When we practice the Attitude of Gratitude, we raise our vibration. A softening occurs which allows our being to open. We immediately change the lens through which we see the world. We are no longer resisting what is, but rather, are in a state of appreciation for what is.

It is easy for the mind to get caught up in lack or scarcity or not enough-ness. By being grateful, we begin to see all the blessings in our lives that surround us all the time.

The more we practice this art of gratitude, the more blessings we see.  Those blessings become infinite in number.

We end up resonating as that state of awareness and become gratitude itself.

We reach a higher state of consciousness and by vibrating at this higher frequency, in essence, we become the abundance we see.

 And when we are resonating from a place of gratitude and have become that abundance, we attract more abundance into our lives as a result.

On one hand, it is easy to be grateful for the things we wanted or the things we like. But our real practice of gratitude comes when we can be grateful for the things/experiences we didn’t see coming, the things that challenge us, or that we don’t initially like.

If we can stay soft and open rather than contract and close in those moments, it is easier to see the jem, the beauty that lies hidden in every challenging situation. That openness allows us to receive the hidden gift of that experience.

There is always a blessing to behold in any situation, in any moment.

Our Gratitude is boundless.

If we ultimately become what we think, let’s start with Gratitude.

What are you Grateful for?

]]> http://bodytempleyoga.org/wp/gratitude/feed/ 0 http://bodytempleyoga.org/wp/aspire-to-greatness/ http://bodytempleyoga.org/wp/aspire-to-greatness/#comments Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:52:48 +0000 Daniella http://bodytempleyoga.org/wp/?p=852

In this writing I will expand a bit more on Adikara from a previous post. Adikara is a Sanskirt word and in the world of Anusara Yoga it is translated to mean “Studentship”. To break this down further ‘Adi’ means “with respect to” and ‘kara’ means ” to do” or “Karma”.  So, Adikara means “with respect to doing”.

We all have gifts. We all have something unique and special to offer the world in this lifetime. No one is excluded from this. We have been gifted with embodiment. Our work is to discover and receive our unique gifts and bring our efforts, our studentship to them.

Ask yourself:

What is your heart’s desire?

What is your aspiration? What do you aspire to?

These questions bring us in connection with our inherent greatness. We manifest our greatness to the degree that we chose to. We manifest a graceful navigation through challenging yoga poses and challenging parts of life to the degree that it carries meaning for us. Therefore Adikara becomes Aspiration plus Commitment.

What you aspire to in your personal yoga practice and in your practice of life, is going to take commitment, is going to take effort, is going to take studentship. We were born with everything we need for our own fulfillment. How important this is to you, will ultimately influence your level of commitment.

Why do you practice? What does it mean for you?
What are you willing to do to achieve your aspirations?

You have to become, fully embody that greatness that you already are inside.

Instead of becoming a victim to your life, your circumstances, you let every experience in life empower you to be more of who you truly are. Allow each challenge to inspire you to embody more of your greatness. Then everyone wins because the people around you get to benefit from receiving your gifts and your offering and you get to be more of you.

Notice what role you possess with your family, your friends, your co-workers. Not the ones you’ve been given title to, but the ones that naturally occur. What gift do you possess that you can give? And give it more freely, more fully and more bravely.

It’s not about doing what you can’t realistically do…in a yoga pose or in life. It’s about aspiring to the greatest possibility of what you CAN do.

