Yoga Digest

JA N UA RY / F E B R UA RY 20 1 6

I N S P I R E ΄ E D U C AT E ΄ C O N N E C T Seane Corn

Deepak Chopra

Don Miguel Ruiz Jr.

Gabby Bernstein

Inspiring Leaders to Watch in 2016

Marianne Williamson

Mike Dooley

Sound Legal Advice

Yoga Lineage

for Yoga Studio Owners

The 8 limbs Breakdown of the Sun Salutation Interview with R. Sharath Joi Insight from Paramahansa Yogananda

Don Miguel Ruiz

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JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016

Senior Columnists Kurt Johnsen Cary Caster Senior Editor Kim Bauman

Publisher Yoga Digest, LLC Founders & Chief Editors Jenn Bodnar Cody Groth

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Contributors Angela Ambrose Beth Burns Ryan Glidden Joshua Kirsch Kino MacGregor Kristen McGee Kiera Nachman Monica Parker Taz Rashid Steven Smith Joseph Stingley Cathy Woods

Cover Photo Credits Deepak Chopra

by Jeremiah Sullivan Marianne Williamson

by Aaron Landman Seane Corn

by James Wvinn Gabby Bernstein

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What better time than the new year to get motivated? There is an optimistic air in the atmosphere and a great sense of hope for all.

While being motivated is certainly not a bad thing, it can be difficult to sustain for the long term. Motivation is the desire to do things, typically driven by some type of reward. Since there is an end game to motivation, there must be new incentives constantly in place to keep the momentum going.

Inspire. Educate. Connect. That’s been our mantra since day one and it’s no accident that “inspire” is the first word that came to mind when creating Yoga Digest.

Inspiration comes from within. One of its definitions is ‘the movement of air into the lungs, breathing in.’ Inspiration is more continuous, fluid. It keeps evolving and growing and it does not matter if one is rewarded for the product of their creativity. It’s delivered from the depths of one’s existence; the soul.

Dr. Wayne Dyer explains the difference between motivation and inspiration best: “It is very hard to enroll people in anything. And there is a very big difference between the words motivate and inspire.

Motivation means we have an idea and we are going to carry through on that idea. We work hard at it, and we are disciplined. A highly motivated person takes an idea, goes out there, and won’t let anybody interfere with them. Inspiration is exactly the opposite. If motivation is when you get hold of an idea and carry it through to its conclusion, inspiration is the reverse. An idea gets hold of you and carries you where you are intended to go.”

He continues to say inspiration means to be ‘in spirit.’

You shift to your true essence; away from what you have, what you do, your reputation, what people think of you, and all of that ego-based thinking.

Another example of the difference between inspiration and motivation is the story of the apprentice who asked Mozart how to write a symphony: Young Composer: “Herr Mozart, I am thinking of writing a symphony. How should I get started?”

Mozart: “A symphony is a very complex musical form and you are still young. Perhaps you should start with something simpler, like a concerto.”

Young Composer: “But Herr Mozart, you were writing symphonies when you were 8 years old.”

Mozart: “Yes, but I never asked anyone how.”

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Again, it’s good to ask for help, learn new skills and by all means, get motivated! This year, we challenge you to take it up a notch and tap into the divine and unique nature that is yours and yours alone. We spoke with a few people who have inspired us. In this issue, they share their inspiration with you! These inspirational leaders (featured on pages 10-30) ask you to take a closer look inside. In the words of Seane Corn, “We are not here to seek, we are here to awaken.”

In addition to inspiring, we also hope to educate our community. We are excited to invite some of the spiritual teachings and rich history of yoga into this issue. Take a look at the breakdown of the Sun Salutation with Kino MacGregor on page 34 and her interview Ashtanga Yoga legacy R. Sharath Jois on page 42.

The final word in our mantra is to connect and we are beyond grateful for the people who make Yoga Digest possible, including you, our readers! Please reach out to us anytime with your feedback, insight and stories.

The Bhagavad Gita states, “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self. » Let 2016 be the year of awakening, clarity and enlightenment!

Tidings! Jenn and Cody

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Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News

Inspire. Educate. Connect

Table of

Contents INSPIRE

EDUCATE

INSPIRING LEADERS TO WATCH IN 2016

CREATING PERSONAL SPIRIT. . . . . . 32

by Beth Burns

MIKE DOOLEY . . . . . . . .10

SUN SALUTATION A . . . . . 34 with Kino MacGregor

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON . . . 14

ARE YOU YOGA CONFUSED . 38

by Cathy Woods

DON MIGUEL RUIZ, JR . . . . . 16

THE SPIRITUAL HEART R. Sharath Jois . . . . . . . . 42

by Kino MacGregor

DON MIGUEL RUIZ . . . . . . 18 GABBY BERNSTEIN . . . . . 22

WHY MEDITATION . . . . . 44 Can Change Your Life Forever

by Angela Ambrose

SEANE CORN . . . . . . . . 24

LOVING KINDNESS MEDITATION . . . . . . . . 48

by Steven Smith

DEEPAK CHOPRA . . . . . . 30

THE LATEST VERSION of You T

by Ryan Glidden

WORK + LIFE = BALANCE . . 52 W

54

w/ Lauren Imparato

CONNECT

BOYS SHELTER IN INDIA . . . 74

by Kim Bauman

COLORING FOR CONNECTION . . . . . . . . 76

by Monica Parker

YOGA AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE . . . . . . . . . 78 w/ Paramahansa Yogananda

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT, Something to Consider

by Joseph Stingley

MY BEST PLAYLIST . . . . . . 81

by DJ Taz Rashid

IN EVERY ISSUE YD WARRIORS! . .

STAFF PICKS . . .

OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE w// Kurtt Johnsen . .

. . . . . . . . .

8 69

. . . . . . . . .

82 8

. . . . . . . . . .

T THE FIVE-HOUR WORKDAY fe featuring Tower P 4 Paddle Boards . . . . . . . . 54 L LEGAL INSIGHTS FOR Y 8 Yoga Studio Owners . . . . . 58

by Joshua Kirsch

5 IMMUNITY B 2 BOOSTING POSES . . . . . 62

by Kristin McGee

HAVING THE RIGHT TOOLS . 64 H 4

70

42

by Cary Caster

A AYURVEDA, YOGA & ALIGNING with Your Higher Self . . . . . 66 w 6

by Kiera Nachman

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V VEGETARIAN RECIPES to Kick-Start Your New Year . . 70 0

by Breanna Callaham

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YOGA DIGEST Who Inspires Erin Sanders My mom, Kathy Sanders, is the most inspirational person in my life. She is an endless well of love and compassion. Before I was old enough to drive, my mom took me to auditions and acting jobs (in addition to being a yoga teacher, I’m also an actress) – all while maintaining a full-time job.

Now, she’s pursuing her lifelong love of singing and songwriting. Her music is poetry, which she uses to share stories of love, loss, and connection. Her vulnerability, bravery, and capacity for love inspire me every day. Erin Sanders. www.ErinTeachesYoga.com

Robert Sturman Tao Porchon-Lynch is a 97 year old yogini who happens to be my favorite model and one of my closest friends. She inspires me in a manner bigger than anything I have ever known. She is a living example of youth. One of the sharpest, quickest, lightest, prettiest, sweetest beings I have ever met. I have been working with Tao since she was only 93 and I am convinced she is only growing younger. www.RobertSturmanStudio.com Instagram @robertsturman

Photo by Jake Spencer

Taylor Harkness “I’ve always tried to draw inspiration from those closest to me. For the most part, this keeps me wildly engaged and motivated. However, this has proved troublesome in the past when I’ve found myself surrounded by negativity, or a friend who just can’t break out of the tailspin of judgement, comparison, or speaking badly about others. My quick fix: surround yourself with the right kinds of people. Seek people who inspire, encourage, challenge, and support you. Ask yourself: how do I feel around this person?

Then prioritize spending time with those who make you feel better about yourself. Do this, and you’ll never be at a loss for inspiration.” [ Shine On ] Taylor Harkness, www.taylorharkness.com

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Jonah Kest The qualities of Gautama Buddha are what inspire me the most. The understanding of suffering that leads to compassion, and the equanimity of the mind that leads to contentment. These truths are what I reach for, daily, in all aspects of my life. Guiding others to find certainty and freedom from attachment in each of the yoga classes that I teach is truly a gift. Together, we are moving forward on this path of liberation! www.jonahkestyoga.com Instagram @kestyoga

WARRIORS ost?

You The M

Gina Dunn

Photo by Danielle Doby Photography

Anton Mackey The teachings of Jesus inspire me the most at this time in my life. The message of love and self realization--not in a traditional, religious context. www.AntonYoga.com Instagram @antonyoga11

I am inspired most by my teacher Julie Boyd, who leads simply by example and with love. Julie is my role model on how to live yoga authentically as a teacher, wife and mother.

You don’t have to do yoga a certain way/place, or dedicate your entire existence to it.

The practice can and should be a natural extension of who you are. Like stars in the sky, I may not always see Julie, but she is there for me and shining a light on my path.

Checking in with that source of light ignites my own and never ceases to inspire. www.WeYogis.com Instagram @AsanaDealers Facebook - AsanaDealers

Andrew Sealy B.K.S. Iyengar is one of the most inspiring influences for my path. When it comes to inspiring people, I think of those who have inspired me to think beyond my limitations. Those who paved their own path to success through innovation, pure passion, and complete devotion to their vision of empowering others. Selfless action for a righteous cause.

B.K.S. Iyengar overcame poverty and an ill-stricken childhood to become one of the most revealed and sought after yoga masters in the world. His wisdom still caries on today through his lineage of Iyengar Yoga that is taught all around the world. Although he passed in 2014 at the age of 96 his legacy and influence will carry on in his wise words.

“It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.”....

“Yoga is like music: the rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.”

Instagram @andrew7sealy | Facebook - andrew.sealy3

Find your

tribe, love them hard.

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y e l o o D e Mik KIM IEW BY INTERV

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You may be familiar with MIKE DOOLEY as the creator behind “Notes from The Universe” (www.tut. com) which are free inspirational messages from The Universe that are sent to your email inbox, Monday through Friday. Dooley is also a world-tour inspirational speaker, teacher for “The Secret”, and author of The New York Times Best Seller, “Infinite Possibilities”.

You know those moments in life where you find yourself saying, “someday I’m going to do this, and someday I’m going to do that”? I’ve been subscribing to receive Mike Dooley’s “Notes from The Universe” for 10 years now and it’s always been a dream of mine to someday get to connect with him because of how his teachings have changed my life.

This week someday arrived and the next thing I know, I’m dialing Mike Dooley’s cell phone number to connect.

What I found most humbling about Mike is how human he is.

It’s easy to think that the people you look up to have it made, like they are super-human and have life all figured out. Here’s my inspiring conversation with Mike Dooley, The Universe….

the hook off life, that’s the challenge. You’re never really done. You’re always on the go, trying it out, hoping for the best, and giving it your all. I have had moments when I felt I was onto something but I always remember being scared. It wasn’t like one day I went to bed and life sucked and I woke up the next morning and life was phenomenal. It was always a very slow metamorphosis.

When people are anxious for their dreams to come true now, it’s not gonna be like that. You never have it made and have all green lights. So that means during the evolution you need to let it unfold, have confidence and patience and hold onto the vision, even when it seems like absolutely nothing is happening on your behalf.

Like a GPS navigation in your car, first you define destination or in this case your dream, then you put your car in gear even though you don’t know how you’re gonna get there, then you begin to drive and even though you’re driving you see nothing that resembles your friends house, your destination, everything looks weird until the moment of arrival. You don’t know that there were any miracles playing out on your behalf until after you arrive and then you look back, and then you can see the serendipities, the coincidences and how they all played together and set you up, but when they’re playing out you see nothing. This is the hook, this is the challenge, to hold the vision in spite of appearances.

“Those feelings you most want aren’t going to come from somewhere new, someone special, or something wonderful.

They’re going to come from within, where they now wait for your permission to be released - often in terms of somewhere new, someone special, or something wonderful.

Kim Bauman: What’s the story behind “Notes from The Universe”?

Mike Dooley: Most everything I was trying to do in life to survive, failed. “Notes from The Universe” came about during the most harrowing, scary time in my life.

I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t know if anything would come along. I desperately wanted to receive inspiration and hope so I started to send out the kind of little daily messages of inspiration I wanted to get because nobody was doing it. At age 39 it was a do-good service just for me to feel good. It was inconceivable that it would actually go anywhere and there was no concept of monetization what-so-ever. In the beginning it was just “Messages from Mike” for the first year and a half, and then I had this idea to do “Notes from The Universe”.

KB: How do you come up with your “Notes”?

MD: There’s about 3000 now written and I’ve written all of them. Most come to me as I’m mulling over my life. More often then not I look at a blank screen and have no idea what to write. I just start writing.

You just have to start even though you don’t know how you’re going to finish.

Permission granted, The Universe”

KB: Have you always known you were on the right path, that you had found your purpose in life?

MD: You never really know iff you’re you re on your path because you’re ou’re always dealing with your demons and your doubts. ts. You may have strong intuition, but that’s WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

KB: Is there a story behind the 2nd message in the “Notes”?

MD: I wanted to make it fun, it’s like a wink at the end. With my need and desire to keep the notes brief, there is sometimes a 2nd message I want to get out and it doesn’t fit with the first line.

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KB: What do you think of God vs. The Universe?

MD: To me they are exactly the same but God has baggage and different meaning from one person to the next. It’s threatening, terrifying, controversial. The Universe is a much happier handle on divine intelligence.

KB: How would you describe your spiritual journey?

MD: Very unpredictable and unconventional. I was raised Catholic and don’t view there to be much in common with religion and spirituality. The more you have of one the less you have of the other. I would say I broke the mold and found spirituality in a Catholic household. In my book, “The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell YOU”, I talk about how religion needs spirituality but spirituality does not need religion. My whole life I had a deep yearning to know what life was all about. I became a magnet for truth because we attract whatever we are focusing on. By age 20 my mom was sending me books by Jane Roberts and they had confirmed my own inner suspicions about reality and connected dots I didn’t realize could connect, and since then I’ve felt HOME. KB: Were you spiritual as a child?

MD: I was religious as a child which to me doesn’t mean spiritual but it did cultivate a recognition that there was more to reality than the physical senses showed. I always had desires so I used to have frequent conversations with God, always asking for things I wanted…. like a girl to like me or to win that game.

KB: Who are your teachers, those who influenced your spirituality, leadership and activism?

MD: I haven’t had teachers, really. Just my Mom who inspired me and we were best friends.

“You are the one who was sent to make a difference, to be a bridge, to light the way, by living the truths that have been revealed to you, so that others might do the same.

KB: Do you practice yoga? If so, what kind and how does yoga play a part in your spirituality?

MD: I’ve never practiced yoga in my life. It doesn’t call to me.

I’ve been a runner my whole life and cigar smoker and that’s my meditation :)

KB: What do you do to stay motivated, get inspired and continuing growing and developing as a spiritual leader?

MD: That’s what dreams do.

When you have dreams they lead you down paths you’ve never been before and lead you into being a person you’ve never been before and you become more than you were when you began.

If you have a dream you’re automatically inspired. I’ve also always created a vision board, or back then I would refer to it as a scrapbook.

I’ve always had a scrapbook of happy things, because thoughts become things.

So now you know why you’ve always seen the world so differently than others.

To help, The Universe”

KB: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

MD: A professional tennis player.

KB: Who did you look up to as a child?

MD: My Mom. KB: Can you pinpoint a moment where it all changed for you, where you became connected to your purpose as a spiritual leader?

MD: My dad was in sales and he used to listen to Earl Nightingale’s, “The Strangest Secret”, where he

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said that which man thinks about, he brings about.

Dad had these tapes playing in his car all the time.

Mom was a big reader so she was sending me books about the power of the mind. I’ve never been much of a reader but back then if Mom said I had to read a certain book, I would read it. My mom was the biggest influence as a child.

KB: What was one of the biggest struggles in life you overcame through your connection to Spirit?

MD: Feeling inadequate in every way. Career, work, relationships, not being good enough or made of the right stuff… you name it. During my moments of doubts and quivers, which happen often, I have to remind myself that spiritually I know I’m an eternal gladiator of love and joy, thriving and abundance, and I’m here to totally rock it and my life is proof so I immerse myself in these thoughts that I teach.

WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

“It isn’t easy at first, but one of the greatest gifts you could ever give someone who makes your heart soar is the freedom to learn their own lessons, at their own pace.

Even trickier is discovering that one of the greatest gifts you could ever give someone who gets on your nerves is the freedom to learn their own lessons, at their own pace.

And perhaps most challenging of all is understanding that one of the greatest gifts you could ever give yourself is the realization that your heart soaring and your nerves fraying have never been dependent upon other people and their lessons.

Tallyho, The Universe” WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

KB: Are you more encouraged or discouraged by humankind when it comes to spiritual awareness and why?

MD: People are waking up to truth. There’s a higher vibe on the planet today. It is hard when some are having more joy than others but we don’t need to insist the whole world be happy with us.

KB: What do you think about about mentioning God in school? and some schools no longer saying the pledge of allegiance?

MD: There’s no need to interject which God or who’s God. It’s the interjecting of opinions that has created this as an anomaly.

KB: What is one characteristic that you believe every great leader should possess?

MD: A good listener so they can synthesize communities lending to cooperation rather than dictatorship.

It’s not just about making your dreams come true even though that is my teachings. Great leaders needs to help diverse people join as ONE unit. They need to be a “bringer-together-er.”

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e n n a i r Ma n o s m a i l Wil

ODNAR JENN B Y B W IE INTERV WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

Jenn Bodnar: How w would you describe your spiritual journey?

