Friday, December 8, 2017

Shraddha

I have been thinking of shraddha. It’s a Sanskrit word often translated as “faith,” I take it to also mean “self-esteem,” “personal conviction,” or “determination.” It’s #sharddha 
that pushes us to do things where we might “fail” at but we do them. We get up. And we do it again better! With this personal drive we fail & fall forward!
While failing can seem daunting because of the conditions we’ve placed on ourselves and the self-imposed meanings we’ve assigned to failure, it doesn’t need to be that way. By embracing failure with self esteem it can be a way to grow. 
This sets you up to win no matter what, you pave the way for your growth.
It’s a win win because if you are successful it’s a win and if you are unsuccessful you can evaluate the results and learn what need refining. Either way we are Progressing!
That is the goal, if your growing your winning. It’s shraddha that pushes us forward. 
If you are consciously making an effort to achieve greater clarity (itaresham), your conviction (shraddha) will be followed by the strength and persistence (virya) to remember your direction (smrti) of growth. 
It’s your inner strength, the guiding force inside that urges you to keep putting one foot in front of the other. This helps you connect to your own true Self or the place of quiet light within.
Shraddha will wane and fluctuate. We all have days when we feel more confident and self-assured, and days when we doubt ourselves. The potential to cultivate shraddha is within you, though you might not be aware of that potential, or use it to your advantage. The right support (a good teacher, coach, friend, partner, or mentor) can help you cultivate and strengthen shraddha.
🙏 I love wiping out some ancient Yoga texts opening them and reigniting my light. This gem is from #theyogasutras 

How do you connect to your shraddha?

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Durga!!!!

Durga is currently one of my most beloved Goddesses. Several times I have done a sadhana for Durga chanting her mantra 108 x/ day for 41 days. It’s so powerful. 

Durga Mantra – Om Dum Durgayei Namaha

Below are some notes from Sianna Sherman one of my most beloved teachers and story tellers. Enjoy! 
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Durga 
Hindu Goddess of Power, Strength, Protection, Justice & Courage

Durga is an embodiment of the Warrioress, the one who courageously rides into battle on her lion or tiger to slay the demons of pride, greed and arrogance. She stands for Truth, Protection and the ultimate power of Love.
Durga is one of the most celebrated Goddesses around the world. She is MahaDevi & MahaShakti, the Great Goddess of spiritual illumination and creative dynamism.  When the going gets tough, she is the one to call on!  Durga awakens within us the power to show up fully in our lives to face our battles with fierce compassion, courage, tenacity, grace, and commitment to fight for justice and love. Durga is the great Warrior Goddess who encounters and slays many demons.  The demons represent the encounters we experience within ourselves.  They are the demons of our pride, arrogance and greed. The inner battle is how we must come to terms with ways we have become greedy, overly inflated, narcissistic and intoxicated by who we think  we are at times. As Durga rides her tiger into battle to conquer these demons, the alchemy of inner yoga is called into action.  She uses her strength and power to fight for Love. Durga is the Warrioress of our heroine's quest and shows us how to rise with empowerment, stand in our truth and fight for justice in this world. 
She is the Power of Love that defeats the love of power. 

Durga’s myth is the play of consciousness where love defeats tyranny. She goes face-to-face with the seemingly invincible Mahisha, the demon of arrogance, greed and tyranny.  In the end, the power of love defeats the abuse and misuse of power.

