Marc Daniels

myyogaon:

Ten quotes, ten guidelines, something to contemplate on, something to focus our attention during our meditation sessions, words of pure wisdom to help us throughout our daily lives. I need this and maybe you need it too.

1. What sort of love is permeated by jealousy? You are jealous because you are unaware that everything you need is inside you.

2. Do not look for happiness outside yourself. The awakened seek happiness inside. […] Read more

This is awesome

myyogaon:

Finding Yoga in Relationships - @TaraStiles & @MichaelTaylor8

I met my husband over Easter weekend.  We were at a sleep-over yoga camp.  He was a day camper; I was a sleep-over camper. I was concerned the yoga camp wouldn’t have sufficient chocolate supplies to suit my Easter and — let’s face it — my general chocolate requirements, so I brought my own.  My supply had run out and I spotted Mike across the room, holding an Easter basket full of mystery chocolates.  I wandered over to get some, and the rest is history. 

When I saw Mike for the first time, as corny as it sounds, I knew he was the guy I was going to marry. And it FREAKED me out. For those that know me, I pride myself on my independence to the point where it has become my identity at times. I didn’t want to get married, I didn’t need to get married, and that was that! 

It’s okay to have people in your life, friends would tell me, and it’s okay to have the right people in your life. I kept my independence only by accepting the wrong people in my life. Not good, I know. But when I saw Mike, I knew I had just seen my own bluff called out.  

He appeared confident, mentally and physically capable of anything, without any desire to prove anything. This person could be my equal in a relationship and possibly even have something to contribute to my growth.  Oh crap, I was in trouble, but I found it somewhat interesting enough not to push this one away. (Well, I pushed a little.)  I gave him my email address.  I blew him off for about a month.  We texted.  I was comfortable with texting.  And then we had one date for coffee and he moved in the next week.  It was only a matter of appearing to date for several months before we thought it would be appropriate to announce an engagement and marriage. When you know, you know. And all of a sudden it wasn’t scary anymore.  I didn’t have to prove my independence, because I was now around a person that felt as confident in me as I do in myself, and has the same respect for himself. A true equal. Whoa.

So it’s been about five years since we’ve met. We’ve been married for almost three. There is some navigation of a relationship that is the same with yoga that I’d like to share, because as a reformed pushing-people-away person, I’ve learned a lot, and can even admit to some growth.

1. Leave yourself open to change within your relationship.

When I first met Mike I was just getting started figuring out my voice in the world of helping people with yoga. I was working a lot but also had a lot more free time. I was blogging, creating videos, teaching a lot, and learning a lot.  Now, things have grown a ton with my work life, which is my entire life. We both have left ourselves open for change and it’s rushed in. If there is no room for change in your relationship, there will be no change, and when there is no change, things get stuck and broken.

2. Listen to yourself and each other.  

Sounds like common sense, but we often get so caught up in how we think things should be that we forget to listen to how things are and how we would like them to go. When I met Mike, he wasn’t involved in teaching yoga regularly, or communicating about health. He happens to be super-gifted at it and has been doing amazing yoga-like things from a very young age, has studied health, medicine, and everything else, and is a great voice that happens to have been missing in yoga. Now, he’s more and more involved in leading, and that’s super great. I’m more and more involved in expanding perspectives, and doing things on a global scale that is very rewarding for me.  

3. Make time for each other.  

Just like in yoga, we make space for our selves, every inhale makes space in our bodies and minds, and every exhale moves us into that space, we have to make space for our relationship otherwise there will be no relationship. My work is my life and my love and my passion. My husband not only understands this, but is super excited to be witness and a participant to changing the world. That said, it’s incredibly important to have date night, time for walks, and things like that to simply make space. We mostly talk about the projects I have going on and the work that we both are doing, because that’s what we both are excited about, but the point of the walks, is to simply make space. Without space, we get stuck, and things get broken and we look for space in other places, people, and things.  

How we are in our lives is how we are on our yoga mats. 

xo

—Tara Stiles, Yoga & Wellness Expert

Check my video with Mike, posted earlier on IFE!

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