Now wait a minute, you’re saying.  I thought this was a blog, not a blatant advertisement for your new yoga studio, Lori.  Well, although I love my favorite little yoga studio (Ja Yoga), owner Mick Ja is not running any such specials as far as I know.

Friends in the human form will have to pay. But a friend-by-intention is absolutely free of charge. 

I love Mick, my favorite yogi, because he’s always taking us somewhere else during our yoga practices.  Sometimes we go whale watching, sometimes on a hike (as you can imagine, that class was a good workout for the legs).  Always, deeper and more to the core (my favorite place when I can get there). 

Today I found myself looking at another woman who reminded me of my BFF who lives a few thousand miles away.  I miss her and wish we could do more things together, so I decided to bring her into the yoga studio to take class with me.  Yes, I just consciously set the intention to have her spirit practicing yoga right there next to me.

What a lovely practice I had, sharing the ups and downs, ins and outs of the class with my best friend at my side.  When I took a deep inhale, I closed my eyes and pictured her deep-breathing right along side me.  When I stretched, I set the intention that she feel the wonderful sensations in her muscles as well (she might have been a little out of shape because I thought I saw her wince…or was that me?).  In the final relaxation pose, we were both able to let go of our hectic days and share a moment of peace across the miles.

Afterwards, I told Mick about my experience in class and he assured me that my friends-by-intention were welcome to participate in class anytime, free of charge.  He was willing to forego his usual fee in exchange for having the extra yogic energy in the room. 

While I appreciate the freebie,  I felt so wonderful sharing class with my BFF, I just might pay double next time for the pleasure of her company.  Why not bring a friend-by-intention to your next activity?  It closes the gap on long-distance friendships and certainly adds a new dimension to “the buddy system.”

Life is good!  Namaste.  –Lori

I’m currently trying to follow Edwene Gaines (The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity) 21-day challenge to fast from negativity. Honestly, it’s not going so well. When I first read the chapter in the book, I thought that it would be a cinch. Never did I imagine that I couldn’t keep negative comments from flying out of my mouth for even a full day. I thought that I was one of the positive people (nice delusion, Lori).

Every morning, I get up extra early, reread that chapter in her book and try to set my intention to fast from negative comments or thoughts. So far, I’m lucky if I last until noon. Then I get up the next day and try to hold my sarcastic tongue, curb my critical thoughts just a little longer.

Unlike other diets, there aren’t a lot of support groups out there to help you.  Why not?  Well, quite simply, it’s a very human tendency to bond by bitching.  And when in a group, be it family, coworkers or friends, I fall prey to that tendency as well…quite easily, I’m  embarrassed to admit.

So I think this is one spiritual challenge that I’m going to have to form a committee of one for my support. I’m hoping that if I keep setting my intention in the morning as soon as I wake up, I will eventually find that I’ve kept that intention alive until evening when I go to bed. I know that once I get through one full day, stringing several days of negative-free thinking and talking will be attainable. And the report to the committee will be glowing with praise for the committee member: me.

Life is good! Namaste.  –Lori

I recently reconnected with an old childhood friend on Facebook. My girl from the hood (we just called ourselves neighbors back then) was trying to piece together the last 30 years of my life. She’d gathered some snippets here and there, but her timeline was messed up.  So I wrote back to her and managed to fit the last 3 decades of my life in about 10 bullet points!  No fluff, just dates, places I’ve lived and major life events (you know, educational achievements, marriages, divorces, that sort of thing).  My major life events fit into 10 bullet points, no kidding.

I finished my message and wondered when and how I had become so detached from the events of my life that, at the time, seemed so darned important.  So darned defining. So darned dramatic…especially the divorce part, right? Then I realized that I have such a peaceful relationship with my past now that I can relate to it as what I did and what happened.  Not who I was or why I made those choices…or “What the heck was I thinking?”

My life has been a series of events, people and places that I moved through, for better or worse. It doesn’t do me any good to judge those choices now. I feel no shame or regret. What good would it do, really? I don’t have a time machine to step into and go back and change the past. Do you?

I am who I am today, in this present moment.  Just trying to be better than yesterday. Hoping that all the lessons I’ve learned along the way have stuck just enough to create a better me. So don’t ask me to go into detail about my personal history. The details just don’t matter like they did at the time. They were just the stepping stones that took me back and forth across the stream of life. Now that I’m older, I’d rather just jump into the stream and go with the flow. (I’m so corny, I can barely stand myself).

Can you bullet point the last 10, 20, 30, 40 years of your life? Give it a try. It’s an interesting exercise. You’ll realize that all that earth-shattering stuff you went through didn’t actually shatter the earth. We’re still here!

Life is good! Namaste.  –Lori

The Alchemist
(by Paulo Coelho)

Okay, so I don’t always read every book twice, but this is another one that I’m on the second read through for a good reason.  I didn’t choose to read this book, it chose me.  My copy of the book is sporting a shiny “20^th Anniversary” sticker, and yet I’ve just discovered it.  Probably wasn’t meant for me to read until now.  Then, within a week, I had two different people recommend it.

