Happy New Year 2012!

Happy New Year 2012 to you.

I hope your holidays were filled with blessings and love and that this new year holds great promise and happiness for you and your loved ones.

I want to share with you an account of some of our blessings of 2011:

1. We started our new year on a junk boat on a river near Hanoi, Vietnam. It was pretty amazing. However, January 2011 also surprised me with some health issue. Fortunately, I was able to heal with vitamin supplements, a more balanced diet, and positive thinking. Louise Hay says that the emotional root of anemia is a "yes, but" attitude, lack of joy, fear of life, and not feeling good enough. So, I repeated her affirmation, "It is safe for me to experience joy in every area of my life. I love life." I repeated this as a gardener sowing seed after seed into the fertile earth of my beliefs. Now, I am well.

2. In February 2011, my yogi friend Tomasz and I held our first Yogic Diet Retreat in Bali. It was blessed, perfect, powerful, and delicious. Every participant experienced life changes...from the reduced size of their waistlines to the improved quality of their marriages and beyond. Our next retreat in Bali is April 9-14, 2012. We still have room for more and we really hope you can make it. A yoga retreat is much more than a vacation. It is a true turning point in your life. Check www.yogicdiet.com for details.

3. During the rest of the spring, we had a beautiful Chinese themed birthday party for my daughter who turned seven. So many cherished friends helped make it fancy and special. My son turned ten and his whole class slept over on his birthday. It was a total blast. Our family also experienced so much love as we were bade farewell by our dear community in Indonesia.

4. We traveled back to the US for the summer. We caught up with friends and family and also took a yoga family retreat together. This retreat has become one of the highlights of our summer.

5. At the end of August, our family had a smooth move to Kuwait for my husband's job. It is a different world here in many ways. Camels, desert, ultra conservative clothing, the wild west highways, and an interesting first world veneer on a mostly third world country. And though it is natural to see, feel, and at times resist the differences, I believe our family has settled down now and that we will begin to feel more at ease and find more in common with the people here.

I would love to hear back from you about some of YOUR 2011 blessings. I would even love to post them for all of those who follow the yogic diet posts to read.

I believe that when we count our blessings, that we make more space in our lives for greater abundance. Again, we are shifting our focus from what we may not feel is right in our lives to what we do actually want.

And what I want is for you to have a very happy, a very blessed, and a very soothing new year.

Love,
Monique

How May I Serve?

The other day, I had a miserable night's sleep which resulted in a not very pleasant morning mood. I wasn't really looking forward to the day. And then Ibu Ani arrived. Ibu Ani has been a part of my household for five years as a cook and housekeeper here in Indonesia. I'll be missing her when I go! Anyhow, I asked her if she ever has restless nights and she gave me an interesting reply.

This lovely, devout, Muslim lady told me that when she can't sleep, she gets out of bed to pray for an extended period. Then she studies her scriptures for a while and goes back to sleep. She says it works every time. She told me quite clearly, "You know when you pray, you don't pray for yourself. You pray as an offering to God."

Since I had been in a rather self-absorbed poor-sleepless-and-tired me mode, this exchange with Ibu made an impact on me. I don't think I would have gone to do my morning prayers/chanting/hatha yoga practices had I not talked to her. Sometimes God speaks to us through each other.

So, as my paradigm for the day was shifting, I went to do my practices as an OFFERING. I wasn't doing them to feel better. I ended up having a very clear intention that week that I was living and giving in service to my maker, my body, my family, and my community with all of my actions. I had a wonderful week!

The impact of this small encounter lingers on. Sometimes when I don't really feel like doing something positive, helpful, generous, or productive, I'm trying to remember Ibu Ani. I'm trying to remember the phrase that Dr. Wayne Dyer lives by, "How may I serve?" I am trying to remember that the purpose of my life (according to yoga philosophy) is to aim to know God and to serve others. Basically, the purpose is to live in that open handed state of offering...no matter how we feel.

It is not always easy to do, but I suppose the purpose of life isn't supposed to be easy.

