yoga teacher training retreat uvita costa rica

Sangria Slushy

4/29/2017

sangria slushy, almost healthy

Sangria Slushies

Although I don’t drink much wine I know most people do. Here’s a lovely little recipe I cam up with. I love my blender (a vitamix) but any blender will work. I’m always coming up with new ideas for my blender. I love smoothies.

Then I thought about a hot day on the beach as the sun set and figured an alcoholic drink sounded great.

Out came the vitamix.

Here’s what I used:

2 clementines
1 banana
1 cup pineapple
1 cup white wine

Blend until smooth. Then add ice an blend some more.
Sometimes I use frozen bananas and or pineapples too.

Of course you can vary this.

mangos and pineapple
orange and banana
grapes and kiwi

Be creative. It’s almost healthy. Darker wines for darker fruits. White wines for the tropical lighter colored ones.
I made one with vodka and carbonated water. It was yummy too. So refreshing on a hot summer day.

Herbs you can grow for your health

4/28/2017

I am so into growing things. I love actually knowing where my food comes from. I love checking on it everyday. Seeing what's up. I've never had a green thumb, so it's actually a lot of work for me. Herbs and spices are medicine. Take a look at this website for more information. Study up a bit on Ayurveda and see what you can grow and eat that makes your life and health a little better.
www.ecosnippets.com/gardening/medicinal-plants-you-can-grow/

mala making 101

4/25/2017

thechalkboardmag.com/make-mala-beads-wear-resolutions

superb info here!!!!!

mala making 101. yoga maya yoga teacher training.

mala supplies from etsy I like

4/25/2017

mala making cording from etsy

www.etsy.com/transaction/1274452385

For those rock stars that enjoyed the mala making at the retreat, please look a little further back into this blog and you will find info on malas, mantra and other useful items.

Here I will post links to some of the finds I purchased on etsy.

The larger beads we used are inexpensive wood beads from places like Pat Catans. They are 8mm. Hole size is a bit over 1mm. This is important as to the SIZE of string you want to use. Especially if you want to place knots between each bead.

If the cord is too small, the knot will not hold the bead in place. The bead will just slip right over the knot. Just like my 00 size pants slip right over my tiny pixie-like frame. That's why I wear a belt.

Here's some stone beads: 8mm with a 1mm hole

https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1260262746

www.etsy.com/transaction/1260262746

Here's some sandalwood beads: They smell great and will take and hold (for a while) some essential oils. Yummy.

https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1274452385

I don't know why, but I can only put in one "hyperlink".

Here's some fun cording. This is what I used on the white stone mala I wore. With the blue cording. This cording is 1mm and it went through almost all the beads well. About 10 of them gave me some trouble and I did not use them. I had over 108 beads (bought three packs) so I was fine. I did put a "counter bead" in after each 27th bead. For counting and asthetics. It's entirely up to you.

https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1253016080

I would use a larger bead for the GURU bead. Say your mala is of 8mm beads. Maybe a 10mm bead for the guru would look nice. Just an idea. It's your mala. Be creative.

Yoga Teacher Training, The Five Earth Elements: Ayurveda

4/20/2017

yoga teacher training ayurveda

Yoga Teacher Training: More Mala Information

4/19/2017

One of my favorite creations

What is a mala?
A mala, which is Sanskrit for garland, is a string of beads—typically 108, in addition to one guru bead—which are used as a meditation tool while chanting, reciting or silently repeating a mantra. Malas help the wearer focus their mind and are often used to recite mantras in sets of 108 repetitions. Malas are made from various types of materials, including gemstones, wood, seeds or crystals. When not used for specifically meditation, malas can help wearers carry a sense of peace, calm, mindfulness and focus with them throughout the day.

What is a mantra?
A mantra—Sanskrit for sound, syllable, word or group of words—is a personal “motto” of sorts that is repeated during meditation to help create focus and self-transformation. When repeating a personal mantra, the meditator can calm the mind to allow deeper levels of relaxation and awareness.

