I love it when coincidences just seem to happen. You need something and at that exact moment what you need shows up. You’re thinking of a friend you haven’t seen in 20 years and the next day you see them at the grocery store (or they find you on Facebook). You spend the morning humming a tune you haven’t heard in ages and when you go to turn on the radio it’s playing. What a coincidence.

But, what is a coincidence?

I had always thought of a coincidence as something kind of cool happening when you least expect it. A random happening of certain luck you may say. But, what if that’s not what it is at all?

I was listening to an interview with Dr. Wayne Dyer on an Oprah show where he mentioned that something was a coincidence – and then went on to give this definition of a coincidence:

“In mathematics, two angels that are said to coincide fit together perfectly. The word coincidence does not describe luck or mistakes. It describes that which fits together perfectly.” (Wayne Dyer, The Power of Intention)

Mind. Blown.

I will never be able to say lightly “oh what a coincidence that you and I ended up here together” again. Instead I can think what a wonderful coincidence – look at how we coincided together in this moment to fit together perfectly.

Pretty cool, eh?

Sleep is a really big, huge freaking deal to me. After years and years of sleep deprivation for one reason or another, in the last year I finally started getting fairly decent sleeps. What it has made me realize is how completely overtired and drained I was and how much I never, ever want to go back to the complete brain fog that was my life.

But, sometimes it happens.

Last Sunday for example, I managed to get myself all wound up and upset about something. Add that to the fact that I ripped up my shoulder and was in a lot of pain, some general part of life stress (we are moving, we are busy – general stuff), and having to worry about whether they were going to cancel school the next day led to a night of flip flop non-sleep. 

As an aside, every night when I think they’re going to cancel school but don’t make the call until the morning I never sleep well. There’s no reason for that. The kids really are fun to have around, we don’t have to rearrange schedules and I always wake up before the call comes in anyway. But for some reason on a day when it would really do me well to be rested so I can enjoy a day with the kids I wake up a million times looking to see if school has been cancelled. 

So, even though I had done my bedtime routine and was all tucked in nice and early I felt like crap Monday morning. Not just overtired, but super sore (thank you shoulder). The less I slept the more I seemed to twist around that shoulder until my whole back and hips hurt too (because if you’re going to do something you may as well do it right). I tried to fake a good mood Monday, but I had a major case of the bah-humbugs. Tuesday was better, but not by much. By Wednesday I was feeling human again, and then Thursday thanks to another decent sleep and a massage was feeling closer to normal.

But, it made me realize I’m only one bad sleep away from being a total disaster. Because my reserves are still low it really does not take long to become a sleep deprived mess. And, let me tell you – a tired Melissa is not a good Melissa to be around. 

It made me really grateful that I did have my sleep routine. Whiney as I was for a couple of days, at least I was able to get things back on track. It also made me feel for my sister (and other new moms) who is right in the midst of huge sleep deprivation. 

My thought for the day is “I love sleep, and sleep loves me!”

It’s one thing to know why you’re not getting enough sleep. It’s another thing entirely to be able to do something about it. Hopefully these guidelines can help sort some of that out.

The first thing you need to do is look after the root causes of why you’re not sleeping. There could be many reasons for this. It could be something as simple as a disturbed sleep because your dog or cat (or both) are also sleeping in bed with you and are restless (same could apply to a spouse who has a sleep disturbance of their own and keeps you up during the night). It could be something more difficult to solve such as anxiety about work or family life. But if there is one *thing* that you are aware of that is keeping you up at night that you can change, it seems like it’s worth giving that a try doesn’t it?

So, do you…

sleep with a pet?

sleep with a partner with a sleep disorder?

drink (too much) caffeine?

Drink alcohol? (it does not take much to disturb your sleep)

eat too much / too late / or food that is too hard to digest?

have stress in your life that makes it difficult to stop that brain chatter at night?

exercise? Too little, too much, or the Goldilocks amount (of just right)

meditate? (Did you know this can help with almost all health related issues?)

~~~~~~

If you have a Vata Imbalance (DFA or Difficulty Falling Asleep), here’s some suggestions for a bedtime routine that may be helpful:

1. Before bedtime do an abhyanga (warm oil massage) with a vata pacifying oil (sesame oil is a good choice).

2. 10-20 minutes after the oil massage have a warm shower.

3. Drink 3/4 cup of warm milk with 2 pinches or nutmeg and 1 pinch of cardamom powder.

4. Take 2-3 tablets of Tranquil Mind (http://www.banyanbotanicals.com/prodinfo.asp?number=1101) or 1-2 tablets of Blissful Sleep (http://www.mapi.com/products/herbal-supplements/sleep/blissful-sleep.html).

5. Place 3-5 drops of Vata aroma oil or Slumbertime aroma oil (both from http://www.mapi.com) in an oil diffuser (or saucer of warm water, or if travelling on a cotton ball) by your bed.

