Finding Happiness and Joy in Every Moment: NItya Karma

In my path to finding myself, yoga has become the epicenter of it all. In seeking peace and positivity I leapt into the open arms of yoga and my practice has blossomed beyond my own imagination. The possibilities are endless for where I will go from here. Yoga has found its way off my mat and into my daily life, I think about it through out my day and I live it by extending the benefits of my yoga practice to the people around me. While it can be trying at times, I try my best to extend patience and compassion to all those I encounter (well as much I can-it's hard to think like a yogi when your working in a bar).  Through this practice, it has helped seal in the benefits and weave them into a permanent place in my life, with dedication and patience I can aspire to achieve my goals.
Recently Teresa,  one of my amazing yoga instructors at Happy-U Namaste had mentioned a concept called "Nitya Karma," that intrigued me. After doing some research I found that...

Nitya Karma is the art of daily living. Foundational to all Vedic sciences, it teaches the natural law of the universe that is fundamental to Yoga, Ayurveda, and Tantra. There are things we do not choose to do that are necessary for life such as eating, sleeping, and breathing. Through these practices we can improve our lives by sustaining balance and harmony in the outer world that supports our inner spiritual development.(Click here for resource)

To honor Nitya-Karma we try to find the beauty in the every day, ordinary things. She related this to our practice by suggesting that we try to move as mindfully as possible to really feel each subtle nuance as we moved gracefully through our class. Upon leaving she reminded us to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and to really look around at the beautiful world we live in with a present mind.

Later that week I  was adding some photos to my computer after a camping trip and found untouched photos from earlier this year of a "sunset-y" kind of night here in Ocean beach. It was just another night,  making dinner and relaxing at home and we had decided to take our dog Boston out for a walk to the dog beach to catch the sunset. I got so excited at the idea and like a five year old I had to pick which toy to bring with me, ukulele or camera, I was stuck in a terrible pickle. I wanted to play my uke reeeeaaal bad but I glanced out side and saw the patchy clouds turning pink and orange and made the choice to grab the ol Nikon.

In this fairly habitual task of walking the dog, we chose to make it special for no reason at all. We followed the golden glow of the sunset as if following the call of the inner beach bum to the waves. What a beautiful sunset it was, colors unimaginable. Not just the colors, but the glow; there was some kind of magic in the air. Such a sight to be seen, the warm breeze breathed into my soul and filled me with delight.

Together my husband and I have seen hundreds of sunsets, some ordinary while others sparkle with indescribable majesty, and of them this one was truly inspiring. The wonder of nature took us aback along with a sea of other sun seekers, some local "Obecians" and others nationwide travelers following the sound of the great pacific.

As per usual, Boston felt at ease amongst his furry buddies down at dog beach. My trigger happy  finger snapped away at my camera trying to capture the perfect shot. In all of his missteps and clumsy ways he remains to be quite a beautiful creature; a gentle beast who knows nothing of hatred and full of love to give.

A we glanced around, it was hard to figure out which way to look as every direction was blossoming into a multicolored day dream of sorts, all shifting with the setting sun.

Allright so now that were done getting caught up in what was one of the coolest sunsets i've ever seen, lets move on to the point of this story. Were there real magic begins. As we headed home to resume our evening of calm weeknight rituals, I paused to take notice of the amazing moon shinning through the clouds. 

Behind me I could hear the sound of my dog's deep bark and I turned to see him attempting to hurdle over the cement barricade. What had gotten in to this dog? He was going nuts! As we look up where his loud bellows were headed we spied a special treat. Our amazing friends who had also heard the call of the sea. 

We all squealed with delight! Of course we say things like "well what are the odds?" or "lucky meeting you here" but we all know that we are all freakishly in tune with one another as if we operate on the same frequencies all the time. 

And while to someone else, one might look at this images and say that they are blurry or have no composition I can only see a beautiful moment that I captured to keep forever. I love the action that implies that they couldn't wait to greet us, the dogs running and everyone smiling. We are so incredibly lucky to have all of this here in our little beach community. Its almost like maybe heaven isn't a place we go when we die, but the place we are when we feel ALIVE! 

