Pretty Little Liars

Was sitting here drawing because I am just feeling too inspired to sleep. Currently am taking a pause to stretch out since I've been hunched over for 2 hours, not wise.. tisk tisk... and in this pause I've gone channel surfing through the web..looking at entertainment stuff to personal stuff and I'm now a little engrossed in some personal stuff... Facebook is a fun little device, but can be used rather poorly at times. What I mean by this is if you do not want someone to know something, do not make a wall post about it either publicly or in general if someone is on your friends list that you don't 'want in on the loop'.
All is well, to each there own. To be perfectly honest I just feel sorry for any individual that feels the need to sneak or lie, because they are scared and do not know how to trust themselves and thusly do not know how to trust others. We have all heard things like 'honesty is the best policy' or 'the truth will set you free' or even the more fearsome 'the truth hurts' all are very true, but the most important thing is learn to love yourself, speak truly and honestly, live honestly, and you will gain everything, every time. =)

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Been A While

Sorry everyone, the public library only gives me 1 hour a day to surf the web and instead of blogging I have been trying to job hunt and apartment hunt on craigslist and such. Do not mean to be neglectful. Man as much as I love 'The Couve', there does not seem to be much going on here right now, jobs i understand, being a Yoga instructor is a weird postion to fill, I do not image much gyms having frequent turnarounds or anything =) but apartments, you would think there would be far more listing for those. I will be honest i have never really been interent savy, never had it in my home growing up and at school on my freee time I would look up pictures of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera or be doing school projects from 'Dogpile.com'.. so if there is a smarter site to be surfing other that Criagslist, by means i am all ears. *^_^*
Speaking of ears by the way, I never got any responses from people about what they like about themselves, so I thought i would make my response this Saturday and give people more time to get those sent out if you were already planning to do so. =)
Not the deepest post i have ever written, but hey, sometimes just some in the moment truth is refreshing.
Thank you everyone for the love and support!
Much Love,
~Stephers <3

Megan Fox

Typically when you type in 'Megan Fox' in Google this is the most common type of picture and or article that pops up: Before and after plastic surgery. Now usually the articles tend to be of negative opinions of plastic surgery, or medical enhancements. I personally feel sorry for the poor girl. it seems people have a natural urge or tendency to put others down to proof their own importance and seniority. Almost every day whether we are aware of it or not we are in a battle with someone over some form of 'im right and you're wrong'. Sometimes these examples are big, like war for example, and sometimes they are small like gripping in your own home about how dumb cable is for never having anything to watch, or standing in line at the check out counter and thinking to yourself how annoying the old lady in front of you is taking forever with writing her check and filling out her transaction register. Now im not here to write some kind of fluffy post about how perfect i am because i am a yogi and above all that, because the truth is im not. I still have my own judgements, and i constantly make people wrong, my husband is a great example of someone i do that too regularly when i 'nag' him to remember to put the toilet seat down, or to pick his clothes up off the floor, or to stop sticking his candy wrappers in the couch cushions. 

Most of us were raised in some form of a Christian or Catholic church (I merely say those two because if you look up religion in the United States those two have the highest percentage). And so majority of us were raised with some form of a 'right and wrong', 'punishment for the wicked and wrong' type of mentality, so what I am about to write will more than likely mess with your minds: it's ok that we judge, its ok that we make mistakes, its ok that we wrong others! Why? Because if you acknowledge it and learn from it then you will be on the path of enlightenment. This is not to be confused with this is some kind of a free pass to do misdeeds to others because you have some kind of spiritual diplomatic immunity, not at all. However if we spend all are time wronging others and then wronging ourselves for wronging others, then we are stuck in a negative cycle. However if you just lift the lid and let some light in we can see that we are human and our neighbors are human, celebrities are human, politicians, terrorists, everyone! We are all human, we all make mistakes, and when we get to the point of acknowledging that fact, accepting it, becoming at peace with it, then we can start to learn more compassion for ourselves and everyone else, and lessen those 'wrong doings'. Im sure we have all heard 'forgive and forget', this is where the 'forget' part comes into play. We must learn to let things wash over us and just let them go, otherwise if we harbor negative feels they have a tenancy to fester and rot, like spiritual gang green, but if we let go, then its like taking antibiotics and stopping things as they start and keeping ourselves cleansed, and helping to keep the rest of our community cleansed as well. No one is truly alone, we are all connected in one fashion or another, we all bleed, we all feel joy and sorrow, we all know love and kindness, its just up to us to practice showing it more for others. 

Come Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeuIMeSShvQ

"Come Home"

[Verse 1]
Hello world
Hope you're listening
Forgive me if I’m young
For speaking out of turn
There’s someone I’ve been missing
I think that they could be
The better half of me
They’re in the wrong place trying to make it right
But I’m tired of justifying
So I say to you..

[Chorus]
Come home
Come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
And right now there's a war between the vanities
But all I see is you and me
The fight for you is all I’ve ever known
So come home
Oh

[Verse 2]
I get lost in the beauty
Of everything I see
The world ain’t as half as bad
As they paint it to be
If all the sons
If all the daughters
Stopped to take it in
Well hopefully the hate subsides and the love can begin
It might start now..Yeah
Well maybe I’m just dreaming out loud
Until then

[Chorus]
Come home
Come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
And right now there's a war between the vanities
But all I see is you and me
The fight for you is all I’ve ever known
Ever known
So come home
Oh

[Interlude]
Everything I can’t be
Is everything you should be
And that’s why I need you here
Everything I can’t be
Is everything you should be
And that’s why I need you here
So hear this now

[Chorus]
Come home
Come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
And right now there's a war between the vanities
But all I see is you and me
The fight for you is all I’ve ever known
Ever known
So come home
Come home

Meditations from the Mat

As i have mentioned before in a previous post, Meditations from the Mat is my daily read book by yoga instructor Rolf Gates. Today is day 73 and the following is today's passage that I thought was very perfectly worded and just right for you all today:

Day 73

Lack of true knowledge is the source of all pains and sorrow. - Yoga Sutras

As we apply the principles of yoga, a profound understanding begins to resonate in our lives. we come to understand that the anxiety we feel, the suffering we experience, comes from not practicing yoga in the true sense of the word. Even the most tentative attempt at living our yoga produces immediate positive results. Bit by bit, we realize that we have been acting on misinformation and that our strategies to end or lessen our suffering have actually intensified the pain.

