You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
And they settle ‘neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if you
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
-Sarah Bareilles
Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. -George Edward Woodberry
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. – Victor E. Frankly
Practicing the balance of effort and ease (asana) on the yoga mat gives us the tools to practice that balance off the mat. You can practice yoga anytime, anywhere because it is simply the practice of balancing effort and ease and acting along that line of balance.
sthira sukham asanam – Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 2:46
sthira = steady, stable, motionless
sukham = comfortable, ease filled
asanam = meditation posture
Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. – Denis Waitley
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.
If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
-Oprah Winfrey
An old Cherokee told his grandson, “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil. It is Anger, Jealousy, Greed, Resentment, Inferiority, Lies and Ego. The other is Good. It is Joy, Peace, Love, Hope, Humility, Kindness, Empathy and Truth.”
The boy thought about it and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”
The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”
-Cherokee Proverb, Author Unknown
-Last heard on Tomorrowland
Ahimsa: “Consideration for all living things, especially those who are innocent, in difficulty, or worse off than we are.” – T.K.V. Desikachar’s Yoga Sutra translation in “The Heart of Yoga,” Sutra 2.30
“Practice with ‘right effort’ will help you perceive the greater pattern that relates you to everything. Yoga aims to teach you that when you look accurately out upon the world, you will see that everything out there is simply YOU. How far inward do you have to look to know that you are the source of everything and you are also everything that manifests from that source? There is nothing that is not you, there is no way to get outside of the greatest pattern that connects and unifies all things. It is laughable in its simplicity when you can expand your consciousness enough to embrace the immensity of it.” – David Garrigues
What do your thoughts about others say about you? Use the mirror of yoga for self study.