As yoga grows in the West, we see a creative, crazy and sometimes disturbing integration of ancient spiritual practices and modern, western capitalism. In the case of Yoga clothing retailer Lululemon Athletica who promoted Ayn Rand’s selfish philosophy called Objectivism on their bags by asking “Who is John Galt?” (a character in the novel Atlas Shrugged), the combination of East meets West can be sad and disturbing.

But in the case of Fog and Smog Film’s sly, funny music video, Yoga Girl, it’s just fun!

Photo by Corie Howell

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. 

Chief Seattle

Earth is a living, breathing biosphere of energy, supporting us as we grow and evolve. We are creatures of magnetism and gravity, inextricably linked to our mother, the earth. We live in extraordinary times where we can actually see the earth from the perspective of outer space, fulfilling what the ancient prophets saw only in dreams. In Black Elk’s great vision, he looked down upon “the whole hoop of the earth.”

“Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all,

and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world.

And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw;

for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit,

and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.

And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops

that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight,

and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter

all the children of one mother and one father.

And I saw that it was holy.”      Black Elk, 1931

Try meditating on the earth from the perspective of Black Elk, high above the earth and outside of time. This film was created by expedition 28 and 29′s crew onboard the International Space Station using a time lapse sequence of photographs taken with a special low-light 4K-camera from August to October, 2011.

Earth Full South Pacific by Bruce Irving AKA FlyingSinger

I was given a rare opportunity to participate in a Kirtan recording session with musical virtuoso Jeanne Newhall, who was making her first album of ancient Hindu chants entitled Blossom of Transformation. I originally meant to experience the process and interview Jeanne, but our discussion took me to unexpected places as we explored the parallels between traditional Western religious perspectives and Eastern forms of sacred worship such as yoga and Kirtan.

A vocalist and pianist with sixteen jazz, pop and classical albums under her belt, Jeanne Newhall was introduced to the piano at six years old, and made her professional debut before she was sixteen. Classically trained, she’d already mastered six Mozart concertos, by the time she graduated high school and was balancing her love of the masters with her love of that quintessential American art form, R&B.

Musical Journey

So how did a farm girl who grew up in the shadow of the Sierra Estrella Mountains west of Phoenix and who sang in a Methodist choir, end up cutting a Kirtan album? It turns out that Jeanne Newhall’s musical journey is similar to any spiritual journey where we move from the known to the unknown. Jeanne started as all musicians do, studying  her instrument piano with Nadia Reisenberg in NYC, then with Abbey Simon at Indiana University. She immersed herself in wildly creative forms like Jazz, cultivated her voice and became a pro musician. Sixteen albums later, Jeanne Newhall has recorded in multiple genres; pop, R&B, Jazz, classical piano and now Kirtan.

At the same time Jeanne was building a body of work, her interest in Self Realization techniques, Eastern Philosophy and Aryuveda led her to study different forms of yoga such as Ashtanga, Bhakti and eventually Kirtan. The heart-centered, exuberant chant and response form of Kirtan, fit Jeanne’s self-described nature perfectly. “I’m a rebel, an activist for justice and fairness and a person who cries without thinking. I am a heartbeat— a drum. I can still laugh until my stomach hurts.”

Kirtan was a natural evolution in her yoga and her spiritual practice, a natural way to express her inner journey. To many seekers, silence is the ultimate goal, to sit with the breath in the deepening space.  But as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow observed, Music is the universal language of mankind. Music was always Jeanne’s life, from the moment she reached her six-year-old fingers up high enough to tap the keys, so why not worship through music?

When Jeanne began singing Kirtan, she struggled with the symbolism of the Hindu gods. Singing Shantee, Rama and Ram were such foreign concepts. At first she was lost, but the more she understood the philosophy of Kirtan,  the more she realized it isn’t about one right way or superior vs inferior, instead, it was One Light— Yoga and Kirtan are an aspect, a symbol of the sacred, a evolutionary vibration and a way of acceptance, devotion and faith.

Jeanne had to reconcile her upbringing, church and choir and stories of Jesus Christ, who spoke of love with chanting Ram, Ram, Hari Ram.

