‘The yogi realises that his life and all its activities are part of the divine action in nature, manifesting and operating in the form of man. In the beating of his pulse and the rhythm of his respiration, he recognises the flow of the seasons and the throbbing of universal life.’
~BKS Iyengar, pg 41, Light On Yoga.
{original ‘gold om’ artwork + typography by lorien waldron.}
x Om Shanti
“It is better to travel well than to arrive”.
-Buddha
W-o-w-e-e-e ! :)
This is my official way of saying, ‘wholly molly, we are almost at the end of this calendar year- 2014’!
The spring air is warm and strong northerly winds are blowing out all the cobwebs from Winter. There is movement.
Jacarandas blossoming, animals coming out of hibernation to bask in the sun, frangipani shoots sprouting! Spring is certainly in full swing here in Australia.
Similarly, the air is crisp and fresh, evenings are cool and the flowers are tucking themselves into bed for the winter in the northern hemisphere. (I have family in Canada who give me this inside info!) :-)
There is seasonal change happening everywhere! :) And it’s a glorious thing! Without these changes and cycles, we would not experience the richness and beauty that Mother Nature has to offer in all of her forms and expressions.
Vatta, the element of Air + Ether is present during seasonal change as well as times of the year where there is more activity happening – such as the holiday season.
In my personal experience and observation, seasonal change combined with the busyness leading up to Christmas/New Years can have us feeling:
‘Crazy, frantic, hurried, rushed, and scattered!’
We move fast to get things done, resulting in being short tempered and feisty when things get out of control.
Self-care, proper nourishment, meditation practice, time for rest and proper sleep are all things that can very easily slip by the wayside when there is so much to do and so much happening.
It’s tough to keep the balance!
Ironically, these are the very things we need to be doing – more than ever!
This time of year it is important to ~ ‘slow down’…
These might seem like ghastly words to hear – when your social calendar is filled every weekend until Christmas and your diary is bursting with ‘to do’ lists that scream at you every day.
Trust me on this one though…
Taking a moment to apply some ‘slow down’ to your day, will have you feeling more like this:
Energised, calm, centered, empowered and on-top of it all! You’ll stand out at the Christmas parties, as people will notice that you did something different this year. You don’t look frazzled. You are poised and calm, centered and glowing. You are radiantly grinning and proud of yourself for being peacefully productive this ‘silly’ season. :)
In Ayurvedic medicine, health is all about balance. Any type of change we experience – such as the change of season or a busy period in life can aggravate the ‘Air’ element of the body, known as Vatta Dosha. Vata loves regularity, stillness and warmth. When the weather is windy, irregular, too hot or too cold and dry – Vatta can get upset and start to run a muck! The busyness of this time of year can throw this element out of whack. The good news is that it’s easily balanced and corrected;
~5 Simple Vatta Balancing Lifestyle Tips~
1. Drink Warm Water & Nourish Yourself:
Wake up and drink 2-4 cups of freshly boiled warm water with a slice of fresh ginger. This will warm your digestion and activate your parasympathetic nervous system, allowing you to start your day in a relaxed way. It’s the best!
Make sure you take some time to nourish your body. Start the day with a yummy grounding porridge, buckwheat pancakes or veggie soup! Look after your precious body on the inside and out.
2. Stretch/Move Your Body Daily:
In your room or lounge-room, move your body. Raise your arms up above your head and reach to the heavens. Stretch your body, breathing with your movement, becoming one with your body :). Move, unwind, and tune in. Do this for a minimum of 10 minutes. Stretching opens the body and allows us to be in tune and feel good in our skin. Movement releases endorphins (happy chemicals) in the brain, making you feel good. After moving the body it is much easier to sit in stillness and focus within to de-stress through meditation.
3. Meditate/Sit and Be with Your-self:
Find a comfy cushion, bolster, blanket or towel to sit on. Sit on the edge so that your knees are lower than your hips. If you are new to the concept of meditation, don’t worry. Everyone starts somewhere and now is the perfect time to begin. Sit with your spine straight to allow for proper flow of energy, then close down your eyes and simply focus on your breath. Allow thoughts to come and go. They are not important here. All that is important is your breath, and your focus inward. If you can do this for at least 10 min at the start of your day, it will set the scene for a peacefully productive day ahead. Meditation is transformational.
4. Massage Your Feet/Body 3 times per week:
Cold pressed Black sesame oil is traditionally the Ayurvedic oil of choice. If you don’t have it though, you can use organic cold pressed olive oil, almond oil or coconut oil. To prepare the oil for your self-massage, simply warm your oil by placing the bottle in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. Before you have your shower, massage the oil into your body. Oil is beautifully grounding and balancing. Your skin will eat it up and your nerves will too. Do this for 5 minutes then rinse off in a warm shower.