Flying home from visiting a friend, I started chatting with the guy next to me.  I was reading a book, and we started to chat about good books.  He told me that he had just finished The Alchemist and gave the copy to his teenage daughter.  He told me I should read it.  Less than a week later, I was giving my ESL reading class the opportunity to choose their own novel for our little book club. Two of the five students wanted to read The Alchemist.  One guy was currently reading the English translation, and another girl had read the Russian translation.   

Suffice it to say, that this book is making for an interesting reading class.  Most of my students read each chapter twice as well.  First to understand the English language.  And second to understand some of the deeper meanings underlying the story.  As for me, I’m just happy to now be getting paid to read great books and share them with others! Is that another sign of what Edwene Gaines is talking about?  Hmmm…I’ll have to think on that a bit.

In a nutshell, the book is about one’s journey to finding out what you’re meant to do with your life.  It’s a full-circle type of deal for sure, but I don’t want to give away the story because it’s so beautifully written.  The story of a shepherd in search of treasure can be enjoyed on many levels, by those of all ages, and in many languages.  It’s a definite recommended read for you and the young people you know who are wondering what the heck they’re supposed to do with their lives.  I still wonder what I want to be when I grow up…if I ever do.

Life is good!  Namaste.  –Lori

It’s sometimes difficult to read a great book and not have anyone to share your enthusiasm with…hence, the blog. I’m slow, so it took me a little while to learn this lesson. However, once I put my ego in its place (back seat, not driver’s seat), I was able to accept the fact that not everyone will be as enthusiastic about my newest discoveries, cool authors, blow-me-away books as I am. No offense to me. No judgment from me. Just the way it is.

Recently, a coworker gave me a copy of a book that has impacted her in a profound way. She actually bought a brand new copy for me. This book/author was obviously important to her, and she wanted me to benefit from this spiritual guru as well. I was touched. I didn’t put it off purposely, but I had other books that I wanted to read first. I finally got around to reading it after some time. I read and read, trying to be open to whatever might grab me. Nothing did. In fact, I got a little annoyed at the writing style of the author and decided not to finish the book.

The next time my coworker asked me if I had gotten around to reading the book yet (she’s read through it 3 or 4 times by now), I told her that I tried, but couldn’t get into it. She was astounded and maybe a little hurt. I felt bad. But the fact is that what inspired her did not serve as inspiration for me.

Since then, I’m careful not to recommend books to people unless they ask. I don’t want someone to have my favorite author sitting in their bookshelves making them feel guilty. I figure that if they are meant to discover a specific spiritual teacher or inspirational author, the book will find them. If my favorite reads aren’t your cup of tea, then that’s just the way it is. So be it. The books that are meant to inspire will find you one way or another.

Life is good! Namaste. –Lori

The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity : A Simple Guide to Unlimited Abundance

(by Edwene Gaines)

Edwene Gaines is a hoot!  True confession…I only bought her book because I found it in the bargain book section while waiting for my daughter to finish her shopping at the bookstore.  Sorry, Ms. Gaines.  It’s so worth the full price and then some. I’m now thinking that getting the book on sale was my first step towards prosperity.  Anyways, I got the book figuring that I could somehow learn and practice just 4 laws.  Didn’t seem like a complicated program.  Oh yeah?  Well, the first law is to tithe.  I won’t give away the plot here, but you can gather that giving away 10% of your hard-earned money was not what I wanted to read in the first chapter.

Like I often do when I’m reading a good book that asks you to actually do exercises and put into practice, I read it all the way through first just to see if I want to do any of the recommended work.  Well, it is a good read.  Insightful, down-to-earth and, I finally decided, worth a try.  I’m on my second read through this one, and yes, had to bit the bullet on the tithing thing.  It’s just second nature now, and actually feels good.  I haven’t noticed any adverse effects.  Ms. Gaines includes lots of good personal anecdotes in her book and relies heavily on signs from God that she’s moving in the right direction.  Well, I didn’t ask directly, but I sure took it as a sign when I found a $100 bill on the sidewalk last week.  If that’s not a clear sign from the Universe that I’m on an abundant path, I don’t know what is.  It’s on to part two of the program for me.

Life is good!  Namaste.  –Lori

In my first post, I mentioned that I was reading 4 different books at the same time.  To keep in the flow of an introductory post, I didn’t specify which ones or why.  I’d like to do that now, just in case you’re curious.

Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao
(by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer)

This is my staple…just like my daily cup of coffee (yes, I hope to kick that habit some day, just not today). I actually bought my copy at a Wayne Dyer lecture, but was too lazy to stick around and get an autograph.  Dr. Dyer has written essays on each of the 81 passages of the Tao Te Ching and recommended reading one passage only and mulling it over for several days before moving on to the next.  It took great discipline (of which I’ve got little to spare), but I did it!  After only getting half way through, I already started seeing changes in my life, especially in my relationship with my teenage daughter.  Whereas previously, the teenage years were rubbing me the wrong way (I should say rubbing me raw really), the more peace I embodied, the more peaceful our relationship became.  I remember thinking at one point “Oh, she’s really calmed down.”  Then I realized that maybe I was the one who had calmed down and stopped feeding the fire of adolescence.

I’m now on my second time through with the same book, and it’s still teaching me things about myself, lighting my path, and reminding me of things that struck a lovely chord, only to have that chord go flat after life interfered.  I keep this book with me pretty much all the time.  I like to read a little in the morning at my favorite coffee shop, where I go after I drop my daughter off at school, and before I head off to my work.  It starts my day out in the right direction.

Life is good!  Namaste.  –Lori

“Give yourself permission to be perfect, even with all of your seeming imperfections.” – Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

This seems like a perfect quote to start off my blog with.  Why?  Well, I’ve been planning this blog for a while but assumed that whatever I wrote would have to be perfect.  And I know that I’m never going to be perfect because I’m so used to being imperfect.  So of course, you know where that gets you—stuck, not pursuing your dreams, and definitely not writing.

Well, what is human perfection and how do we get there?  I certainly don’t have the answer for all of humanity, but for me, being perfect would just be being my best self…today.  Is that a cop-out?  I don’t think so.  After all, I think that by nature, humans have a heavy burden.  We’re born as perfect little creatures.  Yes, we are.  Come on, have you ever met a newborn that you didn’t think was amazing and perfectly beautiful?  No one ever comes out of the delivery room shaking their heads “Wow, that kid’s got a real attitude problem.” Then we have a lifetime of growing up hearing how we’re not good enough and we need to practice, study and struggle towards perfection. This is how we see our lives.  We get more addicted to the practicing and drama of the struggle and forget that our goal is to actually get back to the perfect state we were in at birth.

At some point, we might even feel so bad about ourselves that we don’t believe we deserve to get back to our perfection.  Ever been in this downward spiral?  I sure have, and it’s a deep ditch to climb out of.  I don’t ever want to go there again (even if the saddest, sappiest song in the world is playing on the radio and coaxing me down that path).  And I try to be sympathetically optimistic (if that’s even a term) with friends and family that may be inclined to go there.  What do I mean by sympathetically optimistic?  Well, very simply (and I’m pretty simple) I just try to find one positive thing about the situation while staying sensitive to the fact that some people just want you to sympathize with their misery.

However, even though I don’t consider myself religious, I have found for myself that having faith in your God, your Source, your Universe, Tao, Buddha or whatever you wish to call that which is greater than the human experience can be a lifeline.  Remembering that we come from greatness is the best way to get back on the path of returning to our greatness….being our best possible selves.  Heavy emphasis on the word “possible” here because you have to believe in possibilities that you can’t yet see or don’t yet know by personal experience. 

To wrap it up, I don’t aspire to become perfect, but rather to return to the perfection that I once was before I learned, studied and practiced real hard to become someone else. 

Life is good!  Namaste.  –Lori

I’m so excited about my first post.  I love to read inspirational books.  You might say I’m slightly addicted to them.  I’ve always got a good read in my car, purse or on my bedstand. I’m currently reading or rereading 4 different books at once.  Crazy, huh?  I know, but there are such great tidbits in each one, and I like to nibble from different spiritual foods and savor the flavors.  Once in a while, I’ll devour one book straight through, but that’s mostly with cheesy detective novels.

My favorite current read is by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, inspirational author and speaker.  I’m way too old to be a groupie of any sort, but I have to admit that he’s been a big inspiration to me.  In fact, I would say that his PBS special a couple of years back pretty much kicked off this phase of my spiritual journey.  And who would have thought that my husband, my lovely computer geek who only reads financial magazines, would have been the one to be lying in bed watching that special when I walked into the room.  I think the title of that special was actually “Inspiration”.  Well, since then I’ve been inspired to quit a job I hated, find one that I love (the quitting and finding converged so nicely that I knew it wasn’t just coincidence), take up the practice of yoga (which has had a nice ripple effect on my physical and mental health) and to basically follow a new life path.

I grew up Catholic and was very involved in church and religion for the early part of my life, but when that no longer fit with who I was becoming, other possibilities opened up for me.  I now study the Tao Te Ching and though I can’t always understand it in a cognitive way (which is what we’re trained to do with most new subjects, right?), it resonates inside of me in a way that I know is authentic even if I can’t explain it.  In fact, I feel the need to explain it less and less as I get older.  Just knowing is somehow good enough for me.  Did you ever feel that way about some new personal revelation?  It strikes you to the chord and you know it’s a personal truth, but you know that you wouldn’t be able to share it in a way that others would get.

Life is good!  Namaste.  –Lori