the yogini cowgirl

Saturday Swap … on Sunday … isn’t so much a swap as a GIVEAWAY!

082210. This week, instead of a swap, I’m doing my first-ever-GIVEAWAY!

A WOMAN’S BOOK OF YOGA: Embracing Our Natural Life Cycles by Machele M. Seibel, MD, and Hari Kaur Khalsa

 

  

In the 10 years I’ve been practicing yoga, this book has been an invaluable tool.  Not only is it a great reminder of the power of women, but the pages are filled with amazing kriyas and poses and wisdom to guide us through all the stages of womanhood.

Here’s an excerpt from the preface of this incredible book:

"Women are the embodiment of creative energy.  Intuitively we know this.  When we ee a pregnant woman, we see the miracle even though a baby is born every minute.  When we see a woman relaxed, empowered, and self- assured, the power is evident.  Kundalini Yoga can bring to each woman a deep sense of her original royalty, nobility, health, happiness, and identity.  The journey of the yogini – the female yogi – is one that leads through the science of learning about the body, through the revelation of the mind and its nature and capacities for bliss, and the expansivess of the experience of the soul.  This journey can lead to an acceptance and love of the self that reveals the natural radiance that is the birthright of every woman."

It really is an amazing book, and I’m very excited to share it with you all!

SO … here’s how it goes … the FIRST THREE people to comment on the blog page (not on Facebook … here on the blog) will be the lucky recipients of a new copy of this incredible book.

Q: Would you read a book if it could change your life for the better?

Weekly book swap #3

081410.   Up for grabs this week:

  

SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE: 100 ways to slow down and enjoy the things that really matter by Elaine St. James.

I’m not going to go so far as to say that this book “changed my life,” but it did change my perspective.  And I’m happier than happy to share these goodies with whoever emails first!

Just a few ideas about what you’ll find in the pages of this little gem:

#1 – Reduce the Clutter in Your Life … “give it to a friend, give it to Goodwill, take it to a consignment shop, sell it at a garage sale, or put it in the Dumpster.” 

NOTE: I’m still in the process of doing this.  Before I left Los Angeles, I sold a bunch of “stuff” on Craigslist.  And I’m still making bi-weekly trips to the Goodwill with bags of clothes, books and random tidbits that I realize don’t serve a real purpose in the life I’m trying to build with the Cowboy and LO.  I know it’s not easy to separate yourself from “stuff,” but I notice that the fewer clothes in my closet, the less “stuff” in my life, the lighter and happier I feel.

#10 – Leave Your Shoes at the Front Door … “Your house will be visibly cleaner: dirt stains on the carpets and rugs are kept to a minimum, carpets are much easier to keep clean, and the overall dust quotient throughout the house is greatly reduced …. But perhaps the greatest benefit for the simplicity-oriented is that taking off your street shoes at the front door helps to create the sense of your home as a sanctuary.  It’s almost magical: when you leave your shoes at the door, you start to feel you can leave your troubles there, too.”

NOTE: Ms. St. James suggests leaving a small box or rack for your shoes to hold the shoes.  And she suggests leaving socks or slippers at the front door (including socks for your guests you might not want to be barefoot).  I LOVE this idea (but haven’t yet incorporated it into life at the Cottage).

#52 – Do What You Really Want to Do … “Unfortunately, the process of figuring out what you want to do and then doing it isn’t necessarily simple.  Unlike canceling your newspaper subscription (#28), which can be completed with a phone call, setting up your life so that you’re doing what you really want to do can take months.”

NOTE: Such a good point … but worth the exploration, don’t you think?  I’m smack dab in the middle of this life-transition and can admit that it’s not an easy one.  But ask anyone of my close friends … I’m way happier and more relaxed now that I’ve figured out what I want to do.  Now I just have to keep doing it so that one day I can be a real contributor to the bottom line of our household!

There are so many pieces of excellent advice in this book:  #41 – Change the Way You Shop, #67 – Create Your Own Rituals,  #70 – Learn to Meditate, #72 – Clean Up Your Relationships, #76 – Stop Trying to Change People, #98 – Stop Making the Bed

Can you tell I love this book??

Q: Who wants it?

 

Saturday swap ...

080710. As promised, here's another book-swap offer.  Up for swapping this week:

 

 

Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel NEVER LET ME GO.  Beautiful.  Enigmatic.  Sort of a love story. With a hint of sci-fi.  And a moral question that makes the whole book worth reading.  It's yours if you want it!  Email me your address, and I'll pop it in the mail.

And left over from last week: EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert.  (Perhaps I'm offering this one up a little late ... if you wanted to read it you probably already have! ... or maybe you are seeing the movie next week?)

