Helpful things to cultivate....

“Transformation isn’t a Google download.” – Lisa Nichols Most of us want to improve our lives—laugh more, stress less, follow our bliss—but the *how* of transformation can feel overwhelming. Here are 11 practices you can start weaving into your life in helpful ways to live a deeper and more authentic you. 1. Let your imagination run wild Close your eyes and imagine your dream life. What does it look like? Where are you? What does it feel like? While sometimes we can get discouraged because what is here is different from the dream...but energy follows thought.  So think it, feel it, hold it in your awareness, trust it, connect to it...and the movement towards it will happen with more effortless effort. 2. Practice gratitude This one practice can change everything.  When we're mad, sad, or feeling discouraged, just think of three things you can be grateful for RIGHT NOW.  Sometimes this practice requires a little bit of Tapas - inner fire - but it is well worth it.  It has the power to change brain chemistry...and your whole day! 3. Pay attention By noticing what is in front of us, we enjoy ourselves more.  Start paying more attention to your daily routine. Listen to the wind, the birds chirping, the sound of your own breath.  Enjoy the smell of your freshly brewed coffee, your food, your arms.  Feel the cozy, softness of your bed, your seat and your body.  Relish the sights, smells, sounds, and feelings of your daily life. 4. Be real We all wear masks—pretending and posturing our way through dinner parties and interviews and cocktail hours. But releasing all that phoniness and asserting your authentic self will feel like a breath of fresh air. And watch out, it’s infectious: when you’re real, you’ll notice those around you get real, too. 5. Surround yourself with positive people You may have heard that you’re a product of the people with which you spend the most time. So pick the right crowd. Stick with the upbeat, optimistic people in your life; their company will nourish you. Avoid those that drain your energy, leaving you exhausted and unhappy. 6. Embrace change Change is the only constant, so it’s time to start welcoming it. Stop dreading it, avoiding it, denying it, or fearing it. Start seeing change for the possibility, fun, inspiration, and growth it can bring.  Embrace the spiral of change and transformation! 7. Trust your gut Your intuition knows what’s best for you and it will encourage you to live your right life. Your job is to honor that inner voice—you’ll be happier for it. 8. Enjoy joy What do you love to do? What makes you laugh? What makes your heart swell with happiness? Give yourself permission to do that, often. 9. Be gentle No one’s perfect, we all make mistakes. Go easy on yourself.  I say it again...go easy on yourself.  Develop your inner cheerleader, and make your mind your own best friend. 10. Get enough sleep In a culture that seems to celebrate those that pull all nighters and work until they drop, it’s sometimes hard to value rest. Sleep isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. 11. Find your own success Contrary to popular belief, success isn’t a corner office or a fat paycheck. Real success won’t just look good, it’ll feel good too. Chase your own success.

Tips for a Healthy Fall

This weekend we celebrated the autumnal equinox.  The time when the Earth's axis is turned neither towards or away from the center of the sun.  It is that ephemeral instant of time when we hang in balance, neither moving toward or away from anything.  And after that suspended second, we continue on our path towards the dark phase of the year.

As we transition, it is important to shift our diet and lifestyles to stay in harmony with these changes - to stay in our own unique point of balance for longer than that short, suspended instance.  It's easy to do if we create a little bit of mindfulness and set our systems in place.

BACKGROUND
During the fall, temperatures vary dramatically.  Here in the mountains, the days can start in the 40's and go up into the 80's.  One day it is hot, the next cool.  In Wisconsin, they just got snow...on the green grass!!  If we can say one thing about this season, it's that it is unpredictable.

In Ayurveda, this is considered Vata time - the element of air and ether.  When you think about it, this makes sense, Air is mobile, changeable, fast, cool, and dry.  If Vata takes root, we'll start to feel worried, anxious, scattered, and ungrounded.  Colds & flus also often come from Vata Season.   So, to stay balanced, it is important to incorporate stable, warm and soothing qualities into our diets and lifestyles.

Here are a few things to consider to stay in better health this season:

BREAKFAST:  Start the day with  warm whole-grains.  Congee is a preferred option.  Cook soaked grains - either brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth or other grains of your choice alone or in combination - with an abundance of water in a crock pot overnight (1 cup grain to 6 cups water).  Spice with cinnamon, fruits or nuts, and sweeten with honey or maple syrup as you wish. Enjoy an easy, grounding, wholesome morning meal. 

OIL:  Keep the skin well lubricated to balance the drying winds.  RAW seasame oil, applied liberally to the skin either 5 minutes prior to, or immediately after a shower, will do wonders to soothe both body and mind. (Avoid toasted oil or you'll end up smelling like a restaurant...a rather unpleasant experience!)

REST: Make sure you take time to nourish yourself with soothing activities - baths, books, yoga nidra/relaxation techniques or anything that brings a slower focus and enjoyment to your day will keep your system in balance.

STAY WARM:  In Chinese Medicine, they say that an ill wind (i.e. certain sicknesses) can enter through the back of the neck this time of year.  As the days start to cool off, make sure you wear layers of clothes to keep you warm and protected from the Vata Winds.  You may even consider heeding the advice of the ancient Chinese healers and wear a scarf!

HERBS:  Now is the time to add certain immune building herbs to your diet.  Astragalus and elderberry are great alleys this time of year, and both can be added to your morning Congee or taken as a tincture. Another great immune builder, though probably not as appetizing for breakfast, is garlic elixer. It has been used for centuries to ward off viruses as well as vampires and taken daily will build the immune system.  

DINNER: Warm stocks and stews made with seasonal vegetables such as squash and potatoes will help keep the earth element alive balancing out the fall season.  There is wisdom to eating locally, as what is in season is often the food that balances the ill effects of the season. Stews are warming and their long cooking times creates easy digestion.

