Letter to santa claus

Following mamakat's prompt this week, I was meant to write a letter to Father Christmas...however, didn't have the time and right now I am on a quick reprieve and thought of jotting down a few lines :) plus a quick letter!



Greg is much better but wants a lot my attention - hence no blogging!- was feeling quite tensed and my low on energy and impatient recently. Yesterday at yoga we tried a new posture upon my request and she said that it helps to get you sharp and energized. Anyhow, realised that the past week I didn't do yoga apart in a class so this afternoon on Greg's long nap of 2 hrs I did yoga and man it made such a difference....felt relaxed, calm and recharged again :) so yes I can reconfirm to myself that yoga does help!



So a letter to Santa Claus would have been something like this:



Hi,



It's Christmas again and really I don't need much.... but you know what I have been thinking? When me and Dave decide to try for a 2nd child, can you somehow make sure that this time its a girl? I don't know I didn't quite mind what it was first time round but now that I got my boy, I wish a beauty girl :) it would round my life perfectly! So Santa you know my wish and it doesnt cost you any money!!!



Melissa



What do you guys think of that huh?

practice generosity

Here is an exerpt from a beautiful article on generosity by yoga journal. Go read the full article and feel inspired!

In one sense, generosity is natural: We can no more help giving than we can live without the support of everything we receive. Verses in the Vedas describe the generosity of the natural elements, the way the earth supports us without ever demanding thanks, the way the sun shines and the rain falls. The universe is, in fact, a web of giving and receiving; to grasp the truth of this, we need only to remember the eighth-grade science trip to the pond, or to think about the life of a city, with its symbiotic, mutually dependent networks of relationship.
But if our essence is naturally generous, the ego fears not having enough, worries about getting hurt or losing out, feels anxious at the thought of looking silly or getting ripped off, and above all, looks for a payoff. So for most of us, there's a continual push-pull between our natural generosity and genuine desire to share and the ego's feeling of lack and its desire to drive a bargain.

Forgive & forget

I read this post on forgiveness and thought it would be nice to share! Here is an excerpt of it. You can view the whole post on this link.

Neither Annette nor Jake has grasped the basic fact that forgiveness is not
something you do solely for the person who hurt you. It is something you do for
yourself, for the sake of your own inner freedom. You forgive so that you can
live in the present instead of being stuck in the past. You forgive because your
grievances and grudges—even more than hopes and attachments and fears—bind you
to old patterns, old identities, and especially to old stories....

Yoga teacher courses

I am searching for a yoga instruction course that can be somehow made in Malta...no luck so far! I am a bit deflated but haven't given up hope. However, any help counts, so if anyone knows of a school which might consider having a teacher here locally teach me and than just go to their school to do the exam that would be fantastic.

yoga

Its 1600 hrs here and got an hour of work left (I'm not having a break or whatever, I did all my work and can relax now!). I will be soon off for my yoga class, which has finally become regular- class wise -but still haven't started a home practice. The problem is that Greg wakes between 5 and 6 am so really I can't wake any earlier for a home practice and in the evening, when he goes to sleep, I prefer spending my time with my husband (or sleep) so that is a bit of a problem!

I am now hoping, to instill a yoga and baby session when I stop working LOL not sure if it will work but will try and if it doesn't I can practice when he naps!!

Yoga under the setting sun

First of all thank you for reading my ranting yesterday and all the encouraging comments! I have to say, that after playing a while with my son and doing yoga I was back in shape and forgot all about tourism issues! and now I wish to share a most wonderful experience I had yesterday evening.



This to your right is called ghajn tuffieha bay; in Summer it is not so green of course, however, the beauty of it can still be seen and felt. Yesterday, my yoga instructor, held a lesson on this wonderful beach at sunset. We were I guess around 20 people there ranging from an 8 year old to over 50 year olds. We had an easy class and yet the sheer joy of being outdoors with other people doing yoga was an amazing experience.

