Growing means you experience more – and is an amazing, freeing, and expansive experience. You understand the world better. You meet people you never knew you were missing. But an expanded view means you’ll come across some obstacles, too, no longer nestled in the safety of your hometown, family home, or familiar relationship Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
There is an unspoken way in which our society dulls our inner light – not directly, but through layers of discouragement and complacency, comparison and doubt. It is somehow instilled in many people that the freedom to rejoice in your own light is somehow unjust, selfish, or finite. This is wrong. Not only are humans supposed to stoke their own flames, but ought to help others light their paths as well.
The healing power of touch is in our hands. When you are close with someone, and you would like to share your caring heart with them, you can do that through your touch. Your compassion, respect, and love are more powerful than any massage techniques you can learn. It is easy to give an acupressure massage to your loved ones, spouse, parents, children and friends, because it is simply another way to express your love for them.
The title for this post comes from my dear friend Alok Joddha Hernandez. It really resonated with me because as I reflected on his comment, “Miracles happen outside of your comfort zone,” I realized he was right. All of the miraculous, wonderful things in my life have happened after I took a risk or did something that made me uncomfortable.
Meditation is a great teacher, but our internal chatter and distractions oftentimes hinder efforts to deepen awareness and mindfulness, let alone gain many insights. With practice, there are ways to overcome mind-created obstacles.
It requires patience and practice to access meditative mindfulness before upping the ante for insights. Letting go of obstacles is essential, and paradoxically difficult – especially for beginner meditators. We need to become aware of what’s hindering us from becoming more aware or mindful.
Sometimes life feels like you have been directed into the hidden abyss without any guideposts showing the way. Often this experience comes out of nowhere, just when you thought you had things figured out for a while. Well, luckily, the yogis of old were familiar with similar experiences which prompted the download of a certain yogic technique just for the very task of navigating the unknown. This simple practice is called the Shoonya gesture in Sanskrit. Shoonya means “the void” or the nothingness.
As one of nearly 7.5 billion people who inhabit Earth, you should ask yourself whether or not you’re doing anything to make your time here meaningful. It’s important to leave your mark (and I’m definitely not talking about a huge carbon footprint) as a way to pay thanks. What I mean is to pay it forward and do your best to earn good karma. Luckily, there are numerous small acts that you can follow through with, in order to pay your rent here on Earth, so to speak.
In college I had the privilege of attending a lecture that changed my life and how I view the world. The lecture was an integral part of my alma mater’s annual Wisdom Traditions series, and it was there that I heard Angeles Arrien, world-renowned author and activist, talk about her revolutionary book, The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer, and Visionary.
Summer is in full swing here in the Northern hemisphere, which brings mixed reactions: some revel in the long, warm days, enjoying innumerable outdoor activities, while others seek cooling respite from the sun's rays and thick humidity. In the ancient practice of Ayurveda, summer (particularly late summer) is the season of Pitta—the firey, transformative energy at work in both nature and the body. Pitta is the fire that digests food and thoughts or ideas, so it's essential, but can easily get too intense as things heat up.
Today’s modern world is generally more geared towards convenience rather than conscientious efficiency. This can often lead to the physical and environmental safety of products we use on a continual basis being overlooked. After speaking with a close friend of mine who has been sharing what, initially to me, were radical methods of care during her menstrual cycle, I began to wonder: what is really in a tampon and how does my use of them impact the world around me?