IMPORTANT: SITE CHANGE

Hello lovely followers!!

I've gone and done it...no big fanfare, even surprising myself that I finally got this done.

I HAVE A NEW WEBSITE / BLOG!  

Http://www.lifeunity.com

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR FEEDS/SUBSCRIPTIONS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN STAYING WITH ME!

If you are viewing this, it means you are currently subscribed to or following "lifeunity.blogspot.com".

(Within a few days, f you type in, "lifeunity.blogspot.com" now in your browser, you will be redirected to the new site, "www.lifeunity.com".  I am not sure, but current subscriptions to "lifeunity.blogspot.com" may no longer work.)

If you are interested in still receiving updates (meaning you don't want to manually type in "www.lifeunity.com", please be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed OR click on the link for Google Friend Connect at the new site (http://www.lifeunity.com).


I am truly sorry to add this new step - originally I thought I'd be able to transfer all of my current followers.  There may be a way to do it, but my technical knowledge is limited!


If you have any questions or any troubles accessing the new site, please feel free to leave a comment here!  I may cross-post for a bit, but most new blog posts (and all new photos, etc.) will appear at the new site.


I am SO thankful for all of the love I've received since I started blogging, and seriously hope I don't lose anyone in this transition.  I am confident, however, that the new site will allow far more opportunity to expand (art photos & more!).


THANK YOU for everything!!


Namaste,
Lisa

IMPORTANT Change

After much procrastination, I am finally attempting to import this blog to my new Squarespace website.  

If everything goes correctly, you will not need to do anything to access the new site.

I will be working on this throughout the day today (Friday, January 28th).

Again - If I do all of this correctly, I believe the only change you should notice is the look of the blog.  (i.e. all post links and feeds should still be active.)  This blog will remain "here", but all new posts will appear via the new site.

**I will update with more specific information once I'm sure this is working**

I am NOT technically proficient and there are bound to be some problems.  Please hang in there with me as I try to get this all in working order.

If you notice any problems, please don't hesitate to contact me (lifeunity at gmail dot com)!!

I will post updates as I work through this....here's hoping for the best!!

Exciting Sneak Peak!

The winter of this cycle in my life is coming to an end.

It may still be cold and snowy outside, but things are budding within that are yearning to break through the surface.

I have been quietly working on projects as I write online the resulting deep thoughts and experiences.  I am SO excited to announce not one, but TWO big things on Monday.

Ok....I can't wait to give you a sneak peak of one of them:

This year, I will again be participating in One World, One Heart - the final one.  (For those not familiar with this, Lisa Swifka created an annual online event that has exploded in participation.  Bloggers across the world offer giveaways as part of a get-to-know-you around-the-world journey.  Visit HERE for more information.)  Basically, it means a giveaway that YOU can enter!

I have been working on a painting for my giveaway...and can't wait to share!  All of my regular followers will of course be able to enter as well - and I hope that you do!  More info on Monday.

Ooooh....it is going to be an exciting weekend leading up to an exciting Monday leading up to...well, I'll just keep flowing with where it's going.


Namaste!

You Already Are.

How much more do you need to do in order to be?
How much more do you need to read?
How much do you need to see, to taste, to hear?


How many more lessons do you need in order to be?
How many degrees?
How many teachers and gurus and mountains must you visit?


How much money do you need in order to be?
How many cheers from others?
How much security do you need to feel?


The answer is but one: None.


You are.


So Be.






Namaste.

The Beauty of Practice

I had something ready to go for this morning.  A poetic reminder of being instead of doing.  I will post it later today or tomorrow because sometimes - well, sometimes life shares with us something that needs to be passed along.

This morning was progressing beautifully - I completed a 15-minute yoga sequence while the kids got ready, the house quietly humming along.

Of course at the last minute, right before we are to leave for the bus stop, things fall apart.  My son's bag isn't ready, shoelaces untied, my daughter is crying...yeah.

My son and I finally exit the house...only for me to notice that he has just one glove on.  Upon asking him where the other one was, he sheepishly replied, "In the house" - at which point (my yoga calm now gone) I yelled at him to just run in and get it.  (Visions of the school bus whizzing past dancing in my mind.)

