Browsing Tag

Manifestation Yoga

Gratitude, Guest Posts, Manifestation Retreats, Manifestation Workshops

Why Every Mom Should Leave Home Sometimes – The Restorative Effect Of My First Yoga Retreat

February 26, 2013

beauty-hunting-jen-logo-black1-300x88

This blog post is taken from a great site called Do You Yoga. It is only an excerpt. To read the whole thing please click here or below. Nicole Markardt was at my Kripalu retreat. I will be back there again Feb 20-22, 2015!

By Nicole Markardt.

In many respects, I have travelled down the road of tradition in my life. I am a working mother that began creating my family at a fairly young age (by today’s standards). By age 31, I had two beautiful children and a wonderful husband.

While I feel incredibly blessed, the idea of going on a weekend retreat without my family seemed like an impossible feat. That was a far-off idea born in the land of the single woman.

Since discovering, and immersing myself in my Bikram yoga practice, I’ve uncovered a deep passion that resides in me to pursue this journey within. In the last year, I have managed to find the time in my schedule to consistently practice yoga. I began to read more about this ancient spiritual and physical discipline and soon began following other yogi’s that inspire me. I’d been following Jennifer Pastiloff on facebook for quite a while. After reading her amazing essays on manifestation, I was truly inspired.

I read about her -Manifestation Yoga retreat @Kripalu Center for Yoga and Wellness and was instantly intrigued. I discussed this idea with one of my dearest friends, whom I am also incredibly inspired by. Having been to Kripalu before, she was very enthusiastic. I knew that if she and I shared in this together it would surely be memorable. At first, I felt immense guilt. My inner dialogue was full of self-doubt, “can I really leave my children and go away for the weekend?” “Is that self indulgent?” “Am I a ‘bad mother’?”

After much contemplation and I went.

Read the rest here and make sure to leave Nicole a comment!

Why-Every-Mom-Should-Leave-Home-Sometimes-The-Restorative-Effect-Of-My-First-Yoga-Retreat

Join Jen Pastiloff, the founder of The Manifest-Station, in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts in Feb of 2015 for a weekend on being human. It involves writing and some yoga. In a word: it's magical.

Join Jen Pastiloff, the founder of The Manifest-Station, in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts in Feb of 2015 for a weekend on being human. It involves writing and some yoga. In a word: it’s magical.

Beauty Hunting, Forgiveness, healing

What Forgiveness Does.

February 5, 2013
By Jen Pastiloff.
beauty-hunting-jen-logo-black
There was this woman at my retreat last weekend at Kripalu in the Massachusetts Berkshires, who, when we were doing an exercise on forgiveness, told me that she was done forgiving. Had spent her whole life forgiving and was done. She was in her seventies and her husband had died the week before. 
 
Being done. I understood that.
 
A life of forgiving someone their mistakes. A life of forgiving ourselves our own imperfections and mistakes and misgivings. I get that wanting to be done with forgiving already, the I am Godamn sick of forgiving, I want nothing to have to forgive already. I want to be free.

Continue Reading…

Guest Posts, loss, love

Tomorrow I Will Wake Up Without a Dad.

February 3, 2013

I am publishing this from the snowy Berkshires of Massachusetts where I am leading a retreat at Kripalu. (Back again Feb 20-22.)It had been one of the single most incredible moments of my life. This piece was written by Heather McKearnan who joined my retreat at the last minute, along with her mother. Heather’s father passed away just last week so she happened to be in the next town over (she lives in Santa Fe) and, in her words, “there was no option of her NOT being here”. What a gift it was to have Heather and Betsey here all weekend. Below is what Heather wrote last week. The night her father passed.

By Heather Mckearnan.

I wrote this the night my dad died. I should write and I don’t and your writing has made me want to.

