Thursday, March 31, 2011

Behavior Modification Strategy....Karma Busting


I love the following exercise because it can be used for any "less favorable" habit that is getting in the way of your mental and physical health. I adapted this a bit to include some "self-study" follow up. Failing is part of the process. Use your failures as educational tools to empower you to succeed. Failure can be one of our biggest teachers and friends.




KARMA BUSTING EXERCISE

1. What is “the one” choice that you are making everyday that is no longer serving you? This is your most undesirable behavior that you are actually aware of.

2. What is going to happen if you continue to make this choice? This is your cost/benefit analysis. What is it costing you?

3. What is going to change in your life if you make a better choice?

4. Please write in one sentence (a mission statement) what your new behavior looks like. This is a positive goal. For example, if your sugar addiction is your negative choice, your sentence could be “I’m at my ideal body weight. My moods are even and positive. My skin is glowing. I have good relationships”. This is reframing the situation.

5. What must change in your life so that you make a better choice? This includes attitudes, perceptions and behavior.

6. What can you do today to change your path in a positive way?

Follow up:

Was I successful? Why? Why not?

Example of Karma Busting Exercise

1. Choosing to stay up late every night.

2. Continue to be tired, groggy, uncreative and weight gain.

3. I will be be vibrant, clear and alert with loads of energy.

4. I am jumping out of bed with enthusiasm every morning!

5. I must honor that my body needs to rest to heal. I must place my body’s needs above the needs of my family and my head.

6. Get my buddhi to bed. Talk to my spouse about the need for us to go to bed early. Get my kids to bed ontime so I can have a little relaxation and me time before bed. Stop obsessing over the cleanliness of my home. Just let it go a little bit.

Was I successful? I failed the first week, but I realized that stress and trying to relieve stress was a big factor in staying up. Watching a show or puttering around the house relaxes me. I’m now more focused on using my meditation, my breath and mindfulness to eliminate some of the stress. I now look at bedtime as a reward for a hard day of work. It’s a sacred time and I did much better the 2nd week.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Financial "Moksha"

In yoga, we use a term called “moksha”. It loosely means “freedom”. This exercise is about finding financial "moksha". So much of our stress and inability to manifest is because we do not have a healthy relationship with money. Some of this is due to a simple lack of understanding…money, credit & bills are all very confusing. Some of this is also due to a simple need to fulfill the void in our life with material items.


I will tell you that shopping and spending does buy happiness. Who doesn’t get a little lift from a new pair of shoes? Unfortunately, this lift is temporary and that means we continue to spend our way to happiness and it’s like chasing a 747 attached to a kite. Ultimately we simply victims to the currents created by the 747’s noxious fumes and mired in debt and even more unhappiness. It’s time to take control of the current.


Budget.

Duh. I know you’ve heard this again and again. Seriously, do you know what you have. Follow this formula, fill in the gaps and change as necessary:



Monthly Net Pay (look on your paycheck and make sure your employer is withholding your taxes, it’s easier)

+

Savings (this equals 10% of the gross on the Monthly GROSS. That’s the big number.) You must do this to secure long term happiness. Set up a separate bank account to transfer savings to.

-

Mortgage or rent (include insurance and property taxes) Do have the bank hold these items in escrow. It’s easier and stress free.

-

Utilities: (electric, gas for home, trash service, water, homeowners association fees)

-

Cable television, Internet, home phone, security systems

-

Cell phone service

-

Home Maintenance (plan for your HVAC maintenance, gutter cleaning, lawn treatments, etc.)

-

Health Insurance (in a perfect world your employer is paying this and it’s taken out of your paycheck). If not, call an agent and get some.

-

Car Payment

-

Car Maintenance

-

Car Insurance

-

Groceries ($50/week per person in your home on average)

-

Eating Out (include your expensive lattes here)

-

Children (lessons, sports, school fees, musical instrument rental)

-

Children’s college fund

-

Christmas (holiday) savings

--

Birthdays and Gift savings

-

Other debt (add up monthly minimums on all. We’ll address getting out of debt later)

-

Pets (grooming, vet, feeding)

-

Entertainment

-

Shopping (clothes and other)

-

NET PROFIT OR LOSS



Now you might find at this point that you are (1) way over budget or (2) can’t afford certain important things like college savings. Do not stress. This is a process and this is where we begin. Print out this sheet and start eliminating non-mandatory spending (entertainment, shopping, what maintenance can you perform yourself? Is your car to expensive? Can you sell it and get a used car? Shop your cable access, shop your insurance)


You might find too, that you don’t know what you spend. This is your time to start tracking your purchases. Make a spending journal. Keep it on the fridge so that the whole family can understand. No secrets. Put it out there. This is a team effort. What are you teaching your children by acting like everything is unlimited and okay? You are teaching them to overspend as adults. Get everyone on board. As you realize that you have habits and unrecorded expenditures, add them to your budget.


