Vecchio Anno, Tanti Ricordi…Nuovo Anno, Tanti Propositi…

Ed eccoci qua..un altro anno sta per iniziare. Ogni volta si prova quel senso misto di tristezza per l’anno che se ne va per l’anno che ci lascia ed eccitazione per quello che sta per cominciare.
La tristezza solitamente e’ legata al fatto che durante l’anno in chiusura sono successe tante cose positive e non si vuole lasciarle andare; ed io non mi posso lamentare..di cose davvero belle in questo 2009 me ne sono successe a bizzeffe. Provo a metterle giu, nero su bianco:

- L’uomo della mia vita mi ha chiesto di sposarlo (22 Marzo)
- Ho sposato l’uomo della mia vita!!!! (6 Dicembre)
- Ho iniziato un nuovo percorso lavorativo importante (Novembre)
- Ho trascorso il mio primo Natale con le mia nuova famiglia allargata ed e’ stato bellissimo! (Dicembre)

Sono certa ci siano altri eventi che andrebbero ricordati ma per il momento mi fermo qui, a quelli piu importanti.
Per il 2010 i propositi sono tanti ma anche qui mi limito a quelli che mi premono di piu:

- Lavoro, lavoro, lavoro!
- Perdere 2 kili che mi stressano
- Fare yoga regolarmente perche mi passano tutti i dolori

Eh…credo aggiungero’ qualcosa alla mia lista a breve, ma per ora va bene cosi!

Buon Anno!!

Stress management….

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked:
How heavy is this glass of water?
Answers called out ranged from an ounce to a pound.
The lecturer replied, ‘The absolute weight doesn’t matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance.
In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. He continued, And that’s the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, As the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.
As with the glass of water, You have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.
When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, Let them down for a moment if you can.
So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don’t pick it up again until after you’ve rested a while.

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

- Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, And some days you’re the statue.

- Always keep your words soft and sweet, Just in case you have to eat them.

- Always wear stuff that will make you look good If you die in the middle of it.

- Drive carefully. It’s not only cars that can be “Recalled” by their maker.

- If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

- If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

- It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.

- Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, Because then you won’t have a leg to stand on..

- Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

- When everything’s coming your way You’re in the wrong lane.

- Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

- You may be only one person in the world, But you may also be the world to one person.

- Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

- We could learn a lot from crayons… Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today…I did!

Yoga…or The practice of quieting the mind..

The first time a friend took me to a yoga class, it was a cold Sunday morning and we headed a place where he always goes, the Laughing Lotus Center on 59 W 19th St # 3C and I will never forget what a great experience it was. I immediately thought that Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are and explore your body from a probably unknown perspective. You start using muscles that you didn’t even know to have (and they hurt like hell, and they yell at you wondering why you decided to use them…out of the blue!)

I have tried different types of yoga, but the practice at Laughing Lotus is so focused on meditation and concentration that I developed the ability of feeling my own breath and pacing it down to relax, at the point of almost falling asleep, and invigorating at the same time.
That’s when my body is not an extraneous object anymore, but I can feel it, control it and enjoy the new “ME”, the one able to disengage from daily issues and just concentrate on myself.

I definitely recommend to try this yoga studio and to take classes with Bryn, she is just amazing!!

On the other side, if you want to focus on the workout (not that at Lotus you don’t sweat like crazy but…) then you wait for the cold (which seems to be on its way) and go to Bikram Yoga. 105 degrees for 1 and 1/2 hour non stop, 21 postures and 2 breathing exercises. Incredibly unique energy and strength will take you all the way to the end of the 90 minutes even if you are about to give up every 5. The best place I went to is Bikram Yoga Union Square, 841 Broadway, easy to reach and perfect if you like a big class up to 60 people.
I have seen more results in two months of Bikram than in 10 years of Gym! So, just go…and don’t forget water, lots of it!

Namaste *

*The word Namaste’ is derived from Sanskrit “namas”, to bow, reverential salutation, and “te”, “to you”. Namaskar is considered a slightly more formal version than namaste, but both express deep respect.