YOGA:  Either upon waking or before going to bed, hold a few  forward folds for at least 2 minutes each.  Combine with a breath where the exhale that is twice as long as the inhale.  This will have a grounding and calming effect that soothes and calms the chaotic nature of the fall season.  Some poses to consider include seated forward fold (pashimottanasana), child's pose (balasana), standing forward fold (uttanasana), head-to-knee pose (janu sirsasana), Cobbler's pose (baddhakonasana) or any other forward folds you prefer (see below).

The Key is to stay grounded.  Incorporate these or other easy, small changes into your day, and see how these small measures of daily self-care will add up to keep you well nourished and moving through the season with health and vitality.

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Yoga Poses
Note: Below are a couple of Forward Folds for Vata Season.  Please be steady and stable in the posture, allowing it to feel nourishing and relaxing even while engaged.  Always seek the wisdom of a certified yoga instructor if the pose does not feel good in your body.  To find out more contact Jacquleyn at www.TheAlchemyofTransformation.com

Life Wisdom 1.2 - controlling the mind

I love yoga.  Yet, I don't want to tell people I'm a yoga teacher.  

Strange, I know.  It has to do with the word.  When I say "yoga", to most people it conveys an idea that has come to dominate the American understanding of the word - a group of people in a class doing crazy things with their body. That is not what I do, not because I can't but because that is not the point. The point is to become more self-realized.  To live a life more in harmony with ourselves. Knowing how to get your legs behind your head won't necessarily get you there.  But yoga will.

Patanjali's yoga Sutra states: Yoga is the control of the fluctuations of the mind field. (Sutra 1.2)

Have you ever experienced those fluctuations?  One day you are absolutely in love with a person, and the next your find them annoying. One moment you're feeling svelt, beautiful, smart and engaging and the next you're unattractive and boring.  One moment, you're competent and the next totally incapable.  One moment you want to write, dance, photograph, save orphaned children, create a beautiful garden, (insert desire here) and the next it's not even on your radar. Any of this sound familiar?

These are the fluctuations of the mind. 

Yoga helps us learn to see through these fluctuations to something deeper and more consistent.

The key to finding this is something they call  nirodhah.  We often translate it as "control", this is misleading to a culture bent on control, and kind of making a mess of it.  Just look at the some of the unexpected results from trying to control our environment, our partnerships, and our lives.

When we control things, we usually mess it up.  Either that or things start to get little funky.  Perhaps this is because when we try to control, we take a powerful, beautiful spirit of something - like a horse, mother nature, our partners or our minds - and we unconsciously suppress, cajole, deny or otherwise subtly manipulate it - trying to break it to our will into what we think it should be. But should is not the point.  Should is just a form of conditioning that is limited and limiting. 
Our minds are so much greater than we could possibly imagine.  

Perhaps all of those support groups across the world - from alcohol to codependency - are on to something.  One of the first steps in any group is to surrender our control to something greater.  Perhaps this groups work because they know that applying control from our limited, ego-based selves ends up making our lives unmanageable.  They are unmanageable because  we have tried to box in the essential beauty and powerful wildness of the thing that we wanted to connect with in the first place.  When we do that, we suffer.

Nirodhah has other translations that are a bit more helpful.  It also means mastery, coordination, channeling, integration.  We take the fluctuations and instead of breaking them, we learn to join up with them in a way as to be helpful and help us see the bigger picture.  We learn to ride the mind like a rider on a mustang, letting the horse have it's own medicine, while we simply direct it in to the place we wish to go.

With this understanding we see that through the practice of yoga we learn to harmonize and work with the tremendous power and capacity of the mind, not changing it or denying it but rather channeling it so that our whole being can be more integrated.  We work with yoga so that we can see more of our wholeness, the wholeness that is so much greater and grander than the limited perspective of the ego-driven, controlling aspect of the self.  We learn to drive from this bigger Self and let the smaller self take its appropriate place.  

Yoga then becomes about learning to work with where you are to discover who you truly are.  This is not different from who you are now, simply deeper and more nuanced...more whole.  
As a yoga teacher, this is my purpose.  Flexibility, strength and suppleness of the body is secondary. Ut is the flexibility, strength and suppleness of the mind and soul that is the primary goal.  Hopefully someday, when I say the word "yoga" this is what it will convey. 

Fear Close to Home

Dear Sisters and beautiful brothers,

Last night, I learned that a woman was violently and torturously raped a few weeks ago on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville.  She had gone to the woods…her temple… at sunset…to meditate. 

How many of us have done this?  Been inspired by the beauty of the day or needed a place to unwind and de-stress, and have hopped onto the parkway to go for a walk, hike or to sit in the beautiful heart of these mountains that surround us?  Often near dusk or even into evening.

Countless times. Hundreds if not thousands of times between all of us.  In fact, two nights ago I walked down from Shining Rock Wilderness in the dark…alone.  I stumbled upon a group of very tall, strong, quiet men, and for an instant, the message my mother so skillfully instilled in me…that I could possibly be raped and there was not a thing I could do about…came into my mind.  Just for a moment I felt fear…and then my friendly and intuitive nature bubbled forth.

As a woman, this sister's recent rape could have easily been mine.  Could have easily been any of ours.

Hearing about her horrific experience so close to home, both literally and figuratively, struck a chord living in the very depths of my soul.  It is the chord of all-encompassing, terrifying fear.  It is ancestral.  It is lifetimes old.  And, until last night, one that  I was not aware was so alive in me.

