Wrist Free-Energy Yoga Flow

Power Yoga-Backbending With Grace

Daily Om by Madisyn Taylor

A Question of Balance
One-Sided Relationships

Relationships can become out of balance and one-sided if we don’t occasionally check in with each other.

One of the most beautiful qualities of an intimate relationship is the give and take of energy that occurs between two people. In the best-case scenario, both people share the talking and listening, and the giving and receiving of support, equally. Occasionally, within any relationship, the balance shifts and one person needs to listen more, or give more. Generally, over a long period of time, even this exception will take on a balanced rhythm; we all go through times when we take more and times when we give more.

However, there are also relationships in which the balance has always felt one-sided. You may have a friend whom you like, but you have begun to notice that the conversation is always about their life and their problems and never about yours. You may also have a friend who seems to require an inordinate amount of support from you but who is unable or unwilling to give much in return. Over time, these relationships can be draining and unsatisfying. One option is simply to end the relationship, or let it fade out naturally. Another option is to communicate to your friend that you would like to create a more equal balance in which your concerns also get some airtime. They may be taken aback at first, but if they are able to hear you, your friendship will become that much more sincere. They may even thank you for revealing a pattern that is probably sabotaging more than one relationship in their life.

A third option is to simply accept the relationship as it is. There are many one-sided relationships that actually work. One example of this is a mentor relationship in which you are learning from someone. Another example is a relationship in which you are helping someone who is sick, disabled, or otherwise needy. In these instances, you can simply be grateful that you are able to help and be helped, trusting that the balance of give and take will even out in the big picture of your life.

Nicole Serrano- The Heart of a Warrior

Don't forget the three R's: rest, replenishment and reflection

Meditation In Motion

I must admit....I'm not a person to sit in a place long enough to meditate longer than the minutes I'd be embarrassed to even mention here.  My thoughts tend to squander off in different directions and the slightest noise can just be as distracting.  Some days, I can be better.  But here it is, I am in abundance with peace, when I allow myself to move in my own flow of poses, I know I can reside myself to a place of serenity regardless of place and time.  Feeling completely hypnotise by the sound of my own breath moving in rhythm with the 'asanas' I set myself to.  It feels as if there's a destination where I need to get to in my 'vinyasa' (or 'flow') and the journey I choose to be in, comes from a place of kindness, love, peacefulness and self respect. 

There are times in this practice where I am caught in a place of intensity and  challenged physically and mentally, but after a while, there comes a sense of relief when I know I can break free, let go of my 'asana', my 'ego'  and to exhale whatever I was holding to.  The waves of poses comes gracefully through my body as if my entire being has been guided by a mysterious higher self.  Even when I'm struggling to move in one pose, and my mind says, 'impossible'....my heart says,'yield,....let go....and I'll show you another way....other possibilities.........'  In the process of letting go, I see the transformation even in the slightest movement of 'just being'  ......The change never stops, it only stops when I lose hope...and that's a place I choose not to be in.

This is my meditation in motion.......to move in such grace and forgiveness...I lose myself completely to a place of serenity.

There is a saying in Tibetan,"Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength." No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.

Friday's Bliss

Another beautiful collage, by Candy C.

To practice with grace in your heart

It's good to come to a place where you can roll your mat out and be in a place of complete submersion of a soulful practice that comes from deep within your heart and mind.  Where there's complete awareness of understanding in the waves of motion and breath that moves and synchronises with each other's intentions.  Being able to move with such grace and humility teaches us to flow with our actions and thoughts in life with love and peacefulness.  So when we show ourselves the tenderness and softness of our own actions in any pose, we learn to nurture ourselves in a place of goodness.  And to align and balance ourselves physically when we act on our movements and to release from such standstills at times when we need to.  Such is the beauty in ways that only can be felt when we do our yoga practice with intentions from the heart.
With love and light
Jac :)