In case you're curious, I'm currently reading ONE DAY by David Nicholls.  Enjoying the first 50 pages.  Will keep you posted as I'm sure it'll hit the swap list in the next few weeks!

Q: I'll put it out there again ... are you reading anything good these days?

i know a rhino ...

073110.  And I’ve been to Belly Button Beach.

I’ve even thrown a Party for a Pig.

You see … I’m a reader …

Of books.

And blogs.

Of manuals.

Even cereal boxes and shampoo bottles.

And of late, I’ve primarily been reading books with the LO.

 

And it’s a whole new adventure.

Baby books.

Totally fun.

But I must admit, there aren't characters for me to fall in love with.

There’s no “Jacob” from Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen, whose memories of his youth make his 90s worth living.  (He’s like a 90-year-old Holden Caufield … but I like him better.)

Or Kathy H from Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, the enigmatic young woman who begins to figure out the truth behind her sequestered childhood.

Or even Elizabeth from Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Please, Julia Roberts, don’t ruin this book for me by making a bad movie!), who let me go on her journey of self-discovery, too.

But now I’m stuck.

And I had this idea …

Although I’m not totally sure how to make it work on this blog …

But maybe you can help.

I’d like to offer a trade.

I’ll send you a book, if you have one to send to me.

Here are a few books I’ve read recently that I’d be happy to share (with links to reviews):

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks

EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert

I have others … but I’m not home right now to open my many boxes of books to list them … but maybe this will get us going.

If you’re interested in either of these books … or if you have a book you’d like to share … email me we’ll get these books in the mail!

My plan is to offer up a few books a week for trade … and if you have books YOU want to trade, you can either email me and let me know and I’ll post them, too … or you can post them in the comments and we can start swapping.

There’s probably a more tech savvy way to get this done, but for now, let’s swap books!

 

Q: Are you reading any good books, lately?

40 days down ... a lifetime to go...

041210.  Forty days of SA RE SA SA …

and now they are over.

Thirty-one minutes a day.

Forty days straight.

Rain or shine.

Morning or night (mostly morning).

Busy or tired.

Traveling or home.

…  and now I’m not sure what to do.

I’m relieved, of course, to have made it through the experience.

And by completing this 40-day meditation, I now have all three of the meditation requirements for my teacher training under the belt.  (My other meditations were a 7-minute and an 11-minute … to prepare for 31 minutes.)

But it feels bigger than just “completing an assignment.”

It’s interesting.

I do feel different.

But I don’t know that I can articulate the transformation.

I just know that as challenging as it was …to find the time … and to actually do it …it’s so satisfying to know that I did it.

Traveling and home.

Busy and tired.

Morning and night.

Rain and shine.

Forty days strait.

For thirty-one minutes.

I’m dealing with a mess of stress right now …with some major professional and personal choices on the horizon (more on that in a later post) … I’m packing the house to move (again …for the 4^th time in 2 years) …and I can honestly admit that I don’t feel overwhelmed by it at all.  Or afraid.  Or anxious.  Things I’m sure I would have felt if I had been dealing with these things a year ago.

And I’m giving some credit to this meditation.

And to the kriyas (yoga sets).

And to the mantras.

So maybe I shouldn’t stop.

Maybe I should wake up tomorrow and do it again?  Turn it into a 60-day meditation.  Or 90-days.  Or maybe even 1,000.

Or I could find another meditation to do.

Like the “Lotus Prayer for Prosperity and Projection unto Victory” we did at Teacher’s Training this weekend …which was amazing.  I was entirely blissed out when all was said and done.

Here it is (from The Master’s Touch, by Yogi Bhajan, p. 114):

The Mudra:

Sit in Easy Pose (cross-legged) with a straight spine.

Elbows bent at your sides.

Hands in front of the heart center, in Lotus Mudra (palms facing one another, with the fingers pointing up toward the ceiling).

(not my hands.  this is an image I found thru google.) 

Spread the fingers wide apart … the tips of the pinkies, the sides of the thumbs, and the base of the palms all touching.  (The other finger stay separate, and slightly curved to form the shape of lotus petals.)

The Movement:

Keep your hands in the Mudra with fingers pointing straight up.

Begin gliding your arms up in a straight line, until the hands are a little above and a little in front of your head.

Without any abrupt stop, glide them back down to the starting position.

And keep doing this. 

For 21 minutes.

The Music:

Nirinjan Kaur’s “Reality, Prosperity and Ecstacy.” (for 15 minutes)

"Dhuni" - the instrumental version. (for 6 minutes)

If I can find the music online, I think this is what I’m going to do.

NOTE:  Somehow, I forgot to post this last night.  It’s 6 am.  I’m awake.  The baby’s asleep.  I’m going to take advantage of it.

Q: What do you do to keep you grounded and sane in this high stress world we live in?