A cool breeze carressed my body and the dappled rays of the setting sun lit up the bay and gave us that bit of warmth. the playful waves hit the beach and lulled me into a peaceful, serene being. I literally felt the tension of the day falling off my body and relaxing me. I was doing bridge pose and saw the sky dotted with white clouds and it felt amazing. I was doing fish pose and saw the hill at the back of the beach, majestic with the first star just poking on the horizon and felt empowered by its beauty. We than sat and just watched the last few seconds of the dying day....a red nearly transperent sun, a sky filled with colours of blue, orange and red and the sea calm reflecting the sun's rays. In that moment of stillness I forgot everything else that was surrounding me, forgot the people all around, didn't hear the shouts, laughs and conversations of the other sunbathers....it was just me the sunset, the breeze, a twittering bird and the waves. After deep relaxation, we watched the sky, still blue looking infinite and felt myself lost in its vastness. In the end we formed a circle, held each others' hands and left our energies to flow and mix, to thank mother earth for what was given to us for free everyday. My heart felt lighter, my body felt straighter, my face bore a smile that lit possibly the skies. I thanked my teacher, said byes to fellow yoginis I knew and went back to my family who came to enjoy the beach. Fed my son and myself and just a few minutes later left to go back home, coz Gregory wished to sleep. On our way we finally saw the full moon and felt happy that i lived in this world with all its ups and down.

Namaste!

Judgment & eco cleaning

No they have nothing to do together, however saw these 2 articles which I was sure would be of interest to all. So the first site is care2.com and it has this article of 5 basic nontoxic cleaning products which you might want to visit!


The 2nd site is yoga journal and has this article on judgement of which you can see a segment below.

Sometimes that judgmental state feels like a sword driven right into
the delicate fabric of your consciousness. Any feelings of love or relaxation or
peace that you might have been nurturing are chopped to bits. Whether you're
judging others or yourself, it's impossible to aim negative judgments in any
direction without experiencing the sharp edges of judgment within yourself.
Doubly so, in fact, since the faults we judge most harshly in other people
usually turn out to be our own negativities projected outward

Let's be honest

I read this article on yoga philosphy which I think is quite true and decided to share it with you. Hereunder is an abstract from it and should you wish to read the whole article please click here.

On a 1 to 10 scale, with polite lies ("No, that dress doesn't make you look fat") at the low end, and outrageous, destructive lies like the Russian accountant's at the high end, your worst falsehoods would probably rate no more than a 3 or 4. Yet those lies are probably lodged in your psyche, still giving off smoke. You can justify them, but some part of you feels the effect of every lie you've told. How? In the cynicism, distrust, and doubt that you feel toward yourself, and in your own tendencies to suspect other people of either lying or concealing the truth from you........

......As I've said, balancing the relative value of, say, truth and kindness, is not always easy, and it requires a high degree of honesty—especially about your own deep inner motives. If the compulsion to be relentlessly honest sometimes conceals aggression, the decision to hide the truth because of kindness, or because the time is wrong, can be a cover for your fears or for the desire to stay inside of your comfort zone. Radical truth telling is simple. You just plunge in and do it, regardless of the effect it has on others. Discriminating truth telling demands far more attentiveness, emotional intelligence, and self-understanding...

Will you try a week of complete no lying? Maybe we should, it would be interesting to see what we learn!

Chakras

My overdue info on chakras is finally here. This is only a very short version of the many things you can get to know on chakras. I would also recommend you this book which I found very helpful - Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith for more in depth study of them.

Chakras according to Eastern tradition, are energy vortexes found in our body that when balanced lead to a healthy phyiscal and mental being. We have 7 chakras in total and hereunder is the name and some info on all of them.

• 1st chakra or the root chakra known as Muladhara - this is located at the base of the spine & pubic bone. As the name suggest, this chakra is what keeps us grounded, feeling safe. When in balance we get the feeling of belonging. Its associated with our basic needs of food, shelter, safety- in otherwords, survival.




• 2nd or sacral chakra known as Svadhisthana - this is located just below the navel. Its associated with pleasure, sensuality and feelings. When balanced our emotions are free to flow and their fluidty seems like water which is their element.




• 3rd or solar pelux chakra also known as Manipura - this is located above the navel. here is where we develop a sense of self.




• 4th or heart chakra also known as Anahata - this is located near the heart as the name implies. It creates compassion and unconditional love in us.




• 5th or Throat chakra also known as Visuddha - this is of course located at the throat. It is associated with our voice, i.e. we give voice to our opinions without fear and listening and so our communication skills.




• 6th or Brow chakra also known as Ajna - this is known as the third eye and located between the eyes behind the forehead. If deficient we will suffer from poor memory, lack of imagination and also bad eyesight. It is associated with creativity and inutition.