Durga's stories are found in the Devi Mahatmya, a Hindu text known as the "Glory of the Goddess", comprised of 700 shlokas or verses in praise of the Goddess.  
Remember that you are EVERY character in the story! Let the myth come to life inside of you and reveal its insight through your embodied form.
Durga is the Mother of the universe from whom comes forth the creation, sustenance and dissolution of all beings and all worlds. She is Chit-Shakti, the power of consciousness. The great Goddess Durga is born of the light and power of all the gods and goddesses at a time when all the worlds were in deep despair.  There once was a demon named Mahisha who was a powerful yogi.  He practiced yoga ceaselessly trying to impress and gain favor of the gods in order to receive a boon.  
He was so fiercely devoted to his practices and he began to blaze so brightly that eventually, Lord Brahma took notice and finally asked the demon, “What is it that you are requesting?”  Mahisha replied, “There is just one thing.  I want to be all powerful, invincible, and entirely immortal.”  Brahma said to Mahisha, “Well, I can only grant you that to a certain extent because everything that is created must at some point come to its death.  So the boon I can give you is that you may choose who you would like to be slain by. Who shall be the cause of your demise?”
Mahisha, in his arrogance and total disdain for the Feminine laughed and replied, “Oh easy! Let it be a woman. What woman could ever slay me?”
Now, this was his first great mistake. Nothing is more powerful than the great feminine power of the Maha Devi! But so it was that his boon was granted and Mahisha went about destroying the 3 worlds and sending all the realms into darkness.  Without respect for anything, Mahisha caused such destruction that the world became very dismal. The world was without color. The grass stopped growing. Agni, the god of Fire, lost his desire to burn and became shivering cold. Chandra, the Moon, became dull and lost her lustrous, inspirational force. Surya, the Sun, no longer felt like pushing his chariot of light through the sky. Vayu, the god of Wind, didn’t want to breathe life into the world. 
The gods and goddesses became so distraught in their despair that they finally decided something must be done. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva – the great powers of Creation, Sustenance and Destruction- stood together in community and began to ignite the power of their practices.  They concentrated their strength and energy between them and blazed it through their third-eye centers.  From the collective third-eye, they beamed this light into the center and as it intensified, the most lustrous form of Devi began to rise up from the light.
Durga, born of this light, began to emerge and her body was the most radiant vessel of strength, radiance and beauty. Her toes were made of the light of the sun.  Her feet formed from Lord of Creation. She had legs of the power of water, hips formed of the earth. Her waist was the thunderbolt and her breasts of the moon. She waved her arms - thousands of arms made of the sustaining power. Her fingers formed from the children of creativity. The light of her face was from Shiva himself. One of her eyebrows was made of the sunrise, the other of the sunset. Her dark, intoxicating hair from the Lord of Death.  Her radiance was so blinding that even the gods had to close their eyes because they could not bear her immense light. The gods and goddesses offered their weapons to her that wielded an identical, yet even stronger form of their own power.
Although Durga "appeared" out of this  force field of light and intention of the deities, in truth, She was already the essence of everything and everyone.  With her emergence, all the grass became green again, the tail feathers of peacocks lifted to reveal their color, the birds sang beautifully and color was restored to the world.  
In some versions of the story, Durga retreated to a cave in the center of a mountain where she was attended to by 4 priestesses while she turned to her inner strength and power for the inevitable battle to come. As Durga committed to her own sadhana, the world began to blaze even brighter until Mahisha took notice.  Outraged, he demanded to know “Who dares to make my world beautiful? Who dares to do something I did not command?”
Mahisha sent his armies to destroy Durga.  She sat perfectly poised upon her great lion, wrapped in a red silk sari, and simply sighed "Hum" from which an infinite league of warriors emerged and defeated everyone. Finally, Mahisha had to face the Great Devi himself. When he asked her who she was, she simply responded: "Mahisha, you rush faster to your own death than a moth to a flame. I am the one who is the cause of your demise." He roared in laughter. She sat in stillness with the smile of Grace and composure in her eyes and the epic battle began. 
Mahisha was a trickster and shape-shifter, who used his power to control and manipulate. With each shape-shifting form, Durga always matched him until finally she had enough. In that moment, she took a sip of the sacred elixir, rose up into the sky and descended down upon him as he was about to shape-shift yet again. She landed upon him with the soft underside of her foot across his neck. The moment before his death, Mahisha looked to the Goddess and saw her True Form of Infinite Love. He cried out "MA" with recognition and she slayed him with her trident. With his last breath, all the demon armies sighed and disappeared from the world. Upon slaying the great demon, the Goddess Durga put down her weapons and held only lotus flowers. 
The Priestess as Warrioress wields the weapons of truth, love and justice. She rises within us and keeps us on the course of our path. Ultimately, she is the Power of Love that defeats stubborn, limiting beliefs and injustice in the world at large. 


Durga represents:
  • Truth
  • Power of Love
  • Grace under pressure
  • Strength to face our fears
  • Inner strength and protection
  • Primal instinct and regal beauty
  • The power of the collective whole
  • The eye in the middle of the storm
  • Composure in the midst of any challenge
  • Remembrance to carry the fortress in ourselves
  • Justice in the world and righteousness for humanity
  • Bravery to come out of hiding with our voices, gifts and power
  • Courage in the midst of fear and remembering what is truly possible
  • Feminine embrace of community and leadership that exalts all of humanity
  • How to fortify our boundaries emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually


Sunday, November 5, 2017

Choose LOVE

How do you choose LOVE daily over fear?
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“It takes courage to endure the sharp pains of self discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.” Marianne Williamson
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This is something I really started working on 6 years ago. I realized that the unconscious way I was living was based off of fear. Fear you don’t like me, Fear I wasn’t good enough, fear that if you were pretty I couldn’t be, fear I wouldn’t finish my t...o do list, fear I wasn’t doing enough, fear that I wouldn’t win and I didn’t even know what I was trying to win...
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I knew that i didn’t want to live like that in dull pain for the rest of my life.
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I realized that all of these fears were coming from my selfishness and could be summed up as 👉fear I would lose something I had. Or fear I would get something I wouldn’t want.
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Living off of fear had me constantly reacting (vs. responding) to life. My reactions unconsciously added more chaos to the world & to the situation.
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I intentionally decided that I would switch from fear based living to love based living. I would just love hard on everyone one. If you are doing great I send you love. If your not doing great I send you love. If I lose something I had I send myself love and remember that everything happens in perfect timing and everything passes. If I am doing great I send myself love and remind myself that everything passes. 😉
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When I get caught up in my selfishness (which is the root of fear). I pause. I breath. I pray. I reach out to friends. I respond to life from this place of love.
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When I respond to life I can consciously be aware of what I am contributing to the situation. How can I add more light? More usefulness? More forgiveness? More understanding? More inspiration?
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One action I take that helps me respond with love is reading how to do this. Because I don’t know. I had to learn how. I learned it from wise friends. And wise books like anything written by
#MarianneWilliamson
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I am not perfect. I still run off for fear sometimes unconsciously sometimes consciously. The difference is now I notice it. I switch to love. I apologize. And I try again from a place of ❤️
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Stretch YOURSELF