It struck so deep that I found myself not wanting to come home alone to my dark house deep in the woods, and so asked a  dear friend, who was empathic and generous enough, to spend the night so I could feel safe.  I now find myself concerned about the way I  live my life so freely, especially about my almost daily hikes in the woods - sometimes along the parkway - alone.  I wonder how I can continue to do what I like and still be safe.  The old heroic paradigm of "loving and lighting" it away feels hollow.  And mundane plans, like always bringing another girlfriend to walk,  doesn't seem like enough.

I feel constricted.  I feel less free.  It is like I was pulled from my cocoon of home and reminded that the world  is not necessarily safe to me…simply because I am a woman and, while a pretty strong one, can be overpowered by almost any man, especially one with a weapon.

Women around the world live intimately with this all-consuming fear.  It is a part of their daily nourishment.  It is often conceptual to me, an american living in relatively safety.  While these women are a part of my regular prayers,  this morning, I feel their fear in a very visceral way…it resonates physically and I find myself wanting to vomit.  

So, this energy becomes mine to deal with too…more than just in prayers.  So what do I do.  How do I live in a world with such violence and such fear? 

As much physical, emotional, and spiritual pain that this Asheville woman - who was simply meditating on the parkway - is now in, the man and the many like him, must have an equal measure of pain inside of them.  What sort of world grows a person who can become so distorted and dead inside as to have the capacity to brutally take the humanity from one of his fellow human beings… just because he could…just because she had the right parts to make it more available?  Who can hate so much to take something so intimate, so subtle, so tied to our heart and soul?  To take our sense of safety, our sense of being an equal human… all in the name of some violent, collective power struggle.

I ask, again, how do we live in such a world?

One in six women have been sexually assaulted.  When I walk into a potluck of friends, statistically several of the women in that room have had an experience like this - perhaps not so creatively horrific - but horrific none-the-less.  When I walk through a festival, there may very well be a man or two who has done such a thing, or had it done to them.  It's all around us, in the shadows.  And I am now consciously afraid of it.
 
I DO NOT want to be driven by this fear.  I DO NOT want to give up my daily walks along the parkway.  I DO NOT want to shut myself down to other people because there is a potential, and a statistic, that tells me they might hurt me in one of the deepest ways possible.  Yet, I also DO NOT want to leave myself vulnerable to the the possibility of attack either.

I hesitate tell my other sisters and brother about this recent rape on the parkway, because I DO NOT want to spread the seeds of fear.  Yet, I do so anyway, because to not share it may in a very real way put other sisters in jeopardy.

So once again, I ask, HOW do we live in such a world?

Do I ignore this shadow of our culture and say things like "I won't manifest such things, because I'm a trusting human being and so will only draw good things to me?"  This woman was in her woodland, pagan temple….meditating!  ONE IN SIX women is sexually violated!  I don't think ANY of them were asking for it or doing anything to manifest it.  You say my fear may manifest it?  Sister, this fear is collective.

Do I learn better ways to protect myself so I will live in less fear?  Perhaps I should take a self-defense class  or maybe go really extreme and buy bear mace or even another kind of self-defense weapon?   Yet, that won't breed a deep sense of safety in me…what if I forgot the mace on a walk, or shot myself or a friend…what if I'm still not strong enough.  In part, this tactic only breeds more fear.

Do I get angry.  I'm already angry. Angry that I live in a world where this happens.  Angry that I can't just go on believing that it's all "love and light" as long as I simply believe so.  Angry that my beloved home no longer feels as safe as it did 24 hours ago.  Angry that I'm afraid to be home alone.  Angry that I have to think about walking in the woods. Angry that my god/goddess allows such injustices. Angry, angry, angry.  I could let this anger build and wage a war on the men waging war on women.  Yet, this tactic simply creates more violence.

AGAIN, HOW DO WE LIVE IN THIS WORLD? 

In this moment, I really don't know.  I just know I don't like my options. 

Yet, one twinkle of hope comes to mind.  It is a quote attributed to Ghandiji…
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." 

Perhaps this is my answer.  Perhaps I need to engage my fear.  I need to feel it. I need to grieve the pain of my sisters, both now and from the past, and allow it to move through me like water from a stream that feeds the wildflowers.  I need to feel it to clear it.

I need to learn to acknowledge and embrace the hate and violence that lives in my own shadow - the subtle fear and hate of men and of women,  the violence done to others through my own ignorance, the rape I  perpetrate on this earth simply by living and taking.  I need to acknowledge it and learn to forgive it.  And then learn to live in a more conscious way.  After all - one definition of the evil is simply a lack of awareness…a lack of awareness of the sacred.  And haven't we all done that in some way, shape or form?    Perhaps by engaging my own shadow, I will make a dent in the collective shadow of our culture.

I need to acknowledge that there is a chance that I may very well be raped in my lifetime, and there is not much I can do about it except to deal with it if it comes.  I need to show up for those who have been raped, help take it out of the shame closet and allow these women (and men) to share and grieve their experience.  By doing this, I in now way mean to engage in a victim mentality. In this world of duality, where a person can do unfathomable things to another out of fear, hate and ignorance, the perpetrator/victim relationship really does exist.  It doesn't mean we have to live in victimhood, yet victimization happens.  Ask the women in Africa who are repeatedly raped in their own homes as a strategy of war.

I need to somehow engage my brothers…especially the ones who have not stepped foot onto the road of self-awareness and equality…and open my heart to them, understanding they too are victims of a twisted energy that has been perpetrated by our unbalanced culture.  I need to courageously open to both the fear and pain - no matter how it manifests and what it evokes in me - and hold in my hands the various degrees of distorted hearts and souls of my brothers, my sisters and myself.  For we need to be compassionately lead into a new understanding and relationship.  I call on the compassion of Quan Yin and the Fierceness of Sekmet to do this without recoiling…no matter how ugly.