• 7th or Crown chakra also known as Sahasrara - this is located at the top of the head. Its meaning is thousandfold because when open it is never ending. Its symbolises the highest state of enlightenment possible. Associated with thought, it develops our mind.

For each chakra there are also physical dysfunctions as well as physcological, if you found this interesting, let me know and I will give more details on each chakra either to you personally by email or through further posts.


Hope you enjoy this reading and I wish you all a good weekend.

Going back on the track

So yesterday I spent a lot of time thinking (don't worry Dave nothing needs to disturb your peace- hubby is terrified when I think!). I sorted a lot of things in my head and came up with a sort of schedule so that time is spent evenly and not wasted. Today, I started and feel happy really as I commenced my day with meditation & yoga and felt so energised and calm. I also finished reading a great book titled Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith (its on the chakra system---my next post tomorrow). I found it quite helpful and will now go through it again a chakra at a time and see if I can open up my energy system more :) and connect to the world in a better way!
I listed the things that I still wish to accomplish and have a fair idea of how to get about it....so far its not a long wish---maybe also due to the fact that my main wish used to be to travel and travel and even more travel but since Greg's been born that went down on the priority list (apart for the fact that its too expensive to do so with and without a child and not affordable if you live in Malta). So anyway, I feel like I am going back on track slowly I know its only a day and I might not keep up with my expectations but well we will see and this one day or rather morning still made a whole lot of difference to me.
Let me end this post with a link--Grounded in gratitude---its something you should really read and ponder about. Here is an excerpt from it:

On the surface, gratitude appears to arise from a sense that
you're indebted to another person for taking care of you in some way, but
looking deeper, you'll see that the feeling is actually a heightened awareness
of your connection to everything else. Gratitude flows when you break out of the
small, self-centered point of view—with its ferocious expectations and
demands—and appreciate that through the labors and intentions and even the
simple existence of an inconceivably large number of people, weather patterns,
chemical reactions, and the like, you have been given the miracle of your life,
with all the goodness in it today.

yoga retreat

I finally managed to go to a yoga retreat. It was touch and go since as you know Greg's been sick. However, yesterday he woke up quite well and we also needed to see how it goes to spend the whole day with daddy now my return to work is imminent and therefore I headed out of the house.

The retreat was held in Buskett in an oldish but sweet bungalow. I was told this place is used a lot for retreats and infact the place looked catered just for that with about 20 bunk beds, toilets & showers for ladies and gents, a kitchen and big sized dining area. I would have renovated the place a bit as its starting to look rundown, yet, I felt it was quite perfect. We started the day with a 2 hour asana practice in the back yard and as the sun wasn't showing much of itself and there was a fresh breeze it was perfect. I loved the quiet, with just the birds in the background singing and my breath working in unison with my body movements. The 2 hours seemed to pass in just a second and afterwards I felt so relaxed and stretched (after 3 days sitting on the sofa cradling my infant and not daring to move as it would cause a bout of crying, my body felt so light). We went inside for lunch as it was by now 1230pm and enjoyed a light yet filling vegetarian meal, while discussing everything and nothing in particular. We were only about 12 people and all quite different from each other, but we got along fine and felt at ease with each other. After some more talking, napping or whatever your heart desired to do we watched a bittersweet dvd. Its called the circle of life and basically showed the animal kingdom and the difficulties they go through and the ones we human beings are creating for them. I was smiling when I saw a polar bear popping its head out of the snow followed by 2 cubs but my heart cringed and I felt like crying when you see another dying for the simple reason that due to global warming the ice is melting quicker and so the bear had to swim a long way rather than walk to the hunting grounds and by the time he got there he was so exhausted he couldn't hunt..he tried but failed and he just sat down waiting to die....its so horrible! I wished to shout and scream and bang because that bear died and he died coz of our selfishness and nothing else! Also it was sweet seeing the elephants caring for their little pups but agonizing seeing the same pups lie down exhausted as they had been travelling for over 2 weeks without a drink. The matriarch pushing them and coaxing them as the water was near. But, the route they have to travel is becoming longer due to human intervention and one wonders if next time they will manage to get to the water in time or worse if the water would fail to be there due to more dryness coz of global warming. So so bitter and at the same time you see those wonders and just wish to immerse yourself just for that fleeting moment and live in harmony with the rest of the natural world. It made me quite nostalgic of my African and Amazonian trips and wish so much to go again and show all that beauty to my son and teach him to respect the world he lives in so that it can sustain him and future generations to come.

