I love the early morning practice! It wakes me up and gets me started for the day. I have a good friend, Amy, from Yoga With Spirit, and she does not like to practice first thing in the morning. Now I will admit that my style of yoga, Kripalu, is a little more relaxed and meditative. Amy’s practices Ashtanga and it is a little more vigorous. Maybe that’s the difference!

Anyway, try to practice first thing upon awakening and see if you like it. I believe it is the best way to start the day!

One of the ways that we can bring peace on earth is to begin to think globally and think about caring for this earth that we claim we want peace to come to. If we destroy the planet and make it uninhabitable, then there will certainly be peace. It will be the peace and quiet of no one home.

One of my yoga students has put a box where we practice to collect things like printer cartridges, fluorescent bulbs, batteries and the like for recycling. This is a wonderful thing! No, she isn’t going to save the planet by this, but if we all did a little like she has, we can collectively get the job done.

One of the ways that I have done a little is to change the mat I use from the regular mat made of petroleum and chemicals to one made of natural rubber. I love this mat! The thing I will say most about this mat is that if you ever have problems slipping on your mat and wish it were just a bit “stickier”, buy a rubber mat and you will never have that problem again. It took me some time to get used to just how “sticky” this mat is. I have absolutely no slip!

I bought my mat from Jade Yoga. It was a little more expensive than a regular mat, maybe twenty dollars more, but I feel like ridding the earth of the chemical pollution was well worth the money. Having a mat that I think is the best one I have owned since I started yoga, is a plus.

Check out Jade Yoga
the next time you are looking for a mat for yourself or as a gift for the yogi/yogini on your shopping list. You will help the planet and get a great product all at the same time!

Namaste!

What do you hold within the lock box of your spirit, of your soul? What is there deep inside that you think no one knows about and that you hold there? We all have those things, the question is how hard to you hold it?

That thing deep within is the part of your life that you feel to be the core, or at least part of the core of your existence. It might be something good or it might be something bad. Actually, the good and bad of it are also held within your mind. The rest of us care little about what you hold there, unless we are very close to you. You hold this thing as hard as you do because of your own importance put on it.

The hard truth is that, whether you deem this thing to be bad or good, you can never be free in life if you are never able to let go of this thing. This doesn’t mean that it has to go away, to disappear forever, but it does mean that you have to give up your death grip on it. You have to be able to let go of it to the point that you don’t care if it disappears or not. This is true no matter if it is good or bad. The more you hold tightly to it, the less able to be free in life you will be.

Spend some time finding this thing within you. Sit quietly somewhere, find a peaceful place. Sink down inside and ask yourself what is at the core of your being. When you find it, ask yourself if you can let go of it. If you can, envision yourself letting go, taking your hands away. Watch what happens. More than likely, the thing becomes less important, less controlling. If you can’t let go, ask yourself why. Will you stop being you? Will life cease as you know it? Try to let go again. See if your life does not free up when you are able to let go.