Best advice I ever got!

Most of the best advice you get comes from someone close in my case that is many family members but the one piece of information I remember not for it's profound intelect but for how common and reasonable it is. Is what my grandma told me about boys she said, "if a boy dose not drive safe with you in the car then he dose not care for you". This is always been something I remember when driving with someone I'm dating and they decide to race a friend or road rage all over the freeway, it shows they have no concern for my saftey and don't care about my well being. It's smart if you think about it an easy test of someone consideration of others. Think about next time you are in the car with a new date I know I do but luckily I have found a gentlemen!


-- Namaste Alyssa
Twitter.com/sunkissedyoga

What are you tired of people telling you?

I get sick of hearing the same statement over and over... You don't listen! Yes that is true but I have to tell them the specifics of my selective hearing which is I don't listen to negativity! If you are complaining and whining I'm not going to hurt my ears over it. I'll listen when it can be an up lifting tone of voice but other than that I'm not interested. So I will not waste my time on listening to negativity and actually now that I think of it lately everyone only has negative things to say. I'm hearing that I don't listen alot but would you want to listen to yourself complain? Didn't think so ;)


-- Namaste Alyssa
Twitter.com/sunkissedyoga

Do you love the present more than the past?

I saw this on my daily question and it really made me think about how I'm looking at my life. Do I dwell in the past and make my decisions about the furture on past mistakes and instances or do I follow my heart and were it may lead? I love the present. And I think that I would not change anything about my past hence I would be able to enjoy my present with no regrets. Though this point in my life I've got school, work, and a home life to keep up with I wish I had more motivation I am feeling drained alot and wish I had a more high energy atitude. That is just one more thing I have to work on for myself but presently I'm watching my fav tv show and folding laundry currently blessed with everything and everyone in my life! What about you?


-- Namaste Alyssa
Twitter.com/sunkissedyoga

Follow me!

Follow me on Twitter! My new found addiction. Twitter.com/sunkissedyoga I love the tweets and I'm a tweeter myself! Tweet tweet!


-- Namaste

Loving school!

I am still very greatful to be in yoga school each class I am wanting more and more to quit my day job and just live the yogic lifestyle. One day soon I will be able too but until then I will keep dreaming.


-- Namaste

New yoga book

Great book! Love the CD in it as well a must have for any yoga teacher!


-- Namaste

Favorite Yoga Quotes

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. ~B.K.S. Iyengar


The yoga mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren't enough. ~Amy Weintraub


Yoga is the fountain of youth. You're only as young as your spine is flexible. ~Bob Harper


You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state. ~Sharon Gannon


Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal.... But don't approach yoga with a business mind looking for worldly gain. ~Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois


By embracing your mother wound as your yoga, you transform what has been a hindrance in your life into a teacher of the heart. ~Phillip Moffitt


Yoga is 99% practice and 1% knowledge. ~Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois


Sun salutations can energize and warm you, even on the darkest, coldest winter day. ~Carol Krucoff


For me, yoga is not just a workout - it's about working on yourself. ~Mary Glover, "Health Profile: Yoga leaves aches and pains behind," Arizona Republic, 6 April 2004 (page E3, article by Connie Midey)


A photographer gets people to pose for him. A yoga instructor gets people to pose for themselves. ~T. Guillemets


The beauty is that people often come here for the stretch, and leave with a lot more. ~Liza Ciano, co-owner and co-director of Yoga Vermont, yogavermont.com


The last time I opened my chakra so I could feel my peace, I got thrown right out of the pub. ~The Quote Garden


Yoga in Mayfair or Fifth Avenue, or in any other place which is on the telephone, is a spiritual fake. ~Carl Jung


Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. ~Author Unknown


Vogue and Self are putting out the message of yoginis as buff and perfect. If you start doing yoga for those reasons, fine. Most people get beyond that and see that it's much, much more. ~Patricia Walden


When asked what gift he wanted for his birthday, the yogi replied: "I wish no gifts, only presence." ~Author Unknown


Yoga is bodily gospel. ~Reaven Fields


If I'm losing balance in a pose, I stretch higher and God reaches down to steady me. It works every time, and not just in yoga. ~T. Guillemets


Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the evolution of humanity. This evolution includes all aspects of one's being, from bodily health to self-realization. Yoga means union - the union of body with consciousness and consciousness with the soul. Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one's actions. ~B.K.S. Iyengar, Astadala Yogamala


Don't just do something - sit there! ~Author Unknown


I was in yoga the other day. I was in full lotus position. My chakras were all aligned. My mind is cleared of all clatter and I'm looking out of my third eye and everything that I'm supposed to be doing. It's amazing what comes up, when you sit in that silence. "Mama keeps whites bright like the sunlight, Mama's got the magic of Clorox 2." ~Ellen DeGeneres


Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success. ~Svatmarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika


Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind. ~Patanjali, translated from Sanskrit


Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are. ~Jason Crandell, quoted in Yoga Journal, November 2005


Yoga is invigoration in relaxation. Freedom in routine. Confidence through self control. Energy within and energy without. ~Ymber Delecto