Jeanne Newhall's Kirtan Album: Blossom of Transformation

How could these two worlds unite?

It took another teacher, to open Jeanne’s heart in a way that transcended time and space and allowed her to find a bridge between the two worlds.

Faith Transmuted

When Jeanne’s mother was days, then hours from passing, her voice was very faint. “Maaa ma ma ma ma” she said in a soft, dreamy sing-speak as her head rolled slowly from left to right on the pillow.  Jeanne felt her mother was talking to someone who was someplace imperceptible, perhaps her own mother, but she could only guess.  Her mother passed later, in peace.

Around a year later, the guru Amma was passing through Los Angeles. Amma is known as “the hugging guru,” who inspires long lines of seekers to touch her energy.  Jeanne went with her husband along with three thousand others seeking to receive a message of hope from the healer.  She waited through the night, talking to others who had come, anticipating what she might experience.  Being raised Christian, she felt a little silly, a little shy.  What was she doing at this type of event?  Something was pulling her. She knew there was a reason for being drawn to Amma. It was just a feeling— a compelling one deep in her gut.

As the night moved along, group after group went to the stage for their hug from Amma. When Jeanne’s  group was finally called to the stage, it was two in the morning. Jeanne was anxious, but reserved as she approached the stage. When it was her turn, she slowly stepped forward and bent low to receive her hug from Amma.  As she received her hug Amma spoke a private phrase in Jeanne’s ear,  “Maaa ma ma ma ma”.

Stunned, Jeanne’s heart melted, filling her with love and her eyes with tears.  Jeanne could not believe what she had heard.  Here was the reason she made the journey.

After that experience, Jeanne’s two paths merged. She understood the old Indian saying; There are many rivers that flow into one ocean.  There was only One Light; music, faith, Christianity, Kirtan, chanting, love, peace, inner quiet, purity, all were one.

As Jeanne began the Kirtan session, I heard it all in her voice. Jeanne’s chants were a combination of traditional Hindu chants but her interpretations were unique, she borrowed elements of Jazz and wove classical elements into the structure. Jeanne’s light and sensitive touch allowed me to withdraw from my body and the external environment and leap to a higher plateau. I forgot about the recording as the resonance of sound reverberated through the room. I thought of what Jeanne said, “Music pulls on you.  You’re an instrument of the sound, it works through me, making the music and harmony glorify the higher power—the mechanics glorify it.” Jeanne’s musical journey had started with creative expression, but turned into a vehicle for expressing the sacred.

It’s hard to believe, but indigenous tribes continue to exist on our planet. These tribes have never had contact with the Internet, iPads, mass-produced food, manufactured drugs, rock & roll, rapid transportation, TV and the other myriad wonders and vices of our society. And like many living beings we encounter, their continued existence is in question.

The BBC series Human Planet recently released the first aerial footage of one of these mysterious tribes, living in the Brazilian Rainforest. In this stunning film, shot from 1km away using a stabilized zoom lens in order to minimize the impact on the tribe, we see the red-painted tribes-people curiously aware of the plane, holding staffs and loosely congregating around a main lodge and other buildings.

Little is known about their language or customs and their very existence is an ethical challenge to our plugged in civilization. Does this tribe have a right to live undisturbed? Like the prime directive in the Star Trek Series, should we have a non- interference policy when encountering cultures with less developed technology?

One man fighting to save the tribes is Jose Carlos Meirelles, an official who works for FUNAI, a Brazilian Government Agency that protects the region’s indigenous people. These isolated tribes are under the constant threat posed by illegal logging and mining and tribes-people have been killed by loggers in the past. Cultural contamination is a slower death, but a death all the same. As a consequence, Meirelles has decided to take his fight public, believing the tribe’s continued survival depends on proving and publicizing their existence.

“One image of them has more impact than a thousand reports,” Meirelles says. “There future doesn’t depend on them, it depends on us, our conscience…. they remind us it’s possible to live in a different way. They’re the last free people on the planet.”

