by Brianna | Oct 9, 2014 | Affirmations, Breathing, Change, Healing, Power of Thought, practice, Transformation, Willingness
I believe that there is a huge difference between choice and habit. Making a choice, also known as a decision, requires presence, awareness, and discernment. Habit is a default setting. Habit is you on repeat. Habit, is your foot on the gas while you are asleep at the wheel. We become what we repeatedly do. Sean Covey Since most of our daily behaviors are habituated we stay on our track, comfortable with the familiar. Humans dislike discomfort and when I say dislike I mean HATE, humans hate discomfort. It doesn’t matter one lick if the habit is helping or hurting you, I guarantee you that even your baddest, darkest, ickiest habit is comfy like a perfectly worn pair of jeans. So many people desire change. They want it so badly they can taste it. They yearn for it. Yet they run their day exactly as they did the day before. Each habit bolstering the track they are on. They get to the point where even the desire to change becomes habituated. How many friends do you have that are talking about creating the same changes in their lives that they were embarking on a decade ago? Life is a series of choices. Each choice leads to the next, a chain reaction that starts in the past and impacts our future. Minor choices, major choices, and all the choices in between create ripples of impact, ripples of possible change. Repetition is not failure. Ask the waves, ask the leaves, ask the wind. Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening. The simple truth is that when we change it is going to...
by Brianna | Aug 26, 2014 | chakra yoga, Change, Healing Yoga Practice, Power of Thought, practice, Transformation
I teach about change a lot. I have a workshop (In Transition) dedicated to its power. I push my students to transform themselves and step out of their comfort zones. And at this moment, I am being schooled on how much change, even when it is positive and kick-ass, is uncomfortable. Frankly, change is hard. Changing is not for sissies. Currently I am mid move (state-to-state). I am packing 3,000 square feet of living and studio space. I am shifting my business, letting go of my beautiful studio, and transitioning from brick and mortar to: traveling as a teacher, writing my second book, and working with clients online. I was recently and joyfully engaged to my longtime love. A new member of my family was born . My best friend just had twins. I published my first book and with its printing finished a project I had worked on for eleven years. Things are definitely different and in FLUX to say the least. Change is gonna come, like the weather They say forever, they say ~ M. Gray It is times like these, even though I would prefer to eat pizza, brush my teeth with coffee, and drink martinis straight and dirty, that I have to be the most diligent about my practice, my diet, and my sleep. That is because when my stress gets high my nature shifts and I am ready to GO. In times like these I have to rein in my own intensity. I have to actively stop myself from going into overdrive. Otherwise my ass would be up at 3am jumping like...
by Brianna | Aug 12, 2014 | Breathing, Healing, Healing Yoga Practice, Moving Meditation, practice, Yoga
Sometimes busy bees do not have time for an extended practice. Sometimes busy bees are wearing dresses instead of pants and only have one minutes to themselves. Sometimes busy bees are exhausted and an extended practice will harm them more than heal them. One of the most freeing realizations I had during my healing from Chronic Fatigue was that practice is not defined by time – practice means practice. Some days for me my practice is hours and sometimes its minutes. Everyday though I take time to breathe deep, feel my feet, lift my heart and connect my body, mind, and spirit through the beautiful three part practice of Yoga. Yoga requires: YOU Yoga does not require: A mat. $100 pants or pants in general. an hour of your time. a heated room. an instructor in special pants, on a special mat, in a special room. How is your mindset impacting your practice? Does it bolster it or does it defeat it? Now shake a tail feather – get out there – DO THE YOGA! Here is a 1 minute practice to inspire beautiful YOU! ...
by Brianna | Jan 10, 2014 | Healing, practice, Reiki, restorative yoga, Uncategorized, Yoga
An age ago a very wise friend gifted me with the book Relax and Renew by Judith Lasater. Since then Restorative Yoga has been a regular part of my varied yoga practices and particularly useful when I am feeling overwhelmed by stress or exhaustion. I find that I am drawn to this style of Yoga in the winter months – it feels right on a cold and blustery days to indulge in a form a practice that requires a heap of blankets. Out beyond the idea of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field, I will meet you there. ~ the ever dreamy Rumi Here are some things I love about Restorative Yoga: In a pinch you can practice one Restorative pose for 5 to 10 minutes and shift your mood. Wrapped in blankets, supported by props, breathing deep. No technology, just you, your breath, and the practice. It is effective, quieting, nurturing, and simple. The Restorative Yoga practice I offer at Quiet Winds, like all of my offerings, is a layering of healing arts. My intention behind this methodology is to create a deeply relaxing experience where my students have the opportunity to rest and restore themselves. As a teacher I am often shocked by the level of stress that my students bear on a regular basis both personally and professionally – I love to help my students unwind from their world and become deeply...
by Brianna | Nov 21, 2013 | practice, Yoga
It seems like sometimes I simply wake to the taste of fear. Like the emotion tiptoed in during the night and perched on the very tip of my tongue. In those instances, fear easily builds on fear and suddenly I am in the Sea of Worry drowning in the distance parts of my mind. Go, knock at the door of your own heart. Rumi Practice, my practice, has been instrumental in helping me to realize when I am down shifting into fear. I have learned with time, to listen in – but not necessarily buy in – to the stories that are swirling in my mind. Now when I first taste fear, I pull myself to pause. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t – I am imperfect and that is why this type of self-work is so aptly called practice. When it works – simply pausing will often reset me automatically. When it doesn’t, I consciously choose to redirect my mind’s focus and reach for one of my healing tools in my proverbial toolkit. I find that it is the remembering to do so that is the real trick. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti The truth is that it is easy to practice when things in your life are nice. It is difficult to practice when you are completely overwhelmed with busyness or mired in worry, fear, or worthlessness – the irony is that practice becomes most important when you are these places of deep discomfort. By practicing in your dark as well as in your light you start to really know yourself and your mind’s trickster nature. You start...
by Brianna | Sep 12, 2013 | Breathing, Healing, practice, Reading, Yoga
There are several essential oils that act as natural balancers. These adaptogens, as they are called, will instigate a reaction in the body that is appropriate to achieve a state of homeostasis or balance.* If you have interacted with me in the last few months I am pretty sure I have waxed poetic to you about aromatherapy. Recently I started to blend my own oils and have been reading about, researching the scientific literature, and playing with the actual oils pretty much daily. This week I stumbled upon the notion of adapotgenic oils. Adaptogens have a normalizing effect on the body so they can be both (and this is weird) a stimulant and relaxant. The oil “adapts” depending on your nervous system’s particular needs. Amazing, right? Adaptogenic Foot Rub: 1 TBL Vegetable Oil (carrier oil – I use Grapeseed) 3 drops essential peppermint oil 3 drops essential lavender oil 3 drops essential lemon oil Rub the oil all over your feet, breathe deep and smile. *Valerie Anne Woodward, The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy,...