5. Take Some Deep Breathes:
Before you go out for the day and get into your work or your tasks… take 6 deep breathes. Write a note to yourself in your diary to remind you to move slowly. Remember that you don’t need to be superman or superwoman. You simply need to do your best and do everything with love. If there are things on your to do list that are not high priorities, then cross them off. Free up your time so you can focus on a realistic list of things to achieve. This is a hard one for the high achievers. You can do it though. :) There are 12 months next year to complete those tasks. Remember, there is no rush, everything in life happens in divine timing.
This season is all about looking after YOU – so that you can show up being present, clear and loving with your friends and family.
After all this is what is most important. Not how much we did, but how present we were.
“You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
– Kahil Gibran
Be generous this holiday season, fill your own cup so that you can share abundantly with those around you!
…Remember, nothing great is every built overnight. It is regula and consistent acts of love, that contribute to creating long-term health, wellness and joy inside!
Shine on!
x Love, Lorien
For years the practice of Yoga has captured the imagination of both my body, mind and spirit.
There is something special that happens when the breath harmonises in movement with the body. When the mind is freed through the practice of letting go of being right, doing something right, looking right or having to prove something to anyone else.
Finding yourself in the moment. In the here and now. Being humble.
One breath at a time. One movement at a time. One thought at a time…
I call this P R E S E N C E .
There is a rich beauty about realising – (through showing up on the mat, in life, in your relationships, in your work) that even once you ‘know’ how to do something, a downward-faceing dog, achieve an outcome or a result in your work or know that making sure you are present with your family or partner is important… There is a beauty in realising that even though you may KNOW these things…. that knowing things doesn’t make a difference.
It is our PRESENCE. Our attention to the moment. To our yoga practice each day. To our bodies each day. To our work each day. To our loved ones each day. To ourselves each day. It is this that I call the real practice of YOGA, (union).
Each time you step onto your mat, arrive at work or come home to be with your family, that is where the real YOGA, the real joy in being alive, the real magic, the real practice is in action.
I love the subtle resistance that can arise sometimes when I step onto my yoga mat. The intelligence of my body humbling me to see and feel what would have otherwise remained un-touched and un-noticed. I love the intimacy with self that my Yoga practice brings. The inner dance of my cells as I move across my mat. As I am guided by my teacher to explore new oceans and lands within my body.
Being present and aware of the imperfections within my practice is what makes my Yoga practice feel complete. This is the beauty. This is the life juice. This is where the joy and adventure of being alive lives!
Resistance in life can be a stifling feeling. It can stop us – often at times when we need to break-through the most.
Resistance is a sign that what you truly love and desire is close. Very close. Infact, most likely just behind the corner of the barrier you are putting up.
Resistance is a gift. It is a blessings and when you can walk through those thoughts, those blockages in your body, those aches and pains in your being that wish for you to stay safe and not feel the very juicy goodness that your spirit wishes you to feel, then there is a sweet prize for you at the end. A prize that cannot be valued through money, fame or riches. It is the ultimate gift…
I N N E R – F R E E D O M .
You can experience this in your lifetime. We can all travel through the doorways of our resistance, whether it be around our health and body image, breaking through our physical pain, our emotional blockages and aches or a breakthrough in showing up to be present in our own lives, to receive that which is waiting for us, to be our true authentic selves, allowing all story, past beliefs and thoughts that do not serve us to drop away.
Life really is a practice. A yoga practice is a mini microcosm of the bigger macrocosm of our journey. Our work is a microcosm of our practice. Our relationships are a microcosm of our practice.
The practice is within. It lies with us. We are the ones, that we have been waiting for in our lives. It is you. It is me. It is all of us, showing up, with humility, with openness to grow and learn. With self-compassion and love. Knowing that we are on a journey. And as cliche` as this sounds, life really is about the journey, NOT the destination…
At the end of our sweet lifetime on this earth. It is not how ‘perfect’ we were at our head-stand in yoga or how ‘perfect’ we were in our lives that we will reflect upon and value. It is how loving we were – firstly to ourselves, and then with others – it is this that we shall look back on and smile about. The journey – the practice – the memories of how we broke through our resistance in that area or that area… with this person or that person… with ourselves. Being the best person we can be in this life. THIS is what we shall be proud of. THIS is THE PRACTICE.
This entire post was inspired by reading a gorgeous poem out of BKS Iyengers’ famous book, ‘Light on Yoga’.
