2015 Is Your Year To Shine!

by Gia Dalton DOM AP Dipl. Ac

Are you torn between being who you are, and who people think you should be? Well tell them to put on their Sunglasses as it is about to get real bright. 2015 is your year to Shine!!!

If you feel the need to conform in order to be accepted and loved, and as a result, walk around dimly lit, if at all, the good news is that is about to change.

2015 is a year of expansion and growth. You have co-created the life you are living. If you are feeling, unfilled and unhappy, you can change that by adopting a few new strategies to get you there.

Half of your life may be based on truths, and the other, resentfully engaged in acts of duty and illusion. What part of who you present to the world is authentically you? What aspects would you like to expand upon? What have you been hiding behind? How would you like to shine your light?

Are your likes and dislikes your own or inherited? Embracing individual preferences is something that leads to greater self-love, acceptance and happiness. Much of what we own, may have adopted due to necessity, guilt or even shame. They may not be our personal preferences. This leads to a disconnect from self and unhappiness.

There comes a time when we become tired of limiting belief systems which hold us back from becoming who we were meant to be. We feel a disconnection. At that point we begin the process of untangling ourselves from the untruths, so that we can emerge gloriously, renewed, and free.

Fear of judgment, our family histories, and life experiences sit on our shoulders. We carry them like a monkey on our back. In reality everything we experience are actually catalysts for change. They do not define us. They are envoys taking us from one place to another. Calling us back to who we were before all the adding and subtracting of life.

http://omtimes.com/2014/12/2015-year-shine/

Thank you for all your support in 2014! 

15 Trends In Yoga & Meditation To Try In 2015

The new year is a fine time to try new things — even in the realm of yoga. If you want to enhance your usual practice or invite more spirituality into your life, here are 15 things to try that you may not have before.

1. Tantra

You may associate Tantra with Sting's notorious (and probably exaggerated) marathon sex sessions, but the goals of Tantra and intercourse are actually quite different. While it can still be sexy in practice, Tantra's main focus is to cultivate a connection with the divine by consciously channeling our sexual potency. Earth-shattering orgasms are just a bonus.

It is believed by both Tantric and Taoist study that our sexual energy is the most powerful source of energy in existence. Byharnessing this power, we may have the ability to clear blockages within our body and psyche, potentially ridding ourselves of disease and anguish. And though the form has been practiced for centuries, it's becoming more of a buzzword in yoga circles among practitioners, with myriad workshop offerings around the world, and renowned teachers like Keith Mitchelladvocating its benefits.

2. AcroYoga

A true exercise in trust, AcroYoga is more about letting go of inhibitions than it is circus acrobatics. More yogis everywhere are experimenting with this form of "divine play," building trust between strangers and partners alike.

Until recently, yoga was traditionally a solo practice of self-study — just you and your mat. But AcroYoga goes deeper, encouraging participants to embrace vulnerability and curiosity, with emphasis on having complete faith in another person to support their body. This form of "therapeutic flying" uses the force of gravity and bodyweight to enhance the stretching and strengthening of many familiar yoga poses. Each partner takes on the role of either "flyer" or "base." It's also feasible for all shapes and sizes of yogis.

3. Live Music Yoga

Whether it's a live DJ like MC Yogi spinning Beastie Boys tracks, or traditional Sanskrit mantras harmonized with the Rabab and harmonium, live music can help deepen your practice. Many studios now incorporate live music, DJs and, of course, Kirtan into their regular schedule rotation, offering a more spiritually uplifting experience for students.

4. Hot Barre Yoga

A hot topic last year, barre classes were a were a hit with those tired of yoga — now, Hot Barre Yoga classes are offered at many studios across the country. It's a combination of hot yoga with ballet, Pilates, and weight and interval training — with room temperatures averaging around 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Yoga Pole Dancing

Women everywhere have rewritten their beliefs about pole dancing, as it becomes a more widely acceptable, and even empowering form of intense exercise. Yoga Pole focuses on teaching inversions like headstands, handstands and forearm stands by using the pole to help practitioners hold steady.

While providing support and stability, the pole also allows students to enter deeper, challenging poses with more ease and less fear. According to Yoga Pole Studio in Brooklyn, "Yoga Pole does not teach you how to strip. There is no spinning in this class, no sashaying. No heels. You don't pant maniacally so much as you breathe, deeply. During class, you don't realize just how much your muscles are working until you wake up the next day and feel that your body has changed."

6. Kids Yoga

Children can benefit from a regular yoga practice, and even teachers will agree. Regular yoga and mindfulness practices can help children succeed not just in school, but also later in life. Many studios and schools now offer yoga programs to children, but if you're interested and you don't have access to a program, here's a great sequence you can do with your young yogi right at home.

