I spent the afternoon yesterday at Big Heart Ranch volunteering in the garden.  I hadn’t been out there since last summer, and it was so wonderful to have my hands in the earth again.  While planting some seeds (gotta love California, where seeds will grow and bear fruit even when planted in late July!), I learned that the cantaloupe running along the back of the garden was planted from seeds from last year’s cantaloupe crop (shown on the left of the picture below).

We got to talking about the power and potential in just one seed.  It’s amazing that a single cantaloupe produces hundreds of seeds and those hundreds of seeds can produce several hundred to a thousand cantaloupes the next season.  All that is required is some good dirt, some water and the sun.

I’m so glad that even in this fast moving, gadget focused society, we are getting back to our “roots.”  Programs like Elsa Inc.’s Unplugged Youth Adventure at Big Heart Ranch that introduces kids to nature and animals, and The Teaching Garden where school kids (and parents and teachers) learn about gardening and nutrition are sprouting up all across the nation.

Everything we think, say and do is just like a seed, with the potential to create more good, healing, love and hope in this world; on the flip side, also the potential to do more harm.  If we start to think about our actions and intentions as seeds that bear fruit and flourish (one way or the other), everything we do becomes more important, more worthy of our awareness.

Sadly, most new products and entertainment activities are created so that we become less aware of our own feelings, thoughts and habits.  So my challenge to you this week is to slow down and consider what seeds you are planting and what is being created from them, then think about one or several ways you can plant seeds that change this world for the better.  Just a tip, those seeds always involve connecting with others or the earth and the good news is they tend to produce the most positive change inside you!

Here is a quick mudra (hand gesture) and visualization you can do every morning for 5 – 15 minutes to remove waste and toxins from your body, balance your mind and tackle shaping your visions of the future:

Apan Mudra – with each hand, place the thumb, middle and ring fingers together while extending the index and pinky fingers.

Visualization – imagine you are sitting in a beautiful, richly blossoming garden, observing the mystery of nature:  how a seed germinates, the plant grows and blooms. Now, in an empty bed, plant something that will bear rich fruits in your life (a conversation, a relationship, a project, etc).  Imagine how it sprouts, continues to develop, blossoms and bears rich fruit and who will benefit from its fruits.  End the visualization with a big thank you.

Affirmation – I plant my seeds, care for them,a nd receive a rich harvest – with God’s help – that I thankfully accept.

I’ve had several friends get hula hoops in the last few weeks and then ask for a few pointers.  Since I just picked up my hoop for possibly the first time this year (shame all over my face), I thought it would be fun to post on the basics and joy of hooping.

I was able to keep the hoop going around my waist as a child, but that’s about it.  I’ve learned all I know now about hooping from Rayna who founded Hoopnotica. Hooping takes you right back to the fun, carefree days of your youth, but being able to do really cool tricks plants you firmly in the joy of here and now.

The Hoop:

The new hoops are bigger and heavier than the ones from childhood.  This is a good thing because more weight equals greater momentum to help it stay around your waist, plus it’s more of a workout.  They make all kinds of fun hoops now too:  glow in the dark, rainbow colors, extra weighted, travel hoops (that break apart), and if you heart desires – fire hoops.

The Basics:

How do you keep the darn thing around your waist?  It’s all about pressure points.  Most people try to roll their whole waist around inside the hoop, but that is inefficient and doesn’t really work.  To keep the hoop in motion, you have to push it either forward and back or side to side.

Starting off, just spin the hoop around your waist not trying to keep it going and notice which way you naturally spin it.  If you spin it from right to left, then you are going to focus on “pushing” the hoop with pressure points on the right front side of your waist and the left back side of your waist.  If you naturally hoop left to right, it is opposite (left front and right back).

Stand with your feet hip width and one foot in front of the other (preferably the foot on the side you start spinning from).  With the hoop on your back waist and both hands on the back/side, give the hoop a spin.  Each time the hoop rolls over the front and back pressure points, shift your weight into it and give it a push.  It will take a few spins to find your rhythm, but when you do, you’ll be able to do it for longer and longer.

The more you do it, the easier it gets and the less you have to shift all your weight forward and back.  You’ll also get a little sore and have better toned abs!

Let me know if this is helpful or not; if not, maybe I’ll do a short little video for you.

Now, get out there and find your inner-child in the hoop this summer!

Sorry for the lag between posts. Summer = crazy busy with visitors and teaching my regular yoga classes while trying to finish up the last of my Loyola Marymount Yoga Therapy homework, a 10-page paper on Yoga for Addiction Recovery. Needless to say, my other writing is what dropped off.