What is the significance of the 108 beads? What is the significance of the numbers 3 and 6?
Malas allow the wearer to keep count of mantra recitation, allowing her to stay focused, calm and relaxed while repeating a mantra 108 times. In traditional Tibetan Buddhism, mala beads are often created using 108 beads, as a 108-bead mantra repetition represents the 108 worldly sins in the Buddhist doctrine. In addition, the number 108 is considered to be sacred in many Eastern religions, representing the universe as one thing (1), nothing (0) and everything (8, or infinity). The numbers 9 and 12 also have spiritual significance in many Eastern religions, with 9 times 12 equaling 108. In addition, the numbers 3 and 6 are significant in relation to mala beads, with Buddhist malas coming in three forms: 108, 54 and 27 beads. On a traditional Buddhist mala, the three beads above the guru bead represent the Three Refuges: Homage to the Buddha, Homage to the Dharma and Homage to the Sangha. Traditional 108-bead malas are divided into six groups of 18 beads, with a divider between each bead, while 54-bead malas have six groups of nine beads. Each dividing bead represents a point of pause for silent meditation.

What is the significance of the gemstones? Why do they all have healing properties?
Malas are made using a wide variety of materials, many of which are gemstones. Gemstones have been used for centuries for healing and to reflect energy from the earth. Each gemstone also has a particular meaning and healing properties, and wearers can choose their mala beads based on what they’re seeking from their meditation. Amethyst, for example, promotes spirituality and helps the wearer stay centered, spiritual and serene. Tiger’s Eye, on the other hand, promotes courage and helps the wearer stay powerful, grounded and mindful.

What is the significance of the tassel or Om charm?
Mala and Mantra mala bead necklaces each contain tassels, while some mala bead bracelets include an Om charm. In traditional Buddhist culture, tassels are symbolic of lotus blossoms, which represent and promote enlightenment. Om charms are representative of a common mantra used in meditation and prayer, and are said to bring luck, harmony and peace to the wearer.

How do you use a mala for meditation?
Start by holding your mala beads in your left hand, resting the beads between your index finger and thumb. Begin reciting your chosen mantra, counting each repetition by moving to the next bead. When you complete one set of mantra repetition—108 for mala bead necklaces; 27 for mala bead bracelets—and reach the guru bead, flip the mala around 180 degrees, then continue in the same direction.

Yoga Teacher Training: Tonglen Meditation

4/18/2017

Tonglen Meditation Yoga Teacher Training

Tonglen Meditation

aka/or Giving and Receiving: A Practice of Great Mercy
Joan Halifax

1 Cultivating Mercy

The practice of Tonglen or Giving and Receiving is done to develop our compassion and our ability to be present for our own suffering and the suffering of others. It is also a practice of great kindness that opens up our whole being to the overwhelming presence of suffering and our strength and willingness to transform alienation into compassion through the energy of mercy and the cultivation of openness.

Tonglen is one of the richest and bravest practices that we can do. In teaching this practice for more than twenty-five years, I have been told again and again that this one practice has helped many people immeasurably in attending to their own fears around pain, suffering, dying, and loss and has given them a real basis for the joining of compassion and equanimity. This is one of the great meditation jewels that offers a way us to cultivate our natural mercy.

We begin the practice with a heart that is truly committed to helping others and to working openly with our own situation. When we look deeply into how this can actually happen, we see that to help others, we must relate with kindness toward our own suffering, our rage, helplessness, and frustration, our doubt, bitterness, and fear.

The practice of Sending and Receiving helps us to get in touch with the obstacles that prevent us from understanding and caring. Through our own experience with suffering and the development of an atmosphere of openness toward it, we can begin to accept and be with others and ourselves in a more open, kind and understanding way. Our own difficult personal experiences then become the bridge that leads us to compassion and to giving no fear.