What are your go to affirmations?
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For way to many years I let the number on the scale determine my self worth. I could understand how irrational this was but I just couldn’t stop.
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I still struggle with this today from years of repeating limiting beliefs that are ingrained in my mind. ...
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Affirmation is one of my favorite tools to scrub my brain of these ingrained beliefs and thoughts. Two of my favorite affirmations are:
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“My happiness does not depend on my weight or my size!” And
“I love myself in every way as I am right now!”
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The first step to change is awareness. Becoming aware of those habitual scripts in your brain that make you feel less then the amazing soul that you are!
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Once you are aware switch the script! Sometimes I feel like I am having a conversation in My head between the little kim and my highest truth Kim.

Little kim “no body likes you, you look fat, your not smart”
Awareness
Higher Kim “I am awesome. I love myself. People like being in my company. I can do hard thing. I am confident. I am strong. I am at peace”
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You are WORTHY

What are your go to affirmations?
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For way to many years I let the number on the scale determine my self worth. I could understand how irrational this was but I just couldn’t stop.
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I still struggle with this today from years of repeating limiting beliefs that are ingrained in my mind. ...
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Affirmation is one of my favorite tools to scrub my brain of these ingrained beliefs and thoughts. Two of my favorite affirmations are:
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“My happiness does not depend on my weight or my size!” And
“I love myself in every way as I am right now!”
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The first step to change is awareness. Becoming aware of those habitual scripts in your brain that make you feel less then the amazing soul that you are!
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Once you are aware switch the script! Sometimes I feel like I am having a conversation in My head between the little kim and my highest truth Kim.

Little kim “no body likes you, you look fat, your not smart”
Awareness
Higher Kim “I am awesome. I love myself. People like being in my company. I can do hard thing. I am confident. I am strong. I am at peace”
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Fly HIGH

Let’s go fly a kite up to the highest height! 💨💨💨💨💨
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We took the kids to fly kites this evening. I haven’t flown a kite in so long. It’s hard to use the wind to help the kite sore because, what kept happening to me, is the wind crashed the kite...
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Until with practice I learned how to use the turbulence of the wind to help the kite ascend gracefully. ...
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This got me thinking. We all have turbulence in our life. Like the winds that threaten to blow us off track. The winds that bring unexpected change.
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These winds can cause us to nose dive and crash. Or with practice, an open mind and intention. We can learn how to use the challenges (the wind) in our life to support us in soaring to our greatest heights!
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Be KIND

How are you going to be kind today?
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In many different conversations lately I have been hearing how people are not being kind. Stranger not making eye contact. Not saying hi. No positive interaction happening.
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To this I say. Be the change you wish to see in the world! Most of the people I see on the street or in the market I smile big and say HI. I secretly hope my cheerfulness is contagious and plagues them with joy. ...
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What are three actions you can take today to add kindness into the world? I will:
💜call some friends who I know are hurting and talk to them, love them and ask how I can help.
👉I will ask people how they are doing and will actively listen to what they say. I will ask them more questions about how they are feeling.
👉I will smile and say hi to people I pass today.
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I was listening to a motivating YouTube video yesterday from #garyvee he was saying The fact that all 7 billion of us humans are not actively hurting each other is amazing. Think about how much damage we could do to each other if we really wanted to. The fact that the majority of the people are not activity causing violence to one another is pretty awesome.
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I like that way of looking at it. It is pretty amazing, most of us, choose to get along. However I think we can do better as humans and be kinder.
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It always comes back to choices. What do you choose?
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Be POWERFUL

How do you remember your power?
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One of the way I remember my power is through my Yoga and meditation. That was my intention today. To remember my innate POWER.
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You are powerful! ...
I am powerful!
We are powerful!
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And like we learn watching Spider Man “with great power comes great responsibility”
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Do you use your power for good?
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No more complaining!