Tomorrow I am going to wake up without a dad. And I will never have a dad again. It’s not that the lessons he taught me will be gone or that the ways in which he shaped me will change or lessen. But the truth is that he is gone. I will never see his face again. I will never get to hear him tell me how much he loves me. I will never get to ask his advice and I will regret all the times I told him that I didn’t ask for it. it is not that he is not in me and all around me. It is not that I will not be able to conjure his spirit or his courage when I need to make an unreasonable request of someone.

My dad is gone. He died today. He died at 2:50 pm on Wednesday January 23rd. He finally broke free of his cancer ridden body and now I imagine he is flying very fast all over tarnation, going here and there, drinking and eating and dancing and listening to the best jazz. it was torturous to watch him deteriorate. To see him lose his joie de vive. To listen to him quiet down to barely audible. To see his body turn against him.

I have been with him everyday for the last three weeks. It has been a rapid and agonizing decline of the most vivacious man that I have ever known. I have no doubt that he knows how much I loved him, and I have never doubted how much he loved me. He was never shy or stingy with his love. Even when his anger got the best of him or he was being a total asshole. He was unbelievably strong right up until the very end. He fought hard and was never ashamed. He would NEVER say that he was in pain, but rather only that he was experiencing discomfort. There has never been a more stoic man.

Today I feel relief that he is free of that weak, diseased body. I am grateful that his suffering has ended. I could not bear it any longer. My mother is graceful, awe inspiring and strong . I look forward to seeing who she blossoms into. My brother and sister are here. We are all here and my dad is gone. Or at least his body is gone. It is strange for such a huge presence to no longer be present. It is quiet. Right now, I will allow myself to believe that I have been a good daughter and that I turned out alright. My dad would say ” if you’ve got to have a daughter- she’s a pretty good one to have!”

Tomorrow, I am going to wake up without a dad.

photo by Jennifer Esperanza

photo by Jennifer Esperanza

Join Jen Pastiloff, the founder of The Manifest-Station, in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts in Feb of 2015 for a weekend on being human. It involves writing and some yoga. In a word: it's magical.

Join Jen Pastiloff, the founder of The Manifest-Station, in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts in Feb of 2015 for a weekend on being human. It involves writing and some yoga. In a word: it’s magical.

Contact Rachel Pastiloff for health coaching, weight loss, strategies, recipes, detoxes, cleanses or help getting off sugar. Click here or email rachyrachp@gmail.com.

Contact Rachel Pastiloff for health coaching, weight loss, strategies, recipes, detoxes, cleanses or help getting off sugar. Click here or email rachyrachp@gmail.com.

Jen Pastiloff is the founder of The Manifest-Station. Join her in Tuscany for her annual Manifestation Retreat. Click the Tuscan hills above. No yoga experience required. Only requirement: Just be a human being.

Jen Pastiloff is the founder of The Manifest-Station. Join her in Tuscany for her annual Manifestation Retreat. Click the Tuscan hills above. No yoga experience required. Only requirement: Just be a human being.

manifesting, Q & A Series

The Manifestation Q&A Series: The Magical Mira Kelley.

January 11, 2013

Welcome to The Manifestation Q&A Series.

I am Jennifer Pastiloff and this series is designed to introduce the world to someone I find incredible. Someone who is manifesting their dreams on a daily basis.

Someone like Mira Kelley.

Mira is a regressionist and an author whom I met when I saw the beloved Dr. Wayne Dyer speak in Atlanta last year. I’d always been scared of regression. Of the unknown, of what I didn’t understand.

After meeting her and doing this interview with her, I am no longer afraid. I am ready. I am healed.

Here’s what Dr. Wayne Dyer has to saw about the lovely Mira:

“I spent one spectacular afternoon in a hypnotic time lapse in which I was taken on a magical journey into a past life with Mira Kelley. In fact, I was so taken by this experience that I included a verbatim transcript of the entire past life regression in my latest book titled Wishes Fulfilled. This remarkable woman put me totally at ease as she skillfully guided me through deeply ingrained but long repressed memories that brought me to a new level of awareness of who I am and what path I was to take.