Marianne Williamson: Intense.

JB: Where you spiritual as a child?

MW: Yep. My prayers every night were like major productions.

JB: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

MW: I would pray and ask what I was supposed to be, and I always got the same answer: priest. I thought it must be a mistake because Jews don’t have priests, but later in life I realized that in the Old Testament they sure did. That’s pretty interesting to me.

JB: Who did you look up to as a child?

MW: My father was like a god to me. I thought he was the coolest person in the world. I still do.

JB: Can you pinpoint a moment where it all changed for you, where you became connected to your purpose as a spiritual leader?

MW: No. But there were two moments on my path that do stand out. One was when I was first doing A Course in Miracles. One night I was reading the Text, and I suddenly had a really strong flash. I turned to my boyfriend and said, “I think I could explain this to my generation.”

The second was a few weeks or months after I started lecturing regularly on The Course in Los Angeles at the Philosophical Research Society in 1983. I looked at the audience one night and there were something like 75 people there. It unnerved me. I thought, “I can’t do this. I’m not an Enlightened master!” And as soon as I had that thought, it felt as though gazillions of beings in heaven were laughing out loud. “No,” they said.

“But you’re honest.” And that was that.

JB: Whatt do you do to stay y motivated, gett inspired and continuing growing and developing as a leader?

MW: I’m a student of The Course, a mother, and a concerned citizen. I love the world and I grieve its suffering.

That should be enough for anyone.

JB: What was one of your biggest struggles in life you overcame through your connection to Spirit?

MW: The ego isn’t just one facet of the personality; it’s a rolling pattern of neurotic tendencies. I get it right, I fall down, I get it right, I fall down. I like to think my plateau is fairly high at this point, but I’m still working on it like everyone else.

JB: Are you more encouraged or discouraged by humankind when it comes spiritual awareness and why?

MW: I’m encouraged. The problem isn’t that the light isn’t intensifying; the problem is, so is the darkness. I think many people are standing on higher ground now, but a lot of people need to step it up. More meditation, more forgiveness, more availability to life. There is an urgency now. The hour is late.

“I think many people are standing on higher ground now, but a lot of people need to step it up. More meditation, more forgiveness, more availability to life.”

JB: Who are your teachers, those who influenced your spirituality, leadership and activism?

MW: All the great religious leaders, writers, poets. Martin Luther King, Jr. Gandhi. Jefferson. Bobby Kennedy.

JB: Do you practice yoga? If so, what kind and how does yoga play a part in your spirituality?

MW: I practice Iyengar yoga. I’m not enough of a yogi to be able to say it plays a part in my spirituality, but it definitely y plays a part in how my body is aging. I’m very grateful ful for it.

WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

JB: What do you think about mentioning God in school and some schools no longer saying the pledge of allegiance?

MW: I think that when I was a child, we prayed in the morning and didn’t shoot each other in the afternoon.

I don’t see where the Lord’s prayer offends anyone’s religion (as long as no one puts “In Jesus’s name we pray” at the end of it). Kids who don’t want to do it, should simply stand in silence with their eyes closed. If we can open our sessions of Congress with a prayer, and pray before the Inauguration of a President, then our children should be able to start their school day with prayer.

As far as the Pledge of Allegiance is concerned, I think it’s very important. I asked someone once why kids don’t say it anymore and he responded, “Because it’s just bullshit, man! There is no liberty and justice for all in this country!” I responded, “Yes, but if I hadn’t put my hand over my heart every morning as a child and affirmed that there’s supposed to be, then how would I know to be offended when I see it’s not happening?”

JB: What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

MW: An appreciation for the beauty in everyone.

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D r J , z i Ru

UMAN KIM BA Y B W IE INTERV WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

Kim Bauman: How would you describe your spiritual journey?

Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr.: It’s been fun. I have enjoyed and learned from my experiences of life. I have learned so much from academia, sports, relationships, art, cinema, trainers, fellow runners, yoga, friends, working as a production assistant in the film industry, and as a barrista, but especially from my children, wife, and my family. Life is my teacher, and the journey has been a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences that has shaped who I am.

KB: Where you spiritual as a child?

DMRJ: Though there was spirituality all around my family, I cared more about having fun.

KB: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

DMRJ: A baseball player, or a Beatle.

KB: Who did you look up to as a child?

DMRJ: Older cousins, Fernando Valenzuela, the Beatles, and a clown named “Popotes”.

recover from my marathon training, training like Flow Yoga and Yin Yoga. But both Yoga and Running help me practice my discipline of keeping my center through my expression of life.

KB: What do you do to stay motivated, get inspired and continuing growing and developing as a leader?

DMRJ: Passion. I do what I love to do, and I enjoy every moment, even when I am exhausted.

KB: What was one of the biggest struggles in life you overcame through your connection to Spirit?

DMRJ: Heartbreak, which is just the moment when the illusion ends. The truth will set you free.

KB: Are you more encouraged or discouraged by humankind when it comes to spiritual awareness and why?

DMRJ: I am very encouraged, we live in a time where we can interact with one another in real time without the concern for distance. If we allow ourselves to listen, we can learn so much from one another from any corner of the World. I can learn from the ancestors of Vietnam, India, Arabia, Italy, Norway, Egypt, Greece, England, Peru, Central America, the South Pacific, Oceania, as well from the innovators of our modern day life. A whole World of Wisdom is within our reach, and all we have to do is listen and apply their lessons in our life.

The gift of unconditional love is that it helps us heal from the wounds that our conditional love left in our life.

KB: Can you pinpoint a moment where it all changed for you, where you became connected to your purpose as a spiritual leader?

DMRJ: I don’t see myself as a spiritual leader, so that moment hasn’t come. But the choice I did make was to continue to practice my family’s Toltec tradition when my rebellion towards it ended, and the reason why it ended was because I began to see how the tradition was able to help me heal my emotional wounds, as well as being an instrument that taught me how to love myself unconditionally. The gift of unconditional love is that it helps us heal from the wounds that our conditional love left in our life. That’s when I began to teach and share my family’s tradition with anyone who is willing to listen.

KB: Who are your teachers, those who influenced your spirituality, leadership and activism?

DMRJ: My direct teachers are my father, don Miguel Ruiz, and my grandmother, Madre Sarita. But everyone I have ever met has taught me everything I know. Everyone has something to teach, if we are willing to listen.

KB: What do you think about mentioning God in school and some schools no longer saying the pledge of allegiance?

DMRJ: I don’t know. I don’t have a problem saying either one, and I also believe that every community is free to create their own culture. I believe in mutual respect, and through it we can shape our community with compassion. We are all one, and the only thing that divides us is a point of view.

KB: What is one characteristic that you believe every great leader should possess?

DMRJ: Patience.

KB: Do you practice yoga? If so, what kind and how does yoga play a part in your spirituality?

DMRJ: Yes, though I do go through cycles of active participation. At the moment, I do yoga that helps me WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

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IANCI NOEL C Y B O T PHO

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terpiece, terpiece the story off your own life, life and you are the main character of that story. We are all artists, creating our story of life.

One common thread we all share as human beings is we put so much belief in secondary characters in life, rather than the role we play as the main character. We allow others to control us, we allow others to train us how to love, how to think, and what to believe in. Whether we are conscious of it happening or not, we look outside of ourselves for answers, for who’s to blame, for what’s the cause, and for why something is the way it is, especially if it’s something unfavorable in life.

In my conversation with spiritual leader and author of the forthcoming book, The Toltec Art of Life and Death, Don Miguel Ruiz says, “Change the world by changing your world. In order to change our own world it’s not about changing the secondary characters but we have to change the main character. We can’t keep pointing the finger at someone else. If we can change our own personal world, everyone around us will begin to change their own world too.”

The Toltec Art of Life and Death, is about just this, the examining of you, the main character in your life story, where you are both the hero and the villain in your world.

Ruiz says, “The privilege of knowledge is to serve the message of life. The challenge is to transform Me, the main character, and make him or her our ally—life’s ally.”

It was a humbling, eye-opening experience to get to chat live with Miguel. His brilliance and gentle faith in humanity goes far beyond measure. Miguel says, “I give my love to everybody. You really can be free if you want to change how you think you are.”

Ruiz is also known for his world renowned book, The Four Agreements, a New York Times Bestseller for over 7 years and the 36th bestselling book of the decade.

Here’s more of my conversation with Miguel….

KB: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

DM: I never really thought about this until junior high.

I decided to be a surgeon because two of my brothers were studying medicine and I just followed their steps.

KB: Who did you look up to as a child?

DM: I was one of thirteen children. I spent a lot of time with the brothers that were closer to my age. I had a very nice childhood and looked up to my brothers.

KB: Can you pinpoint a moment where it all changed for you, where you became connected to your purpose as a spiritual leader?

DM: When I was 10 years old one of my older brothers died in a car accident and it was a huge shock to our family. The way my family saw my brother shifted completely in this moment. Before he died, he was the black sheep of the family and after he died he became the biggest hero ever. And all I could see was how people change a lot and how they pretend to be what they are not. It was then that I saw I really cannot trust anybody to be what they say they are because we change and shift all the time.

After my brother died, I saw how everybody tried to control me, from where I should be to what I should believe, and that we learn to love the same way that everybody else loves. I watch my parents, siblings, friends, society, all love with conditions. I love you if you do what I want you to do, I love you if you behave the way I want you to. I love you if… and that’s how I learned to love. The worst part is we learn to love ourselves exactly this same way, with conditions.

If I don’t reach what I think I should be then I have to pay the penalty and I reject myself, and rejection is the penalty.

“Change the world by changing your world.”

Kim Bauman: How would you describe your spiritual journey?

Don Miguel: I am fortunate to have been born into a family with very old tradition. Being spiritual was completely normal, I was just raised to be happy to live my life.

KB: Who are your teachers, those who influenced your spirituality, leadership and activism?

DM: My mother and father. My mother has a very strong faith, will, and determination, and she believes in herself. When I was 11 years old my father told me

KB: Where you spiritual as a child?

DM: My attention was on whatever my parents did, and my parents arents were spiritual so that’s all I know. I grew up around round the Toltec tradition which is the masWWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

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that I can make my dreams come true if I just have strong will and the discipline to go step by step with what I want to accomplish. He told me that everything is possible if I really want it. This really helped me a lot in life. Negative or positive, you may hear something at a small age, and then you’ll take it and live as if that’s the truth. In my case I’m blessed it was this statement from my father that I held on to.

KB: Do you practice yoga? If so, what kind and how does yoga play a part in your spirituality?

DM: I did a long time ago. I stopped practicing in 2002 when I had a heart attack. But I feel yoga is an amazing tool for quieting the mind.

KB: What do you do to stay motivated, get inspired and continuing growing and developing as a leader?

DM: So many books inspire me. I read a lot of books from medicine to science to spiritual books.

KB: What was one of the biggest struggles in life you overcame through your connection to Spirit?

DM: I had a big car accident in my 20’s. The car was totaled but nothing happened to my body. I could see my body sitting behind the wheel but I was fine and my car was totaled. How can that be?

And in that moment I could see that I’m not my physical body. This was difficult for me because I was a medical doctor at that time so I wanted answers and to understand exactly what happened. If I’m not my physical body then what am I? And that led me to investigation to understand the whole thing. There are no mysteries. There are only 2 things that are real: death and life. Everything else is nothing but a dance between life and death.

Matter has a beginning and an end. Energy has no beginning and no end and is always moving Matter.

Everything is always in motion which means life is always changing.

My physical body is my home, my factory I use in order to communicate to everybody to receive and to express myself. I wanted to understand not just the physical body but also how the mind works. If we can change our personal world, we can change the world. Through this journey I decided to focus on psychology. We have a huge conflict in our mind between truth and life, and it only exists in our mind, no where else. Every time the truth arrives and creates superstition, the knowledge becomes weaker. We are always searching for the truth and in the end the truth always wins. Later, I went onto to write The 4 Agreements in 1997 when I was 47 years old.

KB: Are you more encouraged or discouraged by humankind when it comes to spiritual awareness and why?

DM: Humans are doing great! We are evolving very fast and it’s wonderful. What I encourage to the world is to love without conditions.

Anger, hate, and war stems from learning to be that way because we have learned to love with conditions.

We try to impose our world on others, we try to control the outcome. It doesn’t matter what country you’re in or where you’re from we’ve all learned that way.

KB: What do you think about mentioning God in school and some schools no longer saying the pledge of allegiance?

DM: Depends upon what concept you have. For me God is energy and life, and we are all energy. If we can understand this then we see that everyone has God in them. How things are in schools is okay because humanity is evolving and it will all change.

KB: What is one characteristic that you believe every great leader should possess?

DM: Awareness. A leader must be completely aware, then skeptical but a good listener. They don’t have to believe what others have to say but they do need to listen.

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y b Gab nstein Ber ODNAR JENN B Y B W IE INTERV

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Jenn Bodnar: How would you describe your spiritual journey?

Gabby Bernstein: My journey can be described as unlearning fear and remembering love. I’ve been on a spiritual journey my entire life, but more consciously for the past decade. I’ve been unlearning the fear based beliefs and remembering the truth of who I am, the connection that I have to a power greater than myself and a wisdom that I know is far beyond my physical sight.

JB: Were you spiritual as a child?

GB: I was brought up in a very spiritual household.

My mother brought my brother and I to Ashrams as children. We were named by the Gurus, we were taught to meditate and to pray. Spiritual beliefs and principles were very present.

JB: Who did you look up to as a child?

GB: My mom.

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BY WEN DY YAL OM GB: I think it would be nice if everyone still came together. And maybe not even call it prayer or pledge. You could call it daily intentions. If children were beginning their day by tuning in with a meditation, the entire day would be different. I’m a huge advocate for bringing yoga and meditation into schools. That is where my energy, attention and philanthropic ties are. I think we could see tremendous transformation if we start early.

JB: What do you do to stay motivated, get inspired and continuing growing and developing as a leader?

GB: Meditation, prayer and exercise lift me up. I’m always in discovery of new tools that I can apply to my own life so that I can also share them.

This year I did a training with Deepak Chopra. I have great mentors and friends that I can call on which is a blessing.

I’m a student of A Course In Miracles, so that’s a book I keep close by. I also study nutrition.

If children were beginning their day by tuning in with a meditation, the entire day would be different.

JB: Can you pinpoint a moment where it all changed for you, where you became connected to your purpose as a spiritual leader?

GB: I was leading the regional youth group when I was 13.

That’s when it hit me. It was a very natural thing. It was embedded in me. Like Joan of Arc says “I’m not afraid, I was born to do this.”

JB: Who are your teachers, those who influenced your spirituality, leadership and activism?

GB: Dr. Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra. They are not only my teachers, but my friends who have been very generous and supportive of me.

JB: How does yoga play a part in your spirituality?

GB: Kundalini plays a huge role in my teachings. It’s a yoga of awareness. It gives me the tools for transformation and elevation. It’s a yoga of imperfection. You practice with your eyes closed, you’re not expected to do it perfectly, you’re just supposed to do your best.

That is the mentality that I live by.

JB: Are you more encouraged or discouraged by humankind when it comes to spiritual awareness and why?

GB: I’m encouraged by it! I’m seeing so many people wake up fast! It’s quite exciting. I was doing this work when nobody really knew what a life coach was. It’s pretty exciting to see how many people are making that their career.

JB: What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

GB: That’s a good question. I think leaders in general need to have their own experience to teach from.

They have to have a level of authenticity and a level of willingness to share their truth.

JB: What do you think k about the recent press about mentioning ng God in school and some no longer saying the pledge e off allegiance?

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LD OSENFIE R E V E T

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ODNAR JENN B Y B W IE INTERV

It doesn’t take long to discover that Seane Corn is extraordinary. Within moments of hearing her speak, one quickly recognizes her deep spiritual connection. Corn says she is hypersensitive to the world around her. As she shares her experiences, there is a great level of understanding and compassion that make her one of the most relatable

and inspiring yoga teachers of our time. She has impacted so many lives and encouraged others to do the same in her work with Off The Mat, Into The World.

It was great to talk with Corn as she highlights some of steps along her spiritual path. She also shares amazing insight on being a spiritual activist, not buying the hype and being motivated by love, not by ego.

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JB: How would you describe your spiritual journey?

SC: It’s like a patchwork quilt. I was raised without any religion at all, in an agnostic family. I always had a strong sense of intuition, however. Because I had no religion, I was highly influenced by my friends and their families beliefs. It was a very Judeo-Christian culture and I learned that God was often a punishing God that showed up when you failed, messed up or were inappropriate. As I child, I was all three of those things all the time! I had a very superstitious and paranoid relationship with this thing called ‘God.’ I really rejected the notion of God as a young adult and proclaimed myself an atheist until I moved to New York City. At that time, I was introduced to so much cultural diversity that it made me curious.

Moving to New York City opened my world up on so many levels. I discovered yoga around this time and also a book called Religions of the World, by Huston Smith. Two other books that helped put spirituality together for me were The Enlightened Mind and The Enlightened Heart by Stephen Mitchell. I learned that spirituality was a process, not something that was just handed to you. The Stephen Mitchell books really outlined spirituality for me because the underlying theme was love. In all of the very diverse teachings from Jesus Christ to Lao Tzu, the one consistency was love. At that point, I decided that any religion, practice or spirituality that put love first was something that I would be open to exploring and studying. It affirmed what I believe God is - that which exists within, truth and love.

superstitious and a little anxious anxious. I became obsessed with patterns, numbers and actions like blinking, swallowing and touching walls. I thought I could prevent bad things from happening by following these superstitious patterns. I became a little OCD, but there was no diagnosis for this at the time. When I look back it now, I realize that I was trying to play God because I didn’t understand the way God, The Universe, mysteries and spirit worked.