Day 1 of: #nomorecomplaining!
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I posted about this yesterday and got a lot of people who wanted in on this challenge.
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It’s easy (for me) to say I won’t complain, it’s a lot harder to put it into practice. ...
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For example when someone says how are you doing? My first instinct is to say “pretty good” and then rattle of my top 3 problems.
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Today how ever I will say “pretty good” and say my top three blessings:
-love the weekend because I get to spend time with the whole family.
-super excited to launch my Uncover Your Best Self course on Monday.
-I have been feeling really happy and on fire lately.
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Then I am going to follow it up with... “what awesome things are happening in your life?”
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I am going to be keeping track of my struggles with this and the changes I see. I would love to hear from you too! Keep me posted on your 1 week of no complaining!

Be VULNERABLE

  1. How do you practice vulnerability? How do you grow?
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    I am dedicated to opening my heart to the places the scare me. To the things that make me want to run away.
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    I want to be vulnerable because when I play small and hide i feel like I am not worthy. Like my story isn’t meaningful enough to share. ...
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    In my not sharing. In my thinking I am not valueable. I am teaching that to my children. Teaching them that there stories don’t matter. Teaching them to play small, to stay in their comfort zones...
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    It is crystal clear to me that I want my kids to feel so proud of who they are, to show up exactly as they are with courage and compassion in their heart, to make meaningful connections with other. And to NEVER EVER doubt their worth!!
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    I have learned that my kids learn so much more from my actions then from my words (don’t we all)!
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    This is one reason I am putting myself out here. Posting about my life, my experiences, my struggles. Recognizing my fears and doing them anyways!
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    If I want my kids to have courage, compassion and connection I need to practice this stuff daily. If I want them to love and accept themselves as they are, I need to love and accept myself as I am!
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    This week I was selected to be the coach of the week in my team #fitgreenandgorgeous. This means every day monday-Sunday this coming week I have to go live and talk about my coaching experience in the group. Today I woke up with so much fear about this. Instead of keeping that fear alive until tomorrow what did I do? I said yes today. I challenge you fear! And I went live today.
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    Everyday I am learning more and more that in facing my fear and stepping out of my comfort zone is where massive growth happens. The cool thing is as I see myself growing, leaning into the discomfort isn’t as uncomfortable because I know the light it grows inside of me.
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    If you want a sneak peak into coaching and learning more about what I do, drop your name or dm me.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Feelings are NOT Facts

I just went live in me Facebook group “live intentionally!” about this.
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Feelings are not facts! We choose which feelings we engage with and cultivate.
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I am BIG into being CLEAR about what your core desired feelings are. The feelings that if felt regularly would radically change your life!...
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Once you are clear on YOUR core desired feelings. CHOOSE to cultivate them. During this live stream I suggest that you choose to cultivate one of your core desired feelings while doing a task that you normally do habitually.
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For example. I often wash the dishes habitually. So today I am going to intentionally cultivate the feeling of love while I wash the dishes.
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If feelings your core desired feelings would radically change your life for the better... then choose to cultivate these feelings more frequently!

Self Love magic potion

What are ACTIONS you take DAILY to cultivate SELF LOVE?
💗🙏🙌
Heck for SELF LOVE. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a magical potion for self love I have to take consistent action daily!
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I work with so many women who struggle with self love, low self esteem and self worth. When I ask them what they are doing daily to up-level these they have no answer. ...
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Which I think is a good thing! If they were taking actions daily for self love and still were not feeling it then we have deeper work to do.
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But if you are not taking the actions that’s why you are not getting the results! Makes sense right?!
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What I do everyday:
👉I make time for pray, meditation, affirmations
👉I show up for what I say I will show up to
👉I move my body with yoga/exercise and cultivate gratitude for me body
👉 I cook food for myself intentionally and pour extra loads of love in
👉before I eat, I pray for the food nourish my body, mind and heart so I can be useful
👉I check in with friend daily to see how they are doing and if I can help them
👉I do personal development everyday, for a minimum for 20 mins, either an audible book, reading a book, and journaling


Be GRATEFUL

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What are you grateful for this morning?
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This is what I try to remember when my mind starts spinning to fast.
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Spinning out with fear that I won’t finish my to do lists, won’t get everything ready for my kids birthday party. That’s what my Fear was doing on Sunday. ...
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Now I am reminded of this as I have been up since 4am with one child throwing up, while the other child has been running around the house. If I am not care fear will take me to “what if my kids dies?” “what if I never get to rest?”
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I close my eyes and breath and think of all the things I am grateful for: these kids, a warm bed, Sages little voice that echos mine and he tells me “I am proud of you mom”, for friendships, for meditation, for remembering the teachings I forget, for COFFEE, for connection with other human beings, for the colors in nature, for my mom for always babysitting when I teach ...
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I asked Sage what he is grateful for “I am grateful for you mom”. I am grateful for this sweet soul I get to comfort and love on.
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Soon I will be teaching a yoga class in a Skelton costume ❤️ and depending on kids health we will treak or treat later or stay home and carve pumpkins.
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Sunday, October 29, 2017

Raising humans


So excited to go grocery shopping!
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I have been so on fire about work lately and just got back from teaching a yoga retreat that we are super low on food. Glad the kids are excited because it’s going to be a long market run.
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Here is one of my FAVORITE parenting quotes: ...
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. #khalilgibran

Loving who you are while you are improving!

