Sage Advice and A Good Kick in the Pants !

My friend Katie e mailed me this to get me off my obsession. It freed me, hope it can help someone else.

It is a disempowering conversation. Choose to participate in an
conversation that empowers you and others instead.

What kind of example are we leading here?

Last night I was told about a woman going into church's and conferences preaching that Yoga (all yoga) was teaching Hinduism. This is clearly not the case, and I can say this with the background and experience to support it. I googled and found this woman who clearly took her fundamentalist theology and got very crafty with her Bible verses, and is using her ideology to market praise yoga,not Christian Yoga, praise yoga. She even says that Christian Yoga is dangerous, it just gets kookier, you can google praise yoga if you would like.

Here is a good article my friend Uma sent me on how yoga pertains to your personal religious belief system.

http://http//www.dlshq.org/religions/yogachristian.htm

If you are reading this and you do not know me you may wonder where my beliefs lay. I would label myself a Progressive Liberal Christian with a social justice agenda. I also happen to be a yoga instructor who has taught for eight years and practiced for twenty. My Christian faith is the foundation of everything I stand for.

When did this country start believing that in order to be a Christian you had to vote a certain way, think homosexuals were ruining marriage, believe sex education was a bad thing, and feel that judging others for their beliefs would lead them to Christ. What would the world look like if we quit fear mongering and loved each other. This is not condoning, if you don't condone it don't do it. Didn't these people get the memo that you can't control others behavior. Be kind, give lots of hugs, smile at people, get your butt up and do something for someone else, give what you can, spend some time in service and less time thinking about how to change everyone.

A woman told me the other day that she didn't speak to her daughter much and her grandchildren because they didn't study the bible the way she thought they ought to. Now what if that woman spent time with her family, led by example in her actions, called her kid and grand kids regularly and said "I wanted to call and say I love you, and I am proud of you". Which scenario is going to make those family members be more like grandma?

Happiness and Hate

I began this blog as a draft of ideas,jotting down notes if you will on the subject of happiness. It was a beautiful day and all the stars were in alignment and I was feeling very satisfied with life. How a day changes things. Today I am feeling very melancholy. I want to be happy and choose happiness but I have seen so much ugly in the past twenty four hours.
My kids come home frustrated daily from school with messages of hate that they have heard from homophobia, to racism, & even professed Christians giving there version of the Bible to purport more hate. Today after I taught a yoga class a woman (who is a student mind you) accused me of teaching Hinduism because I say "Namaste'' at the end of class. I am not going into that here, except to say "Yoga is Yoga, it is not a religion, it is a philosophy, art form,and scientific body practice." People who are ignorant of this might as well say the philosophies of Aristotle, Thoreau, or Plato is religion and not a philosophical view point for humanity.
So much of me is happy that our nation elected this man to be the president,not because of his skin color but because he was the best candidate. I want to show my happiness, but don't feel able, because there are so many purported Christians in my area acting as if the sky is falling. Today I stand up to this ridiculousness telling those who espouse it I disagree. I would not have done this four years ago as I was afraid of hurting someones feelings, but not now. There are ministers in the pulpit preaching that Obama is the Anti Christ. This is ridiculous. My fifteen year old is questioning his Christian faith in this ugliness he sees at school and in our area. My husband and I have taught our kids to be open and loving, and the message of the gospel's is love thy neighbor, Jesus was love not judgment and hate. We the Progressive Christians, Muslims, Jews and other religions need to ban together to stand up against ignorance and fundamentalism that teaches radical ideas that promote fear mongering.
As for happiness: I printed my notes on the bottom for you and for I to read: maybe I can call to the voice that spoke to me Monday and feel that happiness again in spite of the hate around me.

A dear friend said to me in reply to my sheer frustration today "when the lights come on the roaches come out"... Yes they do.

In love and light,
Courtney

Happiness
Eeyore
Reading Social Stories on the psychological effects of complaining
My children: Eeyore's and Tigger's
Blessings
Writing "Best Job in the world" and believing it.
Maybe I will just believe it and see what happens
Acting as if
Doing as if
Being as If

Putting action to your insides

Thinking of Having a Stress Free Christmas, Read How Here!!!!

I have always had a disdain for shopping. Actually I like to give gifts, especially when they are meaningful. What I don't like is shopping for shopping sake only. YUCK, who needs more cheap stuff from China? This year our budget is only 40% of last years due to many factors, and I am going to have to get creative. This actually appeals to me having less choices makes this somewhat easier. I have ask my extended family what they would like from Amazon.com or a gift certificate to a restaurant, or local store? That's it. I told them my budget is $500 for the whole season. Last year it was more than double. We have four kids so we would usually spend at least that on them. Not this year. We plan on using our Garvan Gardens passes and going to see Christmas lights for free several times, driving around looking at lights (cost of gas), listening to Christmas music and decorating with stuff we already have and taking walks. I will probably pull out seasonal movies and pop popcorn, and we'll probably hit the library a few times. If you haven't' seen Elf the movie I highly recommend it... When Will Ferrell hugs the raccoon: Priceless Belly Laugh!!!
The other thing we will do is give gifts that give more... I am part of a group of three women who serve on an Alternative Giving committee. We put together charities that are local to global and sell gifts of fair trade coffee and food baskets from Rice Depot. This year as last I will purchase share's to send to Jackson House or Samaritan House and give a card to all four of my kids teachers saying in lue of a cheap gift we gave the money to help feed the poor. The reception every year from the teacher is "Thank you, I absolutely love this and I told the whole class about it."They think its the bee's knees. I hope you will join me in supporting Alternative Giving for the Holidays. Come by the church or go to the catalog and participate. Please click on the Westminster Homepage to the left and go to Alternative Giving to view the catalog.

All my love and joy to each of you for a reflective and meaningful Christmas that shines the light of God on each and every gift you give, showing the love of Christ in your heart.

Blessings,
Courtney

Time to teach, Oh #$%^^!

My life in no way resembles my yoga..... well that sounds a bit harsh. From the outside my life looks super busy and hectic. On the inside I use the philosophy and the breathing of my yoga everyday. At present I need to take my son to the eye doctor in about six minutes but here I am blogging. Tomorrow I have to teach a workshop called "Deeper Explorations Into Hatha Yoga." I have no idea who is going to show up. I don't know where to start. If I start with the basics then the advanced students will be bored silly. If I delve into "lines of energy" the new students will run like hell for the door or at the very least be perplexed. For me writing my thoughts and concerns down is a form of yoga, it's a form of letting go of the ego. Sorting it all out, facing my fears, honoring that even though I have taught over fifteen hundred classes, I still get scared and feel like I don't know what I am doing. The fact is I have so much information in my head that I don't know where to start. If an advanced student comes to me and starts speaking about her favorite Guru or her fifty favorite Sanskrit poses I may not know all about what she is speaking of. On the other hand I have oodles and oodles of information in my head about the practice, science and philosophy of yoga.
My friend John, who is a pastor, told me that I am at a place where I need to teach, because at the place where you know you don't know it all, is a good place to start teaching (not his exact words but what I got from him). My friend Mary, a yoga teacher, tells me that I will learn more teaching others to teach than from all the practice. I hold fast to these truths and know the one and only goal of my yoga, the goal I preach is "loss of ego." I am at a place of humility and I am hoping that is the place to serve others the best.

Thoughts for the day:

1. Just sit down and be, take a few deep breaths and observe. That's it.

2. Stretch a few times a day and notice how your body feels. Say to yourself , how does my arm feel, my fingers, just notice your body, you will learn to respect and honor it.

3. Be grateful every day for three things: Sure cure for the blues.