with the screen play, he released the old beliefs that were holding him back and he then took the action steps as they showed up. It became a concert of perfection. In a state of surrender and letting go to enjoy where he was at, the Universe was able to now work through him. The flow is unstoppable when we get our egos out of the way.
What is it that you want to achieve and why? Do you want to create more income, impact and influence” in your career, “passion and playfulness” in your intimate relationship, and do it all with joy in your heart? How would it feel to have that in your life right now? You have to make it real in the mind before you can be it. The Universe responds to feelings, not words. Its not one or the other, its the combination. What are the methods you'll apply to achieve these goals and what are your strategies so you will be successful this time?
Focus on the combination of these three aspects as you commit to your new goals.
"Thoughts + feelings around thoughts + actions = results"
As we focus on the new belief we are rewiring the brain to focus on the new vision and if we can do that week after week, we start to change from the inside out. The brain starts to look for things that match the new expectation, the new image or new belief.
When it comes to your goals the bottom line question to ask is," Are you interested or committed? If your interested you will only do what's convenient. If your committed you will do what it takes to finally create lasting change in your life.
Above all, be playful about it, breathe and allow that breath to move you towards inspired action.
P.S. Please post a comment and share your
thoughts about making 2010 the best year ever. I'm sure everyone would love to hear your advice and inspiration. If you have any questions on the screen play process,or creating your own screen play, feel free to email questions to: sarahspeaks@gmail.com
Namaste, Sarah
Why do we stop 2 weeks into the new year after whole-heartedly buying the new gym membership, the nicotine patches or self help books? When asked most would answer "I don't know."
To succeed this year your resolution needs to be looked at as a process that you will be vigilant in moving towards, rather than waiting around for a miracle to happen, reciting the affirmations or making more empty promises to yourself. Remember in the Law of Attraction, the last six letters is ACTION.
I sit at the computer to make my first "screen play." its like going shopping for a new life. What do I want to create? What is is that I want to do, experience, be and have? I take the time to answer these questions one by one for each area of my life. How do I want to feel in my body? How is it that I want to serve life? What kind of relationships to I want to enjoy? What kind of home to I want to live in? What and where do I want to teach? What places do I want to see in the world? I had taken the time to go over these questions and find my answers within as well as the answers to what I may believe is holding me back from all I want to live. Fear and analytical thought can easily squash and can also determine what we create and experience. As I let go of the excuses to living my dream life, I can finally sit down and feel good about focusing on living a fulfilling, joyful life that we all came here to experience.
The reason we quit? Usually it's because we forgot the action plan or specific steps we are committed to taking. Willpower and persistence can only create change in about 4 - 6% or our long term behaviors and actions. So the new years resolutions, without a plan to change the behavior, is essentially a waste of time.
How do we impress a new habit into the subconscious, create a new pattern in the same part of the mind which is responsible for 96% of our behaviors AND reinstate a new affirmation or belief as we release an old one? Since behavior is hard to change long term, we need to have a different process, a process that works on the "implicit memory system." If we don't like the results that we are achieving in our life, then that means the behavior that has gotten those results must change by working with this "system."
I search through Google images to find pictures that evoke and imbue what it is I want. My daughter and friends are in the next room goofing around when they join to search for the most amazing destinations in the world. Beautiful pictures of Italy, Arizona, Australia and California get saved to my desktop. We then move to shop around for healthy body images to focus on. I save images of yoga poses that seem fun and that I would enjoy trying. I find homes that make feel joyful just looking at and the type of meditation room I wold love to relax in. Most importantly, I find pictures of all the teachers who have inspired me along my path to add to my screen play. One of the many affirmations I record in the background include, "I choose to teach and serve among the very same teachers who have inspired me to be my absolute best." I add affirmations behind the destinations like, "I'm so happy to travel through out the world filming and hosting "Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr" as I explore the beauty of mother nature with my family." It was not until I could feel how it would feel to actually be this that I could attract it into my life. My husband had started a month before me on his screen play and is a wonderful example of "ask and then get ready to move your feet."
What is the implicit memory system? Why does somebody earn what they earn, why are we in the types of relationships we are in, why do we weigh what we weigh? Granted some of it is because of genetic disposition which accounts for 50% of behavior and thought patterns. The other 50% we learn from our parents, friends, teachers, ministers, siblings. Once we repeat these lessons over and over again they become fixed in our subconscious mind. As we reach our mid teens and mid 20's we have most of the habits and thoughts that are guiding our lives, creating a pattern in the implicit memory system.
You can sit around and think about losing the weight, be hopeful and set your intentions, but that won't cut it alone. "I am so thankful that I feel healthy and strong," this is the goal. Great! Now here is my plan for achieving this,,, I will go to the gym this many days, I will eat this food to feel more energetic, I will meditate for this amount of time on creating a healthier body... here is what I will do so I can achieve the goal. It is the action part in the law of attraction.
We need to unlearn habits and what we know that are causing the unwanted results in our life. So how do we develop new thought patterns, beliefs and habits? The brain has the ability to create new software and if we take a properly written affirmation and impress it through repetition, emotion and the right language patterns into the brain, over the course of 3 months, 6 months, 9 months we would start to develop a new habitual pattern. When we are able to learn how to visualize the new belief, pattern and outcome, now we can create a new image in the subconscious mind. The brain then starts to look for things that match in the physical world with matches in the internal new software that we've created.
"Why don't we stop and write the number down," I say as we drive past the new gallery in town. I swing the car into a parking spot. David pauses a moment and then gets out, grabbing a napkin from the car to write the number. Before he even gets a chance to sit down I prompt him with a smile and a challenge, "Now call it," He looks at me a bit dubiously. "Really, call right now. There is no better time then the present to take action." He does and a few days later David is set up for a gallery opening. He paints some of his most beautiful pieces, creating from the heart and enjoying the opportunity of a smaller show in his hometown. Rather than judging how and what's next, he paints as if this is the big chance.
