This week my focus has been on organization and personal growth. Both of my boys are off to college and that set off a whole array of changes. I never realized how I used their schedules to orient my life until I started showing up late for everything (aak!). I needed to impose some structure to make all this freedom meaningful.
I started poking around the internet, looking for a few suggestions. My first stop was Lifehacker. It is a great website. They collect 'tips and downloads for getting things done.' The day I looked Bullet Journaling was the first tip, who knew?
The picture is a capture from the YouTube video about how to bullet journal. It is a very clear technique for capturing events, to dos, ideas and all of the things that make your life run smoothly. Ryder Carroll, the developer of the bullet journal, has given us the fruit of his personal quest for organization.
Pros: I love the use of different shapes and signifiers to designate tasks, events, ideas and urgency.
Cons: He depends on very small handwriting, the black is a bit boring, and I need more emphasis on goals and future planning.
This method is close to what I am looking for, but doesn't quite address all of my needs.
The other system that I really liked was the Women's Success Planner. It is a very well designed system with goal setting, monthly tasks and weekly focuses. Each quarter has a separate planner with loads of features. It is very well made with a woman's challenges in mind.
The only problem for me is how well organized it is. Right now I'm not quite sure what my life looks like, but I'm sure I want more flexibility.
With gratitude to both developers, I created my own system for the time being. It has the features I like from both, a numbered list of daily tasks, weekly and monthly goals, recycled paper and lots of colored pens. It has been fun turning the challenge of an empty nest into an opportunity to consciously invent my life. Here is the current result, can't wait to see what comes next.
For this post, the title says it all. I went to the doctor last week and discovered I am a whole inch taller (can you hear the wild crazy celebration on my end?). It all began a year and a half ago. I attended a workshop with Sianna Sherman that started an amazing transformation, and now I'm a whole inch taller (fireworks and great rejoicing!).
How did I do this, one might ask? It is both easier and harder than you think. Just put your mind on the base of your spine. Sounds easy, but look at Sianna in nataranjasana (lord of the dance pose) at the left. If I were to move into that pose without thinking, I'd put one arm up, one back and grab a foot. That is what it looks like, but not what it is. Nataranjasana is an expression of joy, of hiddenness, of openness that begins deep within the body and ends up looking like the picture.
We're going to explore the spinal focus in a much easier pose, tadasana (mountain pose), more commonly known as standing. If you look to the right, you'll see a spinal column with the different sections color coded. We are interested in the sacrum (yellow) and the coccyx or tailbone (blue).
Come into tadasana (mountain pose). Imagine that you can consciously move the energy in your spine. Notice the base of your spine. Let all of the energy in your sacrum rise up through the body. Allow all of the energy in the tailbone sink down through your legs. That's it. So simple, yet so profound.
What I have noticed is that as I rise the sacral energy (energy from the sacrum, not sacred, or holy energy), sometimes it feels like it gets stuck, or moves more slowly. If this happens for you, just be patient, allow the energy to bloom. Also, the tailbone energy can move more strongly in one leg or another. Usually this means I need to lift the heel of the "stuck" leg and move it out slightly to free things up.
The best thing about this practice is how easy it is to be so thoughtful. This can be done waiting in the checkout line at the grocery, answering emails, or any time you are standing around, as well as adding to your daily yoga practice.
Sianna Sherman
In the first month after the class, people began to remark on how good my posture was. After about seven months I began to notice that I was slumping when I talked to people to try to get my eyes at the level they used to be. After a year, I noticed I was hunching over the lectern to get my mouth back at the level of the microphone. At one year and 9 months from the class I am an inch taller!
Added side benefit: as I was writing this post I had the great idea to check my BMI online. The good news is that adding the inch pushed me from overweight to normal. Now, we all know this is just in my head. I'm the same person who walked into that doctor's office, but let me tell you she feels much better about herself.
If you'd like to learn more from this master teacher in the privacy of your own home, you can purchase her DVD, Pranam
(here's my review). The other big thing I learned in that class is in this post. Add this to your practice and enjoy growing taller with me!
As I mentioned yesterday, I took a wonderful class in July, Brain Gym 101. One of the things that made a deep impression on me was the emphasis on clarity in language. From the beginning of the class, Carolyn emphasised speaking in positive, clear ideas. One of my favorites is how when a student kept tripping up on trying to find a positive spin and just had to state something in a negative, "I can't..." way, Carolyn would add a "yet" to the end of the sentence ( "I can't keep my desk organized... yet").
Another thing she really pointed out was our use of the word "try." If you are "trying to," you are not doing. (Interesting side note, it shocked me listening to my beloved TED talks after I got home. Here are these accomplished people, speaking to other brilliant minds, but almost all of them use the word "try" to either describe their talk or their work. I guess all of us are uncertain and tentative at times.)