I can still recall vividly even the most minute of details that took place in our life changing session together, and I feel such a sense of clarity about my life path up until now, and more significantly about the direction I now feel compelled to follow. The thing that resonates so profoundly with me since our session together is that I understand not only what I have been doing and why, but what I now know I must do in the future.

This experience with Mira was truly one of the peak experiences of my life. She was so skillful and yet gentle and compassionate throughout every moment of this wondrous time I spent examining the world of the invisible. I am writing these words with profound emotion and I offer her my sincere enthusiastic endorsement. Whatever you do, don’t miss this opportunity to experience a regression with Mira.”

I met Mira in Atlanta last year and knew I wanted to get to know her better after listening what Wayne had to say and then meeting her. She is lovely and gentle and kind and I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. Please feel free to reach out to her to book a session by clicking here. What an honor this is…

Jennifer Pastiloff: What are you most proud to have manifested in your life?

Mira Kelley: I used to be a corporate attorney in a large New York City law firm. I was a good lawyer and received a certain satisfaction of serving my clients well, but my heart was aching for true fulfillment and meaning. In time I was able to release the limiting beliefs and fears that were holding me back and to allow myself to be who I truly am. I am most proud of giving myself the freedom to follow my calling to inspire people and bring light to their lives through regression.

Jennifer Pastiloff: Can you share with us what it is you do? What a past life regression is? I was very moved when you spoke of it as being more of a parallel life.

Mira Kelley: I assist people in connecting with other lives they have lived. This gives invaluable understanding of who they are, what soul connections they share with loved ones and what is their purpose. During the sessions people experience both emotional and physical healing and receive guidance from their Higher Self. Regression is a very transformative process. By suspending the input of their five senses, people are able to go within and experience other lives they have lived in very personal, real and powerful ways.

People refer to these experiences as past lives. However, my work has thought me that time is a construct that we experience only here on Earth. In reality, everything exists in this one eternal moment. Therefore, all the lives our soul creates are not past or future. They are simultaneous to the present life we have.

Jennifer Pastiloff: I got the chills when I listened to your conversation with Wayne Dyer and you spoke of your years of being a lawyer as preparing you for what you are doing now. You were simply getting ready for your Divine Purpose. I waited tables at the same restaurant for 13 years and I look back on those years as a getting-ready stage to be fully self-expressed and fully come into my bliss. Can you share with us a bit about the transition from being a lawyer to doing regressions? For many people, this type of shift is inspiring but also terrifying. Letting go of “what feels safe”……

Mira Kelley: For me it seemed very terrifying at first too. I was making an excellent living as an attorney, yet my heart was pulling me in a different direction. I was aware of my fears and beliefs around the idea of being a healer. I knew that jumping off a cliff without a parachute would not work for me. For some it might but not for me.

So rather than leave the safety of my legal career and dive into the unknown abruptly, I chose to do it step by step. I pursued my passion in every moment to the extent I could in that moment. At first these actions were small, like reading a book with regression stories. I studied with every teacher my heart directed me to. I regressed myself, every family member and every friend numerous times. I spoke about my passion with everyone I could. When I felt ready, I began seeing clients whenever I could. In every moment I was following that which felt exciting to the best of my abilities.

Simultaneously, I was working on shifting my beliefs. Our beliefs are the plan upon which we build our reality. I chose to see different possibilities for myself. I chose to believe that I could be myself and I could financially support myself by doing what I love.

Because I allowed for the expression of who I am, in what initially seemed like small ways, the energy began to build up. With time the exciting actions I took became bigger and bigger. And here I am today – having found safety in myself, rather than in a job, and loving every moment of my life.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX8Jj4yAuUY&feature=player_embedded]

 

Jennifer Pastiloff: Why were you called to Wayne Dyer? I loved that you apparently had a knowing that you must connect with him and you did. As if it was already orchestrated. It seems to me further evidence that you are, as they say, ‘walking the talk’.