~~~~~~

If you have a Vata/Pitta imbalance of Early Morning Awakening (or EMA) consider the following:

1.  Before bedtime do an abhyanga (self oil massage) with warm oil using a pitta pacifying oil (olive oil is a good option), or do a ghee foot massage.

2. After 10-20 minutes have a warm shower.

3. Drink 3/4 cup of warm milk with 1tsp ghee, 2 pinches of nutmeg and 1 pinch of cardamom powder.

4. Take 1-2 tablets of Deep Rest (http://www.mapi.com/products/herbal-supplements/sleep/deep-rest.html)

5 Listen to 10 minutes of soothing music while sipping on your milk (I love Bruce Becvar http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-BecVar/e/B000APJ1JG/works/ref=ntt_mus_teaser?)

6. Place 3-5 drops of Pitta Aroma (available from http://www.mapi.com) in an oil diffuser, in a saucer with warm water by the bed, or if travelling on a cotton ball.

7. Place 1 drop of Vetiver oil on each big toe (make certain you get a quality, pure oil. I suggest DoTerra)

For either sleep disorder it is important to be in bed by 10pm. This means 10 toes up, ready to sleep, not just getting ready for bed at that time.

Sleep is precious.

So is she:

Sleep… one of my favourite things to do. When it happens properly, that is. Nothing is more frustrating than lying in bed flipping and flopping thinking about how I should be falling asleep. The more I lie there thinking about how I should be sleeping, how many more hours until I have to wake up, how tired I’m going to be tomorrow, how can I possibly fit in a nap during the day; the less likely I am to ever fall asleep!

But, it’s getting better. I’ve made some big changes in my nighttime routine and I’m feeling better rested than I have in years and years (pre marriage and babies for certain).

Chakara who was one of the great sages of Ayurveda had some very profound words about the importance of sleep:

In the matter of keeping up the body, sleep is regarded to be productive of as much as happiness as the taking of food.

Happiness and misery, growth and wasting, strength and weakness, virility and sterility, knowledge and ignorance, life and death all depend on sleep.

Within us we have three doshas which makes up our constitution, or gives us certain physical and mental characteristics. These doshas are Vata (made of air and ether), Pitta (made of fire and water) and Kapha (made of earth and water). Insomnia is generally a result of either a Vata or a Pitta imbalance.

There are two major types of sleep disturbances: difficulty falling asleep (DFA) and early morning awakening (EMA).

DFA is usually anxiety related and caused by a Vata imbalance.

EMA is often Pitta related but also sometimes involves Vata. It most often occurs when we move from Pitta into Vata time (at 2 am – you know how you wake up at 2 am for no reason at all? This is why!) You wake up feeling like it must be morning, why else would you be wide awake – only to find it’s only 2am and if you fall asleep right now you’ll get 4 more hours sleep… half an hour later when you’re still lying there you count down to being able to get 3.5 hours sleep if you fall asleep right now… and so on until 5 or so when finally you fall back asleep, only to have to wake up an hour later.

Our doshas follow a 24 hour clock with Vata time between 10-2, Pitta time between 2-6 and Kapha time between 6-10. According to the ancient Ayurveda texts you want to fall asleep before 10pm (before kapha moves into vata time) and wake up before 6am (before kapha time begins). They also advised against napping during the day with a list of exceptions to this rule.

According to Charaka the following are indications for daytime sleep:

1. If one is wearied by singing, studying, drinking alcohol, sex, physical exertion, bearing burdens, or having been on long journeys.

2. Being unable to digest one’s food due to a weakness of the stomach.

3. Being injured.

4. Being very old.

5. Being very young.

6. Having great thirst, diarrhea, or pain in the chest or abdomen.

7. Being weak.

8. Having asthma or the hiccups.

9. being very emaciated.

