Monday, April 29, 2013

Teamwork


I have a dream
A song to sing
A feeling to follow
Words to shaHAhare

I let my Heart do the talking
and my body listens and acts
Moving and expressing
from the INside OUT

I've always felt PEACE
a tangible sensation HERE now
always looking for the good
and breathing LOVE into the situation

Now I know the value of teamwork
A group of people connected
Doing the work and spreading the word
Inciting a MOVEment

I believe in Laughter 
How it can chaHAhange our minds
And create peace in our bodies

I believe in Yoga
How it gives us flexibility
Enhances our breathing and helps us grow


I believe in the HAHA chi 
choosing haHAhappy and
 shaHAharing which is caring


I believe in you - me - WE
Our connection 
Our communication 
Our tribe

One Laugh
World Peace
One Love

Monday, April 22, 2013

INTEGRATION of WE


Raw and Juicy Tribe 2013

This weekend was OMazing.  Three Goddesses came together to hold sacred space for a mind, body, soul experience.  We covered topics that I am passionate about - Laughter, Raw Food and Learning.  We held a Raw and Juicy Weekend Retreat.

10 peeps signed up to explore a Raw and Juicy lifestyle.  We came together to learn about food combining and alkaline diets.  We experimented with spiralizers and juicers and dehydrators.  We drank chocolate mylk and green juices and ate crackers made of juice pulp.  We feasted on raw pasta, pad thai noodles and gourmet salads.  We concocted rawlicious cacao-coconut haystacks and lemon shortbread cookies and mintchoco patties.  We laughed and shook the stress out and found new ways to relax and ease into the learning experience.  We opened our bodies and minds with yoga and meditation.

I shaHAhared easy peasy recipes with 5 ingredients or less and introduced them to the benefits of laughter circles for stress release.  We talked about how to fuel our bodies naturally and create peaceful enerchi.

We laughed out loud and shook our bodies loose.  We listened and learned and lunched.  The process was so gentle and juicy.

On the last day of our retreat, we went on a field trip.   We traveled to Hollywood Beach to check out Josh' Organic Market.  We answered questions about fruits and vegetables and how to use them raw.  And then we got a special treat.  

Josh took us around the market and gave us samples of his herbs (cilantro, dill, arugula, dandelion, red sorrel) and his greens (butterleaf lettuce, spinach) and his citrus (grapefruit, minneola) and then the exotic fruit (mango and pineapple).  So rawlicious - woohoo.

What I am learning about ME, MYSELF and I - WE -  is that we like to shaHAhare what we know about growing all sorts of muscles that make our body healthy and haHAhappy.   We love creating space for others to learn about their body wisdom.  We love to show others how their temples work optimally when we integrate all parts of ourselves into this thing called life.

Monday, April 15, 2013

FAITH


Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying VERY fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves, that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside.

I wondered about how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then manage to gently alight its fragile body on the branch it chose to land, all within a FRACTION of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required, the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.

Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown, when no two are the same?

That little bird JUST KNEW. It knew... in spite of NOT being able to SEE HOW things would work out... that if (and only if) it stayed the course, THE DETAILS would be taken care of... that an opening would appear and a twig be found. In fact, had she slowed down ENOUGH to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have fallen to the ground.

Kind of like us reaching our goals. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith. 
 


I found this story on the internet and loved it so much - the truth of the bird just knowing - without seeing and without details and trusting the branch would be there.

Growing my laughter muscle has helped me be in this space of faith - knowing that I can laugh when I know not, when I cannot see and when I am not sure.  Laughing opens my heart and reminds me to have faith that all is well and hahahappens in its own time.

What a powerful Art to practice - FAITH.  Woohoo!!!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Flexibility


The captain of a ship received a message one night, "Change your direction 15 degrees North to avoid collision”.

A little indignant, the captain replied, “I am the captain of a large ship and recommend you divert 15 degrees South”.

The captain received the reply, “We are a lighthouse”.

No matter who you are, life requires flexibility.

Laughing for no reason really helped me learn the Art of Flexibility.   Practicing and strengthening my HAHA muscle embodied it within me.  

I was not always this way.  I used to be a paralegal in a law firm with 18 attorneys.  I used to be a "Type A" personality (overachiever, hard-driven, and every thing had to be perfectly done my way or oy va voy).  Talk about a lot of stress in my head and body.

All that extra stress showed up in my body in so many different ways - tight muscles, tension headaches, IBS, fibromyalgia, heart palpitations, overeating).   


Laughing for no reason gave me the opportunity to chaHAhange my situation and the way I look at things. The ShaHAhakti Shake gave me an outlet to shaHAhake my thoughts loose and release tension out of my body and stomp it into the ground.  Being in the park under the trees and breathing the fresh air - ah what a relief it is!!!

Of course, learning the Art of anything takes time.  Reading about it is a YES, I understand.  Experiencing it, that is a YES, I get it in my bones.Ha ha to A-ha.


To be flexible - to accept and BREATHE and ease myself in.   To laugh at myself and chaHAhange my thoughts or release any expectations of how things need to be.  To trust and surrender to what the Universe brings and be open to flowing with what is.


In the HAhaHAppy lifestyle I am building, to remain alkaline and fluid, I find ways to keep my stress at a minimum.  Laughter is one of my play resources.  Flexibility is another great tool to play with.  It keeps me loosey goosey.  So I can make my life easy peasy.  Woohoo!!!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Prayer and Signs



I arrived in Ecuador on a dark and dreary rainy night.  It was cold and damp and I took a taxi to my hotel.  When I woke up the next morning in my hotel room in downtown Quito, it was slightly chillier than I care for.   I was up early to head back to the airport for my next flight to Loja.

For me, this trip was about surrender and trusting my INtuition.  Knowing I am in Ecuador for a purpose that was still yet to be revealed to me.  So I prayed to the Universe.  Give me a sign.  
Show me irrefutable proof that I am supposed to be here today.   

Hahaha.  Careful what you ask for.  

At Quito national airport (domestic flights), I checked in, went through security,  waited in the departure lounge when I hear my my name called on the intercom.  

"Please report to the ticket counter for baggage inspection with police."   Which means I have to go through the security screening and across the airport back to the ticket counter.  Except as I tried to go against the current through a side door for exits, I got pushed back by a security guard.  El Presidente!! El Presidente!!! 

And there he was, the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correo - surrounded by security, shaking hands of people waiting on the side, and then he came right by me - stopped, looked in my eyes and kissed my right cheek.   Did this just haHAhappen?  

As he and his crew move on by, I get pushed through.  I go to the ticket counter, meet police, and go through my luggage until they are satisfied.  I wait through the security line and put my bags through the scanner and enter the departure lounge.  This time I get swept up by a wave of people behind me and get pushed right into  El Presidente and his security guard who keeps me from falling.  

El Presidente gives me his hand and I am once again in front of him.  He asks me where I am from.  He asks me what I think of his country.  I tell him I love his country.  He tells me he loves his country too.  He asks me to return.  He takes a picture with me.

I get it Great Pussy in the Sky - thank you for the clear and OMazing signs.  I am here to figure it out by surrendering and allowing it to haHAhappen.  So be it.

And this was just the beginning of my OMazing day - woohoo!!!