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Beautiful Deeds Healthy Living

Happy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDkv6Mi8JrI

Saw a documentary called “Happy” and while walking away with many notes to self, this was striking:

“A 2010 Princeton University study said that the benchmark for achieving happiness is a $75,000 salary. Above that amount, people reach a plateau, after which more money has no significant impact on day-to-day contentment levels.

A Marist poll released this week contends that happiness yardstick might even be lower. According to Marist, “annual household income of $50,000 is an important tipping point in personal happiness and satisfaction with life.”

*** then the film went to say something like there being no difference in level of happiness whether the person made $75,000 or $7 million a year. The film showed a man living in the poorest squalor conditions who smiled and said he was happy… while I know of many who have 1000 times more material wealth and the best of education but not half as happy as this man living in poverty. I did think that having lots of money may be nice as that assurance of financial security will give you true freedom – freedom of not having to do something you did not want to do – sounds like a dream doesn’t it? Apparently having the choice to whatever you want does not make you happy… With lots of fortune, I then argued I would basically donate to foundations and make a world a better place – but apparently that does not necessarily make you a happier person than that poor bare footed man in the slums with little choice but to endure grueling humiliating work where he is exploited by those who take advantage of him… Still, he says he is happy.

I do know many people with more money than they can spend in a lifetime, who thinks they do not have enough… Then there’s Sting’s latest announcement that he will leave nothing to his 6 kids from his amassed fortune. Some of the headlines are:

*Why my children will not be inheriting my £180million fortune: Sting wants his sons and daughters to earn their way (and says he’s spending all his money anyway)

*Sting Is Stingy! Singer Says His Six Children Won’t Inherit Much of His Reported $300 Million Fortune

*Sting’s Children Will Not Inherit A Penny Of His $300 Million Fortune

*** and so on goes the tabloids.

I don’t know how he would spend “all his money” but maybe what he means by commitments is how he is giving away to worthy causes – one would hope.

“I told them there won’t be much money left because we are spending it! We have a lot of commitments. What comes in we spend, and there isn’t much left…I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks. They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate.”

It’s true love – he knows that money cannot buy happiness; only love can. And I might add, health, that sense of well-being (“happiness”) is a reflection of love to self and others.

Categories
Uncategorized

Full Moon by Rousseau

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“Tonight’s full moon is called a supermoon because it can appear super-sized. That’s because its orbit is slightly closer to the Earth than usual.

According to NASA, the “super” in supermoon is used just because of its appearance of being closer to us.”

Defy gravity or surrender? We can find the harmony within as we look up at the night’s sky. Evening stroll after dinner last night – so BIG. So beautiful. So blessed.

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Categories
Yoga

Magic Realism

“She was limited physically but no means spiritually…”
– Andrew Wyeth

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The above painting from MOMA is painted in a style known as “Magic Realism”… There are different styles in paintings as there are different styles in Yoga…

Restorative Yoga… What is it good for? NOT absolutely nothing – quite the contrary! Absolutely Everything!

So people might assume that my yoga practice is all about R&R. Well, actually, I love vigorous Vinyasa Flow as well as steady mindful alignment based Iyengar influenced practice; and all in between and the undefined. I love the blend and the whole – based on how you feel that day. You might say, I am an expert in none and beginner in all as expounded by Shunryu Suzuki. All yoga whatever style is beneficial but Restorative Yoga holds a special place for me – when my teacher Judith Lasater who is the co-founder of Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco, Yoga Journal, physical therapist, yoga instructor, a PhD and from what I hear, raised 3 kids while teaching full time, publishing best selling books, many other accolades I am not even privy to – when SHE, the accomplished and the wise yogini so many look up to said “there was a time in my life when the only and all yoga I did was Restorative Yoga” – it was an Ahhh-Hahhh moment. Super achievers and the most enlightened too, we all have different kind of needs at different times. Through that first hand experience she gained so much insights – and precious enlightenment she shares with us today. Our batteries need recharging and more frequently you do that, less likely you fall prey to various forms of modern disease that plagues even the most health conscious of us with good intentions.

That method of recharging our batteries – that is misunderstood. It can take various forms – yes; first thought – sleep? Movies? Wine tasting? Exercise some more to release endorphins and serotonin and feel “happy”! or too exhausted? Then…the infamous …”couch” work in front of TV or as in therapy?… all good and we deserve the slouching time too but even that fix-all meditation will lead nowhere without you “showing up” to uncover your own healing powers.

In restorative yoga, you are in yoga poses – it may not be that pretzel pose you saw on the magazine cover or the cool WOW arm balances and the inversions you are “fighting” with “burning” desires to “achieve” but it’s still yoga in a different, these days, novel kind of a way. It can almost be a serendipitous encounter … after a sweaty practice. OR it can be created methodically and with care in a therapeutic way.

We are again ready to re-engage in the “zone” with that once lost “flow” … able to relish the everyday miracles with clarity. Otherwise, everything is a fast forward and life will just zip by.

Transformation is such a big word but it does’t have to be big – small gradual shift is all it takes. To be able to see people transform before your eyes – vitality and beauty restored little by little, literally, like a battery recharing – it’s an honor – life is not all about work and play. Transformations is not about shedding that 50lbs or not aging to everyone’s amazement(though may happen); it’s a measurable unveiling of your true light and that light switch may have a dimmer – you can transform how your room looks – you have the hand on that dimmer.