A friend and I had a conversation and my friend shared that Dr. Wayne Dyer was doing a tour through Europe called “Experiencing the Miraculous.” The word “miraculous” spoke to me and in that moment I had a clear knowing that he is ready for the miracle of healing. Two years prior to this moment, I was in the audience where during a talk he gave, Dr. Dyer announced that he had just been diagnosed with leukemia. I shared this intuitive feeling with my friend. Knowing about the regressions I do, he knew that my work holds the potential for a physical healing. My friend encouraged me to reach out to Wayne Dyer.

I dismissed his suggestion. I imagined that Dr. Dyer would have many capable healers around him. And I talked myself out of the idea by saying to myself, “Why would he even want to have a session with me. After all, my official title is not even regressionist. I am an attorney.” Yet, the feeling that I need to reach out to him persisted. After a month of this dialog in my mind, I finally decided that if I am meant to be a tool in the hands of God in whatever way and to be of service to someone I should not resist that. I wrote a letter to Dr. Dyer. The relief I felt after sending the letter was tremendous. I no longer needed to have that dialog in my mind because I felt that I have done all I could possibly do. And I honestly forgot about it. A month later Dr. Dyer reached out to me and several months later, I flew out to meet with him and for us to do a regression.

Jennifer Pastiloff: I know Wayne speaks of you in his latest book (a must read!) Wishes Fulfilled, but for those who haven’ yet read it, would you share a bit about your session with him?

Mira Kelley: As with everyone, what a person experiences during a regression is very appropriate for who they are and where they are in that moment of their life. Wayne Dyer experienced a lifetime that very clearly connects with the person he is today and the teachings he shares with the world.

The session was very emotional. As tears were streaming down his face, I was crying along as well. I am very grateful to Dr. Dyer for including the full script of our session in his book Wishes Fulfilled. I want to encourage everyone to read the book and the story of another life he has lived.

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzg8zTApHCY&feature=player_embedded]

 

Jennifer Pastiloff: Having a sense of humor is one of the most important qualities a person can have in my opinion. I loved how in your recorded conversation with Wayne he was trying to ask you a question and it wasn’t very clear. You took a long pause and finally said “I know there was a question there. Ask it.” It made me smile. When was the last time you laughed at yourself?

Mira Kelley: I love your question. I like to joke how in my mind sometimes we are me, myself and I. This inner dialog is something everyone can relate to as we all do it. In my mind, we love having fun, especially when it has to do with being playful and curious, flowing through life, and allowing for miracles. And when in a situation my limitations show up, there is always a voice which loving teases me, urges me to a better way and always, always makes everything so light that I always end up laughing at myself and through that lovingly accepting myself.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What was your “aha” moment that this was what you were meant to do with your life?

Mira Kelley: I never had an “aha” moment per se as people describe it, because, honestly, I never could have imagined that my life could be what it is today. My passion for regression was always there, so you could say that my “aha” moment was when I chose to surrender and to trust myself and my life and to allow for the flow to take me.

My regression with Wayne Dyer was a life-changing event for both of us. Following my session with him, I returned back to my life as an attorney in New York City. A few days later, Dr. Dyer called and told me that we would like to include the transcript of our session in his book “Wishes Fulfilled.” I was moved beyond what words can describe. In that moment I said to myself, “Mira, Wayne Dyer believed in you. Now it is time for you to believe in yourself.”

Jennifer Pastiloff: Who has been your greatest teacher?

Mira Kelley: My greatest teacher has been my excitement.

My answer may seem unusual so allow me to explain. My excitement has brought me the greatest joy and fulfillment. But it has also allowed me to face myself, to release my limiting beliefs, and to overcome what I perceived as the greatest challenges.

In order to pursue my love for regressions, I had to overcome my belief that I cannot financially support myself doing this work. In order to be able to share the stories of my sessions and the powerful lessons of healing and transformation, I had to overcome my fear of speaking in front of people.