2 Giving No Fear

In order to give no fear, we must first learn to relate with our own suffering—our rage, helplessness, frustration, doubt, bitterness, and fear--

instead of pushing it away.
Gentle loving-kindness toward ourselves is what it takes to be present for our own suffering. We need to learn to stay with our own suffering without trying to change it or fix it. Only when we are able to be present for our own suffering are we able to be present for the suffering of others. The practice of mindfulness meditation, in which we watch the ebb and flow of mental activity, is a good way to cultivate this ability. With gentle precision and honesty, we stay with our experience through foul weather and clear skies. Seeing the mental weather go through its changes gives us some sense of the nature and cause of our suffering and also of the possibility that, at the very ground of our being, we are all free from suffering.

The practice of giving and receiving develops our ability to be present for suffering and offers us a way to cultivate natural mercy. It trains us to use the energy of loving-kindness to open our hearts to suffering and transform it into well- being. It asks us to invite suffering into our being and let it break open the armor of our heart. The tender spaciousness that arises awakens selfless warmth and compassion. We cannot help but send our love and kindness to the one who is suffering, be it others or ourselves.
The basis of the practice is the realization that suffering exists and that beings can be free of suffering. These are the two great points of faith that guide us in this practice. We discover them to be true through our own experience. When I sit with a dying person, I must see both of these dimensions. I must look from a place in myself that includes suffering but that is bigger than suffering. I must look from a heart that is so big that it is open to everything, including freedom from suffering. Can I see her suffering and her great heart as well? Can I see his true nature, who he really is, deeper than the story?

3 Shall we begin? Meditation: Giving and Receiving

To begin the practice, you can sit in meditation posture, relax in a chair, or lie down. Gently close your eyes and let your body and mind settle. You want to feel relaxed and open.

You can say this prayer—or the prayer of your choice—to create a sense of spaciousness in which the giving and receiving can take place:

Having recognized the futility of my selfishness And the great benefit of loving others, may I bring all beings to joy.
May I send all my virtues and happiness to others through the strength of my practice, and may I receive the suffering, obstacles, and defilements of all motherly beings in all realms.

Begin by breathing in whatever you are feeling—fear, agitation, anger, resistance—and accepting it. On the exhalation breathe out well-being. Clear your mind by bringing awareness to what is agitating you and breathing it in, accepting it with kindness. Then, as you exhale, give yourself some spaciousness. Do this breath practice until you are calm and alert

Working with the Texture of the Breath

When you feel settled, begin the second stage of the practice, which is establishing a rhythm of breathing.

On your in-breath imagine that you are inhaling heavy, hot air.

On your out-breath visualize exhaling cool, light air.

Continue with this pattern--

Breathing in heaviness and breathing out lightness—until it is familiar to you.

The heaviness is suffering; the lightness is well-being.

Now imagine that you are breathing through all the pores of your body.

On the in-breath heavy, hot air enters every pore.
On the out-breath, cool light flows from every pore.

Dissolving the Metal Sheath around the Heart

Now visualize a metal sheath around your heart.
This metal sheath is everything about you that is difficult for you to accept:

Your self-importance, selfishness, self-pity.
It is the band of fear that hardens your heart.

The practice invites you to dissolve this metal sheath and open your heart to its natural nonjudgmental state of warmth, kindness, and spaciousness.

You can do this by visualizing the metal sheath breaking apart when the in-breath of suffering touches it. When the heart opens, the hot, heavy air vanishes into its vast space. What arises is natural mercy. It is this quality of unarmored heart that allows you to be with suffering and at the same time to see beneath the suffering.

Awakening the Heart

The reason you are doing this practice is that you are suffering, others are suffering, and you wish with all your heart that all beings could be free from suffering. This wish needs to be specific, personal, and sincere. It helps to touch in with a being or an event that evokes this wish. The Tibetan teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche would remember having seen a puppy being stoned to death when he was a child. He would have done anything to relieve the dog of its suffering. He used the memory of this helpless puppy to open his heart at the beginning of the practice.

