“Did you do your homework?  Remember your word list? believe, brave, breathe, courage, create, dream, faith, fearless, hope, inspire, let go, love, strength”

What is your word, what is your truth?  Last month I wrote about bliss and how to maintain it during the Holidays.  Carla’s suggestion for this continuation of the November blog is for you to connect to your truth and stay tuned to that mindset as you approach the Holidays.  So, let’s continue to examine our Satya, truth, and how we can maintain our Ananda, bliss.  Lofty ideas I know, but stay with me!

One of the many things I love about our studio is that you can be real!  You do not have to have a perfect body, lifestyle or personality to fit in, to attend any of the classes much less sit in the sauna!  At our studio we can experience Dharma, which means living in harmony with the order of life and the Universe, it is all about looking at real things.  This thought about Dharma is from a recent article written by Judith Hanson Lasater, a leading teacher in the field of Yoga.  I really connected with her thoughts about Santosha, contentment, because in order to have bliss you have to live and feel a sense of contentment.  

How many times have we associated being happy with a sense of well-being?  Happiness is a mountain top experience.  And especially around Christmas we tend to pin all our hopes on a magical moment.  Just look at the commercials, if you still watch regular TV!  We better get the right gift, be at the right party and look spectacular!  Oh, and don’t forget about the bow on your new car in the driveway!  But none of these things produce contentment.  According to Patanjali, the mystical writer of the Yoga Sutra, we should not just be content but practice it.

One of Carla’s guiding principles is that each client should enter the studio and create a space in their body and mind so that contentment can find a place to live in their soul.  We need this message during the Holidays more than ever!   Yoga, and all exercise, helps us to invite contentment in and find a home.  As we practice or workout, we are saying to our mind and body that we want contentment.  And, then we can take that message from the mat out into the world!  

So back to those words, which one speaks to you?  How can you embrace one of those words and make it part of your contentment and truth?  During this season of giving and receiving, give yourself the gift of a word, or find another that resonates with you.  Take that word into your being and into the new year.  Very often as a I teach, I ask my students to embrace a word or a thought and hold onto it as we practice.  As we breathe, move and stretch, we weave that word into our being.  That translates into Dharma, which brings harmony into our lives and we give it to our family and the world as we find our Santosha, contentment!  If you’re interested in taking it further, check out The Giving Keys, have a key made with your word and then someday pay it forward by giving your key, your word away!  This company employs homeless people by paying forward as well!!!!  And the keys make a great Christmas or Hanukah gift!

Grace and Peace,

Zella