As he went in the house, I was left standing alone on the quiet driveway, brisk wind reminding me yet again of the season.

Whether it was the shock of the wind or a leftover result of yoga or just pure exhaustion I'll never know, but suddenly, I stopped complaining.  My mind...it just stopped.

I was there, experiencing the soft wind, listening as a pristine blanket of snow gently rustled on our roof, watching as the trees leaned into one another and then yawned back into a stretch.  Wind chimes, hung a few houses down, began a song to accompany this as if I were watching a documentary of beauty unfold before my eyes.  I was not cold, I was not angry - I just was.

My son returned with his other glove and we walked hand-in-hand down to the bus stop....arriving just as the bus did.

THIS is why I practice.  Why I practice awareness, yoga, art, journaling, meditation....

I don't really have any goals to reach enlightenment.  I don't really care if my toes touch the back of my head or if I sell a piece of art after a gallery display.  (Both would be kinda cool, though.)

I am fascinated with my experience of living.  Those things I practice?  The results start to infuse my life.  They change my entire way of being.  

There are so many ways of being (of feeling, experiencing the world)...I want to know them, for you to know them, for us to delight in playing with them.

And when mornings like this arise - which they will, again and again - I am eternally grateful to be able to experience them.

Namaste.

How To Say Thank You

What if every act we did, every thought we had, was one of devotion?

What if

To get up,
get the report done,
check on the bank account,
acknowledge the pain,
steam the broccoli,
order through the drive-thru,
click the t.v. remote,
pay the bills,
kiss the child...

was a sentence,
or a phrase,
or an exclamation!

to our unique understanding of the divine
that "something else"
that voice, that pull,
that knowing that this job
and routine
and suffering
isn't all there is.

Our existence being
Our way of sharing the story of our life -

our magnificently mundane individuality -

and saying

thank you.

Vibrant Creating

There are many ways to both become aware of vibrancy - that energy that makes us feel alive - and to BE vibrant - to express it.

I practice yoga - on and off the mat.  I run. (Ok, less so recently.)  I sing in the car.  I do random acts of kindness.  I hike.  I journal.  I play games with my kids.  And throughout many other things, I create.

Creating through fear (as I'm exploring on my Fearless Painting path) taps into that vibrancy, puts me in harmony with those waves of energy that just make me tingle.  I usually end up with some fun creation - but more importantly, I am more vibrant myself.

Here I am...completely not vibrant (hah!) after a few nights of not sleeping well....holding my newest creation to give you an idea of its size.

And here is the completed piece.

(Painted with acrylics...on fabric.)

I adore the sensual nature of the final piece, one that started with no goal other than to tap into whatever message my creative source wanted to share.

I started with swirls and ended with what you see here.  When I view it, one word keeps coming to mind:

Namaste.

I see my vibrancy and I see yours.  Let's keep tapping into them together.

Winter Blessings

Pristine Stillness.

I treasure those moments.

Why Do What You Do

(*Ok, I give up.  I was going to record myself reading this blog post as it is a bit long...however, I've spent nearly an hour trying to figure out why my recording device isn't working on my computer.  Time to just let go...and get my daughter her SunnyD.  Maybe next time...)

This is what I spent hours yesterday doing...and will continue doing today.

I have dozens of photos and documents that I've collected of my family / ancestry and I'm trying to scan it all in. I want to preserve them but also want a format in which I can easily share these treasures with other family members.

I have had these for quite some time and always found myself with "something else" to do.  As a "stay-at-home-mother" (grrr....still don't like that term), I am constantly faced with "something else" to do....and yet nothing to do at the same time.  I have no deadlines, but I have a constant whining presence if lunch isn't made on time.  I have no boss looking over my shoulder but I do have constant little one(s) hanging on my legs.  I have no job-breaking decisions to make, but I do get to decide how much game & t.v. time the kids get, what we eat, how clean the house stays, and what gets discussed over the dinner table.

The point is, there is always something to do.  For all of us.  I consider myself unbelievably fortunate to feel as though I have a say in the matter.  And yet, with that fortune comes great responsibility.

I am challenged with researching and fleshing out our ancestry (including all of the stories that help us understand who we are and thus, how we teach future "us-es") because no one else has the time.

