Oct 9, 2013 |
I got the opportunity recently to sit in a room with a couple hundred women to listen to their words of wisdom. It was an invitation I couldn’t refuse, and let me just tell you, this room was packed with so much energy, love, and power – I was on a goddess-infused high for the rest of the day.
This women-only forum, aptly named “The Sisterhood,” was held during one of the at-sea days on a Dave Koz jazz cruise and featured a star-studded panel of incredible females including Mindi Abair, Keiko Matsui, Glynis Albright, Pat Prescott, Talaya Trigueros, and Sheila E.
The panel and the participants in the room were all asked to share words of wisdom from their lives. The discussion ranged from how to experience more joy and peace, to what has helped foster healthy relationships and communication. Some of the wisdom came from their mothers, some from the school of hard knocks, some from personal experience, but it all came from the heart.
Part of the panel: Glynis Albright, Sheila E, Mindi Abair, and Talaya Trigueros
What were some of the words of wisdom?
- Have gratitude and love in your life. It’s easy to feel gratitude when you first wake up, but inevitably something bad can happen that can overtake your day, something that causes you to take your focus away from the good. Don’t let that happen; stay focused on the good things in life!
- When you look at things through the eyes of compassion, you can let go of your judgment and everything just seems to be alright.
- Don’t hate. Congratulate!
- Be gentle and kind to yourself.
- Tell the truth, for it will set you free.
Of course, I was taking copious notes during the session, and as I was writing all these words of wisdom down, I couldn’t help but smile. No, this wasn’t a yoga retreat. These were jazz musicians, radio hosts, and wives of musicians, and they were all sharing pieces of their wisdom. But to me, all this wisdom appeared tied to the teachings of yoga.
Having gratitude for what you have in your life is the same as santosha, one of the niyamas from the eight limbs of yoga as outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Being compassionate and lifting up people who are successful instead of being jealous of them are both part of the four keys to happiness as outlined in the yoga sutras.
Being gentle and kind to you is the same concept of practicing ahimsa, one of the yamas, which covers the practice of non-harmful behavior.
And telling the truth is the same thing as satya, another one of the yamas.
How cool is it that these women in essence were all speaking about what we do both on and off our mats when we practice yoga? This makes me feel very wise indeed!
Not all of the wisdom imparted applied directly to the teachings of yoga, but I want to share a few more of these pearls of wisdom regardless.
Keiko Matsui talking about making dreams come true!
Keiko Matsui talked about the importance of visualizing your dreams. She explained that when she can visualize a dream, as long as she believes in the dream and applies hard work to it, the reality of it comes faster and faster.
Glynis Albright encouraged all of the women to learn to be sisters again, to love one another and not be so hard on each other. We need to be more kind to the women in our lives, to lift them up and support them. Amen, Glynis!
There was a lot of love in that cruise ship lounge, and I promise to write more about this event, but I’ll leave you with one last thought that was shared by Sheila E. She reminded us that we have so much power that we don’t realize we have. Make sure you use your power for good and share it with others –this can be as simple as sharing a smile or a hug.
I’ll take you out with a song by Mindi Abair, dedicated to all the ladies and a reminder that we are all beautiful! I’m thinking “Be Beautiful” is making it to a yoga class playlist real soon!
[youtube]http://youtu.be/N2rerpg-Gss?t=28s[/youtube]
Aug 31, 2010 |
I always love it when a yoga instructor starts out a class with a homily. It’s kind of like going to church and hearing a sermon. Hopefully, the message resonates and is something you can carry with you throughout the rest of class or take with you off the yoga mat into your daily life.
One of my favorite yoga instructors had a really great lesson for us last week. She talked about how our culture has become so rude. She quoted a recent study that proved that Americans in general have become ruder to each other. Think about it. The last time you went out and ran errands, did you find the people surrounding you being rude and discourteous to each other? Were you one of the people being rude? With our busy lifestyles, daily stress, and time constraints, it’s very easy to slap on a bad attitude as we interact with the public. I know I am guilty of this very behavior. Heck, in the past I’ve gotten upset at a store clerk if she was too perky or was just trying to help me pick something out. So, why do we do this? We all know mean people suck! It certainly doesn’t serve us, and in the long run, it’s always a hell of a lot more fun to be happy and do things with a positive attitude.
