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Full Moon and Oracle Cards...

8/15/2019

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Ever wondered how the full moon affects you? For some, it affects their sleep and researchers have found that we get 20 minutes less sleep, and it takes us 5 minutes longer to get to sleep.  Notice if you wake up groggy the next day or have brain fog throughout the day.  

According to the Ano Lani Ano Honua moon book the Mahealani full moon is about endings, closures and spiritual rebirth. Also, if you happen to be missing any personal belongings,  this is the time you have a good chance of finding it.  :)

Interested in knowing what the Oracle cards have to say? I have collaborated with Kealapono in my cyberspace yoga classes to set the stage to align with the wisdom of the cards. The spirit animal in the cards was the serpent which lead me to tell the dharma story, ' The Marriage of the Princess and the Dragon.'  See the following quote. Click HERE to see the video clip of the oracle card messages. 
Because of the mishaps of her parents, a young princess named Aris must be betrothed to a fearful dragon. When the king and queen tell her she becomes frightened for her life. But recovering her wits, she goes out beyond the market to seek a wise woman, who has raised twelve children and twenty-nine grandchildren and knows the ways of dragons and Men.

The wise woman tells Aris that she indeed must marry the dragon, but that there are proper ways to approach him. She then gives instructions for the wedding night. In particular, the princess is bidden to wear ten beautiful gowns, one on top of the other.

The wedding takes place. A feast is held in the palace, after which the dragon carries the princess of to his bed chamber. When the dragon advances towards his bride, she stops him, saying that she must carefully remove her wedding attire before offering her heart to him. And he too, she adds (instructed by the wise women), must properly remove his attire. To this he willingly agrees.

“As I take off each layer of my gown, you must also remove a layer.” Then, taking off the first gown, the princess watches as the dragon sheds his outer layer of scaly armour. Though it is painful, the dragon has done this periodically before. But then the princess removes another gown, and then another. Each time the dragon finds he too must claw off a deeper layer of scales. By the fifth gown the dragon begins to weep copious tears at the pain. Yet the princess continues.
​
With each successive layer the dragon’s skin becomes more tender and his form softens. He becomes lighter and lighter. When the princess removes her tenth gown, the dragon releases the last vestige of dragon form and emerges as a man, a fine prince whose eyes sparkle like a child’s, released at last from the ancient spell of his dragon form. Princess Aris and her new husband are then left to the pleasures of their bridal chamber, to fulfil the last advice of the wise women with twelve children and twenty nine grandchildren. story by mettarefuge.
***The next cyberspace class is Sunrise Stretch and  Meditation which will include the mayan calendar.
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The Pieces of Paper...

8/15/2019

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On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of presenting a Mindfulness presentation to teachers and staff at St. Clements. It was my opportunity to share this beautiful story with them and to have them do an exercise like this. I hope that this exercise touched their hearts because this story touched my heart.
This is a story of a teacher at a Catholic school in Minnesota.  She describes an unforgettable elementary student named Mark Eklund who had been likeable but frustrating because of his inability to stay quiet in class.  The teacher transferred to teaching junior-high and later had Mark again.  One day asked everyone in the class to write down each student’s name and also write the nicest thing they could think of about that person.  Years later, the teacher got word that Mark Eklund had died in Vietnam and she was asked to attend his funeral.  Mark’s family showed her that the piece of paper from junior-high with other student’s kind remarks about him had been carried in his wallet until the day he died.  The teacher then heard that other students had also saved their pieces of paper from that day and how much it had meant to them.  The story closes with encouragement to tell people how much we care for them and how special they are to us while there is still the time to do it. ​​​truthorfiction.com
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Letter to the Cyber Yogi's

8/7/2019

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Hello Cyber Yogi's! 

Thank you so much for joining in today for the test run and having patience for the technicals. Keala has offered to be my cyber tech support whenever he is available to join in and will be working on the mic situation, then killing the music for now.  Your comments make a difference and I am super grateful! 

Here below a recap summary of what was covered in the session today. 

BREATHWORK - PRANAYAMA
Prana = life force ;  Ayama = extension. The bridge between our external world and internal world. The benefits include:  witnessing our thoughts, feeling our emotions, calming the scripts that are running in our minds. 

*Beyond the mat:   Whenever we are triggered with a strong emotion it takes 90 seconds for the emotion to leave our body chemically.  Thereafter, we are responsible for choosing to keep playing the scenario repeatedly in our minds. Take a breath the next time you feel triggered and use it as your tool. Choose to  respond rather than react.  

EYES CLOSED OR EYE GAZE SOFT
Lowers external stimulation, guides one into a quiet stillness and facilitates focus and inner clarity. 

*Beyond the mat: We are stimulated by our external sight which keep our minds active.  Our eyesight is a learning portal and we are receiving more than 80% information downloads through our the scope of our lens. Practicing with a soft gaze or closing the eyes, turns the vision inward, and we soften the information bias of what is coming in and begin the process of developing our own intuition. This work enables us to tap into a larger field of intelligence-our wisdom. It is that innate wisdom that helps us to break through illusions and recolor our perspective to a reality that supports our best self. We then can make better choices in or daily living. 

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--> ASANA - PHYSICAL PRACTICE  
Hip openers such as Warrior II and child's pose release stuck emotions lodged in the body such as fears. It is easy to have fear of our own expectations, in order to fit into the roles that we hold in society, or to fear what the future holds for us. 