I need to remember…remember the sacred…remember my place in the whole of things.  Remember to create the change for more peace.  I need to remember daily this prayer... "god/goddess, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change (the outer world), the courage to change the things I can (my inner world) and the wisdom to know the difference."

In this endeavor…I ask for you, my a community, to take my and each other's hand and offer your own truth.  For I am only learning how to live in this THIS VERY REAL, CHAOTIC, WORLD OF LIGHT AND DARK…the one that contains blind rage, dark violence and unparalleled injustice.   My learning is to open my heart to both those that resonate and those that don't, and engage this conversation.  I ask you to take my hand and step into the shadows with me…to help create this change.

I am by no means an expert on how to do this…nor do I ever wish to become an expert by these means..the means of violence and rape. My deepest desire is that  no-one had to.  But they do…so let's talk about it.  Let's learn from it.  Lets walk towards something more whole.

I don't exactly know where to start…perhaps simply with this…a very authentic letter from my heart letting people know about this darkness that lives closer to us that we may have previously thought.   I hope that this letter brings more awareness…which from what I hear is the thing that negates evil. 

May we learn how to live here, in both the light and the dark, together…beautifully…authentically…and perhaps even fearlessly.

With much love and hope…as well as sadness and confusion…
Your friend,
Jacquelyn

Keeping Time

Yoga International magazine came the other day, and per usual, it is filled with amazing wisdom and guidance.  The "Everday Ayurveda" section, written by a very respected friend, teacher and fellow Paryogi, Kathryn Templeton, spoke about living in harmony with the cycle of the day.

Cycles are my favorite topics - the cycle of the hour, the day, the month, and the year.  Ayurveda informs us on how to live in harmony with these cycles and suggests that for that day we: rise before 6:00 am to keep a sharp mind, eat the biggest meal at 12:00 pm to digest well, and go to sleep before 10:00 pm to rest well. While living this cycle has shown it to be true for me, there are other ancient wisdom traditions I've lived that also ring true.  They suggest that to live in harmony with ourselves and the world, we would most benefit to awaken as the sun warms the earth, which, for almost half of my year, is much later than 6:00 am.

So now what to do?  I hate conflicts.  It must be the Libra in me that wants everyone to just get along.  But really, I just want clarity on how to live well and feel good.  So, I decided to investigate further.  When IS the best time to wake up so that I feel alive, clear and vital throughout my day?

Since the conflict seems to rests with the time, let's start there.

Modern time as we understand it  - 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour,  60 seconds in a minute - is relatively new.  STANDARDIZED time is even more recent, starting about 150 years ago with the explosion of the railroads.  Everyone needed to be on the same page so that travel and shipping could run more smoothly - so 1:00 pm in Asheville, NC needed to correspond with 1:00 pm in Honesdale, PA.  Thus, began the synchronizing of clocks and creation of time zones.

But the great wisdoms for living well, both from Ayurveda and other traditions, are much older than railroads.  They date back thousands of years, and back then time was measured mostly by the position of the sun in the sky.  Mornings didn't start with an alarm clock and a cup of stimulation, but with the sunrise. It didn't end by shutting down the lights of a computer screen, but with the sunset or a certain constellation moving into the night sky.  

In Ayurveda, Vata is the air element, and air is about movement and mobility. Vata time of day corresponds to this, when the sun is moving most dramatically in the sky - sunrise and sunset.  Roughly, 6:00 am (and pm) in equatorial regions.  Living in the Northern Hemisphere, the time this happens varies with the cycle of the year.  In the summer, its around 6:00 am and 9:00 pm but in the winter its closer to 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.

I am by no means an Ayurveda expert, so I hope Katherine and others will weigh in, but I wonder about the very precise nature of the 6:00 am timeframe.  Is it really meant to be applied universally?  Perhaps it makes sense for those living on the equator, but maybe it has some flexibility for those of us farther North or South.  Yet, if my premise is wrong, and not simply based on me wanting to sleep in during the cold months, then perhaps this Ayurvedic wisdom is based on something much more subtle than the yearly rhythms of the sun?

From my limited understanding, the cycle of the day is held within the cycle of the year, therefore the time I for me to wake so to feel my best depends on the time of year and where I'm living.  This may not provide consistency through the whole of my year (which I think Ayurveda would prefer),  but it does harmonize with the yearly cycles. I like my theory, NOT because it would allow me to sleep later in the winter and watch the sunrise glow on the mountains to the West, but because it allows the various traditions to support each other.  Something my Libra brain likes.

It is simply harmony that I seek...harmony and deep understanding.  That...and feeling good too.

Thanks to Katherine and everyone at the Himalayan Institute for helping me to dig deeper.
May we all rise, eat and sleep well.

Learn more about Wellness by visiting www.TheAlchemyofTransformation.com

Ancient Wisdom 1.1

The mind...
It is usually dull, like a water buffalo or distracted like, a monkey.  In either of these states, its not especially useful!  In fact, mine can be down-right abusive.  That's when I have remind myself of the wisdom I found on a bumper sticker, "Don't believe everything you think".

Yet on occasion, I'll glimpse another state of mind - one that is clear and sharp.  It is discerning and wise.  The yogis called it one-pointed, and it is the place from which greater understanding and wisdom eventual comes.

Yoga scholars, those with more certificates than I, claim that we live in 5 states of mind: disturbed, dull, distracted, one-pointed and mastered.  Most of us fit into one of the first three state (as if that is a surprise to anyone who has sat down to meditate.)

For years, I chastised myself for not being more clear and one-pointed.  But recently, I began to understand there is no judgement in these labels.  In fact they are really powerful and helpful tools to let me know where to begin on any given day.  I need to know if my mind is disturbed, because the set of practices I do will be different than if my mind was merely distracted.  It's like if I was trying to get to Charleston, I wouldn't want my GPS to give me directions from Wisconsin if I was coming from Asheville.  They wouldn't be helpful.

