"My Focus is Better" - Reasons People Come to the Ashram

Why do you come to Divine Art of Yoga Center ashram?

Xavier: "It's a way to offset the busy-ness during the week and pull myself together. There's the relaxation component, dealing with stress. I find that my focus is better, and I'm less distracted by the "noise" that we have in the big city. (Through yoga) my flexibility has improved, and I'm more focused on contributing to the things that make me happy."

Guided Meditation

Someone at the Ashram heard me talking about a wonderful 10-minute guided meditation on Self-Compassion and was interested in it, so I thought I'd post the link here: Self-Compassion Guided Meditation

Get ready to love and accept yourself a whole lot more - in just 10 minutes!

We all know the benefits of silent meditation: besides greater mental and physical health, we experience higher levels of consciousness and achieve self-realization. One with God, one with Spirit, I AM.

Guided meditations can be a lot of fun. From Deepak Chopra: 

Meditation can remove stress and replace it with a dose of inner peace. It’s one of the best tools we have to balance our emotions, deal with physical and psychological distress, and promote the peace of the present moment. But it can be tough to meditate without a teacher or guide. Enter guided meditations. Meditating on your own requires some effort, while guided meditations literally walk you through a meditation and help you find a calm and peaceful state—one step at a time.

Here's the link to some of his meditations - enjoy. Deepak Chopra's Guided Meditations

Calmer, With More Energy?

I didn't know what I was in for when I started practicing yoga and later, meditation. I didn't know the effect it would have on my life outside the Ashram.

I didn't know I would get calmer overall, especially in potentially stressful situations.

I didn't know I'd be able to kick caffeine fairly easily when I replaced it with morning yoga and be able to still maintain good energy throughout the day.

I didn't know I'd become more mindful of my eating choices, and be able to calm the cravings and stay out of fast food drive-thrus.

I didn't know I could sleep so soundly.

I didn't know I would become more grateful overall.

I thought I was just getting in better shape and alleviating some back and shoulder pain that wouldn't seem to go away.

Turns out, that was just the beginning.