This is a very tricky question to answer simply. God is everything. All things. Every single thing, emotion, thought, rock, blade of grass, used tissue, beautiful sunrise....God is all. God is you, God is me, God is us, God is energy. We are all from God and have the power to tap into that energy source. We just need to wake up. Here is a poem that kind of explains the whole idea in a better way than I just tried to.... for the full article click here. Where is God? God is within you
God is the light of love that shines from every cell of your body The heart, a hand, the word God is the reaching out The utter compassion The selfless savior The strength to renew, rebuild, restore The Light Why must there be suffering? This is far more complex. Perhaps it is because through darkness we are reminded of our godliness We seek to find the light; we are challenged to move beyond obstruction To find our way out of the cold dark chasm and into the warmth of the Sun To move beyond the blackness of stagnation and into the shimmering brilliance of progress We believe it is our own Creation - our reflection. What of the innocent? What of the children? We believe we are all innocent, all children of the universe Trying to find our way out of the chaos Moving back to Source Some of the children are far more ancient than you Perhaps they have come to touch you ever more deeply For you are always moved by the innocence of the young These are thoughts that trouble us For we wish for you lives of joy and celebration We wish love and comfort for all the living of your realm… for the children And yet, we too have passed through pain to reach this place We know it as the soul’s progression Each must move through suffering to know bliss. We do not purport to have the answers to the riddle of creation. But we can tell you this. There where these souls have passed-far higher ground -so will you. There is light There is forgiveness And eternal Love abounds. The Light will Prevail. The Light Always Does
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You can change your mindset. Our emotional body responds to our physical body, and vice versa. Amy Cuddy takes the "fake it 'til you make it" mentality and elaborates...she goes into the HOW and WHY this works. We CAN create our realities, guys. Put good vibes into the universe and into yourself. You are what you believe you are--what you TRULY believe you are. So maybe start small with some affirmations in the morning... wanna know what I do almost every morning when I wake up? Well, before even getting out of bed, I literally say "I am grateful," as I'm staring at my ceiling. Before I left myself step out of bed, I think about 3-5 things (people, opportunities, memories, etc) that actually fill me with gratitude. Then, off to the coffee maker... 😉☕️ While the coffee is brewing, I sit in virasana and practice mindful breathing and affirmation statements. "I am Bold. I am Strong. I am Healthy. I am Grateful. I am Compassionate. I am Light." I inhale with each affirmation and exhale as I envision it. Inhale with the next affirmation, exhale as I envision it. And so on... I've found that on morning where I "don't have time" to do this, my mental state is all out of whack. Guess what, we can do this at any point of the day, as many times as you need. Not going to lie, I've already done this three times since I woke up. Wanna know something? I feel like superwoman. 😏😋 Back to the emotional body responding to the physical body....take a look at this video. Well worth the 20ish minutes. Trust me. If the video doesn't load, click HERE
(Weather permitting) Let's get these going again! Join Olivia on a short hike through Raven Run to the orange path "meadow" and allow your breath to heal, move and motivate your body with a 60minute vinyasa practice. BYOM. Monetary donation suggested.
Click HERE for more information. Sometimes, life presents you with moments that remind you, THIS is why you're alive. These seemingly "little" moments can come in the form of people, conversations, reactions, events, visuals, etc.
These moments remind you to stay strong and continue on your life journey, stand up for what you believe in and stay away from the sheep epidemic. Even though finding, following and advancing your passions can lead to sharp judgment and toxicity from others, you can't be shaken. We can't control others' reactions. We can't change others' mindsets. We can't wake people up. The change starts with YOU. The change starts with ME. The change starts with US. We need to stop doing "easy" and start creating our realities. Let's invite compassion back into our lives. Let's invite curiosity. Let's invite exploration. Let's invite respect. It's time to get out of the shallow end of the pool and move toward something deeper. Even if we're just barely treading water or hanging onto floats for dear life...we need to step out of our bubbles of ignorance, naivety, blind selfishness and conforming tendencies. Pop that bubble and let it go. Create something else. We DO matter. We ARE powerful. WE ARE LIGHT. Let's search within, grab that light and let it grow. Never stop learning. Never stop asking questions. Never compromise passion for a paycheck. Push your passions to the top of your priority list and make your life mean something. Let's stop going through the motions of life and let's become active participants in every moment. A very wise friend once told me that there are two types of people in this world. The Pullers and the Pushers.
