Restorative Yoga Bliss-a-thon

Sat Apr 3, 1-4pm
(also Jun 12)
$40 each
Temple Studios
Take time in your busy life to renew your energy, rest and open your body and mind. Give yourself the gift of three hours this month to replenish your nervous system, digestive tract and organs, and open to whats occurring beneath the busyness. Give your body, brain and heart a break. Open to all levels of experience.

http://www.kristinhoneyyoga.com/workshops.html

I have been waiting for an event like this in Guelph… and after I just posted this in excitement, I realized that my partner and I are taking his children to an Easter Egg hunt at his folks’ church in Whitby. I’m going to mark in the June date to my calendar.

“No man is free who is not master of himself.” – Epictetus

“There may be peace without joy, and joy without peace, but the two combined make happiness.” – John Buchan

… Loving your body and making it feel as good as possible.

“Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine

I don’t believe in New Years resolutions; I believe in goals and dreams. This is what I wrote at the beginning of 2009. My life has certainly changed since then. While 2008 was fantastic, 2009 was challenging. It was brilliant, painful, inspiring, and heartbreaking – a cornucopia of deep feeling. Love lost, self found. I shed enough tears to fill an ocean, but discovered the hope and strength to find my way through the darkness.

I was laid off from my project management job and spent several months finding myself and redefining my goals. Similar to 2008, I traveled and studied. I spent a good deal of time touring Ontario wine country, and visited my favourite haunts in Ottawa, Quebec, and Michigan. I drank tequila in Ensenada, explored the mysterious beauty of Iceland, and stood at the top of Mount Baker, Washington. I learned some additional modalities in energy work, applied to the American Institute of Holistic Theology, achieved my ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze) in Toastmasters, and joined the Guelph Guild of Storytellers. I took several advanced CSS 2.1 courses and became a whiz at designing table-free web sites. My client base has grown exponentially and I am enjoying the prosperity that comes with repeat business from work well done.

2010 has seen me make some serious decisions about my future – in terms of career, finances, health and human connection and I am excited and passionate about everything that this year will bring.

Goals for 2010

• A full detoxification of my body, mind, spirit
• Be continually conscious of my health and diet / fully embrace a raw food lifestyle
• Get back into yoga and martial arts
• Finish and submit all coursework for yoga teacher training
• Attain my Zend Certified Engineer designation
• Achieve my ACS (Advanced Communicator Silver) designation in Toastmasters
• Become the Guelph Area Governor for Toastmasters

2009/earlier goals that didn’t make it

• Learn Flex – not sure I am going to bother anymore
• Return to Halifax (Easter?), visit San Francisco (in the Spring perhaps)
• Apply to grad school – not sure I am going to anymore
• Get my Registered Practitioner status with the Canadian Reiki Association – still a goal
• Write my exam with the Certified Personal Trainers Network – not sure this is a goal anymore
• Master of Herbology with Dominion Herbal College – still a goal

Happy 2010… and may the new year bless you with health, wealth, and wisdom… and hope.

“Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.” – Vaclav Havel

“When the perfect order prevails, the world is like a home shared by all. Leaders are capable and virtuous. Everyone loves and respects their own parents and children as well as the parents and children of others. The old are cared for, adults have jobs, children are nourished and educated. There is a means of support for all those who are disabled or find themselves alone in the world. Everyone has an appropriate role to play in the family and society. Devotion to public duty leaves no place for idleness. Scheming for ill gain is unknown. Sharing displaces selfishness and materialism.” – Confucius

Yoga + 80s Goth Music. Who would have thought? More specifically, Sisters of Mercy: A Slight Case of Over Bombing.

The word Yantra is derived from two Sanskrit words – "Yam" (support) and "Trana&qupt; (freedom). There are two types of Yantra: pictorial – a symbolic diagram used to assist meditation, and magic square/numerological Yantra

A Yantra is a form of a mandala.

Benefits of working with mandalas/yantric images include:

• Aids in dealing with emotional problems
• Teaches patience, the ability to deal with limitations
• Finding self-realization
• Providing a calm and focused mind; better concentration
• Harmonizing the flow of energy
• The ability to enter a trance-like state from colouring or meditation on them
• Developing perfection – the link between the spiritual path and the desire of medicine to heal

Pictorial Yantra

Numerological Yantra

Here is your personal Yantra, based on your Date of Birth of Friday, 6th August 1976:

8	6	76	1
74	3	6	8
2	77	5	7
7	5	4	75

And here is a brief interpretation of your personal Yantra:

Destiny

You are going to have to learn to stand on your own two feet and achieve independence. This is not an easy lesson to learn. Many people on this path start out in life be being dependent, rather than independent, and gradually gain confidence as they mature. The ultimate position for somebody on this path is in a leadership role. This could be in management, self-employment, or some other position where the person has sufficient responsibility.

Enthusiasm & Energy

You pour your enthusiasm and energy into idealistic pursuits. You are happiest when doing – or thinking about – worthy aims that could benefit humanity as a whole. As you are so idealistic, your ideas are often unpractical, and you need to share your ideas with others to gauge how effective they will be. You spend a great deal of time in pleasant daydreams.

Family & Friends

You are the organizer of the family. You enjoy arranging parties and other entertainments. You shy away from deep, involved discussions, preferring more light-hearted conversation that does not probe into things too deeply. You are warm-hearted, friendly, and fun to be around. You may not be willing to take on too much responsibility, however.

Generosity

You are particularly generous with family and loved ones. You are a caring person and will give generously to any worthy cause. However, you make sure the needs of your loved ones are met first. You are inclined to be a soft touch to a sad story.

Humanitarianism

You are more likely to help with a donation rather than jump in and help in other ways. Once involved, though, you will work long and hard to help any cause you believe in.

Intuition

You rely very much on your natural, strong intuition. You take it for granted as being an essential part of your life. You are especially intuitive when it comes to people you care about, and often know instantly when something is wrong with a friend or family member.

Joie De Vivre

You are happiest when you have something exciting to look forward to. You enjoy travel, meeting new people, and enjoying new and different experiences.

Karma

You wasted time in a past lifetime. You probably overindulged in a wide range of sensual activities. The lesson is for you to learn to use your time wisely. This is not an easy lesson, and it usually takes many years before you realize that time is slipping away.

Love

You need time on your own, and require a partner who will respect this. Given the right relationship, you can be very loving in thought and action, but always find it hard to express these feelings in words.

Money

You enjoy scientific or technical occupations. You enjoy the research and study that is involved. You seldom earn as much as you could, as you seek job satisfaction ahead of financial rewards.

Nurture

You help and advise people in all sorts of different areas. Your advice is sound and well meant, but you have often gone before the results are apparent. You need to be encouraged to nurture something for yourself, and to follow it through to completion.

Opportunities

You will find your best opportunities close at hand. You need to work within the limits you find, and will also find your opportunities there. You are likely to make mistakes when seeking opportunities outside your field of expertise.

Philosophy

You have a philosophy of life that you work out logically, questioning everything. You often fail to explore subjects in great depth, preferring a superficial glance, and your philosophy is likely to be an amalgam of everything you have explored.