SPECIAL NOTE ON INSURANCE

If you do not feel you can afford insurance, do know that it is imperative to have “catastrophe” insurance at a minimum. In the event you have huge bills, you are going to be taken care of….think car wreck, serious illness here. This means that you have a large deductible….you are out of pocket on most care. Don’t fret over that because with health and dental, most doctors and dentists will help you with a payment plan. With the car insurance, it’s not as easy, but it is better to have something, rather than nothing in this world we have created.

Now you have a budget. If you are like most people, you have noticed that you are wasting a lot of money. Don’t feel bad, you are in good company! Time to take control.


WANT AND NEED

I know you have heard this before too and I know that this is tough. During this Cleanse you are learning that material items are not fulfilling you. You are craving something more. Perhaps you don’t realize it yet, but what you are craving is simplicity. Here are some things to do that can make you feel great about your choices, help the planet and fill up some of your time if you had to cut your entertainment budget:


· Go through all your clothing. If you haven’t worn it in the last two years, send it to charity.

· Go through your pantry. Donate to the food bank all the “unhealthy” choices you have accumulated. I know…I know… I don’t want the people dependant on the food bank unhealthy, it’s just such a sad waste and they do need the calories.

· Go through your house. Donate. If your “stuff” has become a burden, start to eliminate. Give it away to those less fortunate. You’ll feel great and free.

· Plant a garden. This is going to cut down on your food budget and entertain you for hours on end. Your entire family can get involved in gardening. If you don’t have a plot of land, use pots.

· Volunteer. We call this Karma Yoga in the studio. Work trades and bargains with the people and places providing you services. You would be surprised at what small business especially are willing to do for you if you are willing to do for them.

· Buy bulk. Stop wasting your money on individually packaged items. Definitely, do not buy water in bottles. Drink tap water and fill up a reuseable bottle.

· Shop local, farmers markets, organic and whole. Can you imagine the money that you are saving eliminating expensive items like meat, dairy and processed food? Do you know how inexpensive beans, grains and veggies are! Feel like you are treating yourself to not just quality food, but a few hours of entertainment by shopping the farmers markets, reading labels and making educated choices.

· Kill the coupons. Unless you are getting a % off, they are never worth it. Most food coupons are for processed foods. Buy two cans of garbage and get one free. Cancel the newspaper that is sending you the coupons. News is free on the internet.

· Buy used. Recycle, reuse, repurpose. This is so trendy right now and total fun! What can you turn your old stuff into? What can you buy used. Flea markets and garage sales make great entertainment too!

· Help and Serve. Volunteer everywhere you go. You will find you have no time for TV, shopping, talking on cells and surfing the net. Your entertainment quotient will multiply! There’s no better way to feel good about yourself by giving away. You will garner a whole new appreciation for the people and things in your life.

· Avoid. Don’t go to the mall. Don’t go to your fancy friend’s fancy house. Don’t look at the magazines that are trying to entice you. Don’t covet. Withdraw your attention and you will find an ease in your longing for possessions. Let ‘no’ be your first word. Don’t be tempted.

· Be strong. Tell people that you are on a budget…that you are sustaining the planet…that you are saving for your child’s future. It will give them something to think about.


Credit Cards: Cancel all but two. Keep the debit card. This is how you get out of debt. (1) don’t charge another item and (2) follow the below instructions:


Pull your most recent statements.

Rank your cards by the smallest to largest amount owed.

Make the following table that will be updated every single month:


Card Name Amount owed Monthly Minimum Balance


Bank of Unfulfilled Dreams

Total balance

Minimum balance

Balance after minimum payment

















Totals:






Now that you know what you owe….pause…breathe…it’s okay. We will get there. You aren’t alone. The latest stats show that most American homes are carrying about $16,000 in debt. Let’s not continue to be “most” though. Let’s fix this.


So here goes….


The credit card at the top of your sheet with the lowest balance is the one you are paying off first. Make all your minimum payments and give this card all the extra that you can. Then move to the next card after the first is paid off and cancelled. Don’t use your credit cards anymore. You are done with overconsumption…. Pause here to feel powerful.


