I feel that in order to find love with another person, you must first learn to love and respect yourself.  Most importantly, you must be content with your life before sharing it with another person.  The practice of yoga can help you discover your true self while becoming aware of your needs and wants.  The first step is to slow down and look within yourself to find what makes you tick. Meditation and deep breathing exercises help you see how you want your life to play out live in the present.  Yoga postures teach us to accept our flaws because everyone does each pose in their own way in time with no judgment.  Through yoga we can learn to remove negative emotions by focusing on the positives in life.  The practice in many ways can open our hearts to love and happiness by teaching us to show gratitude and express ourselves to those around us.  The yoga belief system teaches us to practice non-violence, honesty and selflessly helping others.

Whenever I meet someone, I always look for the good in them and focus on the positives and see what I am able to learn from them.  I find it is important to be a friend at first before getting into a serious relationship.  The growing friendship is what evolves into a strong, loving relationship, if it is meant to be, or stay with a strong friendship.  It takes time to develop any relationship because there are many layers to understand and get to know.

One of my favorite parts of being a columnist is that I get to meet some amazing people. Very recently I met a lady who become a quadriplegic after an accident at age 26. She told me how writing poetry helps her cope with everyday life and expressing her joy in the simple things in life.  While reading her poetry you can feel what she is seeing and feeling at that moment. This inspiring lady dictates her poems to her caregivers who then type them up into poetry books that she shares with friends and families. Please take a moment and feel her inspiration and beauty in her poems.

http://www.thereminder.com/special/poetry/poetsonline/laurachagnon/toppedwithabow/

http://www.challenges.com/gr2.html

I can remember always feeling overshadow by my disabilities.  For a short while all I felt was the weight of being labeled disabled. It left me feeling isolated and very different from everyone else.  Everyone has their strong and weak points even though it is important to improve our weak areas.  Fostering strengths can have many postives impact on one life. For example a positive self image would develop paving the way to to grow in many ways. Another point we brought up was the importance of including the disabled child in determining what accommodations are needed to meet their needs.  It may sound like a simple concept but sadly I have run into people during my life who felt because of my disabilities I could not speak for my self.  Every where in society people  with disabilities of all ages deal with stigmas that reflect negatives of having a disability instead of focusing in on the person and their strengths. All people deserve to be treated with respect and to be independent.

I have always seen yoga as a way of life rather than just an exercise program.  There are also many benefits from spiritual connections to dealing with stress.  Yoga is considered one of the oldest forms of exercise dating back more than five thousand years.

There are four paths to follow that you can choose to follow in your yoga practice.  You can choose to do one or more.  Yoga is about exploring new opportunities within your mind and body.  The first path is raja, which is the practice of physical and mental control.  Raja yoga is considered to be the complete yoga practice.  The first part of it is the practice of meditation, which teaches you self-awareness, concentration and breathing.  The physical side is when yoga poses are performed through the movement of the breath.  This path is an example of the mind – body connection.

The second path of action is karma yoga.  Karma yoga is about taking the yoga practice off of the mat and practicing the principles in everyday life, such as giving to and helping people without the expectation of receiving something back.  The focus is on the cause and effect of our actions on individuals.  A true karma yogi like myself takes their yoga practice within their hearts and expresses their love to others.

The third path is the path of devotion, called bhakti.  This path involves opening your heart to a divine power through prayer, worship and ritual.  It also involves living your life through a divine power belief system.

The final path is jnana yoga, the path of knowledge.  This path is considered the most difficult path to follow because it integrates the lessons of all four paths to help you find the meaning of life within ourselves by meditation, questioning and contemplating experiences.  The student uses their mind and body to explore the spiritual self and it’s connection to the world.

The path the student will take in their yoga practice will depend on what the student wants from their yoga practice.  For example, some might want increased flexibility, a spiritual connection or want to practice compassion in their life.

To quote Robert Frost,

Two roads diverged in a wood, and

I took the one less traveled by.

And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken

Yoga is about seeing where life will take you filled with many exciting adventures to learn from.

To me Christmas is about being with loved ones and celebrating life. There are many ways to show love and joy. The idea is to be creative which is my favorite thing to do. Some things I like to do as gifts are sending Christmas cards and baking cookies. Home made gifts are fun to do such as painting a picture, doing a sewing project and making a scrap book. These are truly gifts from the heart. Another way to give is volunteering your time to help others like serving food in a soup kitchen to donating food, clothing and toys to charity so everyone can have a happy holiday.  So during this holiday season  slow down and remember to keep the love and joy alive.  I wish everyone a safe merry Christmas.