Namaste~
Daniella Cotreau

The arrival of Fall brings so much to our lives that sometimes in the busy-ness of life we can easily overlook. I keep hearing from so many people that this time of year is their favorite: with the milder and perfect temperatures, the softer rays of Sun and the beginning of the turning of the leaves. This time of year is also one of the most noticable transitions as we quickly change from hot indian summer days to cooler days and nights. We change from being very outward in our expression, energy and creativity to starting the process of slowing down and turning into the cave of the heart as winter’s hibernation time is just on our heels. We must remember that we are a part of nature and the changes that come with it. We are not separate from these seasonal changes. The more we either resist or deny this fact the more difficult this transition can be and as a result feel more irritability, less patience, ungroundedness and a lowered immune system. To best support ourselves during this seasonal change is to simpy honor the change. Give your body more rest when it wants it. Start eating more warm cooked foods and herbal teas and less raw food and cold drinks. Start building your immune system for winter to avoid colds and flu. Vit C, Wellness Formula and Astragalas root tincture are some of my favorite immune tonics to avoid becoming sick during winter. You can find them at your local Whole Foods Market.
I love this time of year as it is a time of self-nurturing and contemplation. I truly value the times of year when we can slow down and take care of your body, heart and soul. It is a wonderful time to study, read and journal. To attend to the things at home you did not have a chance to from the active outward summer days. It is the perfect time to decide what seeds you wish to plant for yourself, in your life, that will be percolating over the winter months and ready to birth into being come spring again.
Your yoga practice should also reflect these changes. Maintaing regularity is a given and even the intensity can remain the same and yet allowing the intensity to take a different form.
In other words, instead of going for the full-powered sweaty workout, let the intensity shift to what you are focused on while in each and every pose. Send your attention into deeper refinement of a pose and take a pose you already know to the next level. As a result, a new opening will occur in your body.
Try practicing in this way over the next few months, focusing the intensity of the practice to finding a softer, more spacious, more open self. And when the fiery months of summer come back around again, you will find that getting into those more challenging poses is with greater enjoyment and ease because of the inner work you did over the months of turning inside.
And if we can do it on the mat, we can do it in Life. When we traverse a challenging pose with more grace, we can traverse a more challenging situation with that same grace as well.
Anusara Yoga is about aligning with Nature. When we are in alignment with the natural cycles of life, what is natural to being human, we are happy and free. And when we are not, there is suffering.
We can learn so much from nature.
Just like the trees so effortlessly let go of all their leaves, they remind us to let go of our attachments…the things that we are so hard pressed to get, have or experience…and relax more into simply Being.

May our hearts continue to blossom in this time of self-reflection and slowing down.

Blessings of Autumn to you…
Daniella Cotreau~

Most of us have heard of the Hindu Deity called Ganesh. He is the round bellied elephant headed boy who rides atop a mouse and is often referred to as the “remover of obstacles.” He is often placed at the entry way to any home, temple, or space in which we want to keep safe from harm. This hindu deity, like all the hindu deities, is a powerful symbol in our personal human evolution and spiritual growth. Hindu deities are also reflections of aspects of ourselves or the Universe. Ganesh has 4 hands/arms and in each he is holding something symbolic.

There are many moments in our lives where we find ourselves attached to having a particular outcome of a situation or our life looking a certain way. It is in these moments where we have the opportunity to practice anugraha. Anugraha in Sanskrit means non-grasping. It is when we grasp onto our desires, when we attach to having something happen or look the way we want is when we find the most suffering.

We often get bound by our own desires without them being heightened by a higher light, a higher intent.
In other words, an intent that serves more than just ourselves.

A great question to ask yourself when in any situation or moment of decision making or discernment is:

“Is it life enhancing?”

Sometimes our desires can be ones that are not life enhancing and rather ones that bind us.
They create stuck-ness in our selves and in our lives.

In Ganesh’s right upper hand is an Ax. This ax symbolizes the Power of discernment or discrimination. The power or capability to discern or discriminate whether something or someone is actually life-enhancing or not.

This quality is a powerful quality to cultivate in ourselves as it can guide us along the path that serves us best as we journey through life.

On the other hand, when we open to Grace more consistently in our lives, we can find ourselves being held and supported by the Universe. In essence, the Universe will hold you, “grasp” you, until you have an opening.

So continue to do your practices, even when your mind tells you that you have regressed. Your diligence and commitment will be held by something greater and will continue to hold you until you have the opening you need to move to the next level.

Ganesh is not only the remover of obstacles, but he is also the creator. Sometimes obstacles will be put on your path in order for you to have the awakening you need to move forward. Ganesh won’t let you go to the next level unless you have strong Adikara. Adikara is Sanskrit for Studentship. You will be tested. “Are you in the flow?” And if you are not, an obstacle may appear as an opportunity to propel you forward, remembering grace, remembering to let go, to practice anugraha.

