ENERGY

My personal interest for this week around the word ENERGY is related to our innate ability to see and feel energy that we have suppressed as adults.   Recently, I have been more in tuned to the feelings  and energies in my body. This week I am going to focus my attention on this and learn what I can.

Everything living is vibrating.  Vibration is energy.    Do you feel it?

Oprah is truly a rock star.  Love, love, love her energy!

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Learning-to-Live-Week-8-Working-with-Energy

                                 Certainly is....                    Contributed by Manuel Rocha

WOW!

So many kinds of energy, just to list a few:

Kinetic energy
Solar energy
Chemical energy
Nuclear energy
Renewable energy
Wind energy
Potential energy
Electrical energy
Mechanical energy
Thermal energy
Internal energy

Each of these has its own definition.  

Check out these site for your own personal exploration of energy, if you'd like:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/energy 

http://www.green-energy-news.com/

I too have a dream ....
I dream to find that peace and love for each day of my journey in this life, knowing that everyday is an opportunity to be grateful for open eyes so as to learn and grow and share.  Maybe some days are there to just realize I need to see what is right there in front of me. To be able to accept, that where I am on my path is just where I am suppose to be, so if I am tired of being where I am then there must be a lesson to learn so as to move on down the road. 
Yes.... and to share.... To share my gifts, lessons and passions. 
We all are a wealth of knowledge from just living in this world and going through our experiences and we are all here, right now, together, to learn, experience and share.
One very strong dream of mine is to make a difference in someones  life!   A way for me to share my experiences and knowledge to be able to help to make our bodies, minds and soles feel better so we can expand beyond that.  So as I continue to dream and open up to being the best vessel to share my passions, I am going to continue to find the obstacles that stub my toes along my path and breath through them to heal and grow, dream and share some more...

DREAMS

From Wikipedia:
A dream is an experience during sleep.
Dreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is known as oneirology.

Also From Wikipedia:
Dreaming, Daydream, a kind of fantasy
Hope, belief in a positive outcome
Wish, hope or desire for something


Dreams have always been a curious subject for me.  One summer between high school and college I went to Exeter academy for an enhancement summer of studies.  I studied two different topics, one being body language and the other dreams.  I worked with one professor who recorded the subjects during a dream cycle then would awaken them at certain times for them to share what they had been dreaming.  Fascinating topic.  As the years have passed there is still an allure with the interpretation of dreams.

The dreams I want to address with curiosity is those aspirations and desires we may daydream about.  Are the Steve Jobs and Oprah's of the world dreamers first?  Are there benefits to daydreaming, granite at appropriate times possibly, or is it a waste of time?
These are just a few of the inquiries of the week about DREAMS ...

Well, dream made me think of Dreamscape, which made me think of Andre Gallant, 

which made me think of New Brunswick, which made me think of 

fields of lupines in my favorite colors.   

by Kim Ort

http://www.365daysofinspiration.com/blog/

by Manuel Rocha

http://yearinpictures2011.blogspot.com

This week has been incredibly challenging for me to get my thoughts on and around the word of courage, yet when I started to form this whole idea of a weekly blog of inquiry, the word I would use to describe it was "courage," of course.  So, I delved into my heart and thoughts on what was blocking me with this word.  This year long endeavor was very courageous of me to commit myself to and also makes me very vulnerable.  We are all so vulnerable.  We don't have control over so much in our lives.  Life is as it is!  We can't choose how tall we are or who our family is or what country our life begins in yet we can always choose our attitude.  It is in times of challenges, no matter how big or small, that we see the obstacles in our path.  On this exact path, we are meant to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone by courageously choosing an attitude for our life, and each time we say yes to life then fear loses it's grip on us.  Theodore Roethke said, "I learn by going where I have to go.".   I choose to do this as a learning tool for myself, to take this opportunity to grow and face fear wherever life takes me.  So I will continue to be courageous in the most graceful way I am as I continue to learn as I go.  
What about you? 
Do you have gorgeous courage to share?

C is for Courage!!

After a very special family weekend, the week is starting slowly.
Jump start on Tues. 7:30 am with an alternative tai class at Windstar.
http://www.carol-rubin.com for a list of open classes and locations.
Will be back with more....

                                  

                                                          Contributed by Manuel Rocha

                            
                                                                                                                


Wikipedia says:
Courage, bravery, fortitude, will, and intrepidity, is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. "Physical courage" is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death, while "moral courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.