Heart openers are backbends that allow the front body to open and release any type of congestion physically in the chest or if we are having difficulty expressing ourselves to others. 

Lowering the head below the heart assists the blood flow to the heart therefore, relaxing the brain activity when we are feeling scattered. 
 
 --> GUIDED MEDITATION - YOGA NIDRA  
Moving beyond the physical body and surfing through the various states of consciousness to cleanse the internal space and arrive feeling at ease and peace.

Body scan - This gives the thinking mind a task to pull the energies into the body, and the present moment.

Rapid visuals - The planted images excavate stuck memories, whether good or bad to cleanse the system to make room for new experiences. Helpful in releasing trauma.

Visualization - Encourages one to keep diving inward to recognize that our well being is more than just the physical body.


-->SANKALPA - HEARTS DESIRE / RESOLVE TO DO SOMETHING
This is the intention we set to support our highest self. It can start off as materialistic or superficial, which is perfectly ok. That is the first step to discovering what we are really longing for from the truth of our heart.  With genuine practice and commitment to seeking our authentic truth of why we are really here,  this intention / vow, will arrive when we are ready to live it. It is the larger arc of our lives, our dharma.  We planted our seeds today's practice into the universe with the clear bubble and feeling ourselves in that space. 

-->SAVASANA- THE CORPSE POSE
Settling into the totality of all the layers of our being. Arriving into a deeper understanding that all is well and surrendering into our essence and nesting in our inner divine self. No gripping or clenching on what things should be, just allowing ourselves to arrive and coasting into the timeless and expansive stillness.  Feeling whole and complete then finally feeling 'one-ness' with everything around us. 
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A Blessing or a Curse?

8/4/2019

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Photo by Zahaoha
What if we relaxed our need to control and judge our situations and embodied a neutral outlook? 

This past week I added two more classes to my schedule seeing a whole new crowd of participants.  Every class presents something new and different each time and there is no way to predict how the class will turn out.  I've learned to surrender into servicing the people, honoring the truthful practice, and releasing the control of having to know what happens next. 


I came across this story about an old man and a horse from my dear friend Melody. It reminded me that not all situations really turn out the way we think it will be, so why not just be ok with what is and let go of trying to label it as good, bad, lucky or unlucky or trying to predict the outcome.
The Old Man and his Horse 
Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before – such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength.

People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. “This horse is not a horse to me,” he would tell them. “It is a person. How could you sell a person? He is a friend, not a possession. How could you sell a friend.” The man was poor and the temptation was great. But he never sold the horse.

One morning he found that the horse was not in his stable. All the village came to see him. “You old fool,” they scoffed, “we told you that someone would steal your horse. We warned you that you would be robbed. You are so poor. How could you ever protect such a valuable animal? It would have been better to have sold him. You could have gotten whatever price you wanted. No amount would have been too high. Now the horse is gone and you’ve been cursed with misfortune.”
The old man responded, “Don’t speak too quickly. Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know; the rest is judgment. If I’ve been cursed or not, how can you know? How can you judge?” The people contested, “Don’t make us out to be fools! We may not be philosophers, but great philosophy is not needed. The simple fact that your horse is gone is a curse.” The old man spoke again. “All I know is that the stable is empty, and the horse is gone. The rest I don’t know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can’t say. All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next?”
The people of the village laughed. They thought that the man was crazy. They had always thought he was a fool; if he wasn’t, he would have sold the horse and lived off the money. But instead, he was a poor woodcutter, and old man still cutting firewood and dragging it out of the forest and selling it. He lived hand to mouth in the misery of poverty. Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool.

After fifteen days, the horse returned. He hadn’t been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him. Once again, the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke. “Old man, you were right and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us.”

The man responded, “Once again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but don’t judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read only one page of a book. Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of one phrase. Can you understand the entire phrase?”
“Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. All you have is one fragment! Don’t say that this is a blessing. No one knows. I am content with what I know. I am not perturbed by what I don’t.”
“Maybe the old man is right,” they said to one another. So they said little. But down deep, they knew he was wrong. They knew it was a blessing. Twelve wild horses had returned. With a little work, the animals could be broken and trained and sold for much money.
The old man had a son, an only son. The young man began to break the wild horses. After a few days, he fell from one of the horses and broke both legs. Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and cast their judgments.
“You were right,” they said. “You proved you were right. The dozen horses were not a blessing. They were a curse. Your only son has broken both his legs, and now in your old age you have no one to help you. Now you are poorer than ever.”

The old man spoke again. “You people are obsessed with judging. Don’t go so far. Say only that my son broke his legs. Who knows if it is a blessing or a curse? No one knows. We only have a fragment. Life comes in fragments.”
​

It so happened that a few weeks later the country engaged in war against a neighboring country. All the young men of the village were required to join the army. Only the son of the old man was excluded, because he was injured. Once again the people gathered around the old man, crying and screaming because their sons had been taken. There was little chance that they would return. The enemy was strong, and the war would be a losing struggle. They would never see their sons again.
“You were right, old man,” They wept. “God knows you were right. This proves it. Your son’s accident was a blessing. His legs may be broken, but at least he is with you. Our sons are gone forever.”
The old man spoke again. “It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. No one knows. Say only this. Your sons had to go to war, and mine did not. No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse. No one is wise enough to know. Only God knows.”

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    Welcome to my blog page. This is my opportunity to connect further with you through storytelling and sharing my experiences. 

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