JB: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

SC: That’s a really good question. Probably in my fantasy when I was a child I would have wanted to be an actress. But I grew up in an environment where those kinds of dreams were fantasies. Where I grew up you got a job and if you were lucky you went to college. That was the highest you could reach for. But you didn’t get unrealistic, you had to be very practical.

Being an actress or entertainer and certainly a yoga teacher were certainly not things that were of real consideration, or taken seriously. I didn’t have the grades for college, but I didn’t want a status quo life - not to suggest that getting a job out of high school is status quo - but for me, it scared me. I wanted more. I didn’t know what more looked like so I moved to NYC and got a job in a nightclub because that was as close to glamour as I was going to get at that time. I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone but for me, that was an education in and of itself.

“I learned that spirituality was a process, not something that was just handed to you.”

JB: Were you spiritual as a child?

SC: I didn’t have a spiritual practice growing up.

My mom is Jewish, my dad was half Jewish-half Catholic so we celebrated every holiday that gave a gift. It was unusual in the town I grew up in to not practice religion. I really didn’t have a problem with it, other than I do believe that from birth I had a very strong connection with source. I didn’t know how to explain it at the time, but I felt things; I was moved by people and by experiences. I had huge feelings and no way to express them. Because I wasn’t wasn t raised in a family that could explain why mystical things happened through a spiritual lens, I became very WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

JB: Can you pinpoint a moment where it all changed for you, where you became connected to your purpose as a spiritual leader?

SC: I had a significant experience my first year in NYC that helped me to understand that God exists in all moments, in all beings and at all times. It’s a well-known story in the yoga community. I was introduced to God in a very unusual place and time.

It was in the mid-80s. I was bartending at an all male gay sex club called “Heaven.” Formerly, the building was a church. Almost every night, Billy, an African American man, came in. He was in his late 50s, had been married, had children and had been a part of a Baptist community where he was from in Ohio. When Billy came to terms with his

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homosexuality he was ostracized by his family and church. As a result, he moved to NYC to live out his truth. He was an amazing man and he loved me. I was partying, drinking and doing drugs at the time.

He felt I was going down a really bad path, which was ironic considering where we were. He would give me a lovingly hard time.

There was about a three-week period where Billy doesn’t show up at the club and I was concerned, I thought it was odd. Finally, he shows up and I go to give him a hug, but I stop because I notice all these open wounds all over his neck and shoulders. So I pull back. I say “Oh my god, what is that?” Billy tells me that they are symptomatic of his disease, “I have AIDS.” This was back in 1985. At that time there’s only 40 reported cases of HIV in the world, now there’s 40 million. Even though I worked in a club that catered to a community that was being vilified for the AIDS pandemic, I was still naive and didn’t really understand this disease. When he said “AIDS,” I recoiled. I pulled back really fast. I will never forget the look of pain, disappointment and sadness in Billy’s face as I withdrew. I felt so ashamed.

Billy asked me if I wanted to understand more and I did. So I asked him a whole bunch of questions on contraction and spreading of the disease. I finally asked him if there was a treatment, a cure. Today there still is no cure. He looked me straight in the eye and said ‘I’m dying.’ I didn’t really take that in and that Billy would be dead within 3 weeks of this conversation. I asked if he was afraid and his response was ‘No, because I have faith.’ For the second time that night, I recoiled. He laughed at me this time and asked if I believed in God. My answer was no. When I told him I was an atheist, he laughed so hard. I told him about my upbringing and how I believed God was a punishing God. He asked me if I wanted to see God right now, in this club. I glanced around and there were people

half naked everywhere and all sorts of shit going down. I laughed and said ‘sure, show my God right here.’ Billy pointed to Danny the Wonder Pony.

Danny was this white guy who came into the club almost every night butt-naked, except for chaps and a saddle. For $1 you could climb on his back and he would trot around the dance floor and you could hit him with a switch. Billy pointed to Danny and said God is right there. He pointed to another man, who today we would call trans-gender, but at the time he was called a cross dresser. He pointed to another couple of gentlemen who were dressed professionally, coming from work who both looked straight and said God is right there. Then Billy takes his hand - he was a big guy and dark. And I was this little thing...and white. He took his dark hand and he put it right over my chest. It filled up my whole chest and I can remember the contrast of his skin against the color of mine.

Then he takes my little hand and he puts it on his massive chest and he says to me ‘Seane, God’s right here.’

He says, I’m going to tell you something right now and I hope you remember it the whole of your life. What he said next transformed the way that I experienced life, love, God…everything. He said, ‘Ignore the story and see the soul and remember to love, you’ll never regret it.’

What Billy taught me is that we are not here to seek, we are here to awaken. To seek suggests that what we’re looking for exists outside of ourselves. When we awaken, it’s just allowing the radiance of whom we already are to come forward. It’s a remembrance.

That’s what I learned and that was the pivotal moment of my path.

“Ignore the story and see the soul and remember to love, you’ll never regret it.”

“What Billy taught me is that we are not here to seek, we are here to awaken.To seek suggests that what we’re looking for exists outside of ourselves.When we awaken, it’s just allowing the radiance of whom we already are to come forward.”

JB: Who are your teachers, those who influenced your spirituality, leadership and activism?

SC: Never was I given better guidance than from Billy, in a nightclub called Heaven in an old church. The irony is not missed on me. To this day he remains my angel and my greatest teacher.

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JB: How does yoga play a part in your spirituality?

SC: Hugely. What I was taught in yoga is that there is no separation between the mind and the body. Our thoughts impact our health and wellness. Yoga taught me that everything is energy. Energy is vibration with information. Love, joy, anger, rage and guilt are all vibrations. If we are not taught how to release vibration, it becomes tension and stress. Holding on to these feelings make us feel like we are in control.

This also can make us feel shut down, reactive, critical and judgmental. When conflict exists, we create the opposite of yoga. When we practice yoga, and we stretch, we release tension. When we release tension, buried ed emotions come up to the surface. With

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practice we are able to stay present to the sensation.

The practice of yoga teaches us how to connect to our vulnerability. When I can create space in yoga for my own vulnerability, then in life when there is conflict, instead of judging, I can breathe, stay present and make choices of truth and of love. Not of separation, criticism or judgment.

JB: What do you do to stay motivated, get inspired and continuing growing and developing as a leader?

SC: I have 6 non-negotiables. 1. Yoga 2. Meditation 3. Prayer 4. Diet 5. Sleep 6. Therapy Those are 6 things that I have to commit to and are a discipline in my life. If I don’t stick to them, I get burnt out and tired. When I’m tired and burnt out I get reactive, intense and critical. I can get ambitious for the wrong reasons. I know if I’m going to commit

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to being the leader that I’ve been called to be then I better make sure that I stay on my game. This includes having a team around me that calls me out and makes me do my work.

JB: Are you more encouraged or discouraged by humankind when it comes spiritual awareness and why?

SC: I feel like the only answer I could possibly have to that question is I feel neutral because I have a really strong belief that everything is happening the way it should in order for one soul to transform. I don’t necessarily believe things are pre-destined, I believe in free will. But I do believe that once something happens, you can’t change what is. It becomes part of that story. Ultimately everyone is moving through their own journey, their own story and burning through whatever karma they have to burn through. They are confronting whatever trauma and drama that they have to in order to learn what love is. The dilemma is, in order to learn what love is, you have to learn what love is not.

I don’t believe spirituality is theoretical, it’s experiential.

I look at mankind as its own entity. All of us that make up this thing called mankind are learning and growing at our own unique rate- but get there we will! Will the planet survive by the time we get there? I have no idea. We’re doing our best certainly to destroy it. But I believe there is this organic, evolutionary process that is happening that I could never possibly understand or articulate because it’s so outside of my own 5 senses. I think it’s something much broader than is in my understanding.

I feel neutral. What I like to do is stay on my side of the street and in this lifetime, do whatever I can to evolve my own consciousness and serve mankind wherever possible in a variety of ways.

I am going to participate in love and in transformational opportunities, not in more dis-ease. As intense as I can be and as fierce I have been told I

am, I think I’m an optimist and I have real hope and faith for mankind. I believe our essence, ultimately, is love. If we can work through our own trauma and uncover that within ourselves, then peace is inevitable.

I would like to create that by offering tools to other people, tools that worked for me. I don’t suggest they work for everyone, but that’s why I thank God there are so many spiritual teachers out there. People are going to resonate with me or their going to think that I’m insane, just my accent alone, or the fact that I swear can really turn someone off. As a result, they can’t hear my message but it might be the exact same message as someone else. So thank God there are so many ways in to these teachings to serve the countless people out there that are waiting and hungry for inspiration.

“With practice we are able to stay present to the sensation.

The practice of yoga teaches us how to connect to our vulnerability.”

JB: What is one characteristic that you believe every great leader should possess?

SC: One? I wish I just had one. There are so many different kinds of leaders. I would have to say first is compassion.

You also can’t care what others think of you personally. It’s not that I don’t, it’s that I can’t. If I care too much, I start to modify my point of view to make others feel comfortable. I feel like as a leader in the community I have a responsibility to mentor those coming up after me in a much more mature and grounded way. I have to ask myself is it all still true to me today or am I so accustomed to saying it, that it’s become tattooed on my soul? It’s tempting to buy the hype, it’s seductive.

But you have to be grounded. A leader is someone who has vision to serve something higher than themselves and does their best to mobilize other beings around that vision. The vision should be motivated by love, not ego. Finally, work to inspire others to get behind that vision yet support them in cultivating their own vision and becoming leaders on their own life and experiences.

“A leader is someone who has vision to serve something higher than themselves and does their best to mobilize other beings around that vision.The vision should be motivated by love, not ego.”

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For decades, we’ve been taught that genes are fixed and unchangeable. Not so, say New York Times bestselling authors Deepak Chopra and Rudolph E. Tanzi. “It’s time to explode such rigid notions,” write the authors of their eagerly anticipated new book, SUPER GENES (Harmony Books; on sale November 10, 2015). “Your genes are fluid, dynamic, and responsive to everything you think and do. The news everyone should hear is that gene activity is largely under our control.” Citing the most up-to-date research, Dr. Chopra, a pioneer of integrative medicine, and Dr. Tanzi, a Harvard University professor and acclaimed researcher and expert on Alzheimer’s disease, assert that your lifestyle choices—such as the food you eat, your stress levels, and

the amount of sleep you get—directly influence your genes’ activities and your overall happiness and health.

The new genetics is undergoing a revolution that for the first time opens the way for people to influence their health in unsuspecting ways. The latest research reveals that a program of positive lifestyle changes alters 4,000 to 5,000 different gene activities. It’s also been discovered that only 5% of disease-related gene mutations are fully deterministic, while 95% can be influenced by diet, behavior, and other environmental conditions, proving that lifestyle leads to helpful or harmful genetic activity. By focusing on and optimizing your own cellular activity through conscious choices outlined in SUPER GENES, Chopra and Tanzi declare that you can:

IMPROVE YOUR MOOD LEVEL, STAVING OFF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION RESIST YEARLY COLDS AND FLU RETURN TO NORMAL SOUND SLEEP GAIN MORE ENERGY AND RESIST CHRONIC STRESS SLOW THE AGING PROCESS NORMALIZE YOUR METABOLISM DECREASE YOUR RISK OF CANCER

In addition, Chopra and Tanzi walk you through six lifestyle choices— diet, stress level, exercise, meditation, sleep, and emotions—that can radically enhance our well-being. Equally compelling, the authors examine cutting-edge research on the tiny microbes that inhabit our intestines, mouth, and skin—all part of a new understanding of what

we are talking about when we talk about genes—and provide practical ways to reprogram our bodies for optimum well-being.

Mixing thrilling science, practical applications, and spiritual wisdom, SUPER GENES will revolutionize how we understand ourselves and the health of those around us.

DEEPAK CHOPRA, M.D., FACP, founder of the Chopra Foundation and cofounder of the Chopra Center for Well-being is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, and is board certified in internal medicine, endocrinology, and metabolism. He is the author of more than 80 books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.” The WorldPost and the Huffington Post global Internet survey ranked Dr. Chopra “#40 influential thinker in the world” and “#1 in Medicine.”

RUDOLPH E. TANZI, Ph.D., is professor of neurology and holder

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of the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Neurology at Harvard University. He also serves as the director of the genetics and aging research unit and as vice-chair of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Tanzi was named to TIME magazine’s “TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World” and the the Harvard “100 Most Influential Harvard Alumni.” He has also received the highly prestigious Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for his pioneering studies of Alzheimer’s disease.

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LIVAN IAH SUL M E R E J BY PHOTO

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Deepak Chopra is known as a prolific author of over eighty books with nineteen New York Times best sellers in both the fiction and non fiction categories. As a global leader and pioneer in the field of mind-body medicine, Chopra transforms the way the world views physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social wellness. Enjoy the following excerpts on spiritual awakening from the writings of Deepak Chopra.

Surrender in the Name of Love “Spiritually, no action is more important than surrender. Surrender is the tenderest impulse of the heart, acting out of love to give whatever the beloved wants.

Surrender is being alert to exactly what is happening now, not imposing expectations from the past. Surrender is faith that the power of love can accomplish anything, even when you cannot foresee the outcome of a situation.

But surrendering to another person’s ego, even your beloved’s is not a spiritual act. There is a deeper, more mystical meaning to surrender. At the level of ego, two people cannot want exactly the same thing all the time. Yet at the level of spirit, they cannot help but want the same thing all the time. Your ego wants material things, predictable conclusions, continuity, security, and the prerogative to be right when others are wrong. By definition, pursuing these goals shuts out another person unless she falls in line with ‘my’ agenda or he realizes that ‘I’ am the important one around here.

Your spirit is not involved in such concerns. It wants being, love, freedom, and creative opportunities. This is an entirely different level of desire, and when you reach it you can share yourself with another person without conflict. Such sharing is the core of surrender.”

— The Path to Love: Renewing the Power of Spirit in Your Life

There is no reliable guide to behavior outside your own heart and mind.

Reality changes at different stages of growth.

At some level everyone knows the highest truth.

Everyone is doing the best they can from their own level of consciousness.

Suffering is temporary, enlightenment is forever.

Where do these realizations come from? How do we know they are true? They certainly don’t come from society or any outward experience. They come from paying attention to the countless clues left by spirit. No two people see God in the same way, because no two people are at the exact same stage of waking up. Yet in those moments when the five senses give way to deeper intuition, each of us gets a glimpse of reality, and as our minds process some remarkable event or insight, reality delivers a scrap of truth.”

— How to Know God: The Soul’s Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries

“Religion is cultural mythology. Spirituality is self awareness.They have nothing in common.”

Clues Left by Spirit “Evolution cannot be stopped; spiritual growth is assured.

Action is always noticed by God; nothing goes unheeded.

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Miracles, The Shooting Stars of Everyday Life

“Miracles happen every day.

Not just in remote country villages or at holy sites halfway across the globe, but here, in our own lives. They bubble up from their hidden source, surround us with opportunities, and disappear. They are the shooting stars of everyday life. When we see shooting stars, their rarity makes them seem magical, but in fact, they streak across the sky all the time. We just don’t notice them during the day, dazzled as we are by sunlight, and at night they emerge only if we happen to look up at the right place in a clear, dark sky.

Although we think of them as extraordinary, miracles also streak across our consciousness every day.

We can choose to notice or ignore them, unaware that our destinies may hang in the balance. Tune into the presence of miracles, and in an instant, life can be transformed into a dazzling experience, more wondrous and exciting than we could even imagine. Ignore it, and an opportunity is gone forever.”

— The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power off Coincidence

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Creating

Personal Spirit

BY BETH A. BURNS

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Illustration by Lucky Team Studio/Sutterstock; Background photo by Gile68/Sutterstock

e have all heard the familiar saying, “It takes a village to raise a child,” but I contend that it takes a village for any one of us to be successful in whatever we desire. None of us can exist in a vacuum. The community around us makes us who we are. We need to help our fellow sisters AND brothers, to raise the life condition of all. Every interaction that we have with others can be a teachable moment.

We evolve by replicating the behavior of others. Positive behavior will be replicated if there is a p positive osit os itiv ivve rresponse. espo es pons nse. e. We should sho hou uld try try r our ou ur best bes e t to o create creat atte positive possit itive interactions, inter eraactions, especially esp pec ecia i lly with wit ith ourr yo youth. outh th. IIff ssomeone om omeo meonee iiss w wearing earing ea g a gre great reat eat a o outfit, utfi ut fit, h fit, fit has as a n nice ice n ic new ew nai nail aill col color o or or hai hair ir style, sty tyle le, offer offfer a complimentary sstatement. tate ta teme ment nt. t SSmile milee o often, ften ft en,, sso en o tthat hatt o ha others ther th erss k know n w tha no that hatt yyou ou o u are app approachable. pro roachable.

Say “thank you” and “ “please”, pllea ease se”, ”, aass m many anyy h have avee fforgotten av orgo or gott go tten en n tthis hsb hi basic a icc ccommon as omm om mon ccourtesy. mon ourt ou rtes esy. y When asked a question, provide a det detailed aile iled d aanswer nswe ns w r aand we nd ccontext, onte on text te x , tthis xt hiis iiss h how ow wo others th her e s lea learn. earn. If If h help elp offer on quest. is solicited, assist iff you can, iff unable, jjust ustt o us fffer eencouragement ncou nc oura rage geme ment me nt tto o continue o n tthe h q he uest. off o others. proponent off It takes each one off us to contribute to the he ssuccess ucce uc cess ss o ther th ers. s. I aam m a sstrong tron tr ong p ropo ro pone n nt o will back karma. What you put out to the universe wil ll ccome omee b om acck tto ack o yyou. ou u.