Every once in a while, I come across an inspiring story, but this one was especially inspiring to me since it is about an individual who overcame a life altering event with the help of yoga.

At a young age, a tragic automobile accident changed the life of Matthew Sanford’s family forever.  The accident killed his father and sister while Matthew, his mother and brother survived.  Even though Matthew was paralyzed from the waist down, he managed to pull himself up and move forward with his life.  In his book, “Waking: A memoir of Trauma and Transcendence”, published in June 2006 talks about his long journey to recovery, while learning and adapting the mind and body connections to help change his life.

The mind and body connection refers to the bond between physical and mental health.  This bond is very powerful and strong that must be kept at a healthy, even balance.  If one is unbalanced, the other will also be unbalanced.  This can cause ailments, stress and depression.  Yoga is an excellent tool in keeping a good balance because it works both sides while teaching us how to keep an even balance.  Today Matthew Sanford is dedicating his life to teaching the importance of the mind and body connection.  In 2001, he founded Mind and Body Solutions, where he helps individuals integrate their minds and bodies through yoga.  The organization operates a yoga studio in Minnesota and does public presentations on taking care of your mind and body.  They are known as the national leader in the practice of adapting yoga for people with disabilities.  Their message is that trauma and loss can be transformed into hope and potential.

Matthew is an example of someone with a physical disability who is using the experience to help and inspire others to any negative into a positive.  Like myself, Matthew sees his disability as a characteristic that is a part of himself, rather than a barrier in life

Speaking from my own personal experiences it can be very difficult to make connections with others due to stigmas and misconceptions about people with disabilities.  One example is when individuals are only judging the disability rather than the person.  This can lead to feelings of loneliness, isolation and rejection for many.  Social interaction is a big part of everyday life, which allows us to feel like we are part of a community, experiencing new things while fostering our talents and interests.  Also, by encouraging and building relationships we are working to rid society of the stigma that people with disabilities face every day.  We can overcome this hurdle with education and showing that we should look at the person first before seeing the disability.  Nothing is more positive then doing something you love and which makes you happy.  Positive passion is what drives us to succeed. Always keep trying new experiences to find our niche and keep life exciting.  I believe in forging ahead because there is no obstacle that can’t be overcome.  In my own life I have found that a real friend is one who sees me rather than my disability.  From my perspective, I see each person as a unique individual who is worthy of friends.  I have made wonderful connections through family, the Internet, my daily life and volunteering.  We are all worthy of having opportunities, experiences and living our best life.

my husband, my  family, good health, yoga practice, spinning, meditation, friends,

my column,my blog, activism, role models, sketching, photography, journaling, reading,

creativity, inspiration, peace, happiness, love, laughter, nature, internet, passion, karma yoga,

walking, breathing, power positive thinking, education, vegetarianism, beliefs, hopes, dreams, goals,

chocolate, coffee, mac book, color pink, black berry, books, magazines, newspapers, spirituality,

smiles, emotions,expression, social networks, humanity, helping, memories, opportunities,

experiences, life

Gratitude is postive emotion that is felt after an individual receives help from another. I find it helpful to keep a daily gratitude journal to keep a list of what we are grateful to have and receive. It is a very learning exercise that helps improve our postive out look on life. Meditation practice s another excellent tool to help with reflecting on what we appreciate in life.  During my meditation practice I always honor what I receives today while embracing the good things in life. My yoga practice has taught me to be thankful for what we have while appreciating any kind of help or support received.  When we only focus on what we don’t have or should received it only brings about negativity.  When we have too much negativity it can bring us weigh us down with depression and angry feelings.  Gratitude teaches us to appreciate everything in life while living in a loving peaceful place filled with happiness.

There is a very strong connection between my three passions in life, which results in fulfilling my purpose in life.  As I have stated before many times my goal is to keep disability issues in the spotlight while helping and inspiring others.  I believe that through my writing my column is one of the best ways for me to discuss disability issues and promote awareness while sharing resources within the community.

I have been an activist for my entire life, with me first advocating for myself and now through my personal experiences.  I have always advocated for the rights of those with disabilities while helping others cope with everyday life.  My yoga practice has helped me to stay focused and center my dedication to helping others through karma yoga.  Due in large part to my column, I am gathering information on a proposed book on how society has failed people with disabilities