Namaste,
Monique

Day in the Life of the Yogic Diet

Many people have practices that they do to keep themselves fit, happy, and steady. Some people emphasize different areas of fitness over others. To be well rounded, happy, peaceful, healed, and whole we should aim for a balance of keeping ourselves mentally, physically, and spiritually fit. It is essentially the sum of these practices that I call "the Yogic Diet." Your yogic diet will be different from mine and from your teachers and friends. What are some of the practices of your yogic diet?

Experiencing the "light" of yoga makes me tick. So, many of my practices revolve around lighting up what I feel needs to be regularly re-lit and re-freshed.

1. First, I aim to LIGHT up whatever is going on in my mind. Mornings are best.
- I do about 15 minutes of spiritual practices to quiet my mind and then I affirm what I really want for myself and others in my life. If I'm worried about something like "Will I have enough participants to make a new class?" Them I affirm, "I feel successful and attract abundance into my life. My classes naturally attract an abundance of clients. I release all worry and concern."
- I also use this process to pray for others. If my parents or kids are struggling with something, then I affirm a positive way for it all to work out for them.
- I stay with it until I release every last worry. When I finish, I feel positive and happy...lit up.

2. Time to LIGHT up the body
- I walk briskly to get my heart rate up, feel energized, and burn calories.
- Practicing hatha yoga helps to light up whatever feels tired or achy in the body, to open the energy flow, to stretch and strengthen my muscles, and to draw my senses within.
- I mostly eat a light diet that is filled with fruits and veggies, nuts, some dairy, lots of water, healthy added oils, and less snacks.

3. Filling up with LIGHT
- Once I've cleared my mind and refreshed my body, I sit for meditation. This practice is my lifeline. Going within I have so much more to give out. I can focus more on "How are you?" rather than so much on "How about me?"

Believe it or not, this set of practices has taken years to develop. And though these practices give me great happiness, a feeling of steadiness, and the ability to serve others with my heart, sometimes I can still go days without doing them. Then when I go back to them, the steadiness returns. I feel that when I can do them like a world-class athlete who practices 2 x 7 x 52 x 10 (2 times a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year - for 10 years), it'll be time for my PBS special!

All my classes are essentially about learning to develop, practice, and deepen your own yogic diet. Contact me for more details on how to develop your yogic diet today.

Love and Blessings,
Monique

Keeping up the Resolutions

My teacher once said that in this day and age it is easy to give up our resolutions when something becomes challenging...not very challenging, just challenging.

What are some resolutions we may have made?
- Stop snacking between meals
- Give the kids/spouse/dog more attention
- Jog/Practice Yoga/Lift Weights X days per week
- Read scriptures
- Meditate daily
- Cut carbs
- See the good in everyone
- Reduce gossip
- Just say no to diet cokes
- Release the past and forgive everyone

What are some challenges we may face in keeping them?
- Time
- Faith
- Fear
- Success
- Emotions
- Hormones
- Working, eating, sleeping, drinking, talking, doing too much
- Fatigue
- Carelessness
- Boredom

So, how can we follow ever through? After he arrived in India in 1959, a Buddhist lama was asked, "How did you manage to escape from Tibet and cross the high and snowy Himalayas by foot?" He replied, "One step at a time." And so it is with our resolutions.

Each time we take a step in the direction of fulfilling our resolutions, we add to the momentum of change, of fulfillment, of heightened self-esteem. And so what if we take a few steps back? We owe it to ourselves and our families to find our resolutions, dust them off, and begin anew. Doing so helps us live an inspired and inspiring life.

Also, beginning over and over again and sticking with our resolutions does bring lasting change. One step at a time, we find ourselves more and more lit up from the inside and surrounded by abundance on the outside.

May we all release the hold that we have on our obstacles and the hold that our obstacles have on us. May we feel successful and attract abundance into our lives.

Namaste,
Monique

A Mirror

About ten years ago, I was visiting one of my teacher's ashrams and a woman who was leading one of the programs made an impression on me. She was beautiful, confident, down to earth, and warm. I noticed she was happily married to another yogi and they made a lovely couple. I remember feeling that I'd like to be like her. I wanted to be more powerful, confident, and whole in my life. I wanted my husband to join me more fully on the yogic path. It was an impression and a thought...and it was gone.