This message about language is so important to me, but also it seemed like one I might forget without teacher there to correct me. I had to figure out how to bring teacher home with me, but in a light hearted way. The picture below is of the wall opposite my favorite chair in my reiki room. I'm thinking I might remember.
Last week I took an amazing class! I can't recommend Brain Gym 101 with Carolyn Nyland enough. It was one of those things that arrived at the right time, with the right instructor and the right students. I was ready to hear and use all that was taught. What a gift.
As I saw my first client after the class, I was careful. I had played around with the material a lot, but didn't want to use it before I was ready, so I left all of the materials far away from my office (so I couldn't just slip it in). Let's just say that didn't work at all. It is such a great tool, that I had to go get the book and we spent most of the session using the Brain Gym movements to complement the other things that I use all the time. It was so much fun!
So what is this Brain Gym? There are lots of involved descriptions, with loads of jargon, all necessary for research, but for our purposes here is my favorite- "to live is to move." If I were to go on a bit longer, it is "a movement- based educational experience centered around twenty-six simple activities that recall the movements children naturally do during their first years of life as they learn to coordinate their eyes, ears, hands, and whole body."
What is so wonderful is the way adding Brain Gym exercises moves my sessions into "Pam territory." I had a major realization over 2012. I had been running someone else's practice, don't know who, but so much of what I was doing was not serving my clients. One day last winter I spent a few hours trying to define why my clients choose me, what they are looking for. The adjectives that I came up with are "playful, fun, generous, open, love and adorable." Darn it! I want to be serious and studious and all of those other words that garner respect. After spending the last 8 months with them on the wall of my office, I've come to realize that I love them, and this is where I am meant to be. Can you see why Brain Gym (or any other method of playing your way to health) is such a good fit?
I've looked for YouTube videos, but most seem geared toward children. Here is an adult version (word and pictures, with a Mozart selection from YouTube to play in the background as you awaken your brain.
With only one course under my belt, I am not certified (though perhaps, I'm certifiable...), and have no idea where the road leads but I'm loving skipping down it. That being said, I have a gift for you. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, any time you wanted it, your brain was working in tip top condition? Here is a great start from Brain Gym:
1. Energize: Have a sip of water
(Warning: Science Content- water supplies electrolytes that carry electrical potential across cell membranes, and this electrical exchange is essential to the functioning of the new neural networks being created as we learn)
2. Clear: Brain Buttons Place one hand over your navel. Make a "U" shape with the other hand and place your thumb and index finger in the small depressions just below your collarbone, about one inch to each side of your breastbone. Rub the points at your collarbone for about 30 seconds as you move your eyes slowly to the left and right along a horizontal line. Continue with the other hand.
(Warning: Science Content- by moving our eyes right and left into the periphery while holding points in the kinesthetic midfield, we restore our centralized vision as we satisfy the scanning- reflex impulse to look away from the midline.)
3. Active: Cross Crawl
Cross the midline of your body as you alternately move one arm and its opposite leg, then the other arm and its opposite leg. There are lots of variations, have some fun!
(Warning: Science Content- this exercise activates both sides of the body, firing the neural pathways in the left and right cerebral hemispheres. It also stabilizes the pelvis, while also mobilizing and stabilizing the shoulders. And hey, it feels great.)
4. Positive- Hook- ups
Cross your ankles. Next, extend your arms in front of you and cross one wrist (on the same side as your top ankle) over the other; then interlace the fingers and draw your clasped hands up toward your chest. Hold like this for a minute or more, breathing slowly, with your eyes closed and the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth as you inhale.
When ready, uncross your arms and legs. Put your fingertips together in front of your chest.
(You guessed it: Science Content- activates the vestibular system and balance- related muscles, supporting us in restoring equilibrium after emotional or environmental stress. It draws blood and attention away from the body's periphery and the fight or flight reflexes and back to the body's midfield, inhibiting reflexive behavior and supporting higher-order thinking and decision making.)
I hope you are still here with me. I know that was a lot of information (actually, my fingers are a bit tired from typing). Trust me, it is much easier to do than to read about. So, give it a try. Put on some instrumental music that you love and let your body move. Let me know how it works for you or if you have any questions.
This week's selections originated in a "mountaintop experience." I was sitting with my cat, Joy, meditating in the sunshine this winter. Between one moment and the next my perspective shifted completely. It was as if I could see my life and business from the outside. I realized the mistakes I had made in my business in 2012. I had been "selling" what I was interested in, not what drew clients to me. People come to my business for a light, happy healing and learning experience. It is all about fun and play.
