so proud of myself!

listen, I think we could all use a little more self love.  even the most enlightened among us find it all too easy to let that critical inner voice take over, or the societal norm of referring to certain behaviors and foods as "bad" or "naughty".  once you slap a judgmental label on anything, you shift the energy of whatever it is. we know this, we're all energy beings living in an energy universe. but it's oh-so-easy to forget and blackslide into small moments of self punishment that build over time and lead to a fractured relationship with ourselves as best.

so I am taking this moment to stop and really hug myself for getting up at 6:15am to do some kundalini yoga for detox before work. it just hit me this very moment how wonderful that is, when I so very much wanted to sleep for another hour.  but I chose another path this morning, and while it wasn't easy and my body felt stiff and sleepy, even sore in spots from too much acidic fare and too little yoga the past few days, I still did my yoga, modified where needed without regard to ego (much, lol), and made sure I did 30 minutes worth so I still had plenty of time for the rest of my morning.  what's nice is that regardless of the rest of the day, I did something really powerful and special for myself already, anything else is just gravy...or the cherry on top of the smoothie. ;)

what I envision as my daily ritual, ultimately, is a full hour of yoga every morning and on some days a second set later in the day as well.  something about a yogic bookend to the day seems really wonderful to me; the a.m. set awakens the body, stills the mind after hours of frantic venting dreams, and prepares your nervous system for the day ahead.  the p.m. set releases all the tension accumulated throughout the day, relaxes the mind again and prepares you for a restful, healing nights' sleep.  doesn't that sound lovely?! and it doesn't have to mean doing 2-3 hours of yoga per day, though personally that sounds like heaven to me.  it can mean a 20 minute set upon waking and a 20 minute set before bed, whatever works.

today I did a morning detox yoga set, specifically focused on loving your liver.  whoever you are and wherever you live, your liver needs love.  thankfully there are yoga exercises specifically designed to offer the support and healing your liver needs, and let's just think for a moment about all that the liver does for us; it filters everything, even bacteria, from the blood, synthesizes glycogen, which is the only fuel the brain can utilize and is the seat of anger energy in the body.  is there anyone out there who never experiences anger? of course not, so emotionally and physically, this is an important aspect of Self to address with yoga and intention.  since I only did the first of 2 sets on this particular yoga DVD this morning, perhaps tonight I will add the second set to fully round out the detox day.

it's the baby steps, the little victories every day that we need to applaud and savor.  positive reinforcement has always worked so much better for me than negative. i think most, if not all, people feel the same way deep down.  stop for a moment and think about what you have done so far today; find at least one thing that you think is really wonderful, no matter how small it may be.  did you skip coffee in favor of tea or fresh juice? did you spend a few extra minutes cuddling with your partner before getting up? did you take a quick shower to conserve water? let someone in while driving when you didn't have to? we all do lovely things all the time that go unnoticed, wthout acknlowledgment. let's change that trend and create a new one.

congratulate yourself on something, anything wonderful you did today, even if just in thought or theory. give yourself an energetic and maybe even a physical hug.  close your eyes and tell yourself "thank you, I love you" out loud, until you BELIEVE it and FEEL it. i know it might feel a bit ridiculous at first, but every cell in your body will vibrate with love, a higher vibrational frequency, and eveything changes. everything.

drop the pebble in the pond, and see what happens.

om shanti