It is the same with Yoga.  I'm not going to do long inhales if what I need is long exhales.  I need to be honest about where I am, so I know where to begin.   

Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 1:1 says "Now, after having done prior preparation through life and other practices, the study and practice of Yoga begins."

This is the beginning of the science of yoga.  It start with a little self honesty, some simple preparations for the mind to be more stable, and the willingness and desire to truly know thyself.   This is when the fun REALLY begins!

An Old Approach to Wellness Moves to Town

Revisiting a traditional approach to Wellness

Wellness Coach and Yoga Therapist Jacquelyn Dobrinska opens new office in South Asheville

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 1, 2012

ASHEVILLE, NC- “Each person has a unique equation that will make them feel their best.”  So says Jacquelyn Dobrinska, the Wellness Coach and owner of The Alchemy of Transformation Wellness LLC, opening a new office on Hendersonville Road near Biltmore Forest in October.

From weight loss to stress management to feeling more peace, wellness is the headline of magazines at the check out counter and the ads on the side of facebook and google.  It is also the grail for which many people search.

“Often, we don’t pay attention to our health until something goes wrong,” says Dobrinska. “Then we have to take the most invasive and expensive approaches to remedy it.  Luckily, people are waking up to the possibility that they can proactively create wellness through simple, daily choices that are less invasive and expensive. Wellness coaching helps them do that.”

Wellnesss coaching is a lot like other forms of coaching. Just as a sports coach helps shape behaviors to improve his team, a wellness coach supports a client to manage lifestyle choices that affect their health. A coach will often work with a client to set goals, provide encouragement and evaluate outcomes on nutrition, fitness, stress management, sleep, smoking, depression, anxiety, addiction and in some cases, chronic medical problems. 

Dobrinska’s approach to wellness includes what she calls the “spiral of the eight direction”, which investigate not only a client’s physical needs but his or her emotional, relational, spiritual, environmental, occupational and creative needs as well. While this approach is a blend of several modalities, a lot of the techniques come from yoga therapies.

“Before the rise of the medical profession, when a person felt out of balance  - sick, tired, stressed, overwhelmed, underwhelmed, confused or simply have poor relationships with themselves or others - they would go to their local healer for treatment,” says continues, reference her long-time teacher Rod Stryker. “In India, the healer was the local yogini or yoga teacher.  A student would be given a specific set of postures, breathing techniques, meditations, herbs and diet recommendations - almost like an equation - that returned the person to a unique point of balance.  One-on-one coaching allows me to support a client in finding this  equation – something that is harder to do in a group setting.”  

Dobrinska incorporates many other healing modalities into her practice. Clients find additional wellness support through her skills as a personal trainer, certified herbalist, and ordained minister. 

“My mission is to use my ten years in alternative healing modalities – as well as my experience living and working at one of the country’s top yoga and wellness retreat centers - to empower people in their own health,”  she says.  Moving her practice to a more centralized location in Asheville helps her do just that. 

Jacquelyn continues to teach group yoga classes and stress management to reach those who are not able to schedule one-on-one appointments. Currently she offers small classes to staff and oncology patients at Mission Hospital through the Integrative Health Department; community and professional development classes at A-B Technical College; and semi-private classes to small businesses and individuals.  She is the vice-president and co-founder of the Greater Asheville Yoga Association and continues to write for Red Moon Herbs.

Dobrinska starts her practice The Alchemy of Transformation Wellness LLC  located at 494 Hendersonville Road  Asheville, NC 28803 in October 2012. A limited number of new client appointments will be available two days a week – Tuesdays and Thursdays.

For more information, or to book an appointment, please call 828-337-2737 or check out the website at www.TheAlchemyofTransformation.com

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THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME

Many of my students and clients project an image of me that I rather like – one where I spend my days sitting on lush mountain tops with legs contorted around my head, enjoying peaceful states of blissful meditation while contemplating life's deepest and most meaningful questions, "Who am I?" and "Why are we here?".

While I like to believe there is a small grain of truth in all projections, including this one, I have to admit that a large portion of my day consist of running around (sans the leg wrapping, constant state of bliss and complete concentration). I bounce between my new office, Mission’s Integrative Health Department and Cancer Center, numerous classes in the area and various clients' homes. Like many successful women in Asheville, daily “running” has the potential to make me feel like a headless chicken and a more that a little frazzled.

Luckily, long ago I was gifted a trusted set of wheels that makes this activity a bit more spacious. No, it’s not Sylvie - my reliable, albeit boring Toyota Sedan. No, my ride is much more subtle and close-at-hand.

This ride has three wheels - the wheel of the moon, the wheel of the sun, and most importantly the wheel of the breath - and it’s a set of wheels we all share.

The wheel of the breath is the one I am most apt to call upon when I’m rushing around my day.  It is a vehicle that has been present forever, from the moment we are born to the moment we die. We come out of our mama’s womb, get a smack on the back and draw that first life-sustaining sip. It continues to circle around and around every single moment of our lives, sometimes like a hot-rod, fast with excitement and anticipation, sometimes like a cruiser, slow with awe and wonder. Then one day, hopefully in the far-off distant future, we sputter out the final exhale with no inhale on the other side - off to the next adventure.

The wheel of the breath is my closest companion and dearest beloved. Working with it skillfully has saved my life more than once – in the midst of a terrible break up, on really “bad” days when I’m confused and am not sure where to turn, when I have to speak my truth even though my voice is shaking, and even at those times when the excitement is killing me. Focusing on the evenness of my breath always has the ability to return me to a state of balance.

It is also my most powerful anchor to life. We can go as long as 40 days without food, three days without water, but only two minutes without a breath.

