The Yogi At Home {JOY by Mel Lim}

Hello, this is Jeanine Hays from the daily design blog, AphroChic. It is with great pleasure that I join the team at the YT Blog to author a new weekly series, The Yogi At Home. As author of AphroChic, I am accustomed to writing about modern interiors, and how they can transform your environment. Here at the YT Blog, I will be writing about more than just the latest in home decor. The Yogi At Home will offer an opportunity to examine how to create that serene, restful and spiritual place that all of us are looking for in our lives. One in which the environment we live in truly supports our path for peace and spiritual enlightenment.

Every Wednesday enjoy a feature article that will cover the latest in sustainable design, eco-friendly interiors, and tools to help you focus on the home as a healing space. This week I am happy to introduce the work of lifestyle designer Mel Lim and her inspired collection, JOY. Featuring a new line of organic home accessories, Mel's focus on creating a joyful interior extends to her eco-friendly throw pillows, wall prints and stationery. More than just basic eco-friendly design, Mel offers an expressive and vibrant line of home accessories that will truly uplift the soul and bring a smile to your face. The philosophy of Mel's JOY collection is something that we all can hold onto - living should be fun, colorful, and always conscious.

If you are looking for a way to bring conscious style into your home, check out JOY by Mel Lim, and visit the YT Blog every Wednesday for more on The Yogi At Home. I look forward to your questions and your comments, to new conversations on how to create a healing space in your home, and to this new journey together.

read more...

Visual Yoga

According to a series of reports by NOVA Science Now in 2005, brain researchers at the University College London have discovered a set of neurons called mirror neurons that enable us to experience familiar actions performed by others as our own by simply watching them. Their research also suggests that pictures can create similar results.

Imagine the possibilities.

Teachers could offer video and picture flashcards and create meditative observation areas in their studios for those that don’t have time for a full class or can no longer perform the advanced poses.

Students could collect picture flashcards of poses they have successfully accomplished and refer to them often, watch videos at home or online and visit their studio to observe, experience and grow.

Rob Gruber - Co-Active Life Coach

Photo by Jonathan Pozniak read more...

Can Technology Make You a Better Person?

Raising consciousness one text at a time, new DailyG. makes big buzz on cell phones across U.S.!

Here is a new free high-tech service to help people live more consciously that launched this month.

Daily G. is a fun, easy and effective tool to add vitality and consciousness to a person’s day. Every weekday, Daily G. sends out a text message (to a person’s cell phone) a SHORT, positive, action-oriented, and typically humorous message on a variety of topics, including—truth, appreciation, relationships, and the importance of breath. Just to name a few.

SAMPLE DAILY G. TEXT MESSAGE
Any TRUTH you want to face, share or celebrate? If yes, take a deep breath and go for it! It’s fun & slimming...well, at least you'll feel lighter. ;-)--Daily G.

Click on the logo above to sign up and get inspired!

Oh, before you go, any messages you want to suggest? Click on "Comment" and lets hear it. read more...

Mahāmudrā Meditation with Patrick Sweeney

I found this video on the holons-news.com blog and have watched it everyday since. Just watching this 17 minute mediation has impacted my daily practice. Click on play, sit up, and prepare your consciousness for a real treat!

Also, what is that sound he is making? I can hear it every now and again in my head while sitting in meditation!




text from holons-news.com
Patrick Sweeney leads a powerful Mahāmudrā meditation; recorded at the second annual Integral Spiritual Center gathering. Mahāmudrā is a Buddhist method of direct introduction to the nature and essence of Mind (or Buddha-nature) and the practice of stabilizing the accompanying transcendental realization. It draws upon instructions from multiple levels of Buddhism, including Sutra and Vajrayana, to provide a range of approaches to enlightenment suited to various people's needs. Mahamudra is believed to enable one to realize the mindstream's innate purity, clarity and perfection, summed up by the term 'buddha nature', the topic of the Third Turning of the Dharmachakra or the final phase of the Buddha's teaching." read more...