No matter how small or meaningless this little rendezvous may or could have been, it will be a random memory that I cherish forever because it reminds me that even during the in-between moments there is something new and fresh to take in and be grateful for. No matter how many moments from shows or events that are Facebook worthy or Instagram material, there will always be those moments hiding in what you believe to be dull, just waiting to surprise you and all you have to do it look for it. 

It is possible to find happiness and joy in every movement, from the deepest part of my heart I believe it to be true. My greatest wish for everyone that I have the pleasure to know is to find that too. 

"May All beings everywhere be happy and free"

Namaste

T

More on Nitya- Karma

-------With explanations from http://www.avgsatsang.org/

Nitya-Karma are daily obligatory duties that one must fulfill according to hindu religion.  "The concept comes from a sense of obligation" and that obligation comes from birth, a human is born in debated to three things; one's parents and ancestors, the sages (wise elders), and to the divine. Without going into to much talk on the hindu religion (of which I know very little), the basics of this idea is that out of love and respect to those three things we behave a certain way and do certain things Nitya-Karma fulfills ones obligations by being mindful of the daily duties and rituals that go on throughout the day, by doing these activities that are done every day (bathing, brushing our teeth, going to work, meditation, prayer, studying, etc) one repays the debt to the ancestors, the sages, and the gods. I don't believe that you have to be of the hindu faith to apply this practice in your own spiritual way or even in a non spiritual way. It is simply an act of being grateful and respectful.

"Nitya-Karma helps us over come self-centeredness"
When we recognize that we have been receiving help from all these sources, we become humble. Slowly, the concern for one’s own individual self diminishes and we begin to have a larger view of life. We appreciate the fact that we are not isolated beings, but a part of the whole scheme of life. We are what we are because of the contribution that we have received from the rest of the world. Therefore, we should function as a link in a whole chain, interconnected with everything else. There is a statement in Sanskrit ‘vāsudaiva kutumbhakam’, which means that the whole universe is one family. When we live in an unselfish manner, we function as members of the universal family; this is the spirit engendered by the performance of duties. The larger the scope of that with which we identify, the easier it becomes to come out of our self-centeredness. This is the spirit behind karma-yoga, which is taught in the Bhagavad Gita and technically expressed in this text as nitya and naimittika-karma, the daily and incidental duties that are performed in the spirit of worship.

After the storm comes the sun...

So it's the new year, 2015 a brand new start. This year was supposed to be THE year for me or so I thought so all the way up until January 1. I've been spending the last few months, quietly contemplating my life and whether or not I believed I was headed in the right direction. I was doing some things right, but ignoring the bigger challenges and occupying my self with smaller goals and allowing my self to take joy in small victories. Now this is not a bad thing, to focus on smaller goals, but ignoring the bigger picture all together is no way to accomplish the long term goals you have set for your self. Obviously we are all due for improvement at times and my time has come.

The hardest part of all of this has been a serious bought of depression. Turns out, even those people you loath for all their smiles and never ending bubbly happiness can get bummed out too.  As a conversational topic, to me depression is something so easily dealt with by talking with trusted friends or family, doing yoga and mediating, or even reading up on some mental health exercises but as a reality it kicks your ass physically and mentally until you are so confused that you can't see which way is up.

 On one of my trial runs as a fairy unsuccessful surfer, I hit the water hard and was caught under the wave for a good solid minute or so. Swirling and turning for what felt like an eternity, hearing nothing but the low roar of the wave and seeing everything spinning around at once all while not being able to take a breath. Thats what depression feels like to me. Depression is an old friend to me, not always my own but that of a close friend or family member, and I find it all to familiar each time it rears its ugly head. In my past I've seen first hand accounts of how depression affects the person who has it as well as those around them. Its not too pretty. Although, what a blessing it has been to see those people I love come around the bend and find a way to smile, a way to love themselves more, a way out of the water. I guess even after a huge beat down wave takes you under, you can eventually break to the surface for a huge gasp of fresh air. Maybe that's what it feels like when you finally beat the pressure of it all and take a breath as it if had been years since your last.