I have heard so many times either someone say they are not into personal development and have no interest changing themselves because they like who they are.
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I have heard people make assumptions that I don’t like who I am because I am into personal transformation.
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If you love where you are in life that is awesome!
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That is something I hand worked on a lot the past 10 years. Now mor...e days then not I really do love the person I am!.
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That said. I never want to stop growing! I never want to stop learning! Learning how to Love move and without needing anything back in return. I never want to stop learning to more patient, kind, less judgmental...
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So yes. I am all about self love! Self worth! Self acceptance! Body positive!

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I love where I am in the moment, in the messy reality of my life and potty training😂 (most of the time) however I am also loving the journey of transformation, by showing up consistently in little ways everyday so I can be the best human I can be. Hopefully by continuing to grow my soul, and uncover my true essence I can help make the world a better place.

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That’s something my dad as always taught me “how are you going to make the world a better place Kim?” one of my answers is👉 by doing my own healing, I can help others heal and in healing I can show up kinder and more useful. .

Your MIND

Our mind is a beautiful and a mysterious tool!
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We can choose to learn how to use this tool to make our experience of life more enjoyable.
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Try this. Tell yourself “today is going to be a bad day” notice what happens, maybe you notice it’s cold, you remember how much work you have, you remember someone you have a resentment toward...
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Now try this. Tell yourself “today is going to be awesome!” Notice what happens. You see something pretty, you breath into your body and feel alive and vibrant, you think of something fun you are looking forward to today!
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How are you going to use your mind to shape a better reality for yourself and others today?
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“The mind is it’s own place and in itself, can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven” John Milton

Your SOUL

I love this teaching of going inside to connect to your beautiful soul!
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For so many years I thought if I could get my outsides just right it would change how I felt on the inside. Wronggg!
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It’s by turning into the insides ➡️Seeing the false beliefs and the limiting-self-defeating view points. Doing the work to clean the mirror of my heart so I could better see the beauty and love always radiating out of my soul! ...
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This is our job as humans. To clear our heart. To see, feel and give love more freely!
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There is a very precious teaching in yoga called The Three Malas. In this case mala being a "cloak" or a "veil" rather than mala like the bead.
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These veils are like coverings which conceal our true nature, like a floor which collects dust bunnies, the malas collect on our consciousness. Yet, underneath it the floor can be "swiffered", the covering of the dust bunnies can be removed.
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Yoga is the swiffer for your heart.
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Dust bunnies are going to accumulate just by the nature of you being alive. Every time we forget how miraculous we actually are, more dust bunnies arrive. Life is just that way, we forget. And shit happens. We get hurt.
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It is normal to forget!And each time you remember, you grow, you expand, you become even more of yourself.
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There are three malas: one that cultivates low self esteem, one that cultivates a feeling of helplessness and one that cultivates worry
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If you are interested swiffering I am leading a online three week course “Uncover your true self”. 






No more SHAME

Is shame something you focus on in yourself or in your parenting? I would love to hear from you about your personal relationship with shame.
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The topic of shame is something I am very passionate about after realizing how much my own shame talk contributed to my low self esteem and feelings of self worth.
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Now I do not use shame on myself or others! Shame talk is not allowed in our house! I try my best to keep my kids from feeling shame. Guilt yes!! But shame no!! I never ...want them to doubt there goodness or self worth!
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Do you know the difference between shame and guilt. Although they may seem similar, shame is highly correlated with addiction, depression, and aggression. Where guilt is connected to empathy and understanding and motivation.
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Shame= you make a mistake + “I am bad” = “I am a mistake”
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Gulit= you make a mistake + “I did something bad” = “I made a mistake”
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Shame erodes our courage and fuels disengagement. Guilt motivates us to take positive action to align with our values.
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I encourage you to look for shame and guilt. Do you ever drop something and say or think “I am
Stupid, I can’t believe I didn’t that!” That’s shame! When I started noticing this I was amazing how much shame talk I saw in my head and all around me.
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For example. Someone saw Violet (my 1.5 year old daughter) pick her nose and said “nobody wants to see that”. To me that sounded like shame. Instead of saying maybe there is a more appropriate place to do that. Or do you need a tissue? Or remember she is 1!
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Another example. When I started paying attention to this I noticed I shamed my husband when we would argue. I made him feel like he wasn’t worthy. When what I should have been doing was maybe laying on a little guilt. But never ever shame! I never want to shame others or be shamed!
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We are all innately, unique, awesome, and WORTHY! yes. We make mistakes. But we are not those mistakes. Can we use those mistakes to help us improve in the future. To motivate us to take positive action. Instead of shame ourself and live in fear that we are unworthy and disempower us!
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“I am worthy” “I am good” are some of my favorite affirmations.
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Friday, September 29, 2017

Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati Mantras

Navaratri, an Indian celebration of “nine nights” honoring the Devi, the great Goddess and the Divine Mother begins on the first new moon in early autumn. During Navaratri you invoke the qualities of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Below is a quick summary of each Goddess and a mantra for her. I suggest picking one Goddess whos qualities feel lacking within yourself. Do a practice of 108 rounds of mantra for 40 days. Let me know how it goes. I particularly love Durga!

