Category: Lifestyle

Be. Here. Now.

by Jheni, posted in Lifestyle, Meditation, Self-Discovery, Yoga

My last week’s blog post was about how life seems to move at the speed of light. As promised, this blog post is an elaboration of my statement, “When we get in the mode of constantly DOING, we forget to live our lives in the present moment.”

Why is it so hard for us to live in the present? Why do we have such a difficult time just BEING instead of DOING? I believe part of the reason is due to our desire for control.

“There are only two days in a year that nothing can be done.
One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow,
so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.”
Dalai Lama

Even for those “two days” that we can not control, we spend so much time trying to fix things that have already happened (yesterday) and control the future outcome (tomorrow). This creates a sense of constant movement both physically and mentally.

“Even if we are able to physically stop moving, our minds are
constantly thinking, problem-solving, organizing, worrying,
rationalizing, irrationalizing, regretting and dwelling.”
Excerpt from my book, Be Still: The Power of Biblical Meditation

Each week, I teach several styles of yoga classes (group and private classes), ranging from physically challenging to restorative and passive, longer-holds. Can you guess which one has a bigger attendance? (If you guessed the more physically challenging yoga class, you are correct!) As human beings, we’re drawn to things that create more imbalance within ourselves. The more driven you are, the more you will be drawn to activities that keep you in constant motion. When was the last time you stopped and experienced the present? When was the last time you consciously stopped your mind from regretting the past or worrying about the future?

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”
Luke 12:25

According to Luke 12:25, we can not add more hours to our lives by worrying. In fact, worrying is robbing us of our time, energy, joy, and even our health. So if worrying robs our lives (potentially shortening it), then perhaps the opposite is true: Not worrying (and BEING present) could extend our lives!

As a Yoga and Meditation Teacher, I have been trained to teach others how to be present. One of the most rewarding moments for me is when a student of mine experiences a self-transformation through becoming still. One of the practices that I teach my students is counting their breaths. It may sound funny, but I invite you to give it a shot with the following recorded practice (this one is pretty short) which is one of many techniques I have recorded for my book:


Next time you find your mind regretting or worrying, make a conscious decision to stop and experience the present.

Be. Here. Now.
With Gratitude,

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Life at the Speed of Light

by Jheni, posted in Lifestyle, Self-Discovery

I’ve heard many adults say, “Life just gets faster and faster as you get older.” When I was a kid, I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. I remember waiting — what seemed like forever — for my summer vacation to begin, only to start counting down the days to the first day of school (because I missed seeing most of my classmates). Those long days of summer seemed to go on and on. 

Now that I’m in my mid-40’s (45 to be exact) running my own business as a yoga & meditation teacher, fitness instructor and an author, I see more and more of what “those adults” were talking about. For example, in a single day last week, I taught 2 yoga classes, trained a client, ran errands, spent time with one of the teen girls that I mentor, drove my daughter and her friend to the mall, went to a church midweek service and spent some time on my writing afterwards. In the midst of doing one thing after another all day, I can tend to think to myself, “Where did the day go?” Life is passing by faster than the speed of light… or is it?

Growing up in Los Angeles, I was able to go to a lot of cool places. Once of my absolute favorite places in Southern California is called Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa in Corona, CA. It’s a true day spa where you pay an entrance fee and you can stay there all day relaxing by the pool, enjoying one of their add-on spa services, taking advantage of everything or doing absolutely nothing. On that particular trip to Glen Ivy, I chose to do the latter. I spent part of that day lying on one of their poolside chaise, underneath a bunch of palm trees (here are the pictures I took while lying down):

 

My view on 8/4/08
So relaxing…

I did not have anything else to do other than to just relax and feel the gentle breeze while the palm trees provided just the perfect amount of shade on this beautiful summer day in California. I remember this feeling of peace as I experienced how

TIME. STOOD. STILL.

I feel as if God allowed me to experience that day so that I can capture that moment in my heart as a constant reminder to slow down and just experience BEING as opposed to DOING.

When we get in the mode of constantly DOING, we forget to live our lives in the present moment. I encourage you to try sitting/lying still, listening to your breath, and simply be present. Perhaps this is the way we can prevent life passing by us at the speed of light.

I will elaborate on this concept of BEING PRESENT on next week’s blog!

 

With Gratitude,

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