Free Meditation Radio Station from Pandora.com
If you haven’t already heard of Pandora.com, you should really check it out. You can type in the name of any of your favorite artists or songs and it creates a radio channel with similar artists or songs. But for our purposes here on Nirvana Island, I went to Pandora today and typed in Meditation, Nature Sounds and Zen Garden and I was given three new channels with meditation music! What is also great is that your stations are saved so that when you come back each day, they are waiting right there for you! You might have to sign up real quick for free, but after that the music is endless! Enjoy!
Yoga Journal ~ August 6, 2008
My yoga classes have been really rewarding. I have been going 5-6 times a week to class and I can really see an improvement with the ganglion cyst in my wrist. My shoulders were really weak when I started a couple of months ago. I bought an angled wedge to help keep my wrist at a 45 degree angle doing arm balance poses like hand stand and it has helped the pain go away as I get stronger. The most important thing that I have learned this far is to always be mindful of your shoulders. Bring them up and back so that they slide down your back, especially when you are in down dog. You want your shoulder blades to be away from your ears and sliding down your back in order to prevent wrist injury. Try one yoga class all the way through, just concentrating on your shoulders, no matter what pose you are in. It has made a tremendous difference in my practice and I believe that it has really helped to heal my wrist while strengthening it. I was also able to start doing crow pose by placing a block under my feet in the squatting position before placing more weight onto my hands (while the wedge is under them). I was able to get my feet off of the block for a few seconds!! Major improvement! I am being really careful and mindful of my wrist. I also moved my computer mouse to the left side so that I can give my right wrist some relief. It all adds up! No matter what pain or injury you might have, or not have, always set out to do your practice with a complete awareness of your body and what you can do to keep it safe while getting stronger. If you honor your body, it will honor you!
No thoughts are good thoughts!
When we meditate, we are essentially letting go of all thoughts that stress us and that occupy and take too much space in the mind. The thoughts are taking residence and dragging us down. The wonderful thing about meditation is that it releases us from the hold of our uninvited thoughts. As they come into existence in our mind, we can observe that they are happening and let them go. This way, we don’t let them take hold of our emotions and worry us. For instance, if I was driving in my car and had a thought about a bill that I had to pay in two days, I would stop, become aware that I am having this thought, envision it floating away like a balloon would and go on with my drive. This way, the thought never creates anxiety or stress, it just IS. I acknowledge it and do not allow it to affect my mood or day. This lesson will keep us younger and happier longer!!
Debt
“Do everything you can to avoid debt. Remember that you are attempting to simplify your life, so you don’t need to purchase more of what will complicate and clutter your life. If you can’t afford it, let it go until you can.” -Dr. Wayne Dyer
Even if you can afford something, it doesn’t mean that you should just spend your hard earned money on it. Let the way you spend reflect your intentions. Not your impulsive intentions, but the intentions that you are working to cultivate like love, compassion, helping others. If you notice that you are overwhelmed in your life, just see what liberating yourself from the clutches of “things” does to you. It starts to feel like you are chipping away at this shell and finding the heart of the matter inside. It truly is the heart of the matter. It is you in all of your awesomeness!
Meditation~One with the Ocean
As you practice meditation, quieting your mind and releasing all thoughts, practice Ujjayi breathing or Ocean Breath. To do Ujjayi, first breathe in with an open mouth and allow the sound “aahhh” to whisper out. As you exhale, allow the sound “huh” to whisper out with an open mouth. Continue on this way until you can create the sound in the back of your throat with a closed mouth. Now as you inhale, imagine the Ocean wave coming towards you as you stand on the sand and see it break at your feet and wash up with white foam around you, as you exhale, see the water rejoining the Ocean and becoming one again. Continue this way and as thoughts arise, watch them come in and allow them to go out. Concentrate on your breath and on your point of focus which is the Ocean. As the wave becomes one with the Ocean, you become one with your truth.
One Month~ Cornucopia of Change
Dear Readers,
It has been one month since my last entry. I thought it would be fitting to begin with a journal entry about the events of the last month. As you may or may not know, Nirvana Island was started after my re-introduction to yoga. It was a solace for me, a positive escape. I wanted to help myself and help others with positivity. In the last month, I have decided to enroll in a yoga teacher training program beginning in October that will take me through a journey for 8 months. I am thrilled about the upcoming experiences that I will have! I have already begun reading the books on my class list and it’s been transformational. To add to the fun, I was away for 12 days in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico where I tied the knot! We had 50 family and friends join my new husband and I for the once in a lifetime occasion! Having a destination wedding was the best decision that we could have made. Everything went so smoothly! Besides the 10 pieces of luggage that we brought down with us, it wasn’t very difficult to coordinate the planning from a distance. I have the most wonderful memories of all that took place. Being so close to the Ocean and being able to fall asleep to the sound of the Ocean waves was very relaxing. I miss that so much and use it as a basis for my meditations now. While being away from the day to day details, I decided to be more focused and really distribute my time in a balanced and even way during my waking hours. That is why the format of Nirvana Island will take a little shift. Rather than having Daily entries for all of the subjects on this site, I will have a daily entry for the day. It could be a meditation, a journal entry, a quote, or a picture. But with everything going on right now, I would rather have one entry that is well though out rather than five that I just throw up on the page. Doing this will allow me to keep this going while I also keep the other important aspects of my life going. I am looking forward to writing about my experiences in my teacher training program, about married life, about positive change, my progress with meditation and achieving equanimity. Namaste, Diana
Ouchie!
When we wake up every morning, we might find that we have a little ache or a little pain that suddenly appears. Or maybe we have a pain that just won’t quit. Our bodies are direct reflections of our inner life. The thoughts and worries that occur in our minds, manifest in the physical body. Be aware of these aches (sometimes it’s hard not to!) and breathe into them, see what you can learn from them by meditating alongside the pain. In her book, You Can Heal Your Life, Louise L. Hay sites many ailments and their probable causes in the mind. You can find a listing of these ailments HERE. Find your ailment, see the probable cause and read the affirmation that you can say to yourself to massage the pain out of your body and help to resolve the underlying problems.
Daily Inspirational Photo~Butterflies
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