Fast forward ten years. Last summer, I was attending a retreat with my family at another one of my teacher's ashrams. The energy was as powerful as I remembered. I easily tapped into my own greatness and inner divinity and to that same greatness in others. This is the power of yoga. I watched my husband and children shift in powerful ways. It was an amazing retreat and a blessing for my family.

One evening, I sat down with some ladies that I had not had a chance to meet. We hit it off and began sharing about our lives. One lady shared that she was a life coach and had her own business. Wow, just like me. She also taught kid's yoga. Just like me. She was attending the retreat with her family. Just like me. She felt very powerful and strong in her life as she had healed many issues by following the path of yoga. She still sometimes struggles and is open and honest about that with her clients. Just like me.

Then it hit me. This was the woman that I had seen years ago. I asked her if she had indeed been there leading that program and she confirmed my intuition. The thought of wanting to be like her had manifested. Through grace, she had returned to mirror and show me how much progress I have made over the years. I told her my experience of wanting to be like her and we marveled over our parallel lives.

The magic, mystery, and power of yoga practices continues to amaze me. Yoga works. Yoga transforms. Yoga heals. Yoga empowers.

May the universe continue to guide each one of us toward the people, places, teachers, and ideas that show us a glimmer of who and what we are capable of being.

Namaste

Healing My Dis-Ease

In 1996, I moved 5,000 miles away from home to Beijing, China. I had finished my International Studies degree in college and I went to China to teach English, to learn more about Chinese culture, and to try to find myself.

Of course, it wasn’t easy. In China, I was so stressed that a lot of my hair fell out. I was really alone in an unrecognizably different culture. I taught English at a medical school and was shocked when my adult students would cough and spit on the floor of the classroom. There were many sorts of unknown rules of protocol like you should say no three times when offered something and then finally say yes and so on.

I got sick a lot that first year and I was truly depressed. I turned to food, especially chocolate, for comfort. I also turned to calling my fiancée and we amassed thousands of dollars in phone bills. Maybe it was costing him too much because he started sending me self-help book in the mail like Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits for Highly Effective People and Dr. Andrew Weil’s Spontaneous Healing. I needed to get a grip.

I found the courage to show up and teach at the university everyday and seemed to be a natural teacher. However, I was riddled with self-consciousness, insecurity, and unhappiness. To the credit of my wonderful Chinese students, they really supported me in those days. On the weekends they took me to parks, to sing karaoke, to dance, and to eat nice food. I made some lasting friendships with many of them.

One day in my journal I wrote that it was my LIFE's GOAL was to find a way to deeply take care of my body, mind, and soul. I was 23 years old. I had a wish to heal myself on all levels. I started to pray for answers to help me with my dis-ease. Answers started coming in and I found yoga. First, yoga was for spiritual healing, then mental/emotional healing, and finally for the body.

It took about 10-15 years to heal the samskaras (old tendencies and patterns) that surfaced in Beijing. Through the spiritual, mental, and physical practices of yoga, I became healthier and less likely to fall ill, I gained enthusiasm for working and serving, I learned to eat healthier, exercise more, and turn to food less for emotional reasons, I learned to be less needy and more masterful in handling my own emotions, and I became less self-conscious, more secure, and very happy. This is why I developed the Yogic Diet program to help others with the same things that had troubled me.

Contact Monique@yogicdiet.com to find out more about our programs.

Yoga and Our Cells

Cells make up our tissues which make up organs (liver, heart, kidneys) which make up systems (like digestive the system) which make up the organism of you.

The cell is the smallest unit of life in the body. Each cell needs stable conditions (homoeostasis) in order to survive. All the different organs and systems in the body are working to keep environmental conditions constant so that the cells can survive. However, acidity, toxins, stress, and pollutants from diet and lifestyle disrupt this homeostasis and can cause cells to die.

In the Anabolic stage of growth until we are about 20 years old, cells are replaced faster than they are broken down. However, in the Catabolic phase of life, from the 20’s until death, cells are not being replaced as quickly and the quality of the cells being produced is lower. Therefore, tissues, organs, and systems work less well...eventually leading to organ failure. However, this process can be slowed down.