10. Being without reason.

11. Being exhausted after riding in cars or on animals.

12. Being exhausted after staying up at night.

13. Being exhausted by indulging in wrath, grief or fear.

My instructor advises that in our (North American) culture we generally suffer from moderate to quite severe sleep deprivation and as such taking rest during the day is encouraged when possible. Also, the rule of waking by 6am can be modified as it is more important for our Vata imbalanced culture to catch up on sleep than suffer the fogginess that can occur by a post 6am wake up time. Personally I love having a cat nap in a sunbeam in the afternoon. Highly recommend it.

I am learning about the various uses of oils in my Ayurvedic studies. I am also fortunate enough to have a friend here in town who introduced me to DoTerra oils a little over a year ago. I was easily able to turn my family of skeptics into believers with the little bit of lavender oil she gave me to take on our trip home to Calgary. These trips are wonderful for bringing on nose bleeds in both my son and husband, and even though neither really believed in it they allowed me to rub a drop of lavender on the bridge of their nose at the first sign of a nosebleed. Sure enough it immediately stopped for both of them. Both of them now pack around their little bottles of lavender as a ‘just in case’.

We now have a much wider selection of DoTerra oils and I’ve really enjoyed learning about the different uses for each of them. One I bought new this month was Vetiver. I was intrigued after reading about all the successes people had with it with regards to sleep. One of the ancient authorities on Ayurveda, Chakara is quoted as saying ” Happiness and misery, growth and wasting, strength and weakness, virility and sterility, knowledge and ignorance, life and death all depend on sleep.” Sleep is as important as anything else we can do to improve our lives. In our house all of us suffer at different times from lack of sleep – whether it’s from not being able to fall asleep to that dreaded 2am wakeup to fix all the world’s problems, to tossing and turning all night long. Something that is natural and healthful to help us deal with this? Yes please!

Now, my dear Jenna suffers from a severe case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) that often causes difficulty for her with regards to falling asleep and staying asleep. She’s terrified something interesting is going to happen and she will miss out. She’s known to wander into my room multiple times to just hug and kiss me -even if I act like a grumpy bear she still needs to know where I am. If I go downstairs she screams from her bed to know where I am (she’s 9, I swear she won’t die if I run downstairs for a minute…) She just needs to know where everyone is and what’s going on.

I talked with the kids about Vetiver and said that we should all try a drop on our big toes before going to bed. They both were pretty excited about it – I love how they’re eager to always try something new. I put a drop on each big toe and put the kids to bed. About 15 minutes later I had turned my light off and was ready to go 10 toes up myself when I heard the dog go ballistic downstairs. I turned the light back on and lay there trying to figure out how I was going to deal with what must be the boogeyman breaking into the house. I ran into the hall and Jacob was already standing there. We talked in normal voices (right outside of Jenna’s room with her door open) about what was going on. I yelled downstairs that whomever was in the house better get the heck out because I was coming down. Set Jacob up with a phone ready to call 911 and came downstairs to find… the dog barking at the window where the birdfeeder is. I can only assume that the bear is back out of hibernation and it’s time to start taking the feeder in again at night. Jacob yelled down to me to see if I was ok, I yelled back up that I was. Came back upstairs and went to Jacob’ room to make sure he was ok. On the way, I put my head into Jenna’s room and there she was lying in her bed sound asleep!!! Unheard of. Jacob and I both stood there in shock that she had slept through the entire thing.

Now, it hasn’t fully cured her FOMO, and sometimes I still wake up in the middle of the night and it takes about a half hour to go back to sleep, but I would have to say in general our sleeping patterns have much improved. Like most things it does not work in isolation – you couldn’t drink an espresso and watch a horror movie, rub a drop on your toe and drop off to a restful sleep. But as an aid to our regular bedtime routine it’s certainly helping.

Here’s what DoTerra has to say about Vetiver:

Emotional stress is a part of everyone’s life and can be hard to manage without the proper tools. Vetiver essential oil  has traditionally been used to help with emotional, hormonal, and balance issues.

Vetiver is known for its calming properties and its ability to help children increase focus. Additionally, it can help with sleep and is a popular oil to diffuse or rub on the bottom of feet before bedtime.

Its rich, smoky, exotic, and earthy fragrance is complementary to many other essential oils and is a common fragrance used in perfumes as a base note.

– See more at: http://doterrablog.com/calm-down-with-vetiver-essential-oil#sthash.gdpo4FDW.dpuf

According to Ayurveda, Vetiver is cooling to Pitta (the dosha made of fire and water) and soothing to Vata (the dosha made from air and ether). It can help with stress and can calm and focus the mind. It is a woody, earthy smell and helps open the root chakra as well as pass energy onto the other chakras.