Brazil is thought to be home to around 70 isolated tribes, the last free people on earth. Can a civilization with vastly superior technology refrain from exploiting and wiping out another culture? Let’s hope Meirelles plan works so these tribes can continue to exist without interference.

To help this tribe, go to Uncontacted Tribes and sign the petition or donate.

As the long, warm days following the summer solstice unwind, Los Angeles will hold the first Moksha Fesitival at Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center on Aug 13^th and 14^th.   The Moksha Festival will celebrate Yoga and its sister sciences, Ayurveda, Mantra, Jyotish, Vaastu and Kirtan and was created, organized and funded by Arvind Chittumalla.

I was first introduced to Kirtan by a fellow yogi and ironically, though I didn’t know it at the time, this would connect me to the concept of Moksha in a very intimate manner. Initially, I was reluctant to try Kirtan, the ancient Hindu practice of call and response, where mantras are chanted or called out in groups.  However, after some coaxing and reassurance, I went to my first circle and it changed my life for the better.  After attending several Kirtans by various performers, I began to understand the meanings of the mantras chanted, which are said to have a miraculous ability to transform the individual’s health and consciousness. In my heart, it felt right and I could sense the changing shifts in my mood and overall well-being. It brought me a sense of calm and blissfulness similar to being “high”, though not in the medical sense. The combination of syllables and the vibrations produced during Kirtans struck me on a deep emotional level, often causing me to shed tears of pain and joy.  It became “sound therapy” for my heart and mind. I can confess I am now a Kirtan Junkie.  I chant when I need to be reminded of my potential to be happy and to honor the loving presence in all beings.

Inside the Mantap by Shankar Bhat

Shortly after experiencing the Kirtan “bug,” I delved deeply into Ayurveda with the assistance of Ayurveida Practitioner, Kim Freesh; my yoga mentor of 5 years and trusted colleague who is also the owner of Out Back Yoga Integrative Healing Arts Center. She had recently completed her Ayurvedic training and I intuitively knew I could trust her with my “issues.” I desperately needed help dealing with my stressful, complicated lifestyle. When I first met with Kim, I was 30 pounds overweight. I sat crying in my chair, repeating the words: “I’m so tired of being tired all the time.” My mind, body and spirit were depleted due to the demands of being a single-mother, full-time employee and starting a new business, Blissful Thai Yoga Therapy. Kim compassionately explained to me that even though I was a yoga teacher, I was also human and needed to slow down and balance my life. It was a shocking realization to witness my poor eating habits and lack of a personal yoga/meditation practice.  Finally, I had to come to terms with the underlying pain, much of it psychologically driven, that created my situation.  Kim’s judicious use of Aruvedya and a series of ancient Hindu practices stopped my downward spiral of self-resentment and set me on the path of self-healing and Moksha.

A Splash of Colours by Shankar Bhat

So I was excited at the prospect of a Moksha Festival introducing the same healing modalities I found essential to my own life and happiness. Yoga is fast becoming a staple of Western culture and although Hatha Yoga is the most familiar Hindu system for mind/body wellness, the Moksha Festival will include seminars and workshops centering on some of the more esoteric Eastern practices which are now gaining popularity in the West, including:

• Ayurveda: a traditional Hindu medical system.
• Mantra: sounds, syllables, words or groups of words capable of creating transformation.
• Kirtan: call and response, using mantras.
• Jyotish: the science of light or Hindu astrology
• Vaastu:  a Hindu system of design based on directional alignments.
• Sacred Music: vibration to induce higher states of consciousness.

Interview with Arvind Chittumalla:

Arvind Chittumalla  moved to Los Angeles in 2004 from his hometown, Hyderabad, in India. A Business Technology consultant in the healthcare industry, Arvind  is also a yoga teacher and  yoga entrepreneur, founding several yoga ventures, including Yogi Loka,  a one stop online destination for yoga information and networking and Aanand Saagar, a donation based wellness sanctuary in Venice, California. Aanand Saagar offers classes/workshops in Yoga Asana, Meditation, Sacred Music, Energy Healing, Sanskrit and Yoga Philosophy. Arvind’s main goal is to remind people that yoga is a science of self-realization. Yoga encompasses much more than doing asanas, which is just one of the eight limbs of Raja Yoga (Ashtanga Yoga). All his yoga ventures are targeted towards moving people beyond the yoga mat and incorporating the other limbs of yoga into their daily lives. Arvind can be contacted either by email at Arvind@yogimilan.com or by phone at (213) 550-8447.

