30. Cultivate Awareness

Early in the morning, spend a minute scanning your body, checking how you feel today. Yoga teaches us that what we feel, and how we project it, creates our reality. Simply being aware of how you feel therefore alters the way you connect with the world around you. Decide to interact with people positively today and to open your mind to new experiences.

29. Mudra for Receptivity

Pushpaputa Mudra To create a feeling of inner spaciousness and abundance that will last throughout your day, make this symbolic gesture, the Sanskrit name of which translates as "handful of flowers".  Kneel with your buttocks on your heels and place the backs of your hands on your thighs or knees, fingers pointing diagonally toward each other.  Let each palm form an open cup shaped, resting your thumbs against your index fingers.  Close your eyes and visualize, with pristine clarity, your hands filled with beautiful flowers and abundance.

28. Absorb Earth Energy

"Take the breath of the new dawn and make it part of you. It will give you strength." - hopi saying

27. Lion Pose

Simhasana Best preformed in the morning, this cleansing practice is said to purify the tongue and prevent halitosis.  Kneel with your buttocks on your heels and your back straight.  Place your hands face down on your knees, spreading your fingers like lion's claws, and straighten your arms.  Stretch your mouth open as wide as you can, and, as you exhale, stick out your tongue, reaching it toward your chin.  Look up with your eyes and hold the pose for as long as it is conformable.  Inhale and repeat 3-5 times.  Then relax.

one.love

26. Nasal Cleansing

Yogis around the world like to cleanse their sinuses the traditional Indian way once a month or at the onset of a cold. To follow suit, buy a neti pot and fill it with purified lukewarm water containing a sprinkle of sea salt. Some essential oils can also be added.

25. Cleanse Your Tongue

Jhiva moola dhauti, tongue cleaning, is an important part of a yogi's morning routine. The coating on the tongue comprises impurities rejected by the body that can act as a breading ground for bacteria. Take a teaspoon, stick out your tongue and gently scrape the surface. It only takes a minute.

 

 

 

 

Pure Inspiration

24. Flawless Nature

"Unto the pure all things are pure" - 1:15

Meditation

23. Wake Up Your Mouth

Since your mouth is considered in yogic anatomy to be the gateway to your body, it is important to clean it early in the morning.  Ayurveda, the ancient system of the Indian healing, recommends traditional Indian cleansing products, which are often based on neem.  Buy them from a health-food store; alternatively, rub your teeth with the rind of a lemon, which removes tarnishing, then use the juice to clean your teeth.

Thankful and with Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving!

I came across a neat idea to a few days ago.  Make a Gratitude list over the holiday season.  Write down all the things you are grateful for.  Some things may surprise you!  Keep this list up on the wall or your bathroom mirror after the new year as a visual reminder.


This year on thanksgiving I have one new amazing thing that I am thankful and grateful for...

•  Our beautiful daughter Ella!  She entered this world back in June and is now 5 months. She is the cutest little babes and the biggest heart melter!  She has daddy and I wrapped around her cute little baby finger.  She is a Dustin and I blended together and it's the amazing feeling being a parent <3
• My amazing husband Dustin.  When I say amazing I mean amazing.  January will be 5 years that I met this amazing man and I am one lucky woman.  BBKF
• My Family and Friends
• My yoga practice. My breath.
• My Kula
• The Beautiful Weather
• Starbucks Blonde Roast Coffee

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Author Unknown

That is what Virabhadrasana II is for... right?

Happy Thanksgiving!

TheDailyMantra

TDM

22. Revitalizing Splash

A swim is a wonderful way to awaken your senses and stretch out your limbs in the morning. Let the rhythm of the swimming stokes calm your thoughts and any anxieties. Stilling your thought waves in this way is the essences of yoga.

21. Purifying Plunge

"Wash away, Waters, whatever sin is in me, what wrong I have done, what imprecation I have uttered, and what untruth I have spoken." - RIG VEDA

20. Refreshing Tonic

After showering or bathing, splash your face, hands, and feet with revitalizing cold water to stimulate the many nerve endings, re awaking your sense of touch.

19. Clean Body, Pure Mind

"Krishna insisted on outer cleanliness and inner cleansing. Clean clothes and clean minds are an ideal combination." - sri sathya sai baba

 

 

Ego

"After the demands of the ego and its greed surrendered, the struggle for fulfillment of personal desires lessens; life takes on a new zest like a breath of fresh air." - Swami Sivananda Radha

18. Are You Awake

The teaching tool of one swami was to repeat the phrase "are you awake?" at certain points throughout the day. This reminded his students to remain mindful and not to slip into sleepy patterns of habit. Repeat it to yourself every now and again.

17. Fully Alert

The word Buddha translates as someone who is fully awake, or enlightened. A Buddha experiences the eighth limb of yoga, known as samadhi, meaning self-realization, or union with the divine. As you begin your day, remember that this state of mind is accessible to anyone who desires it with sincerity. Start by simply trying to be ware in every moment.

