12 yoga poses or so that I think make a complete practice

After my last post, I have had a few questions which I would like to address here...

But first, I would like to mention that I forgot 2 important days each month where it is also best not to practice:  Full Moon and New Moon.

Also, please note that those "interdiction" (Saturdays, Full Moon, New Moon, Women's cycle, state of illness) are not set in stone... as yoga is about being flexible, sometimes Saturday is the only day you have to practice... in which case, you can still do it is just that your practice may "feel" different then if you were to do it another day - and maybe more difficult...  same for the others "preferably-no-practice-days".  These no-practice-days are also based on the traditional Ashtanga practice which I base most of my lifestyle on even thus to me the actual Ashtanga series are to physical to complete with my condition - it would be long to explain why here, but it has to do with the Doshas and the Chakras. My daily practices are inspired by it but modified to fit my health condition. Also according to Ashtanga, you have to practice 6 days a week which I do not ...  3-4 are as good as it gets for me now... and that is OK too.

What you have to remember is that you should practice as often as you can.... but don't beat yourself over it...  slowly your life will adapt to allow for more practice and remember that practice is NOT ONLY ASANAS...  practice is the complete lifestyle of a yogi (so in that respect, I do practice every day after all).  You can do 2h of Asanas per day and never be a yogi.  Practice compassion, empathy, change the way you eat and the impact you have on all living being around you, this is ALSO practicing yoga.

One of the question I got was why no practice on Saturday... and basically it has to do with the moon which is associated to that day.  Any serious Ashtanga yoga website or book will address it but you can read more about it here for a basic explanation.

As for all the others questions, they were ALL related to what are the 12 positions to get a complete practice.  Well, I must say that this is my own personal best...  I am no yoga teacher - I did start my training as a yoga teacher but stopped for personal reasons... but I have learned over time that in ANY course you'll go you'll end up doing those...  that those Asanas ensure all your body is solicited and that all your Chakras are impacted.  This is MY personal routine and I am happy to share with you... If I was not so self-conscious, I may add a video or pictures but I am not ready for that yet...

So here it is, my personal daily practice, it does the job for me!

I always start sitting down cross-legged, eyes closed and take really deep breath for a few minutes. Kind of like a meditation where I clear my mind of everything - or try to anyway.
Then I do a few neck stretches, stretch my arms and side by bending my torso left and right...  proceed to rotate my torso in a twist.  I always do this starting with the left and then the right (why you should start with the left has to do with your digestive system).  I then bring the sole of my feet together and do butterfly for a while to open my hips.  Then stretch my left leg and right leg independently.  All this with my eyes closed while deep breathing. I then go into child pose for a few deep breaths.

I then proceed to 5-6 sun salutations  (if you are new to yoga and have no clue what the sun salutation is, you can look it up on YouTube)
Then I have my own flow of Asanas I like to continue with:
Mountain
Tree - both legs
Warrior 1, Warrior 2, Triangle, Warrior 3, Reverse side angle pose. (then switch side and do the same)
Then, Crow pose for arm balance, Boat pose, Bridge and either Headstand or Leg-up-the-wall for an inversion.
I always end up with closing my hearth - lying on my back, and holding my legs with my arms on my abdomen.  Then a few twists on each side always starting with the left and Savasana for as long as you can.  It allows your body to "digest" your practice.

I do all Asanas for anywhere between 5-8 deep slow breaths depending on how I feel.  I try to hold the Headstand up to 12 breathes.

When I feel like doing more, I can do more Sun Salutations...  maybe do the "warrior-triangle" thing twice on each side...stay longer in meditation or do a few more stretches at first.  I can try and Handstand or any more difficult Asanas.  I can also look up YouTube to find great teacher on-line that post free routine you can do while watching.

This is about it... I hope it addresses you questions and concerns and please do not hesitate if you have more... it is always a pleasure to hear from you and see you are interested in improving your lives.

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste
love&peace,
nath
xox
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about yoga...

I've been wanting to do a post about yoga for a while.... but did not know how to address it...

I wanted it to be clear and simple and wanted to address pre-conceived ideas people have about yoga...