Last night as the kids and I got settled for our evening meditation I was excited because it was one that included a guided full body relaxation. I also meditate in the morning and had done this one earlier. I had found myself really relaxed and in good spirits to move on and continue with the day so I was looking forward to passing along some of the relaxation bliss to the kids.

We were all lying down in our spots (me lying on the bed, Jacob on the floor beside me and Jenna lying at the foot of the bed) as Deepak began guiding us through our body and helping us relax. He’s got such a soothing voice it was easy to feel my body softening. He started at the toes and had us relax our feet, our lower legs, our upper legs our buttocks…. all of a sudden I hear hysterical giggling from Jacob beside me and he whispers “he said buttocks” and more giggling. Then suddenly, what can only be described as a monstrous gaseous explosion erupted from the end of the bed. Followed by Jenna’s saying “What? He said to relax my buttocks. I can’t help it.”

We were giggling so much through the rest of the meditation I’m not sure how much “meditation” we achieved per se, but I can guarantee it was an exercise that was good for the soul. So much giggling.

Namaste.

I was doing my meditation the other day (Deepak Chopra’s 21 day meditation on Desire and Destiny) and the subject for the day was Who am I? With the centering thought of I am my deepest desire and the mantra of So Hum meaning I am.

It’s a 21 day meditation and this was only day 1, but I’d already done it 5 days in a row without moving on to the next day. Why? Because it really was making me think hard about who am I? Which is something I feel has been lost in the past few years. Before, I knew who I was to some extent. I was Melissa. I was madly and completely in love with my horses. I loved my dog and cats. I was a daughter, a sister, a cousin. I was a person who had strong roots in the community I lived in. I was shy and introverted, but still did things I was terrified of – just because.

I was a little girl at 5 who went out on a cross-country course with a rotten, stubborn little pony and spent ages kicking and pleading with Tango to go over a jump, only to have him land and immediately plant his head back in the grass and gorge himself. I was obviously stubborn and strong willed myself because instead of giving up and going back I got of and dragged that miserable beast up to the next jump before climbing back up and kicking him over the next jump.

I was a little girl at 9 back on the same cross-country course with a kind-hearted but completely messed up pony getting ready to head out on the course. When my uncle announced the one minute mark dear Snowflake showed an act of nerves herself and reared up straight in the air. For once in my life I managed a graceful dismount and slid right off her butt and landed on my feet. Fortunately the timer was holding her to make sure we didn’t leave the gate early. I remember walking around to her side, climbing back up and just as I was settling into the saddle hearing “10. 9,8.7…” and off we headed on the course. I would like to point out that Snowflake and I managed to come first in every event. I remember thinking later that it was weird that no one stopped me and asked if I was ok, but in hindsight they were there and knew I was ok. After all, it was the same uncle who had had older riders keep an eye out for a girl and her Shetland pony on the course a few years before. A good way to care – be there and supportive without smothering and “doing for” someone.

So, Who Am I? Over the years who I am has gotten blurred. I got married and had a child a year after. 3 years after that had another child and moved to Quebec where we lived for 2 years. Followed by a move to Rhode Island (where we lived in one house for 2 years and then moved to another house for 2 more years). Then we moved to Roanoke where we’ve been almost 3 years and are getting ready to move to Winchester. In this time I’ve become ungrounded. I’ve lost my support system in many ways. In the 9 years we’ve been gone I’ve discovered how strong the family ties are that I have and how much they mean to me, but also how far away they are. We’ve had to make new lives for ourselves way more times than I wanted and had to say goodbye to new friends who had become dear.

Since living here we have failed to develop a strong support system, which has meant that I have built an incredibly strong support system with my children. I know these are bonds that are unique and will give us a wonderful foundation as they move into more grown up years. I am incredibly grateful for the time that we have had to just focus on our relationships, but it also has come with a huge sense of being ungrounded and unbalanced. Where do I belong? How do I fit in? Who am I?

Had I kept better focus on my life map I’m sure I would be in a different place (which is true for most of us I’m sure. Hindsight and all that). But I’m so grateful that I’ve had the chance to discover that I can rely on myself. This time has been precious in that it’s brought me back into contact with that tough little girl who just went out and did things. A little girl who danced to her own music and didn’t really care so much what other people thought.

