Archive for the ‘Women’s Book Clubs’ Category

Week Five in the Year & Soul-Sisterhood of the Traveling Yoga Pants!

I’m inserting this yoga experience at Sky Temple as my week 5, even though I attended this yoga class in December while vacationing in Yelapa, Mexico. I’m taking some editorial license.

I actually attended my wonderful local Shanti Yoga this week for a gentle Hatha class but wanted to jump back and include Sky Temple in my travels.

Sky Temple Yoga is a breath-takingly beautiful studio, perched on the hillside in the tropical jungle around Yelapa.

Yelapa is a quaint and beautiful Mexican pueblo located south of Puerto Vallarta and only accessible by water taxi.

Judith Roth, a well known yoga teacher from the Pacific Northwest, relocated to Yelapa around 10 years ago. Over the years she held yoga classes in numerous locations in the village including little palapas, grand rooms in quaint estates and upper decks of homes.

Recently Judith organized the construction of Sky Temple, a yoga studio, home and retreat centre with a view of a sparkling bay and gorgeous beach. Accessible via a path winding through trees and jungle foliage Sky Temple offers beginner and advanced classes.

Karen, our next door neighbor and myself, attended a gentle Hatha class with about 10 other folks from Asheville Oregon, Northern California, England, the Gulf Islands of BC and Vancouver. The age range was about 25 – 65. Judith didn’t teach the class but I did have a chance to connect with her after class.

The yoga wear was very eclectic, funky, fun and functional, given the warm temperatures. There were brothers and sisters and lots of tats, piercings and long gray braids. I wore my cozy brown yoga pants (again) and Karen wore a pair of black leggings. I wore my tie-dyed t-shirt and mala beads in a gesture of a deep bow to the hippies and singers like Bob Dylan, who introduced Yelapa to us in the ’60s!

I credit Judith with awakening my love of yoga! She is a woman who embodies power and courage with gentleness and authenticity. Prior to attending a class with Judith, I had viewed yoga more as exercise but in Judith’s class, I experienced a deeper and more profound experience. Yoga with Judith made my body sing and she feels like a soul-sister for sure!

Sky Temple is available for other yoga instructors to use for retreats with their students as well as for those living in and traveling to Yelapa.

In addition to amazing yoga, a wonderful beach and very friendly people, Yelapa boasts outstanding restaurants with delectable food made from fresh ingredients.

You can also take Spanish classes, go birding, take a day trip to the Marietas Islands, go snorkeling, go hiking or fishing

A trip to Yelapa for rest, relaxation and yoga would significanty contribute to living a life in balance.

This picture below is a beautiful mosaic announcing the entrance to the path leading to Sky Temple.

Enjoy your glorious day.

namaste,

Zoey

 

 

This post is dedicated to all the amazing and empowered women around the world who are joining hands in sisterhood and having a positive impact on our planet and our people!  Deep bows to you!

 

The research on happiness, health and longevity continues to indicate that those most happy are those who feel that they are having a positive impact on others and/or on the planet.

 

Let’s use this time around International Women’s Day March 2012 to celebrate you, your passion and purpose!  Use the following questions to set your heart on fire and soothe your soul!  Feel free to share these questions widely and wildly with your soul-sisters.

 

1.  Gain clarity on those activities, people, issues that you are passionate about supporting.  Use a journal, or vision board, or do some art to tap into your unconscious for messages from your deeper self.

 

2.  Ask and answer the following … “What does my spiritual self need to feel nourished”?

 

3. Determine those daily actions & behaviors that make you feel ‘the most you’, those things that make you ‘feel good in your skin’.

 

4.  Ask and answer ‘ what am I passionate about’?  If you come up with a blank, that’s great too!  Then ask your self ‘how can I unlock my creativity’.  The answers may not come quickly…, give yourself time, over the days, you may get twinges of inspiration and whispers of messages from your soul!

 

5. Engage in random acts of kindness.

 

6.  Really get to know a woman from a culture different to you.

 

7. Every day, start the day with gratitude and by listing all the things that are good and great in your life!

 

To help with this process, you may wish to use the Topaz Lotus Life Crafter 2012!