7. Corporate/Office Yoga

Many large corporations use wellness programs like yoga and meditation in the workplace, and studies are showing that they really work! We're all aware of the dangers of our sedentary lifestyle. Whether your company offers a wellness program or not, there are still plenty of exercises you can do right at your desk, for better posture and sustaining energy. Taking a break from the grind will help you return to your work with less stress and more productivity.

8. Restorative Yoga

With self-care on the rise, restorative yoga offers a therapeutic approach to asana, minus the rigorous practice of Vinyasa. Restorative yoga invites us to stay in restful poses longer, by using props like blankets, blocks and eye pillows. When we allow ourselves to completely relax, let go and invite in healing, total restoration of our bodies on a cellular level can take place.

While it may seem like you're lying around doing nothing, something is happening deep within you as you hit the reset button on your nervous system and allow yourself the opportunity for mental and physical repair. Even endurance athletes are starting to use restorative yoga as a means of recovery.

9. Underwater Yoga Diving

If you ever have the opportunity to travel somewhere exotic like Belize, the Great Barrier Reef or Bali, you're probably keen on giving scuba diving a try. Underwater yoga diving gives the feeling of weightlessness in Lotus and Savasana a whole new depth of meaning.

10. Meditation Apps

Technology might be the source of many of our distractions, but meditation apps like Headspace make it easy to cultivate a daily meditation practice. There's a revolution happening in terms of ways to live more mindfully, and it's no secret that adaily meditation practice is highly beneficial to our overall health and mental well-being.

11. Reiki

Reiki was developed in the Japanese Buddhist tradition in the early 20th century as an energy healing modality. The Reiki practitioner acts as a conduit for universal energy, to rebalance and clear blockages in the chakras, or energy centers of the body.

Now, more certification programs are becoming available for practitioner and master-level status. Many Western healers like acupuncturists also offer hands-on Reiki treatment to their patients as part of their therapy. Reiki circles also serve as an opportunity for practitioners to come together as a community, and offer healing to participants or distance healing to those in need.

12. Full Moon/Women's Circles

Full moon and women's circles can provide participants with a safe haven, so they can be truly heard as they bring forth their highest self, surrounded by a group of empowering individuals. Under the powerful energy of a full moon, we can use its energy to manifest our intentions to work for our greatest good. Women who come together in a group can feel a strong sense of camaraderie and trust that they might not get from other relationships. While full moon and women's circles are typically for, well, women, they can be co-ed, too.

13. Sound Healing

Many yogis are discovering the life-changing benefits of sound healing. Sound vibrations can have profound, lasting effects on our psyche. Bowls made of crystal or brass are placed next to each other and played by circling the outside rim, giving off a vibration. Sound healing workshops can be offered at yoga studios, and you'll probably notice your teacher playing the bowl at the end of class.

14. Temazcal Sweat Lodge

These can be hard to come by, but if you have the chance to attend a traditional Mayan sweat lodge, you must not pass it up! Outside of retreat destinations like Tulum or Nosara, most of these are typically word-of-mouth, and can take place anywhere from the desert in Arizona, to a community park in the Bronx.

Safely led by a Shaman, a Temazcal sweat lodge is a highly spiritual purification ceremony. But it is not for the faint of heart. Seated crosslegged on the dirt floor of a small, pitch-dark hut with a dozen other people for two hours can be claustrophobic for some. There's also the blazing fire pit that's filled with scalding hot stones, dusted with aromatic Copal smudge — to help you purge your inner demons, of course. Aho!

15. Ayahuasca Ceremonies

From Marie Claire to The New York Times, it is well documented that Ayahuasca ceremonies are becoming increasingly popular. But you no longer have to travel to the Peruvian Amazon to partake — New York and Los Angeles are known hubs for underground Ayahuasca ceremonies. A typical ceremony involves drinking a hallucinatory plant/vine tea blend under the guidance of a respected Shaman, for a long night spent in deep connection to a higher intelligence and a better understanding of one's true self. Ayahuasca is indigenous to the Amazon and is legal there, where retreats and ceremonies are held and authorized, but not in the U.S., where the scene is still quite secretive.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16713/15-trends-in-yoga-meditation-to-try-in-2015.html?utm_campaign=recommendation&utm_medium=popular&utm_source=home

11 Natural Tips To Prevent & Recover From Hangovers

With New Year's Eve at our doorstep, and the obligatory celebrations of another year, it's certain that January 1 will find many readers suffering from headaches, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. In short, they have a hangover, or veisalgia.

It's obvious that the perfect hangover therapy is to not drink at all or to excess, and many will successfully choose this path. For the rest, a short of summary of what causes hangovers, plus what may be used to prevent and treat the symptoms is timely.