So, that meditation was pretty powerful to me. I’ve reflected on it over and over again. I’ve realized I’m still that same girl, just somehow for a few years I convinced myself I was not. Huge mistake. Because then I forgot how to be brave and strong and have fun and laugh and be a friend.

Last week I was in the kitchen doing my usual morning rush of getting breakfasts and lunches ready for the kids to go off to school. I looked up and thought something was going to fall through our kitchen window. There was a huge movement and quickly I realized that at our little bird feeder in the yard (the same one that Paddington Bear sometimes comes by and night feeds on) there was a heron standing and staring through the window at us.

Being cool and calm like I am I freaked out and yelled – “OMG, it’s my heron. Look! Kids! Quick! Get the camera.” And while showing off my coolness I completely freaked out the heron who turned and ran and instead of being able to take off and get away from us ended up running right into our fence. Which of course caused much more excitement both inside and outside the house. We were pretty much mirror images of each other – one freaking out outside and the other from inside.

Poor guy finally got off and in the air. He flew quite a long ways away before doing one more fly by to kind of “give me the bird” and then he was gone.

We do have our little pond in the back yard, but he wasn’t really near it at all and actually was on the other side of the fence from it. I was wondering if there was any meaning to this sudden showing up of my friend-bird whom I had not seen since before Christmas – so I did a little searching online.

Here’s what I found according to  www.spirit-animals.com:

If Heron has come wading across your path;

It is time to look deeper into aspects of your life that will bring out innate wisdom and show you how to become self-reliant. Are you grounding yourself regularly? Heron teaches that grounding yourself in the earth and your spiritual beliefs will help you discover emotional insights more clearly and more quickly.