Stimulus & Response

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” ~ VF

16. Stepping Into Awareness

"The distance is nothing, it is only the first step that is difficult." -mmdd

15. A Natural Step

Yoga offers a ladder by which you can climb out of everyday boundaries into jivanmukti, liberation in life. Stepping out of bed with positive intention is the first rung on the ladder.

YUJ (yoga) ~ To Yolk.. What is Yours?

"Yoga is all about relationships - your relationship with yourself, with the people in your life, and with the world around you.  This makes the yoga path a journey of connection - both internal and external." L.Lark

The Sanskrit root from which yoga is derived, yuj, means to yoke, or connect.

My yuj, or connection(s) i seek are my breath + movement.  Finding that blend of the two is my happy place.  I realized that during a 108 sun salutations.  During the salute the energy running through my body and the breath movement connection left me feeling electric.  After we completed the 108 I laid on the floor felt the energy flowing and vibrating through out my being.  It was a moment of realization for me.  Yoga is more than any label it is given.  For me it took yoga to learn to really connect.  Being able to connect helps make me be a better person/wife/mommy/friend.  These are my relationships.  Like Lark said, "yoga is all about relationships, your relationship with yourself, with the people in your life, and with the world around you."  I'm on a beautiful path

What is your yuj? Please share!

tdM ॐ

Belief :: Believe

“Any belief, whatever it is, is counterproductive in the context of the practice of yoga. One holds a belief instead of knowing. For example, you wouldn’t say you believe in your right ear, since you know your ear, no belief is required. Believing always excludes knowing. When jnana (supreme knowledge) comes through the practice of yoga, you will know. Do not be satisfied with believing.”

 ~ GM

14. Positive Visualization

Decide on an affirmation, such as "Today will be a beautiful day." Close your eyes and imagine writig these words slowly in vibrant colored ink. Let them soak in. Then write them again quickly many times in another vibrant color before opening your eyes.

This mantra practice will guide your intention to reality ॐ

Peace.Love.Friendship

”I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.” ~ Gandhi

13. Think Positive

A sankalpa is a phrase in the present tense to fix your mind on positive action.  Say to yourself in the morning..."I am Vibrant!" I am ready for anything that the day brings." or a personal mantra or affirmation.

12. Tapping the Heavenly Drum

Your senses tend to withdraw into your body at nighttime.  To "re-tune" your hearing in the morning, sit up ad close your eyes, press your index fingers into your ears, closing the flaps, and lightly tap your index fingernails with the tips of your third fingers for 1 minute.  Enjoy the inner drumming and reawakening of your senses.

11. Simply Stretch

Yoga teaches that since the earth moves constantly, so too should your body's energy.

10. Guided Thinking

To gain further insight into the yogic notion of unity, think about this phrase from the ancient text Yogavasistha Maharamayana: "The same undivided and indivisible space is outside and inside of a thousand pots.  Likewise the Self pervades all beings."

9. I & the Source are One

The journey of Yoga involves remembering that everything in the universe emanates from a single energy source.  Yoga asanas, pranayama and meditation bring you an awareness of this unity.

8. The Creation Mantra

Cradle yourself in the sound that yogis believe brought the universe into being by chanting OM (pronounced aum).

Take a deep breath in.  As you exhale with an open mouth, let the sound "aaa" well up from deep inyour belly, round your lips to make the sound "uuu", the close your lips to finish with a soft "mmm".  Repeat untill you feel at one ॐ

7. Unspoken Prayer

The natural sound of your breath is like a prayer welcoming you to the day.  On waking, become aware of your breathing before you do anything else.  Notice how the inhalation makes the sound SO.  The, as our exhale, notice how it makes the sound HAM (or "hum").  In Sanskrit; soham means "He am I" -  "He" refers to God, or the creative force of nature, so your breath links you with the divine.  For centuries, yogic sages have explained that this unconscious repetitive prayer (ajapa japa) goes on continuously within every living creature.

6. Respect Each Breath

"If you breathe well, you will live long on the earth" - Indian Proverb

5. Deep Breathing

Yoga philosophy teaches that we are allocated only a certain number of breaths between our first inhalation at birth and our last exhalation at death.  So the more slowly you draw each breath, the longer - and calmer - you will live.

4. Staying Awake Naturally

"We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by nechanical aid but by an infinite expecattaion of the dawn." - Henry David Thoreau

3. Greet the Day Gently

Greet the day gently. Give up your harsh alarm clock...yoga encourages you to remember daily that you are part of nature.

2. Shelter Your Sense

Closing down the senses, a practice called pratyahara, brings about great peace.  Wearing an eye mask in bed shuts out external distractions during sleep, allowing you to wake up each day more fully refreshed.