It's comic, but not haha funny.

Vanity is certainly not a new thing, but with social media, selfies and the chronic show off syndrome (even in the yogic field) I sometimes feel great concern for future generations and how they look upon themselves. 

It's kind of creepy. 

The picture? How we behave? 

I leave it up to you to decide. 

This well articulated illustration from Johanna Rubin Dranger's comic Miss Remarkable and her career (original title: Fröken Märkvärdig och Karriären, 2010) demonstrates a real issue we're facing here, in double sense. It's comic, but not haha funny. We've become brilliant multitaskers, kind of watching ourselves in all we do, not truly experiencing, not really there. We're only getting a close up of ourselves as we think about what other's think or what we think they're thinking. They're probably not even thinking about you. They're most likely thinking that you're thinking something about them. I do this sometimes too and can assure you that this behavior gives a very one sided, incomplete picture of ourselves and reality. 

Can't we find and eliminate the root of the problems instead getting caught in an endless treating of symptoms? Most of the things that we're trying to not even remove but smooth out are emotional issues, physical pain, appearance related issues... all of which commonly can be traced back to the stress that we're under, which often is of a vain character. Even on holiday. Look your best. Beach 2015. Show off the coolest things you've done, the nicest things you've bought. The expensive food and drinks. Wow! WOW! Look at you! 

Remind yourself that what you see around you is manmade. It's great magic tricks to make you doubt yourself and believe in their spells. You don't need anything of it. You need only remind yourself of what's really important. Remind yourself why you're doing things. If you're not liking your reasons... change them or what you do! It's up to you to actually live the life you want, not just looking like you live the life you think others want.

Yoganidrasana - flex and focus!

Mathematician, philosopher, political activist and more. 

At work I ended up in a discussion with two "overbenders" and found myself annoyed with myself for not being a prezel... then I remembered the journey I've done so far. From clumsy stiff to decent foldable me. Although I do want to take it up a knotch. Been practicing a little bit while watching tv, reading and so on. Today I found a tutorial which I think will make it all the more pleasant and fun. Here it goes. Sleeping baby - yoganidrasana. Looking forward to being able to relax into it.

Yoganidrasana how to with Kino KinoMacGregor.

Apart from that, even though I haven't updated the yoga has been going on every single day and I'm keeping a (home made from an old water color picture) journal upon it with day, time, location and what was done and if there was any special sensation to it.

Today I did math break yoga. I would study 20 minutes, take a 10 minute break to do some asanas in the shadow of the apple tree. Repeat. Of course mimimize surrounding distractions. I like to time things. 20 minutes. GO!!!

Tomorrow a sister will visit, I'm seeing an old friend from waaay back and hopefully there will be some glutenfree rhubarb/ginger/apple muffins going on. To celebrate the day I'm also taking it from trikonasana (triangle) to ardha chandrasana (half moon). Know what I'm sayin'? 

If not, here's what's what. And that's that. Peace!

She's a GOAL DIGGER.

Just like there is a song for everything there is an asana for every occasion. If you really want something you'll find a way. You'll find time. You'll find space.

Wake up. Yoga. Before work. Yoga. Before lunch. Yoga. After work. Yoga. Before dinner. Yoga. You're just in the mood for it. Yoga. Before sleep. Yoga.

I woke up to yoga and I came home to yoga. I will go to sleep with yoga.

The more you practise, the better you get. The better you get the more you'll want to do it. It's a positive upward spiral.

Finally set my yogi goals for the summer.

When this summer is over I will:

-Have integrated yoga into everyday life

-Have chosen yoga path to make my own

-Be able to do a headstand for atleast 10 seconds

-Be able to put my feet behind my ear

-Feel alright with the pigeon pose (eka pada rajakapotasana) 

Right now, apart from posture, I'm mostly focusing on breathing. That's where it all starts. In the breath. 

If you have the opportunity to feel anxious or afraid take a moment to study yourself. Has your breathing strayed? Is it racing away? I know this to be true almost without exception. If I'm stressed the breath is fast and unsteady. This is also a good measurement of your feelings. When you notice your breath is quickening without being physically active or experiencing positive excitement I would like to advise you to check yourself before you wreck yourself (yes, that's an IceCube reference). Where's your thoughts at? Just notice if it's positive or negative thoughts. If it's negative, leave them and focus on the breath. Slow it down. Feel how relaxation enters your body as you breathe in and stress and negativity leaves as you breathe out. By paying attention to your breath you will be able to control your emotions and see the "natural disasters" before they happen so you can hit the breaks. Usually works the other way when we're not aware.

To have a sentance or two as reminders also works well for me. When I get upset I remind myself to take responsibility for my feelings. They're up to me, not anyone else, even though it might seem so at times. 

Another thing to remember is that stress isn't bad. It's actually good for you. It's a built in mechanism to help you be alert and do your best. There's a good ted talk on the subject by psychologist Kelly McGonigal.

Speaking of stress... got up at 3:30 am to prepare for work. I had spoken to the oldest of my sister the day before who said "I bet it's really beautiful outside at that time". Sure, I thought. She was right though. I got to see the sunrise scenery on my way to work. Öland has never in my 25 years been this beautiful. I fell in love with the sky and felt truly blessed for getting this experience. Wahe Guru!

Ps. Didn't take a picture. But imagine an explosion of your favorite colors. Bham! The magic kind of dies when we take a picture. What's that old belief about preserving souls in photographs? Instagram...a graveyard?