Monthly Archives: May 2011

Brooklyn in the House!! Stability and Connection

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On May 17, 1884, P. T. Barnum led 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge to prove that it was stable.

~Stability~

128 years ago, on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River opened, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history.

~Connection~

Thousands of residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan Island turned out to witness the dedication ceremony, which was presided over by President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland. Emily Roebling was given the first ride over the completed bridge, with a rooster, a symbol of victory, in her lap. Within 24 hours, an estimated 250,000 people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, using a broad promenade above the roadway that John Roebling designed solely for the enjoyment of pedestrians.

The Brooklyn Bridge was dubbed the "eighth wonder of the world." For several years after its construction, it remained the tallest structure in the Western hemisphere. The connection it provided between the massive population centers of Brooklyn and Manhattan changed the course of New York City forever. In 1898, the city of Brooklyn formally merged with New York City, Staten Island and a few farm towns, forming Greater New York.

Let's use the idea of stability and connection with ourselves and those around us as we travel through our practice today or as you are reading this blog.

With so much technology these days making it easier and faster to connect, we often miss the actual meaning of that word which is really to be grounded and present with yourself and/or something else.

The real definition of yoga!

The intention is the grounding part. It keeps us rooted if we lose our way. It's the map for the soul even if we change direction.

The breath is the bridge. It keeps us linked to the present moment while infinitely connected to the past and the future. Without it - you would not have been past and without it, there would be no future!!

So deepen it up to broaden that bridge!

Enjoy....

"Inner silence promotes clarity of mind; It make us value the inner world; It trains us to go inside To the source of peace and inspiration When we are faced with problems and challenges." Deepak Chopra

Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together. Anais Nin

A successful person (man) is one who can lay a firm foundation with bricks others have thrown at him. - David Brinkly

People (men) must live and create. Live to the point of tears. Albert Camus

Build this day on a foundation of pleasant thoughts. Never fret at any imperfections that you fear may impede your progress. Remind yourself, as often as necessary, that you…have the power to achieve any dream by lifting up your thoughts. You can fly when you decide that you can. Never consider yourself defeated again. Let the vision in your heart be in your life's blueprint. Smile!” -Og Mandino

Character is like the foundation of a house, it is below the surface. – Unknown

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation. Saint Augustine

To create something you must be something. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. George Bernard Shaw

Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it. Rabindranath Tagore

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult. to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world. Goethe

People (men) in the game are blind to see what those looking on see clearly. - Chinese Proverb

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but I almost always end up where I need to be. - Douglas Adams

He who controls the present, controls the past. he who controls the past, controls the future. -George Orwell

In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. - Albert Einstein

Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable. - Coco Chanel

The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. - Albert Camus

Learning is finding out what you already know. - Richard Back

All growth is a leap in the dark. A spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience. -Henry Miller

There are no such limits to growth because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder. – Ronald Reagan

The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty. - Zig Ziglar

Character is the firm foundation stone upon which one must build to win respect. just as no worthy building can be erected on such a weak foundation, so no lasting reputation worthy of respect can be built on a weak character. - R.C. Samsel

Yoga prepares the body for meditation on which allows us to observe our thoughts so that we are not controlled by them. Harmonize the mind with the body. Keep the focus at the heart as opposed to everything going on in the mind. Dr. Tom Being Erica

We create our faith every day we live. - Henry Miller

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. -Buddha

The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they need a kick in the seat of the pants. Theodore Roosevelt

How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to? Tony Robbins

People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it - walk. Ayn Rand

The best way to predict the future is to create it. Peter Drucker

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. Frank Outlaw (supermarket manager/created Bi-Lo in So. Carolina, played supermarket manager in Raising Arizona

Love ya,

Lady

Your path, full circle…

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On May 15th, 1618, German mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Kepler discovered Harmonic’s Law. Most simply it’s the motion of planets around the sun. The sun is the focus. The lines connecting the planets to the sun sweeps out in an ellipse, always bringing it back to where it started, in harmony and unity in equal areas and in equal periods of time – seasons, birthdays, calendars...

I always find it interesting talking about historical things that are so deep in the past you just always thought it existed. I was talking to a girl the other day and telling her about how we didn’t have computers in college. I mean we did, but you had to go to a computer center and they were big and the cursor blinked. She couldn’t imagine that, being born in 1990!