4 Potential Causes Of A Hangover

1. Dehydration

This results from the diuretic effect of alcohol and may lead to headaches.

2. Acetaldehyde buildup

The liver breaks down alcohol into this product, which is many fold more toxic. Antioxidants and liver enzyme pathways try to break this down to harmless products. There is genetic variation in this pathway, and about 25% of people are resistant to hangovers.

3. Congeners

These ingredients found in liquors, such as tannins, aggravate hangovers and are found mainly in darker liquors like whiskey and brandy. Vodka is nearly free of them.

4. Immune system activation

Multiple immune products are released by alcohol, which may cause achiness.

Strategies To "Pre-Tox" Before New Year's

1. Vitamins

Vitamins Vitamin C, thiamine (vitamin B1), vitamin E and selenium are often depleted alcohol consumption, and raising levels of these factors may be helpful.

2. Garlic

A chemical that neutralizes acetaldehyde, s-allyl-cysteine, is found in garlic.

3. N-acetylcysteine (NAC)

This amino acid helps to increase the master antioxidant glutathione, which is involved in alcohol metabolism.

4. Magnesium

Often depleted by alcohol use, magnesium-rich foods and supplements may help you avoid headaches.

5. Milk Thistle

Milk thistle contains sylmarin, used for liver health and to aid excretion of toxins. Sylmarin is a powerful antioxidant.

6. Hydration

Drink as much water as the amount of alcohol you plan to drink.

Strategies To "Detox" Your Hangover

If the preparation and self-control fail to prevent a hangover, there are some things to try the morning after.

1. Ginger

Soak a piece of ginger in hot water and drink to help nausea and dizziness

2. Red ginseng

In a study published earlier this year, subjects who drank alcohol along with red ginseng had lower blood levels and fewer symptoms of alcohol toxicity.

3. Prickly pear extract

Long felt to help with inflammation, studies in volunteers showed fewer symptoms and lower inflammatory markers.

4. IV therapy

Although there are no scientific studies, clinics offering IV infusions of saline with vitamin supplements report a resolution of symptoms.

5. If you can move, sweat.

A burst of exercise may help shed some toxins built up from a New Year's shindig.

The challenge of managing alcohol intake is not new. Two thousand years ago Pliny the Elder recommended fried canary and raw owl eggs for hangovers. An understanding of alcohol's metabolism has led to some progress since Pliny's day but no doubt many will be sick January 1. Frank Sinatra was quoted as saying, "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the Bible says love your enemy." I say if you can't avoid it, at least go into battle against your enemy prepared to win.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16777/11-natural-tips-to-prevent-recover-from-hangovers.html

How To Use A Sacred Mantra To Reflect On The Year

Before looking ahead to the new year, I will honor this past year in a beautiful way by approaching the year's end the same way I approach the day's end: with a reflection activity.

In my book The Practice, I describe reflection like this, "Reflection is our final exercise of the day. This is when we scan our day and 'officially' let go of everything that happened in the day — all the ups and downs — so that we can wake up the next morning in the new day without attachments or regrets over what happened the day before. Without yesterday's worries and stresses weighing us down, we can begin a new day with a peaceful mind and heart."

So let's approach the year's end as if it were the end of a very long day and settle in for a few moments to review our past year and make a conscious choice to release our experiences — the good, the bad and the neutral.

Here are seven steps to integrate the lessons we've learned, so that we can move forward in 2015 with greater wisdom and deeper peace.

1. Sit with yourself in silence as you mentally review the past year.

Find some time in the day when you will not be disturbed, perhaps 15 to 20 minutes, and go to your meditation space or other quiet place. Get comfortable and take a few deep breaths. The cross-legged posture you typically use for meditation is probably best. Close your eyes.

Now, bring to mind those things that brought you fulfillment and good health in 2014. Without judging yourself, think about things that may have interfered with your moving forward in life, or affected your overall well-being. These are your lessons learned. Be confident in knowing that you did the best you could at the time, in every single circumstance. The lessons learned remain with you, providing you with a solid foundation from which to approach similar experiences in the future.

This thoughtful activity will give you insight on what you want to do more of, as well as what you wish to limit or eliminate in 2015.

2. Turn to your Sacred Mantra for support.

A Sacred Mantra is a word, phrase, verse, or prayer, with a long history of use that is hallowed or considered holy by the tradition or culture from which it originated.

Choose one that has personal meaning to you for your use this year — and all throughout your life! There are many wonderful sources of sacred phrases to choose from, including spiritual/religious books and websites. Your Sacred Mantra intercepts negative, harmful thoughts and brings you back to the present moment where you have a choice.

You will find yourself using your Sacred Mantra any time you wish to be in the present moment, which will help you to follow through on the promises you make to yourself. One of my favorite Sacred Mantras is, "Be still and know that I am God."