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WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

My self-improvement to-do list for today, tomorrow, and beyond: Be more patient to those around me Stop and explain if someone does not understand a concept or point Counsel, tutor and teach those I can Return unanswered calls and e-mails ½}8½ µ bO oO8 Ë ²b§Â ²b Ë 8½½b ½ Reach out and pass along useful information to others Âu n² b Yµ 8 Y n8 Ë É}b u²bb½ ½}b b } bµ½ Ë O  O8½ with others without being offensive Be a compassionate ear for a friend *b b Fb² F ²½}Y8˵ 8 Y ½}b² important dates ,²Ë ½ ½ u µµ Follow through on promises and inform if unable Offer compliments to others when warranted Support the positive efforts of others *b b Fb² ½ µ8Ë ¬ b ­V ¬( b8µb­ 8 Y ¬,}8 5 ­ And smile!

Beth A. Burns

As an unmarried woman over 40 without children, I’m often asked “Are You Happy?” The answer is, and continues to be, a resounding “YES!!” Why is my happiness questioned? It is because we live in a society in which all the noise that we hear leads us to believe that other people will be the key to our personal satisfaction. Others can assist us in our personal development but ultimately it begins and ends on the inside. We should look to our spouse, children, family, friends, etc., to enrich the seed of fulfillment that we have planted inside.

I challenge all women to each day find their (er) inside... I have! Love yourself first and others will follow. www.erisinher.com

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The fundamentals:

Sun Salutation A (Surya Namaskara)

ADAPTED FROM: THE POWER OF ASHTANGA YOGA, BY KINO MACGREGOR

The initial series of poses practiced in Ashtanga Yoga are known as Sun Salutations, or Surya Namaskara. They provide an opening to the heart of yoga’s spiritual and physical lineage.

FEATURING KINO MACGREGOR PHOTOS BY AGATHE PADOVANI

A

t the physical level, the movements ignite the inner fire of purification. When the inner fire is kindled, breath and posture combine to cleanse the body of toxins and the mind of unhealthy thoughts. Practicing Sun Salutations helps to stimulate the cardiovascular system, warm up the muscles and joints, and direct the mind’s focus inward. Spiritually, every Sun Salutation is a prayer for the practitioner to develop the inner glow of self-realization.

To practice Sun Salutations, students should flow through each of these movements with inhalation and exhalation. Only Downward facing dog is held for 5 full breaths. These postures set up the basic anatomical and technical foundation for more complex asana.

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1

Equal Standing Pose Samasthiti INHALE This is a standing neutral pose that every pose originates from.

Stand in front of you mat with the base of your big toes and your heels touching. Feel all four corners of your foot pressing naturally in to the ground for even distribution of your weight.

Lift your knee-caps gently and engage the quadriceps (thighs) being careful not to hyperextend your knees.

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Standing Forward Fold Uttanasana EXHALE This is the first standing forward bend in the Ashtanga practice. Stand with your feet together, lift your sit bones and fold forward while engaging your lower stomach (uddyana banda) and pelvic floor (mula banda) muscles. Elongate your spine as you reach fingers toward the floor.

Benefits: treats osteoporosis, stimulates the liver and kidneys, improves digestion, stretches hamstrings, calves and back.

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Standing Half Forward-Bend Ardha Uttanasana INHALE This is a lengthening of the spine. Press your fingertips into the floor or toward the shins and straighten your elbows to arch your torso away from your thighs.

Extend through crown of your head, looking (drishti) slightly forward.

Benefits: treats stomach pains, helps with asthma, tones the spleen and strengthens the back to improve posture.

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4

Four-Limbed Staff Pose Chaturanga Dandasana EXHALE This is a foundational pose for strength. Enter this pose by jumping or stepping back into plank pose (a top of a push-up position) and bend your elbows to lower down halfway. Feet should be hip-width apart, toes under your heels. Engage your quadriceps, stomach and tailbone to provide a sense of support. You can release the knees down to modify.

Benefits: Strengthens arms, wrists, shoulders, abdomen, core and bands. Improves focus and concentration.

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Upward-Facing Dog Pose Urdva Mukha Svanasana INHALE As in all backbends, it’s important not to think about bending your back but lifting and extending throughout the entire body. With your shoulders over your palms begin pressing into the base of the big toe and lengthening through the soles of your feet to create length through the low body. Engage your leg muscles and engage your lower stomach. Straighten the arms and draw your shoulder blades down your back. Lift the chin and look up.

Benefits: Strengthens spine and back, improves posture, expands lungs, shoulders and abdomen, eases the symptoms of sciatica and fatigue.

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WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

The Fundamentals: Sun Salutation A (Surya Namaskara) EDUCATE

6

Downward Facing Dog Adho Mukha Svanasana EXHALE This is perhaps the legend of all poses. Its prevalence can be attributed to its powerful healing effects on the body. From Upward-Facing Dog, with hands and feet about shoulder-width apart, draw your shoulder blades down your back, draw in your lower stomach and lift your hips upward as you curl your toes to release your heels to the back of your mat. Feel a sense of elongation between each of the joints.

BeneďŹ ts: relieves stress, helps relieve symptoms of high blood pressure, at feet, strengthens arms and shoulders, stretches shoulders, hamstrings, calves and ankles.

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Are you

Yoga-Confused?

Systems, styles, certifications…what do they all mean?

YOGINI, CATHY WOODS HELPS CLEAR THINGS UP

Crossroad signpost image by Brian A Jackson/Sutterstock; Hand illustration by RaSveta/Sutterstock; Confused young woman image by PathDoc/Sutterstock

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atha, Kundalini, Amrit, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Kripalu and so on and so on. As you can see there are many styles of yoga, which can lead to many confused students. As a longtime yoga teacher and yogini, some of the questions that I hear from students are: What do all these styles mean? Which one is best? Which one is for me? What style are you certified in? It seems to have become trendy to be part of a style of yoga.

I hope I can clarify some of the confusion and mixed messages.

Though there are many branches of yoga, traditionally there are six primary systems of yoga. These were outlined by the mystic Patanjali around the second century BC. All the others are “styles,” which may be based on one or more of these systems:

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1 Jnana 2 Bhakti 3 Karma 4 Raja 5 Hatha 6 Kriya

The path of knowledge and wisdom.

The path of devotion.

The practice of service.

Focuses on the practice of meditation/transcendence.

The system of physical yoga.

A system designed to rid the body and mind of obstructions.

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Let me begin by saying that it seems to be the human way to compartmentalize things and make separateness seem necessary. We perceive we’re separated by all sorts of things: careers, race, lifestyles, religions, etc… Let me quote the Buddha, “The source of human suffering is separateness.” I am of the opinion that the more we separate yoga, the more it loses its unifying essence.

The word yoga means to unite or yolk. When we create separation in yoga, we diminish and elude its origins and true meaning.

Didn’t we see the same thing happen with religions? The essence of the Masters’ teachings were beautiful and truthful; then our ego-based concepts decided it was not enough to call it truth, but had to separate it into various sects. In doing this, the party often implies (directly or indirectly) that my camp is better than yours. My brand will bring you to enlightenment quicker. The notion that one type of yoga is better than another or brings one to self-realization quicker than another is not sound.

There are many paths that lead to the same truth.

It is up to the individual to weed through the assortment of styles and jargon currently associated with yoga. I guess you can say that I am of the “old school” of yoga. When I became involved 23 years ago, people just said, “I practice yoga.” There was not so much importance placed on the styles, certifications and popularity. Recently, there were so manyy styles y of yoga being created that Yoga Alliance (the organization that strives to maintain the integrity of yoga) is no longer registering new styles. People wanted to come up with new names for yoga, such as Cathy Yoga, Happy Yoga, etc… Thank goodness this trivialization was recognized. The ancient practice of yoga is a sacred one and to claim to be the creator of it seems presumptuous.

The certification process can be a quandary. Some certification programs do provide valuable training, but just because someone is “certified” does not necessarily make him or her a quality teacher. Many such programs stress the ABC’s of yoga, but miss the essence of the tradition.

I believe a teacher can only teach to the level he/she embodies in their own practice. It is what’s within a teacher—their own depth, understanding and realization of the yogic spirit— that makes them authentic. It is hard to impart the lifestyle and wisdom of this tradition without living it. Some WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

certification programs have become profitable vehicles for those offering them. Many “old-school” instructors have chosen not to be “certified.” Are many of the Yogis from India certified? Probably not in the traditional Western sense of monetarily paying for a program and obtaining a certificate. There, certification is through the blessing or transmission of energy or shakti from their teacher, master, and/or lineage.

Ah, a very different concept than here in our culture.

To explain a few things: Again, the word yoga means to yolk or unite, body mind and spirit. If your practice is not focused on this, perhaps it is not genuinely yoga as it was practiced in India where it originated.

There, it is a practice or path to self-realization and purification, not just a form of exercise.

Some styles of yoga are named after the teachers who inspired them such as Iyengar, Bikram, Kripalu, Armit Yoga and others. This does not mean those teachers invented yoga. The first accounts of yoga, (The Vedas ) date back thousands of years. Current

The notion that one type of yoga is better than another or brings one to self-realization quicker than another is not sound. There are many paths that lead to the same truth.

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EDUCATE Are you Yoga-Confused?

Illustration by amasterphotographer/Sutterstock

It is so important that the teacher, system and the style resonate with you on all levels. teachers put their own spin or imprint into an already established system. Some types of yoga are named for the area in which they focus on, such as Ashtanga, Hatha, Raja etc… Some styles are more meditative, while others more physical, with some focusing more keenly on body alignment. Not all styles touch on all aspects of the six systems. Let’s look at a few of the most common practices, (though I don’t I claim to be a scholar) .

Yoga is an Ashtanga, which refers to an eight limbed path. The limbs (to explain briefly) are Yama’s, & Niyama’s (the inward and outward observances of a yogi,) asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dhyana, dharana, and samadhi.

The term Hatha Yoga, which is often heard, means ha/sun and tha/moon, and also means inhalation and exhalation. This system is often referred to as a style of yoga. It is primarily concerned with bodily disciplines and breathing which are not essential in all traditions. Asanas strengthen and purify the body. Contemplation, medita-

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tion and pranayama/breath-work are part of this practice.

Some Hatha teachers only practice body movement, a style, without teaching the other components of the system.

Vinyasa is currently a popular style of yoga which means flow yoga. This style links postures, movement and breath and tends to be a little faster paced which also lends itself to cardiovascular benefits.

Raja Yoga presents a path of knowledge and wisdom that enables the student to discover his Real Self. It is not necessary (though helpful) that a student of this style practice asana. The path of Raja Yoga does not emphasize asana/postures.

There are far too many other styles to explain each.

The actual systems of yoga are more in-depth than this article can explain, but can be studied in many yogic writings and teachings.

As you may have experienced while attending school, people learn in different ways. Some are more physical and learn through the body and hands-on, others learn through contemplation and others with the mind/ intellect. It is the same with yoga practice, you must find a style or system that suits your personal way of learning and resonates with you. It should not feel forced or confusing, but truthful and clear. The participant should feel a sense of peace and growth from their practice. This is not to say that the student will not feel challenged in some ways, which is part of the practice as well, and one can use those challenges as a platform for growth.

If you really want to experience the most from yoga, I suggest that you don’t join a practice just because it’s popular or it happens to be the class offered at your gym, but rather shop around for one that suits you.

Take classes in various styles and systems, from different teachers. Even the same style will vary among instructors, as each teacher has their own unique approach, which can make a world of difference. Again, it is so important that the teacher, system and the style resonate with you on all levels.

Explore, experience and enjoy your yogic journey!

Namaste & Peace.

Cathy Woods, ERYT 500, Yogini, is a long-time yoga teacher & retreat leader (of 25 years) offering yoga retreats, life-skills enrichment programs and Body, Mind, Equine, nationally. Cathy teaches yoga as awareness” practice to be used on and off the mat.

An authentic, adaptable, clear teacher, assisting students to embark on their own inner journey. Though she maintains connected to Kripalu lineage, she teaches the “yoga of her heart.” www.cathywoodsyoga.com www.facebook.com/cathywoodsyoga

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Niyamas

Yamas

5 MORAL RESTRAINTS Ashimsa: kindness Satya: truthfulness Asteya: nonstealing Brahmacharya: continence Aparigraha: noncovetousness

5 OBSERVANCES:

Asana

Saucha: cleanliness Samtosa: contentment Tapas: heat; spiritual austerities Svadhyaya: study of the sacred scriptures and of one’s self Isvara pranidhana: surrender to God

Positions of the body Connecting the mind and spirit to create strength, flexibility, balance and focus

POSTURES

Pranayama

MINDFUL BREATHING Control of the Breathe

Pratyahara

Samadhi

Withdrawal of the senses to the mind

Tranquility, fulfillment, and spiritual illumination

PURE BLISS

Dharana

Dhyana

Focusing and Attention

Observation and Reflection

CONCENTRATION

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Background image by ilolab/Sutterstock

TURNING INWARD

MEDITATION

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Ashtanga Yoga

According to the Boss

An Inside Look at the Spiritual Heart of R. Sharath Jois

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BY KINO MACGREGOR

o look into his eyes is to see equal parts ferocity and compassion. To practice under his guidance is to walk the line between strictness and joy.

R. Sharath Jois is the captain of the spiritual ship of Ashtanga Yoga.

Sharath dedicates himself to his family, his students, and of course to his own practice. He rises at 12:45 AM to complete his personal practice before teaching from 4 AM - 12:30 PM. When asked when he will sleep, he jokes and says “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

He is always full of energy for his students, ready with a laugh and a good-natured smile. He often jokes that he is like “a dracula” rising in the middle of the night to tend the sacred fire of Ashtanga Yoga. But don’t try to mutiny in class or else you’ll meet his tiger’s roar. Sharath says about teaching, “two things are very important: teach joyfully and be strict, and because you want your student to learn the proper thing: Yoga doesn’t belong to one man’s property.

It belongs to everyone but everyone should practice in a proper way.”

Sharath has dedicated his life to teaching the proper methodology of Ashtanga Yoga; he emphasizes discipline as a key component of the spiritual path. He says, “If you want to go deeper in this practice and try to realize what it is, then you have to follow a certain discipline. It doesn’t come forcefully; nobody can force you, it has to come from within you. You cannot practice asana 24 hours a day.

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Discipline in everything, your food, your sleep, your interaction with others; everything.

Born into a yogi family, he started practicing at around six years old. At first he said that “my mother use to force me like I should go and learn” but “then I got day by day, month by month, year by year. I got really serious about this practice, so that was how it came to me.” Over the course of his life he spent more than twenty years as a student of his grandfather, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. During those years, Sharath became the world’s most advanced Ashtanga Yoga practitioner and the only person to assist and learn intimately from his grandfather for such a sustained period of time.

The K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore, under Sharath’s Directorship, has nearly 400 new students sign up each month. Registration at the Institute’s website fills up within moments of opening. It’s easy to forget that Sharath is a real person and not a yogi living a far removed life. Like any father, his eyes light up with pure love and joy when he sees his children. His favorite Western food is pizza with lots of veggies. For vacation he says “I love nature and I like to go to the forest and the mountains.” He is also an avid nature photographer and sees the natural world as a meditative refuge from the material aspect of life.

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Students can sometimes get focused on the goal of attaining a particular asana. While Ashtanga Yoga seems progressive, Sharath refutes that premise. He says, “The mind set of many students is if you learn more asanas that means you are a big yogi. As you learn more yoga these kinds of thoughts should go.

You have to allow the body to change. We all have different bodies, we all have different kinds of flexibility and strength is not the same for everyone.” Asana practice is not like a competition but instead serves as a physical and emotional purification. Sharath continues, “It is like removing all the poisons and toxins inside from your body. You can’t keep all the toxins with you. The whole asana practice is to remove the toxins. Some emotions are also like toxins. They all have to come out.”

For Sharath the essence of yoga is a spiritual quest.

He says, “Yoga is nothing but spiritual knowledge.

How to purify yourself, how to purify your body and mind. Once that is purified body and mind will take you towards ultimate knowledge. Yoga is not only about bending your body. Yoga is to get a higher consciousness.” It is something that cannot be explained in a book or learned by watching a video. Instead true yoga knowledge can only be confirmed through direct experience. Each student becomes a direct student of the lineage by studying under Sharath’s guidance, con-

tinuing the Guru Parampara tradition of knowledge transmission. Sharath says, “The understanding of yoga will come only through a Parampara only when you spend much time with your teacher; your Guru. The teacher and the Guru are two different things. Teacher is just who teaches you to do this, Guru is who puts you in light. Guru means ‘darkness dispeller’ or remover all the obstacles within you and one who takes you towards the light that is called Mana, the knowledge, so he becomes a Guru.”

Sharath is referred to by many students in Mysore simply as the “Boss”. With love and reverence, he is Guruji to the new generation of Ashtangis who never had the chance to study with his grandfather. When asked about being a Guru, he responds humbly and says, “I want everyone to know what proper yoga is and there are lot of misunderstandings in yoga, misassumptions of yoga, so my aim is always how to correct it. I can’t correct the whole world, so in whatever way I can, I will try to give proper knowledge to my students and whoever comes to learn with me. So hopefully I think many people would come to know and they will try to understand what real yoga is.”

Join R. Sharath Jois for his USA Tour in 2016!

Stanford May 22-27 Los Angeles May 29-June 3 New York June 11-16 Miami June 18-24

Please see www.kpjayi.org for registration.

“You have to allow the body to change. We all have different bodies, we all have different kinds of flexibility and strength is not the same for everyone.”