Durga: overcome our fear and false ideas of ourselves giving us the ability to perceive our true nature and step up confidently again and again. Calling in courage and perseverance to defeat any obstacle.

Chant to invoke Durga: Om Dum Durgayei Namaha  

Lakshmi: abundance, both spiritual and material, to create beauty and recognize the abundance and beauty that exists within us and the world around us. Lakshmi war born from the turning of the ocean for ten thousand years by both demons and Gods. Can we turn into our practice, into our self, welcome the good and the precieved bad and through our practice let the beauty of our soul rise.

Invoking Lakshmi: Om Shreem Mahalakshmiyei Namaha

Saraswati: embodies wisdom, creativity and artistic expression. She cultivates eloquent, truthful speech and is an inspiration for creating. She is born from Bhrama and through her wisdom creates order from chaos.  

Invoking Saraswati: Om Aim Hrim Kleem Maha

Sunday, September 24, 2017

What I've Been Reading... Booklist + Summary

August Books Read 
Now that my daughter is 18 months I have declared she can no longer be an excuse of me not having time to read. 

The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting: Raising Children with Courage, Compassion, & Connection by Brene brown 
This is an audiobook from a lecture. My favorite take aways from this book was on Shame and guilt. Shame is when we do something bad and we feel bad about who we are verses guilt we only feel bad about the behavior. We teach our children this self talk by how we talk to them. Now I am really aware of identifying the behavior in my kids or my husband I am not okay with while emphasizing I still love who they are. So many good points. I will be listening to this many times. 

No Mud No Lotus by Thich Nat Han 
This book is about suffering and happiness and how one does not exsit without the other. That is like thinking we can have a right side without a left. He talks a lot about mindfulness to be present to realize how much of our suffering is happening in the past or future. By being mindful we can notice if suffering is happening in the moment, how to turn into it and care for it like we would care for a crying child while also noticing the many blessings and reasons to be happy in every moment. I love the many meditations he gives at the end including mantra, pranayama and walking meditations. 


White Hot Truth: Clarity for Keeping It Real on Your Spiritual Path ? from One Seeker to Another
Book by Danielle LaPorte
I have a crush on Danielle. The book was like one long conversation with a good friend that was honest, vulnerable with no bull shit and lots of laughs and crys. I love how she shares her personal experience of a women on the path of transformation, spirituality and service. I love how she shares about all the forms of spirituality and healing she has practiced without being preachy. I love how she shares her personal transformation, struggles and vulnerabilities.  She points out how spirituality and self help can become self criticism which I think is a very important thing to remember as someone who wants to keep improving myself while remembering I am enough and I am good. "You think you need an architect, but you are already a temple." I also love the quotes she uses throughout the book. I plan to read everything this women writes. She also has a terrific blog. Short sweet and deeply wise. I recommend this book. Visit www.daniellelaporte.com

Light Is the New Black: A Guide to Answering Your Soul’s Callings and Working Your Light by Rebecca Campbell
I didn't like this as much as I thought I would. It had a lot of really good reminders in it encouraging readers to shine their light. I love the sourcing meditation she talks about frequently. Most of the stuff in this book I felt I already knew however it's always nice to be reminded and to focus on the light over the black. One of my favorite teachings from this book was that our individual obstacles didn't happen to us, but for us. "Believe that your tragedies, your losses, your sorrows, your hurt happened for you, not to you. And I bless the thing that broke you down and cracked you open because the world needs you open"


The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz
This book has been in my pile of books to read for so long. I love this author and the way he sums up such complex concepts in simple principles rooted in ancient earth wisdom. I love what he teaches about the track of fear and the track of love. I definitely feel myself getting pulled into the fear thinking of what ifs and not wanting to let people down. He also talked about partnership and how we need to love our partner for who they are without expectations and love ourself in the same way. I learned so many good things and have applied them to my marriage. Like only being responsible for my half of the relationship and not trying to manage my husbands side. 

