Kundalini Yoga

I became a yogi last fall!  I found a class to do a 40 day meditation challenge.  I thought it was quite an undertaking and I did lots of self talk before I started.      The instructor Nam Jodi Kaur stressed the importance of getting up early.  It's called the ambrosial hours; the 2 1/2 hours before sunrise, also called amrit vela.  That is the hours between 3am and 6am.  This is the very quietest hours of the whole 24.  I had to psyche myself up for the early rising because those early morning hours are my best time to sleep! I didn't know what to expect but when my alarm went off at 5:30 my eyes popped open and I was ready to do Kundalini Yoga. It only took one time and then my internal alarm went off and I would wake before the alarm.  It truly changed the way I think, act and live!  After the 40 day challenge I have kept doing the sadhana everyday. I'm hooked because it feels so good!  One thing I changed.....getting up at 5:30! I start about 7am and it is still quiet this time of year.  When summer comes I will start earlier again.  It seems that everything is quieter in the winter.

I learned that when my mind is quiet I can receive answers more clearly and easily than when my mind is cluttered.  

Yoga/meditation clears the mind of clutter and allows pure light and knowledge to flow in. It takes all the old, unprocessed, negative chatter and experiences and processes them out to free your mind to greater light and knowledge.

Sacrifice But Not a Burden

My Mother is 88 years old, soon to be 89.  She is living in our home and we are glad to have her with us.  When I say glad I mean happy that we can help/give service to her.  She never wanted to be a burden to her children, but at the same time never wanted to go to a retirement center or 'old folks home'.  When she first came to stay it was last year in February.  It was a bit of an adjustment and people would say 'that is such a burden'.  I didn't look at it as a burden.  Yes, my life style changed.  I couldn't just think about me and what I wanted.  It helped me realize that I was quite selfish, with my husband gone during the week, in that my time was my own to decide what I wanted to do and when I wanted to do it.

So the thought of having my Mother with me made it so I wasn't so lonely, but it also required extra work and patience.  It was sad to see her get dementia.  It seemed to be gradual but more like all of a sudden she became this person that wasn't my Mother anymore.  At least not the Mother I used to know.  She turned into the Mother that needed me.  I always needed my Mother, but the roles have kind of reversed.  It is me telling her how to do things when for so many years, she told me how things went.

This picture was when my parents were still in good shape.  She was 84 and my Dad 91.

This one was almost a year ago.  She looks so forlorn and she experienced pain frequently.
Yes, it was a sacrifice, because I was in charge of her care.  She relies on me for almost everything.  But when I reflect on what she has done for me and that she has always been there for me, I can't see it as a burden.  'She's not heavy, she's my Mother.'  I love her sweet spirit.  I want to inherit that sweet forgiving, kind gentle personality that she has.  It is one of the ways I can see to do that.  To still learn from her.  Even though at times she seems like she has forgotten everything she ever knew, she is still teaching me how to be Christlike, loving, forgiving and patient.  I love you Mother.  Thank you for giving me, the opportunity to serve you.

Joseph Smith, The Prophet

Joseph Smith, The Prophet
This is awesome.  I love it!  Joseph Smith was a man of courage and conviction.  He listened an was taught these things by God our Eternal Father.  We are so blessed to have a living prophet that leads and guides us here on the earth today.

America in Summer

August 27 2012

I love summer and wish it wasn't turning into fall yet!  Even though it has been hot I love the warm evenings and cool mornings.  

The desert is beautiful, always something flowering and growing despite the high temperatures.  I feel so blessed to live in this country and be able to travel freely and enjoy the beauty of America. 

 One thing I am looking forward to is the election.  As we look forward to an election this fall, I am impressed by our candidate for the President of the United States of America, Mitt Romney.  Here is a link that really shows who he is.  He never hesitates as he answers the questions of the news anchor.  He is confident and committed.

http://mittromneycentral.com/2012/08/26/the-romneys-on-fox-news-sunday-a-personal-perspective/

I truly believe he would be able to rescue this country from many threats at this time.  That he is a Latter-Day Saint makes it much more appealing to me.  He is a man of integrity with good moral values and cares deeply for people and for the United States of America.

Mormon.org profile

I am trying to connect my blog with I am a Mormon.org.  It is just a way to spread the gospel.  I love the gospel and want so bad to make a difference in the lives of people who don't have the blessings of the gospel.  I don't have the grand story of some, but I like everyone in the world have a story.  Click on the 'My Faith' button to view my Mormon.org profile.

General Women's Broadcast September 2011

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/general-relief-society-meeting/2011/09/forget-me-not?lang=eng&query=forget
This is such a powerful talk for women.  It reminds us some very important things that we need to remember in every day life.  The 5 Forget Nots!

Death

What is this thing that men call death,
This quiet passing in the night?
'Tis not the end but genesis
Of better worlds and greater light.


Oh God touch though my aching heart
And calm my troubled haunting fears.
Let hope and faith transcendent, pure
Give strength and peace beyond my tears.


There is no death, but only change,
With recompense for victory won.
The gift of Him who loved all men,
The Son of God, the Holy One.


This is a poem written by President Gordon B. Hinckley in 2007 after he had lost his wife.  He later gave permission to Janice Kapp Perry to put it to music.  It is beautiful and has brought comfort to me as I have felt pain and sorrow at the recent loss of some very dear people in my life.


A cousin that I grew up with passed away the first part of this year and my Father early spring.  Both of them took up a lot of time in my mind and still I think of them and what they are doing and if they are happy and not in pain anymore.


Through the faith and knowledge I have in the gospel of Jesus Christ I know that they are well and happy.  They are busy doing the work of the Lord.  Teaching and testifying of His love and plan to know of eternal life and families.  


President Thomas S Monson is a living prophet in our day.  He testifies that "Each of our temples is an expression of our testimony that life beyond the grave is real and as certain as is our life here on earth."

In the words of Amulek "The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame."
Alma 11:43