I am challenged with deciding how I answer my children's questions about kissing and death and God because my husband is working to pay for the home in which we answer those questions.

I am challenged with maintaining my own health (yoga, working out, diet, creativity, self-awareness, etc.) so I have the energy to do all of this while prompting the others to make healthy decisions (including the hubby!)...because they can't (or won't) maintain awareness beyond momentary satisfaction (which usually leads to snacking on chips in front of the t.v.).

As with the family photos, I don't have to do any of this.  I could be further developing a website, putting our youngest in childcare to get a job and pay down our debt, or simply sitting in front of the t.v. all day.  It is what it is.  Therein lies both the simplicity and the mind-blowing complexity.

How do I decide what to do with my minutes?  How do any of us?  We may feel we "have" to do something or other, but I guarantee that those have to's aren't really HAVE-to's.  (If you were in a coma tomorrow, the world would go on without that article that you HAD to get done.  If you lost your source of income tomorrow, there are ways around those bills that HAD to be paid.  If you found yourself with a life-threatening disease, those last few pounds that you HAD to lose suddenly wouldn't matter a bit.)

It shouldn't take a tragedy to awaken us to the choices we have in life.

It isn't wrong to push towards getting that article done or getting your bills paid on time or keeping your body as healthy as it can be.  It isn't wrong to spend my hours working on family photos or blogging or playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos with my daughter.  (Yep.  Did that this morning.)

I believe it is "wrong" (though I shy away from that word) to do any of these things without awareness of why we are doing them.  And I'm not just talking about the surface things, as "I'm working to pay the bills", or "I'm scanning pictures to preserve them".  I'm talking about the deeper why, the one we generally ignore because we "don't have time to think about that sort of stuff".

My answer is that I feel constantly called to journey with others towards awareness.  Awareness of what was, what could be, and most importantly, what is.  Awareness of the body and all those squishy inner things we often ignore, awareness of the mind and how freakin' bouncy it is, awareness of how it all works together.  Awareness of other people existing right now, doing things right now, believing things, feeling things...trying to sort it out just like me.

But that's MY answer.  I'm interested in yours.  What are you going to do what you do when you finish reading this?

Why?

A New Translation of Yoga

I love the cycles of life.

Yoga has been returning in my life in a very strong way the past few weeks.  It is once again reminding me how central it is to who I am, how blissfully I blend with the concepts, how challenged I feel by the asanas (poses) and the very practice.

I have tons to share on this - including how my new understanding has given me a confidence to return to my teaching (and a very humble admission on why I shied away from the teaching in the first place).

However, this morning is not the time for that.  The kids are fighting in the other room and - well, let's just say it is taking most of my focus to stay yogic enough to write this.

I thought I would share with you fun little insights I had while reading the Yoga Sutras last night (the "guidebook" to yoga, 196 sutras, or observations / short phrases, assumed to have been composed over 2000 years ago) - a bit of new translations.

A background: I love taking ideas - woo-woo concepts that I seem to intuitively grasp - and trying to translate them into "real-world" concepts.

Here's an example (and while I wish I could put this in a nicer chart, it wouldn't look so great with the blog layout):

YOGA SUTRAS

Here's how I'll lay them out.  

A. The English translation* of the sutra.

B. The translation of my understanding.

C. The offensive-but-true translation.

(*English translations taken from "The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, translated by Chip Hartranft")

1.1.
A. Now, the teachings of yoga.
B. Still your mind and listen; the following are the teachings (yet not the practice) of Yoga in its entirety.
C. The teachings on engine repair are down the hall.

1.2.
A. Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness.
B.  Yoga is quieting the chatter of the mind.
C. Yoga is shutting up the shit.

1.3.
A. Then pure awareness can abide in its very nature.
B.  We can remain peacefully aware of (re-member) ALL that we truly are - returning to unity.
C. We see that we are so much more than all of that shit.

1.4.
A. Otherwise awareness takes itself to be the patterns of consciousness.
B. If we do not practice, we become associated with the myriad of thoughts and believe we are no more than our habits.
C. If we don't practice, we believe we are that shit.

I'm having fun with these so sure I will continue.

Until tomorrow,
Namaste.