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Backbend photo by fizkes/Sutterstock; Background illustration by Marina Demidova/Sutterstock

While the Ashtanga Yoga method is comprised of six series of asana, arranging in increasing order of difficulty, the poses are merely a vehicle for a deeper reflection of the inner journey. Sharath emphasizes incorporating the moral and ethical guidelines known as the Yamas and Niyamas. The Yamas and Niyamas outline principles including non-violence, truthfulness, inner purification, spiritual self-inquiry and non-attachment as part of what it means to live according to the yogic principles. He further encourages students to thirst for spirit knowledge as a Sadhaka. A Sadhaka is a true spiritual seeker, on a quest for the deepest and highest knowledge of the Self within. Focusing exclusively on asana is a diversion from the deepest experience of yoga. Sharath says that is it like “a small frog which lives inside a well that doesn’t know the outside world. It is only caught up inside that well and doesn’t know anything about beyond that well.”

He encourages his students to look beyond asana for the spiritual journey of Ashtanga Yoga; he says, “Yoga is the science of mastering the mind.”

Why

Meditating Can Change

Your Life

Forever

Now that 2016 is in full swing, many people are adding meditation to their New Year’s resolutions.

BY ANGELA AMBROSE

T

he reasons for meditating are as varied as the people who do it – CEOs looking to boost productivity and get an edge on the competition, athletes trying to improve their game, patients coping with a cancer diagnosis or depression, or those who are in a rut and looking to find their purpose in life.

Meditation requires no cost or equipment – just the self-discipline to sit in stillness while focusing on a thought or feeling. Hundreds of studies have shown that regular meditation can improve a wide range of health conditions including chronic pain, anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, digestive disorders and immune system functioning. But most surprising is the effect it has on your mental and spiritual well-being and your relationships with others.

“Meditation is designed to settle down the nervous system and alleviate the stress that can shroud your ability to see yourself and the world clearly,” says Sarah McLean, founder and director of the McLean Meditation Institute in Sedona, Ariz., and best-selling author of Soul Centered: Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks with Meditation. “It helps to condition the mind, which can really help to wake people up to who they are and why they’re here.”

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McLean recommends meditating daily, or at least three to four times a week. It can help you instantly relax your nervous system, lower your blood pressure and improve your focus; however, most health benefits, including the positive restructuring of your brain, take place over an extended period.

“It’s a slow shift,” says McLean. “It’s not like shopping, where you see something, and you can try it on, and you can immediately wear it. Instead, the benefits of meditation show up over time.”

Some people try meditating a couple times but give up because they get bored or frustrated when they aren’t seeing immediate results or they feel they are having a difficult time clearing their minds.

Meditation comes in many different “Thoughts are a real part of medstyles. Experiment and itation, and when you close your find one that feels most natural to you . Here are a few exeyes, they seem to get louder,” says amples of focal points you can use to get started. You can McLean. “But it doesn’t mean you’re me dita te on you r ow n or with an audio-guided meditation: not having an effective meditation Follow your breath as you breath just because you’re thinking.” e in and out through One of the keys to meditating is your nose. You might find it easier if you silently count having the resolve to stick with your breaths (Inhale-1, exhale-2, inh ale-3, exhale-4, init and letting go of unrealistic hale-5 and so on). If your mind sta rts expectations. Don’t wait for a to wander, simply refocus again and again. mystical, out of body experience Gaze at a candle flame, the nig or a fireworks display. Meditatht sky or the horizon. ing can feel static and a lot like You can also focus on an inner poi nt of light at your watching paint dry, but comheart center. mit to staying with it. The Listen to the sound of the ocean real transformation happens waves, sounds of nature or a soothing song. outside of meditation.

“Never judge the expe Use a mantra – a word or phrase that you repeat silentriences you have in medily or out loud – focusing on the sou nd and vibration of tation. Instead, trust that the wo rds .

Try usi ng the wo rd it’s working and look for “one,” “peace,” “shalom” or “amen.” the benefits when you open

6 Easy Ways

Focus on a feeling such as gratitu de, appreciation, forgiveness or loving kindness.

Do a full body scan. Starting at the crown of your head, bring your non-judgmental attentio n to the physical sensations of your body, working your way down slowly until you reach your toes. Then slowly mo ve your focus to each part of the body as you work your way back up to your head. If you notice you are telling you rself a story about a certain part of your body, go back to the sensation. Devote your full attention to feeling the sen sations.

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A lonely man photo by Skrynnik Mariia/Sutterstock

to Find Your Focus

EDUCATE Why Meditating Can Change Your Life Forever

How to start

Meditating Right Now

Mute your cell phone and tell those around you that you will be meditating so you won’t be disturbed.

How do I position my body? Sit upright in a comfortable position – seated in a chair or on the floor cross-legged on a cushion – and close your eyes.

Where should I sit? Find a quiet place in your home free of distractions. As you become more experienced, you will be able to meditate anywhere – at work, on the subway, at the doctor’s office – but when you first start, choose a comfortable place that you can return to at the same time each day.

Supercharge Your Practice

One of the simplest ways to start meditating is by downloading a mobile app such as Insight Timer, Headspace or Sattva. These apps track your progress and offer a myriad of meditation styles — from chanting and guided meditations to sounds of nature and relaxing music — all at your fingertips. The apps are free but premium content is extra.

your eyes: Are you less reactive? Are you saying what you mean? Are you making more nourishing choices? Are you a better listener?” asks McLean. “Because meditation helps your senses become much more refined, you wake up to the wonder and beauty of nature. You get to know who you are, and your place in this world, and your relationship to all things – and you appreciate every moment more.” And that’s a gift that doesn’t end with the holidays, but continues to grow with time.

To learn more about meditation or to sign up for a class, retreat or teacher certification program with McLean, visit mcleanmeditation.com.

Meditation photo by Mita Stock Images/Sutterstock

Angela Ambrose is a Phoenix-based writer with 28 years in magazine, corporate and video scriptwriting. As an ACE-certified group fitness instructor and certified yoga teacher, she combines her writing expertise with her passion for healthy living. After years of feeling restless in meditation, Angela now wakes up eager to meditate using meditation mobile apps that add more variety and passion to her practice.

Contact her at Angela Ambrose.com or on Twitter @AAHealthFitness.

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What do I do? Find a focal point such as a sound, sensation or emotion and gently bring your full attention to it. When your mind wanders, bring your attention back to your focus without judgment.

(See “6 Easy Ways to Find Your Focus” for examples of focal points to try.)

How long should I meditate for? Decide ahead of time how long you will meditate. Start with five or 10 minutes and slowly increase your meditation time. Any amount will be beneficial, but to build self-discipline, stick to the amount of time you commit to once you start your session. Use a watch, meditation mobile app or the vibrate mode on your cell phone to let you know when your time is up.

What time of day should I meditate? Anytime, but the two best times are when you first wake up in the morning and between work and dinner – what McLean calls her “happy” hour. To avoid dozing off, meditate on an empty stomach. Because meditation can increase your alertness, finish meditating at least three hours before bedtime, so it doesn’t interfere with your sleep.

How do I end my meditation session? Take a few deep breaths and become aware of the sensations in your body and the sounds around you. Begin to gently stretch your body and slowly open your eyes, just as you would coming out of a restful Savasana pose at the end of yoga class. Take at least two minutes to come out of meditation.

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Loving Kindness

Meditation

Loving-kindness, or metta, as it in called in the Pali language, is unconditional, inclusive love, a love with wisdom.

BY STEVEN V. SMITH

I

t has no conditions; it does not depend on whether one “deserves” it or not; it is not restricted to friends and family; it extends out from personal categories to include all living beings. There are no expectations of anything in return. This is the ideal, pure love, which everyone has in potential. We begin with loving ourselves, for unless we have a measure of this unconditional love and acceptance for ourselves, it is difficult to extend it to others. Then we include others who are special to us, and, ultimately, all living things. Gradually, both the visualization and the meditation phrases blend into the actual experience, the feeling of loving kindness.

This is a meditation of care, concern, tenderness, loving kindness, friendship -- a feeling of warmth for oneself and others.

The practice is the softening of the mind and heart, an opening to deeper and deeper levels of the feeling of kindness, of pure love. Loving kindness is without any desire to possess another. It is not a sentimental feeling of goodwill, not an obligation, but comes from a selfless place. It does not depend on relationships, on how the other person feels about us. The process is first one of softening, breaking down barriers that we feel inwardly toward ourselves, and then those that we feel toward others.

Take a very comfortable posture. One of the aims in this meditation is to feel good, so make your posture relaxed and comfortable. Begin to focus around the solar plexus, your chest area, your “heart center”. Breathe in and out from that area, as if you are breathing from the heart center and as if all experience is happening from there. Anchor your mindfulness only on the sensations at your heart center.

Illustration by aninata/Sutterstock

Let the phrases spread through your whole body, mind, and heart.

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May I be free from inner and outer harm and danger.

May I be safe and protected.

Now move to someone you have difficulty with -hostile feelings, resentments. Repeat the phrases for this person. If you have difficulty doing this, you can say before the phrases, “To the best of my ability I wish that you be....” If you begin to feel ill will toward this person, return to the benefactor and let the loving kindness arise again. Then return to this person.

Let the phrases spread through your whole body, mind, and heart.

After the difficult person, radiate loving kindness out to all beings. Stay in touch with the ember of warm, tender loving-kindness at the center of your being, and begin to visualize or engender a felt sense of all living beings. The traditional phrases are these:

May I be free of mental suffering or distress.

May I be happy.

May all beings be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously.....

May I be free of physical pain and suffering.

May I be healthy and strong.

May all living beings be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously.....

Breathing in and out from the heart center, begin by generating this kind feeling toward yourself. Feel any areas of mental blockage or numbness, self-judgment, self-hatred. Then drop beneath that to the place where we care for ourselves, where we want strength and health and safety for ourselves.

Continuing to breathe in and out, use either these traditional phrases or ones you choose yourself. Say or think them several times.

May I be able to live in this world happily, peacefully, joyfully, with ease.

Next, move to person who most invites the feeling of pure unconditional loving kindness, the love that does not depend on getting anything back. The first person is usually someone we consider a mentor, a benefactor, an elder. It might be a parent, grandparent, teacher, someone toward whom it takes no effort to feel respect and reverence, someone who immediately elicits the feeling of care.

Repeat the phrases for this person:

May all breathing beings be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously.....

May all individuals be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously.....

May all beings in existence be safe, happy, healthy, live joyously.....

Allow the phrases to be simply a conduit for the force of loving-kindness. Empower your imagination through the five phrases to touch the hearts of all forms of life in the universe, unconditionally and inclusively.

Stay with all beings until you feel a personal sense of the profound interconnectedness of of all creatures, all life.

Steven V. Smith co-founded VipasMay she be safe and protected....

After feeling strong unconditional love for the benefactor, move to a person you regard as a dear friend and repeat the phrases again, breathing in and out of your heart center.

Now move to a neutral person, someone for whom you feel neither strong like nor dislike. As you repeat the phrases, allow yourself to feel tenderness, loving care for their welfare.

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sana Hawai’i in 1984 and in 1995 founded the MettaDana Project for educational and medical projects in Burma. Also in 1995 5 Steven helped establish the Kyaswa Valley ey Retreat Center in Burma, headed by Sayadyadaw U Lakkhana, Abbot of Kyaswa Monastery. ry. This partnership helped usher in the beginnings of Vipassana Hawai’i’s Fusion Dhamma approach combining traditional and contemporary teaching styles in the same retreat. Anchored in the Theravadan Buddhist Burmese lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw since 1974, he was trained and sanctioned as a teacher by revered monk and meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita. Steven divides his time teaching Vipassana and the Divine Abodes (loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity) meditation retreats around the world.

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The

Latest Version of You

Updating your mental, physical and spiritual apps with a regular yoga practice

BY RYAN GLIDDEN

Illustration by Jezper/Sutterstock

UPDATING

E

very few days when I pick up my phone, I see the little red bubble hovering over the app store icon. The number inside the bubble tells me I have some apps that need updating ... again. In today’s technological age things change quickly. There are constant updates to be made and bugs to fix. Each update makes the apps faster or easier to use, improving their performance.

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In this way, we’re not so different from the apps we use. Life is dynamic and always changing. We need to meet the demands of new situations, endure physical, mental and emotional challenges, and adjust to new situations. We need updates too!

My yoga mat is my app store. It’s where I go to download and integrate what I need in mind body and soul.

It’s my attempt to be the latest and best version of myself.

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Your Mental App The mind, from a western view is a complex bundle of neurons, over 100 billion in the human brain alone. All these neurons interact with one and other, forming the basis for our human physical experience. The yoga mind is part of consciousness. Consciousness (citta) is threefold: mind, intellect and ego. The mind is the pleasure seeker. It takes in sensory information and processes it as “good” or “bad”.

If good, the mind seeks to repeat it. If bad, the mind seeks to avoid it. Left unchecked the mind is constantly rolling (vrtti) between good and bad. It has a constant desire to fulfill sensual pleasure.

A regular yoga practice begins the process of disciplining the mind. In yogasana we use the breath and the poses (asanas) to channel the mind in a more conscious direction. We teach the mind not to waste energy on thoughts that don’t pertain to the present moment. We breathe more consciously, we move more consciously, so we can be more conscious. Not just in yoga but in every activity. This focus helps us perform tasks with more clarity and purpose. It reduces mistakes and ultimately leaves us feeling more at peace. Combine this with that fact that research shows a regular yoga practice improves self-image and confidence and you’ve got a strong mental app.

Your Physical App The physical body is a complex symphony of systems doing there best to work harmoniously with one another. In yoga, the body is one of five layers (Kosas): physical, energetic, mental, intellectual and divine. Each body has it’s own qualities and characteristics and it is the goal of the practicing yogi to cleanse and strengthen each layer.

A regular yoga practice has great benefits to our physical health. Moving the body in with the breath puts healthy stress on our joints, warding off osteoporosis (a condition of weakening bone mass at the joints), improving flexibility (allowing the joints to

move through their full range of motion), strengthening and toning the nervous system (alleviating stress). Yoga provides a pumping action of lymphatic fluid and blood throughout the body (improving detoxification systems) and more. Research has even shown that a regular practice can slow the deterioration of Telomeres, the end caps on our chromosomes whose slow deterioration is associated with the aging process. Yes, yoga can slow aging!

All of these things contribute to our overall wellbeing. We feel stronger and more comfortable in our bodies. We feel focused and more relaxed.

Your Spiritual App Spirituality is defined as having a belief in something other than yourself. The ego, a part of yoga consciousness, only believes in itself. It is limited to the physical and mental experience. With death as an inevitable end point to physical life, underlying the ego is fear. Our ego rejects people, situations and environments that challenge it (ragas). On the opposite end it pulls towards it the people and experiences that support it, regardless if they’re good or bad (dvesa). Each of these factors: ego, fear, desire and rejection create our ignorance (avidya) to our true self. It is the goal of the spiritual aspirant (classical yogi) to be free of avidya in order to achieve Self Realization or enlightenment, but even if we don’t seek enlightenment in our practice, yoga has something to offer us.

When we steady the body and focus the mind we create space for reflection. Through the conscious act of asana we bring some of what lives in the subconscious up to the surface.

Anytime we experience new insights about our ego we’re creating space for spirit. Anytime we act from love instead of

fear were performing a spiritual act. Anytime we feel a deeper connection to the people and world around us we’re having a spiritual experience. Any experience can be a spiritual

one, if we’re paying attention.

When I step on my mat to practice I do my best to suspend the world around me and draw a deep connection to my breath and my body. I work to find a rhythm and flow that, not only improves these systems but, unites me with spiritual energy. I can only speak from personal experience but yoga has given me the visceral experience of connection to something beyond my mind and body. It’s provided me with a connection to a love so vast, so true and so expansive that words could not do it justice. Yoga’s greatest gift in my life is not just what it’s done for my mind and body but what it’s done for my soul.

The real beauty of yoga is this: Regardless of our intention: mental, physical or spiritual, yoga has something to offer us. It provides us the platform for some much needed app updates in the dynamic exposition of life.

Ryan Glidden has been practicing and studying yoga for over a decade and is the Co-Founder of MOSAIC yoga. He is a 200-ERYT and a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. He is also the author of Good Being, Good Living: A Modern Model for Sustained Holistic Health.

You can connect with Ryan at www.exploremosaic.com, www.facebook.com/ryan.glidden.12, www.instagram.com/ryan.glidden

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Work + Life =

Balance In our 24-hour day, 365 days a year society, it’s challenging to go into off mode. But that’s exactly what we must do. Lauren Imparato shares some common pitfalls and strategies in her new book Retox.

INTERVIEW BY JENN BODNAR

Illustrations by Sudowoodo/Sutterstock

Jenn Bodnar: How do you identify a work-life imbalance exists? How do you know if you are suffering?

Lauren Imparato: I think it is very, very rare that a work-life imbalance does not exist these days; modern life just is not made that way.

Often life IS work – errands, getting kids to bed, travel to see loved ones, planning events, grocery shopping. Are those work or life? Life or work? We have so much going on, and are constantly being bombarded by an endless stream of messages and advertisements. This combi-

nation makes it close to impossible to disconnect and just be, be purely with oneself, one’s mind, or one’s loved ones. The imbalance exists in the constant connection and constantly being “on.” I address this a few times in my book, RETOX, both in the iAddiction chapter and the Hyperdrive chapter. If it is tough for you to stop and stare at the sky and let your mind wander, or close to impossible to go an hour without your phone, something is amiss.

Everyone has to take responsibility for getting the job done – both the job as in the paying career – and the job of taking care of oneself.

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JB: What is the biggest obstacle to work-life balance? What is the number one thing that gets in the way?

LI: Without a doubt, technology is the biggest disruptor to work/life balance. It never stops, thus neither do we.

JB: Who suffers more? Men, women? A specific age group? A certain field? Give us some stats!