Ashtanga Yoga San Francisco is OPEN!

Finally, San Francisco gets a studio devoted entirely to Ashtanga as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Ashtanga Yoga San Francisco is open for practice! Authorized Ashtanga teachers Heidi Lender and John Wilhelm have been refurbishing and reflooring and repainting the Western Addition studio for the past several months and the result is clean, beautiful, warm studio in which to practice Mysore style Ashtanga. It's a huge accomplishment and a big gift for committed Ashtanga students-when will I see you there? — Deborah Crooks read more...

Living Your Yoga: San Francisco Report

In the living your yoga department, I caught up with Tracy Kunichika over a Café Gratitude salad last weekend. She’s in San Francisco on a break from the on-site duties of her Mysore, India-based foundation Operaton Shanti. Tracy started OS soon after her first trip to India to study yoga with Sri. Pattabhi Jois in 2002. OS provides health, education and housing services to orphans and destitute and homeless families who otherwise would go without. Tracy reported that OS is close to opening a shelter to provide room and board to those in need.


Later that weekend, I enjoyed a Kirtan with Karl Erb, who leads “Second Sunday Sacred Singing” at the Hayes St. location of Yoga Tree. Kirtan is devotional call-and-response singing and a lovely way to start the new week. If there's enough interest, he might hold kirtan more than one time a month...
— Deborah Crooks read more...

Episode 2 of YTTV: Tom's Shoes Revealed

This month Keri Lassalle welcomes Yogi Times BUSINESS man in the field, Chris Roy, as he reveals what shoes “got to do, got to do with it”. With Chris, you’ll meet Blake Mycoskie, founder of Tom’s Shoes, a young and compassionate entrepreneur who turned his utopian idea into a thriving, successful business that gives back. (Produced by Yogi Times Television with WSR Creative) read more...

Yogi Times Magazine - October 2007 Hits the Streets

Happy Autumn!
Your neighborhood spa is now a place where you can go to get centered, purify your body and restore your spirit. Check out the latest issue for some of California’s top spas and the latest and greatest treatments that will have your skin shining and your spirit singing.

Click on the image above and get access to a few of the stories in this months magazine. (Then run out and grab one to read cover to cover!) read more...

Natural & Non-toxic Drain Cleaner

Have a slow draining sink or shower? Wondering what to do besides dumping toxic drain cleaner into the drain and then into the environment? Well, here are some alternatives. Check them out...

Baking Soda Drain Cleaner
If water hasn't yet backed up in your drain, pour 1 cup of baking soda followed by 3 cups of boiling water. The boiling water will change the chemical composition of baking soda, making it more alkaline. Repeat a few times until the drain is clear.

Washing Soda Drain Cleaner
If the water isn't going down the drain, pour a cup of washing soda over the drain area and let it set for a while to work its way down to the clog. Once the clog is loosened, use the baking soda method, above. Washing soda is more alkaline than baking soda, with a pH of 11. You never want to use washing soda if a commercial acid drain cleaner has recently been used in the drain, as they will strongly react with each other. You also shouldn't overuse washing soda if you have PVC pipes, as the caustic nature of washing soda can slowly damage the plastic.

The Bubbling Method Using Vinegar and Baking Soda
Baking soda and vinegar react with each other to cause bubbles and fizzing. Sometimes the fizzing can unlodge clogs. Follow the baking soda and boiling water formula, above, with 1 cup of vinegar.

Enzyme Drain and Garbage Disposal Maintenance
All natural living enzyme culture drain cleaners will actually eat and break down any organic matter. Using enzyme drain cleaners once a month, such as Bi-O-Kleen's Bacout, will help not just your drains, but your septic system. They will also significantly reduce odor from garbage disposals. Colonies of enzymes will actually continue to grow and break down organic matter in your drains .

Washing Soda Maintenance
Enzymes don't work as well on hair clogs, so to keep drains clear that tend to collect hair, such as in the shower and bath, a few times a month pour 1 cup of washing soda followed by a thorough flushing of water. read more...