When we look, its not the eyes that see, its the brain that sees and it looks for patterns and images that resonate or match our internal reality.
Very few people think about what do thoughts actual do? In quantum physics they have proven that our focus actually causes the intelligent energy field that is energy,to change into particles, from nothing into something. It only seems like nothing because we can't see it with our eyes. But right now most people can't hear any music, but there are waves of music all around us. There are tv waves and microwaves in the air all the time. Just because we can't see it, hear it or explain it doesn't mean that it doesn't work. Most of us don't know how the light goes on in the house but we turn on the switch anyway.
Once David is signed for a solo artist show, the gallery owners introduce him to another artist and gallery owner from Chicago. In sync with Davids work, he offers him a gallery opening in New Orleans and the future of a New York Gallery opening. David could have spent years lining up interviews and submissions with what now came swiftly. What are even the odds of a gallery opening up four blocks from our home, in a small town of three thousand and then to have the gallery close shortly afterward? He became picture clear with the screen play, he released the old beliefs that were holding him back and he then took the action steps as they showed up. It became a concert of perfection. In a state of surrender and letting go to enjoy where he was at, the Universe was able to now work through him. The flow is unstoppable when we get our egos out of the way.
What is it that you want to achieve and why? Do you want to create more income, impact and influence” in your career, “passion and playfulness” in your intimate relationship, and do it all with joy in your heart? How would it feel to have that in your life right now? You have to make it real in the mind before you can be it. The Universe responds to feelings, not words. Its not one or the other, its the combination. What are the methods you'll apply to achieve these goals and what are your strategies so you will be successful this time?
Focus on the combination of these three aspects as you commit to your new goals.
"Thoughts + feelings around thoughts + actions = results"
As we focus on the new belief we are rewiring the brain to focus on the new vision and if we can do that week after week, we start to change from the inside out. The brain starts to look for things that match the new expectation, the new image or new belief.
When it comes to your goals the bottom line question to ask is," Are you interested or committed? If your interested you will only do what's convenient. If your committed you will do what it takes to finally create lasting change in your life.
Above all, be playful about it, breathe and allow that breath to move you towards inspired action.
P.S. Please post a comment and share your
thoughts about making 2010 the best year ever. I'm sure everyone would love to hear your advice and inspiration. If you have any questions on the screen play process,or creating your own screen play, feel free to email questions to: sarahspeaks@gmail.com
Namaste, Sarah
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Learning to Come From the Heart
How can we make the leap from creating with the mind to creating from your heart? This is the time when we need to look inward in order to flow with the changes of our world. It is time to come to terms with who we truly are and how we relate to ourselves, one another and the world around us.
Do you feel separate from the person standing next to you? How do we as a small part of the Universe make changes in our world? We all know that we are in a very different world than we were even a few years ago. We know that we are undergoing the greatest global challenges in history of the world. How many of us know someone or are experiencing ourselves some of the greatest challenges in our life so far? It may be easier at this time to retract from our world or get even more self absorbed as we see only the challenges in front of us, we all do it. But now is the time when it is most important to open up, move from the heart and treat everyone around us with the same love and grace as we would our closest loved ones. The antidote is to do the opposite of pulling back or shutting down. It's time to amp up the love within, take a chance and love without condition.
The mob of "tweens" wrap around the building, letting me know I was in the right place. I drive slowly passed amazed and mortified as I searched for an open parking space. A man with a homemade sign saying Parking, Donations for the church of St. Luke's flagged me in. Perfect, it took only minutes and we were jumping up and down in line to keep warm with the rest of the young teens. My daughter's first official concert, Justin Beiber, at a club in Milwaukee. You can just drop us off my daughter offers to me a few weeks beforehand. "No that's all right," I smile, "I'll pay another $50 bucks and see you through the rest of your teen years," I tease. Standing in line I can hear another mother talking to someone who had made it into the concert already. "The kids are out of control inside, their already kicking, hitting and spitting at each other to get to the front stage," she tells me. I look over at my daughter and her step sister. "Think positive" I smile as they look at me a little nervous now.
For the past three hundred years science has been trying to prove that everything is connected, and also to prove whether or not we have any influence in this world beyond our bodies. Through quantum physics, we now that it is true. Funny enough, for 5,ooo years the indigenous people have known this and have been communing and connecting with nature as a way of being. It is time to learn from their example.
We eventually get to the front of the line. "One by one!" they yell at us as we file in. We hang tight and weave through the maze they've created to slow the crowd down. Once we hit the open floor, it was a free for all. Let's dive in the girls yell to me. I lead the way as we hang tight, hand in hand. It was the loudest screaming I have ever known as the first act comes on. The crowd pushes tight, 99% female, screaming and pushing to get to the front. Hot and sweaty I struggle to hang onto both of them as they happily film whatever they can on their cameras and phones.
Whatever is happening in this world, it is part of something that is much bigger than we know. We can ease the transition by coming back to our truest nature. It involves moving from a heart based experience. It is an energy that is part of the pulse of the earth. We can work with all that is changing or we can tighten up and contract, only creating more suffering around us. The very field that is creating the change is the very field that gives us life.
Unable to see anyway, I keep my head down and cling to their sweaty arms. the crowd moves and sways, I plant my feet. I watch as a a mother next to my daughter works to elbow her young son a better eye's view. My daughter catches an elbow in her back and turns to ask, "Can you please stop pushing me?" The women retorts saying "why don't you move?""I can't move,"she answers, "why don't you move?" The women yells in her face that she has a nasty attitude and a bad mouth. The crowd keeps smashing inward as the announcer yells at everyone to take three steps back away from the stage. The heat of the bodies adds fuel to the fire as the tension in the crowd mounts. No one was backing down, they only pushed tighter to catch a glimpse of the main act who was still illusive.