LI: Everyone that is honest with themselves suffers, across all genders, career paths, and ages.

I work more and harder now as a wellness entrepreneur than when I was on the Wall Street trading floors.

The institutions and the structures are not the problem – we are, as is our relation to them. It is up to us to say yes to a pause and no to another email, up to us to prioritize things that make us happy while still acting and producing what we need to responsibly. I for one have gone through various phases of being imbalanced and balanced, balanced and imbalanced, and have thus set some ground rules for myself which I share in detail in my book.

lacking purpose. Anxious and stressed…I could go on and on.

JB: Is work-life imbalance the fault of the individual? If so, how can one overcome this?

LI: Life is life. Putting blame on one person or another is only detracting for the already precious time you have free. Ditto for guilt. We are all adults, and need to take responsibility for our actions, be they working too hard or too little. Modern life is never going away, but you can RETOX your way to a better sense of balance within that life, and likely get stronger, healthier, happier, and more successful at the same time.

JB: What about employers? How can we communicate this issue to employers without losing our jobs?

LI: It all starts with personal responsibility and communication. Employers need to trust Three ways to create better the team they have hired to get work life balance: the job done, and employees need to respect what they have Don’t stress about finding balance. been hired to do, and by when.

It will distract you from just living, Setting real, concrete deadlines which is balance in and of itself for work is a great way to start, as well as mandating a no work Make sure you sweat every day email Sunday, unless there is an even if it is for 5 minutes. (At home classes on www.RETOXbook.com JB: What are the long term emergency, of course.

- if comes out after Jan2) effects of not maintaining Everyone has to take responbalance between work and sibility for getting the job done Appreciate what you have, not what personal life?

– both the job as in the paying you don’t have. “work Life balance” LI: Ah this list is endless, of career – and the job of taking care is often more mental than physical. which being sick is the first and of oneself. When that happens, If you are constantly focused on most major. I am sure we have no matter the time restrictions, how un balanced you are you will all suffered from it – wearing demands, stress and deadlines, never get where you want to be. ourselves so thin that the body the shift will happen. That’s why finally protests and gets sick, I wrote RETOX to begin with! solely so that it can get your It teaches you to find that balance attention and you are forced to rest. Bad moods within the context of the daily life you actually lead, as – grumpy, short, dare I say, bitchy, mean, to name opposed to encouraging you to fight a stressful, uphill a few. Down and depressed, feeling lonely and battle against a modern life that is never going away.

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1 2 3

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s g n i Th

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ith w e ds im n T e i r e F or & M y l d i m en a p F S 1 -

R

ecent polls conducted by General Nutrition Centers, Quicken, and others show that more than 50% of Americans vow to appreciate loved ones and spend more time with family and friends this year.

Other top resolutions include: lose weight, quit smoking, travel more, help others, get organized and get out of debt. All of these goals seem attainable if only we had more time, right? Time is an interesting concept.

Buddha says, “The trouble is, you think you have time.”

The common practice is to work more so you can make more money to have more stuff and do more things.

The reality is we chase our tails and wind up burning the candle at both ends. The result? Stress, unhealthy habits, exhaustion and inability to connect with ourselves, much less our family and friends.

So how do we do it? What’s the secret? Where can we find more time to be productive, fulfilled and balanced? The answer: less is more. Creating worklife balance can be tricky as business and pleasure increasingly overlap. But doing more in less amount of time is the exactly what’s happening for Tower Paddle Boards Lifestyle Company.

THE FIVE-HOUR WORKDAY Office desk photo by karandaev/Sutterstock

BY JENN BODNAR Since June 2015, the surf lifestyle brand, Tower Paddle Boards, has switched over to a highly productive five-hour workday. The five-hour workday encourages and teaches employees to be extraordinarily productive individuals.

The Tower brand is well known as the purveyor of the beach lifestyle. Tower creates products and services that engage and inspire the human spirit. They work at two to

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three times the pace of an average person. The work-life balance structure at Tower portrays the Aussie mindset of working to live, not living to work. CEO and Founder, Stephan Aarstol believes that all these elements make a significant impact on the company’s success.

When looking at the 5 hour workday, it’s important to recognize that the amount of work has not changed or been impacted. In fact, productivity is higher than before because new strategies are being implemented. Think of high intensity interval workouts vs. long endurance workouts. Calories are still burned, heart rate is still taxed, but everything is condensed for maximum results.

Aarstol does admit that this model may not work for any business, just like short sprints of exercise will not work for all fitness goals. A long distance runner will eventually have to put the miles in. However, the time saving discoveries at Tower have resulted in more creativity, more time with family and friends, increased productivity and overall work-life satisfaction amongst employees.

In a recent conversation with Aarstol, Yoga Digest uncovered the driving force behind this innovative and perhaps even rebellious work environment. Aarstol explains how doing it like everyone else before you is not always better.

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Jenn Bodnar: Since implementing the 5-hour workday at Tower, what kind of improvements, if any, have you noticed in productivity?

Stephan Aarstol: The important thing here is, when you put a constraint on something, it forces efficiency. This is the reason I think start-ups are successful. If you have a little company, with a couple people and no money going after an objective, and then you put a big company with a million dollar budget going after the same thing, ironically the smaller company wins hugely. The big company will throw money at small problems. The small company will not be able to do that and will have to hack their way to success. Inefficiency just has to disappear. That’s our mentality. We implemented a shipping strategy that takes only 3 minutes compared to what used to take one and half to two hours. We weren’t using our system it to it’s full potential because we didn’t have to. We weren’t looking for it because we didn’t have that constraint.

JB: What are the actual workday hours at your company?

SA: This is a little bit of an experiment. The physical store front is open 9:30AM-2:30PM. Online and phone operators are open 8AM- 1PM. That’s actually 11-4PM EST, so it works well. The warehouse was a problem because the UPS trucks can’t get there until 2:30PM, WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

so we had to make some changes. The warehouse is open 9:30AM-2:30PM and is at a different location from our call center and store.

JB: What is the general attitude about work at your company?

SA: Most people are pretty stoked because we are in the action sports industry in San Diego, it’s pretty easy to hire people and it always has been. And then, the fact that we were on Shark Tank and have a Mark Cuban connection, it’s even easier. And then, since we were the fastest growing company in San Diego last year - even easier! We have been kind of spoiled by our ability to attract and retain people. The company started in 2010. To me, it seems it’s much more difficult to hire today. So really, moving to this five-hour workday was a retention and recruitment move.

We wanted to steal the best talent. In the information economy, it’s a war for talent. There’s a quote from Bill Gates ‘One brilliant programmer is worth 10,000 average programmers.’ That may be a slight exaggeration, but we do believe in the value one exceptional person.

JB: Would you recommend this for any type of business or corporation?

SA: That’s the interesting thing, that’s why this is sort of a test. We rolled it out with our customer

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“We’ve got to work differently and live differently. Live a great lifestyle, but also exhibit extreme ambition in all the projects we do.”

—Stephan Aarstol, CEO/Founder Tower Paddle Boards service and warehouse areas. It’s clearly not going to work in an area where you are tied to a clock.

Like, where you’re paid to be there a certain number of hours to watch something. Some situations pay more for you being there than your creativity.

The way companies work is you pay someone a

salary and basically you’re buying their mind 24 hours a day for a year. That is who I think this works for ideally.

JB: What made you decide to adopt this business model?

SA: I’ve always been a contrarian thinker. We think differently, we sell differently, we market differently and we didn’t advertise for the first 3 years. We look at what everyone else is doing and we try to do it different. This was just an extension of that.

JB: What’s your motto?

SA: Live differently. Work differently. The branding of Tower is basically to look at what everyone does and do it differently. That’s how we view everything.

JB: What’s your vision with Tower Paddle Boards?

SA: We want to create the worlds biggest beach lifestyle brand and do that in a direct consumer fashion. There’s a huge change going on in retail and how people buy things. The why of the company is we believe there is a better way to live and worse way to live. We think if you can buy product for a lot cheaper, you can work less, have the same amount of stuff that you need and you can enjoy your life, friends and family through all of this.

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Practical, Professional

Legal Insights For Yoga Studio Owners

Whether you’re opening, running, or selling a yoga studio, these tips from Philadelphia based attorney and RYT-200 certified yoga teacher, Josh Kirsch will ensure you have the proper steps in place.

JOSHUA L. KIRSCH Esquire, RYT-200 - Attorney and member at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott in Philadelphia.

H

e is a seasoned litigator and d regularly handles commercial litigation n matters, intellectual property disputes, and the defense of professionalss in the legal and medical communities.

Joshua holds an Yoga Alliance RYT200 certification and teaches in the Philadelphia area.

What’s the first thing/step I take, if I want to open a yoga studio?

The first thing an aspiring studio owner er should do is assemble the best team they can to get their business off the ground. A studio owner will need space for their studio and likely, book keeping and tax assistance. A skilled real estate agent and knowledgeable accountant are therefore invaluable.

A knowledgeable attorney is also an invaluable complement to the aspiring studio owner’s team. Attorneys are trained to “issue spot” and there are many opportunities in the course of opening a studio, where an attorney can provide important guidance to a studio owner.

With the right team in place, the studio owner will give themselves the best opportunity for success.

What’s the second? The third? The fourth?

Next, the studio owner should give thought to whether to incorporate and, if incorporating, what type of corporation they will form. Taking the corporate form can provide protection against certain types of liability, usually contractual, although the studio owner may remain liable whether incorporated or not for certain “tort” claims. Examples of tort claims for which the owner may remain liable personally include

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those for cop copyright and trademark infringement, and esp especially personal injury caused by the owner. The decision over whether to inown corporate will affect many interactions co ggoing forward, including whether the sstudio owner or their corporation will be the signatory on any number of documents, such as leases for space and purchase orders with vendors.

Note that landlords entering leases N and banks providing loan money may an require both the studio owner and their req company to a sign lease or loan agreement, comp with the studio owner guaranteeing the obligation of their corporation.

Now, let’s talk about the space. Generally, the studio owner is either going to lease or purchase a space for their studio. Almost always, those arrangements will and should involve a written contract between either a seller or a landlord and the studio and/or its owner. Contracts for the purchase or lease of space will likely be the largest expense the studio owner faces and should be entered with great care. Sellers need purchasers; landlords need tenants. While market conditions should be considered, there is often significant opportunity for the aspiring studio owner to negotiate the terms under which they are purchasing or leasing space. Negotiations in the case of a lease, for example, will often include most obviously the duration of the lease and the basic rent for the space. But among other features, leases can and often will speak to whether the landlord or tenant will carry other expenses such as insurance, taxes, and utilities. Also, leases will usually specify the circumstances under which they may WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

be terminated earlier than their anticipated duration.

These tend to favor the landlord, but what if the studio owner has to leave the space early? In commercial leases - like that for a yoga studio - landlords often have no duty to “mitigate their damages”, that is, to look for someone to take a tenant’s place who exits space prior to the original term of the lease. Therefore, having clear terms under which the studio owner can terminate the lease early, without having to cover the balance of the rent due for the unpaid term, can be critically important.

Studio owners will also want to exercise thoughtfulness in selecting a name for their studio and even their class offerings. It’s important to recognize that merely registering a business name or fictitious name with a state does not convey rights in a name if it infringes someone else’s rights in their name. An attorney can help guide studio owners towards names which are protected or eventually protectable from use by others. An attorney can also help the studio owner avoid and if need be, address complaints that an owner’s chosen name for the studio or a given class, violates another individual’s or business’s rights in their name or class offerings. Generally speaking, this is the province of trademark law, practiced primarily by intellectual property attorneys.

In short, names that are generic for the thing they describe, for example, “water” for bottled water, are not entitled to any protection.

So a yoga studio named “yoga” is not going to acquire defensible trademark rights in its name. On the other end of the

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spectrum, completely made-up names that are “fanciful” are entitled to the most protection. In between, is a great big world with room for advocacy, particularly where the mark is merely “descriptive”. In that circumstance, a studio-name or class offering must acquire “secondary meaning” before it will be afforded protection; that is, consumers - students and prospective students - will need to recognize the name as being affiliated with a specific source (generally, the studio), and not just the service being provided under the name (yoga).

At some point, a studio owner may receive what is colloquially referred to as a “cease and desist” letter. These letters, usually sent by another studio’s attorney, can be intimidating. They will generally claim that the studio owner has violated federal law, particularly, the Lanham Act, demand that the studio owner change the studio’s name or a class name, and may demand compensation and threaten court action. Unfortunately, many businesses discover too late that their particular insurance policy does not afford protection against such claims; studio owners would be

control. The greater control exerted by the studio over the teacher, the more likely the teacher will be classified as an “employee” rather than an independent contractor; that can be the case, even where there is a writing claiming that the teacher is an “independent contractor”. An attorney knowledgeable in the area of employment law can help guide the studio owner in creating and maintaining a relationship with teachers which meets the studio owner’s expectations on paper and in practice.

Additionally, thought should be given to preparing and understanding the efficacy of student-liability waivers, and the studio’s online presence. As to the latter, studio owners need to be careful when building out their website. Not everything posted on the web is free to re-post.

What the biggest obstacle studio owners run into?

A yoga studio is a business. It may be a business driven from the heart, but it is still a business. Most yoga studios are smaller businesses and from the legal perspective, small businesses who have incorporated, often have a hard time keeping up with corporate formalities.

Strict observance of the separation between the studio as a business and the owner as an individual, will go a long way to avoiding what the law refers to as “piercing the corporate veil” a mechanism by which an adversary in court can reach a business owner’s personal assets despite any protection the studio owner would otherwise be entitled to by virtue of having taken the corporate form. Adversaries pierce the corporate veil by demonstrating that the separation between the business and its owner is a legal fiction. While a number of factors often go into a court’s analysis of whether to pierce the corporate veil, one of the most fundamental, is whether the owner has commingled the assets of the business with their own. So, a prospective owner who is going to incorporate their studio should make certain that the studio’s accounts are separate from their own.

That means they should have separate bank accounts, separate credit cards, separate bills, and most importantly, the funds which belong to the studio, should not go to pay personal expenses. Similarly, if the studio owner is going to make cash or other contributions to the studio, the owner should formally track them on the books of the company. While the corporate form isn’t a guarantee against all forms of individual liability, it can often provide significant protection. Honoring the separation between studio and owner will go along way to making sure that separation is recognized in any legal contest.

An excellent attorney will use their knowledge and experience to get their client the best result possible, while working to minimize time and cost to the client. well-served to inquire if their insurance provides protection ahead of time. Upon receiving a cease and desist letter, an experienced intellectual property attorney can help the studio owner evaluate the merits of the letter and provide guidance and if need be, representation in responding to, negotiating, or defending against the sender’s claims.

There are also employment issues associated with any studio. Studio owners will need to consider whether their teachers will be independent contractors or employees.

The implications are significant for a number of reasons.

For example, employers are generally responsible for withholding a certain portion of an employee’s salary for taxes. On the other hand, an independent contractor is responsible for paying their own taxes, though the business owner will still need to report the amount paid to the independent contractor in compensation.

Notably, a hallmark of distinguishing between whether a teacher is an employee or an independent contractor, is

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or litigation, and there are subcategories within each.

The more complicated the legal issue, the more often it makes sense to track down an attorney focused in the subject field - such as real estate, employment, intellectual property, or personal injury law. But what about staying with that trusted-attorney you found? Excellent attorneys know when they “don’t know”. Attorneys often work in firms where individual attorneys concentrate in different fields, allowing the firm to handle a wide-breadth of legal issues. An excellent attorney won’t hesitate to make referrals inside and outside their firm, to meet the client’s needs.

A studio owner also needs to find an attorney with a fee structure that works for their business. Attorneys are usually compensated for their time, at a specific hourly rate, often broken into 1/10th of an hour increments. Excellent attorneys work to build relationships, not fees. An excellent attorney will use their knowledge and experience to get their client the best result possible, while working to minimize time and cost to the client.

Studio owners should know that attorneys will often negotiate their rates and may even explore alternative fee arrangements, such as a fixed fee, particularly to help a fledging business.

Thank you for the opportunity to answer these excellent questions!

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Photo by NotarYES/Sutterstock

What should I look for in a legal professional to represent my studio?

There are many excellent yoga teachers in practice, but a student will still want to find the yoga teacher that’s excellent “for them.” The same goes for finding an attorney. Fundamentally, the studio owner is going to want to find someone that they feel comfortable communicating with. Solid communication is essential to a successful attorney-client relationship. Conversations between an attorney and their client are generally protected from disclosure to others by what’s referred to as the “attorney-client privilege”, so long as they aren’t shared with third parties. The privilege is designed to create a safe space for the client to communicate with their attorney, so the attorney can give them the best counsel possible in response to the information relayed. If the studio owner feels as though they can’t communicate with their attorney - either because they don’t trust them or the attorney doesn’t make themselves available - the relationship is inherently flawed and I would encourage the owner to seek new counsel.

Not every yoga teacher is right for learning every practice. The same thing goes for matching the right attorney to the studio owner’s particular needs. While there are many excellent general practitioners out there, attorneys often divide their craft between either transactional law

Immunity Boosting Yoga Poses

Try this immunity boosting yoga workout three to four times a week and Namaste away the sniffles this Fall and Winter!

BY KRISTIN MCGEE

Celebrity yoga and Pilates instructor and Lycored brand ambassador

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s the weather starts to change and we come in to colder months, practicing yoga is an incredible way to keep our immune system strong and fight off the colds and flus that are so common this time of year. Usually we come down with something when we are stressed or pushing ourselves too hard.