ST:  When I had a chance to look over the program, the yoga community would be familiar with these topics, but they might be as familiar to the general public. What prompted you to organize a Moksha festival?

Handy Mantra Guide by Shankar Bhat

AC:  When I created the Moksha Festival, I envisioned multiple purposes.  The first was to help people become aware that yoga is a science of self realization. It is much more than asanas, which are just one of the 8 limbs of Raja Yoga. We plan to accomplish this by having workshops on Pranayama, Meditation, Philosophy, Sacred Music, and the Ethics of Yoga. Secondly, I wanted to introduce more awareness to Ayurveda, one of the sister sciences of Yoga. Yoga and Ayurveda in combination can provide one with a very comprehensive spiritual practice. Lastly, there are two other Vedic sciences such as Vaastu and Jyotish, which was important to share with the community as well. Vaastu is Vedic Fen Shui and Jyotish is Vedic astrology.I have tried to communicate the above messages at a community level through my wellness center in Venice, called Aanand Saagar. I felt the importance to extend my message to a larger audience, hence the creation of the Moksha Festival.

ST:  You’re from a culture where the concept is ingrained in your lifestyle. Can you tell us what “Moksha” means?

Mehendi, Closer by Shankar Bhat

AC:  Moksha means liberation from Samsara, the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation. It is the final release from the illusion of duality, accompanied by the realization of one’s own fundamental nature: Oneness with the creator and all its creations. When there is ego, there exists a notion that we are a separate being. Under the influence of ego, every action we take (Thought, Word or Deed) is directed towards the protection of this self, which we consider different from others. Reinforcing the ‘self’ only separates us more from others.  Only when the ego is dissolved can we see the oneness surrounding us. That is the ultimate destination of any Yogi. I particularly chose the name for the festival to remind every yogi of his/her ultimate destination.  It is very easy to get distracted from our path, going to festivals like this and meeting other high conscious people helps us remain on track.

ST:  What can participants expect?  What highlights would you recommend?

 AC:  The biggest festival highlight is the FREE entrance fee. Anybody can attend the Spiritual Art Exhibition, Vendor Exhibition and Healing Camp. Festival passes are required to attend the workshops and seminars and some sacred music performances. Moksha Festival passes can be purchased on our website at:  www.mokshafestival.com.We expect 1500 visitors  to attend the Moksha Festival.

The Spiritual art exhibition includes photography, paintings, sculptures and flower mandalas by the artists: Elle Nicolai, Jodi Fuchs, Pascal Giacomini, Kailas and Tracey Stanton.

Seminars and workshops on Yoga, Ayurveda, Jyotish and Vaastu will be conducted by practitioners and leaders in these fields, including: Vaidya Mishra, Dr.Parla Jaygopal, Dr.Virinder Sodhi, Felicia Tomasko R.N., Mas Vidal, Bill Levacy, Prachi Dixit, Arvind Chittumalla, Andres Salcedo, Terra Gold, Sheetal Narsai, Sara Ivanhoe, Laura Amazzone, Phil Goldberg, John Matthew, Jasmine Lieb, and Lorin Roche.

Sacred Music Performances by musicians such as: Jai Uttal, Donna Delory, Simrit Kaur, Daniel Stewart, Cooper Madison, and Arvind & Kailas.A Two (2) Day pass that includes all workshops and seminars is $108.00 and 1 Day Pass is $70.00.  For those folks who only want to attend specific workshops, seminars or sacred music exclusively, more specific passes include:

Workshop pass: $55/day

Sacred Music pass: $45/day

 Images by Shankar Bhat (Superbhat)

Until I write again, may your yogic path be full of wellness, spiritual expansion and self-realization.  Om Namo Guru Dev Namo!

