Aug 20, 2010 |
“[My guru] says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you are fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it…” —Elizabeth Gilbert
I wanted to include a quote today by the fabulous Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love. This book is an international best seller, and on August 13 the movie version, starring Julia Roberts, will be released, and I can’t wait to see it.
If you are not familiar with Eat, Pray, Love, it is Elizabeth’s real-life journal of setting off on a year of discovery to heal after a messy divorce. On her journey she travels to Italy to eat and enjoy the pleasures of life (with an emphasis on eating gelato); next, to India to meditate, practice yoga, and do some spiritual searching; and, finally, to Indonesia to find balance. If you can’t find balance in Bali, I’m not sure where you can. I could have found balance just from eating gelato three times daily.
I have to admit that I have not finished reading Eat, Pray, Love, but after reading the first portion of the book about her eating adventures in Italy, she had me at hello. The whole first section of the book describes in great detail her daily gastronomic delights and travels throughout Italy. Warning: Do not read this section of the book on an empty stomach. It made me want to hop on an Alitalia flight to Naples to check out the pizza she describes as being the best in the world. I really liked her restaurant-ordering tactic of asking the waiter to bring out the best dishes. What restaurant owner doesn’t want to be flattered in that way? And you know what they serve you is going to be superb (as long as you don’t have any food allergies). Plus, you don’t have the struggle of trying to decipher a menu in Italian!
Enough about the food. Barring the divorce part, this is a writing assignment I could wholly embrace—a one-year assignment traveling to faraway places I’ve always wanted to visit, eating amazing food, all-you-can-eat gelato, meditation and yoga, all while trying to figure out how to balance my life. Yeah, I could do that!
So, the Maria version of Eat, Pray, Love is Eat, Work, Yoga. Like Elizabeth, I, too, am taking a spiritual journey and making my personal effort all about finding happiness. Happiness in what I eat—by eating healthy, organic, locally grown foods (except for an occasional sushi or gelato binge). Happiness in my work—finding enjoyable work that allows me to indulge my passions for writing and yoga. Happiness in my practice of yoga, which has brought so many amazing things to my life, including a sense of balance and calm (without the long flight to Bali). I’m writing my Eat, Work, Yogamemoir each day at MariaMedia, and I’m really excited to say that in just a few days, I’ll be launching a new Web site to fulfill my passion for yoga: The Daily Downward Dog. Yes, The Daily Downward Dog will be spinning off into a full-blown multimedia experience of its own, so I’ll keep you posted as it launches.
Yeah, my spiritual journey is taking place in beautiful northeast Ohio and consists of eating, working, and practicing yoga, but I am truly blessed and happy, and I’m working diligently each day to maintain the bliss.
P.S. For my male readers (I know there are a few of you out there), check it out…the male version of Eat, Pray, Lovecame out last year, entitled Drink, Play, F@#k, by Bob Sullivan. The story covers a jilted husband’s journey from his home in New York City to a drinking binge in Ireland, the decadent party life in Las Vegas, and then off to the hedonistic pleasures of Thailand. I love a good parody.
Gelato Photo: Tan Hsin-Ee
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Drink, Play, F@#k: One Man’s Search for Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas, and Thailand
Aug 20, 2010 |
Do you sometimes have a hard time getting into yoga class?
Is it hard to walk away from the stress of your day and leave it all behind?
Do you want to get all the benefits of yoga?
If you want to get into a better state during yoga class, try closing your eyes. I’m totally serious! For most poses, except balancing poses, I love the feeling of closing my eyes, focusing on my breathing, and really getting into the pose. If you are new to yoga I would not recommend this, but now that I’m a veteran of yoga class, I know most of the poses and can follow the instructor’s flow with my eyes closed. I really find it helps me remove the clutter from my mind and helps me to get fully into the yoga zone.
When your eyes are closed, you are not fixating on how flexible the person next to you is or looking at the cool T-shirt on the person in the front row or checking out your pasty-white skin in the mirror. All those distractions can really hold you back, and before you know it, you’re focusing on something non-essential like your shopping list. Instead, you are focusing on how your body feels in the pose, how to take yourself to your edge in the pose, and receiving all the benefits of yoga.
Give it a try; close your eyes and enter the yoga zone. Check out the picture of Buddha, even he blissed out in yoga practice with his eyes closed.
Stop by every weekday for the Daily Downward Dog, my journal of cool yoga experiences, Yoga for Back Pain Relief, and Affordable Yoga Products. Thank you for checking out the ads and products when you visit to help fund this site!
Aug 20, 2010 |
I don’t know a lot about feng shui, but I do know that I believe in it. If you are not familiar with feng shui, here’s my very simplified definition: Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice of placing stuff in the “right” place in order to receive good vibes and positive energy. For example, if you place your desk facing a window, you’ll receive better cosmic vibes (and have a nicer view) than if you put your desk up against a wall (Who wants to look at a wall when you can look outside?).