Some believe that all the action for creating was in the brain. In fact the brain does generate a tiny electrical magnetic field and a tiny magnetic field. Now science is showing that the heart is much stronger. The very same fields that heal our bodies and connect us with all of life, the feeling and emotion in the heart is the key. Our hearts create the most powerful electrical magnetic field in the body and can literally be measured from satellite 22,00 miles in space. The human heart generates an electrical field that is about 100x stronger than the brain and a magnetic field that is 5,000x stronger than the brain. these are the fields that communicate with the world around us and these are the fields that help heal our bodies and connect us with one another. This way of being connects us to the changes that are happening in the world.
Finally Justin comes to stage and a frenzy ensues, It takes all my strength to hang onto my two teens, I hang on and pray. With my arms stretched as far as they can, the crowd jostles us all in different directions. My motherly instinct wants to yell, "let's get out of here!" It was in that moment that I remembered I had another choice. I go to my heart instead and focus on my breath, as if I could breath in and out of that space. I focus on the goodness in these people all around me, even though they may be caught up in this moment. I choose to see the kindness in all. I choose to smile at the ones who even tried to crawl under my legs to get closer. I choose to smile at the mother who yelled at my daughter, instead of shooting daggers at the back of her head. I focus on the memories these two girls will have forever at their first crazy concert and felt thankful to be there with them. I focus on being able to leave safely, find my car easily and have an uneventful, safe, happy three hour drive home.
In order to connect to that space, we have to get out of the thinking mind. If we can learn "or remember" the language of the heart, we can connect to the very field that creates the all of it. The "language of the heart" begins as we hold a genuine feeling of care in our heart. Our heart then sends a signal to our brain and the brain sends back a signal to the heart, and wah lah, a two way conversation begins.This electrical signal in the body can be measured and as we focus,with the optimal signal we create being 0.01 hertz. When we are feeling great care and appreciation, it creates a signal and establishes what they call at HeartMath, "coherence." Optimal coherence sets up conditions in the body for healing. Our immune system gets stronger, our DHE levels increase up to 100%, stress levels decrease and cortisol levels decrease. The best part of it all is that 0.10 hertz overlaps and envelops our planet, linking all life together. There is no them or us in this field. This feeling tunes and hones the language of the heart, connecting us and empowering us in a positive way.
As the last note was sung, I grab my two and head for the door. Like moths to a flame, the neon sign of T_shirts catch their eye and we quickly buy matching T-shirts, run down the four flights of stairs and drive out of Milwaukee within minutes. It is if time had stopped for us, not a soul seems to have left the building as I pull away. With thousands of people at this concert, it was if we were they only three left in town. We all breathe a sigh of relief as the girls laugh, excited and frightened all at once. "That was the coolest night of my life," they both cheer, as they watch their videos, texting and talking all the way home. I am thankful for the moment I took that breath. It was in that breath that I could choose love and oneness over anger and fear. It is all in the breath, one moment and one choice that we can change our experience and ultimately change the world.
Take a deep breath now and move into your heart. Rather than thinking how it would feel to be in your heart, breathe and take a moment to bring your hand to your heart space. Touch the center of your chest with your fingertips, gently press your fingertips into the space above your sternum. This gentle pressure brings your focus and draws the awareness from our mind into the place in the body where you feel the pressure. Pretend your breath is flowing in and out of this very space. Feel as you do this, your heart rhythms and breath synchronize. To amplify this sensation, uncross your arms and legs, releasing those pressure points, so all your focus goes to that space over your heart. Breathe slowly and gently until your breath feels smooth and even rather than forced. The moment we put our focus to the heart, the action begins. Once you draw the awareness into your heart and breathe into that space, bring your attention to someone or something that you have great care or appreciation for. Focus on that feeling of love, care and appreciation to find the place in your heart and activate that energy. Feel all the sensations, feel how it feels to be with that person, hold your pet, enjoy that moment in time as you experienced a beautiful sunset, whatever the feelings are, allow them to bubble up and move into every cell of your body. Allow yourself to feel and continue the cycle of heart breathing and heart focusing.
For more information on creating coherence, check out Heartmath.com
Friday, December 18, 2009
Feeling Lost? | Listen to Your Inner GPS
Could our surroundings be an expression of us? Could our interactions with our vehicles and the situations that arise be a direct correlation to our bodies and state of mind? Just as we are all energy, our vehicles are also energy.
I am excited to be on a date with my husband and to see if I made the final cut as an extra in the new Johnny Depp movie. The journey to the movie premiere is the beginning of another new awakening.
As I drive to the theatre, David and I talk about what's the next biggest thing we can imagine happening. Where do we want to go with our lives? What could we dare to dream? I talk of wanting to teach with all who have inspired me to be my best. My intention is to create an image mind map that I could meditate with every day, helping me to gain clarity in my life. The mind map would include pictures of Wayne Dyer on stage, Louise Hay, Shiva Rea, Amma, Eckhart Tolle with my voice in the background repeating affirmations of my vision. In truth, I had been stalling any movement forward on my dream every time my ego asked "how" instead of why. “I don’t even know what I would do or say If I did get on stage with Wayne Dyer or Louise Hay,” I confess. This was the exact mind dialogue that was putting the brakes on my dreams. My ego wants to know when, how and figure it all out first, looking for control.
I felt lost with no direction.
We enjoy the movie, excited to be at a movie premiere and I even catch a glimpse of myself on the big screen getting shot at by Johnny Depp. The drive to the party turns into the old familiar patterns of the ego. I struggle to get directions from a few people on the way out of the theatre. Not understanding which way I was supposed to go, I pretend saying, "Oh sure, I got it." We even try to get the GPS system to work; yet in my rushed state I am unsuccessful. Instead of getting clear, I just start driving.
My state of mind was a direct reflection of my experience. As we are clearly lost, the tension mounts in our car. "Just pull over and ask," David says. I make a quick U-turn as it looks we are about to head out of town and we find a gas station. The conversation turns to old patterns of blame. The "you should've, I wish you’d just, Why don’t you ever" conversation repeats itself. Pulling into the gas station David says,” Come in with me so you can hear the directions, too." I shake my head answering. "Why should I? I don’t ever understand the directions anyway. You just go in, then you can tell me which way to go.”