Who among us has not lied to avoid suffering, only to have the lie increase her suffering tenfold? who among us has eaten a pint of Ben and jerry's in hope of feeling better for a moment, only to spend hours in regret? Who among us has not spent months or years believing that when this or that finally happens, we'll be content, only to find that the contentment we seek is somehow beyond our grasp? There is no end to these predicaments - until we adopt a new plan, a new paradigm, a new way of thinking. Yoga offers us a new plan. In truth, it is a very old plan, and it encompasses the only plan that has ever worked. You don't need to embrace the whole plan to gain from it, nor do you have to believe in every aspect of the plan for it to work. But if lack of true knowledge is the problem, then openness to new information must lead to the solution. All you need is the willingness to make a beginning, to turn yoga from theory into action.

...

Back to my voice:

Just felt like adding a reminder and some thoughts about yoga-

-Doubt your doubts

-Accept where you are today

-Yoga is about self acceptance, not self improvement.

-Remember yoga is a journey, not a destination.

-Often times we NEED yoga the most, when we WANT it the least.

-Let go of competetion and comparison.

-Recognize that less is more.

-Allow resistance to melt away.

-Let go of expectation and limitations.

-Recognize that each day is different.

-Continuous practice, not just for one or two days. We are practicing all the time. (Means always practice love and nonattachment and selflessness. See others in yourself and yourself in others, let go of judgement and complaint and upset... always practice Letting Go!)

Most importantly:

-Be sure to have fun.

-Always be yourself.

Bitch It Out

Recently I purchased a copy of a Cosmo magazine, not normally something I do unless boarding a plane, but the Megan Fox cover caught my eye and I thought why not. They seem to have this page now called 'Bitch It Out!' Oddly enough I ran into a little slice of wisdom from this they wrote: 'Bitch Tip- You are out with pals and want the last bar stool, but the chick in the adjacent chair has her purse hanging off it. Don't ask to sit there- it implies you think you're doing something wrong. Just take the seat. She'll get the hint to grab her stuff.' Now it is not my personality type to be so bold in this specific situation, however the underlining concept is a great point.

So often we spend our time being less. We seem to be timid and shy and apologetic (assuming that's a word), even the loud and the bold and the proud of us still have our areas of meekness. Another Cosmo quote (from a separate article): 'write down all the ways you rock'. I think this would be inspiring to try. Its easy for us to belittle ourselves in our minds, or in some cases out loud, and some more so than others, but we could ALL use more confidence boosters, self gratification... without puffing up the ego, but to truly practice contentment.. and to point out contentment or 'santosa' in Sanskrit (the language of yoga) is not to be confused with complacency, but its rather more of a reverence.

So to practice I will ask you to take a moment and jot down some powerful uplifting things about you, what is it that YOU like about yourself, not what you think others like or would like to hear, but really make yourself smile when writing down your list.. and no limit to how many things or to what length or detail you note them or describe them.

After that I would feel honored if you would email me at: stephaniesyoga@yahoo.com the items from your list that you would like me to add to this blog. I will post all of your answers (with your name or without..per choice) on this up coming Saturday of the 17th 2012. Can't wait to see what it is that puffs you all up. *^_^*

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ER

Going into the ER this past week I briefly got to know one of the nurses there, brilliant, very deep and thoughtful and loving and funny, was a great woman to have around in a dark moment, she had so much life to her, it was amazing to witness. She shared about her kids and where she was from and how long her and her husband have been married (they were high school sweethearts and are still very giddy and inlove 36 years later *^_^*). During all of her stories, one really stood out to me, it is a short tale, but if you really allow it to sink in, it is deeply impactful!

Keeping true to patient confidentiality (sp I'm sure) she did not give any details about where or when or who etc, she just simply shared this: there was a little boy whole could taste his saline drip, not many people do this, in her career she had only encountered 5, this boy was the first. Now it doesn't mean anything special to taste saline, its just something that stands out in a persons memory. This boy she said was 6 at the time, very sick, had cancer. She shared that he only lived to be 12, and that he was a remarkable boy and that he knew he was going to die. She shared that he was still very full of life and one of his favorite things to do was to play practical jokes, and she in turned played into his games and antics and played jokes on him as well. The only example she shared with me was that he refused to go to bed one night til he could prank one of the nurses.. specifically her... she wasn't one of the nurses in his round at the time, so his mom made a special request that she see him so he could post a sign on her back. So she went into his room made sure to talk about things about the room so she could get her back turned so he could post his sign..as she left she took it off to read 'Kick me I'm stupid'... when she was recounting the story she started laughing so hard and saying how cute it was, and getting back to her story she shared how she put it back on every time she walked back into his room.
Like I said, short story, but it really stands out to me because she like I mentioned before is and was amazing, and kids are cute, but mostly I share this to highlight how amazing he was making the most out of a bad situation and not letting it stop him for living life and just being a kid!

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