Remember, it is always for the highest.

“Close your eyes and you’ll see clearly
Cease to listen and you’ll hear truth
Empty out and you’ll be free.”

Be like the Sky ~ Humble and open
and the Earth ~ Committed with Conviction

“Embody every pose you practice on your mat with humility and openness, commitment and conviction and you will start to see the changes in how you engage your life. Your life will start to reflect back to you the change you have made within.”

Daniella Cotreau~

As things are speeding up more and more and this evolutionary shift of collective consciousness continues to do it’s work, I am finding it is becoming increasingly important for us, maybe more than ever before, to take care of ourselves, nurture our bodies, minds, hearts and souls so as to move through all these changes, both individually and universally, with as much grace as possible.

I have also found that with the increase of technology consistently on the rise, and with maybe no end, it is becoming more and more essential that remind ourselves of one of the most crucial and biggest connections we have and that is our connection to nature.

It is bigger than we realize and with all that our lives are inundated with, easy to forget.

When we align with nature….when we align with what is natural, we align with our truest self. We align with the Divine part of ourselves…our souls, our hearts.

As much as I appreciate the conveniences of the technology world, nothing comes close in comparison to the magnitude of positive support and my appreciation and gratitude to the natural world.

My intention for this retreat was to be a reminder of our inherent connection to nature, to celebrate and nurture that connection, thereby, nurturing ourselves. To offer a day where we merged the healing powers of yoga with live music in the venue of nature…. Big Basin, California, one of the most majestic and beautiful places in the US.

And the addition of the live music came from a very particular instrument called the Hang. Hang means “hand” in Swiss/German. It is made by hand and is played by hand and offers the most beautiful and ethereal sounds to the ears and heart and was the perfect assist to our experience. It coaxed us gently and sweetly into letting go of all the layers, all the days and weeks and months of the past and landed us safely in the present moment.

We connected to our bodies with care and precision by beginning our day with a heart-opening Anusara-Inspired yoga practice with the theme of connecting to our natural state. Then a break for lunch outside in nature with a healthy array of natural and organic home prepared food, and then a walk/hike through the hills and mountains of Big Basin.

The morning yoga class and our hike were accompanied by Matt Venuti, our hang player from San Francisco. During our hike we would stop at sacred power spots, sit and meditate in silence as well as to the music of the hang.

We were blessed to have Matt offer a hang vibrational healing to each one of us. We would lay down on the earth, with the Hang placed on our bellies and he would play whatever song came through that was inspired by each person’s energy.

It was amazing the hear the beauty and diversity and each person’s song!

Everyone felt so nurtured and restored after such an amazing day. Nature abounds with magic and it is exemplified with such powerful heart intention.

We returned back to the Yoga Shala after our hike, to seal the day with an afternoon 2 hour restorative yoga class which was also accompanied by Matt and the poetry of Mary Oliver.

My biggest heart-felt gratitude to all who came, your presence was a gift and added so much to our experience.

Big blessings of light to our first Mother, our Mother Earth, for her unconditional love and abundance!

Saprema, (with divine love)

Daniella~

And for us to really get this, to really embody this, we are tested. Yes, it is fairly easy to intellectually accept this theme for the year. But then to apply it to your life, to live it,  is a whole other story. So the Universe playfully pulls the rug out from underneath us. And we have our opportunity to really practice the art of surrender and complete trust in the Greater Universe.

That everything will go most likely…not as planned…and you have the opportunity to learn how to flow, how to go with the flow, how to flow with the changes. How to be Anusara.

So today is dedicated to the 1st prinicple of Anusara yoga. It is first because we cannot have an awakening without it.

It is Open to Grace.

It means to soften, to be sensitive, to breathe knowing that something greater than yourself breathes you, to allow your heart to melt…to open yourself to the guidance of something greater…

When you are connected to your heart, you invite Grace into your Life.

Saprema,

Daniella Cotreau~