I have a picture in my home that reads, "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf".  Stopping the power of a wave is impossible, it will come regardless of what you try to do to stop it but could you maybe ride it instead? Shitty things happen to all of us, every day. We have to remember that while that is true, its just a true to say that good things happen to us everyday. So yes, while I'm going down a chipper road of self motivation, I also want to remember this- its ok to process this crap. I can't say how frustrating it is when you tell someone that you're feeling depressed and their response is simply to tell you to try to be happy, look on the bright side. Shove that sunshine right up there, well you know where the sun doesn't shine. Sometimes your physical body is telling you to be sad, it rushes you with chemicals that make you feel blue, makes you tired and basically makes you feel like crap inside and out.

I think that I have figured out how this all works, you start to feel those feelings again they come back or new feelings form that you make you stop dead in your tracks and you ponder why? Why am i feeling this way? why is this or that happening to me? What am I going to do? How do i fix this? After this questioning process begins then you move to the excuses, excusing our selves by coming up with any reason that makes us "feel better" if only for a minute and all the while we come up with more questions and more excuses. It just becomes a process of feeling crappy and doubting everything and if that carries on for too long, that is where depression takes a hold of your life and it can hold you down if you let it.  If this goes on for weeks, well those are going to be the worst weeks of your life because everything will go wrong.

Why does everything seem to go wrong when your depressed? Im guessing its probably because all you see are the negative things. Pessimism takes over and well aren't you just a peach. I can recall several times over the past 4 weeks that i've been just rotten to someone for no reason. And of course everything has gone wrong, the budgets been all jacked up, the dog had to go to the vet (or should I say slot machine- for all of this guessing, I feel like its a gamble every time) TWICE, other financial blunders, tension with friends, and  pretty much a long list of personal failures and doubts that flooded my head ever since I realized that I'll be thirty this year. Not to mention, I've had the worst cold since my great pneumonia episode in the early 2000's. Nothing like being nice and depressed when a violent take over occurs in your body that makes you feel like you've caught the plague. Thank goodness its finally just hanging out right in the middle of my face, making my head feel like it weights 50lbs.  I guess while I'm being honest here, I was pretty low and Im still pulling my self out of it.  There it is everyone- for all of you who thought I was always happy and bubbly ALL the time. I've come out with it<  I too am human, and I get sad just like everyone else. There are times when I feel tremendously alone, even amongst a million friends, but I have to remember that I am not alone.

All this time that I've spent being bummed, only seemed to get worse and over the course of time i'd quit running, and eventually came to today when I realized I'd not done a full yoga session in over two weeks and hadn't even tried in the last week. For all the effort i'd put into it before, as an aspiring yogi this is the most depressing fact that I have faced. Yet fortunately for me, it is the easiest thing to fix and my sure fire way to get back on the right path to happiness. Being sick shall remain a true excuse, as doing inversions with a sinus cold is no easy thing to do, but now that I am on the tail end of it I need to start doing what I can. I need to accept those negative feelings, acknowledge their existence and then allow them to pass through me, like clouds passing by in the sky.

Its time to get back to planning, setting goals- but this time small goals that feed into BIG goals! Time to get back to yoga and meditating and finding my true self, I know she's hiding in there somewhere. Time to look up, and see the beauty in every moment. The only thing that has ever been stopping me is me, what a simple villain to defeat.  So while I may be 12 days late, heres to the new year and discovering what is beyond all those obstacles. When something is challenging is usually means that the pay off is well worth it, so I can only assume that underneath the perceived negative start of the year is something worth fighting for. When I started thinking about 2015 I believed it would be my year, the last year of my twenties and something to be celebrated in a big way.  We are all fighting the daily struggle, we all want to be happy, we are not alone. So cheers to you, may you find the happiness you deserve and the life you create in your dreams. We can do this, we can find a way out of the dark and into the light, if we only realize that real change starts inside us and only then can we send our light out into the world.

Here's a few of my goals for this year.....