On the surface, the Pullers might seem better than you. They may seem unearthly intelligent, fit, friendly…you think that you can’t measure up. Indirectly though, they inspire you. They motivate you to better yourself because you see that it is possible. You see that the commonly dubbed “unattainable” is indeed, attainable. Not simply attainable, but achievable. So, the Pullers pull you up, in a way. They may not literally grab you by the hands and drag you out of a trench, but they’ll provide you with a vision. They’ll light that fire within yourself that pulls you in their direction—not as exact copies, but as a better you. We can all be a better us, we just need to wake up. The Pushers are seemingly the exact opposite. They can either literally or figuratively push you down. Whether they mock your values, disrespect your opinions, assault you physically, they are initially seen as negative. The Pushers, however, are just as beneficial to your enlightenment as the Pullers. The Pushers challenge your beliefs; they challenge you and all that you stand for. You can do one of two things: fall down and join them or use them as a resource to strengthen your own beliefs. You can redirect the energy. Instead of looking at it as being pushed down, redirect their criticism and use it to push yourself forward. Transform the hate into something else. Ultimately, it is up to you to push yourself forward and pull yourself up. As mentioned earlier, the Pullers may not even directly offer you advice of pull you up. That direction has to come from within. We need to have open enough minds and a sense of self-awareness that we can acknowledge what it is that we want to achieve with our lives, and go after it. If we wait around for someone to do it for us, for someone to tell us what to do, we will live quite under-par lives. So first, direct your energy inward. Search your soul and question yourself deeply. Thoroughly. Get to know the deepest parts of your being and become comfortable with them. Become best friends with your demons, neighbors to your weaknesses, babysitters to your doubts. Awaken that inner spark and pull yourself up. Work with all your heart to become the essence of yourself that you want to be. The light that exists within each of us has become hidden; as a society, as humankind, we’ve violently shoved it down to where we are almost completely unaware that it does exist. But, my friends, it does exist. Wake up. Look inside. Pull yourself up and push yourself forward. Namasté. Please pardon the enormous eyeroll.
"Namasté," is becoming part of everyday language, the highlight of puns and tossed around like baseballs at a little league pitching practice. People combine the word with an iconic peace-sign hand gesture to say hello, goodbye or even attach expletives on the end to make people laugh. Society has either never realized or become desensitized to the actual depth and significance of the word. Its overuse used to really bother me. I would hear people who had only done yoga once and never even heard of pranayama belt it out trying to fill a certain “image” they must have had in their heads. Sure, namasté can be used as an opener or a closer to a conversation or practice, but it means so much more than that. It’s difficult to say what namasté is not because it has such a unifying message that can be stretched and touches all things. Namasté is not something you say to just fit into a yoga class. It’s not interchangeable with “what’s up.” Namaste is recognition. Namaste is understanding. The official mantra meaning that goes along with the word is, “My soul honors your soul. I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the light, love, truth, beauty and peace within you because it is also within me. In sharing these things we are united, we are the same, we are one.” Namaste is acknowledging that we are all on this journey called life, and while collaboration and cooperation are treasured, ultimately we all have our own realities. We have different levels of understanding and different values, morals, mindsets that make us unique. In addition to that, we all have the resources to total unity. So when I say namaste, I mean that I see you—the individual you. I’m looking past the appearance of you and I see your energy, your light, your pain, frustration, but also your passion and bliss. I’m saying that I am with you, rooting for you. I am on the same wavelength because ultimately, we are all connected anyway. One way to start understanding the meaning of namasté is to turn inward and love all the things that make you YOU. A Rupi Kaur quote explains this perfectly: “How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.” So first, direct the namasté recognition to yourself. Honor your own soul, the place where all things reside. See your own light, your own love, your own truth, beauty and peace. Feel the connection. In a round about way of thinking, self-love is total love. How can we love others if we don’t know how to love ourselves first? If the light within you is also the light within me, shouldn’t we offer ourselves the same respect that we would give to others? And shouldn’t we respect others as we respect ourselves? There are times I may not even close my yoga classes with “Namasté.” If I honestly don’t cultivate the connection, or am caught in a shallow wave of distraction and pulled away from mindfulness (hey, it happens), I will not just throw the word out there to satisfy expectations. Namasté carries a message that can penetrate the barriers of depression and accelerate the collection of peace. I have to admit that yes, some of the namasté puns are funny. They’re clever. However, I can’t help but feeling guilty every time I laugh. Let’s not disgrace the denotation of the word, and let’s please not forget to pause and turn inward. Every time namasté is used, it should be a call to mindfulness, a reminder that none of us are on this journey alone. With that being said, Namasté |
AuthorNature-loving, adventure-seeking, holistic and wellness advocate: Yoginiliv. Archives
May 2017
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