The first rule of negotiation is to always be willing to walk away from the deal. The first rule of happiness is to not be attached to pleasing moments.
We are all connected. The pain and suffering of others is yours also, on some level, whether you choose to pay attention or not. The reason we can't achieve total bliss is because you're not here solo.
This idea of bringing awareness to our lives seems like a good idea, right? We'll gain a productive, enjoyable, reflective life and be able to extend compassion, empathy, and joy to others. That seems like a pretty good deal.
Read labels in your favorite products. Look for short lists of simple, less-processed ingredients with names you recognize as food. If you find some of the same ingredients in your cereal as your shampoo, maybe it's time to switch to something simpler.
For me, meditation is a practice to get rid of useless junk cluttering my mind and useless ticks inhabiting my body.
Interactions - whether personal or business, teacher-student, friend to friend, or family member - all call for balance, respect, and compassion.
Friendships naturally shift over life. We have different friends for different times in our lives, and sometimes it's not the best idea to hang on to a friendship to try to make it work if it's an unhealthy connection.
Meditation will sharpen your senses and your awareness.
Yoga and mediation exist whether we choose to acknowledge or practice. It's like a tree. You can walk by the tree and inhale the oxygen it provides consciously or unconsciously. You'll still be benefiting from the tree.
You are the only thing holding you back from happiness. You have the ability to change your life radically for better or worse.
A swollen belly is a lot of pressure on the back.
Yoga is not about the history of yoga. Yoga is not about being in a sacred community of the initiated few. Yoga is about uniting inward, which takes place in the present, not the past, in each and every moment.
When you practice yoga regularly, you get more then you will from jogging on the treadmill catching up on the last season of 'Lost.' When you practice yoga, you use your body and your mind, and you're gaining awareness and intuition.
We spend so much time closing ourselves to protect from scary things that we forget that when we do open to the world, inspiration can flow.
Coloring is relaxing even for adults - and cheap therapy.
Tension happens. It will continue to happen. If we didn't have tension, we wouldn't be alive. How we maintenance ourselves makes all the difference in how we live our lives.
Holiday drinking in my family happens about as often as Sarah Palin is spotted reading the 'New York Times.' Neither of my parents are big drinkers, probably because they each had a parent that was.
Meditation can be intimidating. Sitting there doing nothing, just breathing, can be trickier than it sounds. It may feel strange, uncomfortable, or even put you to sleep.
I started practicing yoga when I was a teenager, studying classical dance. My body and mind were very open but not very strong. I was trusting, excited, passionate, and receptive. All good qualities when balanced with the proper amount of strength and awareness.
Our state of mind affects completely how we treat our bodies.