The Upanishads, a group of ancient texts, has a brilliant story I like to tell in classes (hopefully I'm getting it right). It’s about the senses, which in this case included the mind and the breath. The senses start fighting, as they do. This time it’s over which one is the most important. After heated discussions that go on for way too long, they decide to solve the argument by each leaving the body for a year. At the end of several years, so the story goes, they would know which one was king (or queen as the case may be). One by one they take their turns, and while there are certain challenges with each absence, including blindness, deafness, and coma, the body still lives. Finally, the breath takes its turn and within minutes the other senses begin to fade away. “Wait” they call out in unison. “Come back! You are indeed the ruler of us all.”

We cannot live without the breath, and the practice of shaping it for greater ease is an ancient practice. The Yoga Sutras, a 2000 years old text, states, “The mind can be made stable and tranquil by regulating the breath” (Sutra 1.34).

Most of the time the breath is unconscious. We breathe in and out without being aware of it. If we’re stressed, the breath will become shallow and rapid. If we’re relaxed, the breath becomes slow and long. If the mind is quiet, the breath is quiet. If the mind is agitated, the breath is agitated. The breath reflects the mind

Yet, luckily, we can take conscious control of this vehicle of breath.  Instead of the breath simply reflecting the mind, it can shape it. This is a profoundly simple and powerful piece of knowledge, and by employing it skillfully; we become the conscious drivers of our own experience. With this knowledge, on our headless chicken days, we can shift our experience to start one that feels a bit more like an expansive, hawk-flying day. 

As a wellness coach and yoga therapist, the first thing I teach clients and students is the “natural breath”, which is the tool to create this smooth, spacious ride. The "natural breath" (excerpts from Yoga Basics published by the Himalayan Institute) includes :

1.    Breathing in and out of the nostrils. This warms and moistens the air, which creates less stress on the body and therefore calms the mind.

2.    Breathing from the diaphragm. The lungs, unlike the heart, are not made of muscle fibers and for this reason they can’t breathe by themselves. We must, in fact, breathe the lungs. The choice of muscles we use and our ability to use them skillfully makes all of the difference. Using the diaphragm – the dome-shaped muscle lying below the lungs and above the organs – instead of the intercostal or thoracic muscles will create a deeper sense of ease in body and mind. When breathing from the diaphragm the lowest ribs will move in and out in all directions and the low, mid and upper belly will expands and gently fall. 

3.    Breath that is smooth. Often there are little jerks and catches in the breath that reflect tensions held largely outside our awareness. As we relax the body and simply watch the breath, these jerks and catches - as well as some of the tensions - will naturally melt away. Don’t worry about any that may remain, over time they too will begin to disappear.

4.    Breath that is even. To create stability in the mind, the inhale needs to be equal in length to the exhale. For example, if you inhale a slow, steady count of four, then you can shape the exhale to be the same, slow, steady count of four. In this way, you release the same amount that you receive.

5.    Breath that is without pause. Often, we unconsciously hold the breath, either at the top of the inhale or the bottom of the exhale. Both of these create stress on the system and can contribute to a sense of constriction in the mind and emotions. Ideally, our inhale melts into our exhale and our exhale melts into our inhale.

(An important side note for those of you who have taken a yoga class! Some teachers, as well as some parts of yoga therapy, will stress holding or suspending the breath at certain points. While this kind of conscious shaping and breath control can cultivate different energetic effects – for example relaxing or invigorating depending on where the hold is inserted – they must be employed only after developing the "natural breath" and with great awareness of an individual’s specific needs.)

 

Visualizing this smooth, even, steady, unbroken breath, it will begin to look and feel a lot like an oblong circle. The inhale comes up one side of the oval, transitions smoothly into the exhale, which moves down the other side of the oval, until it transitions smoothly into the next inhale. The breath becomes a wheel, and its character (though strangely oval) creates a smoother, more expansive ride.

We are all born with a natural breath, so why would we need to learn it? Simple. Over time postural habits, stress, emotional responses, birth and life traumas, regular dietary habits, cultural conditioning and much more will conspire to resist the natural breath in our own unique and awkward way. Part of yoga therapy is to find exactly where a client’s breath is tense, and then develop the skills to unwind it and breathe more effortlessly.

The breath is a powerful vehicle and everyone has it. So, when my mind and emotions are running away with me, when the list of to-do seems too big to be done, when the running around seems just a little too hectic, or the fight with a loved one won’t quite fall into its proper place, it is the “natural breath” that I turn to over and over again. When all else fails, I “let the inhale equal the exhale and pray for grace”.

It has been said that we only get so many breaths in a lifetime. Perhaps this is akin to a vehicle getting only so many miles. Or maybe it comes from observing nature - a hummingbird breathes up to 40 times a second and lives to the age of five, a tortoise take a very, very, slow, long breath and can live up to 190 years. Regardless of the number of breaths, I endeavor for all of them - both yours and mine - to be free and full. I hope to skillfully and authentically ride this ride, as literally, the ride of my life. 

Choosing...

It is a quiet night, deep in the dark of winter.
Grandfather sits with his grandson watching into the heart of the flames...slowly he begins to speak to the boy...

Two wolfs wage war inside of me...
One wolf is full of optimism, kindness, honesty, gratitude, humility, and acceptance.
The other is full of pessimism, envy, greed, insecurities, and fear.

The two men - one at the end of his life's journey, the other at the beginning - sit in the silence.
Finally, the young boy turns to his grandfather and asks, "which one is winning?"

Grandfather answers, "The one I feed."


The crux of our practice today is about choice.  We are made in the image of god, and therefore we were given freewill.  We were giving the ability to choose.  This is our magick.  And our awesome - and sometimes terrifying - gift.

