Tag Archives: balance

Santosha and the Attitude of Gratitude

With Thanksgiving in the US coming upon us, we start to plan out our holiday celebrations: who are we inviting to the big Turkey dinner, what stuffing am I going to make, what’s the menu, etc. More importantly, however, we start to reflect on what we are grateful for; which after all is what this holiday is all about.

There is a concept in yoga called “Santosha” which is part of the “Yamas and Niyamas”, which I often describe as the Ten Commandments of Yoga; they are basically yogic codes to live by. Santosha is Sanskrit for “contentment” and/or “satisfaction”, but we often look at Santosha as “gratitude”. Santosha is all about finding contentment and gratitude for who you are and what you have in the present moment. I often weave “Santosha” into my yoga classes as a theme and encourage students to find their best expression of a challenging posture, then I ask them to find contentment with whatever layer they get to in that posture without harsh judgement of themselves or lusting after a deeper expression; I ask them to find gratitude for where their bodies are at and be grateful that they have bodies healthy and strong enough to be in a 100̊F room attempting such a challenging practice. Basically, it’s about adopting the Attitude of Gratitude as you move throughout your day with whatever life throws at you.

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Seasonal Eating

Have you ever heard this concept of “seasonal eating” mentioned and wondered what it’s all about? Have you ever heard a health coach talk about the importance of eating seasonally for a balanced diet and overall health or been to a restaurant that boasts a seasonal, local menu and been curious about what the point is? Well, in recent years I have done some research on seasonal eating; enough to know that eating seasonally is something we should all strive to practice a bit more than we currently do. Now, I am by no means an expert on eating seasonally, I’m really just an explorer on the subject, but I know enough to give you a brief background on the idea of seasonal eating and provide you with a direction of how to eat more seasonally.

The most basic definition of seasonal eating refers to eating fruits and vegetables at their peak time of harvest for the best level of freshness, flavor and nutritional benefits. Ayurveda, the sister science to yoga that focuses on the importance of balanced and seasonal eating, tells us that we should eat the fruits and vegetables that naturally come into harvest in each season. Why? The belief, and there is evidence to back this all up, is that the Earth provides us with the produce that our bodies need to be most sustained in each season.

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REI Inspires Change and Balance this Holiday Season

On Wednesday October 28th, national outdoor and sporting goods store, REI, announced that they would go against the grain this upcoming Black Friday by closing its stores across the country. Instead of opening early with major door busting sales like most retail stores do on Black Friday these days, they are encouraging Americans to #OptOutside on this day which normally marks the beginning of the crazed-holiday-shopping season. They are promoting friends and family to stay out of the stores and instead be outdoors; or at least spending more time with family and friends instead of mowing strangers down with shopping carts for the chance to save $20 on low-quality clothing and toys that have been imported from China for our consumerist enjoyment.

When I heard this news, I literally exclaimed aloud in triumph. A move like this from a major and well respected company is long overdue. In this past decade, I have been consistently saddened by the greedy fiasco that Black Friday has become in this country. First of all, the concept of Black Friday is twisted and morphed to begin with: immediately after we express our gratitude for the blessings in our lives on Thanksgiving, we rush out to the stores to buy and consume more and more goods, most of it that we don’t need, and are willing to be rude and even violent to others in order to do it? I mean, really people? There have been “Black Friday Deaths” where shoppers have been trampled by other shoppers in their rush to find their savings; there was even a shooting at a TOYS R’ US one year when two shoppers were fighting over the last toy that was apparently a hot commodity that year. Are you kidding me? This is the country and culture we’ve become?

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Review: Be the Miracle – 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible

Want a great, inspiring read? Be the Miracle – 50 Lessons for Marking the Impossible Possible by Regina Brett is for you! I don’t remember how a copy of this book came into my possession, but it has sat on my bookshelf for years and I finally decided to pick it up one day to give its pages a good honest try; I was floored. I cannot accurately describe how much I enjoyed the book and how insightful I found it to be.

This non-ficition book is divided into 50 chapters which comprise the 50 lessons referenced in the book’s title. What’s really great, besides the fact that you get to read 50 life lessons, is that each lesson is a decently short 3-5 pages which makes this book an easy read during the week; pick it up and read 1 or 2 lessons in your only free 20 minutes before bed and then put it down to continue the next day. These lessons vary widely and are based on Brett’s own experiences and stories that she has heard from other people’s lives.