Yogic practices such as the yogic diet, yoga asana exercises, relaxation, deep breathing, positive thinking, and meditation can slow down and/or reverse the aging process by ensuring cell homeostasis. Yoga exercises that bend and stretch the spine increase fresh blood, oxygen, and nerve flow that revitalize the cells and all major glands and organs. The yogic diet also decreases stress on the cells and the body by increasing plant based, antioxidant rich, nutritious, alkaline, and easily digestible food.

Email us and find out more about the Yogic Diet today!

Starting All Over Again

No matter how many times you have to start over, just start over again! Whether it is with your fitness plan, your diet, your spiritual practices, practicing yoga, an intention to read to your children each day, cleaning your desk off, or turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth, it is worth it to start your practice over again and again and again.

Life will always give us obstacles in pursuing our path, our practices, and our dreams. There are illnesses, hormonal fluctuations, scheduling difficulties, financial problems, relationship troubles, and times of indecision and confusion in everyone's life. And of course it takes courage to pick up the pieces and start again. We all know that breaking promises to ourselves can hurt the old self-esteem. So we may doubt and fret over starting again. Nevertheless, we must! The alternative could mean giving up.

Also, my teacher says that if you have pursued a discipline in the past, you still retain it's merit. For example, if you used to practice hatha yoga and now you have stopped, when you start again you can quickly get back to the level of body awareness and flexibility that you once had. You never lose the merit of your past discipline.

So, just do it! You know what you need to do. Follow your inner wisdom and start over again. May your return(s) to discipline and consistency bring you great happiness.

The Space Between Thoughts

During one retreat at the ashram that I visit for meditation and yoga programs,I learned a teaching from an ancient yogic text that made a big impression one me. The sutra is "Mudya vikasat chidananda labaha" which means "when the center expands, the bliss of Consciousness rises." The thing is, I did not just learn this sutra, I actually had an experience of it which lasted for three days!

When the center expands can mean...when the space between two thoughts expands. When the mind is truly quiet, this bliss is supposed to rise up from within. You can try it right now and see if it works. Let your mind be completely quiet and notice how you feel. No judgments, no chatter, just silence. Looking at nature enhances the experience. Eckhart Tolle calls it "the power of Now" and Dr. Wayne Dyer calls it "getting into the gap."

Yogis say that the reason we practice regular meditation, yoga, and chanting is to still the mind for a while, so that we can experience the blissful and healing energy that exists within us. With regular practice, we can also extend the experience of the space between the thoughts into our daily lives. And one who can experience this quiet space indefinitely (or who knows how to get back into it at will) is known as an Enlightened Being.

Having an enlightened teacher has perks. When I was given this sutra, I was also given the experience of its teaching. I was a cheery and studious 27 year old with lots of ideas, thoughts, opinions, and feelings milling around inside. While at the ashram, I had a lot of commentary to share with others at breaks, meal times, with roommates, etc. However, once that teaching entered inside of me, I made shift.

I became deeply and completely quiet in all ways. I had no opinions yearning to be shared, no room for idle chit chat, I was silent. Being in nature was the most satisfying as nature easily mirrored outside what was going on within me. I was in an enlightened state for three whole days.

People who knew me said that my quiet was not stoic-feeling or unwelcoming as it was set off by a full smile and a lot of sweetness coming through the eyes that they could feel. I experienced many miracles in the days following the sutra suggested silence. And through the ongoing practices of meditation, chanting, and yoga that still my mind and infuse my days with the touch of silence, I still do.

Feeding the Inner Hunger

Everyone has deep seated hunger and feelings of emptiness and lack. We try to fill this hunger by satisfying our desires and sense pleasures. We eat and drink, watch TV, spend money, meet with others, try to find fulfillment in work, and go on vacations all to feed this hunger. However, we can never fill the hunger inside by satisfying our desires for sense pleasures.

In the Bible, Jesus says, "Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled." (Luke 6:21) The great yoga master Paramahansa Yogananda elucidates this passage saying "Blessed are you who thirst for wisdom and who esteem virtue and righteousness as the real food to appease your inner hunger, for you shall have that lasting happiness brought only by adhering to divine ideals - unparalleled satisfaction of heart and soul." (The Yoga of Jesus, p.78)

So how do we feed this hunger that we are blessed to have? The great masters tell us that the deep seated hunger that every man feels is actually the soul's desire for God. And to appease this hunger, we actually have to turn our hunger around from seeking to fulfill the desires of the senses on the outside to going within and seeking the kingdom of God within. This can be practiced in big and small ways.