Sound familiar? “You figure it out, tell me what I should do. I don’t want to accept responsibility. I am unclear. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m afraid if I take the wrong path, there will be no turning back, I have no control.” All of these excuses apply on the road and also in my clarity of what I need to do in life. My stomach is doing flip-flops, a sure sign that something is not in order. It is time to get clear. Why all this stress around directions? Stress is the same as fear. What am I afraid of? Why am I giving all my power away in this moment?If it is not a positive fulfilling experience, it is time to question why. Why do I do it? What can I learn from this? Where did this come from, when did this start? The ego is creating this fear, keeping me from living the life of harmony and peace, disconnected. It is not possible to be at peace and be stressed at the same time.
The answers lie within. Here is an opportunity to be shown the person I truly am. The answers become clear as I retell the story to my friend the next day. In a new day and a little more perspective, it becomes clear,"I don’t need to know what I would say on stage. In this very moment I am becoming the person who will know. I will be led each step of the way." Five years ago I would not have even tried to be in a Hollywood movie, sit in front of Amma the Hugging Saint, create a yoga TV program, write a book, create a blog, talk on the radio, meet my favorite authors, travel around the world, ect... Five years ago I was not the same person, yet was led step by step on this path to become the person I am today.
Do we ever stop growing? Do we ever stop doing the work? The day I say, "I got it, I don't need to listen anymore," will be a dark day. The process is a never ending joyful process and is not meant to end, ever.
When I do step on that stage or whatever is lined up for me, I won’t be the same person I am today. That is why there is no reason to figure it out. I will be led each step of the way, and experiences of getting lost are the exact pathways I am learning to grow from. Become willing to go beyond what you believe today. Learning means taking in something new. When we see each experience as an opportunity to uncover and remember the Divine part of us, we will never stop growing.
Having no vision, being stuck, feeling lost, feeling loss of control, ECT... Next time you have something go wrong with your car or have certain repeated experiences, take a moment to pause, check in to see if there is any correlation to your thoughts, feelings and state of mind. What do the situations or broken parts represent and see if there is any connection between the parts of the car and what you are thinking and feeling. Are the speeding tickets piling up ( are your feeling rushed, not enough time for everything in your life), too many parking tickets (can’t get your butt moving, not feeling inspired, motivated?) The connection between the mind and body is amazing and each situation can be handled to work for you. As I mentally go back to my conversation on the road, it was obvious that I was feeling lost, out of control, without direction. The contemplation of the self is one of the best tools to grow. There was no one to blame, to fix or to feel guilty about. It is a lesson to grow in order to become the person I need to be for the next part of my journey. Trust your higher self to lead you, follow your bliss.
I am excited to be on a date with my husband and to see if I made the final cut as an extra in the new Johnny Depp movie. The journey to the movie premiere is the beginning of another new awakening.
As I drive to the theatre, David and I talk about what's the next biggest thing we can imagine happening. Where do we want to go with our lives? What could we dare to dream? I talk of wanting to teach with all who have inspired me to be my best. My intention is to create an image mind map that I could meditate with every day, helping me to gain clarity in my life. The mind map would include pictures of Wayne Dyer on stage, Louise Hay, Shiva Rea, Amma, Eckhart Tolle with my voice in the background repeating affirmations of my vision. In truth, I had been stalling any movement forward on my dream every time my ego asked "how" instead of why. “I don’t even know what I would do or say If I did get on stage with Wayne Dyer or Louise Hay,” I confess. This was the exact mind dialogue that was putting the brakes on my dreams. My ego wants to know when, how and figure it all out first, looking for control.
I felt lost with no direction.
We enjoy the movie, excited to be at a movie premiere and I even catch a glimpse of myself on the big screen getting shot at by Johnny Depp. The drive to the party turns into the old familiar patterns of the ego. I struggle to get directions from a few people on the way out of the theatre. Not understanding which way I was supposed to go, I pretend saying, "Oh sure, I got it." We even try to get the GPS system to work; yet in my rushed state I am unsuccessful. Instead of getting clear, I just start driving.
My state of mind was a direct reflection of my experience. As we are clearly lost, the tension mounts in our car. "Just pull over and ask," David says. I make a quick U-turn as it looks we are about to head out of town and we find a gas station. The conversation turns to old patterns of blame. The "you should've, I wish you’d just, Why don’t you ever" conversation repeats itself. Pulling into the gas station David says,” Come in with me so you can hear the directions, too." I shake my head answering. "Why should I? I don’t ever understand the directions anyway. You just go in, then you can tell me which way to go.”
Sound familiar? “You figure it out, tell me what I should do. I don’t want to accept responsibility. I am unclear. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m afraid if I take the wrong path, there will be no turning back, I have no control.” All of these excuses apply on the road and also in my clarity of what I need to do in life. My stomach is doing flip-flops, a sure sign that something is not in order. It is time to get clear. Why all this stress around directions? Stress is the same as fear. What am I afraid of? Why am I giving all my power away in this moment?If it is not a positive fulfilling experience, it is time to question why. Why do I do it? What can I learn from this? Where did this come from, when did this start? The ego is creating this fear, keeping me from living the life of harmony and peace, disconnected. It is not possible to be at peace and be stressed at the same time.
The answers lie within. Here is an opportunity to be shown the person I truly am. The answers become clear as I retell the story to my friend the next day. In a new day and a little more perspective, it becomes clear,"I don’t need to know what I would say on stage. In this very moment I am becoming the person who will know. I will be led each step of the way." Five years ago I would not have even tried to be in a Hollywood movie, sit in front of Amma the Hugging Saint, create a yoga TV program, write a book, create a blog, talk on the radio, meet my favorite authors, travel around the world, ect... Five years ago I was not the same person, yet was led step by step on this path to become the person I am today.
