Bramacharya is probably the most difficult Yama for me to understand. In so many words it is the principle that one must conserve their sexual energy in order to transform it into a more powerful prana or life force. Being a married woman, I do not think abstaining from sex would be very good for my marriage. So I have a tough time with this. As I begin to look deeper into the purpose of this Yama, I begin to see the benefits channeling such a powerful energy (like the sexual energy of the body). Sex has seemed to run rampant in our society and we are no longer surprised by much. Everywhere we turn, we see so many visually sexually appealing images we have become numb to it. Not long ago was a time where showing too much skin was looked down upon or considered racy. Every day we give our sexual energy away, sometimes without even realizing what we are doing. If we allow such a powerful energy to drain so easily from us, we lose our fire. This yama really speaks to me about self-control. Even though it is easy to let our sexual energy be pulled from us, if we had the self control to channel it into a creative form, we could create beauty. I have begun to look at the areas in my life where I lack self-control. I hope this conversation sparks interest for you and allows you to look into your own life where self-control is lacking and where you may better channel your energy and power to create beauty and allow your fire to burn brighter.
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Each year I am motivated to get healthy once again! Wait... Doesn't something sound wrong with that statement? Once again? What happens throughout the year that I come off my resolution kick and STOP choosing to be healthy? This is a common theme among resolutions, especially resolutions revolving around eating better and exercising. We are so unsuccessful in fact, many of us have become such pessimists we don't even make the resolutions. The start of the new year has become a reminder of our past failures and we decide against making any resolution in fear of pumping ourselves up to be what has historically been another broken promise.
This year, something is dramatically different for me; my reason for change. My daughter was born last June and has changed my life in so many wonderful ways. Everything you hear about the incredible love you have for your child is true. As I stumble through the beginning of motherhood, I find myself striving to do better than I ever have in areas I am weak. Just recently, we have introduced solid foods to Reese (my daughter). She is just loving eating avocado and butternut squash! It is fun to watch her explore and see her pride that she is eating at the table like mommy and daddy. Wanting the absolute best for her, I have been making baby food in our Vitamix with organic vegetables. I have read many books, tried multiple dietary lifestyles, and have a breadth of knowledge about nutrition, which makes me feel confident in understanding how I want to introduce food to my child. I want to educate her to shield her from the diet struggles I faced growing up. I still struggle with my addiction to sugar. With everything I know about diet and nutrition, what has kept me from eating clean and healthy? I recently read "The Omni Diet" by Tana Amen (a book I highly recommend) and was inspired to make my new year all about changing my eating habits for good. Immediately, my mind started to panic. "No more ________?!?!" (fill in the blank with a junk food of your choice). But then I thought, "How am I supposed to teach Reese about eating right when I have trouble doing it myself?" The difference this year is my motivation. Being a behavior analyst, I understand how important motivation is to behavior change. After all, eating is just a behavior. Ask yourself what your motivation is for the change you want to make this year. Keep in mind that if the motivator is not as rewarding as the behavior you are trying to change, you will unlikely be successful. Also remember, your motivation can change! Maybe you are motivated to compete in a race, so up until that race you run 5+ times a week. The race comes and goes, so now what? Time for a new motivation. Maybe there is an event coming up you want to look great for so you put an alert in your phone counting down the days to the event, which keeps you running on a regular basis. Pretty soon, the behavior itself and the lifestyle you have post-change becomes the motivator. Once the event is over, you may realize when you don't run, you feel sluggish and tired but have a hard time sleeping at night. This itself becomes a new kind of motivator to keep your new lifestyle up. The point is, focus on your reason for change and you are more likely to find success making the change. I have a wonderful reason for change and I can't wait for the healthy benefits eating clean is going to bring to me. I wish you success in your New Year's resolutions and encourage you to find a strong motivator. If you feel like you need support in your journey, please email me for some behavioral tips that may help. Cheers to 2014! When willful, we think
that truth moves from our head to our heart to our hands. But bent by life, it becomes clear that love moves the other way: from our hands to our heart to our head. Ask the burn survivor with no hands who dreams of chopping peppers and onions on a spring day. Or the eighty-year-old jazz man who loses his hands in a fog. He can feel them but no longer entice them to their magic. Or the thousand-year-old Buddha with no arms whose empty eyes will not stop bowing to the unseeable center. Truth flows from us, or so we think, only to be thrown back as a surf of love. Ask the aging painter with a brush taped to his crippled hand--wanting, needing to praise it all one more time. |