This book is real and honest, it is incredibly deep and moving while at times also exceedingly humorous; it is a book that I would venture to say will enrich your life. If you read my last review of a health/lifestyle/spiritual based book, you will know that I keep my own book in which I write down quotes that I find to be particularly wise; I took almost 50 quotes from Be the Miracle – 50 Lessons for Marking the impossible Possible because I found so much meaning in the lessons that comprise this book! So, read it!

Johnny Goes to Paris!

Hello, or I guess I should start saying, Bonjour!, because I am headed to Paris today! I will be exploring the city of lights over the next week as it has always been a top destination of mine. And bonus! I am even taking a quick side trip to Munich, Germany to meet some friends at THE Oktoberfest! Lots of adventures ahead!

Travel is something I am incredibly passionate about. In fact, I find myself dreaming all day at my desk at work about the different places I want to see in the world; there are just too many! I’ve reached a point in my life where I have decided to stop waiting for the right time to travel. I am only young and single once so I have decided to make the time and just go for it as much as I possibly can.

Last year, I went all over Italy, and it was literally the greatest time I have ever had in my 24 years of life. I went by myself, but hopped onto a great tour titled “Simply Italy” through Contiki Holidays, and it was there that I made a host of new friends and lifelong memories. Check out my guest blogs for Contiki here:

As I travel to Paris now, I travel alone once more. This time, there is no tour to hop on. I think there is much to be said about traveling alone; you are forced to be by yourself and figure out what the venture throws at you on your own, while at the same time you are also free to meet new people and quite possibly even new friends.

I am simply going to wander and see what this historic and iconic city that is Paris has for me. I honestly couldn’t be more excited. I feel so free and invigorated to be embarking on this journey.

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram: @johnnylapasta I can guarantee you that you will see many, many snap shots of my trip! You can also keep up with me by searching the hashtag #johnnynparis which I will be using to tag all of my photos.

I am sure I will have lots to blog about upon my return to the States! But for now, au revior!

Being Whole On Your Own

The world of relationships and love is a strange and confusing one; this we all know to be true. I myself have not had an exuberant amount of luck in this area. While I have dated and have had partners, I have not been so lucky as many of my friends who have found young love that would appear to be the kind that will last. Even though my time in the relationship and dating world has not been extensive and I have spent most of my early 20’s single, I feel I have made some important observations about relationships based on the ones I have seen and paid attention to as well as my own relationships. I believe that I have found a common theme in my relationship studies that can make or break a couple – whether or not the two beings involved in the relationship are whole and complete on their own.

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You need to read “A Short Guide to a Happy Life”!

I’ve been trying to read Lord of the Rings, but good God is it a struggle; love the films, love everything to do with Middle Earth, but that book is a rough read! This past Sunday, I was looking to relax and read by the pool in my complex, and LOTR was not just not appealing at the time. Instead, I picked a tiny book off of my bookshelf that I had received in my stocking from “Santa” one Christmas but had never taken the time to read. The book was A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen, at it touched me deeply.

Only 50 pages long (but filled with artsy black and white images on almost every other page so really it’s like 30 pages), this is a quick read with many valuable insights. Author Anna Quindlen admits, “I’m not particularly qualified by profession or education to give advice and counsel.” And there’s something charming about that; a normal person sharing the the practices and concepts that have made their own life happy and fulfilling.

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A Good Morning

We live in a culture where morning is a mad rush of chaos, stress, and frantic energy. We have been trained that when the alarm clock goes off, we must fly out of the bed like a jet off of an airport runway and launch ourselves with reckless abandon into the day while repeating the mantra, “I must get as much done as possible, I must make as much money as possible, I must get as much done as possible,” etc etc. I have found that this mentality that we have adopted for the sunrise hours sets us up for a more stressful, not fulfilling, and negative day overall.

Luckily, there are small practices that you can weave into your current morning routine to inspire calm, healthy, positive energy for the rest of your day. Of course, mornings will continue to be busy. And I am sorry to say that if you are a commuter with children, that editing your morning routine as it is now is decidedly more challenging. I still, however, encourage you to try to start your day off on a better note by including one or two of these practices in your sunrise hours. You may have to wake up a bit earlier, you may have to do some prepping the night before, but the overall shift in your daily life will be well worth it.

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