Magical Mondays: I went swimming!



Love Bread @ PB's in Eastham

I am often in complete awe of my life. I am so beyond blessed to live the life I have been given and am utterly grateful everyday!

 

This week was great and yet completely insane. It was full of travel, living out of a suitcase, new friends, wearing my bathing suit (!!) and completely exhausting in a very fun way!

 

Monday brought all of our sales reps into town (from all across the US) and we jumped straight into work. We worked our little behinds off, met the new reps and then had a delicious dinner at The Waterfront (yummy)!

 

Tuesday morning came early and we were off on a musical carpool adventure. It was so nice spending four hours in a car with Lauren & Nadia (whom I see everyday) and Ms. Jennifer, who was visiting from Texas! We had an ipod war, some lovely chit chat & watched beautiful Mountain scenery unfold around us as we approached Loon Mountain -- and Jennifer's first time to NH. As someone who has a summer home on Lake Wentworth, it's hard to believe one has never seen the beauty of NH, but our Texan was just smitten & loved the views. I was so excited to point out some of my favorite haunts along the way & introduce Ms. Jennifer into New Hampshire!

 

When we arrived at the Mountain, we proceeded to work late into the evening before signing off for some dinner & karaoke. It was such a fun evening. I was super excited that EVERYONE got up to sing at least one song (individually or in groups) and especially excited that all the new folks were not only joining in but also super excited and eager to sing! I love karaoke and am 100% positive it is the best way to build teamwork & learn something about everyone. What a great night!

 

The next day most folks went skiing while I took an aqua fitness class, sank into the spa, got a surprise last-minute massage & a barbie pink pedicure!

 

Another (philisophical) carpool home, two work days & jammin yoga - all lead to my staycation with hubby! We drove a half hour south, ate way too much food, swam for hours & relaxed in the hot tub. It was the perfect way to unwind! As I was (and am) a wee bit under the weather with the changing of the seasons, it was such a blessing to do NOTHING for a few hours and completely relax with my hubby!! I love him so so much!

 

The kicker to my already amazing week was the benefit class held yesterday for Journey to Hope. We raised almost $200 for our non profit organization & I will be skipping to the bank this afternoon. I am so grateful for each of you who come out & support us -- always! I greatly appreciate everything you all do in terms of sending love, energy & light as well as donating your funds, time & energy to us. It means SO much and helps us continue the work we do!

 

The Little Things

 

Raising money for Journey to Hope (not little - but MUCH appreciated), good news for the Journey to Hope future, watching 300 in bed with chocolate pie, catching the AMCs last night, barbie pink pedicures, a surprise massage, South African food, karaoke, meeting new team members and forming instant friendships, Ms. Knighton being in town (!!), eating way too much all week (and having a food plan for this week so as to get back on track), finding an octopus in the bathroom, The Ahimsa Project in final stages, my new website being approved & almost complete, good friends, chai lattes, snuggles & life in general!

 

The octopus I found in the bathroom!

How are you celebrating Monday? What are you grateful for this week?

 

Sending you love & light!
Get out there - do yoga & make life sparkle!
Namaste,

Jenny

Nama Say Wednesday: Chakra's Part II

This is part two of the Nama Say Wednesday Chakra posts. I wanted to break them up into a more manageable read for you all and am excited to share the knowledge I currently have on our energy alignment (as well as to delve even deeper this year and continue to share).

As I mentioned in the last post, a chakra is an energy channel. We have seven chakras and in last weeks post I covered our root, sacral & solar plexus chakras. In this second post, I will be covering our heart, throat, third eye & crown charkas. Continuing up the alignment of the spine we come closer to our intuition & infinite wisdom within: we come close to Samadhi.

Samadhi is enlightenment or nirvana. Interestingly and contrary to popular belief, monks do not spend their entire lives in enlightened bliss. It is a glimpse into Samadhi that we receive and that is what we strive for – to feel the enlightenment and then once it is lost we continue our process again to achieve it once more.

The fourth chakra is the heart or Anahata. The heart chakra is green or pink in color and located at your hearts center. It represents all the things you would immediately believe the heart to represent: compassion, love, emotion & well being.

