the challenge

I love challenges. I love them even more when I actually finish them!

My mind is crazy, I'm talking it never, ever stops and it's exhausting. I've been thinking a lot lately about taking up a meditation practise but as with most things it has been pushed to the side.

So, I've given myself a challenge. The Seven Spiritual Laws challenge.

~The plan - to cover one chapter/week. As I go through the readings (The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga), try to apply the principles of each law into the daily for that week.

~The practise - adopt the laws into my pracitse on the mat. Write daily about anything and everything. Ease my way into a meditation practise.

~The hope - that by the end of the seven weeks I will have calmed the crazy and am ready to establish a daily practise of yoga and meditation both on the mat and off.

Ready, set, go!

**Advice, help, hints and comments on calming the crazy are encouraged**

ssly - the law of karma

"what we reap is what we sow, and so it goes" ~ kid rock (my man)

In the law of Karma (cause and effect) Deepak points out that it's important to shift our way of thinking from viewing karma as binding or jailing and open up to the freedom that it provides. Typically, karma is referred to as being good or bad. Deepak is taking us away from this "definitive unchanging" view of karma and bringing us into a world of choices.

I have never really been interested in Karma due to the all-or-nothing approach that I associated with it. And so to see this as the third law was initially a little off-putting. Karma is often linked to ones actions or deeds which I find is what gives it this connotation of being good or bad - positive or negative.

However, after reading about karma in the sense of choices, I feel I can now relate a little more. I feel myself opening up the the idea of karma as it comes out of the world of good and bad and just lays out on the table as a mix of past choices. It is not about whether your future will be bright or dark but about where you are now and how you are handling your current situation - and how this handling is going to affect what's to come.

Karma is about choices. Conscious choice making.

It's important for us to become consciously aware of the choices that we are making. It is the conscious as well as unconscious choices that shape our future. We need to move away from the knee-jerk reactions - because although they are conditioned and come without "thought", they are still choices.

Conscious choice making can be very empowering. It's about taking control of your life. It takes away from the "why me" syndrome and allows you to take ownership of your choices and their outcomes.

Deepak suggests that with each choice you make, you ask yourself:

"What are the consequences of the choice I am making"?

"Will the choice I'm making now bring happiness to me and those around me"

He also suggests that when making a choice, pay attention to the response that takes place in your body.

Listen.

Move from your heart.

This weeks mantra

Om Kriyam Namah
My actions are aligned with cosmic law

And for your listening pleasure click here

you want me to put my what where?

Yoga class last night went something like this - set your intention - sun salutations - stretch your glutes - now try to put your foot behind your head. What!?!

When people think of pretzly yogis I think that this pose is one that comes to mind. However, through my practise both on the mat and off I have yet to come across it. So, it was a bit of a surprise to me when my instructor had us all laying on our backs wiggling around trying to work it out. It, did not get worked out. At least not for me.

On the walk home I wondered if this "leg behind your head" pose was even legit and what's the point. Sometimes I wonder if teachers just have us do things for their own amusement. I mean, legs behind your head, what a stupid frustrating pose. So I did some googling and there it was - Eka Pada Sirsasana in all it's glory.

And I learned that there are in fact benefits - good benefits.

This pose is said to

*eliminate toxins
*improve hemoglobin levels
*purify the heart and lungs
*energize the body and mind

Maybe it's not such a stupid pose after all. But for where I'm at in my yoga journey it remains to be one of serious frustration.

Yoga is a challenge for me. Typically a good challenge, one that keeps me coming back to the mat. But every so often I encounter a pose that is just soooo f'ing frustrating. A pose that with a slap in the face reminds me of just how far away I am from the athlete I used to be.

I remember the years I spent at the gym club (gymnastics). I had such strength and determination. I had the confidence in myself and my body to try anything. And sometimes it would work out, and sometimes I would fall - hard. But I would always try. And now, I shy away from difficult hikes for fear that I will be left for dead at the top.

Yoga helps to calm and centre and blah blah peacey stuff but for me it's a serious motivator and tool to get back that strength and confidence of my youth. And you know what, so far it's working.

Some people know that they've "made it" when they own their first car, house or whatever big thing they strive for. I will be satisfied for having "made it" the day my foot rests atop my shoulders with ease.

Yoga - Korean style

Well I did it. I pulled myself away from the world of streaming long enough to post. One of the things that I have learned this last 18 months in Korea is how to waste time. I am amazing at wasting time. Reading through my daily list of blogs, emailing, surfing, facebook, true blood, solitaire, project runway, daydreaming... ahh daydreaming. But here I am blogged up and ready to write.

I love my new yoga studio! I mean love love love it. Like dog-ass tired drag myself out of my after school nappy haze to take a class, love it. And get this, I don't even understand it, well, the language of it anyways. I have found this gem of a studio not too far from my apartment that teaches an open class three days a week. There is nothing fancy about this studio, just one big open room filled with real people who just love yoga. I'm surrounded by scrunchies, baggy pants and oversize t's. No lululemons, no ego, just straight up heart. And, I'm home.

Each class starts with the instructor bringing us to a seated position at the front of our mats. We close our eyes and she takes us through what i am assuming is a guided meditation/ intention setting to set us in the mood for what's to come. I don't understand a word (as the class is taught entirely in Korean) but as I sit there this is what I imagine her to be saying:

"Let go of your day. Let go of your expectations. Come into your breath. Come into your body. Shawna, stop thinking. Tune into yourself and into one another. Let your breath and your body be your guide. Shawna, stop thinking. Move from the heart..."

And so we sit there for about 5 minutes working to find our calm. And then the movements begin. I have had an on again off again relationship with yoga for quite some time now and I considered myself to be quite familiar with the asana portion of the practise. But without fail, every class I am introduced to something new. Did I mention that I love this class? In a totally unpredictable way we go through about 50 minutes of a mix of standing and seated postures. And after a short shivasana we come back to that seated position in which we began.

At this point, and this is my favourite part, we begin to give ourselves a mini massage. Rubbing our necks, our bellies, our chest and anywhere else you feel needs the attention. And then as if in an act to physically rid ourselves of anything that we weren't able to leave on the mat we begin to brush our hands across our chest and shoulders as if to brush of any remaining burden from the day. When we feel sufficiently cleansed we bring our hands to prayer and give our thanks. Thanks to our teacher, thanks to ourselves, thanks to the wonderful practise that is yoga.

Namaste