This was originally posted to There's Beauty in Recovery a few weeks ago... jump through to the site at the end of the excerpt to read more...

I was sitting in yoga the other day, blissed out and listening to Sam Smith’s Nirvana and Safe with Me, when it occurred to be that in class, we are often told that there is no mastering a pose. When you think you have gone as far as you have gone, there is always a tweak, a transition, or a place to go further and explore a little more.

Huh. There is no mastering? So I don’t have to constantly feel like I am not enough or I don’t compare?

Yes! There is no need for feeling that sense of lack, because exactly where I am is enough. If one day I cannot even get into a pose I could just yesterday, that is okay, because I am exactly where I need to be in this very moment. I do not exist in the body of yesterday or the person of tomorrow. I exist in this very moment and that is all that matters.

With this vibrational shock to my core, I naturally took it to everyday life, and here’s what I learned. You can’t master life either. Nope. What happened yesterday, what you wore, what you ate, what you felt, all of that happened in the past. And you aren’t there anymore. You are here! You are reading this post and maybe realizing that life, like yoga, is just a practice. It’s not a practice for a big finale, either. Just a practice that is always ebbing and evolving and flowing into magnificence until one day you pop up in the most extraordinary version of an adventure and you realize woah – today it was all just meant to work. [read the rest...]

Stay tuned to tomorrow's post -- a little coconut chocolate bliss recipe and then the benefits of coconut over the weekend! Woohoo. Love you all.

anything exciting going on on this wondrous hump day? comment below...

xxoo

Hi Loves! How did Tadasana go for you yesterday? Comment below and let me know ;) …

Last week we talked about Maca Powder and the amazing, super duper, fantabulous ways it can help our bodies. I just thought I would check in and see if anyone had gotten maca and tried it out … I just had some in my breakfast! YUM. Later I am going to post a recipe for a delicious snack – dorm room style. It uses a brown paper bag and the microwave… what do you think?

But now I want to do a little mental wellness check-in.

I love you, I do. Know that I am surrounding you with love and peace and hope and wellness.

THURSDAY CHECK-IN || use these questions to reconnect to yourself and your joys

How are you feeling today? How did you feel yesterday? How do you want to feel tomorrow?

What have you done this week to make yourself feel strong and empowered?

What was your favorite meal of the week that made you feel like superwoman (or man)?

What are you looking forward to this weekend? Next week?

What will you do today to make yourself feel magnificent?

Do you know that you are loved, cared for, and protected?

PEACE PRACTICE || center and love yourself with the following practice

Starting at your toes, wiggle them and feel their movement and freedom. Move up to your ankles, rolling them clockwise and counterclockwise. Drift up to your calves, flexing and feeling the alertness. Find your knees, maybe rock your legs slightly left and right, up and back. Feel them loosen. Clench and unclench your thighs. Notice how strong and powerful you are, and how your longest and strongest bone, the femur, lies beneath this incredible muscle. Move to your hips, sway them left and right, circular, drawing in your beautiful energy. Breathe space into your tummy, your abdomen, and feel how with each breath you fill your lungs with air, widening your rib cage and stomach. Feel how your body moves with the breath and pass no judgement. Breathe into your heart space. Notice how your collarbones smile open, and little joy-filled sprites race down to your toes. Move up to your shoulders. Hunch forward, thrust them back, rotate them around in circles. Draw them up, back, and down, straightening your spine. Extend and draw in with your elbows, shake them around. Roll your wrists, circular to the left and then the right, maybe moving one hand in the opposite direction of the other. Flex and squeeze your fingers, recognizing the circulation starting to pick up. Notice the beauty in the lines of the palm, the past and present melded in a series of stories for you to discern. Move up to your neck, your throat, and hum. Activate your expressive throat chakra, speaking your truth both to yourself and others. Find your jaw and move it left and right, maybe in an oval shape. Move to your lips and smile big and wide, ear-to-ear. Realize that when we feel silly and child-like, we can be happy. Scrunch your nose, shutting your eyes tight. Open your mouth and your eyes really wide and surprised. Scrunch all the features of your face like you just ate a lemon. Smile. Wiggle your eyebrows. Feel loving energy and happiness float through all of your limbs, your heart, through to the top of your head.

Feel free to do this anywhere and everywhere. Like the title suggests -- all over the damn place :)

Stay tuned, you amazing souls, for a yummy post...

xxoo

[picture drawn by Kristen Hedges and colored by yours truly]