And to count my blessings; each and every one 

* Meditate everyday for at least 10 minutes
* Go to at least two festivals
*Take a class or two
* Hear, see, feel more music
* Take more photos with my DSLR instead of my phone
* Pass CBEST test!
* Get my teaching credentials
*Take the GRE Exam
*Begin planning my masters program
*Survive through the fall teacher training at my yoga studio

And finally I give my self permission to feel what ever feelings come my way, giving them the attention they deserve, but also allowing them to pass. I give my self permission to feel more joy from the little things that happen each moment that we choose to ignore while we mull  over our problems and negativity. 

Our problems are like the waves, they will always be there and some are bigger than others. We can't stop the waves from coming, but we can learn to ride them, which sounds so much better than drowning in them.

Cheers to this NEW year!
Namaste
T

Fall in to Yoga: Week 1...looking up

 Wednesday October 8
So its been one week since I began my #fallintoyoga commitment to my practice for the month of October. Through the week I have made a strong intention each day to practice for at least 30 mins. I am proud to say that I have completed one full week of daily practice and I am feeling fantastic. I have already noticed and incredible amount of progress, going deeper in to each pose everyday.

I have been focusing on hip openers and heart openers this week. There is physical connection to our hips and our mental and emotional state. We store emotion in our hips, therefore tight hips indicate that we are holding on to emotions without allowing them to pass fully. Hip openers have most certainly allowed me to release a lot of emotional tension.  One of the things about yoga that still has me in awe is it's incredible connection of the mind, body and spirit. They are all working together, therefore they must all be balanced to work effectively.

I have also been experimenting with the time of day that I practice and practicing with others. I have found that an energizing practice in the early morning will give me the boost of energy that I need for the day and a calming quiet series in the late evening allows me to sleep like a baby and get the rest I truly need. I have also been practicing with my friends and husband which is a fantastic way to stay motivated and through teaching others I am learning even more about each pose and how to be more present in the pose. It's not about how deep you go, everyone of us is in a different phases in our life and has different levels of flexibility and endurance. Practicing with others helps to be more aware of that fact and reminds us to stay true to our own path and practice a pace that works for us individually.

But by far the greatest benefit I have experienced from 7 days of practice has been seen in my mental state. I find my self pausing for a moment to take a breath and think before reacting to adversity. A perfect example of this came yesterday. Having the day off and being fairly broke after paying rent, I decided to take the bus to my work to pick up any tips I still had there, hoping for at least twenty dollars. After my half hour bus ride, I found a whopping eight dollars waiting for me. Then I received a phone call from my husband telling me that our car had to be taken to the mechanic that day so that he could get home safely. So here I am, disappointed with my eight dollars and devastated at the idea of how much bad news the mechanic will come back with. I had a choice, to sit there and worry and be pissed off about my situation or I could stay calm. I chose to be calm and be supportive to my also concerned husband. He was incredibly surprised at my calm state of mind as well as appreciative to my not adding to his stress. From here I began to look at the situation in front of me, in the end it only cost $400 for the car to be fixed as well as a full check up which gave me serious peace of mind and my car no longer screeches at every right turn AND because I went into work that day my boss asked me to work an extra shift this weekend. I would have never had that opportunity if I had not gone in. In the end things actually worked out ok. The car would have needed to be fixed regardless and we took care of it before it got even more expensive.

A friend of mine is going through a very difficult time in his life, his situation parallel to mine really emphasizes the true density of a problem. His problems are massive compared to mine, yet he still smiles everyday. I felt like I could not let this day of minor setbacks derail my entire consciousness to be negative and distraught. So I keep looking up.

This is what I saw.

In my travels on foot, outfitted with my hippie back pack and always pumping tunes on my headphones I have enjoyed the opportunity to enjoy the trip to my next destination. Being given the chance to look up and see amazing architecture, beautiful sky, and exotic plants and birds, has allowed me to find a sense of peace above the noise of the street. My personal positive affirmation became "Look Up" and I try to remind myself to do it often.
Yesterday my husbands text read "There is a part in the clouds, lets go jump in the puddles". I texted him these pictures to confirm his words.

So much beauty is passed by when we are drudging through our daily lives with a chip on our shoulder because we are having a bad day. There are so many times when I stop and look around and what I see takes my breath away.  I have to remember that even on the bad days, I can still have those moments.

