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Man-Festing!

March 21, 2012
My biggest and most well known rule in my class is:

If you fall you must laugh.

I have these bracelets. You probably have one. They are cobalt blue and they say: What Are You Manifesting? on one side. The other, and more important, from a business standpoint-side: Manifestationyoga.com.

The inside says: Manifesting Your Life, One Laugh at a Time.

So, yea, I have these bracelets.

I ordered 400 of said bracelets for my upcoming east coast tour. (Like I’m Prince. On tour and all.)

I opened up the bag on Wednesday to put one on and nearly fainted. Not from the chemical smell of 400 rubber bands, although that was bad. Very bad.

No. Because they said: Man Festationyoga.com.

Man festation?

Am I being infested with men? WTF!!!

Where is my “I”????

It’s crucial!

Ok, so here is my confession:

I did not, in any way, shape or form, laugh when I fell.

I kicked the door in and threw the 400 bracelets across the room and ended up missing Annie Carpenter’s yoga class.

What am I going to do with 400 Man Fests? I yelled at my front door as I kicked it in.

Why couldn’t they forget the question mark or the word What or You?

No. It had to be my website address.

Of course it did.

Now, when people go to find me at Man-festation yoga.com they will most likely end up at a porn site.

I can see this is where my opportunity to laugh was. I am laughing now but I can assure you when it happened, I was not laughing.

I realized the err in my ways quite quickly and brought one of the bags to class. I have 4 bags of 400, mind you.

The theme of class this week is kindness.

I told my students the story and gave them each a bracelet to remind them of 3 things.

1.) To not take life so seriously.

2.) As a reminder to be kind and hopefully to buy the cup of coffee for the person in line behind you at the coffee shop.

3.) To Man-fest, of course.

I write about it on Facebook and all the ladies want one.

 I will get a man with it? Give me 5!

I now have 79 requests for Man-festation bracelets!

FYI: I called company and they said they would get me new ones as fast as they could. Hopefully by my flight Monday night or else it looks like I will be adding an “I” between the words Man and Fest to 400 blue bands with a black Sharpie on the plane.

Jokes aside, I see how I overreacted in the moment. 

I’m still working on it, folks. Sigh.

I got over it pretty fast, but next time, God-willing there is no next time, I won’t kick my door in, miss yoga and throw a bag of 400 smelly blue rubber bracelets down the stairs.

So, in honor of having a sense of humor, please tell me what you think Man-festing is below……

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Below are some excerpts from an amazing email I received last night from a student in one of my Man-Festing classes yesterday:

 The beautiful thing about the Universe is there are never misTAKES . . .only misGIVES.

Jen, this entire situation with the bands is it is perfect. One of the things I value most about your classes, is you truly teach people to laugh at themselves, lighten up & simply have fun . . .yet you do a beautiful job of weaving in the sacred spirit of yoga . . .you bring such a lovely balance of ying & yang energy to the table.

What is most interesting is did you notice what was letter left off the bands? “I”. You are all about the WE Jen . . .more than most people on this planet – everything you stand for & downward dog for ; ) is based on love . . .WEllness has “WE” in it . . .Illness has “I” in it . . . you are a champion for speaking with kindness to ourselves – thinking well – BEING well. So isn’t it it very interesting of all the letters that could be missing on your bands – it just “happened to be the ‘I’.

 Your bands ask “What are you manifesting?” What you manifested was 800 bands instead of 400 – that is one mother fucking powerful manifestor! What you manifested was support and unexpected gifts . . .what you manifested was a gentle reminder that what your ego perceives as imperfection is actually perfect!

Jennifer Pastiloff will be teaching at the Tadasana International Yoga & Music Festival over Earth Day weekend on the beach in Santa Monica, CA, April 20– 22. Click here to check out the festival website and purchase tickets. Enter the code Pastiloff for a $50 discount! (Please note that discount codes expire April 1).
Daily Manifestation Challenge, How To

Help! I’m Stuck! The DMC

November 12, 2011

What do you do when you feel stuck?

