live-life-to-the-fullest

Prana: life energy

Author1 Comment

Prana is that which encompasses everything. It is found in all forms of life from bacteria, to plants, to animals. Prana is indescribable, but can be characterized as something like ‘the Force’, the same Force that permeates the world of Star Wars. In our world It is the Universal Energy, the Vitalizing Force, the Vital Air, the Life Breath that surrounds us. It is in us and is us. We store Prana in our body, the Prana that we breath-in through the air and we become charged with It; Prana becomes us.

It is the energy that we use to go about our day. Swami Vishnu-devananda in The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga states that “every action conscious or unconscious uses up a certain amount of Pranic Energy — [then] when the amount of Pranic Energy spent is more than the body can restore, the body feels weak”. A quick way to get tired fast is by using Pranic Energy to fuel uncontrolled emotions. Unnecessary anger, excessive worrying, greed, anxiety, tension and all such lower emotions just carelessly waste Pranic Energy.

That is why it is so important to meditate. By practicing meditation one can relieve the mind and body of unnecessary tensions and replenish Pranic Energy. This energy which brings us an abundance of vitality and strength.

It may be the year of the Goat but for me it’s the year of meeting BIG goals

Author2 Comments

my awesome boss ladyI’ve been living in China for over five months now and I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t really learned much Chinese — umm, excuse me, the correct term is Mandarin. Chinese people call their language Chinese so I’m calling it that too.

My excuse isn’t that I hang-out with a bunch of other expats. No, I’m surrounded by Chinese people all the time. Chinese people with very limited English speaking skills. How do I get by? Well, I’ve learned some words in Chinese, combined with the few words that they know in English, plus pointing, and lots of Google translate. But, it’s getting to the point where that’s really not enough, and I refuse to continue to be one of those foreigners that doesn’t learn the language of the country that they’re living in!

The truth is I’m a bit scared to learn Chinese, actually I mainly fear that I won’t be able to learn it. It just sounds so foreign!  But, I’ve been around it long enough and I cannot continue to keep relying on my Chinese liaison (oh, yeah, there’s a person that helps me communicate with the school, so she helps me get by too).

I’m making myself continue to study Chinese and this time to be diligent about it. I’m giving myself a thirty minute window, every day, to start with. I have the tools to do so, I’m signed up for a Coursera Chinese course, then I downloaded a bunch of Spotify playlists, plus I have a Chinese textbook, and, yeah, I’m surrounded by Chinese people. So, we’ll see how far I get in the next five months. I hope that I will be able to carry-on a simple conversation, or at the very least that I’ve quadrupled my vocabulary!

Quick list of the words that I know so far:

Hello: Nín hǎo

Good-morning: zǎoshang hǎo

I like: wǒ xǐhuān

Do you like: nǐ xǐhuān ma?

Thank you: xièxiè

Meal time: Chīfàn

Tomato: xīhóngshì

Seaweed: hǎidài

Cucumber: huángguā

Celery: qíncài

Apple: píngguǒ

Orange: Google translate doesn’t have the right transition for this!

Grapes: Google translate doesn’t have the right transition for this!

Walk: Sànbù

Carrot: Húluóbo

Vegetables: Shūcài

egg-noode soup: Jīdàn miàn tāng

Rice: mǐfàn

Chicken: Jī

Meat: Ròu

Pork: Zhūròu

Flower: Huā

I love you: Wǒ ài nǐ

Goodnight: Wǎn’ān

Stupid: Google translate doesn’t have the right transition for this!

Oh my god:  Google translate doesn’t have the right transition for this!

Good: Hǎo

I don’t understand: kin Bù dǒng

yes:  Google translate doesn’t have the right transition for this!

no: Méiyǒu

Water: Shuǐ

What is that: Zhè shì shénme

What is this: Zhè shì shénme

1—10:  Yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí

Yeah, I know, it’s not much so I gotta a long way to go…

Surya Namaskars, aka Sun Salutations

AuthorLeave a comment

The popularity of Sun Salutations has taken a firm grasp on Western culture. If you haven’t started practicing daily Sun Salutations by now, you better get yourself a Yoga mat ASAP! The sequence of poses that are included in Surya Namaskars offer many great benefits to the people that practice. This series of postures is proven to bring vitality to the practitioner! In-fact, Sun Sals are referred to as a “concentrated Yoga potion” in the book The Complete Yoga Book by James Hewitt, meaning that many great benefits of Yoga can be attained just by practicing this series of postures. So, if you wanna try them out for yourself, here, I offer a quick guide:

Side note: begin by doing two cycles everyday, traditionally it is advocated to do twelve cycles each day — but you can work yourself up to that in due time (I myself am starting with two cycles each day, this new year, and adding two more each month, so by June I’ll be up to the desired twelve!).

Starting posture: Mountain Pose. Stand up straight, palms together to the right of your heart with feet firmly rooted on the ground. Make all four corners of the feet, and all of the toes, charge at the ground with energy. Let that energy flow all the way up, past the crown of the head

Position two: slight back bend. Bring hands up over the head and reach them up and back, with a slight backward bend.

Position three: forward bend. Bring hands forward to reach down, or touch the floor. If possible* keep the legs straight, lift up the thighs up, and bring the face to the knees. *If your body doesn’t want to take it that far then listen to it and bend your knees as your body requests.

Position four: hands on the floor and one leg back. Moving out of the forward-bend bring one leg back, grip the floor with the fingers and toes, and lift the head up.