Practices such as prayer, meditation, hatha yoga, scriptural study of your religion, stilling the mind in the present moment, mantra repetition, formal worship, and making some time to be with yourself in contemplation can all be forms of going within.

Desires can also be turned around with awareness and managed in order to start to truly feed our inner hunger right away.

Here are some ways that the Yogic Diet teaches to manage desires:
- I feel hungry, but I don't overeat (desire) because I want to have a lot of energy to do my my practices and be there for others.
- I want to eat a mostly highly nutritious diet, but I crave sweets (desire). So I pass on the cookies, gum, and diet coke and reach for the fresh pineapple and raisins instead.
- I want to be fit, but I feel a little lazy (desire). So I nudge myself off the sofa to go for a brisk walk in the evening.
- I want to be and feel beautiful, but I dislike parts of my body and want to criticize it (desire). So I train myself to love my body the way that it is.
- I try to remember to nurture myself and refrain from harming myself by smoking, drinking, picking my face, overeating, etc (desire).
- I want to have good health, but I am still holding on to resentment from the past (desire) which makes me susceptible to illness. So, I practice forgiveness and positive affirmations and achieve great health.
- I want to please others (desire), and sometimes I over commit. I turn it around and take time for myself first to deeply relax in meditation. Then I can serve other others with light-heartedness.

Learn more about practices like these in our Yogic Diet Workshops!

My Perfect Client

Does this sound like you?

- Inspired by YOGA lifestyle and philosophy + Law of Attraction – You love yoga and the power of positive/attractive thinking.
- Ready to Implement Body, Mind, and Soul Practices - You are ready to create the time and space to be with yourself to contemplate, meditate, do spiritual practices, exercise, improve your diet, practice positive thinking, and heals samskaras, old tendencies and patterns.
- Ready to Permanently Lose Weight and/or Ready to Improve Body Image and Heal Self-Esteem Issues – You are ready to love and accept your body as it is and raise your energy to attract a healthier, stronger, more flexible, fit, slim, and beautiful form.
- Ready to be Masterful in Handling Your Emotions – You are ready to be emotionally self-reliant with the support of self-inquiry and contemplation.
- Ready to Improve Your State of Mind – You want to attract a more serene, happy, positive, secure, relaxed, patient, loving, courageous, focused, and disciplined state of mind.
- Ready to Deepen Your Connection to Source/God – You want to deepen your relationship with Source and practice spiritual practices that build upon your own faith.
- Ready to Improve Your Relationships - You are ready to make huge shifts in your relationships with the keys of yoga philosophy and the Law of Attraction.
- Ready to Make a Dream Come True – You have a special dream for your life that you are ready to make happen.
- Ready to Let Go of Limitations – You are ready to release old limitations that no longer serve you.
- Manifesting a Good Life and want to Manifest a Phenomenal Life – You already have a highly functioning life and want to tweak/improve your physical, mental, and spiritual states and relationships to create a phenomenal life with the support of coaching.

Contact me at Monique@yogicdiet.com for more info or check out our website at www.yogicdiet.com for more info on the Yogic Diet Six Week Workshops and Consulting programs.

Law of Attraction

The Law of Attraction simply states that "like attracts like." We get back what we put out into the universe. Many times our thoughts, feelings, and actions are focused on and reacting to what we don't want. For example, if we have a problem with someone, we may go over and over a list of their faults. That just brings more of their faults into our lives! We must learn to be focused on what WE WANT in order to attract it.

I discovered the LOA for the first time in 1996 when my friend Annie Sherwood mentioned that she was a life-coach and would love to help me improve anything in my life before she moved to Spain! Since I had done healing work in the past, I decided to give it a go. We worked through a Strategic Attraction Plan(TM) developed by Jan Stringer of Perfect Customers. This plan was originally devised to help businesses attract perfect customers. But, it also can help anyone to attract more of what they are seeking in any aspect of their lives. So, I did a plan with Annie and it totally rocked my world. My family life improved and I stepped into a flow of success and happiness that I had not known before and have not let go of since.

