You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2009.
Got this this morning before heading into Golden Bridge NY to teach my wonderful Kundalini Yogis at this small wonderful Yoga Sanctuary in NYC. Always good to be reminded of perspective.
Last night I went to a memorial service for a fellow fashion illustrator, an artists we represented in Fashion Art Bank. He died after a fatal accident / brain injury from a fall down a circular staircase where he lost his balance while carrying heavy art books. He was in good health and it came as a total shock to all who knew him. The recurring message at the service by nearly everyone who spoke of him was, “We need to do the things we love and make time for the things and people most important to us because life is short, and we never know if we or they will be here tomorrow.”
So I’m forcing myself to do more things I enjoy, like tonight I’m going to see Cirque do Soleil.
Yoga Journal used to be called the Journal for Conscious Living. Yogi Bhajan told us this time we are in right now would make people really crazy and there would be alot of pain. Yoga is a way we can lift our own pain and help others life theirs, in other words to shift consciousness. This is what one of our April retreat attendees said “Donna,
I just wanted to let you know that your retreat DID leave a lasting impact on me in so many ways. I have continued to take time to practice yoga and I have used my breathing to remain calm under situations that would typically make me tense. My mind is clearer than ever! I am learning to remove unnecessary guilt from my conscious and to focus on the good in myself and in others. I can spend hours working in my house without the typical background sound to drain out my thoughts. Less music and much less television. The best thing that I took away from my week in Maine is to focus less on social standards that people have set and more on what I feel is right for me in MY life. As Eckhart Tolle would say, “let your deeper longings be your compass on Earth”, and I actually feel like I can let go and do this now!
Thank you for being open minded and really listening to each of us. I took so much from our conversations and I am truly grateful for having the opportunity to meet you and your husband.
Namaste!
Maxine”
So practicing meditation and yoga develops the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. Interestingly these people that commit these unthinkable crimes (some we have heard of very recently) have NO activity in that part of the brain, simply fascinating. None of us have the answers on this thing called life; yesterday as I
meditationg with mantra at Sewall House April 2009
stood on a subway platform in NYC I thought about the oddness of it all, how much we all WANT to live and yet, as my old room-mate who is a social worker said to me yesterday, how many people ARE unconscious. Though the yoga explosion has its good points and not so good ones ( fame, stars, clicks, competition, egos) over all it offers a real opportunity for MORE people to become conscious, aware of what they think, do and say and how it affects them and others. That is my two cents for this Wednesday if anyone is listening!!
Spring is definitely in the air. Let go of the old, welcome in the new blossoming in you!
wedding bouquet at Sewall House
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy quickening that is transferred through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any medium and be lost.
It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to…keep the channel open…whether you choose to take an art class. keep a journal, record your dreams, dance your story, or live each day from your own creative source, above all else, keep the channel open! Martha Graham
“Constant Thought is a Waste of Time” , meditate on that one! The other day I responded to an e-mail from a lawyer I have been teaching for 10 years. He replied ” You think too much!”. Yes, that analytical mind can really be a nuisance sometimes, take our energy in a wasteful direction, each thought and moment counts! Any ‘thoughts’ on that?
We worked on transformation at the workshop at Golden Bridge here in NYC last night; Perfect timing. The last quote I shared with the group: Optimism is a strategy for making a better future- Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume there is no hope, you guarantee there will be no hope.” Noam Chomsky
and for the New Age we are immersed in, with all its challenges, Yogi Bhajan said TOLERANCE is the keystone.
200 Hr Yoga Alliance, broken into three 9 day residential retreats at Sewall House in Maine, starting Oct 2009.
Limited to 5-7 people. small and personalized, safe and nurturing environme
nt, like all our retreats, for learning and self growth.
Here is my A plus Annie cat saved from euthanasia by a day!
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- Celebrate Spring Retreat in Maine at Sewall House Yoga Retreat
We are so grateful for our first retreat before the real season begins! Thanks to two lovely young woman from NJ, another great gal from the UK and our beloved returnee Anne Marie we had a great week of yoga, fine food, Kent’s soothing healing music and treks up May MT ( twice) and the Shin Falls, that was amazing this time of year and worth the stepping into Moose tracks to get there! We look forward to our full season opening May 18 to offer yoga learning and practice, not just physically but as a way of life as well! Check out the April FITYOGA and The MAY SHAPE and look for details (or ask us to send a PDF) for our first upcoming teacher training. Limited to 5-7 people this training is a cozy alternative to the more crowded trainings. Like all our retreats we will serve the student teachers a warm and personalized environment for practice! Photo from our Celebrate Spring Retreat ABOVE!
Life Nectar 