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These aren’t just fanciful hopes. Beginning each day with positive affirmations like these actually re-wires your brain. The first 30 minutes of your morning is the most important part of your day. This is where you tell your brain what to expect and how to feel. You are setting the tone for the rest of your day. Instead of starting your day listening to depressing news stories, thinking about what you need to do at work today, or scrolling through social media, PROTECT your inner space by setting the tone with positivity and peace.

Don’t have time?? I bet you could get up 5 minutes earlier and have time to do this:

1. Say a simple affirmation like the one in this post.
2. Write down a few things you’re grateful for (or say them out loud).
3. Sit for 2 minutes in stillness, preferably outside. Get quiet and listen.

Let me know how it goes. 💗🙏🏼

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Do your best. Then, step back, relax, and trust. That’s how I interpret what Patanjali says in Yoga Sutra I.12. Abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṃ tan-nirodhaḥ. The mind can be stilled through a combination of consistent practice (abhyāsa) and non-attachment (vairāgyā).

How often in life do we sell ourselves short by doing just the minimum required to get by rather than doing our best? Abhyāsa as a spiritual practice is the consistent, dedicated, and enthusiastic effort to show up, to act in alignment with our values, and to do our very best, moment to moment.

On the other hand, how often do we do our genuine best but then still waste hours upon hours of time and energy replaying what we’ve done, worrying about the outcome, and feeling anxiety over whether things will work out as we planned? 🙋🏻‍♀️

For me personally, the abhyāsa comes more naturally. I like to work hard, and I have a deep need to always do my best. The harder part of this equation for me is the vairāgyā, or letting go of the need to control the outcome.

Vairāgyā is the recognition that, while we ARE the co-creators of our destiny, there are also many things that are out of our control. Perhaps more importantly, we often can’t see the big picture in the moment so, in some sense, even when it feels like things AREN’T working out for us, maybe they ARE from a bigger perspective. I remind myself of this often. Instead of obsessing over immediate results, we are better off to focus our energy into taking the right steps and having faith that everything will ultimately work out for the highest good.

In this way, I live out the beautiful paradox of spiritual life. I must always be striving to grow, to learn, to improve by showing up with energy and effort (Abhyasa) and yet, in some deep and profound way, I must also recognize that I am already there (Vairagya).

You are already enough.
This moment is already perfect exactly as it is.
The exact circumstances that you find yourself in at this moment are the perfect conditions to bring about your awakening.

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist.” - Stephen Hawking

Ethan, Andy, and I enjoyed watching the Artemis II launch to the moon today. It brought back so many memories of watching these launches at school as a kid. The feeling of wonder and excitement is still there. Happy Full Moon day! 🌕

This past month and a month has been truly TRANSFORMATIONAL for me.

I wanted to share this for anyone who’s going through a hard time or feeling disconnected. I hope that this can help you, because I was there in that dark, disconnected place for a while.

Some really challenging things came up in my life, and I was struggling to hold everything together. It felt like I was being torn apart at the seams and living in survival mode. It was all that I could do just to show up and get through my days.

And I did. I continued to show up as a mom, as a wife, as a teacher, and I’m proud of myself for that, but I also felt very anxious and empty inside. I had lost connection with my spirit. Anyone who has struggled in this way knows that once the spiral begins, it can be really hard to pull yourself in a new direction and so I lived in that space for a while.

When your job is to inspire and uplift people and you are feeling personally down in the dumps, it can feel like a real crisis of character. How can I be authentic and honor what I’m feeling while also showing up for the people who depend on me?

These past several weeks have been life-changing and transformational for me, and what I did was so simple: I just started waking up 30 minutes earlier, and in those first 30 minutes of my day, I don’t look at emails or read text messages or go on social media or turn on the television or start thinking about what I need to do in my day. I just sit outside on my patio and listen to the birdsongs as the world wakes up. I write down everything that I can think of that I’m grateful for, and then I write a few words to describe how I want to show up to my life today. Next I read a few pages of a spiritual book. Whatever resonates for you that grounds you in the bigger questions of life is great. The goal is to stay out of the small, thinking mind mode and to stay in the bigger experience of spirit, live, and possibility. (Right now I am rereading The Untethered Soul which I read probably a decade ago. Coming back to it now was incredibly helpful. I highly recommend it!) Lastly, I close my eyes and sit in stillness for 5 minutes, observing what is without judgment or reaction. I simply sense myself as the clear conscious presence observing the world happening.

And then I start my day.

It seems too simple to be transformative, but beginning the day with positive thoughts and intentions and the space for some quiet and clarity sets the tone for the rest of the day. Nothing else that happens in the day feels as stressful or makes me as reactive. Most importantly, though, I’ve reconnected to my spirit, to the depth and beauty and mystery of life in a real way, and ultimately, I think that’s what everyone craves most in their lives. Purpose. Connection. Love.

These are not new revelations or lessons. Many wise people have talked about the importance of what you focus on first thing in the morning and the transformative nature of gratitude practice. In fact, these are practices I have spent years of my life doing and teaching to others, but sometimes life hits us hard with a curveball and dismantles what we thought we had all figured out. It is those moments of breakdown that can ultimately lead to spiritual breakthrough.

The path home is not a straight line. There are curves along the way. Things can happen that make us feel like there is no way out, but when we come back to these simple practices, we are reminded that the only way out is through. We have to go through the darkness and the heaviness in order to get to the other side where the light is. The only way out is in.

If you’re struggling, remember that you’re never alone. Reach out to people. Share your story. Remember that the light is always here even if you can’t always see it.

This is also a PSA that we never know what silent battles the people around us are facing so always choose kindness and compassion.

Every step of the journey, remember that you are alive and it is a blessing to be here.

😎

When you walk out onto your balcony to do your morning meditation and get inspired and you see this 🌈

My heart is full at the end of this busy weekend. 💗☺️It’s Week 11 of my Fall Yoga Teacher Training session and it’s student teaching time. I had the honor of witnessing some truly incredible women design their first yoga classes and bravely conquer their fears in guiding their classmates through them. It’s not just about learning and teaching the poses… public speaking is terrifying! Being vulnerable and authentic and sharing your truth to a room full of people is courageous and beautiful. I am so inspired by this group! I love the community that they have created with each other and the way in which they hold space for each other and support and uplift each other. That is what this practice is all about. 🕉️

Throwback 10.31.14