 

 

May your day be filled with sacred delight and soul-sisterhood!

in peace & mindfulness

namaste,

Zoey

Topaz Lotus Life & Leadership Coaching for Women

wisdom coaching to set your heart on fire and soothe your soul

“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan the flames.” ~ Rumi

 

 

 

Words of Wisdom from Pema Chodron

‘Awakeness is found in our pleasure and our pain, our confusion and our wisdom,

available in each moment of our weird, unfathomable, ordinary everyday lives.’

~ Pema Chodron from ‘When Things Fall Apart – Heart Advice for Difficult Times’

Enjoy your wonderful day!

in peace & mindfulness

namaste,

Zoey

Topaz Lotus Life & Leadership Coaching for Women

wisdom coaching to set your heart on fire and soothe your soul 

 

“Set your life on fire.  Seek those who fan the flames.” ~ Rumi

 

I offer you the following thoughts to deepen your mind body spirit connection…

After my meditation this morning, I was reading from “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times” by Pema Chodron.

 

I enjoy all her writing and this am, a particular passage struck me, she’s talking about ‘maitri’ or ‘developing loving-kindness and an unconditional friendship with ourselves.’  She goes on the say ‘ It’s not that we pat ourselves on the back and say “You’re the greatest,” or “Don’t worry, sweetheart, everything is going to be fine.”  Rather, its a process by which self-deception becomes so skillfully and compassionately exposed that there’s no mask that can hide us anymore.’

 

A real life example of this is from my own life.  One of my long held patterns is that when I am hurt, or life becomes too full of conflict or pain, I ‘run away’!  I change jobs, end friendship or withdraw emotionally.  In my daily life, even without something sad going on, I catch myself thinking about vacations and wondering what life would be like where the grass is greener.

 

Recently, since ‘making friends with this pattern’ and deepening maitri, I have been able to lighten up abit and just ‘hang in there longer’.

What I have found with this process is that it feels very scary for me to ‘hang in’, I actually feel like I might die of shame, hurt, pain etc.  But if I stay, a deepening always happens!  By staying I deepen my connection to myself and to those around me.

So, if you wish, try a different pattern the next time you feel strong emotion and see what happens!

in peace & mindfulness

namaste,

Zoey

Coaching to set your heart on fire and soothe your soul

A beautiful thought for the day !

namaste

A pot pourri of questions & books:

Questions:

1.  Is formal education redundant?

2.  How does one become a futurist?

3.  What the h e double hockey sticks happened to me on Tues?

Books to Read Next:

1.  ’Shadow Elite’ by Janine Wedel

2. ‘Committed’ by Elizabeth Gilberts

3.  ’On The Road’ by Jack Kerouac

Currently Reading:

‘Gargoyle’ by Andrew Davidson

I picked up “Integral Spirituality” by Ken Wilber a while ago from my favourite bookstore, (Banyen Books in Vancouver) and I devoured it, I loved it, it filled an unmet need of some kind for me, it felt that the final missing piece had clunked in.  It really felt like the logical, linear, science type part of me had a “thrist quenched”.  I felt like buying copies for some family members who are the “pure science” types and from whom I have a distinctly different view of life and religion and spirituality.  It was like this book could finally convince them, (because of the mathematical formulae) that I was right.  Yes, a brief glimpse into my family of origin issues which are integrally involved in my shadow the “filter” with which I view my world I acknowedge!  Yes, Ken Wilber, to me could represent my “unresolved” brother issues!  Yes, and……another part of me says the following……

I had never felt drawn to read any of Ken Wilber’s work before, being more interested in reading Barbara Marx Hubbard, Riane Eisler, Vicki Noble and Margaret Wheatley.  I think it was the word “spirituality” that drew me and I totally respect this work of Ken’s to attempt a ‘meta analysis’ of all religions, all spiritual traditions and all states, stages and lines etc. and pull it all into a framework.  It totally felt to me like the most “cutting edge” framework that I could find.  I immersed myself in the Integral Institute website, thinking of doing advanced training with them or at the very least some workshops.

I was ecstatic to see a women’s event.  Eagerly skimming through the program, I felt like I was hit with a sledgehammer when I read that the key feature of the retreat was watching a video of Ken Wilber talking to us.  Yes, there was some sacred dancing thrown in and a few other “divine feminine” type activities but I was absolutely stunned at the program which did not in any way feel integral to me, nor was anything close to what I had expected.