Yoga is a practice of balance and the yoga poses provide a gentle, natural way of supporting the immune system. Yoga helps lower stress hormones, stimulates the lymphatic system, opens up the lungs and oxygenates the blood. Yoga is extremely nourishing (like nourish snacks) and keeps us on an even keel throughout the day so we can stay strong, healthy, fit and balanced. Practice these poses in particular to keep the immunes system humming along and say bye-bye to those nasty colds!

Start with Child’s Pose to clear the mind and settle in to the breath. Then go through each one of the postures below.

Child’s Pose Releases stress (which can weaken our immune system) and quiets the mind. Helps the body unwind after a long day and opens up the back, shoulders and neck.

Downward-Facing Dog Gets the blood pumping throughout our entire body and releases tension in our head, neck, shoulders, lower back and hamstrings.

Breathe here for 5 to 8 full breaths.

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Wide Straddle Forward Bend Oxygenates the body and allows the weight of the world to fall off our backs and shoulders.

Stay here for 8-10 breaths.

Seated Spinal Twist Shoulder stand Great for letting the blood flow in reverse and stimulating lymph–stagnant lymph (many of us deal with stagnation during the winter months) makes us more vulnerable to catching a bug. Stay here for up to 3-5 minutes.

Twists are great for wringing out the organs and helping with elimination and detoxification. Twists also help us unwind and ease any tension in the back, hips and shoulders. You can also stay lying down and do a supine twist if you prefer.

Kristin McGee is a celebrity yoga and Pilates instructor and Lycored Brand Ambassador in New York City. She’s also a new mom to her son Timothy, a contributing editor at Health, and has appeared frequently on television: Today Show, Good Morning America, Early Show, CNN, Fox News, among other programs. Whether working privately, watching her DVD in the comfort of your home, or working out in one of her classes, she will help you get in shape and have fun while doing it. Kristin aims to make her programs fun and accessible to all… beginner yogis included!

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Transformation Having the

Right Tools!

As we ring in the New Year, we usually reflect on ways to be our best selves. This requires us to be deeply reflective on how we currently see ourselves and delve thoughtfully into the areas of ourselves that we want to change.

BY CARY CASTER

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oing through this process requires us to be totally honest and “fess up” to those shortcomings that we’d like to improve upon.

Being very real with ourselves to ultimately bring about positive change usually requires courage, determination, will power and passion to work through “our stuff,” so we can end up manifesting our truest desires. Empowering ourselves with the ability to act on our sincerest

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wishes and desires, we need some extra tools in our chest! One of the best tools I have come to depend upon for all these introspective aspects of myself is the use of essential oils.

When we take the time to sit quietly, there are certain essential oils that can further ground us and open our minds to more universal thoughts, rather than simply focusing on our daily trials and tribulations, which drag us down emotionally.

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it influences it infl flue uenc nces es the th hee heart hea eart r and and d adds add dds fire fire r and nd d boldness to our actions.

And of course, where would we be without self-love, forgiveness and passion to live out our lives with intension and meaning.

Sensual and erotic essential oils of Rose, Ylang Ylang and Jasmine are helpful in opening our hearts for self-respect and in creating a euphoric state of being to accept others. Patchouli and Cardamom essential oils have an earthy, spicy element that both grounds us and removes inhibitions to help us let go and be free of constraining thoughts and opinions. It’s vitally important to express ourselves without feeling vulnerable or self-conscious when acting out our passions and desires for living a fulfilling life!

Incorporating essential oils into your New Year regime will definitely help you to actualize your new resolutions for 2016!

Cary Caster, B.S., LMT, CCA is a Botanist, Licensed Massage Therapist and Certified Clinical Aromatherapist who is on a mission to help people be their best self every day. She believes that people can take their health into their own hands.

Cary is not only the founder and expert behind 21 Drops, an essential oil therapy company, but she is also a devoted healer who sits on the board of the Alliance of International Aromatherapists and has been featured as an essential oil expert in the Huffington Post, Vanity Fair and Martha Stewart Living, among others. Cary offers continuing education classes in Aromatherapy at the University of Miami’s iCAMP program, and throughout the country.

Oil of ginger photo by AS Food studio/Sutterstock; Essential jasmine oil photo by kazmulka/Sutterstock; Background photo by yonibunga/Sutterstock

Essential Es E sse s nt n iiaal oils oiills ssuch uch uc h as as Cedarwood, Ced edar darwo arrwo w od d FrankFrank nk k incense, Spikenard and Sandalwood have dual qualities of quieting the mind while grounding our emotions, allowing the space to restore a sense of spiritual conviction.

By steadying our thoughts and bringing us back to our essential selves, we rid the mind of excess worry and analysis. This type of “higher consciousness” thinking helps bring perspective into our lives and transforms us as to a more altruistic state of being.

One thing we all admit to at the New Year is the need for more will power to act out our intentions, rather than succumb to old patterns.

The fiery, revitalizing essential oils of Ginger and Juniper Berry help stimulate one into taking action and helps to drive away doubt and self-defeating attitudes.

Thyme essential oil has also been shown to boost confidence and one’s vital life force with its enlivening characteristics!

Starting a fresh slate with uplifting thoughts about what we want to accomplish is always a great beginning, but we usually need some extra courage and confidence to believe in ourselves and boost our morale to overcome defeatist attitudes. Rosemary essential oil is one of the most effective for reinforcing self-identity and instilling self-confidence. Rosemary’s ability to clarify our thoughts and bring purpose to our actions helps us be clear and determined in our convictions. Laurel essential oil is also wonderful for low self-esteem as

To learn more about Cary and how to work with her, please visit www.21drops.com

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Ayurveda, Yoga, and The Power of Surrender:

Aligning With

Your Higher Self In my Ayurveda and yoga studies, I was introduced to the Sanskrit word Isvara Pranidhana. It is a huge word that packs a big punch, and is very last of the Niyamas of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

BY KIERA NACHMAN

Photo by nito/Sutterstock

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n my Ayurveda and yoga studies, I was introduced to the Sanskrit word Isvara Pranidhana. It is a huge word that packs a big punch, and is very last of the Niyamas of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. It officially means surrender or commitment to the Lord, but my teacher explained it as the more tangible concept of divine timing, trusting that the fruit will be brought to you at the right time. An easy way to think of this is a baby’s innocent faith that his mother will always give him what he needs.

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Sometimes, in the west, we call this concept “synchronicity.” This is when God, or divinity - whatever you want to call it - comes in the form of a human being, or an opportunity, that steps in at exactly the right time. Usually this occurs once you step into the flow of your life, into your mission of what you were meant to accomplish in this incarnation. But first, you must relinquish control, and yield to the plans that the universe has for you. Here in the west, we often use our egos to try to control our own little universe. It is essential that we surrender this limited idea of ourselves in favor of the higher Self: our true nature of limitless joy.

The idea of Isvara Pranidhana struck me because at the time I first learned about it, I was noticing it occurring in my own life. As soon as I listened to my higher self telling me to study Ayurveda, miraculous phenomena began occurring in my life.

I found my community, my calling, my career, and even my partner.

The ancient sciences of Ayurveda and yoga can actually help us to step into our divine flow with the universe.

How can we do this? Practicing peace and contentment, looking within, and taking care to live in balance with your Ayurvedic constitution.

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Knowing your Ayurvedic Prakruti (or dosha) can help you maintain optimal health. Answer the questions based on your overall, lifelong tendencies and not according to temporary or recent conditions. Choose at least one answer from each section. The column with the highest score determines your constitution.

Vata

Pitta

Kapha

Body Frame

Thin, irregular, very short or very tall

Medium, proportionate toned

Heavy, broad, evenly proportioned

Speech

Fast, sometimes missing words

Fast, sharp, clear-cut

Slow, clear, sweet Greedy, calm, stable, stubborn

Temperament

Fearful, indecisive, nervous, perceptive

Angry, intelligent, arrogant, successful

How is your hunger level?

Irregular

Sharp, needs food when hungry

Can easily miss meals

How do you achieve goals?

Easily distracted

Focused and driven

Slow and steady

Financial

Doesn’t save, spends quickly

Saves, but big spender

Saves regularly, accumulates wealth

Musculature

Wiry, thin

Smooth, flabby

Robust

Weather preference

Aversion to cold

Aversion to heat

Aversion to damp, cool

How do you react to stress

Excites quickly

Medium

Slow to get excited

Friendships

Tends toward short-term friendships, makes friends quickly

Tends to be a loner, friends related to occupation

Tends to form long-lasting friendships

Mind

Quick mind, restless

Sharp intellect, aggressive

Calm, steady, stable

Thoughts

Constantly changing

Fairly steady

Steady, stable, fixed

Concentration

Short-term focus best

Better than average mental concentration

Good ability for long-term focus

Sleep

Interrupted, light

Sound, medium

Sound, heavy, long

Voice

High pitched

Medium pitched

Low pitched

My stature is

Shorter or taller than average

Medium height and medium build

Robust and well developed

Amount of hair

Average

Thinning

Thick

Hair type

Dry

Normal

Oily

Skin

Dry, rough, or both

Soft, normal to oily

Oily, moist, cool

Skin temperature

Cold hands/feet

Warm

Cool

Complexion

Darker

Pink-red

Pale-white

Eyes

Small

Medium

Large

Whites of eyes

Blue/brown

Yellow or red

Glossy white

Size of teeth

Very large or very small

Small-medium

Medium-large

Weight

Thin, hard to gain

Medium

Heavy, gains easily

Veins and tendons

Very prominent

Fairly prominent

Well covered

I am often accused of

Being restless, hyperactive, overworking

Perfectionist, competitive, slightly aggressive

Being overly complacent about life

In social situations

I feel shy or lacking confidence

I like to be center of attraction and feel confident

I feel calm relaxed and often humorous

Among my older blood relatives

Low bone density, joint pain, arthritis are common

Hyperacidity, high blood pressure, heart disease are common

Obesity, diabetes, slow metabolism are common

In difficult situations

I tend to feel overwhelmed

I try to take control

I remain calm and unruffled

Exercise tolerance

Low

Medium

High

Strength

Fair

Better than average

Excellent

Muscle tone

Lean, low body fat

Medium, with good definition

Brawny/bulky, with higher fat percentage

Reacts to stress with

Fear

Anger

Indifference

When threatened, tends to

Run

Fight

Make peace

Emotional trauma causes

Anxiety

Denial

Depression

My body has the tendency

To have dryness and roughness

To have more sweat

To have more mucus

Spending habits

Impulsive

Very careful

Saves, hoards

Metabolism

Irregular

Strong

Slow

Total:________

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Total:________

Total:________

Illustrations by Zaretska Olga/Sutterstock

What’s Your Dosha?

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EDUCATE Ayurveda, Yoga, and The Power of Surrender

The 5 elements ... ... combine to form the 3 doshas in Ayurveda. Vata is composed of Air + Space; Pitta is Fire + Water; and Kapha represents Earth + Water. The 3 doshas (and 5 elements) are present in all of us - but we all have a unique combination or proportion of elements, known as our constitution, or Prakruti. This delicate balance can become disturbed because of a number of external influences: stress, diet, climate, seasons, pollution, energy vibrations. This imbalance is known at the Vikruti. By taking care to keep your Prakruti in balance, you will always be in your true essence.

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Santosa - Contentment

Ayurvedic and yogic philosophy believes in the greatness of your individuality and not coveting what others have. Everyone has a unique gift to offer this world. We can bring more love and peace into our lives when we stop comparing ourselves to others, and honor the unique divine light and purpose in each of us. This is known as Santosa: contentment, which is is our true nature.

Svadhyaya - Self-study

In order to attune to our divine plan, we must engage in Svadhyaya, or “self-study.” But don’t be fooled by the translation - sometimes ancient Sanskrit words have a complexity that the English language cannot quite capture. This is not our western concept of psychoanalysis, or analyzing our ego or personality. What we actually want to take away from this is being non-reactive, non-judgemental and living in the present moment as much as possible.

When we listen to the ego, we often do things that don’t align with our intuition, or our soul’s beliefs or mission. By tapping into our intuition through meditation and other spiritual practices, we unite with our higher Self, and with the universe.

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Illustration by Khazanova/Sutterstock

Dosha - Balancing

Every human being that exists is a unique creation of the cosmos, with a unique divine blueprint that is our truest nature, and our optimal way of living and being. This depends on the predominance of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha in an individual’s constitution. Knowing your Ayurvedic constitution can help you to tune in to the rhythms of Mother Nature and best surrender to your life’s purpose.

Ayurveda is a spiritual science which views the human body is a microcosm of the whole universe, or macrocosm. Ayurveda teaches that the 5 elements - Space, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth - are the building blocks of you, me, and everything else in the universe.

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Ways to balance Vata Stick to a regular daily routine.

Incorporate meditation and relaxation techniques into daily life.

Apply warm oil to the body daily in a self-massage (use sesame, almond, or avocado oil). This daily ritual protects joints, lubricates dry skin, and grounds anxiety-prone Vata types.

Consume plenty of healthy fats such as avocados, ghee, olive oil, sesame seeds, and almonds.

Ways to balance Pitta Consume plenty of coconut water, cook with coconut oil, and eat cooling foods such as avocados and bananas.

Apply coconut oil to the skin daily, which calms and cools the skin, and quenches thirst.

Limit sun exposure.

Limit intake of alcohol, coffee, spicy, oily, and fried foods.

Ways to balance Kapha Detoxify the body (internally + externally) on a regular basis, by eating plenty of organic vegetables and fruits.

Perform regular self-massage to increase circulation and drain the lymphatic system. (Use light, heating, or warming oils such as mustard seed, grapeseed, or almond).

Cook with warming spices such as ginger, cayenne, and black pepper, in order to stimulate the digestive fire, or agni, which cleanses ama, or toxins, from the digestive tract.

By first taking care to balance the body, we are able to then take care of the mind and spirit. When we live our daily lives conscious of balancing our doshas, we live within the rhythms of nature, and step into our natural flow, and can tap into our higher Self.

Kiera Nachman is an Ayurvedic practitioner based in New York City, where she has a private practice. Kiera created Sundara Holistic, an Ayurvedic skincare and wellness brand, with a commitment to the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda. Sundara Holistic products are 100% natural and non-toxic, using only food-grade and plant-based ingredients.

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Staff Picks the Possibilities,

BUDDHA DOODLES’ book, Imagine simple deep of simple, whimsical illustrations, and

is full s her delightful illustratruths. Author Molly Hahn, combine Masters such as Thich tions with timeless wisdom of Zen and the HH Dalai Lama.

Nhat Hanh, Rumi, Shunryu Suzuki, celebrate the possibility This collection inspires readers to her daily meditative within each day. Molly Hahn began sketch practice in 2011, after a series of traumatic life events.

Her Buddha comics, light in heart but deep in intent, greatly helped her in her own healing process. She began sharing her Buddha Doodles online and quickly found an audience. www.BuddhaDoodles.com

YOGALETICS “Our leggings are made with an antibacterial, odorfree and moisture-wicking material. It is sewn on with a flat lock seam finish for the non-abrasive contact against the skin. This adds extra protection and comfort to your yoga practice. Our leggings are high-waisted for maximum control and eliminates the dreaded “muffin top”. The leggings do not have center seam hence, no camel toe.

With sizes ranging from XS to 6X, Yogaletics Wear leggings are designed so that everyone is able to enjoy great comfort while practicing yoga. Our legging are easy to wash and pack. They make a perfect travel companion.” www.yogaleticswear.com

en. Born to y in SoCal, SlipIns is the first compan or and outdoor indo h bot for ts men gar and colorful ause of its design, activities! Women love this line bec fort! For active land function, SPF protection and com igned for any kind of lovers, GymSkins are perfectly des h as aerobics, yoga gym, studio or outdoor activity suc ear fits smoothly to and Zumba! The one-piece active-w The durable fabric support and slenderize any figure. n to keep the body creates added muscle compressio w.slipins.com efficient for longer workouts. ww more effi

SLIPINS is a fun fitness solution for wom create fun

The (ER) factor is a line of access Th ories to inspire women to live a more fulfilling life by focusing on key words that end in (er) and bring inner peace including happi(e r), healthi(er), empow(er)ed, strong(er) and wis(er). The (er) factor’s tag necklace is stainles s steel and engraved with a hanging blue Swarosvki crystal. It can be used as a necklac e or key ring. Chain and key ring above are $20.

Available at: www.ERisinher.com WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

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Vegetarian Recipes to Kick-Start Your New Year COURTESY OF BREANNA CALLAHAM / @THE_ORGANIC_HEART

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Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Mushrooms, Thyme and Coconut Cream

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1 mini pumpkin, sliced in fourths and seeds removed 1 yellow onion, cut in fourths 5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed Olive oil, as desired 1 cup full-fat coconut milk 2 cups organic vegetable broth 1 tsp fresh thyme, minced ½ tsp ground mustard ½ tsp turmeric ½ tsp paprika ¼ tsp nutmeg ¼ tsp cayenne pepper Plenty of salt, to taste

Toppings Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced very thin Coconut cream, drizzled over the top Additional fresh thyme

Directions 1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place the pumpkin, onions and garlic (place the garlic under the onions so they don’t burn) on a baking sheet and drizzle everything in olive oil.

3. Roast for 35-40 minutes.

4. Remove everything from the oven and allow the pumpkin to cool.

5. Gently scrape the insides of the pumpkin from the pumpkin skin and discard the skin.

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6. Place the roasted pumpkin, onions, garlic and 1 cup of coconut milk in a blender and blend until it’s completely smooth.

7. Heat the vegetable broth in a medium sized pot then add in the pumpkin purée.

8. Now add in all seasonings and simmer the soup on low for 10-15 minutes.

9. For the mushrooms just sauté them in a pan with olive oil and salt until super crispy.

10.Top the soup with the mushrooms and drizzle with coconut cream.