That which we find exciting in every moment is the recognition of our true self. Those things that call us, no matter how small or big, resonate with us because they mirror our essence. When we follow them we are always faced with more of ourselves. And if we transcend the fears that will inevitably come up, we will always find ourselves in a greater, more expanded place.

Jennifer Pastiloff: Who/what inspires you the most?

Mira Kelley: My clients inspire me. The wisdom and the transformations that take place during the sessions inspire me. My lovely nieces inspire me. Reading a good book always inspires me. Looking out the window and marveling the scenery always provokes moments of inspiration. The list is endless. The magic of life gives me that which I need in every moment. Life is abundant in inspiration.

Jennifer Pastiloff: I love how you said how important it was to not simply think of yourself as being able to be healed but rather that you are healed already. Can you share with us a bit about this?

Mira Kelley: The reality of being a person who is able to be healed and the reality of a person who is already healed are two different realities. One is a reality of a present challenge where a potential of improvement exists. The other one is a reality of health and vitality. If you focus on creating the ability to be healed, you will be reinforcing that reality, that potential with the keyword being “ability” not “healed.” That creates the need for a process. We all need some kind of a process to transform. The mastery in the creation of our lives comes in the ability to shorten the process needed.

In this moment, there is a version of you who does not have the emotional and physical challenges that you are dealing with. All possible realities already exist in creation. This you exists. In your thoughts and actions be that reality. Absorb the lesson present in the challenge and live as if you already are a person of exuberant vitality and joy. This allows for the shortening of the process and for the greatest alchemy of transformation.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What has been the greatest gift in your life?

Mira Kelley: The magic and miracles that Dr. Wayne Dyer brought into my life has been the greatest gift for me so far.

Jennifer Pastiloff: Anita Moorjani, and of course, Wayne Dyer have both changed my life. Tell us how you came across the lovely Anita, author of “Dying to be Me.”?

Mira Kelley: I belong to a large group of people who email each other on spiritual topics. Anita’s story arrived in my inbox. It was sent by someone I don’t know personally. I read her story and absolutely loved it. It spoke to many of the things I believed but more importantly it spoke to my understanding on the simultaneity of time and the possibility for instant physical healing once the emotional challenges are resolved. Anita’s story and her words deeply moved me.

The following day, as the magical synchronicities of life are always orchestrated, I spoke with Wayne Dyer for a first time. Our conversation was brief but I mentioned to him that I want to send him Anita’s story. He too was deeply moved by it and shared it with the wonderful people at Hay House. They too were impacted by her story and offered her to publish her book.

By simply trusting my instincts to bring up Anita’s story in the brief first conversation I had with Wayne Dyer, I became a stepping stone on her path to inspiring and uplifting the world. And in the unfolding of that I gained an even greater trust in my spontaneity and more importantly, I connected with a woman who is truly my soul sister.

Jennifer Pastiloff: Gratitude is the greatest force In my life. Most of my classes are set to this theme. If you could say thank you right now, who would it be to?

Mira Kelley: I would say: “Thank you, Mira.” And I would also say, “Thank you, Dr. Wayne Dyer.”

I agree with you that gratitude is such a force in our lives. In addition to always thanking those around us, I would like to encourage everyone who is reading this, to also always thank yourself. After all, you are the source, the masterful creator of your life, the one who allows for all great things to come. And that needs to be appreciated.

Jennifer Pastiloff: If someone wants a session with you, how would they go about that? Are they all in person or do you do them over the phone as well?

Mira Kelley: I lead my clients to a deep state of trance and because of that I prefer to do all my sessions in person. If you want to have a session with me or learn more about what the sessions are like, please email me at info[at]mirakelley.com or through the contact form on my website at www.MiraKelley.com.

Because not everyone can travel to meet with me in person, I have created a guided regression CD that people can use at home. It is called “Healing Through Past Life Regression … And Beyond.” The recording follows the same process I use with my clients. The CD set also has a guided meditation, which is truly transformative. People can get the CD set on my website at www.MiraKelley.com.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What fulfills you?

