Don’t measure your self worth with what you do..

I am a human being, not a human doing. Don’t equate your self-worth with how well you do things in life. You aren’t what you do. If you are what you do, then when you don’t…you aren’t. – Dr. Wayne Dyer

This is a good reminder for all of us. We tend to measure our worth with what we do, where we went to school, who we are friends with, how much money we make; and honestly, I think this is how we come into suffering.

Rarely do we praise ourselves. But don’t praise yourself with what you do, praise yourself because you just ARE! Appreciate yourself for your life and your experiences.

When we can learn to open our hearts and eyes to the truth of who we are deep inside, we can begin to accept ourselves fully. Learn to see yourself as someone special. What hurts us the most is when we perceive ourselves as not good enough, so change the vision! Change the language! Sometimes the suffering comes from talking to ourselves in a negative manner. And if you don’t do something correctly, that doesn’t make you any less of a person. Each and every one of us is worthy, which is why we are here! We exist because we are worthy.

And remember, we are always loved and are love. Don’t let any external forces and noise tell you any different.

Loving you all,

Cindy

Savasana into epsom salt and sea minerals..at home

Monday July 11, 2011
I am preparing a warm bath of epsom salt and sea minerals to melt my body into. This is what I need… savasana bliss in this healing water that I created in the intimacy of my home. You need days like this when you can create a sanctuary where you are at. Creativity comes into play when you use the imagination. Turn on some music to relax to, dive into the warm bath, and let go..

Yoga for Pride SF Flash Mob (details!) June 18, 2011

Hey everyone!!

This Saturday June 18, 2011- come join me while we gather together in unison in a moving meditation of Yoga! Commemorating Pride Month in San Francisco, this is a special time for all of us to come together to celebrate peace, freedom, love, compassion, and happiness for all!

Here is a video detail!

Come join us! We are meeting across the street from SF City Hall- Civic Center Plaza.

Polk St between McCallister and Grove st, San Francisco. You can’t miss us!!

4pm meet up!! Lets OM this place up!!!

Where to exercise? Try the garage!!

Hey friends!

So I was inspired to exercise in my garage. I didn’t feel like going to the gym nor did I feel like exercising in the living room because it would of been a recipe for distractions! The garage I feel is detached from the rest of the whole house, making me feel like I am in my own work out room. With no disruptions or distractions! It was a bit chilly, so I didn’t want to be totally outside, but I wanted some fresh air and sun! So the garage was a perfect fit!

Exercises I did in the garage:

Side steps using a thera band

squats

lunges

wall slide

val slides

inverted hamstrings lifts

closed chain step ups (sagital, frontal, and transverse planes)

anterior reach

calf raises

Kettle bell swings

Before I was done, I decided to recorded myself explaining my experience and how you too can do it too! Even if you don’t have equipment, you can improvise!

Awesome!! I hope I inspired you in some way. =)

My challenge for you is: find an out of the ordinary place to go exercise at! Then write down your experience. It might just be in the middle of a shopping center! =) Try it!

See you soon!!

The practice of letting go…physically and emotionally.

Hi everyone!

It’s Cindy here. As you have noticed, I haven’t written a blog in a little over a month. Not to fear, I am still here! In the last month, a lot has happened in preparation for the new self to develop. I’ve been taking the time to connect with friends, taking small road trips for clearer reflections, healing my energetic and physical body, being surrounded by pure love, my food consumption has turned from “blah” to “WOW”, and the list goes on!

It’s good to take the time out of the  usual “routine”. That is when I start to notice the unfolding of creativity flowering in all parts of my life. Whether it be with myself, friends, nature, the power of the mind and spirit, and joy. I live in a dream of spontaneous adventure; that is when I see the magic happening all around me. Thank you.

I have come into a practice of letting go. Letting go to me is not holding onto fear, releasing tension, transcending old energy that do not serve me, and finding freedom within myself. So I haven’t been blogging much because I’ve been letting GO a bunch!!

THE ONSET OF FEAR SETTING:

Physically my body has not been 100% in the last ten months. In March of 2010, I was hit with mononucleosis, a virus that you do no want to bother with. I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up in one day in May with the lingering effects of mononucleosis still in my fatigued physical being. This manifested into a jungle of soft tissue knee injuries to both of my knees. From June to October 2010, I dedicated my life to physical therapy.

During that time, a surge of fear hit my life more than ever before. Who am I now? Why is this happening to me? Will I have lifelong problems? Will I be able to hold my own children in the future? Why does this pain feel so real? Will I be able to run again? Not only did these questions run through my mind every single day, I also had a lot of self hatred, feelings of isolation, frustration, grief, depression, bitterness, and anger. The physical self was in pain and so was my emotional self. Fear of hurting my body again was a new motivation during my days to not do ANYTHING fun.

All this fear was building up a wall of tension and blockages in my body and in my spirit. I knew I had to transmute all these energies of fear to love and compassion in order to fully heal.