Consolidation:

Make an appointment with your bank. Take all of this information to them and tell them that you need help. If the first bank is not helpful, go to the second. See what you can do to refinance your mortgage to the lowest rate and to consolidate your debt. This is the job of the people who work for the bank. We just gave 7 billion dollars to bale those guys out…make them work for it. Let them guide you.


Savings: always take advantage of the savings plans offered by your employer. They are the best out there and you won’t get a better deal. If no savings is offered by your company, go to that bank and ask them your options….words like ROTH will come up. Trust them.


What’s really going on?

Isn’t this easy? I mean seriously, the hard part is your emotional response to money, status and all the bling of life. Do you realize that you have been “sold” on this American dream by a bunch of CEOs who are actually living it? Do you really want to support them? Why not take your power back and create your own dream. Whatever happened to the idea of of living modestly, raising a healthy family and retiring to a life of peace? TV, magazines and media have destroyed us. Let’s create a new dream that we are in charge of. Our dream includes stress-free living…no sleepless nights, no aching needs, no destruction to our environment and planet. We will now laugh in the face of our enemy…the CEO.


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Gods words...my mouth...help

So I’m sitting in week 2 of editing the ‘sales pitch’ for the Elemental Cleanse which is to go online to the entire nation in a few short months. This should have been an easy one hour project. It hasn’t been. If you took a look at what I’ve done in 2 weeks working diligently on this, you would laugh.

You see, I stink at selling stuff. I don’t care about it. I think to myself that if someone were to simply read the testimonials and see that participants are losing 6 – 12 pounds in 28 days, that they are reinventing their lives, that they are reconnecting with their loved ones, that they are manifesting jobs, homes and love that that oughta do it. What more can I add, seriously?

I hate money back guarantees. I always think companies and people are full of it when they offer a money back guarantee especially on something that is anecdotally supported as its evidence. You know what? I’m happy to give you your money back no matter what because I don’t want your money if you are unhappy. That’s bad Karma. How’s that for a money back guarantee?

I don’t like “buy one and get one free”. It must suck if they have to give away the second one or clearly the first one is overpriced. The Elemental Cleanse is dirt cheap. For $179 (in person cleanse) you get 4 hours of yoga, 8 hours of lecture and a cleansing kit valued at $55. I’ve created two entire studios for you to practice yoga in to support you during the cleanse. In Montgomery, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night are all designed to support your cleanse! You have total access to me. I talk to you on the phone, I email, I blog and I do tons of research for you every time you even have an odd question like…”do microwaves change the nuclear photon protoplastic structure of food?” (seriously, they don’t).

How can I get you to participate in the cleanse? I have no idea. The problem for me is that you have to want to change your life. You have to have reached a point where you have tried the fad diets and failed, you have tried to have a tangible experience of God and failed, you are stressed, tired, lacking joy and honest to God…..your waking thought….is….”This can’t be all there is”. At that point, you will be happy to pay me $179 to teach you the skills you need to become your own master.

At the end of 28 days, you will come up to me and explain to me that I should charge more. Please God….you words….my mouth….help.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Decision Time

I have been so many calls lately from people who want to cleanse RIGHT NOW. I have to tell them that we don't start until month's end and they are always very disappointed. It's as if they have made the decision, they are at the end of their robe and they simply must start now! I do know how that feels.

The thing is though, it's nice to make a decision to do something and to sit with it. The Elemental Cleanse is a big commitment not just emotionally, but from a 'time' perspective as well. You need to plan ahead to clear your schedule a bit for the duration of the cleanse. Choosing to cleanse one month in advance gives you the opportunity to get some of the stressful chores of the cleanse out of the way.

This is what I give people to do while they wait for the cleanse to begin:

  • Find a yoga studio within 5 miles of work or home and start going at least once a week.
  • Look at your calendar for the 28 days of the cleanse and start to clear commitments.
  • Say no to new invitations during that period.
  • Go through your pantry. Toss old, outdated and not so healthy items. When you shop, choose only whole and organic to replace those pantry items.
  • Go through your cleaning supplies. Use up what you got and replace with organic.
  • Go through your make-up and skin care products. Use up what you got and replace with organic.
  • Create a "zen" space in your home where you will meditate. I always suggest the bedroom. Clear the clutter, buy some candles and make it comfy and gorgeous.
  • If you have been accumulating clutter in your home, start to organize. If you can't make decisions right now (happens to a lot of Earth imbalance), just place items you are unsure of in a box to go to storage and either you will get it all again or you will release it.
  • Go to the bookstore. Start to find some spiritual topics and authors that resonate with you.