Shakti Meditations by Sally Kempton
I have been a student of sally Kempton for many years and devour her writings and soak them into my soul. I loved all of the  meditations, visualizations, mantras, teachings, and beautifully told stories about each goddess. I could see them so clearly in my minds eye and feel them so powerfully alive in my body.  I have stored many away into my tool box to call upon when varies challenges come up in my life. 
Here are some brief notes on each goddess:
Durga (Hard-to-Conquor), the warrior, cosmic protector, and empowering Mother. Durga and Kali have been the main goddess
I invoke regularly. 
Kali: (the Black One)—the mysterious terrifying, fiercely loving goddess who brings radical change into your life, and ultimately dissolves all forms into the Void. Among her forms are Tara and Bhairavi.
Laksmi (Auspicious)—the goddess of good fortune, wealth, and inner and outer abundance. 
Saraswati—goddess of creative intuition, music, eloquence, and speech. 
Lalita Tripura Sundari—Goddess of sacred sexuality as well as the highest form of mystical experience, whose blessing unites the energy of the body with the energy of spirit. 
Dhumavati—the crone goddess, who teaches us how to turn disappointment into spiritual growth. This goddess was the most fascinating to me!!! 
Sita—The faithful wife, guardian of the womb, goddess of the earth and its mysteries. 
Radha—the goddess of erotic devotional love, who carries the gift of divine longing and mystical surrender
Bhuveshwari—Goddess of sacred space, who dissolves all limitations into herself, and then creates new forms out of the infinite space.
Parvati—Goddess of the sacred marriage, the divine yogini, who embodies the power of creative will. “By practicing the Five Agreements, what you are really doing is respecting everything in creation. You are respecting your dream; you are respecting everybody else’s dream. If you use these tools, your effort is really for everyone, because your joy, your happiness, your peace, and your heaven are contagious. When you are happy, the people around you are happy too, and it inspires them to change their own world.”

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Short Yoga Sequence + Anatomy Lesson (Video)

In this video we go over the anatomy of chest and upper back. What the comment misalignments are that move us away from optimal alignment and toward DIS EASE and actions to bring us toward optimal alignment and toward EASE. I teach you basic poses to practice these alignment actions to fight "tech neck" "smart phone neck" and bring us toward a posture that cultivates health, joy and clarity.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Muladhara Chakra Workshop

Theme: ground into yourself and find comfort
Antidote: during the transitions of the seasons I often get sick and feel a lot of anxiety. Two common symptoms of being ungrounded. Today we will focus on our root chakra, ground into earth and feel safe and stable through all aspects and transitions of life 
UPA: muscle energy 
Apex: urdhva danurasana 
When muladhara is out of balance symptoms: weight gain (or loss), depression, anxiety, constipation, pelvic pain,and incontinence, insomnia/ restless sleep, lack of focus, stress. 
When muladhara is balanced symptoms: feeling connected, safe, "in the body", clear, settled. 

Sequence: 
Seated meditation: Begin your practice seated. Close your eyes and feel the earth beneath you. Feel every part of your body that is touching the ground and sense an energetic exchange happening between your body and the earth. It is supporting you. Take a deep breath in through your nose. As you let out a long exhale, feel your feet, legs, and pelvis releasing into ground. As you begin to surrender to that downward current of energy, notice that in response the inner spine becomes lighter. Feel the resulting lift from the root of your tailbone and through the crown of your head. Set intention: be grounded rescive comfort from earth
Sequence (*L= lunge, *AMS= down dog)

Warm up:
Childs 
Inhale cat - exhale cow to Childs 3x 
AMS 
Tadasana eyes closed feel feet To take it up a notch, try stomping. Remind yourself you belong here. You are here on purpose. You have a right to be in this body, in this life, and you have a sacred responsibility to stand with intention
Tree - L leaning forward- Tadasana 

Basic: 
AMS- L back knee lowers and lifts slowly 3x- w2 
High runners lung twist- Parsvak 
Low lunge quad stretch - half hanuman 
Trikonasana 
Goddess pose - twist- wide leg forward fold hands clasp behind back

Harder: 
Parsvak- goddess pose 
Scandasana - half moon- standing pigeon- w1 leaning forward 
W1 
Dolphin 
Headstand 
Virasana 
Supta virasana block and bolster (apex) 
Septu bandhasana 

Apex:
Urdhva danurasana  

Cool down: 
Root femurs 
Supine Twist core
Double pigeon
Malasana side stretch - Parsva janusirsasana mod foot on floor 
Wide leg forward fold 

Meditation: Now that you have spent some time connecting with the first chakra through asana, breath, and intention, please take a comfortable cross-legged seat. Keeping your eyes closed, begin to chant the bija mantra for muladhara chakra which is LAM. You may either chant it out loud or silently to yourself. Think of this mantra as a code. As you chant the code begins to unpack itself and reveal to you the sacred intelligence of the first chakra energy center. As you chant this mantra LAM, try to sense the vibration of the sound in the pelvic floor, the root chakra. Feel free to experiment with pace and volume and chant in a way that resonates with you. Spend at least 2 minutes with your chant, more if you like.
Shavasana supta Baddha konasana with bolster and blanket? 
Closing seat 


Monday, September 4, 2017

Finding the MAGIC in the MUNDANE

Special shout out to Elisabeth Stich's dance class who took this class via fortefit.com I hope you learn alignment actions in this class to help your body stay healthy and safe while moving on and off the dance floor!
Special shout out to Heather Skies who celebrate her birthday with friends in this yoga class, such an honor to be able to celebrate with you! Thank you for demoing and letting us celebrate you with our voice!