Here is an exert that I wish to share… This poem is divine in every way imaginable. It encapsulates such beauty and the true essence of YOGA from my point of view. For those who don’t call themselves ‘Yogi’s’… Yoga means life. As in each moment we are uniting with the forces of nature, of the energies within our own being… You don’t need to show up at 6am to your local yoga studio to call yourself a Yogi. Living in harmony daily with self and others – being open to grow and courageous to meet yourself in each moment with self compassion and self love. This is my definition of a true Yogi. The Yoga is within.
…Song of the Soul…
I am neither ego nor reason, I am neither mind nor thought,
I cannot be hard nor cast into words, nor by smell nor sight ever caught:
In light and wind I am not found, nor yet in earth and sky –
Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.
I have no name, I have no life, I breathe no vital air,
No elements have moulded me, no bodily sheath is my lair:
I have no speech, no hands and feet, nor means of evolution –
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss in dissolution.
I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;
No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:
Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past freedom, past desire,
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire.
Virtue and vice, or pleasure and pain are not my heritage,
Nor sacred texts, nor offerings, nor prayer, nor pilgrimage:
I am neither food, nor eating, nor yet the eater am I –
Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.
I have no misgiving of death, no chasms of race divide me,
No parent ever called me child, no bond of birth ever tied me:
I am neither disciple nor master, I have no kin, no friend –
Consciousness and joy am I, and merging in Bliss is my end.
Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my form,
I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:
Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound –
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found.
Here’s to a life of divine practice in harmony with your entire being. Thriving, growing, dancing, moving, being – true to yourself in each and every breath.
x Om Shanti
The month of January marks one year since this website was born!
It has been a colourful, adventurous, creative year where fresh opportunities, new connections, friendships, travels, growth, learning, study and sharing of the Wholesome Loving Goodness message has evolved, sprouted forth and expanded.
So grateful for such a fruit-full, nourishing, inspiring year!
Thankyou to the world-wide family out there who have encouraged and nurtured this growth.
We are very inspired for some fresh juicy goodness as we welcome our 2nd year of this organic wholesome loving space of inspiration.
Love love and love!!!
X Lorien
Love really is the secret ingredient to whatever it is we do in this world.
Whether you are baking a cake, making the bed, talking with another, with the people closest to you in life, with an animal or at work interacting ~ whatever and with whoever the interaction or creation is happening with ~ if you add love to the equation, magic happens!
I am overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciation for the love and beauty experienced during my recent travels to India and the amazing new and exciting directions that are opening up for spreading the message and vision of Wholesome Loving Goodness with the world.
While cooking on a recent Yoga Retreat in the beautiful Byron Bay region of Australia, I found some opportunities to ‘create love’ visually with the food I was preparing for the participants. The experience of cooking for a group of Yogi’s 7 days in a row was heart-opening and inspiring! It was a challenge and so rewarding through the feedback and love that was exchanged within the sharing of the meals as a community.
One bowl of porridge at a time, one wholesome vegetable soup at a time, one lovingly made hot drink at a time… we can start to spread warmth, and wholesome loving home-made goodness that each and everyone of us has the abilitiy to generate in our own kitchens, with who we are and what we love, transformation of our own body, mind’s and spirit’s can begin to take place and have ripple effects that spread into our relationships, family, work and communities. I’m inspired and excited for this journey to continue.
There is so much to share, there are 1,000’s of images from India ranging from food to friendly warm faces. There are stories and experiences that words cannot do justice to. India was a very Wholesome Love Filled adventure! So much gratitude for the journey and so much inspiration for the vision of Wholesome Loving Goodness and service in the world continuing to blossom and flourish in new and exciting ways as we enter into Spring of 2013!
It’s great to be back. I am grateful for all the support, enouragment, love and beauty that I have received since beginning this journey just over one year ago.
With wholesome, loving, goodness and joy!
x Namaste
Lorien
Full Moon is a special sacred time of the month to give praise to Mother Nature and express gratitude towards her for the gifts and nourishment we receive throughout each month.
‘Chandra’ meaning ‘shining’ in Sanskrit is the word used in the yogic tradition for moon. The moons energy is cooling ~ which is why for fertility in Ayurvedic medicine, cooling herbs and practices are often given to women when they wish to conceive.
“As is the human body, So is the cosmic body. As is the human mind, So is the common mind. As is the microcosm, So is the macrocosm. As is the atom, So is the universe.” ~Upanishads
Cooling, beautiful, nourishing, abundant, powerful, magical, whole, fertile, radiant, glowing full Moon!
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