The heart charka is best opened through heart openers or back bends (bridge, wheel, dancers pose, cobra). When a teacher focuses on back bending, you may feel a lot of your emotions rise as well as your direct issues with love & trust begin to flare. This is a normal piece of the process to clear the energy on the way to your crown charka & Samadhi.

Vishuddha is the throat or the fifth charka. The throat charka is located in your throat and blue in color. It represents communication but not just the spoken word. It is written word, words we are unable to communicate (to those who have left the earth or perhaps out of societal or family context) and expression. Common poses to begin opening the throat chakra are fish pose & plow pose as well as the ancient art of chanting (more on chanting in a coming article).

The sixth chakra is known as the third eye, brow or Anja. It is violet in color and located directly in between your eyes on your brow – a place known to many as the third eye center. It represents intuition and the inner guide. Common poses for the opening of your third eye chakra are inversions and forward folds as well as chanting. There are many mudras (hand symbols) that connect to opening the third eye charka as well. Also, during guided meditations in savasana you are occasionally able to open your Anja.

The last and final of the seven chakras is the crown or Sahasrara. It is white in color and located at the top of the head or just above your crown, floating above you. It represents enlightenment, Samadhi, beingness, emotional action & the release of karma. The pose in which to open this chakra is savasana, often a yogis favorite pose.

The first time my dad tried yoga, I told him that savasana is like a yogi nap where we don’t sleep but rather rest and open our minds towards enlightenment. One lies on the earth or the floor and meditates after a physical yoga asana practice.

Combined with the first three chakras from last week, this concludes the introduction to chakras and their energy channels. As with all yoga, chakras are a practice. I am still learning all there is to know about chakras and there is an infinite amount of information. Please feel encouraged to add information or ask additional questions in regards to the chakras or anything with yoga. I would love to continue sharing my knowledge as often as I am able.

What do you think about the chakras?

Does your teacher mention them in class?

Would you take a chakra flow vinyassa class?

Get out there – do yoga & make life sparkle!

Namaste,

Jenny

Magical Monday: Blissful Vibes

As I am writing to you, I am in such a beautiful, calm & blissful state. I am sending you all a million positive, blissful vibes. The only thing I can imagine is the perfect wave of a rainbow in a bubble - THAT is how blissed out I am after my first 500 hour teacher training weekend.

 

Blissed Out @ Teacher Training

 

Needless to say this past week was amazing, it was and is everything I had hoped for in a training and I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be in this moment. I even sent my husband a text the first night of training that said: "I am vibrating with such an amazing energy. I love you!" And as always, he supports me in my whimsical and crazy hippie ways and told me he was sending me more blissful vibes and that he loves me as well (what a lucky gal I am!).

 

This past week was challenging at work, but as always it was wonderful. I am blessed to work with some great people and more than thrilled to come in everyday. It is also such a blessing to have people wanting to know more about yoga while I'm at work. I try to keep everyone calm & happy and it makes me giddy to be able to share all that positivity with the folks I work with every week! It's great to be able to share a blog post or a simple chair twist. I love helping others and to see some of the subtle changes in my co-workers is a great feeling.

 

Karthik also joined me this week in yoga! He came to Kundalini and it was a great experience to squeeze his hand right before savasana and make eye contact right before a kriya - I sure am a lucky lady to have such an amazing man.

 

One of the highlights of my weekend in teacher training was when Coral told us that our 50 elective hours need to concentrate on a specialty. She mentioned that some of us may know already what our specialty was while others would go on a journey to find theirs. I did not know it until Coral mentioned it, but the moment she said concentration I knew: charkas, energy, healing. THAT is where I'm supposed to be and I'm so excited to begin diving into this additional curriculum.

 

What a great week behind and weekend I have had. I seriously feel as though I'm riding on a bliss wave and so excited to share everything I have learned thus far with my students and all of you! The week ahead is a beautiful wedding I am excited to DJ, Easter weekend, Kundalini, a fun date and lots of OMwork!