Contributed by Kim Ort:
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"  Mary Anne Radmacher


Courage is: feeling the fear, diving in anyway (meeting the fear), and transforming. Acknowledging and being with our fear transforms us.

http://www.yourcourageouslife.com/2011/01/10/courageous-gratitude/

                              Thanks Peg!  So wonderful to see you each week!!

Dirgha Pranayama

Dirgha Pranayama or the full three part Yogic Breathing is a complete exchange of air using the full capacity of the lungs.  Once you have the technique down, layer the Ujjayi breath on top.
Awesome!!

Ujjayi Pranayama

Breathe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia          

Breathing, inhaling and exhaling

As week one flew by here we are again, sharing and taking a moment to pause.  Thanks to those who had
comments to contribute and to those others who pondered on the word/theme of alien.
This week I will explore our life force, prana, the breath!!
The importance of the breath is obvious when you consider what happens when it is taken away.  Yoga
teaches that your overall health and happiness has a direct correlation with the ability to breath freely.
Not only does the entire body, right down to the cellular level, benefit from a pranayama practice, likewise,
the mind and emotions are intimately involved.  Having control and knowing different techniques of breathing
can promote a calmer and clearer mind.  Sometimes it is just needed to give our minds a break from its
awesome tasks.
Different breathing techniques can assist in relaxing while others can build energy inside.
Much more to come this week.
Will leave you tonight with a poem.  The author is unknown.

I breathe in All That Is -
Awareness expanding
to take everything in,
as if my heart beats
the world into being.

From the unnamed                                                  
vastness beneath the
mind, I breathe
my way to wholeness
and healing.

Inhalation,   Exhalation.
Each breath a "yes,"
and a letting go,
a journey, and a
coming home.

                                                            

 Photography by Kim Ort

Link to Manuel's year in pictures!

Alien

Alien
Week One
January 2, 2011

Wikipedia says:                                                     

An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign

to him or her.

        or                

An introduced alien, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental. 

During my yoga training we spent some time doing this exercise which was absolutely fascinating to me. We were asked to go outside and explore what ever was present in front of us like we were plucked out of our home environment and placed right here in this now, this moment.  We were aliens and everything we saw, felt, heard, all the senses and beyond, we were experiencing for the first time.  Being totally present like living through the eyes of a child is such a gift to ourselves. 

Now that's a challenge!

                                                              

                                                                   Contributed by Manuel Rocha

As we start the new year,  what better then to start with a fresh look at ourselves and our world around us.  Although it may be scary, take a leap and see where you may land.   There is such beauty and awe here. 

                                 Click here

  My entire life I have always felt different. It took me years to embrace the concept that being uniquely different is ok.  My inquisitive nature with a huge dose of creativity seems to also be related to being on the cusp of Capricorn and Aquarius (yet another subject to learn more about).  There is so much out here in this life to explore, experience and ponder over.  

How could I ever be bored!!

As I keep being reminded (as clutter continues to build up)

Simplicity is so sweet.

My Soul Support card draw today reads:

If you want clarity ... Clear the space.  

I am working on cleaning out the clutter in my mind. so I can see what’s in front of me and be with it. 

Letting go of old patterns and behaviors that no longer serve me. 

A way to grow, evolve and awaken to my best intentions, by truly seeing and being.

So as the first week blasts off I want to remind myself that to experience the world as new, I must be a good listener with open eyes and mind, and of a curious nature (no problem with that here). 

Enjoy your week's homework.  Am anxious to hear how it goes for you. 

See you next week. 

Much laughter and love!

 Special contributor, Peg Neal.   

Thank you Peg for your sense of humor and so much more.

A big thanks goes out to a most admired and extremely talented friend, 

Kim Ort.

Carol,

This post made me think of your project. http://inspired.gumnut.net/2010/12/flying-spark/

As for this week's word, it made me think of myself, being a resident alien of the U.S., also feeling like an alien some of the time, in what I think about. I am loving the internet because I can express my alien self and find that there are others out there who relate. :)

So, anyways, I was looking over my photos from the last year to create a picture of my year for today's blog post, and thought I would look to see if I could find one that represented the word alien to me.

I came up with 3 and I'll let you pick one.  (Had to share all three)

Being an alien distorts who you really are.

Feeling like an alien intruding on this wild and wonderful place.

Sometimes even when we stand out from the crowd, we feel like an alien.

Love, Kim