Do we ever stop growing? Do we ever stop doing the work? The day I say, "I got it, I don't need to listen anymore," will be a dark day. The process is a never ending joyful process and is not meant to end, ever.
When I do step on that stage or whatever is lined up for me, I won’t be the same person I am today. That is why there is no reason to figure it out. I will be led each step of the way, and experiences of getting lost are the exact pathways I am learning to grow from. Become willing to go beyond what you believe today. Learning means taking in something new. When we see each experience as an opportunity to uncover and remember the Divine part of us, we will never stop growing.
Having no vision, being stuck, feeling lost, feeling loss of control, ECT... Next time you have something go wrong with your car or have certain repeated experiences, take a moment to pause, check in to see if there is any correlation to your thoughts, feelings and state of mind. What do the situations or broken parts represent and see if there is any connection between the parts of the car and what you are thinking and feeling. Are the speeding tickets piling up ( are your feeling rushed, not enough time for everything in your life), too many parking tickets (can’t get your butt moving, not feeling inspired, motivated?) The connection between the mind and body is amazing and each situation can be handled to work for you. As I mentally go back to my conversation on the road, it was obvious that I was feeling lost, out of control, without direction. The contemplation of the self is one of the best tools to grow. There was no one to blame, to fix or to feel guilty about. It is a lesson to grow in order to become the person I need to be for the next part of my journey. Trust your higher self to lead you, follow your bliss.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Benefits of Yoga | See What Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle and Madonna Have to Say
With a restless mind and body, I step onto a mat for the first time. A single mother, operating my own salon business, I’d just called off a wedding two weeks before the big day. Unable to sleep at night, my sister in law borrows me a Rodney Yee yoga tape P.M. Practice. I am hooked. On my path to self-realization, yoga has been the solid thread that keeps bringing me back to a deeper exploration of the self. The change occurs as I take a look within and take responsibility for my life.
I’ve found yoga to be a deeply personal experience and it’s not the same for everyone who practices it. As you incorporate the practice into your daily routine, the benefits of yoga become easily apparent. This article features the many benefits of yoga and a few people we all know and love who also recommend yoga as an avenue into the moment.
The health benefits have been divided into 3 categories. The Physical Health Benefits of Yoga, Emotional Health Benefits of Yoga and the Mental Health Benefits of Yoga. A short explanation is given along with each benefit to further help you understand better the mechanisms that Yoga employs to bestow it.
Physical Health Benefits of Yoga:
1. In the yoga practice there is an emphasis on learning to take deeper longer breaths, increasing the oxygen level in your blood while doing yoga exercises. Breath control training (pranayama) and the use of yoga bandhas work to activate and create balance in your bodies energy pathways and that in turn leads to a more energetic overall feeling. Breathing better will help to increase your lung function and set off the body’s relaxation response. There are different breathing techniques that create energy, some create calm or stimulate the digestive system, while others bring balance to the right and left brain. As you feel more energy through your breath and feel more flexible in your body you stay more active and this leads to feeling your naturally vital state of being.
2. Yoga not only strengthens your muscles but also increases the strength or your internal physiological systems. The practice can increases your immune system, nervous system, digestive system, respiratory system, circulatory system, reproductive system, etc. Before finding yoga I spent hours in the gym weight training, building larger, more powerful muscles and completely ignored any work towards flexibility. These short powerful muscles left me open to injury. The holding of yoga poses and the exercise yoga incorporates has helped me increase strength but also making my muscles flexible to protect me from injury.
3. As I incorporated yoga into my daily life I noticed my levels of flexibility increase, helping with my range of motion. This flexibility is crucial for avoiding injuries as you lengthen the muscles, tendons and muscles. Sometimes in the yoga daily exercises, in the beginning some people cannot even touch their toes. This practice can open many areas of your life that seemed difficult at best, from swinging a golf club, playing tennis or simply making it easier to get in and out of your car. The entire Lakers team practices yoga few times a week, to improve performance and to help prevent injuries during games. Using yoga techniques to warm up before games, the Lakers prove that yoga is a technique to be reckonened with as they are convinced that yoga helps them perform better.
Emotional Health Benefits of Yoga:
4. Peace and Joy: This is one of the main reasons people do a daily exercise of yoga. Today’s busy lifestyles can take its toll on us physically and mentally. Yoga meditations and practice methodology help to relieve stress, calm the mind, allowing you to tap into an appreciation for the present moment. The slow stretching movements and deep breathing promote a clearing of the mind, opening a portal into a state of appreciation and deep peace to surface. As you enjoy your practice of going within, the joy and beauty of life become clear and your natural state of joy emerges.
5. Yoga cultivates Compassion: Yoga helps to develop mindfulness of the self, treating and giving yourself compassion as you move through the ego, the want or need to get somewhere in a pose. I use this time as an invitation to honor my body, taking my time rather than forcing and pushing through a pose or sequence. As I cultivate compassion thoughtfulness and generosity for myself, I can then give it to others. "Become the change you want to see in the world." Gahndi
Mental Health Benefits of Yoga:
6. Yoga breathing and meditations develop parts of the brain that create greater coordination, memory skills, clarity of thoughts and improved concentration. These benefits you carry with you from the mat, creating awareness in the rest of your life. As we tune into our true nature we also drop the veils of the ego, opening to the Divine nature within, increasing self-awareness and self-esteem.
Dr. Wayne Dyer, world-renowned self-help advocate, author, inspirational and lecturer -"I'm an inch taller since I started doing yoga because it stretches the spine. It doesn't just teach us to be flexible in our physical world, but to be flexible in our thinking and keeps us balanced. Because I am a public speaker, I first noticed a difference in my mind. I started thinking better and my lecturing was more focused. I didn't have to take notes on what I was going to say. I also noticed I was sleeping better. Practicing yoga works every part of your body not just the outer part, but the inner parts like your thyroid, pituitary gland, and your digestive system.”
Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A new Earth - “Spiritual practices that involve the physical body, such as t’ai chi, qigong and yoga are increasingly being embraced in the western world. These practices do not create a separation between body and spirit and are helpful in weakening the pain-body. They will play an important role in global awakening.”
Madonna - “Yoga is a metaphor for life. You have to take it really slowly, You can't rush. You can't skip to the next position. You find yourself in very humiliating situations, but you can't judge yourself. You just have to breathe, and let go. It is a workout for your mind, your body and your soul."
Thanks to the celebrity status yoga has also been globalised and people from all parts of the world get to learn, practice and enjoy yoga. Yoga has very much turned into an option for everyone who wants to tone their bodies and who want to be healthy in general.
The benefits of yoga are deep and long lasting. There is no one other exercise avenue you can take that will address all of these issues in one simple session. For those of you that think yoga is too easy, I encourage you to try one class. You may find it is just what you are looking for.
I’ve found yoga to be a deeply personal experience and it’s not the same for everyone who practices it. As you incorporate the practice into your daily routine, the benefits of yoga become easily apparent. This article features the many benefits of yoga and a few people we all know and love who also recommend yoga as an avenue into the moment.
The health benefits have been divided into 3 categories. The Physical Health Benefits of Yoga, Emotional Health Benefits of Yoga and the Mental Health Benefits of Yoga. A short explanation is given along with each benefit to further help you understand better the mechanisms that Yoga employs to bestow it.
Physical Health Benefits of Yoga:
1. In the yoga practice there is an emphasis on learning to take deeper longer breaths, increasing the oxygen level in your blood while doing yoga exercises. Breath control training (pranayama) and the use of yoga bandhas work to activate and create balance in your bodies energy pathways and that in turn leads to a more energetic overall feeling. Breathing better will help to increase your lung function and set off the body’s relaxation response. There are different breathing techniques that create energy, some create calm or stimulate the digestive system, while others bring balance to the right and left brain. As you feel more energy through your breath and feel more flexible in your body you stay more active and this leads to feeling your naturally vital state of being.
2. Yoga not only strengthens your muscles but also increases the strength or your internal physiological systems. The practice can increases your immune system, nervous system, digestive system, respiratory system, circulatory system, reproductive system, etc. Before finding yoga I spent hours in the gym weight training, building larger, more powerful muscles and completely ignored any work towards flexibility. These short powerful muscles left me open to injury. The holding of yoga poses and the exercise yoga incorporates has helped me increase strength but also making my muscles flexible to protect me from injury.
3. As I incorporated yoga into my daily life I noticed my levels of flexibility increase, helping with my range of motion. This flexibility is crucial for avoiding injuries as you lengthen the muscles, tendons and muscles. Sometimes in the yoga daily exercises, in the beginning some people cannot even touch their toes. This practice can open many areas of your life that seemed difficult at best, from swinging a golf club, playing tennis or simply making it easier to get in and out of your car. The entire Lakers team practices yoga few times a week, to improve performance and to help prevent injuries during games. Using yoga techniques to warm up before games, the Lakers prove that yoga is a technique to be reckonened with as they are convinced that yoga helps them perform better.
Emotional Health Benefits of Yoga:
4. Peace and Joy: This is one of the main reasons people do a daily exercise of yoga. Today’s busy lifestyles can take its toll on us physically and mentally. Yoga meditations and practice methodology help to relieve stress, calm the mind, allowing you to tap into an appreciation for the present moment. The slow stretching movements and deep breathing promote a clearing of the mind, opening a portal into a state of appreciation and deep peace to surface. As you enjoy your practice of going within, the joy and beauty of life become clear and your natural state of joy emerges.
5. Yoga cultivates Compassion: Yoga helps to develop mindfulness of the self, treating and giving yourself compassion as you move through the ego, the want or need to get somewhere in a pose. I use this time as an invitation to honor my body, taking my time rather than forcing and pushing through a pose or sequence. As I cultivate compassion thoughtfulness and generosity for myself, I can then give it to others. "Become the change you want to see in the world." Gahndi
Mental Health Benefits of Yoga:
6. Yoga breathing and meditations develop parts of the brain that create greater coordination, memory skills, clarity of thoughts and improved concentration. These benefits you carry with you from the mat, creating awareness in the rest of your life. As we tune into our true nature we also drop the veils of the ego, opening to the Divine nature within, increasing self-awareness and self-esteem.
Dr. Wayne Dyer, world-renowned self-help advocate, author, inspirational and lecturer -"I'm an inch taller since I started doing yoga because it stretches the spine. It doesn't just teach us to be flexible in our physical world, but to be flexible in our thinking and keeps us balanced. Because I am a public speaker, I first noticed a difference in my mind. I started thinking better and my lecturing was more focused. I didn't have to take notes on what I was going to say. I also noticed I was sleeping better. Practicing yoga works every part of your body not just the outer part, but the inner parts like your thyroid, pituitary gland, and your digestive system.”
Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A new Earth - “Spiritual practices that involve the physical body, such as t’ai chi, qigong and yoga are increasingly being embraced in the western world. These practices do not create a separation between body and spirit and are helpful in weakening the pain-body. They will play an important role in global awakening.”
Madonna - “Yoga is a metaphor for life. You have to take it really slowly, You can't rush. You can't skip to the next position. You find yourself in very humiliating situations, but you can't judge yourself. You just have to breathe, and let go. It is a workout for your mind, your body and your soul."
Thanks to the celebrity status yoga has also been globalised and people from all parts of the world get to learn, practice and enjoy yoga. Yoga has very much turned into an option for everyone who wants to tone their bodies and who want to be healthy in general.