Your feng shui plays a big part in where you place your yoga mat at yoga class. For example, if you get to class early (which I rarely ever do), you can pick your spot on the floor. The folks who get there early always take the prime spots in the back of the room. That way they don’t have to worry about anyone behind them staring at them during class. When you get to class late, you either are smack-dab in the front of the room with all eyes on you or you have to squeeze in someplace.
In the past week I’ve had bad yoga-mat feng shui. One day I got to class late and had to squeeze in to the back corner, extremely close to the wall and right in front of the heater (this is dysfunctional fêng shui at its best). I don’t think I need to explain this, but being in front of the heater on a humid August day in Ohio is not pleasant—unless you’ve been on a recent drinking binge and need to sweat out a lot of toxins. I was so close to the wall, I was unable to let my arms freely flow as I swan dived into forward fold and had to bend my arm in my free fall. Total bummer.
The next day I got to class late again and was in the very front row of class, right next to the yoga instructor. Talk about being self-conscious; in order to get through that class, I just closed my eyes and let me freak flag fly. I was not going to let being in the front of class bother me one bit.
I have to admit, it’s hard for me to have a bad yoga experience, and none of the two examples above brought me down completely. I’m just saying that if you can, try to place your mat in a position where you’ll not be too close to a heater, mirror, wall, or another person in the class. Practice yoga-mat feng shui and the positive energy flow will come to you!
Photo: Asif Akbar
Stop by every weekday for the Daily Downward Dog, my journal of cool yoga experiences, Yoga for Back Pain Relief, and Affordable Yoga Products. Thank you for checking out the ads and products when you visit to help fund this site!
Aug 20, 2010 |
My yoga instructor totally made me laugh the other day when we were in pyramid yoga pose (parsvottonasana). She must have noticed quite a few of us struggling, because she said to us, “Don’t fight the pose; embrace the pose.” It made me think to myself, Yeah, why am I being such a dork, struggling to get my head to my leg, barely keeping my balance, and not enjoying the benefits of the pose? Putting a whole new spin on the pose by embracing it suddenly made all the difference in the world. I stopped thinking about how awkward I felt, the mildly uncomfortable stretch in the back of my leg, and just let myself enjoy the lengthening of my muscles as I relaxed into the pose. My head started to slowly move forward, I was keeping my balance, and I got a big smile on my face. I kept taking the instructors advice throughout the yoga class and let the love flow for each and every yoga pose.
The reason it made me laugh is because it reminded me so much of one of my favorite sayings: “I’m a lover, not a fighter.” I don’t know where I originally heard this, but I use it a lot, and it always makes me laugh.
So, next time you’re in a difficult yoga pose (or position in life), try being a lover, not a fighter. Open up your mind and embrace the situation; you’ll be amazed what a difference it can make.
Stop by every weekday for the Daily Downward Dog, my journal of cool yoga experiences, Yoga for Back Pain Relief, and Affordable Yoga Products. Thank you for checking out the ads and products when you visit to help fund this site!
Aug 20, 2010 |
I’ve been thinking a lot about my Daily Downward Dog posts. I seem to focus more on the physical aspects of yoga, but I don’t spend as much time on the spiritual aspects of my yoga practice. Over the past year I have become more flexible and my back feels great, but I’ve also grown spiritually from yoga as well and would like to share with you the ABCs of my blissful inward growth.
Acceptance—To me, yoga is all about accepting where you are today and feeling good about it, living in the moment not worrying about what has happened in the past or fretting about the future. Accepting what your body looks like, accepting how your body feels, accepting how far you can reach to your toes, and knowing where you are today is just fine. In time my practice of yoga will take me where I need to go both on and off the mat.
Balance—Practicing yoga has really brought balance into my life. Yeah, I do a much better job of keeping my balance in tree pose, but I’m talking about life balance. I now take the time almost daily to practice yoga or exercise and give my body what it needs instead of working and chasing my tail all the time. I still work really hard, but every day around 6:00 p.m., I turn off the computer, clear my head, and get my butt moving. I feel great and guess what? I now have this crazy thing called work-life balance. Pretty incredible!
Calm—Yoga and meditation have gotten me in the habit of taking time out during my day to breathe deep and de-stress. I try to remember that amazing feeling of lying in savasana, how calm and peaceful I feel, and conjure up that sensation whenever a stressful situation arises. I wish I would have recorded my blood pressure preyoga, and today I bet it has dropped substantially due to the calming effects of practicing yoga and meditation.
So, there you have it, my ABCs of yoga: acceptance, balance, and calm. You can have them too; just hop on a yoga mat and give it a try! Please leave a comment below and let me know what yoga has brought to your life.
Photo: Rohan Baumann