But I can’t imagine not ever knowing that the planets revolved around the sun. But alas, someone had to discover it, right? So now we know!

In addition, On May 16, 2011, the Endeavour space shuttle launched into its 25th and final voyage Monday—also the anniversary of it’s first landing on May 16, 1992.

Yoga is a path. It takes us on a journey back to ourselves, our natural state of being, the way we came into the world – calm, clear and connected. It’s not a linear path, but one that circles around, like planets around the sun and brings us back to where we started, a little bit different, a little bit changed, a little bit older and fueled with more life.

For the purpose of practicing, focus on the journey, not the destination as we take to the mat and return to back to ourselves once again, the center of our being, our true and natural state, in balance, harmony and joy with yourself and those around you.

And these guys are with us too…

Enough is as good as a feast. English Proverb

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. Albert Einstein

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony. Thomas Merton

Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself. Jessye Norman

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Robert Fulghum

We need to maintain a proper balance in our life by allocating the time we have. There are occasions where saying no is the best time management practice there is. Catherine Pulsifer

What I dream of is an art of balance. Henri Matisse

As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility, and commitment. H. Ross Perot

The word 'happiness' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. Carl Gustav Jung

A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your step as you walk the tightrope of life. William Arthur Ward

Live your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten. Natasha Bedingfield

It may be when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. Wendell Berry

The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair. Marion Zimmer Bradley

It is better to travel well than to arrive. Buddha

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting. Buddha

Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Carlos Castaneda

You should live every day like it's your last day because one day you're gonna be right. Ray Charles

Man improves himself as he follows his path; if he stands still, waiting to improve before he makes a decision, he'll never move. Paulo Coelho

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey. Stephen Covey

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin-real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. Alfred D’Souza

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. Jean de la Fontaine

The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place. Barbara DeAngelis

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. Annie Dillard

Be willing to be a beginner every single morning. Meister Eckhart

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be…Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar, and you’ll live as you’ve never lived before. Erich Fromm

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Robert Frost

How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else. Buckminster Fuller

We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way. Gloria Gaither

Say not, I have found the truth, but rather, I have found a truth. Say not, I have found the path of the soul, Say rather, I have met the soul walking upon my path. For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. Kahlil Gibran

It‘s not where we stand but in what direction we are moving. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The way is not in the sky, the way is in the heart. For the traveler who knows his direction, there is always a favorable wind. Stuart Avery Gold

Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go. Natalie Goldberg

There is no enlightenment outside of daily life. Thich Nhat Hanh,

Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. Robert J. Hastings

You cannot have a happy ending to a miserable journey. Abraham-Hicks

We are what we reach for, the idealized image that drives our wandering. James Hillman

It's pretty hard to get what you want when you're busy doing and being what you don't want. Cheryl Janecky

We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures. Susan Jeffers

Often the search proves more profitable than the goal. E. L. Konigsburg

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Lao Tzu

Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him. Henry Miller

One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things. Henry Miller

Life is what you make of it. Always has been, always will be. Grandma Moses

By losing your goal - you have lost your way, too! Friedrich Nietzsche

The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment. Earl Nightingale

Rowing harder doesn't help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction. Kenichi Ohmae

We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. Marcel Proust

Some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity. Gilda Radner

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours. Ayn Rand

Each one of us has a fire in our heart for something. It’s our goal in life to find it and keep it lit. Mary Lou Retton

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer. Rainer Maria Rilke

The only journey is the journey within. Rainer Maria Rilke

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination. Carl Rogers

Journey from the self to the Self and find the mine of gold. Leave behind what is sour and bitter and move toward the sweet. Rumi

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the only one who'll decide where you'll go. Dr. Seuss

There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy. Mark Twain

Your journey never ends. Life has a way of changing things in incredible ways. Alexander Volkov

As I ramble through life, whatever be my goal, I will unfortunately always keep my eye upon the doughnut and not upon the whole. Wendy Wasserstein

The spiritual path – is simply the journey of living our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just don’t know it. Marianne Williamson

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work. Dwell in possibility. Oprah Winfrey

What I know for sure is that your life is a multipart series of all your experiences- and each experience is created by your thoughts, intentions, and actions to teach you what you need to know. Your life is a journey of learning to love yourself first and then extending that love to others in every encounter. Oprah Winfrey

Safe journeys and landings,

Lady