I chatted about this with 2 wise women friends, one of whom is very familiar with Integral theory and we both felt that there is something missing from the integral framework.  She said what is missing is “concentric circles’, I said what is missing is “heart”.  We both felt that it is very “heady” and for us, being bodycentered and integrated in mind and body, living in the present moment is how we attempt to live.

So, I ended up with more questions, ponderings and felt experience.  I have been asking what a wisdom council of grandmothers would say about this book.  I am asking, what is beyond “integral theory”, what about cycles, I feel the lack of heart centered body centered acknowledgement, I don’t think religions can be the conveyor belts of anything until the shadow of all religions is brought to the light.  I am triggered, questioning, uncertain and unknowing and just “sitting with it all”.  Yes, I am right in the middle of “include and transcend”.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

peace, namaste & hippy love for generations,

Zoey

I recently read “Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother Daughter Story” by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. This book is “a wise and engrossing book about feminine thresholds, spiritual growth, and the relationship between mothers and daughters” and I loved it!

The sections by the mom, Sue explore many facets of aging and deepening spirituality, while Ann’s chapters are lighter, exuberant and achingly truthful.

Being the mom of three daughters and personally going through many of the mid-life questioning and questing that Sue is doing, I am savoring this book as one would savor a big, round ripe pomegranate! I am finding a deepening and an enriching of my spirituality emerging with the reading. It also gives me distinct pleasure to be reading this book in an area of the western world that has welcomed Eastern spirituality and religious freedoms. Vancouver, with it’s partner city San Francisco, spawned the hippie movement, which provided a gateway for the emerging Eastern spirituality and the furthering of a differentiation between religion and spirituality

First, here are some definitions from Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org ):

“Religion: A religion is a set of tenets and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, or religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience. The term “religion” refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction.”

“Spiritual: Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and faith, a transcendent reality, or one or more deities. Spiritual matters are thus those matters regarding humankind’s ultimate nature and purpose, not only as material biological organisms, but as beings with a unique relationship to that which is perceived to be beyond both time and the material world. Spirituality also implies the mind-body dichotomy, which indicates a separation between the body and soul.

As such, the spiritual is traditionally contrasted with the material, the temporal and the worldly. A perceived sense of connection forms a central defining characteristic of spirituality — connection to a metaphysical reality greater than oneself, which may include an emotional experience of religious awe and reverence, or such states as satori or nirvana. Equally importantly, spirituality relates to matters of sanity and of psychological health. Spirituality is the personal, subjective dimension of religion, particularly that which pertains to liberation or salvation.”

So, while spirituality may be connected to religion for some, it can also be the subjective sense of “a power greater than oneself, a sense of expansiveness, connection and awe” that is experienced outside the realm of organized religion. It is this sense of expansiveness and connection that guides hippy grandma to keep the hippy love flowing for generations so our children and our grandchildren and on and on, may also catch some star dust!

“The true harvest of my life is intangible – a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched” – Henry David Thoreau

Enjoy your day.

peace, namaste & hippy love for generations,

Zoey

OK, so I actually squeezed in 11 books, however, here are the “Top 10/11 Novels” (not in order of preference), that have influenced my life and writing:

1.  ”One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

2.   “House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende

3.  ”A Prayer for Owen Meany” and “The World According to Garp” by John Irving

4.  ”The Blind Assasin” by Margaret Atwood

5.  ”The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver

6.  ”Loving Frank A Novel” by Nancy Horan

7.  ”The Mists of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley

8.  ”Mexico” by James Mitchener

9.  ”Possession” by A S. Byatt

10. “The Fifth Sacred Thing” by Starhawk

peace & namaste,

Zoey

Zoey’s Top 7 Book Picks:

 

Passionate Presence: Experiencing the Seven Qualities of Awakened Awareness 

by Catherine Ingram

A Path With Heart: A Guide Through The Perils And Promises of Spiritual Life

by Jack Kornfield

A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

by Byron Katie

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

 by Eckhart Tolle

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose 

by Eckhart Tolle

A Woman’s Journey to God: Finding the Feminine Path

 by Joan Borysenko

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

by Pema Chodron

Enjoy these books my friends!

“May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in beauty and joy each day.”

– Native American Proverb

in peace & mindfulness

namaste,

Zoey

Topaz Lotus Life & Leadership Coaching

wisdom coaching to set your heart on fire and soothe your soul