By October my knees and my energetic self was doing much better. I also had a month off to go to Thailand to enjoy myself!! Love filled the heart, I felt free. This feeling remained once I got back home to the San Francisco Bay Area…but I still had a lot of tension in my lower legs and fear in my mind. I noticed that the way I walking was like I was walking on egg shells. How am I going to transcend all this? It isn’t an easy task.

So I sit here now, it is March 2011. I am still healing my physical body as my hamstrings are extremely tight and has caused me to experience hamstring insertion point issues and tendonitis. Myself and my physical therapist believe that while my knees were in such pain, the muscles that support the knees were enduring a lot of compensated work as well. I know I am on a forward movement of complete healing…it just takes a lot of time, work, patience, dedication, and love.  I would say I’m at 80% complete.

THE HEALING PROCESS:

I believe in order to heal takes action and there are many steps. Action comes in the form of dedication. My dedication is being a good patient and attending physical therapy three times a week; or finding the avenues for physical assistance. Next comes will power. I must have the will power to not push myself too much in order for me to not go back to square one (re-injury). Action for me also means reaching out for support; whether it be from friends, family, and health supporters. Make sure these people are also willing to listen and not criticize especially when you’re going through a time of challenge. Take the effort to change attitude and thoughts to becoming optimistic. This alone will lift your spirit up and make you feel good instantly. Getting the right amount of sleep is beneficial for energy healing of the entire system. I have to also make sure that I am taking care of myself and not slacking off  ie stretching, supplementing soft tissues with vitamins and minerals, staying hydrated, cleansing, eating foods that don’t add to inflammation, and icing when needed.

LETTING GO:

In order for action and healing to happen…LETTING GO needs to BE in ACTION first. I have had to learn to let go of fear, tension, mental frustration, anger, the past, and letting go of my old self. It takes a lot of work! I have had to learn to physically let go of tension in my body because there was build up blockages. What helped me a lot was frequent massages and getting energy body work done because I had to put my body in the hands of another being. I’ve also gotten into a sensory deprivation float tank where I *HAD* to let go tension in my body in order to FLOAT. Learning to stay ultimately present helps to let go of the events that lead up to my injuries. Breathing exercises while I spoke out-loud  to myself about letting go has helped a lot as well.

All this self work is very tedious… you’ll notice that there are a lot of people out there who just let their pain take over their life and not do anything about it. It takes energy to be in pain… transmute that same energy into love.

You have to keep the ball rolling in order to see light.

LETTING GO in the BIGGER PICTURE:

I know when fear and blockages are moving  is when I feel this surge of relief come into my body. I feel the process of healing immensely physically and emotionally.

The last ten months, I have had to learn to really love myself unconditionally. If you don’t love yourself, energetically I believe pain will manifest into your body somehow. Letting go of tension and fear will also respond positively without having to endure additional pain and suffering Knowing that THIS process with my body is only a hiccup…perhaps a big bump in the road…has helped me move forward to self healing. This is not permanent. I have to BELIEVE I’m going to be okay. It is also a reminder to me that I am not my body and I am not my diagnosis; though I have to take care of my body because it is my vehicle in this lifetime.

I have also learned while going through with this process that letting go and just BEing can flourish many things to happen miraculously! When we DIVE into the moment of NOW and not having our minds be filled with so much clutter, you start to see beauty, there is joy, there is love, and there is compassion.

For example, even though I am working with my new body and new self to becoming healed and strong again… my life around me has spun many great moments. Meeting new people from all walks of life that share the same interests as I do,  being invited to places like Hawaii, friends gathering around a dinner table full of excitement, I’ve been offered many gifts of more body work to add to my healing, work is fun,  food seems to be more abundant than ever before, and overall… life is just PERFECT right now.

All I have to do is maintain this vision and attitude.

A reflection to you all that what you put out…is what you put in. What you put in…is what you put out. Learn to cultivate your life and your own self healing. Learn to love yourself, learn to be free. It takes time..and if you need support I am here to back you up 100%.

I am free in the sense that I am not in suffering of my own mental game anymore. I am now in a 200 hour yoga teacher training that is adding to my healing and self love. I will continue to heal myself…and it is in my power.

I have to cut it off right now. But I will be back…

My next challenge for you is:

What do you need to let go of that isn’t serving your highest good? Say it out-loud.

Loving you all,

Cindy

What the heck is an antioxidant!?

Hello everyone!

In today’s health and wellness , you hear a lot about antioxidants being good for you. You go into a smoothie shop and read the ingredients for the Morning Sunrise smoothie . It says it is “loaded with antioxidants”. Sure you’ll go ahead and order it since it seems like it’s probably the best thing for your body.

But what exactly is an anti-oxidant!?

Well first of all, what does “anti” mean? Anti usually means to act against something. To counter-act. Do the opposite. “Oxidize” is the process of interacting with oxygen or to combine with oxygen. Look up oxidize or oxidation under Google or a dictionary.

Therefore, antioxidant means to counter act against the oxidation process.

Here’s an example:

You open a banana or cut an apple. You leave it open for awhile and the color of the fruits begin to turn brown. That is the result of oxidation. That is basically what the skin is for; which is, to protect the fruit from being oxidized. When something is oxidized, damage occurs.