3. Change up your resolutions.

Avoid falling back on resolutions you have made in prior years. If there is something you want to accomplish in 2015 but have not followed through on in years passed, maybe that particular change is just not a priority for you, or it is not resonating with you.

Be gentle with yourself by choosing another path toward your goal. Repeat your Sacred Mantra a few times to calm your mind, and then brainstorm variations of your old resolutions to discover new, meaningful commitments you wish to make.

4. Identify the aspect of yourself you wish to strengthen: mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual.

Once you've identified what you'd like to work on, choose a resolution that aligns with that aspect. You may even wish to choose more than one aspect upon which to make a resolution.

Quite often, making a change in one area will benefit other areas of your life. You can further strengthen your intentions by writing your Sacred Mantra in your journal, connecting you to your intentions for each resolution you make.

5. When making your resolutions, get really specific about what you will do to make the change.

Create a list of specific activities or steps you will take each day to carry you along toward your new destination.

Write these activities/steps down in your journal or notebook. Remember, it is all about the journey, so be sure you have a clear map to refer back to. You can decorate these "resolution" pages by writing your Sacred Mantra in cheerful colors to bring "light" to your intentions.

6. Make mini resolutions.

Think of where you want to be a year from now and then identify monthly steps you can take toward that goal. Write these steps down in your journal or notebook and then reaffirm your resolution on the first day of each new month.

Even if you have not followed through the previous month, you will still have many more opportunities to get back on track and move forward. If you are feeling a bit discouraged, remember your Sacred Mantra is always a steady source of support, love, and acceptance.

7. Have faith in your ability to make positive changes.

Avoid self-defeating thoughts like, "I'm going to fail again," or "This is probably not going to stick." When you find your mind going down that path, repeat your Sacred Mantra to yourself, bringing your mind back to the moment and to the positive intentions in your heart. Your Sacred Mantra connects you to your source of strength, courage, peace, and love. At that source, you will know deeply that you can do anything you desire.

Once you've completed these seven steps, take a few more deep breaths and until you are ready to open your eyes. Then, if you wish, you can say the following affirmation or even write one of your own if you're feeling creative:

"This year is now over. I choose to live in the present moment. I am thankful for having been given this year and the blessings it has held. I take comfort in now releasing any challenges or successes I experienced this past year. I will spend this last day of this year with the peace and knowledge that January 1st. is a new beginning, and I am always working toward the person I wish to be."

And there you are — that's it. Simply spending some time sitting with yourself is a beautiful way to honor the year you just spent on this earth.

Photo Credit: Stocksy

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16716/how-to-use-a-sacred-mantra-to-reflect-on-the-year.html

The Weirdest New Year’s Eve Traditions From Around The World

ARGENTINA:

Wear brand-new pink underwear to attract love.

Flickr: helga

Worst-case scenario, you’re wearing nice undies :)

At exactly 12:00, step forward with your right foot to start the year off with…YOUR RIGHT FOOT!

Flickr: mr-scratch

BRAZIL:

Wear white to scare away bad spirits.

BuzzFeed

Jump 7 waves for good luck.

Flickr: simmogl

One for each day of the week.

Give some gifts to Goddess Lemanja.

Flickr: clarissapacheco

She’s the goddess of water, and she loves gifts, especially flowers. So throw some into the ocean — if they come back, it means she didn’t accept them. Don’t worry, you can try again next New Year’s Eve.

BRITAIN:

Watch Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, even though it’s awful and everyone hates it.

CHILE:

Eat a spoonful of lentils at midnight for a year filled with work and money.

Flickr: vik407

And don’t complain if you hate lentils!!!

Sweep your house inside out to remove bad energy.

Flickr: brandoncripps

COLOMBIA:

Walk around your block with an empty suitcase for a year full of travel!

Flickr: forsytht

SCOTLAND:

Immediately after the bells, the first-footing begins, which means being the first person across a friend’s or neighbor’s threshold.

Flickr: libraryrachel

The first-foot usually brings several gifts, including perhaps a coin, bread, salt, coal, or a whisky, which respectively represent financial prosperity, food, flavor, warmth, and good cheer.

SPAIN:

You must eat a grape with each bell strike at midnight for prosperity.

Flickr: jauladeardilla

It’s harder than you’d think to get all 12 done in time.

NEW ZEALAND:

Bang pots and pans as loud as you can.

Flickr: paulfagan

RUSSIA

Write down a wish on a piece of paper, burn it, throw it into a champagne glass, and drink it before 12:01.

nito100/nito100

Gross but fun!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/conzpreti/the-weirdest-new-years-eve-traditions-from-around-the-world?bfpi#.ejv9j0zyN