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Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Hummus with Vegetable Sticks

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Ingredients: 25 oz can organic garbanzo beans ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 whole lemon, juiced 1 large red bell pepper 1 head of garlic ½ cup tahini 1 tbsp paprika ½ tbsp chili powder Salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions: 1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

2. Cut the bell pepper in half and remove the seeds.

3. Cut just the top of the head of garlic off.

4. Place the head of garlic and bell pepper on a baking sheet, drizzle everything in olive oil and roast for 30 minutes.

5. Squeeze out the cloves of garlic (they should turn into a paste) and place the garlic, bell pepper and all other above ingredients in a food processor and blend until completely smooth.

Fresh Mango-Mint Salsa Makes a large bowl of salsa

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3 cups mango, diced 1 yellow bell pepper, minced 1 red onion, minced 2 jalapeños, seeds removed and minced 2 pints heirloom cherry tomatoes, diced ⅓ cup mint, minced ½ cup cilantro, minced 1 ½ limes, juiced ½ tsp cumin ½ tsp garlic powder Plenty of salt, to taste

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Ingredients

Directions: 1. Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

3. Serve with cucumber slices or organic corn tortilla chips.

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RECIPES Vegetarian Recipes to Kick-Start Your New Year

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Acai Bowl with Fresh Berries Berries, Kiwi and Coconutt Shreds 2 servings

Ingredients

Directions

For the smoothie: 8 oz organic acai juice or acai purée 3 frozen bananas 1 frozen pink lady apple 1/3 cup coconut milk For the toppings: Blackberries Sliced kiwi Raspberries Chia seeds Shredded coconut

1. For the smoothie place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high power until completely smooth.

2. Transfer the smoothie to a bowl then top it with the blackberries, kiwi, raspberries, coconut and chia seeds.

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Boys shelter “In my dream life I adopt them all.”

BY KIM BAUMAN

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here’s something very special about this place.

You would think that living in a shelter or being malnourished would dull your inner light. You would think that not having sanitary living conditions or proper hygiene would dampen your smile. I have witnessed that it does not. In fact, I’ve never seen so much love and connection under such bleak circumstances.

There are 19 of them. Nineteen boys from the ages of 5 to 22 who live in this shelter. They share one 400 square foot room with a small kitchen, bathroom, and storage area. At night they lay out blankets and this one room transforms into their bedroom. Along one wall of the room is a set of lockers, each locker about 12” x 12”. Each boy gets one locker to store all of his personal

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belongings. Yes, ALL. And to think that I traveled to India with a large suitcase and backpack probably the size of 3 of those lockers put together, and I still find myself daily, thinking about something back home I wish I would have packed.

These kids don’t know it but they are my biggest inspirations. When I tell them how inspiring they are, I’m positive that they don’t get the degree to which they have impacted my life. I am a changed person after meeting these boys.

The most valuable lesson I’ve learned from these boys is that “you are not your circumstances.” I am not my past, I am not my race, my neck disability, or my financial status.

The power of the human spirit is a remarkable thing and WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

shining your own light in the face of any circumstance is what separates you from being governed by it.

One month before I came to India, I had a huge breakdown, which led to a significant breakthrough.

I was living life as if there was a magical place to get to, and once I reached that magical place, I would finally have it made. I had thought that living a great life came from accomplishments such as reaching my goals, receiving approval from a mentor, or having my dreams come true. Day in and day out, there was always someplace to get to, and that place was never where I was actually standing.

In 2012 I founded an organization, The One Love Movement, with the intention to make a difference for as many under-served kids as possible.

A year ago, I quite my full-time job to run The One Love Movement. And then my dream life began. This past year has been a whirlwind of dreams coming true left and right, of beautiful things happening out-of-the-blue, and of truly amazing circumstances that literally fell into my lap. I was living the dream.

And then I broke. I broke because I was becoming present to the fact that the more my life turned out, the more unhappy I became. I couldn’t celebrate big moments. I would have meaningful things turn out that I had wished upon for years, and it didn’t matter.

And then I met these 19 boys and it all came together.

They taught me that you are never what you have or don’t have, you are what you choose to be whether it be love, kindness, compassion, or hatred.

One of the biggest questions I have is, what happened? I want to know how they came to this shelter, I want to know what life has been like for them because I want to be able to understand them more. There isn’t a person you wouldn’t love if you could read their story. In a conversation I had with the Director, he says that some of the kids come from the streets, they were beggars and have no parents, some of them still have living parents but their parents are homeless so they were taken in at the shelter to have the essentials and the opportunity to receive an education, and some of them we just don’t know their story.

The 19 boys at this shelter have stole my heart and now I want to give them the world. I want to start college funds for them, I want to bring them on a trip to the Unites States, I want them to know they matter, I want a chicken dinner to be the norm, I want WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

them to have a sanitary place to live, I want them to have medical assistance when they don’t feel well, I want them to know that anything is possible, I want them to dream big and believe they can be anything in life.

The One Love Movement will be implementing a program which will provide the boys with annual medical and dental checkups as well as any follow-up appointments or aftercare needed. The boys’ diet consists mostly of rice, onions, and potatoes. This program will also focus on nutrition, providing a weekly chicken and vegetable dinner for the boys. As the program expands, we will continue to seek and understand their needs as the kids grow and evolve. We will also work to make sure 100% of the donations are directly impacting the boys.

Do you know someone who would like to be involved with helping us provide a better life for these boys?

Maybe that person is you? We are looking for donations, sponsorship, and publicity to bring awareness to this program.

To make a donation or to get involved, please go to: www.jointheonelovemovement.org/one-big-family

Kim Bauman Founder, The One Love Movement

Website: www.jointheonelovemovement.org Facebook: The One Love Movement Instagram: @theonelovemovement

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Coloring for

Connection

Illustration by Kelley Stokes, Age 9

BY MONICA PARKER

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WWW.YOGADIGEST.COM

T

here’s something magical and peacefull about a walk through one’s neighborhood d after the sun has gone down. The traffic has stopped and the lights in every house seem to beckon. In the last few years though, looking up to see families gathered around the dinner table has been replaced by the sight of dimly lit faces hovering over the bluish glow of their screens.

Everyone is absorbed in their own solitary pursuit of reaching out into a universe of others that are equally as isolated and alone. Within this isolation, however, something of a backlash is beginning to stir. Perhaps the yearning for connection is finally starting to override the endless drilling down into the electronic abyss.

Coloring books are the new stress busters! And taking that a step further, coloring is the perfect medium to delve into otherwise complex or “deep” topics, such as spirituality. Asking children all over the continent to draw their understanding of God is what led to the creation of my new book, OMG: How Children See God. I had the opportunity to see families huddled together on their couches, coloring books in hand. I watched kids giggling as they shared with each other and saw pieces of themselves reflected in their drawings and in the wisdom, humor and magical thinking from kids just like them. In a world where community is so hard to come by, we can all use a bit of nutrition for the soul, and that is something that this activity can create.

DO Try This At Home Don’t take my word for it! Make some time for the important people in your world to put down their screens and open up a fun and playful way to explore spirituality while enjoying meaningful connection. Here’s how to get started: Schedule a Family Night: Set a time where your family can be together for an hour or two.

Introduce the Topic: Ask each person to draw what “God” means to them.

Draw Your Understanding: Break out the crayons and colored pencils and let your creativity come through!

Consider having some scissors handy and you can even make your own paper dolls of God, angels, people you love etc.

Discuss and Enjoy!: Give each family member a chance to explain their drawing. This is a wonderful way to take a peek inside the mind of a child and see the world through their eyes.

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This coloring activity is not only great for parents and kids, but it’s also a wonderful bridge for grandparents and children to connect on. Whether one is a “believer” or not, a practitioner of a particular religion or simply a seeker of a kinder, gentler way to live, coloring your understanding can be a stress-free doorway to talking about “the G-word” and finding your own answers. There’s no right and no wrong to be had.

Monica Parker is an author, producer and comedian that got her start in comedy with the likes of director Ivan Reitman and actor Dan Aykroyd. She has starred in several film, television and theater productions, was a writer for An Evening at the Improv and co-wrote the popular animated film, All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Her one-woman show Sex, Pies and a Few White Lies and her last book Getting Waisted: A Survival Guide to Being Fat in a Society That Loves Thin have both received wide critical acclaim. Monica’s new book OMG: How Children See God offers an Art-Linkletter-like “Kids Say the Darndest Things” view of spirituality.

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Monica Parker photo by Veronique Vial; Book cover photo by Larissa Henoch

Coloring the World—Together

Photo c o

s ellow urtesy of Self-Realization F A Los hip, o alif ,C les n ge rni

a

Yoga as a Spiritual Practice When we think of Yoga, most of us envision the asanas – the physical practice of guiding our bodies into poses that both challenge us and make us stronger.

Background illustration by siminitzki/Sutterstock

P

erhaps you started your yoga practice to heal from an old injury, or to gain more flexibility. Physical strength and flexibility are wonderful benefits of Yoga, but they are not its main purpose. What many people don’t consider is that Yoga is really a spiritual practice.

Dating back to the ancient Vedas, the physical practice is only one component of Yoga as a whole.

In fact, the physical asanas are intended to get yogis ready for meditation, which requires sitting for long periods of time. Yoga meditation has its own physical benefits – it helps to calm the body’s nervous system, reign in the senses, and train the mind to focus without so many wandering thoughts. But most importantly, Yoga meditation allows us to better connect with Spirit.

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Paramahansa Yogananda, often referred to as the father of Yoga in the West and subject of the award-winning film AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda, left his beloved India in 1920 and came to the U.S. to ultimately teach Westerners the techniques of Yoga meditation as a way of communing directly with the Divine.

The spiritual effects of Yoga are powerful. Yoga meditation, specifically Kriya Yoga ࡳ which centers around the breath or prana, the life force ࡳ is considered a path to Self-realization.

Yogananda wrote about the purpose and practice of Kriya Yoga in his best-selling book Autobiography of a Yogi, which continues to be an introduction to Yoga for many. Below are excerpts from the chapter on Kriya Yoga, to help understand Yoga from a spiritual perspective.

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“The Sanskrit root of kriya is kri, to do, to act and react; the same root is found in the word karma, the natural principle of cause and effect. Kriya Yoga is thus ‘union (yoga) with the Infinite through a certain action or rite (kriya)’….Because of certain ancient yogic injunctions, I may not give a full explanation of Kriya Yoga in a book intended for the general public. … Here a broad reference must suffice.

“Kriya Yoga is a simple, psycho-physiological method by which human blood is decarbonated and recharged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current to rejuvenate the brain and spinal centers. By stopping the accumulation of venous blood, the yogi is able to lessen or prevent the decay of tissues.... “’Kriya Yoga is an instrument through which human evolution can be quickened,’ Sri Yukteswar [Yogananda’s guru] explained to his students. ‘ ‘The ancient yogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately linked with breath mastery. This is India’s unique and deathless contribution to the world’s treasury of knowledge. The life force, which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining heart action, must be freed for higher activities by a method of calming and stilling the ceaseless demands of the breath.’

“The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses), which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One-half minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment....

“In men under maya or natural law, the flow of life energy is toward the outward world; the currents are wasted and abused in the senses. The practice of Kriya reverses the flow; life force is mentally guided to the inner cosmos and becomes reunited with subtle spinal energies. By such reinforcement of life force, the yogi’s body and brain cells are renewed by a spiritual elixir….

“Untying the cord of breath that binds the soul to the body, Kriya serves to prolong life and to enlarge the consciousness to infinity. The yoga technique overcomes the tug-of-war between the mind and the matter-entangled senses, and frees the devotee to re-inherit his eternal kingdom....

“The world’s scriptures declare man to be not a corruptible body but a living soul; in Kriya Yoga he finds a method to prove the scriptural affirmation.”

Paramahansa Yogananda, from Autobiography of a Yogi, (Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, Calif., www.yogananda-srf.org. Reprinted with permission.)

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At the start of our day and the end of our day, we have some things

to Consider Think About! and

some things to

BY JOSEPH STINGLEY

F

or over 35 years I have been a teacher with various organizations, disciplines and subjects including: yoga teacher & trainer, community college professor, Sunday School teacher, ministerial teacher (pastor), elementary and high school teacher, public speaker, and life coach.

Throughout my career as an educator, onee thing I noticed about individuals - regardless of their ages, is that they were always faced with opportunities to consider and choices to make.

Numerous times students had to press forward with life challenges, taking one step at a time, one hour at a time, not giving up nor giving in. Courage, faith, and persistence allowed them to make these positive choices and accomplish their goals.

When we are challenged with images and voices in our minds that speak failure, discord, not good enough or anything that is negative, we must consider the source.

The same goes for when the images and voices speak success, victory, and hope and anything that is positive.

The latter we know is from The Light. The negative images and voices will soon pass as we consider, think about, and compare the source of both.

Think about this. . . there is always hope in every situation you encounter. Circumstances and situations facing you are opportunities for new beginnings. Allow your thoughts to

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focus on success; having victory with every image and thought that comes to your mind by applying the power of afďŹ rmations, scriptures, and mantras.

Consider waking up 15-20 minutes earlier each day. Take 5-10 minutes to sit still, listen to the quiet whispers of God, the Spirit and the Life Source of the universe. Take the remaining time to journal what you experienced and heard in your heart. This is the path, the journey, the road you are to travel and it has no dead end.

These few minutes of early morning quiet time will guide you to and in your future, expanding your destiny, taking your faith from unbelief to belief, to knowing You can learn more ways to connect in my newly published book Something to Consider, Something to Think About. It was written as a means to encourage individuals to become spiritual giants, giving them the inspiration, motivation, and tools to help reach others - having a worldwide domino effect!

Discover more on www.josephstingley.com

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My Best

Playlist!

Play Your Favorite Songs and Double Your Class Size

BY DJ TAZ RASHID

W

hat is it about music that seems to bring people together? I have been playing and performing music for so many years and in the last few years as a yoga DJ I have to say, most people are really excited when music is used “properly” in a yoga class. What does that exactly mean, used properly? It means a lot of things. First of all, we have to understand that music is powerful in how it can affect people emotionally and physically. Without getting too scientific about this point, let’s say we all agree that it is powerful. If we can agree that something is powerful, then we have to agree that if it is used incorrectly it can leave an unpleasant feeling in people as well. I say this to situations for example when I have heard of yoga teacher who put a Pandora station on during class and it chooses music randomly. “Woah! Really?” you may ask.

Yes teachers do this all the time. Okay you say that’s not me but “How can I use it in a powerful way and double my class size?”

The way to do it is by starting to have a deeper connection to the music you already have, really love and want to play in your class. Knowing when to play which song depending on the energy you wish to generate from the section is very important. When I DJ a typical Vinyasa yoga class I break it down into 8 sections. Opening, Build One, Build Two, Peak One and Peak Two, Land One and Land Two and Rest. A question you can ask yourself is how you feel when you hear a certain song and if you were the student when would you want to be hearing it in the practice.

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As you start building this connection to your music, you will start creating a unique style with “your” sound. Your individuality is what your students really love about you, in addition to, of course, your amazing sequencing and brilliant personality. You are “DJ’ing” the music and creating an experience during each class. Don’t you want each class to be an epic experience for your students? By creating your own authentic sound you will develop your own following and this is when the party really starts kicking up a few notches.

Remember we agreed that music is powerful so why not get to know it a bit better and look at as a tool in the yoga class, just like straps or blocks, rather than just music playing in the background. What if the music could actually support the process for the student just as that block comes in at the right time to support half moon pose.

Think of the rhythm and each beat in this supportive manner. Music is a powerful tool. It can change us. It can change our circumstances. And it can change the lives of the people around us.

Use it properly and surely you will double or quadruple the size of your classes!

Background illustration by Digital Storm/Sutterstock

MUSIC EDITOR, YOGA DIGEST

Download link for Kathryn Budig & DJ Taz Rashid's Yoga Class Live Mix For more info check out www.djtazrashid.com

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Out of

Your

Comfort Zone With

Kurt Johnsen

Smile! It’s a Mole Hill Big changes happen with small steps.

However most people still want to takee on the mountain instead of the mole hill.

As a result, the fear of the mountain will often stop them in their tracks. Be it exercise “I am going to workout everyday” or diet “I am giving up cookies” these mountainous statements create an inner resistance that tends to whittle away at the resolutions until one day (usually very quickly) the resolutions crack and then disintegrate completely.

There is a better way; keep the mole hills realistic. Instead of dramatic declarations, simply do what you need to do that day. The result is powerful.

Picture two versions of yourself standing side-by-side, walking parallel. Now one of you, let’s say the healthy one, veers ever so slightly to the right and then both keep walking.

At the end of a few feet your two versions are now separated by many feet. By the end of the day they would bee miles apart apart.

By the end of the year, a lifetime apart.

Small course corrections or decisions in your life will change where you will go and how you will get there dramatically. Will you eat a nutritious lunch today or not? Will you take care of your body today or not? These aren’t big over whelming decisions.

These are simple yet very powerful lifestyle choices.

Haven’t you noticed how healthy people are always doing healthy things and happy people are always acting all happy?

So during the dozens of small decisions that come up everyday effecting your health and happiness,

ask yourselff where you want to go; towards health and happiness or not. It is always up to you. I know this can be viewed as a burden, however I always see it as a liberty. Everyday you are free to choose health and practice happiness and that is a gift.

Smile you are in control!

Kurt Johnsen is the founder of the nationally recognized yoga system, American Power Yoga, and host of Yoga for Life. He is the CEO of Simplified Genetics, a health and lifestyle company offering proprietary genetic tests which generate actionable results for maintaining optimal fitness and assessing the genetic risks of traumatic head injuries.

Interact with Kurt at YogaDigest.com/Kurt-Johnsen 82

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