I was thinking something about what yoga is and what yoga is not...  and then it was not clear and simple anymore...  Therefore I decided to go with what yoga is...  it was much simpler... and anything else you've heard or read about yoga is just pre-conceived ideas...

Yoga is a healthy lifestyle.  Period.
It entails breathing and stretching exercise...
It entails asanas (physical posture to strenghten your body)...
It entails rules on how to conduct yourself towards your own body/mind/spirit and towards that of ALL other living being - human or not.
It entails rules on how you should feed your body.
It will change you body/mind/spirit for better - in due time.  It is a long process.

Yoga as, unfortunately, became really complicated with it's arrival in America... it can be overwhelming.

All you need to remember is that you need comfortable clothing (not necessarily expensive - your pyjama can do)...  a room big enough to put your yoga mat (basically a floor space 6'x3')...There are really just about a dozen positions that you need to have a complete practice...  You especially DO NOT need a heated room... Meditation is NOT easy but is MANDATORY... and no matter how long or short your practice is, you HAVE to do Savasana at the end for about 5 minutes.

Now for a few rules to remember during your daily practice:

Yoga is NOT practice on Saturdays but can be done all the other days.
Yoga practice can be as long or short as you need it to be or have time for it to be.
Consistency is the best thing - better to practice 10 min per day then 2h one day a week.
Yoga is not practice on the most abundant day of your period.  You need to rest on that/those days.
Yoga routine can change from day to day according to your mood and how your body feels.
Inversion should NOT be done during your period.
You do not need to do an asana that makes you really uncomfortable - respect your body.
You do not need to be thin, young, flexible - it will come in due time.  OK maybe not the young thing but the rest will...  ;-)

And this is about it... 
Yoga is simple...
Demanding but simple...
It requires time, discipline, practice...
But what doesn't?

It is really rewarding once you involve yourself truly into it.  It will change your life forever! Maybe not how your expected.... maybe not how you wanted it to be...  But it will make you your best self...  it will show you your way... It will teach you more about yourself and others then anything ever did.

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste
love&peace,
nath
xox
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in a way... I always knew...

that I was different... way different... then where I was... like if I was born in the wrong place and time...
but I was shy... and I was looking for affection and love... and only thought I would getting it by fitting in... by being like most people... so I tried... and tried... and tried...  and succeeded to some extent...  I did do what was expected of me for years...  for pretty much 30 some years... and then it all came loose...  it all came apart slowly but surely... 

I like to think that MS diagnosis was the kick in the ass I needed to finally understand I was different...  and the following years, were life transforming for me... after all, if I was gona end up really sick within a few years why not be who I wanted to be in the mean time?  cuz then I would have to be back to "normal" anyway when I would no longer be in charge of my own life but MS would...

Little did I know that actually assuming who I wanted to be and live the life I wanted to live would actually put ME in charge and MS on the back burner...  It was gambled... and I won... 

By actually becoming who I wanted to be...  or as close as can be for now...  I have became less stress...  less tired...  more honest with myself...  and others obviously...  I have disapointed some people but I have gained confidence and love for myself! It came with a price all worth paying...

I have gained confidence in life: there will always be another job... another friend... another place to live...  another anything basically... options of everything are endless!

Basically, what I am trying to say is:  to you, the one who think they are the black sheep who does not fit in no matter how hard they try, who's to say you have to fit in where you are now???

Take a leap of faith...  dream your life and then live your dream!

Change...
Move...
Quit....
Break up...

and then...

Love
Be grateful
Do what you love
Surround yourself with like minded people

You may be the black sheep where you are now but when you surround yourself with black sheep, color no longer matters... and you fit in... as YOU ARE!  no need to play a part... or a game... 

Just be yourself... and in a little while.... OK maybe a long while in some instances...  it took me almost 10 years to find exactly where I belong (but they were enriching 10 years for my soul)...  You will find it and your life will be a DREAM come true!!!

Be who you are... DREAM your life...  LIVE your dream...

love&peace,
nath
xox
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Fall wardrobe update

Hello guys!