The benefits of yoga are deep and long lasting. There is no one other exercise avenue you can take that will address all of these issues in one simple session. For those of you that think yoga is too easy, I encourage you to try one class. You may find it is just what you are looking for.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
6 Myths About Stress You Really Need to Know About
Contact: Sarahspeaks@gmail.com
Crushing lines at the grocery store, infuriating traffic jams, annoying text and endless phone calls; it seems were getting stressed out by everything. It doesn't matter if you're a firefighter, a farmer, a clerk or a kindergarten teacher, these days everyone complains about stress. According to the New York Times, workplace ailments contributed by stress costs the nation $300 billion in health care. Stress is the biggest epidemic of this century and it’s worldwide.
Certainly, human beings have been coping with stress for eons, but it looks to be getting worse as we become more entangled locally and globally. The current economic situation is only the latest big cause for stress in many people’s lives. Workplace stress is on every one's mind in today's economic unrest. Thousands of workers have lost their jobs due to downsizing, layoffs, and bankruptcies, creating even more stress in the workplace. Millions of more workers are wondering how much longer they will be employed, causing stress in the workplace to rise for everyone.
As much as we all live with stress, many of us do not understand the basics about stress and its role in our lives. This ignorance can lead to very real negative consequences: Stress can bring on and exacerbate a host of physical illnesses — from heart disease to Alzheimer’s disease. And stress can also trigger or make many mental illnesses more severe.
Here are a few myths about stress that you really need to know about with explanations for why they are not true.
Myth 1:
Stress always comes from outer circumstances.
We usually blame stress on something outside of us; the tyrant boss, crushing traffic, kids that don't listen. But over half of all the stress in our lives comes from within. Perfectionism, worrying about things you have no control over, and living a life of procrastination are all examples of inner stress. Dealing with inner stress involves admitting you have a problem, recognizing the sources of stress, and getting to the root of the problem, working through it to get rid of it, not only for now but in the future as well. Remember that stress is neutral: it doesn't become a problem until we accept it and make it into a problem. Learning to deal with stress keeps stressors from all being the same size and helps you prioritize your knee jerk reaction to them.
"Stress" is only a word that we use to stand for hundreds of specific problems and conflicts we experience day in and day out.
Some of these problems exist outside ourselves, such as relationship difficulties, work-related pressures, and other obligations or demands from the outside world. Others occur inside our bodies, such as feeling tense, angry, worried, or depressed. Thus, whenever we say we are "troubled from stress," what we really mean is we are having a problem that is painful and troubling us. This means we have all been trained to think about stress inaccurately. Instead of asking, "what can I do to cope with my stress?" you should be asking yourself "what exact problems or conflicts are showing up on a consistent basis, and how can I deal with each of these problems effectively?
Myth 2:
If you're feeling stressed it means you're important.
Some people think that if they're not too busy, you're not vital to the workforce. These same people revel in having full schedules, unbearable working hours and thrive on overload. But stress does not mean you matter. It either means that some thing's wrong at work or you're not efficiently matching your tasks to your time. Worse, it may also mean you're being less productive in the long run, because stressed people are less efficient, worse communicators and worse at making good decisions. To accept stress as a normal condition of work is bad for people and bad for the workplace.
Myth 3:
Being overworked causes stress.
Why do some people work 80 hours a week and feel great, while some people work 30 and get majorly stressed? Here's why; stress has nothing to do with the number of hours you work, and everything to do with how you feel during those hours. If you feel great working 100 hours a week, having fun and taking satisfaction in what you do, you won't be stressed. If you work 30 hours a week feeling inadequate, bullied or unappreciated you will be stressed.
Myth 4:
Stress is always bad for you.
People have always had stress of one sort or another, whatever the society, whatever the decade. We have become dependent on certain types of "good" stress to keep us active and motivated. Excitement is a type of stress, as our hunger, or looking forward to a fun event.
Stress is to the human condition where tension is to the guitar string: too little and the music is dull and rough; too much and the music is shrill or the string breaks.
Stress is fundamental to the daily living of life, and is not bad in and of itself, especially in small doses. Once you properly understand what stress is and what really causes it to occur, you can prevent or eliminate much of the "Bad" stress you ordinarily experience.
Myth 5:
Stress is the same for everyone.
While many burnout risk factors have to do with work conditions and lifestyle, certain personality characters can intensify your experiences of stress, making you more predisposed to burn out. Perfectionism can cause unwarranted stress and sometimes put the brakes on completing a task. Pessimists cause needless stress in everyday situations, worrying about things going wrong and always expecting more bad than good. Some people are just naturally more excitable than others and are easily triggered to respond to stress. For those who feel on purpose and believe in what they're doing, stress is less of a factor: but if you don't believe in your life's work, it's harder to put up with problems that come with it. If your life's work conflicts with your values, it can take a toll and lead to an increased risk for burnout.
Myth 6:
Stress is cured by focusing on stress.
Most of the people who returned from anti-stress classes feel more stressed than people who didn't attend. No wonder, focusing on stress is not the way to remove it. Instead you must focus on what brings you peace and energy. Simple breathing exercises only take five minutes out of entire workday but it will reduce stress, make you more creative, and give you more energy. Most importantly it works as an early warning system against many problems at work. When things get crazy and hectic it's easy to miss the warning signs in the body. Things like tense shoulders and neck, headaches, anxiousness, shortness of breath or simply feeling rundown all time can all be early symptoms of stress. Stress also produces psychological effects commonly felt as feeling overwhelmed, disorganized and having difficulty concentrating. Breathing exercises will help you actually notice the symptoms before they become more serious and turn into migraines, depression, conflict or worse. Early warning signs are best listened to earlier rather than later. A change in lifestyle and attitudes to deal with stress will be far less costly in time and money than dealing with the effects of not listening to the early warning signs.
Breathing exercises are an ideal way to relieve stress in that they’re fast, simple, free, and can be performed by just about anyone. They can also be done anywhere and at virtually any time. This makes stress relief breathing exercises one of my most popular and convenient tension tamers. Learn how basic controlled breathing works.