Taken from Wikepedia:

“An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions.”

So when you hear that there are antioxidants in your food or vitamins, the antioxidants will help you fight against/prevent damage from free radicals.

“Free radicals, also known simply as radicals, are organic molecules responsible for aging, tissue damage, and possibly some diseases. These molecules are very unstable, therefore they look to bond with other molecules, destroying their vigor and perpetuating the detrimental process. Antioxidants, present in many foods, are molecules that prevent free radicals from harming healthy tissue.” Here is a list that Adam, founder of SuperFood Snacks, put together to get an understanding of the levels of some foods that are considered high in antioxidants. Cranberries               —————————-8,272 Blueberries               ————————- 5,660 Blackberries              ———————— 5,374 Rasberries                ———————– 4,609 Almonds                  ———————- 4,053 Red Wine                 ——————– 3,373 Incan Berry              ——————- 3,032 Goji Berries              —————— 2,994 Apples                     —————– 2,775 Pomegranate Juice    —————- 2,440 Oranges                   ————— 1,651 Spinach                   ————– 1,379 Green Tea                ————- 1,140 These results are based on 91 grams of each food. Results are courtesy of the Agricultural Research Service and the USDA.

That’s it for now everyone!!

My challenge for you is: Look in your kitchen to see what kinds of fruits and veggies that you have that are considered high in antioxidants? You will be surprised at what you find! =D

See ya later!!

Loving you all,

Cindy

Resources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-free-radicals.htm

http://www.healthcastle.com/antioxidant.shtml

Choice, love, passion.

“The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, passion”. — Nadia Boulanger

When making that first leap on your path, make sure you have made your choice to do so very clear. Ask yourself why you are making this choice and make sure you understand why. If it is important and clear cut, you are ready to take action and move forward.

Every action we embark on in life, do we do it because we have to? Do it because you love to do it. We naturally feel alive with our choices in life when we lead with love. Gain for yourself a sense of purpose while being guided by love.

With love, there is passion. Having a passion for everything you do in life makes for an even more exciting and fulfilling sense of well being. Without passion, your fire for life choices will tire you out. The passion will make choices more meaningful to you.

The greatest gift we have as humans is the gift of choice. We are able to choose at our own will. Choose wisely with love and passion and you will feel confident in your path. Good choices are made when we choose with love and passion.

In my life, I refuse to do anything if I don’t love it or if I don’t have a passion for it. This includes choosing a job. I once went in for an interview for a marketing position at a firm in San Francisco. After hearing an hour about what the company was all about, working 9-5, and what my job tasks would entail, I knew right away I didn’t have a passion for it. I used to have a job working for a private internet company as a marketing sales representative, and boy did I not like it. It was a money driven business that I had no passion for. Though both jobs provided pay that was pretty good, but I’m choosing my happiness over money. I am shooting for well being and having a job that isn’t going to help me get there, is not a good choice.

My challenge for you is: Pick a few things in your life that you are involved in right now or want to do in the near future. Are you doing it out of choice? Do you love it? Do you have a passion for it?

Asking yourself these questions daily will definitely help you make better decisions. You will start to notice how better you will feel about yourself.

Loving you all.

See you soon!

-Cindy

Do it! And do it DIRECTLY!

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” A quote by Aristotle.

This quote by Aristotle resonates with me very well.

I will share with you a funny story. My family took me up to Boreal in the Sierra Mountains to learn how to ski. I was seven years old at the time. They had entered me into a ski school with about twelve other kids. I believe after about twenty minutes of introduction to skiing and “pizzas” on a flat ground, I ditched the class with two girls of my age and headed to the chair lift by ourselves. We wanted to hit up the mountain!

Standing at the top of the mountain with my skis on, wearing my purple rainbow jacket, looking down at the snow, I did not hesitate at all and just went down the mountain! All I remember was, I was high on life.

I am still motivated just like I was on that day skiing, to continue to DO what I want to learn/do throughout my life. DOING is ACTION. ACTION is DOING.

To experience by doing, your learning becomes more valuable. Experiencing what it’s like to ride a skateboard for your first time creates a depth of open excitement that fills your soul. Compare it to watching someone else skateboarding, the experience is quite different.

When we put ourselves into direct experiences, we get a rush of all sorts of feelings. Our mind becomes expanded as we create our better selves. Direct experiences of doing becomes more personal for any individual.

I suggest for anyone out there to have LOTS of direct experiences. The possibilities are endless! This is an easy thing to accomplish while we as humans live in a reality of direct experiences all over the world! Don’t study about Thailand from a text book, why not GO to Thailand and learn directly! Don’t just listen to someone talk about how cool yoga is, go and try it for yourself!

This is where my life of experiential living comes into play with who I am and how satisfied I feel. I will go more into depth with experiential living in a different post and I’ll explain why it is effective.

My challenge for you is: GO and DO it! Whatever it is. Then tell me how it felt.

See you soon!

=)

-Cindy

This is it! Cindy is here!

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO THE WORLD! Via.. our ever powerful WORLD WIDE WEB!

Let’s get started!