When I can’t sleep, I go to my laptop and log onto Facebook  to see who else is insane enough to be up at 2:30 in the morning.  That’s when I found an item posted by my friend Samantha Kaplan about a child’s science project gone haywire.

In the video, a girl named Elise is attempting to grow vines from potatoes to answer the question, how long does it take for a sweet potato to grow vines? What she discovers is that a nasty chemical  Called Chlorpropham or “Bud Nip” will take her initial experiment in a very different direction and give us all a lesson in the importance of organic food.

If you have any doubts about the importance of eating organic, then watch Elise’s short video, comparing an organic sweet potato and a conventionally grown sweet potato’s ability to sprout vines.

Take a look for yourself and see why the proof is in the “potato.”

So which fruits and veggies are the most important to buy organic? Any fruit or vegetable that is porous like lettuce, apples and berries while vegetables with protective skins such as avocados, oranges and bananas are less susceptible to contamination.

Try the diet.com organic food jingle to remember which 13 fruits and veggies one should buy organic when on a tight budget:

The 13 Most Toxic Foods

Since moving to an organic diet, I have more energy, require less sleep and have less digestive issues, so safe guard your health and eat as much organic food as your budget allows.

Eat well and be kind to yourself from the inside out!

Image by  Colleen Proppe 

The tribal wisdom of the Earth was sealed off, like an insect caught in amber, for 40,000 years, then given to us in the form of Aboriginal Wisdom.

The indigenous Australians have 230 languages and countless dialects, but all of them speak of The Dreaming. The Aboriginal people did not use letters or write books, they did not separate their intellect from the earth or try to dominate their environment, instead they kept oral histories and bloodlines, told stories, danced and created art.

It would be a mistake to think this made their communication less sophisticated, because the indigenous Australians understood certain things modern people continue to have trouble grasping;  how to live in balance with nature and how to avoid war.

The Aboriginal language speaks of connection to the earth and all creatures and things upon the earth. Each tribe is descended from the dreamtime and each person has a bloodline and animal totem, which structures their society  to ensure continuity of life and land.

Gary Simon Jagamarra is a wisdom holder and a guardian of aboriginal sacred knowledge. In his late teens he began to research his aboriginal background to discover his heritage and identity. His father is believed to be from the Biripi tribe of Northern, New South Wales.

In 1996, a senior elder of the central desert, Rex Granite Japanuka, from Walpiri Tribe, Northern Territory, adopted Gary. He was given the Aboriginal skin name of Jagamarra (Snake Dreaming) and learned all the stories, songs, ceremonies and dances associated with the Walpiri people. Because Gary’s skin group totem is the snake, he is not allowed to eat it.

Gary is a receptacle for the dreamings of his ancestors according to Aboriginal law and his main dreamings are the Rainbow Serpent, Milky Way and Seven Sisters, Goanna Dreaming, Snake Dreaming, Frog Dreaming and Naapa (Water Dreaming).

As an artist, Gary uses acrylics on canvas to tell his stories; aerial depictions following the tradition of his ancestor’s works in the sand and was commissioned by Australia Post to organise 2000 paintings from different central desert artists, which were used on 2000 stamps to coincide with the year 2000 and the Olympic Games.

Image by Sliabh

Angry!  That’s what I felt the morning I received numerous calls and e-mails from my friends informing me that my Blissful Thai Yoga Therapy e-mail account was compromised.  Scammers got hold of my password and wrote a fraudulent e-mail to all my Yahoo contacts from my business account, asking them to send money because I was “in Europe” and “needed cash to get back home!” During my forty minute drive to work, my cell-phone rang incessantly, flooded with calls from concerned friends and colleagues.

How could someone be so unethical? And for profit?  Anger rose up inside me as I drove.  I tried to remain calm, being mindful of my breathing and keeping  positive.  When I finally got to work, I found a deluge of concerned e-mails, primarily from friends and colleagues, sharing their support for my SPAM Challenge. I sent out a note of apology via facebook to my friends for the inconvenience.  Already bombarded with a flood of junk e-mails, I didn’t want a scammer’s e mail to be a cause of concern for my friends.