At the end of class, feeling great from an amazing yoga practice, we all sat with hands at heart center and heads bowed when the instructor asked us to lose the rude and, instead, spread joy and peace to others as we went through the rest of our day. What a great message—and one that I will remember. It is a practice I need to work on and one I will be taking off the mat. Remember, mean people suck, so don’t be one of them.
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Aug 23, 2010 |
I remember when I first started going to yoga class. At the end of class, the teacher would say some funky things in a language I didn’t know and then bow to us while saying, “Namaste.” The entire class would say it back to her, except for me. I wasn’t going to say something if I didn’t know what it meant. I was hesitant to ask the instructor what the meaning was, and, to be honest, I was a little freaked out that it was part of a weird religion that I just really didn’t want to know about. Instead I closed my eyes and waited until I heard people getting up off their mats to avoid the namaste bow routine with the instructor. One day when I opened my eyes, I caught the instructor looking at me kind of funny, and I figured I’d better figure out what all this stuff meant.
To be honest, I’m still not 100 percent clear on all the teachings of yoga, but that’s what makes it fun—having so much more to learn!
Oftentimes I wonder what yoga beginners think when they walk into yoga class for the first time. Are they confused by the Sanskrit names and the teachings of yoga? Are they just a little bit freaked out like I was? I needed the yoga demystified guide and wasn’t quite sure where to find it.
You can imagine how I felt the first time I went into a class and the instructor asked us to participate in chanting om. There was no explanation given of what this meant or why we were doing it. Everyone just took a big breath and began chanting their hearts out. That was another experience that caught me by surprise, and, like namaste, it took me a while to get on the om bandwagon.
Now I love to chant om, and the louder and longer I can do it, the better!
So, what’s om got to do with it?
Well, it’s not so easy to explain. It’s a very simple sound to chant, but explaining it is a bit more complex.
The sound is the oldest, most sacred and powerful sound in the practice of yoga, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Om can also be spelled aum, and, when chanted properly, it is done in three syllables: a, u, and m or aaaaauuuuummmmm.
Typically chanted three times at the beginning and end of a yoga class, the mantra of om represents the union of mind, body, and spirit and the whole universe compressed together into one single sound.
What?
I still don’t get it, and, to be honest, I’m having a hard time describing it, so in order to give om its due, I finally found (after an exhaustive search) this really amazing definition from Cyndi Lee over at Yoga Journal:
“Om is a mantra, or vibration, that is traditionally chanted at the beginning and end of yoga sessions. It is said to be the sound of the universe. What does that mean?
Somehow the ancient yogis knew what scientists today are telling us—that the entire universe is moving. Nothing is ever solid or still. Everything that exists pulsates, creating a rhythmic vibration that the ancient yogis acknowledged with the sound of om. We may not always be aware of this sound in our daily lives, but we can hear it in the rustling of the autumn leaves, the waves on the shore, the inside of a seashell.
Chanting om allows us to recognize our experience as a reflection of how the whole universe moves—the setting sun, the rising moon, the ebb and flow of the tides, the beating of our hearts. As we chant om, it takes us for a ride on this universal movement, through our breath, our awareness, and our physical energy, and we begin to sense a bigger connection that is both uplifting and soothing.”
Thanks, Cyndi, for putting it into words that yoga beginners can like me can understand. Chanting om will no longer mystify me.
Is there a part of yoga that is mystifying to you? Let me know and I will write about it on the Daily Downward Dog.
Stop by every weekday for the Daily Downward Dog, my journal of cool yoga experiences, Yoga for Back Pain Relief, and Cool Yoga Products. Thank you for checking out the ads and products when you visit to help fund this site!