Alternatively he could be teaching you how how to become comfortable in uncertain situations and to be watchful of opportunities to arise so that you can quickly grasp them and move on.

~~~

Now, it’s interesting because I have been working really hard on grounding myself. I felt more grounded being home over Christmas than I’ve felt in ages (like since the last time we were home) and I’ve been making a really conscious effort to work on staying grounded and centered.

The second half of the information really gave me a chuckle however: “Alternatively he could be teaching you how how to become comfortable in uncertain situations and to be watchful of opportunities to arise so that you can quickly grasp them and move on.”

“Comfortable in uncertain situations”. I would have to say that both the heron and I were not comfortable in our uncertain situation of coming face to face. Neither of us was particularily elegant or graceful. Given the option of fight or flight we both seemed quite comfortable with flight (or freak out and trip and fall all over yourself while trying to make an escape).

Either way, I felt quite honoured and happy that my heron friend had made his way to our place to say hello. It was kinda cool.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/charlottesville

Yesterday was my birthday and to celebrate we drove to Charlottesville to go to Whole Foods. That’s right, 2+ hours each way just to shop at Whole Foods. Although we did decide to also go out for lunch (Indian – yummy), have gelato (kids only, it was cold!), and stop at Monticello so Jacob could get his favorite root beer.

I have always likened Whole Foods to skipping through a Disney movie complete with birds and animals singing along. Yesterday was no exception. Aside from all the fun, delicious and healthy things you can buy at Whole Foods what really draws me to the store is the “feel”. It’s just a happy place to be. The people who work there are always so upbeat and seem like they really enjoy being at work. Yesterday was no exception.

I spent some time in the cosmetics aisle because I need to change the face cream I’m using. There are tons of choices and I was spending some time checking them all out trying to figure out what I wanted. While the kids were waiting they started looking at the aromatherapy that was at the end of the same aisle I was in. I heard Jacob ask the lady working there for some help/advice and noticed her spending some time with the kids but didn’t really pay attention to what was going on. She later came over to see if I needed any help and when I explained what I was looking for she told me that she has tried lots of different creams from there and showed me the two brands that she prefers. I was holding a 44$ tube in my hand and ended up with a 14$ bottle. As I was reaching for one of the ones she suggested she told me to hang on and ran around the corner. She came back with some hand cream and wrote on it that it was a sample/gift and told me to try it – that I would love it. I thanked her and we carried on our way.

We wandered around a bit more and ended up beside the case of reading glasses. I said that they were the same kind that I had ordered on Amazon that had come broken. He asked what I was going to do about that and I said since I had to pay for shipping to send them back probably nothing. It was just casual conversation and we were moving along when a lady working there popped out from behind where we were standing and said she didn’t mean to eavesdrop but wanted to know what had happened with my glasses. I was kind of embarrassed and explained what had happened (they had been screwed too tight at the manufacturer and had come with a crack on them) but that they were from Amazon and I kind of shrugged. She said “oh no, shopping should always be a pleasant thing. You pick another pair of glasses here and I’ll give them to you.” Then she started going through glasses and holding out ones for me to try on. I found a pair I loved and she wrote on them that they were a gift. I thanked her and said it was actually my birthday and what a nice present. She wished me a happy birthday and we moved on.

After we had paid we were sitting having a bite to eat and some tea/coffee when I realized I’d forgotten to buy olive oil. Jenna and I went back through the store and the first lady (from the face cream) was set up in an aisle handing out salsa and chip samples. Jenna asked her for a sample and as she handed it to Jenna she said to me “you have the best behaved kids I’ve seen in a long time.” It made my heart smile and I said “thank you”. She looked me right in the eye and said “no, thank you“. Which was one of the nicest birthday gifts I could have ever received. It made me so happy and so proud of my kids and the family we work so hard on.

Every shopping experience should be this enjoyable. It was not about the free stuff I was given (although that was so appreciated), but I left that store feeling happy and loved and filled with joy.

Well done Whole Foods!

Tomorrow I turn 43. It does not seem so long ago that I could not imagine even being as old as 20, and here I have more than doubled that.

So far the 40s have been a huge deal for me.

At 40 I learned some humility and to re-evaluate what is really important. We were living in EG and my friends there who were turning 40 had birthday parties on yachts, trips to Europe or other over the top extravagant affairs. The day before I turned 40 my husband lost his job and we were put into an immediate urgent situation of figuring out our future. I spent a lot of that year reflecting on what was important and how to move towards living a life that shows what I feel is important.

41 made me realize that there were changes I wanted to make in my life both inside and outside. I spent the majority of this year driving to the chiropractor trying to fix the fact that my poor body was in a lot of pain and needed some love. I don’t think my spirit was in any better shape. I spent as much time healing and nurturing it.

42 my birthday was spent at Kripalu, which is a wonderful place for me to get in touch with who I am and what I want. My official mantra was “be the change you want to see in the world”. I never mentioned this to anyone, I just tried my best every day to live in a way that I could look myself in the mirror at the end of the day and know that I had been the best “me” that I could be. What I said in public was that 42 was the year I was going to spend in yoga pants – I accomplished that quite well if I do say so myself.

43 starts tomorrow, and while I will still be working on my other past goals. I have a new one I want to introduce for this year. It is both simple and extremely difficult. In my 43rd year I want to learn how to do this pose:

http://www.athleta.net/2012/10/31/embrace-natarajasana-dancer-pose/

It’s called Lord of the Dance Pose. First off, I think it’s a beautiful pose, but there are other reasons for me wanting to do this. I have never been overly flexible, but I have spent so much energy these past couple of years healing my body (and my soul) that I’d really like to see where I can go with it. I have been studying Ayurveda since last spring and yoga is the sister science to Ayurveda so they compliment each other very nicely. It makes me feel relaxed and centered, strong and peaceful. I’m still sore and have so much tension stored in my hips. Being able to do this pose will mean that I have worked through all those hip issues, that I can stand tall and strong and grounded.

The Lord of the Dance Pose will allow me to a) free my hips, b) open my heart, c) breathe in balance and d) find my focus. Which I guess kind of makes it a four for one deal.

So, there’s my intention for 43. Lord of the Dance Pose. As a bonus, learning to do it will remind me that I used to be (and will be again) a fiercely strong chick (who can justify another year in yoga pants)!

As a part of learning this pose I have chosen a theme song for the year. I think the song (and movie it comes from) deserves it’s own post at some time, but I chose the song “Let it Go” from the movie Frozen.

“Let It Go”

watch the video:

http://video.disney.com/watch/disney-s-frozen-let-it-go-sequence-performed-by-idina-menzel-4ecd3e729706a16e5090f1de

I hum it to myself while I am holding poses – it’s all about learning to let it go!

One of the very liberating things about realizing that everyone around me knows that I am flawed and that I’m not fooling anyone about that is that it gives me the freedom to be the person that I am supposed to be. Just look at how Elsa changes during her song. It’s easy to see how her coming to that same realization empowers her and changes her into a wonderful and strong woman.

~namaste~