It's been a while since I wrote about my clothes...  in fact, I have been kind of lost over the last few months (to much criticism tends to make me doubt myself but then I get all those requests and testimonies that I ended up realising that those who love and need me are more important then the others... - getting side tracked here! lol)  but I am getting back on track.... and writing on what I love... Clothes being on of the things I care deeply about...  and fall being my favorite season, the fall wardrobe is something I care a LOT about! 

As we are pass labor day, I updated my wardrobe this afternoon... It always leaves me a bitter taste to put away summer clothes as it reminds me that winter will soon be there...  BUT the in between is lovely... 

By now, most of my wardrobe, I would say 60% is 2 seasons with and extra 20% being 3 seasons... there are still a few summer things I put away so that when next summer comes, I will feel like I have new things! Also, I am pulling out the warmer clothes... but in a few months, there might be a few 3 seasons items that are definitely not winter wear that will go away! But we'll see when we get there...
As of now, I have 30 items in my wardrobe... this excludes lounge wear, underwear, and outer wear.... as these are "the rules" of Project 333 that I use as inspiration to "limit" the amount of items in my wardrobe...  I do not count jewelry and accessories in there like she does but as Courtney says herself her rules are the rules that suit her... everyone can come up with their own rules! Oh and I do not add work clothes as they are NOT something I wear outside of my working hours!

Here are my items:  (I would like to add that personally, I still think this is way too many items...  BUT, I love them all and by wearing each less I will extend their lives... which allows me to work on paying off debts instead of replacing my worn off clothes!)

2 pairs of wide legged corduroy pants (one grey and one fuchsia)
3 pairs of jeans (one torn up, one boyfriend cut, one wide legged)
1 pair of harem pants (mustard)
1 burgundy patterned skirt
1 pair of corduroy shorts
1 navy skirt
2 plaided skirt (one in flannel)
1 white shirt
1 short sleeve doted burgundy shirt
1 elbow length sleeves African patterned shirt
2 black sleeveless tops
1 green sleeveless top
1 burgundy sleeveless top
6 short sleeves t
2 elbow length sleeve t
3 dresses (one more summary but deep purple, 2 patterned) *
1 patterned knitted sweater

you add to that quite a few scarves, 2 pairs of ankle boots and one pair of converse shoes...  plus a few cardigans, a jacket and a jean jacket and you have my fall wardrobe!!!
Everthing or most everything actually match with each other...  this is what makes dressing in the morning so much more fun as I do not have to think about what goes with what.... it also makes it so that I do not have 2 items that I always wear together because they only match with each other!

Now the items in purple are what will go in a few more months when we settle down for winter...  This will leave my with 21 items which is OK because winter really is not the season I go all out! Hopefully one day I will not longer have to handle winter which would be awesome!!!  In the mean time, I still need to put away all my favorite clothes for 4-5 really cold months!

* a note on the dresses.... I am really not much of a "dress" person in the sense that I never know WHEN to wear them.... however, I love the idea of dresses and this is why I have a hard time parting with them... and this is why, I bought the deep purple one this summer and one of the other 2 right before my shopping strike started!

What about you?  How many items of clothing do you have in your wardrobe?  Do you even have an idea???  What if you were to guess, try and list them and then actually double check with what you have?  You go ahead, try it and give me some feedback... I and my readers would love it!!!  And it could be fun... I know not too long ago I could not list 20% of my wardrobe for a specific season...  What if you forgot some items?  Maybe you really didn't care for those so much did you???

love&peace,
nath
xox
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Why minimalism???

Even if I have been working on this for years, I still get asked why I became a minimalist...  my answers are most always the same...  and I will write them again here today...  but because I am reading "The Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz, I am even more convince that going minimalist can make you happier!

I became minimalist because I couldn't breathe... I was suffocating with all my stuff.  Stuff you think you own, actually owns you right back! A lot more then you may think or realise. Less stuff means more "air" or "space" in your home and in your head.... less worry about "loosing" that stuff to a thief or a fire... less worrying about time required for cleaning/maintenance...