Position five: Wheelbarrow Pose, aka Plank. Bring the other leg back to meet the first. Support the entire body on just the hands and toes. The body should be in a straight line from the crown of the head to the heels, while the arms are pushing the ground away.

Position six: Eight Parts Posture/Sastangganamasker. Tightening the abs while lowering the chest to the floor. Then let the knees and forehead touch the ground, but keep the butt raised and elbows high.

Position seven: Cobra Pose/Bhujangasana. Bringing the pelvis to the ground, let the tops of the feet carry the weight as the arms straighten. The shoulder should be down and the fingers and the palms should be pushing the ground away.

Position eight: downward dog. While pushing the ground away in Cobra Pose, use the core muscles to lift the hips high — stomach should be pulling back in towards the spine. The head comes loose between the arms and the legs are straight. If the heels can touch the ground then great — if not, that’s okay too.

Position nine: keep the hands on the floor and one leg forward. Lifting the head and chest forward bring one foot between the hands.

Position ten: forward bend. Bring the other foot to meet the first between the hands and lift the hips into a forward bend.

Position eleven: stand up straight and slight back bend.  Bring the hands up, stand up straight, then continue to reach the hands up and back, into a slight backward bend.

Final position: Mountain Pose. Lower the arms and stand up straight, palms together to the right of the heart and feet firmly rooted on the ground.

This completes a cycle of Surya Namaskars.

This series of postures is simple to do yet super beneficial. It is designed to tone the entire body, and bring youthful suppleness to the spine. It is recommended for anyone and everyone that wants to maintain a healthy and fit body well into old age!

30 things you need to do before turning 30

AuthorLeave a comment

1. Live in a different city, away from your hometown. You’ll be surprised to find out just how different cities can be even within the same country. Doing this will give you the chance to meet the person that you really are (outside of the mold your community and all of the people around you created for you), and you will grow as an individual.

2. Work a retail or food industry job. You’ll be buying things and food for the rest of your life; get the insiders knowledge of how things really work from behind the scenes.

3. Do 300 hours of volunteer work. Great places to volunteer for are Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity — but your favorite non-profit will also work.

4. Read these books: the Alchemist, Grow Up, the Four Agreements.

5. Watch these movies: Pay-It-Forward, Life is Beautiful, Zeitgeist, I Am, Happy, The Compass and The Opus.

6. Teach children something, anything as long as it’s enriching and positive. You can tutor your favorite subject, coach your favorite sport, teach them your favorite hobby.

7. Speaking of hobbies, learn new hobbies! Anything and everything new that interests you, or anything that you wanted to learn, or do when you were little but never got the chance.

8. Learn a life skill. Learn to knit or sew, code HTML, change your oil, etc.

9. Plant a plant. Grow it from a seed, nurture it and watch it grow — notice how it filters your air, brings you oxygen, and life.

10. Forgive the people that have wronged you in the past. This doesn’t mean that you have to be best friends with them, but holding on to grudges and resentment will only hinder your own growth and hurt your heart.

11. Travel to at least three different countries, and live in each new one for at least three weeks each. A great way to do this is through study abroad programs or wwoof — though I’ve never tried wwoof-ing myself.

12. Visit a farm or ranch. See where your food really comes from.

13. Couchsurf or rideshare. The world is full of wonderful people this is a great way to meet them. Plus, after your experience you’ll just wanna pay-it-forward which will bring you all sorts of good karma points.

14. Observe the world around you. Pick anywhere then just sit and watch. Observe the world and make it count, do this for at least three hours.

15. Visit a landfill. Have you ever wondered where everything you throw away goes? It doesn’t just magically disappear. Find out what happens to your stuff.

16. Sleep under the stars, literally. Go camping with just your sleeping bag — but bring a tarp, in-case it rains.

17. Talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to. Have a thirty minute conversation with a homeless person or anyone you’d otherwise turn away.

18. Ditch your car for a year, or longer. Public transportation and bicycles are perfectly effective (and Eco-friendly) ways to travel. Plus you’ll get to discover a different side to the city in which you live in — and probably lose some weight.

19. Listen to non-lyrical music, and learn to love it. There’s already so much chatter inside of our heads, lyrical music just tends to increase the noise, so start listening to non-lyrical music.

20. Learn Sign Language. Because of all the noise pollution nowadays more and more people are increasingly losing their hearing as they get older. Your older, senile-self will appreciate you learning how to speak visually. Plus sometimes without words you can say so much more.

21. Write three POSITIVE and detailed online reviews — or more! It’s so easy not to write anything or to have the energy to write angry, negative reviews so make the time to share the good news!

22. Observe nature. For at least three hours sit somewhere in nature — where there are absolutely no other people around — and just observe.

23. Watch a thunderstorm (from a safe place – of course).

24. Learn to cook a new and delicious dish. Once you’ve mastered it have a dinner party. Invite at least three friends over to share it with you.

25. Begin your life-long daily meditation habit. Teach your mind how to relax and give it the chance to purify itself each day.

26. Create a daily exercise regiment, any exercise will do however Yoga asanas are the least impactive while providing optimal benefits.

27. Be vulnerable. Be real. Tell people how you really feel — no, emotions clouded by anger and resentment aren’t how you really feel.

28. Be kind and caring to yourself, become your own bestest friend.

29. Envision your perfect life, then write out in detail what that looks like. 

30. Define your Ultimate Purpose. In the next 30 years what will you be working towards?