After our film, we did an hour or so of yoga nidra (conscious sleeping) and meditation. I never tried yoga nidra except the last 10 mins of each practice which is more relaxation really and never did meditation for a long time either. However, much to my pleasure, I saw that nowadays I could manage to control my mind more and started finally to visualize (something I couldn't do before. I can't do it a lot yet but just the fact that I do fir that split second is good enough for me). I drifted in that hour or so, feeling acutely, where my body touched the ground and yet so far away from myself that I wasn't aware of much else around me. The voice of our teacher droned on guiding us throughout; I heard it and yet it was like it wasn't there. When it was time to open our eyes and go back to reality I didn't want to...it was so peaceful . After that we read vedic poetry and had a short yoga philosophy explained and the day was suddenly over. I was at peace with myself, carefree and in love with life. I walked out to the setting sun and made my way home as fast as possible ( my boobs urgently needed some milk expressed---yeah I broke the romantic mood but it was a big necessity). I scooped up my son and kissed him a million times, I was now ready again to care for him with a clear mind :)

And for who is wondering how the day went for hubby, it went great and so we are both happy...

Yoga Journal - Yoga Habitat - When Less is More

I thought this was a great article to share with you people!

Aparigraha also means "not having a lot of unnecessary things around yourself and not hankering after what other people have," Frawley says. In other words, aparigraha also means keeping only what you need and wanting only what you need.
Aparigraha leads naturally to one of the niyamas: santosha, or "contentment," being satisfied with the resources at hand and not desiring more. Ultimately, Frawley says, "Yoga is about transcending the desire for external things, which is the cause of suffering, and finding peace and happiness within."
Yoga Journal - Yoga Habitat - When Less is More

Its 1235 hrs here in sunny Malta. After 3 days of bad weather we are back to hot and sunny and I think hotter then before. That of course means that by mid May the sea will be reasonably lukewarm and can jump in :) to my cousin Priscilla's satisfaction!

Gregory is trying to sleep but this teething business is waking him every 5 mins or so; but we had a good morning......after an early breakfast on the breast he practiced smiling and kicking at his mom, than at 915 hrs we took off for a nice long walk which passed a very nice Chapel known as tal Hniena and down along the promenade towards Wied iz Zurrieq. It was fantastic and Greg started baby talk with enjoyment till half way through. At this point he wanted to sleep but my little one wants darkness to sleep so took him in my arms put the blanket over his head and he drifted off in no time. After, I could place him back in his pushchair and proceed. We got home at 1100 hrs and it was time for his lunch and nappy change and now trying to sleep more; which I hope he does to practice some belly dancing before my lesson tonight and do more yoga.

Speaking of which, yesterday I was really happy as I managed to stay in crow pose for 3 seconds and my heels are nearly touching the floor when I do downward facing dog. Also yesterday my darling husband bought me a lavender plant which I have placed in the bedroom balcony to have its sweet smell envelop our dreams.

Found this article which applauds conservation efforts, I hope you think so too!

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404E7DB153FF936A25755C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=

Yoga Journal - Yoga Basics Column - The Spiritual Process

Yoga Journal - Yoga Basics Column - The Spiritual Process

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Just got back from my yoga class which was a
wonderful experience. The asanas were demanding on my body but not too much;
just enough to make my body feel so alive that by the end of the class I felt
elated, happy and in balance with my inner self.



Yoga is a great way to relax, find balance in my
life and give me core strength in my body. I only wish to start finding again
time to do a home practice something which at the moment is really lacking as I
spend most of my time either playing with Gregory or reading among other things
and suddenly the day is over. At least I still do country walks and some
meditation while feeding my little pup!

Back to some mundane things, today I did a pea soup which came really good and so decided to give
you the recipe:

1 big onion chopped
1 big potato chopped
450 gr peas ( frozen)
750ml water
vegetable stock crumbled

Heat some butter in a pan, when melted add onion
and stir till softens. Add the potato stir for another 5 mins, add the
peas, water andstock bring to the boil then simmer for 15 mins. When ready
liquidize and should you wish before serving add some fresh mint.
However, I personally prefered it without the mint- Enjoy!!