Unfortunately, in some ways, I had forgotten how to play, what makes everything fun in life. So, like all people who have educated the play out of themselves, it was time to do a little research. Here are some of the results (and, leave me a message if you want more, I have loads of material):
From the clever cover (yes, the ball really is rubber) to brevity of the stories this book is a wonderful physical representation of the powerful ideas within. Through many examples, Kevin Carrol demonstrates how entrepreneurs in a wide variety of fields transformed their childhood play into thriving businesses. The variations allow the readers mind to work it's way back to early memories then project forward into their own lives. At first, I found the third person narrative format off-putting, but after the first chapter it became more comfortable. He also includes recommendations for further reading and putting the principles to work in your own life. As he says "Start now. The ball's in your court..."
I'm also a big fan of the TED talks. We believe that we should work to be happy, but could that be backwards? In this fast-moving and entertaining talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that actually happiness inspires productivity.
Did you know that to college students $5 looks like coffee? At TEDxCambridge, Michael Norton shares fascinating research on how money can, indeed buy happiness -- when you don't spend it on yourself. Listen for surprising data on the many ways pro-social spending can benefit you, your work, and (of course) other people.
I had an interesting thought a few
days ago sparked by a hole in my photo album.
I’ve been searching for pictures for my website and, though I've been
teaching yoga for years, there are only 4 pictures of me doing yoga and none at
all of my classes (the photo at left I call downward dog with upward cat). I realized I had never been satisfied by how
my body looked as I did yoga. Not that I
was embarrassed, I have no problems demonstrating anything. I just don't feel
photogenic. Aren't all yogis tall and
slender?
Now, this body has taught yoga
class every Tuesday for the last 9 and a half years, how could I be so
disrespectful of it? What if, rather
than considering the body mine, I look at it from the outside and think about
it as if it were someone else’s. What if
I treated my body like it was loaned to me by a friend? Think about how careful you are when driving
a friend’s car. It gets returned without
a scratch and the tank is full of gas, right?
So, if the body is a loaner, the
first thing we need to do is appreciate the gift. After all, how would my spirit express itself
without hands to type or a mouth to laugh?
It puts gratitude in a whole new light.
I can see the strength and endurance of the legs, the cleverness of the
hands, the pleasure of curly hair. Arm
balances are so easy in this body, and so is sitting on the floor. The neck hurts, so I should take better care
of it. It’s tired, I'll
give it a rest.
Isn't this mental shift
interesting? It’s like treating
ourselves the way we treat a beloved pet.
Ignore the slobber, appreciate the love.
This week try one yoga practice or one meditation session from this
point of view. It is remarkable.
Sometimes there is a person in your
life who just drives you crazy. There is
no way around it. The very act of them
breathing in a room you are in or sharing electrons on the computer just sets
you off. This is a good time to realize,
hey, maybe it’s me. That person may do
many things “wrong” and really need fixing, but the only thing we have power over is our minds and how
we react to people and situations.
Recently I have had this experience
with someone I see almost every day. It
seemed like they were always doing things specifically to hurt me or just being
inconsiderate. It got to the point where
just thinking about the person was enough to make my blood boil, not a good
situation for someone who “sells” peace of mind (through yoga, reiki and
meditation). This needed to be fixed.
I sat with the problem, meditated,
prayed, but couldn't see where my change was.
How was I to let go if I couldn't see what I was holding onto? When the cause is so difficult to determine,
I always look to reiki, because it flows to the place where it is needed without guidance. I decided that each time I got angry, or each
time I even thought about the problem, I would use the distance symbol to
connect to our relationship then send it reiki.
Let’s just say in the beginning,
over the course of a day I would give over 2 hours of reiki to this situation alone
(preoccupied? Oh no, not me. No,
never. Okay, so all the time…). The relief was almost immediate. Instead of living in frustration and anger, I
would move quickly into a state of flow and calm. It’s impossible to send reiki and stay
irritated. I hate to admit just how
often I sent reiki, but there it is.
I also decided that it would not be a “sit
down and get serious” kind of thing. I
sent reiki while driving, doing the dishes, walking around the house, cooking
dinner; all of the situations where the body is moving, but the mind is free to
drift.
I began to see differences in the
relationship after a few days. It was
easier to be together, decisions were made in common, I no longer went out of my
way to avoid them. Two weeks later, as I
type this, it is difficult to even remember what a deep funk I was in. Cheaper than therapy, eh? So, next time you feel this way, rather than
“fixing” the other, try taking it easy, living in love rather than marinating
in irritation. Just send a little
reiki.
(here's my 