We choose moment to moment...
   paper or plastic,
   TV or book,
   give a friendly smile or pretend I don't see them,
   brownie for breakfast or dinner,
   tell the whole truth or allow illusion,
   half-full or half-empty,
   box store or independent,
   paper cup or skip the coffee,
   cook or carry out,
   allow or control,
   step up or run away,
   Laugh or take it personally,
   and on and on and on....
  
It would be so nice if each of these small choices were simply black and white - "this is good and this is bad and I want to be good so I'll choose good." The thing is, life ain't so clearly black and white.  There is a whole lot of graydation there...various attachments and aversion competing in our heads for thone.  Will my inner perfectionist win out or my inner terrified child?

For me, chocolate is a benign example. "Well, I know the sugar makes me anxious, so I'll skip the brownie and feel so much superior to those who don't have enough discipline to eschew 'bad' foods."  But meanwhile there is another, equally loud voice saying, "Eat the brownie.  Eat the brownie!  Eat the brownie!!!!!!  Come on...eat the brownie... It's not that big of a deal...and it tastes so good.  Come on...you deserve a little treat today"

So who wins?  Which do I feed?

It's not as black and white as grandfather makes it out to be.

Do I stay in the relationship to practice loving another?  Or do I set a boundary and practice loving myself? 

Do I tell the whole truth even though it will hurt many?  Or do I let it slide and help everyone avoid pain?

Do I ignore them out of respect for the person I have to meet in 5 min, or do I stop to say hi even though I know it will make me late?

I think it's Eddie Murphy who sums up this conundrum best...When asked between plastic and paper at the grocery checkout...he freezes not knowing which is the best environmentally.  Finally he comes to a decision..."just shove it up a spotted owls ass and call it good."

We have free will.

Each of our minute, moment-to-moment decisions, create our lives.  Yet the decisions are anything but black or white.  There is no good and bad.  Simply choices that serve the path we want to walk.  

So we begin to make them more consciously.
Today I grabbed a paper cup.  My desire for convenience outweighed my desire to be environmentally responsible.  I'm still ok!  Yet, I would like my actions to better reflect my values...so tomorrow, I'll either bring a cup or skip the coffee.

Yesterday, I was feeling insecure, so ignored a friend in the grocery store.  Its okay.  Now I have a chance to love myself unconditionally and grow my self esteem.  Maybe next time, I'll feel secure enough to go say hi.

Today, I woke up and choose life.  Tomorrow I'll do the same.  There was a time in my life when I didn't.  It was a hard time, because I still had to live everyday.  It feels better to choose it.

So maybe Everything isn't a choice.  Maybe some of it is fated.   I like how Sammy Hagar sang in in the late 1980's , "I believe in fate and destination, but so much of that lies in our own hands."

When we choose - even if it is to choose something that is already fated for us - we spark an act of power.  We release resistance and empower ourselves...and that changes everything.

An act of power to choice comes from our solar plexus...from the manipura chakra - the glowing, warm, bright, yellow orb within us that is as powerful as the sun.  The deciding which choice to make?  That can come from the solar plexus, but then it's more of the ego's choice.  Ideally, we practice listening to that power greater than anything we could possibily imagine that exists within us.  Ideally, we open our minds to listen for the decision, and then call up our fire to bring that choice into manifestation.  From there, we make "good" choices - both grand and small -  moment to moment.  THAT is the practice.


Perhaps today your act of power is simply to take your vitamins.  Perhaps that is all that can be mustered.  One act of power a day is enough when that is all that can be done.  Congratulate yourself for it.

Perhaps your act of power is to sit down for 5 minutes to do the craft you love...even though there isn't enough time for it.

Perhaps your act of power is in this moment to stay calm instead of feel rushed.

Perhaps your act of power is to reach outside of yourself and into someone in need.

Perhaps your act of power is to love, even when the other didn't feel like they were loving you back.

Perhaps your act of power is kindness in the face of anger.

Perhaps your act of power iss to set a boundary even though it isn't understood by all.

Perhaps your act of power is to look on the bright side when all else seemed lost.

Perhaps your act of power is to tell your authentic truth, even though goes against the flow.

Perhaps your act of power is to take one small step toward consciousness and away from habit.

Perhaps your act of power is to remember again and again and again and again....a thousand and one times.

Congratulations.  You made a choice.  You've made dozens of them.  And each of them leads you to the life you dream.  The life that was dreamed for you before there even was a you...dreamed for you by your deepest self...whatever you decide to call it.  And over time... when the third chakra lines up with that will, you'll fed the wolf that wins.  

Happy Valentine's Day

Today we celebrate love.

Love.

Say it again...

Love.

It's a big word.

One we throw around a whole lot.

But what does it actually mean!?

Is love a feeling or a decision?
Is it everlasting or ephemeral?
Is it found outside of us or inside?
Are we spontaneously loving or do we need to cultivate it?
And what is up with  love's shadow - codependency?

The answer is YES.   Love is all of these things.

Today's practice is to feel into the layers of the heart and discover the feeling sense of love in our own experience.  The practice is to build a relationship to love...so we can better understand this big word with four letters.

Let's start with the assumption that love exists in the heart. 

Love - as well as the heart - can not be forced.  Such tactics only cause harm.  Instead we must coax the heart like a timid kitten.   We nurture and support, caress and honor.  And over time, she reveals herself to us. 

Like any good relationship, we reach out and touch at the outer edges of intimacy...building trust.  

We start with the lungs.  The lungs gently massage the subtle beauty of the heart.  As we breathe in and out, feel the edges of heart softens from the touch.  As we expand the chest out, we invite life force in.

Something surprising may happen here.  We may discover our grief. 