Contact Sarah Starr to book your Breathing Vision Seminar today: sarahspeaks@gmail.com
Crushing lines at the grocery store, infuriating traffic jams, annoying text and endless phone calls; it seems were getting stressed out by everything. It doesn't matter if you're a firefighter, a farmer, a clerk or a kindergarten teacher, these days everyone complains about stress. According to the New York Times, workplace ailments contributed by stress costs the nation $300 billion in health care. Stress is the biggest epidemic of this century and it’s worldwide.
Certainly, human beings have been coping with stress for eons, but it looks to be getting worse as we become more entangled locally and globally. The current economic situation is only the latest big cause for stress in many people’s lives. Workplace stress is on every one's mind in today's economic unrest. Thousands of workers have lost their jobs due to downsizing, layoffs, and bankruptcies, creating even more stress in the workplace. Millions of more workers are wondering how much longer they will be employed, causing stress in the workplace to rise for everyone.
As much as we all live with stress, many of us do not understand the basics about stress and its role in our lives. This ignorance can lead to very real negative consequences: Stress can bring on and exacerbate a host of physical illnesses — from heart disease to Alzheimer’s disease. And stress can also trigger or make many mental illnesses more severe.
Here are a few myths about stress that you really need to know about with explanations for why they are not true.
Myth 1:
Stress always comes from outer circumstances.
We usually blame stress on something outside of us; the tyrant boss, crushing traffic, kids that don't listen. But over half of all the stress in our lives comes from within. Perfectionism, worrying about things you have no control over, and living a life of procrastination are all examples of inner stress. Dealing with inner stress involves admitting you have a problem, recognizing the sources of stress, and getting to the root of the problem, working through it to get rid of it, not only for now but in the future as well. Remember that stress is neutral: it doesn't become a problem until we accept it and make it into a problem. Learning to deal with stress keeps stressors from all being the same size and helps you prioritize your knee jerk reaction to them.
"Stress" is only a word that we use to stand for hundreds of specific problems and conflicts we experience day in and day out.
Some of these problems exist outside ourselves, such as relationship difficulties, work-related pressures, and other obligations or demands from the outside world. Others occur inside our bodies, such as feeling tense, angry, worried, or depressed. Thus, whenever we say we are "troubled from stress," what we really mean is we are having a problem that is painful and troubling us. This means we have all been trained to think about stress inaccurately. Instead of asking, "what can I do to cope with my stress?" you should be asking yourself "what exact problems or conflicts are showing up on a consistent basis, and how can I deal with each of these problems effectively?
Myth 2:
If you're feeling stressed it means you're important.
Some people think that if they're not too busy, you're not vital to the workforce. These same people revel in having full schedules, unbearable working hours and thrive on overload. But stress does not mean you matter. It either means that some thing's wrong at work or you're not efficiently matching your tasks to your time. Worse, it may also mean you're being less productive in the long run, because stressed people are less efficient, worse communicators and worse at making good decisions. To accept stress as a normal condition of work is bad for people and bad for the workplace.
Myth 3:
Being overworked causes stress.
Why do some people work 80 hours a week and feel great, while some people work 30 and get majorly stressed? Here's why; stress has nothing to do with the number of hours you work, and everything to do with how you feel during those hours. If you feel great working 100 hours a week, having fun and taking satisfaction in what you do, you won't be stressed. If you work 30 hours a week feeling inadequate, bullied or unappreciated you will be stressed.
Myth 4:
Stress is always bad for you.
People have always had stress of one sort or another, whatever the society, whatever the decade. We have become dependent on certain types of "good" stress to keep us active and motivated. Excitement is a type of stress, as our hunger, or looking forward to a fun event.
Stress is to the human condition where tension is to the guitar string: too little and the music is dull and rough; too much and the music is shrill or the string breaks.
Stress is fundamental to the daily living of life, and is not bad in and of itself, especially in small doses. Once you properly understand what stress is and what really causes it to occur, you can prevent or eliminate much of the "Bad" stress you ordinarily experience.
Myth 5:
Stress is the same for everyone.
While many burnout risk factors have to do with work conditions and lifestyle, certain personality characters can intensify your experiences of stress, making you more predisposed to burn out. Perfectionism can cause unwarranted stress and sometimes put the brakes on completing a task. Pessimists cause needless stress in everyday situations, worrying about things going wrong and always expecting more bad than good. Some people are just naturally more excitable than others and are easily triggered to respond to stress. For those who feel on purpose and believe in what they're doing, stress is less of a factor: but if you don't believe in your life's work, it's harder to put up with problems that come with it. If your life's work conflicts with your values, it can take a toll and lead to an increased risk for burnout.
Myth 6:
Stress is cured by focusing on stress.
Most of the people who returned from anti-stress classes feel more stressed than people who didn't attend. No wonder, focusing on stress is not the way to remove it. Instead you must focus on what brings you peace and energy. Simple breathing exercises only take five minutes out of entire workday but it will reduce stress, make you more creative, and give you more energy. Most importantly it works as an early warning system against many problems at work. When things get crazy and hectic it's easy to miss the warning signs in the body. Things like tense shoulders and neck, headaches, anxiousness, shortness of breath or simply feeling rundown all time can all be early symptoms of stress. Stress also produces psychological effects commonly felt as feeling overwhelmed, disorganized and having difficulty concentrating. Breathing exercises will help you actually notice the symptoms before they become more serious and turn into migraines, depression, conflict or worse. Early warning signs are best listened to earlier rather than later. A change in lifestyle and attitudes to deal with stress will be far less costly in time and money than dealing with the effects of not listening to the early warning signs.
Breathing exercises are an ideal way to relieve stress in that they’re fast, simple, free, and can be performed by just about anyone. They can also be done anywhere and at virtually any time. This makes stress relief breathing exercises one of my most popular and convenient tension tamers. Learn how basic controlled breathing works.
Contact Sarah Starr to book your Breathing Vision Seminar today: sarahspeaks@gmail.com
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