So far so good on the journey to a better me. I'll keep yoga-in' away and take my practice off the mat into my daily life.

Namaste

T

Fall Into Yoga

After many years of committing, falling back, and recommitting to yoga I have come to a realization... I am a yo-yo- Yogi. There is no better way to put it.
 I love yoga! It ranks among my top favorite things to do anytime of day. I love the philosophy and the ancient teachings that have spanned across cultures and time while staying true to the heart of yoga. I adore the state of mind or attitude that everyone seems to carry so effortlessly as they pass you in the studio or at the park. My mind has been blown by the spiritual awakenings I have had on the mat; where the connection to myself is so close that I feel closer to my higher power. Of course there are the physical changes, that have not made me feel more beautiful but also gave me a strength I never knew I had.  I have gone through a transformation that started many years ago when I first hit the mat in college to the stop-drop-and-yoga addict that I am today, I think maybe the best part is that I still have so much to learn that I will never be bored, as long as I can commit.

When I first began my practice I got a unlimited month at Core power yoga near CU's downtown campus. I was taking the bus to and from home and I found this small yoga studio when it was in it's early phases near my bus stop. I'd been feeling very stressed and was dealing with anxiety turned into anger. I needed something. Fast-forward two weeks I was already feeling better, smiling more. I stuck with it for a few months and then moved to home practice which led to huge gap in between then and my next trip to the studio. Over the last 7 or 8 years I have committed and recommitted and failed and fell completely off track with my practice. It was to a point where I was scared to go into the studio because I felt like I had lost all flexibility.

There were so many times that I cried over how heavy or how out of shape I was. It was hard to work out, when your carrying 230lbs it seems like quite a feet of strength to lift your own body weight. But for a long time I felt ok in my own skin, not hating my self and doing what I could do assist in a healthier lifestyle but I was still lacking that deep personal motivation to be a better me. At the tail end of my college years I had managed to lose about 20lbs which helped me spring into the next phase.

Skip forward to my incredible journey to California. Not only was I truly in love with my new geography but I was inspired to be outside all the time! I found a group of friends who facilitated in my desire to be active and take full advantage of my outdoor playground and consistently sunny weather.

I began to find a natural rhythm in life, being active, eating healthier things that made me feel good and have more energy, and I finally found a space to find a deeper commitment to yoga.

After meeting my friend Josie and moving into the same neighborhood we found that one of our favorite things to do was yoga and together we would learn new things about the philosophy and the poses and would both collaborate in our personal little school of yoga.



We were then blessed to find Happy-U Namaste Yoga studio in our community right in-between our houses. We instantly fell in love,( read about this awesome place and my OB life here.)

Here in this studio, I found myself. 

I had stayed on track for a while going to the studio at least 3-4 times a week and partaking in my own self-loving version of running a mile or two every other day. In combination with my love of dancing at shows, hula hooping, attempted surfing and playing with my pooch on dog beach I've realized that the world is my gym and I can do this my own way. And I feel great! I'll give myself a little love and say that I am proud of my achievement, having dropped over 70lbs in the last 4 years.

So over my yoga life span, the gap between committed practice and otherwise has gotten smaller and less frequent. I have been trying to take the time and continue researching things about yoga, using resources on line and my awesome subscription to Yoga Journal. I recently started cutting out sequences, articles and even inspirational photos to put in my own yoga journal.

Ive been doing my best to stay focused, remembering that this is something I love to that helps me be the best me that I can!
"In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, exept yourself. "
                                                           Jiddu Krishnamurti

So I have decided to commit the entire month of October to growing in my practice, I have chosen to call it my Fall Into Yoga. My goal is to practice 6-7 days a week, even if its only for 20 mins or just a simple meditation. I also want to continue enriching my home practice by continuing to read up and check my resources online. I have been either taking or even just watching online classes at yogavibes.com to assist with challenging poses or to find a sequence that fits into any time constraint. I'd also like to get back to my studio at Happy-U very very soon! I am going to try my best to track my progress with updates here and on Instagram at atarableadventure. #fallintoyoga

Root me on, inspire me, send me good vibes, join me! ~ all of which I will spread forth as well :)

So for now, 

Namaste

T