I don't just believe in the Law of Attraction, I have seen it's miracles in my life for several years now with me, my family, and my clients. Let me share some of these experiences.

On my first attraction plan, I wrote many of my goals. One was that I could weigh 120lbs. Having always struggled with my weight, I choose a magical number, though perhaps unattainable. Fast forward a year later. I took my yoga teacher training in Singapore in 2007 and we practiced yoga twice a day, two hours a session, for three weeks. We also only ate two meals per day. So the calorie reduction, lots of exercise, plus taking the subways in Singapore to get around had the net effect of me losing some weight. But I never got on a scale during the whole experience. Instead, I waited till I got home. And what do you know? The scale said the exact number 120. Not 119 or 121. I found it very cool that I attracted the EXACT number that I had written on my plan!

I have also taught my children to "see it in your head and feel it in your heart" if you want to attract something. In kindergarten, my son could not reach the top of a really high rock climbing wall in PE class. However, after he taped a picture of himself reaching the top of the wall onto his bedroom wall, he did it on the very next class. And recently, he was upset about a situation with a friend. So last Sunday he taped a picture to his wall that has a picture he drew of himself with his friends and a caption that reads, "I am happy and surrounded by friends. I am the best friend anyone could have. I am great!"

Yeah, for the Law of Attraction!

Ego Weekend

What is Ego? Ego means what we identify with. I AM the small self, my fears, my fat, my beauty, my body, my aches and pains, my mistakes, my anger, my pride, my issues, my vanity, my emotions, my wealth, my poverty, my failures, my successes, and so on. Identifying with the small self often manifests as feeling superior or inferior. When we refer to the ego as an obstacle that usually means that small self mode.

The ego can also identify with the higher Self. I AM. I am Consciousness. I am an instrument of God's peace. I am a vehicle of Divine energy. I am the Witness, Watcher, and Seer of all this. I am letting go and letting God. Identifying with the higher Self feels good, peaceful, and in the flow. In this state, we notice how everything is happening perfectly and we feel grateful.

Anyhow, today I was thinking about the connection between ego (small self) and discipline. I notice that on the days when I am practicing my disciplines, the small self ego has much less hold on me. And the opposite is also true on the days when my practices fall by the wayside.

For example, during the weekdays I practice my disciplines very easily. I watch my sugar intake, eat lightly, practice yoga every day, pray and meditate, adjust my thoughts and feelings as needed, and plan my days. These disciplines make me feel light, light-hearted, and somewhat enlightened. I am identifying with the higher Self lots of the time.

But I've noticed that on the weekends, those disciplines sometimes go out the window and often by Monday I'm achy, bloated, and ready to be hard on myself (ego - I am my mistakes). It is also a bit harder to get back into those disciplines after I've let them lapse for a while. Can anyone relate to this?

So, what is the solution? Do I need to be more like Gandhi who kept up his disciplines no matter where he was or what was happening around him? But then what about taking it a bit easy with my family on the weekends?

I think the solution is to add to my Yogic Diet strategic attraction plan:
- BE GRATEFUL - I am grateful that discipline now comes easy from Monday through Friday.
- BE THOUGHTFUL and PLAN - I spend time to plan for the weekends. I plan to eat a high protein breakfast on the weekends. I plan to do a mini yoga and meditation session each day on the weekends. I do them and I feel great. I plan to cook a nice dinner for my family on Sundays.
- BE POSITIVE - It is now easy for me to take better care of myself and my family on the weekends.

Having a plan is 90% of the solution. Let me practice this and I'll let you know how it goes. I think it's going to be a good weekend.

Hi, Remember Yoga?

Let’s face it. Sometimes, it’s not easy to do the practices that uplift us. Whether it is prayer, treadmill, cleaning off our desk, practicing yoga, or sitting for meditation, making the effort can be tough at times. For me, when I’m on a roll, it is effortless to take care of my body, mind, and soul. It’s so easy, anyone could do it. Enlightenment is for the taking. Simple. See the Buddha did it and so can I.

