Tame Our Overindulgences

Everywhere we look, we see the results of living in excess. In a society that glorifies more and more, it becomes challenging to listen to the voice of intuition urging us towards moderation and balance. This Yama, Brahmacharya, can be particularly difficult to work on, and some may even question its importance. Let’s take the example of eating too much – when we overindulge, we feel sluggish and uncomfortable, lacking the motivation to do anything else, except maybe watching television. The same can be said for overdrinking, oversleeping, overworking, and overexerting in any aspect of life – it drains our vital life force, our prana. (more…)

Asteya – Non-stealing

The 3rd Yama is simple, don’t steal. In its simplest form, Asteya asks that we not take what does not belong to us. While most of us wouldn’t be categorized as a thief, this yogic principle draws our attention to more subtle ways in which we rob not only others but ourselves, on and off the yoga mat. (more…)

Satya is the 2nd of the five Yamas, or observances, in the yogic path to awareness. Satya means Truthfulness. Living a path of truthfulness seems easy enough yet can be complicated. Why I say complicated is because Satya calls for us to dive deeper than the surface layer of truth that we show outwardly and explore what is really our truth and essence. (more…)

Stress is one of those things that we can’t avoid nor should we eliminate it. A little bit of stress can be helpful in keeping us motivated and focused on what needs to be done. However, in the fast pace of today’s world combined with the many expectations on us from work, family, friends and the never ending info that is flowing towards us all the time from social media, TV, cell phones… etc. we can often get overloaded and burnt out. More and more people are suffering from anxiety, depression and other health concerns that are being linked back to too much stress. The good news is that we can do something about it for ourselves! Yoga and meditation offer many tools to help restore the parasympathetic nervous system (which is in charge of the relaxation response) and boost our energy. The following video is a small sample of what we can do in as little as 3 minutes to help make effective changes in our life.

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Over the summer I have been reflecting on and studying some of the foundations of a yoga practice and have been pleasantly surprised at the added awareness to my everyday life. These are known as the yamas and niyamas which are guidelines of living and navigating in the world through our relationship to ourselves and others. They are the foundation of all yoga practices and without a firm foundation we lack the necessary building blocks to navigate in this world with joy and happiness.

Ahimsa

The 1st Yama, which is called Ahimsa or non-violence/non-harming, calls for us to pay attention to how we treat ourselves and others. My first reaction to thinking about this was (more…)

Living everyday excellence is about learning and knowing who you are.  It’s about taking the ordinary life and rising above what is easy, simple and mundane and transforming it into authentic living.  The eight elements of excellence provide us with a system in which to move through, offering guidance and assurance that it is attainable.   Determination, although the last of the eight elements, can be found woven through each of the other elements right from the start.  It’s determination that allows the vision that we first have to gain enough momentum to move into having the courage to attempt it.  Without determination we would not find the grit to keep up or we may find ourselves throwing in the towel when we start to feel the impact and commitment of what we want to create. (more…)

Grace is the part of you that can be found in the way you carry your body, in the way to speak ,in your compassionate heart, and in the steadiness of your pose.  Now you might be wondering, what does all of that have to do with Everyday Excellence?  How can having Grace help me to succeed in fulfilling my goals? (more…)

There is a lot of misunderstanding about prayer. Many people avoid it due to its connection to and association with religion. So let’s begin with my view and understanding based on a yogic perspective and on the 8 elements of excellence.

Prayer is one part of the whole picture of connection to the Self, the Unknown part of your existence. It is within the realm of this Unknown Self that we speak to when we pray. Prayer is not something that we use to ask for, plea with and/or dictate to something outside of ourselves. It is a simple tool that helps to complete a full conscious practice. It’s very act amplifies gratitude, humility, and understanding. (more…)

As human’s we all have the ability to learn and gain knowledge. We are very fortunate that in our country we have access to schools, books, the internet and many other sources of ways to learn. In our society and culture we tend to think of knowledge only in terms of something we have gained by our studies. However, from the yogic perspective and the 8 elements of excellence, knowledge is much more than just what we study, this type of knowledge is referring to a deep sense of knowing, an internal knowledge that a person can say, “I know this is right”. This type of knowledge comes (more…)

Humility – Defined by the dictionary as the quality or state of not thinking you are better than another, makes it an essential and very important role in success and everyday excellence. Humility gives us all the capacity to see what other people are going through and to recognize the effects of our own actions and the responsibilities that comes with what we create for ourselves. (more…)