Believe it our not (and in the moment it is often hard to), grief may be one of the greatest gifts we are ever given. Grief is the result of a heart breaking, and when the heart breaks we know that we are alive.  We know that we are human.  And we can find - if we let it - the authentic experience of true compassion - for ourselves from ourselves.  We crack, and in the cracking we are exposed to the light...we are exposed to life.  

The thing is, we're often afraid of our grief, as we have somehow learned it is not acceptable...so we suffocate it.  The lungs store it.

If its hard to breath into the chest, then breathe deeper.  Breathe until you either shine with light or cry with beauty.  Fall into a puddle on the floor if it is called for.  Give yourself permission to FEEL!  Feel the pain and cry it out. Cry for everything you've lost.  Cry for the planet.  Cry for the rape of women.  Cry for every time you've abandoned yourself.  Cry until you are totally sick of it...and then cry some more if it is needed.  The only way through the pain is through it...so give yourself the permission and authority to get through it.  And recognize that you are cleansing your soul and lifting the heaviness  - the dark clouds - that sometimes sits on the beauty of your heart. 

When you are done crying (and since we are on a spiral path, you may cry again later) pick yourself up, surrender the grief to the earth, and move toward the next steps...the gates of the heart.

Very long ago, perhaps before you remember, you placed some very wonderful friends at the gates of your heart.  You named them guardians, and most likely, they have grown huge and fierce, which was their task.  Yet still, for you, they are your friends and are nothing to fear.  When you approach them with humility, gratitude, and the desire to love yourself - they will let you pass into the inner most chambers (yet be warned, if you plan to damage your heart, they will not let even YOU pass!)  Since these are your friends, treat them as such.  Give a word of gratitude, some imagined flowers or tasty treat, or a pat on the head - some token of kindness - for the wonderful job they do at keeping your inner most being safe. 

Now we enter.  We enter into the deep, rich cave...the magical folds... the gentle, etheric petals of the hear. 

Can you feel its pulse!?  This unique beat holds the story of your life...it carries your inner most secrets...it whispers the reason for your being?  Listen to it, not with your mind, but with your whole being. You must FEEL the heart - like a gentle breeze on your face.

Tone Aaaaahhhhh a few times and feel it yawn open the heart. All words for God have this vowel sound in it.  I wonder...is it a coincidence?

Now sense, see or imagine, the soft, warm glowing pink light of the heart...it is there even if your mind believes otherwise. The deepest folds of your heart cannot be dimmed by any thought, by any amount of grief.  The depth of your heart holds the true meaning of love for you.  And your duty in the world is to truly experience...beyond the conceptual ideas of love created by the mind.

Feel into the inner most chamber of your heart...feel into the essence that brought you into life.

Let it open and fill the whole of your chest.

If you can't seem to connect with it,  then simply allow grace. 

Grace is like oil in the engine of a car.  It keeps everything running smoothly.  Grace is like a happy accident, happening for no apparent reason.    Grace is simply being loved by love.  Grace is so much bigger than we can possibly imagine, exists all around you and within in you all at once.  So breath into your heart, and re-member grace is often the pathway to love. 

Allow grace...and your connection to love will soon follow.

Build a relationship to grace, and grace will show up.  Build a relationship to your heart, and your heart will show up.  Build a relationship to love, and love will appear. 

I don't believe we can will love, but we can learn to relate.

And as the relationship grows, nurture it like you would a new seedling.  Hold it like you would an emerging butterfly.  

As your heart unfurling its wings, you will surely remember how to fly. 

Starting a practice

And we begin...

The daily practice of...
      ...well,  of practice.

And you say....
What kind of practice!?
    Towards what end!?
      By whose authority!? 
 What IS it that we will be practicing anyway?  (I wanna know up front what you're conning me into?)

And I reply...
We are going to practice being fully ourselves.
We are going to practice authenticity.
Practice love.
Practice owning both the light and the dark.
Practice taking responsibility for ourselves.

Practice stepping into our rightful place in the order of things.
 In essence, we are going to practice being human.

I mean, after all, we are already earth and spirit, so why not human soul too?

Our bodies evolved with the elements.
Our spirits evolved with the Gods & Goddesses
Our humanness - mind, emotions, heart and soul - they've been hijacked.
By what? 
Doesn't matter.
It is not the issue.
Our very survival is the point.

So we're going to delve in...
  Drop the mask...
    And find what we've been searching for.

And we're going to be renegades in the process.
    following several paths all at once.

With the highest regard and respect to the great teachers and wisdom keepers of our time, this blog's practice is to empower ourselves in connecting to our own bodies, spirits and souls...through the authority that already exists within us.  Just as we  reclaim healthcare from the business of medicine by studying plants, herbs, breath and holistic living, we reclaim spirituality from the business of religion by studying the elements, our minds and the more subtle realms of our being.

We will re-Member our souls - our humanness - from our own internal experience.  Not from some esoteric codification of ideas that tells us what should be.  Yes, we go to the ancient texts for guidance, but we listen to our experience for growth....and we tell the truth about it.  No spiritual by-passing here.

We practice
Authenticity...
    Acceptance....
       Awareness....
Presence....
    Patience....
       Passion....

We practice...
  loving what is
  and making our mind our own best friend.

Through it, we will finally begin to fully live...
           live the life of fullness we came here to live.

Knowing pleasure and pain...
Love and hate...
Joy and sadness...
Connection and aloneness....
Certainty and doubt...
Knowing the both/and...
    and the paradox of truth.
Knowing that WE ARE ALREADY WHOLE
We are here...
And we are both human and spirit, earth and soul.

So let us begin...
One day at a time.
Truer than before...perhaps.

Let us practice the joy of living in its wholeness.
I hope you will join me.
on this extraordinary journey...of being authentically human.