However, when obstacles arise and I’m thrown off course for a bit, it can take days or weeks to get back to that place of feeling like a yoga rock star. Yet, even when I want to sit on my sofa, eat brownies, and forget all about yoga...it keeps coming back to me. Yoga keeps calling me. I see it on TV, in magazines, and on facebook! I can run, but I cannot hide.

For the last few days, I have been in that space of resistance. I did not want to even hear about spiritual practices. I was getting stuck in a funk. Then yoga tracked me down and came up innocently in a casual conversation. A man was telling me about his wife’s back pain. Bait. I could not resist. I said, “You know yoga is the only exercise that can heal the spine so quickly. I met a lady last summer that needed back surgery and after practicing yoga for 6 months, her doctor gave her the all clear. She was healed. What a miracle. I myself used to have back pain, but no more...” I went on and on. I convinced him and me too.

Being now so convinced, I had no choice but to go home and practice yoga. The post yoga endorphins coaxed me return to my evening meditation. And of course, I felt so fabulous the next day, I had to start my positive thinking practices back up as well. I was really inspired when I taught yoga. I found myself feeling like a yoga rock star again and could even blog about it. “YOGA works!!!!!” I’ll shout it from the rooftops.

Thank you, yoga for finding me again and again. I wish that I may always be easy to find.

The Yogic Diet Program Elements

The elements of the Yogic Diet program that I offer are:
1. Yogic Diet
Enjoy energy, vitality, and strength as you incorporate a pure, wholesome, and naturally delicious yogic diet into your life. Tailor your diet to include more fresh and dried fruits and berries, pure fruit/vegetable juices, raw or lightly cooked vegetables, salads, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, wholegrain breads, honey, fresh herbs, herbal teas, and dairy products such as milk and butter. You may also want to reduce animal products, alcohol, sugar, caffeine, processed and packaged foods, tobacco, white flour, and fried foods which can adversely affect your body and mind. In addition to improving what you eat, the Yogic Diet offers suggestions as to how to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, and so on.
2. Yoga and Exercise
Be Active and Energetic! Make a fitness plan that you can stick to doing the exercises you love. Include hatha yoga into your weekly regimen to:
- Build strength and flexibility
- Lengthen muscle tissue
- Tone internal organs
- Flush toxins out of gland and endocrine systems
- Aid the flow of prana [vital energy] in the body like acupuncture/deep tissue massage
- Deeply relax your body and mind
* Some of the side effects of yoga are great health, abundant energy, proper weight, stress and pain reduction, and lasting feelings of tranquility, peace, and unconditional love.
3. Law of Attraction
We get back what we give out. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions must be focused on what WE DO WANT in order to attract it into our lives. Through the 4 step Bee-ing Attraction Plan(TM), you make an integrated attraction plan for your body, mind, and soul to ensure that you attract health and fitness goals, happiness, abundance, contentment, improved relationships, and a deeper connection to Source into your life. Having a plan is 90% of the solution.
4. Positive Thinking
Take a positive approach in all areas of your life. Practical tools such as contemplation, self-inquiry, prayer, and signs of land will help you release thoughts, feelings, and old patterns that hold you back and keep you feeling stuck in worry, anger, regret, and fear. A disciplined mind leads to steady wisdom and happiness.
5. Spiritual Practice
Make a plan for your spiritual practices. Whether you want to make time for prayer, meditation, scriptural study, formal worship, devotional practice, chanting, service work, or charity, the Yogic Diet will help you go deeper into your own faith. According to the philosophy of yoga, as well as the world’s religious traditions, the purpose of life is to know God and to serve others. Experiment and discover which practices resonate with you the most and make them a part of your life.
6. Selfless Service
Selfless service is a cornerstone of yoga philosophy and of good leadership. Discover what makes you tick, what you came here to offer, and how you want to serve your world. Be inspired and passionate as you improve and touch the lives of others in big and small ways. The Yogic Diet program will help you set achievable goals for finding and offering your path of service.

Ahimsa - Love Yourself

Ahimsa is one of the Yamas and Niyamas of yoga philosophy which were laid out by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras as essentially a set of restraints and observances to work with as a foundation for spiritual progress. These Yamas and Niyamas are lightly dubbed the "10 Commandments of Yoga." The first Yama is Ahimsa which literally means practicing non-violence or non-harming toward oneself and others. Don’t hurt yourself or others with thought, word, or deed.

