Ride the Breath Yoga Shala

The simple practice of Saying Hello:

A very simple but effective practice to intimately connect to the happenings of our lives is to say “Hello” to our direct experience. Saying Hello, over and over throughout the day, ensures we consciously greet our field of awareness and deepen our relationship to what is appearing right in front of us; both on and off the meditation cushion.

Before it morphed into a casual greeting during the past century, Hello was originally intended to attract attention or indicate surprise or excitement, e.g., well Hello!! — and it is more potent if we remember its roots. Each Hello can be a full selfless embrace to spontaneously and surprisingly pop open in the NOW!

If we think about it, the practice of Hello requires us to progressively embrace openness and remove self-imposed boundaries to deepen our intimacy with each other. During a first greeting with another Human Being, we each put up self-conscious boundaries to protect ourselves until we develop the necessary familiarity and trust. As our relationship grows, we open more and more to each other until we release all boundaries into a full Hello — one where Loving Openness is completely embraced.

However, Hello doesn’t have to be confined to greeting another; it can apply to everything within our awareness. We can say Hello to Openness, Kindness, Gratefulness, Joy, and Love. We can greet the Sun, Moon, Sky, and Mother Earth herself. We can say Hello to our Divine bodies, and our miraculous life sustaining heartbeat and breath. We can say Hello to the lessons of each day, and the Mystery of this Life, the Knowing and the Known, as well as the Unknown. Finally, We can say Hello to our failings, foibles, personal pain, and self-limiting beliefs so that we can step forward and begin to transform and heal.

When we consciously greet our experience, we dissolve boundaries, deepen our intimacy with Life, and wake up to what’s happening Right Now. We recognize with each new, fresh, and open greeting that Nature returns the favor; continuously and Lovingly saying Hello. I invite each of us to greet the miracle of our experience with all of our Heart, and Say Hello to Life — over and over and over again.

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A New Year's day reflection....Surrender to Receive. Hope this resonates with you.

Surrender to Receive - Ride the Breath The Path of Self Love reveals itself in an instant when we surrender to what's happening Right Now

I offer this freely, and hope it is received fully with a Humble and Open Heart;

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Say YES to your Life!

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Teachings from the Tree...

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Here is my latest piece...."Showing Up for Life". Hope you enjoy it.
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For me, one of Life’s great ironies is that we have to practice in order to be fully human. Instead of unfolding our intrinsic perfection naturally and organically like a flower, we must engage in transformational practices (e.g., Yoga, Meditation, Pranayama, Psycho-Therapy) to become healthy, mature, and productive Human Beings with a sense of wholeness and completeness. As I’ve written previously, these practices help us align with what is already Right Here and Right Now. There is Nowhere to go and Nothing to seek, and yet the paradox remains that we must practice in order to recognize and stabilize this perspective in our Minds. Moreover, these practices take commitment, determination, and sustained effort. We cannot merely dabble in them and hope to reap Life-changing benefits.

We have to resolve to fully Show Up, every day, every time, and everywhere; and Showing Up is the most important practice we can undertake.

It is the practice of remembering to actively recognize and engage the best version of ourselves as often as possible. We choose to bring our Openness, Energy, Enthusiasm, Interest, Joy, Gratitude, Wonder, and Love to the task at hand in order to raise our frequency and joyfully resonate with All That Is. When we do this consistently, every day, even for only 15-20 minutes, there is a growing body of research confirming it changes us in all ways positive — physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Of course, this might sound easy to do, but we know it isn’t. We are all programmed by our past experience, with its mental and emotional baggage, and that means we often “Show Down” instead of Show Up. We engage our practices and daily lives from a perspective of — Low Energy, Low Frequency, Flat, Disinterested, Bored, Angry, and/or Frustrated. The bad news here is that the research clearly shows that “neurons which fire together, wire together”, i.e., if “Showing Down” becomes a habit, we will continue to program ourselves to live in a self-limiting way. In order to transform ourselves, grow beyond limiting beliefs and self-doubts, and find true freedom, we must increase our mental and emotional energy Before We Begin the practice.

We Show Up as our imagined Future Self of Intrinsic Perfection, Joy, Love, and Gratitude; and remain completely Open to wondrous possibilities.

How do we accomplish this? We set an intention to begin every practice by taking a few minutes to fully Show Up and Practice As This Imagined Future Self:

We allow our minds to rest and settle into the Open Ground of Being, and deeply appreciate the stability of our awareness,
We Generate deep Gratitude for the gift of every moment, given to us freely without any conditions, over and over and over again,
We Affirm our deepest aspirations for awakening to benefit All Beings;
We Feel the warmth of intimate wholeness and connection shining from a Golden Sun in the center of our Hearts;
We Imagine the pure truthful speech of an Awakened Being emanating as our voice,
We Receive, Accept, and Celebrate the Joyful Bliss of Divine Inspiration
When we practice and live from this perspective, we naturally transform and flower because these Higher Emotions are the very attributes of our True Nature. We willingly embrace the Unknown and participate with trust and faith in a wondrous unfolding and unlocking our full potential. We become a vehicle for True Nature to express Itself through us — All we have to do is Show Up.

Showing Up for Life - Ride the Breath We have to resolve to fully Show Up, every day, every time, and everywhere....

Are you on the path of transformational growth? Here are my thoughts on the topic. Comments welcome, and hope you enjoy!

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

We naturally align through our practices -- no need to get anywhere. We just harmonize and resonate with what's already Right Here.

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I hope this latest piece is inspiring..."Dissolving the Doer"

Dissolving the Doer... - Ride the Breath Don't we all want to live freely, fearlessly, and lovingly?