Theme: Finding the magic in the mundane. When we are present we get the opportunity to ground our self in the magic that is constantly unfolding within the present moment. This awareness of the here and now allows us to align our body, mind and hearts in a healing way.
Anecdote: When I move through my life and I get bored, or worst irritated, and everything feels so dull I normally have fallen into a habitual collapse. Whether its in my mind, my emotions or in my body. For me nothing good comes from staying in a habitual collapsed pattern. Its like when I drive home and I arrive without clearly remembering how I drove home. Thank goodness I didn't crash! Compared to when I am present and I pay attention to my drive and I consciously keep myself and others safe. Most regular moments could be considered boring but with attention, alignment actions and attitude all moments can become magical.
Universal Principle of Alignment Emphasis: shin loop, thigh loop. pelvic loop

Sequence:
Warm up 
Tadasana (align legs with shin loops aka slight bend in knees, thigh loop aka slight bend in hips, pelvic loop belly in. This is the alignment we are training in all the poses avoiding hyperextension in knees, hips and low backs so we can ground ours self in the magic contained in the mundane) 
Uttanasana- Ardha uttanasana 3x (watch those knees! are they bending backwards during the transition?)
Ardha uttanasana- tadasana 3x (keeping the same alignment in the legs use the power of the hips to bring yourself up to standing with a flat back and without losing the alignment of the legs. Check when you come up to standing if the head of the thigh bones press forward.)
Uttanasana- tadasana 3x 

Basic 
Tree (whats the bottom leg doing? Is the knee bending backwards? Keep the top of the shin forward, top of thigh back, belly in) - Eagle 
Uttanasana- parsvotanasa 2-3 blocks (use props to get the best action instead of sacrificing action for depth) - lunge - vinyasa- uttanasana- repeat on second side 
Warrior 2 (watch the back leg again you can hinge forward at hips to work the back leg: top of shin forward, top of thigh back, then use the actions of the hips to bring the torso up and the action of the glutes can help align the front knee over the ankle in line with the second toes (that's outer spiral))
Mod Parsvak- Parsvak (same actions as above) 

Harder 
Prasarita padottonasana (this is starting to sound repetitive, but same actions use a block to take the bend out of the spine, shines forward, thighs back, tone the belly stretch down through the feet and through the spine)- trikonasana ( start with block inside of foot hinge slight forward, set up lower loops, then use pelvis to lengthen spine forward and possibly moving block to outside edge of foot if you can maintain stability in lower loops and length in spine) block
Half moon- utthita padangusthasana B prep ( watch the bottom leg same set up as in tadasana, knee forward, thigh back (you can even lean forward to help with this action) then lift belly and use glutes aka pelvic loop to bring chest upright similar to the transition between Ardha utt and tadasana)
Low lunge quad (active feet, hinge forward, thighs back! then use pelvis to get torso up)
Half hanuman regular (watch front knee it often bends backwards, the stretch should be felt in the hamstring not the back of the knee, to stretch the hamstring lift the top of the shin while dragging the sit bone backwards and rooting the femur bone back)- take front foot wider to stretch the medial hamstrings - eka pada kindenyasana 2 (optional)
On side (I call this super model pose) grab top foot uttitha pada b
On block psoas stretch (block goes under low back, on leg straight heal on the floor other knee toward belly, then take knee out wide with hand you can use other hand to hold opposite pelvis for stability. Watch alignment! Tendency is for lower thigh to pop forward and externally rotate and knee possibly hyperextend. Tone leg, heal down, shin up, thigh down, medial leg internally rotates) 
Supta padangusthasana B 

Apex
utthita padangusthasana B 2x (grab pinky edge of foot in hand, hinge forward (similar to Ardha uttanasana) active legs tip bottom/ standing knee forward thigh BACK, extend foot into resistance of hand out to the side (like a ninja) the leg doesn't have to straighten the alignment actions are more important then the depth of the pose, keep the alignment of that bottom leg and use the actions of the hips to bring the torso upright. If your extra modbil and you get upright and your lifted leg hip is higher then your standing leg hip scoop the hip of the lifted leg under more and lift your belly. Root down through the earth and rise up through the spine)

Cool down 
Double pigeon 
upavista konasana root femurs (active legs, push heals into floor drag them towards hips this action should lift the top of the shins up, keep the shins lifting up while rooting the sit bones down and thighs down. IF you hips are really mobil tone belly in and up)
Dandasana (I think this pose is so difficult, its like Ardha uttanasana but the floor is unforgiving, same actions, active legs, press heals down drag them toward hips until top of shin lift root femurs down, create a lumbar curve and extend spine up.)

Shavasana

    Intention and Testimonials

    Testimonials & My Intention

    My Intention It is my intention as a yoga teacher to help you bring more health and vibrancy to your body, ease and alertness to your mind...