Mira Kelley: Every session fulfills me tremendously. Every session is a miracle. I am always in awe how divinely orchestrated every meeting is and how the person is always given that which will guide them and support them in their highest good. When conversing with the person’s Higher Self during a session, I reminded of the wisdom and healing that is always there for us.

Last night, after a long and productive day, I shut down my computer as I was getting ready to go to bed. And I though to myself, “I cannot wait for tomorrow. I have such exciting things to do.” I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. Those exciting things I was looking forward to were really just more work – making calls, responding to emails and so on. My life fulfills me because I am on purpose.

Jennifer Pastiloff: When I met you in Atlanta, I was struck by how warm you were. When you meet people do you immediately sense their Divine Self?

Mira Kelley: Thank you so much, Jennifer. I recently spoke with someone who said to me that I bring forth the divinity in people. I was really struck by these words. What a beautiful way to explain how when I interact with someone I always naturally, instinctively connect with their divine essence, their Divine Self.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What has been the most moving experience you’ve had while leading a regression?

Mira Kelley: The understanding of the simultaneity of existence in the field of regression is very, very novel. Up until the moment I encountered it myself in a session, I have never read about it nor heard anyone else talk about it.

I very vividly remember the very first time the concept of the simultaneity of existence was revealed to me.

John was my very first client outside of my circle of family and friends. He experienced 6 lives all of which overlapped in time. They all transpired between 1900s and 2040s. In two of the lives he saw, right now, he is still alive and thriving.

The session with him began as any other session would. John experienced himself as a man in his early 30s. John first merged with the life of that man on the day his son was born and he was really happy to have him. When telling me about himself and the development of his life, John was very specific with names and dates. He was a rich banker who lived in New York City. His son was born in 1940, so John himself must have been born around 1910. We explored how his son died in a car accident in 1957, how his daughter got married in 1963. Later, John’s wife died and he lost his fortune. He ended his life in 1978 by committing suicide.

John’s spirit rose from the body after the body died from the gun wound and went to the other side. On the other side, he was met by his spirit guide. John and his spirit guide discussed the need for John to be reborn again and face the issues he was unable to face during the life he just abruptly ended. He experienced himself being reborn very quickly. And this is where things got very strange for me.

John was born with a darker skin in the South and was adopted by a white family. It was the summer of 1950. When John said that, I froze. I held my breath, leaned back in the chair as if attempting to disappear. I was hoping that John would not hear me breathing and somehow snap out of experience he was having and start judging it. In the life we had just previously reviewed he died in 1978. And there he was being born in 1950 in a different life. It did not make sense to me. We reviewed the entire second life and John died in his 90s, which brings us to the 2040s. And to make matters even more perplexing, my client as the person he is today was born in the mid 1980s. This adventure in timelessness continued with 4 other lives which also took place in the same 140 or so year period.

When I conversed with his Higher Self, I asked why all 6 lives overlap with each other and with his current life. The Higher Self explained to me that all lives are lived simultaneously. It is not that our soul moves from one body to another in a liner progression of time. The oversoul creates splits of itself that experience these lives simultaneously, since there is no time on the other side. In John’s case the 1900s and 2000s are a fertile ground for experiencing the understanding his soul is seeking to gain.

The session with John was mind-blowing. He was the first of many clients who brought me a new and greater understanding of time and miracles. I share all these stories in my upcoming book “Parallel Lives” which is coming out in June 2013. I can assure you – it is an exciting read, a true adventure.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What would you say to someone who feels scared about doing a regression?

Mira Kelley: I would say, “I understand your trepidations. I want to assure you that all you will discover is more of yourself. And that is something wonderful, healing, empowering and exciting.”

Jennifer Pastiloff: What is up next for Mira Kelley? Where can we find more of you? And when can I book a session ☺

Mira Kelley: I am looking forward to a wonderful year of traveling and sharing with even more people. And I look forward to each and every session I will do. I look forward to people all over the world listening to my guided regression and meditation on my CD set “Healing Through Past Life Regression … And Beyond” and transforming their lives through this powerful work. I also look forward to the release of my book “Parallel Lives” in June 2013.