As I posted my apology, I noticed my good friend Hillary had uploaded an interview with Thich Nhat Hanh, the noted spiritual practitioner and humanitarian, whom I deeply respect. Even sweeter, Ram Dass, one of my favorite spiritual teachers, was doing the interview. With that weird synchronicity life sometimes has, the interview was titled: “The Mindfulness of Anger.”

As I watched the video, it felt like Thich Nhat Hanh spoke directly to me when he said, “Embrace your anger tenderly, be mindful of it and then cultivate your loving kindness, so that it can take care of the negative anger energy.”

Now I had a positive course of action. Rather than being drawn into my own abyss, fretting over the injustice of the scammers, I could tenderly acknowledge my anger and then send loving kindness to dissipate the growing negativity.  How does this happen?  Simple:  by breathing mindfully!

Breathing in say to yourself:  “I know I am angry.”

Breathing Out say to yourself:  “I am taking good care of my anger.”

I found it most helpful in dealing with my Spam Challenge and am planning to use it often, whenever my ANGER ENERGY rises again.  I have the solution to my anger, right inside of ME!  What a positive spin on ANGER!

Thich Nhat Hanh’s eloquent interview:

May it bring you some peace in dealing with your own anger.  Om Shanti, Shanti, Shant!

Lastly, a big “Thank You” to Hillary Branoff, who was guided lovingly by the Universe to post the interview on my FB when I needed it so much.

Image by Psycholabs

What’s a Wallah, you ask?  According to the Mirriam-Webster definition, it is “a person who is associated with a particular work or who performs a specific duty or service (the book wallah was an itinerant peddler — George Orwell).   It made perfect sense why Ashley would refer herself as a Kirtan Wallah, since she assists people to “self-love,” through her yoga classes and her passion for Kirtan.

Ashley’s ability to generate an atmosphere of acceptance and love was evident during her first Kirtan at Bhakti Yoga Shala with fellow yogini/ Kirtan Wallah, Lisa Florine and bandmates Ben Marciano on flute, and Greg Klimuck on cajon.  Ashley and Lisa played guitar and lead the chants, with warmth that gave the gathering an intimate folk-music quality.  The event had an organic flow, with people trickling into the studio intermittently throughout the night to receive warm hugs and smiles from Ashley, who casually moved from stage to floor with a grace that was amazing to watch.  Ashley glided along the studio floor, greeting everyone as if they were her closest of friends as  yoga students arrived bearing gifts in early celebration of her birthday.

Lisa Florine

The fluidity between Ashley and Lisa was evident, as they effortlessly transitioned from one to another.  The ebb and flow of their guitar playing and the vocals put me into a serene state of mind.   I found myself wishing I could just let go and be lulled into a surrendering sleep embodied with love.

At the ending chant of the Maha Mantra – Hare Krishna, Ashley shared her playful, fairy-like style by offering the audience the opportunity to lead the chant. The microphone exchanged hands after each person chanted the mantra and the audience responded in kind.  It was an energizing experience to hear each person express their voice in a nurturing, supported atmosphere.

Happily, with much self-love and warmth in my heart, Kat and I made our way quietly out of the studio.  In the background, we heard the lively Maha Mantra behind us with voices rising to the ecstasy of Kirtan.  Knowing Ashley, the Kirtan probably continued throughout the night!  She’s definitely spreading the gift of “self-love” to others through her Kirtan.

Kirtan Wallah

To see Ashley’s teaching schedule at BYS, you can visit www.bhaktiyogashala.com.  To learn more about Ashley and connect with her, visit her website at www.balancewithAshleywynn.com.

“Love and honor this body it’s your temple, treat it the way you would treat a lover! The body, mind, heart, and soul are all ours to enjoy. Live life passionately, and CONNECT…yoga is a tool to apply to our – REAL LIFE not just something we do 90 minutes on a mat in a studio. But something that just blends into our entire being and existence and becomes part of who we are.” -Ashley Wynn

Until I write again, practice yoga and you practice  “Self-Love”, in any form that resonates.

Drumming

India’s Prince Dance Group, based in Berhampur, Orissa, is rags to riches tale. Led by T. Krishna Gopal Redd, the group hails from a remote part of India, most of the members are from disadvantaged sections of the Ganjam district. Two of them, Padmanabha Sahu and Telu Tarini are physically challenged.