I never encourage anyone to start studying Ayurveda. I like my students to show up not really knowing anything. We learn through experience during the cleanse and I find this is a very powerful way for you to experience and understand Ayurveda which can be a very confusing topic! Once you have the experience, you will simply "get it" and THEN I will send you on your way to start reading the Ayurvedic books!

We are taking sign ups now for the end of April! Hope to see you there.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

thoughts about abundance

If you practice at EOM or take the Elemental Cleanse, you will hear me speak to a method for manifesting anything you want in your life. Honestly, it sounds so cheesy. The entire topic has been so overdone by the spiritual community. There's "The Secret", "The Law of Attraction", "Creating Money" and I could go on. These books and motivational speakers all say the same darn thing about notions of "right thinking" and "right action". There are even some really good exercises in them if you can motivate yourself to follow through.


My problem with all of it is that they leave out the biggest bit of information because you probably wouldn't buy their book if they told you. They speak to the masses hoping to touch a few sets of ears that are actually willing to (and here is the bomb)...do the work. It's work. Manifesting is work. You must do your work and let me warn you...it's a lot of work. Why wouldn't it be? Why do you think you can have anything you want with effortless ease if you don't do the friggin' work to get the ball rolling?


So, what is the work?


1. Determination. Make up your mind that you want what you want and test the waters. Decide that you will get what you want without exception.


2. Clear Thinking. Settle your mind. If you've sat through even one of my yoga classes, you know the drill; spent time in silence, turn off the buzz of media, spend time alone and meditate.


3. Get busy being still. Please stop doing all the time wasters that have nothing to do with achieving your goals. Time wasters: watching TV, playing video games, engaging in boring "societal" conversation, being obsessed with neatness in your home, inability to delegate, constant running to and fro....you get the picture. Write down your goals instead. Make a business plan for your life. (see below)


4. Plan. (1) Gather information and educate yourself about that which you intend to manifest. You want to be a millionaire? You might just have to start your own business. You might have to go back to school. You might have to learn a new trade. What do you need to do and learn to achieve your dream? (2) Time to Reflect. This is about daydreaming and envisioning the fruition of your dream. Get very determined that this is how it is going to be. Let nothing sway you. (3) Push Yourself. Here we go! This is the hard work and what we call "right action". Every single day should be spent taking steps toward achieving your goal. Do you want love in your life? Well, sorry to be the one to break it to you, but you are going to have to get up every single day, shower, look good, take care of your body, get a smile on your face and make your adorableness contagious. Do you want to shift a relationship? Well, sorry again, but you are simply going to have to have those conversations you have been dreading and take responsibility for your part in the downfall. (4) Pretend. Find a hero. Find a mentor. Find someone who inspires you and motivates you and pretend to be them. Model their ways. (4) Pray. You are God's child and can ask for anything that you wish. Don't beg. Just humbly ask with gratitude. (I save prayers for the evening hours so that my Soul can flee through my dreams and work it out on the other side for me). (5) Faith. You must have faith and only a good experience of solitude, silence and manifestation will develop faith. Start your asking with some small shift in your life. You will get what I call a "hit" and then you are on your way to the bigger and bigger items on your dream list. These "hits" feel exactly like the feeling of joy.



If you supercharge these steps above with God's will, you will manifest anything that your heart's desire.

So in a nutshell, that's my way. Join EOM this weekend for our Manifestation Workshop. Kimberly is going to show you her way which "oddly" sinks up to my way! Kimberly is just as big a hard-ass as me too, so don't think you are going to get all fluffy and gooiey. Let's do some work!

Friday, March 4, 2011

The Law of Succes

Success is hastened or delayed by one’s habits ~ Yogananda (from The Law of Success)

I have a little tiny book (1/2 the size of an envelope and 34 pages long) called “The Law of Success” published by the Self-Realization Fellowship. It is some of the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda about one of the Universal Laws...the law of attraction. I keep it in my purse as a reminder to stay on my path.


This little book is amazing because in a short 34 pages (1/2 hour to read) Yogananda pretty much says everything you could ever need to hear about becoming successful. The page that it always falls open to for me has the quote from above, “Success is hastened or delayed by one’s habits”. I love this quote because it goes directly to something I teach in the cleanse about choice-making, not to mention it is what I need to hear everyday personally to stay on my path.