Corpse pose restores life. Dead parts of your being fall away, the ghosts are released. ~The Quote Garden


Yoga has a sly, clever way of short-circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety. ~Baxter Bell, quoted in "Worry Thwarts," Yoga Journal, March 2006


Concentrating on poses clears the mind, while focusing on the breath helps the body shift out of fight-or-flight mode. ~Melanie Haiken, about yoga and anxiety, "Worry Thwarts," Yoga Journal, March 2006


Yoga accepts. Yoga gives. ~April Vallei


Warrior pose battles inner weakness and wins focus. You see that there is no war within you. You're on your own side, and you are your own strength. ~The Quote Garden


Mountain pose teaches us, literally, how to stand on our own two feet.... teaching us to root ourselves into the earth.... Our bodies become a connection between heaven and earth. ~Carol Krucoff


I tried yoga once but took off for the mall halfway through class, as I had a sudden craving for a soft pretzel and world peace. ~The Quote Garden


All unimportant matters drop off you in ragdoll pose. Very few things are genuinely important. The Truth sways before you. ~The Quote Garden


When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world. ~B.K.S. Iyengar


The autonomic nervous system is divided into the sympathetic system, which is often identified with the fight-or-flight response, and the parasympathetic, which is identified with what's been called the relaxation response. When you do yoga - the deep breathing, the stretching, the movements that release muscle tension, the relaxed focus on being present in your body - you initiate a process that turns the fight-or-flight system off and the relaxation response on. That has a dramatic effect on the body. The heartbeat slows, respiration decreases, blood pressure decreases. The body seizes this chance to turn on the healing mechanisms. ~Richard Faulds


Tree pose grows confidence. ~The Quote Garden


Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God. ~Krishnamacharya


For those wounded by civilization, yoga is the most healing salve. ~T. Guillemets


Chair pose is a defiance of spirit, showing how high you can reach even when you're forced down. ~The Quote Garden


Basketball is an endurance sport, and you have to learn to control your breath; that's the essence of yoga, too. So, I consciously began using yoga techniques in my practice and playing. I think yoga helped reduce the number and severity of injuries I suffered. As preventative medicine, it's unequaled. ~Kareem Abdul-Jabbar


Before you've practiced, the theory is useless. After you've practiced, the theory is obvious. ~David Williams, an Ashtanga yoga teacher in Maui, Hawaii, quoted from yoga.com

Sore Muscles

Whether you've sweated through the Ashtanga Yoga primary series or eased down into Hanumanasana (Monkey Pose) for the first time, yoga's dual focus on stretching and strength building may spell morning-after muscle aches. If your habit is to down a couple of pain relievers, why not try an alternative approach instead?

Ayurveda offers several natural means of relief. According to Ayurvedic principles, muscle cramps and spasms are a sign of excess vata energy. Vata qualities are cool, rough, and dry, so you can pacify vata-exacerbated muscle tension with moist heat. That means comfort can be as close as a hot water bottle or bath.

Don't have time for a bath? While it's not recommended for an acute strain or sprain (for which ice is a better choice), consider this more targeted Ayurvedic aid for sore muscles: Gently rub a tablespoon of massage oil into the muscle, cover it with a towel, and place a hot water bottle on top. Mahanarayan oil is best, with its combination of nearly 30 muscle-soothing herbs (including turmeric, fennel, camphor, and clove), but any massage oil will do in a pinch. The oil penetrates the skin to loosen taut muscle fibers, while the heat from the water bottle encourages muscle release.

Stop Stressing

The key to transforming your relationship to stress is to stop letting it overwhelm you. More and more people are discovering that mind-body practices such as yoga, qi gong, and meditation can be hugely helpful in shifting the way they react to stress.

So how do you shift your perceptions so you no longer feel like one big rubber band about to snap? That's where yoga and other mind-body approaches come in. Yoga teaches you to tune in to what your body is telling you and to act accordingly.

With practice, this awareness will spread into other areas of your life, including your work. As you learn to separate the urge to act from the reaction, you begin to find that something like a canceled meeting or having a last-minute project handed to you may not rattle you as much as it once did. You can detect stressors—what Buddhists call the spark before the flame—earlier, then pause long enough to think, "Well, maybe I don't need to respond." -YJ

I know that I will get strung out on my job and that stress will pour over into my personal life were my boyfriend will get my nasty attitude and things just get harder. I know in my yoga practice that I have become a different person I am slower to anger and much harder to annoy. I have seen a friend recently who I have not seen in months and she said that I seem different. I'm mellow compared to my old worried high strung self. I took this as a huge compliment because I feel like I am able to deal with stress and worry a lot differently that I used to and finally someone saw it in me. When someone notices a change in me without me saying anything is a big accomplishment. I am very please that someone has seen my patience and the light that is burning inside me. It was better than anything I could have asked for today.

Tree of Yoga

This is an amazing book for anyone studying to be a yoga teacher! I love the little chapters about how yoga relates to lifes certain aspects. How we can see things through a yogic eye. It's very insightful and will be useful to read excerpts from this book to tie together a themed class. BKS Iyengar is a foremost expert in yoga one of my role models and this is a book that every yogini should have!