 

The Little Things

 

Hanging out with Zack & his roommate Ben, making them dinner at 10pm on Friday night (and having them eat EVERYTHING), having a great little brother in general, seeing my cousin Sam Thursday night & then having a wonderful lunch on Friday afternoon, getting tests done for my wrist, meeting my friend Leisl after almost 7 years & eating yummy cupcakes with her(!!), healthy food, yogi talk, meeting new friends, being re-inspired for Journey to Hope with all the energy of the weekend, Dakota's 10th birthday (a bunny), cuddling, Karthik coming to Kundalini, discussions around labeling, new knowledge, being overwhlemed & excited at the same time, getting excited about Easter (and the supposed good weather for Sunday), team building events coming up at work and so much bliss and loving energy!!

 

Dakota's 10th bday @ teacher training

 

 

I am wishing you a week full of love, blessings & gratitue. If you had a tough week or weekend, Iam sending you all positive vibes!

 

Get out there - do yoga & make life sparkle!
Namaste,

Jenny

Nama Say Wednesday: Chakra's Part 1

 

 

Chakras are something I often discuss in class. If we are in the middle of a deep twist I will ask my students to rinse out their anxiety and will power through their third chakra. Many of them likely have no idea what I’m talking about, but I try to describe in best detail as I’m able what a chakra is.

A chakra is an energy channel. We have seven chakras within our being and today I will discuss our first three: root, sacral & the solar plexus. I am starting from the root and going to the top in an attempt to discuss how important it is to stay grounded.

The first chakra is your root chakra also known as Muladhara. The root chakra is red in color and located at the bottom of our spine. It represents all things grounded. Money issues, shelter, work, stability and so much more can be found coming up through this chakra. It is where we store a lot of our deepest set fears in the world and often the toughest energy channel to break through.

The root chakra is best opened with grounded poses (warriors, triangle, mountain pose). Typically chakra flow classes begin from the ground up and as such we often begin by opening our root chakra first through grounding poses, as well as to build heat within our bodies to create a better flow.

Swadhisthana is the sacral chakra and is located within the sacrum. It is orange in color and represents sexuality, fertility, relationships, basic emotions and creativity. When I “open” this chakra through asanas (poses) I often jokingly tell my students I am not trying to get them pregnant but rather cultivate the fertility of new ideas. This is a very sensitive chakra but in my experience can be very easy to open through a yoga class.

The sacral chakra is best opened with hip openers (lunges, pigeon, frog). Hip openers tend to open a lot of energy channels and emotion (especially for women) and it is often where we store old pains and fears. This is one of the reasons we are so tight in our hips (among others: driving, sitting in offices etc) and why occasionally we feel like cursing the teacher or crying in pigeon. It's normal to open and release this energy while we're in our hip opening poses.

Manipura is the solar plexus or belly chakra. It is yellow in color and represents will power, anxiety & digestion. The poses most associated with the manipura are often twists to release some of the anxiety we build. We need to hold onto our will power, however so we must not twist too deeply. And as we do, we must rememeber to hold our will power within while letting go of what no longer serves us.

I LOVE asking my class to get into deep twists and begin rinsing away all of the worries that no longer serve them. Next time you're feeling anxious, try sitting cross legged on the floor and doing a nice spinal twist across your body. It may release a bit of your manipura energy and open your third chakra to let go of all your worries!

Chakra flow classes can be extremely eye opening. You  are often opening energy channels you did not know existed. You begin to use the physical to connect to the spiritual and the energy within you. I mention “opening the channels” as we literally open the channels of this stuck energy through asanas, physical yoga classes and spiritual journeys.

A yoga instructor can and often does take the seven charkas to create a yoga flow to help open your energy. It’s one of the reasons you sometimes leave class on a yoga high!

The quiz below is a lot of fun and represents where you are in terms of energy. If you answer the questions honestly you will understand where you are blocked and need to be reopened! Please do not hesitate to ask me additional questions and I will try my best to answer them.

Chakra Quiz!

Next week I will be discussing the final four chakras and creating an at home yoga practice to begin opening all your chakras!!

Get out there – do yoga & make life sparkle!
Namaste,

Jenny