During the Elemental Cleanse, you receive a “self-assessment guide”. These are questions you can ask yourself to see if you are nutritionally sound. One of the questions, however, asks if the choices you are making are in alignment with your life’s purpose or dharma. I know this seems like a weird esoteric question, but it is really really important.


You see, if you do not have the body, the stamina, the vitality, the clarity, the energy and the drive to realize your life’s purpose, you will never achieve enlightenment (think happiness). On your deathbed, you will look back at your life and wish that you had done some things different. In yoga, that means that you will need to come back and do it all over again. I don’t remember being on the other side, but I hear its pretty awesome and I personally don’t want to come back and be on repeat. Even if reincarnation is bogus, I still don’t want to be on my deathbed with regret. Your habits or poor choice making can keep you stuck in an endless cycle of suffering.


Look at the habit of sugar. One day you wake up and have a Coke. It tastes pretty good and you get a little rush. Sugar is highly addictive, so the next day you crave another Coke. You get one. Years go by and you have put on 5, 10, 15 or more pounds as your sugar cravings have intensified and perhaps you’ve gone from 1 Coke a day to many. With the chaos of the sugar and caffeine buzz comes other poor choices in food and routine. Now you don’t feel or look so great.


Your mind begins to obsess over the fact that its tired and not sleeping well. You become grumpy as your loathing for yourself intensifies. You push the people away that you love because quite honestly, you find it hard to love yourself. Oh sure, you have happy moments and even achieve some success, but there is always a little something holding you back. You are always kind of hopelessly wishing that things were a little different. You imagine that your life would be so much better if you lost some weight and felt more vibrant.


What you probably never pause to think about is that first bottle of Coke and all the choices that came after. Now we can’t do anything about that first bottle. What we can do, however, is create a better habit starting today. Skip the Coke. Let your first word to your habit be NO. Success is a series of good choices. Let’s not stop at the Coke. Let’s Skip that glass of wine, that bag of chips, that lunch date with the friend who criticizes in such a sweet manner you never see it coming and that voice in your head that tells you you are not what you wish to be. Let’s skip the late night TV, the hard rock radio station and heck, go ahead and skip the nightly news. Let’s skip the negative self talk too while we are at it. Heck....give up negativity all together. Quite honestly, it’s boring.


Here are some good choices for you to do instead:

Drink water with lemon and ginger. Take your multi-vitamins. Go to bed by 10 pm and get up by 7 am. Read something spiritual and inspirational in bed. Go for a walk outside in nature. Buy a fish to take to work with you to calm you down at work. Listen to soothing music. Color a picture and hang it on your fridge. Pick a personal affirmation and say it in your head all day instead of thinking thoughts. Try out some yoga...pick a new class. Get your nails done. Go shoe shopping (my favorite), make a list of all the wonderful qualities you inherited from your mom and dad, go to the grocery store and only leave with fresh ingredients, cook a healthy beautiful meal for yourself to take to lunch, eat breakfast, find a spiritual workshop to motivate you, connect with a friend and spend an evening with them at home cooking and talking about life, read some poetry. Journal. Day Dream.


From Yogananda: Weaken a bad habit by avoiding everything that occasioned it or stimulated it without concentrating upon it in your zeal to avoid it. Then divert your mind to some good habit and steadily cultivate it until it becomes a dependable part of you.

I love that guy.......

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Are you releasing accumulated "ama"-ick?

The Elemental Cleanse is well under way for February! Many participants are starting to experience symptoms of detoxification! This is good. As the body releases ama-ick (toxins) stored in your cells, they enter your digestive system activating them in your body. Through meditation, your mind begins to release accumulated bad thoughts and memories. In a nutshell, your toxins, physical and emotional, are activated as they push from your body. As you release, you may experience the following:

Clogged sinus
Constipation
Cough
Diarrhea
Depression
Fatigue
Fever
Flu symptoms
Cold symptoms
Gas
Headache
Irritability
Moodiness (extremes of sadness and happiness)
Skin rash
Stomach ache

This is part of the process. If you are having this experience, it's time to rest. Be gentle with your body and mind. Nourish yourself. This is a great time to receive a professional Abhyanga massage, take a day off, journal and even nap! It's likely that you have been pushing yourself very hard for years and years. Let your body and mind heal.