The last couple of weeks have been so interesting though. I’ve been struggling for months with the antics going on at the administrative level at one of the places I teach. I even found myself relaying all the madness to my mother while she was in town. I finally had to promise myself and her that I would let it go and not mention it, so that we could fully enjoy our time together.

This weekend, I decided to throw in the towel and no longer teach at the studio. If you don’t know me, this is pretty big for me. I’m a let’s work it out kinda girl, not afraid to confront issues.

Several years ago, when my marriage was falling apart, I was forced to learn to discern and relay my needs. Despite all odds, including an almost two year separation, my husband and I managed to work through our differences and have found happiness with each other. Since then, I have confronted a boss about management style issues and a friend about a breakdown in our relationship and have reaped the rewards tenfold, transforming those relationships into something much deeper. High on those two successes, I tried to confront another friend about something that had hurt my feelings. That time didn’t turn out as well, but did teach me that relationships are two way streets, were both people have to be mature and honest enough to really discuss the heart of the issues, forgive and try to change.

In the above mentioned instances, my relationships (and the paycheck at my job) were worth going through the confrontation and asking for what I need. In my current situation, I just didn’t see the value in it. Not that I couldn’t have done it and grown from the situation. I’m in a different place in my life right now. Teaching yoga and helping people find inner strength and peace is such a wonderful experience. Guiding someone that I hardly know to become a better manager and business operator falls well out of my job duties as a yoga instructor. So I folded.

It was a scary thing to do. I had gotten quite a few of my students to follow me to this studio. It was also slightly embarrassing having to tell them it wasn’t working out, especially when the space is lovely and we are all enjoying the classes. To deal with the anxiety and stress surrounding this decision, I started doing more meditation and breathwork.

I went back to doing Deepak Chopra’s Heart Meditation, which I did constantly throughout my separation with my husband. It is an amazing meditation that has you focus on all the things you are grateful for in life, then repeat the mantra: “Every decision I make is a choice between a grievance and a miracle.  I relinquish all resentments, grievances and regrets and I choose the miracle.” Finally, he invites you to shift your awareness to someone or something you are holding a grudge against and practice forgiveness.

The breathing exercise, called Complete Breath, practiced while laying one your back divides each inhale and exhale into 3 parts:

• Inhale:
  • Draw 1/3 of your breath into your belly and pause
  • Inhale the next 1/3^rd of your breath, expanding your lower ribcage and pause
  • Inhale, completely filling the upper lungs and pause
• Exhale:
  • Let the heart drop down with the first 1/3^rd of your exhale, pause
  • Let the back of the lower ribs sink on the next 1/3^rd then pause
  • The belly draws down as you exhale the remaining breath, then pull the belly up and in.

The meditation helped me let go of all the offenses and anger surrounding the studio. While the Complete Breath exercise has given me strength to trust that in letting this go, God will bring something far greater into my life.

I love shopping at flea markets. Luckily for me, there are flea markets almost every weekend around Los Angeles.  What I love most is the element of surprise.  You can’t plan for what you want to shop for at the flea market, so it provides me a place and time to be open and see what catches my attention and resonates with me in that moment.

While I always have a running list of things I’m looking for – a cool bowl to put on the tray on my ottoman in the living room, ceramic tiles for a project in my garden, fun vintage earrings in red or purple – I never know what I’m going to stumble across and fall in love with.  Many times I fall in love with things that while worth it, are exorbitantly expensive (like the wooden napkin holder in the shape of a woman in a hoop skirt at the Santa Monica Airport flea market a few months ago) and just not practical for my life now.  But even then I’m so excited to have seen such a cool thing.

Flea markets are also a green way to shop.  Everything there is already in this world, so why not put it to use instead of buying cheap new things from China. I love the history too.  Who knew that children’s play kitchens used to be metal and probably quite dangerous to play around, but after seeing some on a tour of Castle Green in Pasadena, I started seeing them (and buying them) at the flea market.

Anyway, why in the world am I droning on about flea markets?  Well, on Saturday after my fun morning at the flea market, a few other plans I had for the day did not go the way I expected.  Through my yoga practice, I’ve learned when things don’t go as planned to just take a deep breath, stay fluid and go with whatever comes my way – most of the time.  Not so much on Saturday.  I became a mess: grumpy, mopey and even snappy to my husband a few times.

Sunday, after a lovely bike ride to church and excellent sermon, I was able to put things in perspective.  What I realized is that I need to approach all areas of my life the way I approach the flea market:  having in mind some of the things I hope to come across or accomplish on my journey, but then being open and excited at what I might find that had never even crossed my mind.

We all have goals and dreams, and our modern society teaches us to push and work our butts off for the things we want.  But does that really make us happy?  Yes, many things in life are better planned, but if we get too rigid I think we miss out on smelling the roses and the excitement of what will happen next!