Bring to your mind some being, dead or alive, with whom you feel a deep connection: a parent, child, pet, your grandmother, your dearest friend, your beloved teacher—someone who is suffering.

You would do anything to help this one. Be with this one and feel what she is experiencing. Let your whole being turn toward her suffering and your wish that it might be relieved.

See how vulnerable she is. Like a mother who will do anything to help her child, you will do anything to help your friend.

Visualize the suffering of your beloved as polluted, hot smoke and breathe it in through your whole body. The instant that the in-breath of suffering touches the metal sheath of self-centeredness around your heart, the sheath breaks apart, and your heart opens to the suffering.

The hot smoke instantly vanishes into the great space of your heart, and from this space spontaneously arises an out-breath of mercy and healing.

Send a deep, cool, light, and spacious healing breath to your friend. Let the out-breath flow through every pore of your body.

Let this one’s suffering remind you of the many others who find themselves suffering in the same way. This friend is your connection to them.

Breathe in their suffering.
Let your heart break open.
Send them healing with your out-breath.

Continue with this practice for several minutes.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.

Yoga Teacher Training: The Power of Mantra

4/18/2017

Mantra Power!

Mantras are powerful sounds and when chanted with devotion produce enormous effects. Mantras are well-off in their meanings and their meaning can be meditated while chanting. As the mind concentrates more and more on mantra and its meaning, it conditions the mind and takes up to the higher states and forms the path to salvation - the eternal bliss. Read on to know about the significance of mantra…

The Vedas are full of mantras, therefore have been kept for ages in their raw form to use in the different practices like patha, karma, jata, gana, patas. It has been done to ensure that the chanter clearly interprets the correct letters and sound for each letter (svara). People are advised to chant the mantras only when they know the correct pronunciation of it. That is how mantras are kept against deterioration with time.

Mantras Are Energy-Based Sounds
Sound is the foremost content of the creation. Mantras are divine sounds. Saying any word produces an actual physical vibration. Over time, if we know what the effect of that vibration is, then the word may come to have meaning associated with the effect of saying that vibration or word. Mantras appear really powerful when this sound effect reaches the mind and the surroundings.

Mantras Create Thought-Energy Waves
Mantra, when chanted sincerely produces a state where the organism vibrates at the rate completely in tune with the energy and spiritual state, represented by and contained within the mantra.

Mantra Have Fire-Like Energy
Mantras have fire like energy which can bring a positive and beneficial result, or it can produce an energy meltdown when misused or practiced without some guidance. There are certain mantra formulas which are so exact, so specific and so powerful that they must be learned and practiced under careful supervision by a qualified guru.

Mantras Eventually Quiet the Mind
At a deep level, subconscious mind is a collective consciousness of all the forms of primitive consciousnesses which exist throughout the physical and subtle bodies. Sincere use of mantra can excavate into subconscious crystallized thoughts stored in the organs and glands and transform these bodily parts into repositories of peace.
From I Love India.

rudraksha seeds used in a knotted mala

Addiction, Recovery and Yoga

4/5/2017

Just watch this.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Np3GjzJUHI

More mala information. Yoga teacher training 101

4/5/2017

As I play creating more complex designs with my malas more questions arise in my mind. In my quest to know everything about malas I found another great website that offers their take on malas, spacer beads, counter beds, guru beads and just about everything mala.

I have concluded that I don't know who is "right" or "wrong" here. It seems to me that there is no right or wrong when it comes to mala making. So if you are into it at all, take a look at this website. I hope to have a few pictures up of my new designs soon. Right now my dining room table is a mess. So stay tuned.

malakamala.com/blogs/news/62615235-what-does-each-part-of-a-mala-mean-the-significance-of-a-mala

In this Tibetan style mala, It appears they do not count the "marker bead". They also used a tassel with more than 12 (24 when doubled) strings. YTT-200 AYTT-300.

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