I became minimalist because I had no time...  to many things to do, stuff to clean, people to see, activities to attends, hours to work... always more and more.... because more is better right?  I beg to differ... I cleaned my agenda to keep only thing that mattered to me... I got rid of stuff so that I don't have to dust/clean/maintain it regularly... I cleaned up my friends list because relationship do require time and if you do not have enough time to invest, the friendship becomes superficial/meaningless really fast...  I cleaned up my "to do" list because really, who needs to do all that??? I decreased the number of hours worked because I needed time for "ME" and we all do need that time...

I became a minimalist because I didn't have money.... Between my husband and I we had quite a decent income but we owed just as much as we made in a year...  over time, we have decrease our family income by 100k and what we owe by a little more then that...  and we are close to being debt free. We had less money then we have now because there was always something else to buy, somewhere else to go, another gift to buy...

All in all, we work less at jobs we love...  we make less money but have less debt...  we have more discretionary money for the things we truly care about... we have less but deeper relationships with people we care about and that care about us...  we buy less things but visit more places because we care more about the experience and the being then about the having...

Now where does "The Paradox of Choice" comes into that?  Well, Schwartz clearly state that he is, in no way, a minimalist... and does not prone such a behavior... however, according to his theory and many psychological studies reported in this book, there are 2 kinds of people:  satisficer and maximizer:  quite simply satificer are OK with good enough whereas maximizer want the best of everything.  In itself, one or another is not better...  but over time, with the increasing amount of choices of everything we have, it has been proven that satificers are generally happier people then maximizers...

Now a satificer will not spends days or months to make a decision about where to go on vacation, what car to buy or sweater to get... it doesn't have to be The Best...  Satisficer make decision according to specific criteria... and hence already have more limited options then maximizer.

I am a satisficer... I have very specific criteria for most of my things/activities/ places to visit/restaurant to eat at...  etc...

Being vegan limit the amount of food I can get from the grocery store...  limits the restaurants I can eat in and most of the time limits the choice available to me in most restaurants to 1 or 2... I do not need to spend hours at the grocery store...  and I definitely do not need to take hours to pick a restaurant when there are 3-4 choices and they all offer quite different menus. As long as it is vegan, it is good enough for me... I do not drink alcohol, coffee or sodas... so even beverages are easier to choose...

Being a minimalist, limits my choices in everything else.... I wish not to own a house or a car...  I do not shop for furniture...  or electronics unless something is broken and then, the only criteria is what can do exactly what I need and not more at the best price... For clothes, I have a personal style and stick to really 3 regular stores and 2 more "funky" ones...  I only buy when I need and I don't go to all the stores...  I don't buy very many books/CD/DVD/Bluerays...  if any... when I do get the occasional books they are on specific subjects that I care about... and when I go to visit a place, I always rent the same car and if I need a hotel get the closest one to the things I want to do to not use the car as much...  I pick what I want to visit when I find something I like - I do not spend hours searching on the internet/reading reviews or comments... 

Now it may seems like I am missing out on many things... but quite frankly I do not know it...  because I do not have a television, I do not buy magazines, I do not read the newspaper or listen to the radio... I do not surf the net except for specific information I want to find...  according to Schwartz, not having as many options, make being a satisficer easier and in turns makes me happier then someone who would actually know all the options available! Not having many options make taking decisions easier...  and I am not scare of choosing because there are not many chances I can make the wrong decision... when you look into every single option, you start getting worried about making a decision because your odds of taking the "wrong" decision are higher.... hence more chances of regretting your decision and then you are less likely to even want to make a decision or a choice!

In summary, Schwartz says that less choice = less options = less chances of making a mistake = more decision making in less time = less regrets = more satisfaction from your choice = happier person!

Being a minimalist "forces" you into being happy... 

It may sound naive... simple...  and it may look like you are "giving up" many options but really, once you are into it, you no longer see or realise the options you are missing out on because you have specific criteria you are looking for, knows what you want and won't be influenced into something you do not like/need/care for...

AND you are HAPPIER!!!  MUCH HAPPIER!!!

love&peace,
nath
xox
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