After competing on a talent show called India’s Got Talent (on the Indian TV channel “Colors” Colors (India TV channel),  the group won Rs 50 lakh (Rs five million) in prize money and a Maruti Ritz car from The Colors Channel. The group’s popularity was so overwhelming that the Orissa government announced a cash prize of Rs one crore (Rs ten million) and four acres of land for the group to build a dance academy.

The dance portrays the Incarnations of Lord Vishnu:

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Yoga was on my list of things to do before I die.  All I needed was a little more time to fit it in my already busy schedule.

Sound familiar?

My children decided that they had heard enough of this.  So with love in their hearts and a giant Tootsie Roll-shaped package in their hands, I was now the proud owner of the yoga basics:   bag, mat, and schedule of classes.  So off I went attending my first class in early January.

What a life-changer— benefits galore, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  But the real surprise was that yoga is so connected to what I do for others.   As a Certified Life Coach and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner, I do Core Energy Coaching which is a unique process based on Seven Levels of Energy/Potential; seven ways to choose to be, seven options for responding to any situation.

The following illustrates the correlation and how we choose to use our energy.

Upon first introduction to yoga, people have a tendency to be more in their heads with how to “do” the various poses.  One has to think about moving— think about breathing.   There may be thoughts of worry or embarrassment along with a need to do it right.  Mental comparisons of people’s abilities and people’s bodies might show up, triggering insecurities— even possibly intimidating us with thoughts of, “I can’t do this;  maybe I don’t belong.”  There is more reactiveness to what is occurring than responsiveness.

Similarly, my clients, after taking the EL Index, learn their percentages of energy in the lower levels of the seven where these same thoughts and beliefs of self-judgment, doubt, worry, frustration, and a sense of “not good enough” reside, they learn how reactivity exists there.  It becomes obvious how that limits potential and negatively affects both personal and professional life.

As the practice of yoga continues to develop, a shift occurs toward greater consciousness; less doing and more being.  It is choosing the opportunity to join the energy of mind and body through a variety of asanas and to experience the physical and emotional sensations.  Judgment of self and competition with others now disappear from this peaceful, yet powerful environment.  And although capabilities vary, there is a shared desire that all can enjoy and benefit to the greatest extent possible.

As my clients achieve greater awareness in the Core Energy process, that same shift of energy occurs.  A state of being becomes more desirable and productive than a state of doing.  There’s an understanding that our decisions, large or small, are made by joining thoughts, feelings, and intuition.  One chooses how to respond, not react, and views everything in life, including challenges, as opportunities.   Compassion and acceptance for others resonate at these levels replacing judgment, doubt and blame.

Deeper into the practice, the energy of yoga transcends to being the postures, being the breathing, being the meditation, and accessing that state of being at any time.  There are no thoughts of past or future; only the present moment exists.   And paramount to the experience is the clear understanding and appreciation for the relationship between the earth and all that inhabit it.

Along the same lines, I teach that the choice to live at the highest-energy-levels creates a synthesis, a “what’s right” philosophy, instead of “what’s wrong.”  This is where creative wisdom occurs, where being one’s true self produces peace, power, and passion.   There is an intrinsic knowing about universal energy and how all are connected by it.

Both my coaching practice and my yoga practice ask for the release of energy behind old thoughts and beliefs that occupy the mind and create stress in the body and to surrender to the possibility that there is another way to be.

Enormous thanks to my children.  I am eternally grateful.

Marla Gorlick works with people who are no longer satisfied with looking good on the outside and feeling bad on the inside.  She uses her unique multi-step process to help her clients bridge that gap to live a congruent life.  Her training comes from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching.  She is a Certified Professional Coach and part of an elite group of Energy Leadership Master Practitioners who administer and evaluate a state-of-the-art assessment designed to measure potential and likelihood for change.  She brings decades of personal, familial, and business experience to her practice.  She can be contacted at (818) 704-1067 or marla.gorlick@gmail.com.

Image by domestictimes