Tag Archives: Pema Chodron

Meditation Mantra Or How To Stay In The Moment Without Losing Your Marbles

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Does your mind become really active and agitated in quiet yoga poses and when you sit in meditation? Like there is a pack of wild cracked-up monkeys living it up in there?

Me too.

My secret to not losing my marbles during quiet times is to give my brain a job to do while I am in a restorative pose or sitting for meditation. My now employed monkey mind brain can do a job while I keep my focus on the present moment – where the happiness lives.

What I say:

May I be filled with lovingkindness

May I be well

My I be peaceful and at ease

May I be happy.

I repeat this until my mind settles down or until my sit/pose is finished. Some days I am still saying it when the timer goes off and other days I am able to settle in and focus.

Why focus on my own well-being instead of wishing these things for others?

It’s exactly like what they say when traveling with someone who needs help on an airplane, take care of yourself first so you can take care of others.

When I say it:

I use this mantra during my sits and long stays on my mat. I also say it while I am driving somewhere stressful or on my way to work in the car or when I am wanting to punch the person at the grocery store in front of me in the head. These words also come in handy when I am lying down with my daughter wishing more than anything that she’d go to sleep already.

Basically when I feel my body get stressed out because of modern life, I try to quiet my monkey mind by repeating this mantra.

How to spread the love into the world:

After I feel all full of love for myself, I substitute the name of a person I love dearly where I had been saying I. Now that I’ve been practicing with this mantra for a few years, I am able to send some lovingkindness to others. Needless to say, it took me a really, really long time to get there.

That’s how I stay in the moment without losing my marbles.

What’s your secret? How do you stay in the present? Do you use a mantra? 

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Based on teachings from Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living by Pema Chodron and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg

Image source: We Heart It.

Awesome Yoga Happenings In Sacramento and Elsewhere

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Labor Day weekend. You are all invited. There is a good chance I’ll be teaching and I am totally going to class too. Join me?

Be sure to “like” Sacramento Free Day of Yoga on Facebook to get all the details.

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I wish I had a dime for every time someone asked about a book club. And don’t get me started on the scheduling!

Meredith from the Pondering Yogini has the answer: Online Yoga Book Club!

Join me?

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I know this isn’t happening until October, but I’ve already signed up. Anna is such an inspiration to me and I am thrilled to have a chance to practice with her.

Please join me and sign up today.

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Tell me about the awesome yoga happenings/events in your life.

MadYoga Goes Online! Part 2 – Madeleine Lohman Interview

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Teachers.

Don’t you just love them?

I know I do.

There are those that inspire me and those that make me laugh. Some help me solve problems in my classroom and others that help me solve problems in my life.

I’d like to introduce you to some of my favorite teachers here.

Teachers in studios, classrooms and in the world at large. These are the folks you will see featured in my new series of interviews here at Teacher Goes Back to School.

I hope you enjoy these teachers as much as I do!

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Have you met Madeleine Lohman yet? Click here for Part 1.

When did you start blogging? Why?

I started blogging really recently, and I did it because you told me to.

This is only a slight exaggeration.

I have lots of these smart friends who write consistently amazing and inspiring blogs and I have been incredibly reluctant to get on board.

Even though I have a lot of extrovert skills, I am at heart an introvert, and had a complex network of reasons why blogging would Not Be A Good Idea. But, through the gentle, persistent reassurance of people like you who insisted they would like to hear what I had to say, I got it over with, and I now love it.

In fact, I’ve signed on for #reverb10, pledging to write every day in December based on prompts regarding the year past and the year to come. Baptism with fire.

What is your blog about?

I call it the yoga of the day-to-day. Making a habit of taking the lessons from your mat and bringing them regularly into your daily life. And not just into the quiet moments of your life, but the hard and loud and uncomfortable ones. What Pema Chodron refers to as the “squeeze” – when you’re least likely to think of yoga, that’s when you need it.

Didn’t you recently guest post over at Bows and Sparrows?

I did.

Here’s the link to the Holiday Gift Guide for the Yogi.

What blogs do you read?

Well, besides yours, duh…

Kim at www.yogaquest.wordpress.com – yoga!

Havi at www.thefluentself.com – mindful biggification!

Michelle at www.blogasana.wordpress.com – although I hear this is changing…

Who and what inspires you?

People who handle adversity with grace.

My incredible students.

The change of the seasons.

My dog when he realizes we are, in fact, going for a walk.

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If you’d like to learn more about Madeleine check out her new website and blog!

Please leave any questions or comment love below – we’d love to hear from you.

INTERVIEW ARCHIVES:

November 2010: Alicia Herrera – 4th grade teacher/Textile Artist – Spirit House Designs.

October 2010: Ryan Fong – Teaching Assistant/PhD Candidate in English at UC Davis.

September 2010: Michelle Marlahan– Proprietress/Fairy Queen of It’s All Yoga in Sacramento, California.

Yoga+Music365 (day34) – Human Like a House by The Finches – My First Class Edition

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Monday night I taught my very first solo yoga class.

Despite all my hand wringing nervousness before the class, I absolutely loved it!

It finally clicked why I wanted to do this in the first place: to share something I love with people.

The following is from Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living by Pema Chodron:

We already have everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement.

These words sum up why I love yoga.

Oh yeah, I also really like the laying down with your eyes closed part too!

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Don’t forget FREE Fridays at 4:30 with the new It’s All Yoga teachers (21st and X in Sacramento) – you’ve got to sign up online www.itsallyoga.com. 

I’m teaching 3/5/10 – so mark your calendar.

For the month of February, I’m teaching a Level 1/2 on Mondays at 5:45. Come join me.