Once I was at an ashram studying yoga and I learned about the concept of samskaras. Samskaras are old and limiting patterns and tendencies that are known in modern times as our “issues.” One goal of a yogi is to identify, heal, and release our samskaras or issues so that we can be happy, serve others, and walk our spiritual path. During that stay at the ashram, I asked a swami, “What are the root of our samskaras?” He had obviously thought about this one because he sagely replied, “The root of ALL samskaras is self-hatred.” Wow, so it is ultimately self-hatred that keeps us stuck with anxieties, fears, all negative relationship patterns, self-destructive tendencies like overeating or drinking too much, self-esteem fluctuations, anger, sadness, and feelings of loneliness and disconnection from Source. But I thought it was their fault!

If it's true that all of our issues arise from a level of self-hatred, then the practices of loving ourselves and non-harming or Ahimsa are the logical solutions as the avenue of healing. This is why the Yogic Diet emphasizes nurturing and healing our bodies, minds, and souls. Each practice of the Yogic Diet, including nurturing the body with a pure diet and hatha yoga and mastering positive thinking techniques, are practices of Ahimsa.

What can I do today to practice Ahimsa? Start with making yourself a priority. Set aside some time each day to nurture yourself. Cook nice food, get your body moving, start to change your self-talk (no matter what the issue is) from negative to positive, and begin to see every obstacle as an opportunity for you to deepen your love for yourself. After all, God created you and is pleased with how you are manifesting. Now, become pleased with yourself.

The Yogic Diet for Your Body

One of the classes I offer in my Yogic Diet coaching is "The Yogic Diet for Your Body." This class is about developing body, mind, and soul practices for weight loss, optimal health, and happiness. In my course, clients:

- Create a Bee-ing Attraction Plan(TM)
- Move toward eating a yogic diet as described by the ancient wisdom of yoga and contemporary sources
- Incorporate the practice of hatha yoga exercise into their lives, including steady breathing and relaxation techniques
- Discipline the mind through the practice of Positive Thinking: self-inquiry, contemplation, prayer, gratitude, signs, and affirmations
– Attract the perfect radiant body using the Yamas and Niyamas (5 Restraints and 5 Observances) of yoga philosophy to heal body and self-esteem issues and increase self-love.

Contact me if you would like more information about this class.

What is Yoga?

Many people who practice the Yogic Diet want to know what yoga really means. I've listed a few different ways of understanding yoga.

One definition from the Bhagavad-Gita is that yoga is the dissolution of our union with pain. Dissolution means: disintegration, termination, disrupting, breaking down. So the practices of yoga can work to end our union with physical, psychological, emotional, and/or spiritual pain.

Yoga means union. It comes from the Sanskrit word yug which means yoke. Yoga helps to yoke or connect the individual consciousness to the universal consciousness, or Source. However, yoga is not a religion. Instead it offers techniques (like the Yogic Diet) such as proper diet, exercise, relaxation, steady breathing, positive thinking, meditation, selfless service and so on that can take one more deeply into his or her own religion or spiritual path. Yoga is suitable for people of all faiths and for the secular as well.

Our true nature, our inner self, is like the sun – it is luminous, radiant, cheerful, bright, and full of happiness. Our minds are like the clouds that sometimes blocks the sun. We tend to focus on the clouds and forget that we are truly the sun. Sydney Solis of Storytime Yoga says, “The discipline of yoga can help us move the clouds out of the way, so we can again identify with the radiant self and all its possibilities.”

What is the Yogic Diet?

The Yogic Diet is a set of yogic practices aimed at nurturing the body, mind, and soul. These practices include: 1. Pure Yogic Diet - move towards eating a sattvic (pure) diet which is easily digested, promotes cheerfulness, and is based on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and soy/dairy products, 2. Hatha Yoga Exercise – practice hatha yoga to purify and strengthen the body, attain perfect health, proper weight, abundant energy, deep relaxation, and lasting feelings of happiness, and 3. Positive Thinking – practice self-inquiry, law of attraction, prayer, gratitude, and contemplation of yoga philosophy to promote mastery in handling one’s emotions and foster a deeper connection to Source.