Interesting trivia: in 1950, less than 10% of American households contained only one person. By 2010, nearly 27% of households had just one person.
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The truth is, I work a lot. I travel to fulfill my dharma to teach peace and inspire happiness. I’m in different time zones, and often lack reliable WiFi or have low bandwidth. I can’t afford an international cell phone plan, just cheap sim cards for local calls.
Even when I’m not off-grid, I meditate a lot by myself so I’m still off-grid (in a sense, living in another realm.) I’m also an introvert hiding in plain site as an extrovert, which requires time alone to recharge. I get so involved in my role of healer-teacher that I forget to leave time to stay more connected.
What has changed for me, as I get wiser, is how important sisterhood is now more than ever.
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Have you ever noticed a low level of anxiety constantly gnawing away inside you? Do you find yourself clenching your jaw, grinding your teeth, fidgeting, seeking meaningless distraction, anything just to handle the stress or get away from the tension you feel just being you? Yoga calls this Dukha. It means suffering, imbalance, despair, anguish, anxiety, irritation, uncertainty and more. You get the idea. If you feel Dukha, you are not alone. Despite the fact we have more comforts and material possessions, more freedom and more mobility than any people in modern history, Americans are awash in Dukha. As George Carlin put it, “the paradox of our time in history is we have more….” (I’ll share more about this later.)
How Dukha Impacts Us On All Levels
We all know that stress can have a huge impact on how we live day-do-day. It affects our mood, our social relationships, our sleep pattern and diet.
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I know that with consistent, regular practice, you will reconnect with what you’re feeling, learn healthy, stress-reducing techniques (like breathing on purpose), appreciate your life more and generally engage with the world in a kinder way.
As yoga teacher Donna Farhi says, “What the world needs are kinder, more compassionate, generous people.”
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Yoga studios are essential for both the student and the teacher. In this digital, social, media-energized virtual world, it is evident to me that people still crave human connection. The most important contribution studios offer is community. Community defined simply is a place for gathering. A place where hearts can connect. A place where interaction and relationships develop in personal face-to-face relationships.
What Yoga Studios Can Provide
Yoga studios provide that space where we can connect, learn, support, and celebrate each other. For students, this is critical in fostering personal growth and highest self-study, or svadhyaya. As students, we need teachers who can actually be with us.
For the teacher, it provides a consistent platform to offer their special gifts and unique styles. It fosters deeper, more intimate, and long-lasting relationships with the student. It also offers a place to call home… Read the full article here!
I hope these tips are helpful so we can more quickly avoid the pitfalls and get on with the truest benefits of yoga.
This idea of dharma—‘knowing why we are here’—requires action to move us forward. Literally translated, the word karma means ‘action.’ It comes from the Sanskrit root ‘kr,’ which means ‘to act.’
The action of karma includes the movement of our bodies and the movement of our thoughts. However, the paradox is that we will never know for sure what our purpose is without at least testing the choices that drive our karma.
Every day, we have opportunities to take action. Fiery situations arise that help us burn off some karma. Our actions can prompt better questions to ask ourselves regarding our true dharma.
Just like we have different bank accounts, so do we also have various spiritual accounts. One of the most important spiritual accounts we have is our Happiness Account. The account with the most deposits of your energy will grow—think of this as your Happiness Return on Investment (HROI).
What often happens, however, is that instead of making deposits into our Happiness Account, we squander away the currency of our energy into stress, worry, and comparison.
Alchemy of Balance: Using Chakra and Chant
Each day, I ask myself, “How do I maintain balance in order to live my best day ever?” As much as I try to stay balanced, I have learned that I can easily lose it. Balance may be easy to find, but it is hard to sustain. This is because we are the only ones who can do the inner work of maintaining it.
Francis Braceland writes, “We can be sure that the greatest hope for maintaining equilibrium in the face of any situation rests within ourselves.”
So how do we find and maintain balance? I have discovered two tools: chakra and chant.
Chakra
The chakra—the seven main energy centers in the body that receive, absorb, and distribute life energies—are a natural starting place.
The chakra offer us a benchmark to assess our life balance.