Seriously, what do you do when you are stuck like that guy in the picture?

You know, you feel like you are plastered to a wall and some chick in a red beret is just staring at you?

I will tell you what I do.

What? You don’t think I get stuck ever?

(Hold on while I LOL.)

Sometimes I get so stuck that I feel as if I have taught the same yoga class 678 times. At least.

Sometimes I feel so stuck that it seems my car could drive itself, it doesn’t even need me because it’s been to the same places so many times.

Sometimes I feel as if I have made the same mistakes over and over that I must be insane because only crazies keep doing the same things over and over and expecting different results, right?

Sometimes my thoughts feel very very stuck. Like Elmers. Like gum on a shoe. Like they are on a merry-go-round that ceased me merry a long time ago. They simply just go round and round.

And round.

There’s many days (fewer and father between lately) where I feel stuck. Where I feel down. Where I feel blue. Uninspired. Bored. Lazy.

You know. The gamut.

I did a scientific experiment that involved a lot of stuff, and here is what I found works best to get me unstuck and back to my Manifesting Self.

1. Laugh. I watch shows that makes me laugh (hint hint: Modern Family.) I hang out with funny people. I play with babies. I read funny books. I make dumb jokes. I sing out loud. When I laugh I feel the most “me” and it is from that space that I can move forward and get unstuck. From that place I can create. From that place I can take myself less seriously.

2. Hang out with people who inspire me. See earlier Daily Manifestation Challenge called “Who You Hanging With?” Who inspires you? Are you surrounding yourself with these people. Make a list in the comment section below. And, if you aren’t hanging with them yet, I suggest you make a date. It’s kind of a no-brainer but when you hang with people that excite and inspire you, it rubs off on you! It’s like a rope that they throw down the hole to pull you out of that ditch you are stuck in.

3. Make vision boards. They don’t even have to be proper Vision boards (like there is even a such thing as a “proper” vision board) but something where you are visualizing your desires and dreams and the things you want to manifest into your life. Visualization is key! Can you visualize yourself being unstuck? This is a profound question. If the answer is no my advice is to keep trying. Keep practicing. Repeat this mantra: I can manifest anything I put my attention on.

(Ahem. What are you putting your attention on anyway?)

4. Take a class. This weekend I am taking a class purely by chance My friend Juliet offered me a ticket to a wine and cheese class. Yes, I know. It had my name all over it. But you know what? It made me realize how much I love learning and miss being in school or taking class. Keep learning and studying always. Forever.

5. Do yoga. Or something. Anything! I am a yoga teacher, so yea, I do the yoga. But do whatever. Hike! Walk on the beach! Get connected to nature. Go watch the sun set or rise. Something that gives you a connection to something outside of yourself. Get your blood pumping and your adrenaline going. I notice I get majorly depressed when I am stagnant too long and yet the longer I am stagnant the harder it is to get motivated. Catch 22? Why, yes! But most of life is. Get used to it.

5. Do things that make you feel good.To quote my own poem, “How To Make A Life”

Let your joy be contagious and spread through

Your home, your job, your children.

Let it spread through the world

Like a virus so that when you forget it,

Every so often, you’ll catch it from someone else.

Whatever brings you joy, do it. Be it taking a bubble bath, curling in bed with a good book, cracking open a nice bottle of Cab, buying a nice smelling candle, painting, calling your friends in New Jersey, playing with your toddler, yoga. Whatever it is, just do it.

I want to coin that phrase “Just Do It” but I swear I have heard it somewhere before?

Today’s DMC is about being stuck and getting un-stuck. In the comment section below, list your experiences with being stuck. List what you do to get out or what you would like to do next time. List ideas you may have. Hey, I need them as much as you do, Dear Manifesters!

Being a creative and free spirit, it is easy to feel restless and bored. And blue. And yes, sometimes uninspired.  I am always looking for ways to keep blossoming and to keep my ideas fresh. I really don’t like feeling this a whole lot:

Keep on manifesting your life,

One laugh a time,

ManifestYogaJen