You can connect with me on my website www.MiraKelley.com or through my Facebook page www.facebook.com/MiraKelley. I would love to connect with and share with everyone who reads this.

And I most definitely look forward to the first chance we have to do a regression with you, Jennifer, as I know it will be a wonderful experience for both of us.

Mira and Wayne Dyer

Mira and Wayne Dyer

 

The beautiful Mira!

The beautiful Mira!

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2pTGdeekG0&feature=player_embedded]

 

You can join Jen and Wayne Dyer’s daughter Sommer for a life changing yoga, writing & Manifestation retreat in Maui Feb 16-22 with The Travel Yogi by clicking the photo below or this link.

Maui!

Maui!

 

Beating Fear with a Stick, depression, Owning It!

Stop Judging So Much. By Jen Pastiloff

January 4, 2013

I wrote this a year and a half ago but it felt timely to repost. ~ Jen Pastiloff

beauty-hunting-jen-logo-black

Click to order Simplereminders new book. simplereminders.info

Click to order Simplereminders new book. simplereminders.info

 

The layers upon layers of judgments we hail at people all day. At ourselves. Morning and night.

I can’t believe you would do that.

I would never do that if I were them.

My family wouldn’t do it that way.

What are you wearing?

She is a good person.

I am ugly.

I am not smart enough.

Maybe you don’t do it.

I do. I judge all the time.

As I click clack my boots down the sidewalk in a hurry. As I waste time on Facebook, or sit on a plane, as I am now, my mind is full of misgivings and they did it wrongs. Its full of I am doing it wrong, I look fat/bad/ugly, I am stupid, this woman is walking so slow, that man looks like this, she looks like that, they must be a nice person, they are rude, a cacophony of noise all at once, and in between it all, moments of I feel good/happy, I am safe, I am not my body.

There are many parts to me. To all of us. We know this. There is the me that teaches my workshops, a combination of a Jewish/Baptist preacher in a Revival tent who likes to sing and dance and downward dog and read poetry and who knows damn well that we can manifest the life of our dreams if we change our thoughts and is spiritual and knowledgeable in the ways of the body, the heart, the mind. And then there is the other me who is also me, here and now. Drinking a shit ton of wine and wearing glasses and reading like I may never be able to read again.

Continue Reading…

Manifestation Workshops, manifesting, Owning It!, Wayne Dyer

What’s Your Miami?

October 8, 2012

What’s Your Miami?

Somewhere between Albuquerque and Flagstaff, headed back to Los Angeles. That’s where I am right now. I get my best writing done on airplanes. Flying back after a weekend of workshops in Miami. It was my first time in Miami, which seems slightly unbelievable being that I am a Jew from Jersey, a fact I attribute our moving to California and then back again like gypsies in search of sustainable weather or a father. Nonetheless, it was my first time and I felt more like I was visiting from some distant country (or Kansas) than L.A. How in awe I was at the balmy weather, at the sky, the view from my friend’s condo, water on all sides. The sky seemed lower, close enough to me that I could reach up and grab a fistful of air if I wanted to. The clouds with their secrets stuffed inside of them and if we waited long enough with our iPhone cameras and Instagrams we could catch the secrets exploding into a million particles of light, raindrops, streaks of purple and pink, golden ambers, all the things that make people click “like” or “share” on a photo.

The moodiness of the place felt like home to me. I recognized how easy it was to one moment be bright and yellow and the next, a misty grey where you couldn’t see the gaudy cruise ships or the lights any longer, just a fine haze with all its edges lost.

And it was hot. It was a whole new world for me, only having been to Florida one other time, last summer, on a road trip with my sister, her husband, their new puppy Timber, and my two nephews. My oldest nephew Blaise has a rare genetic disorder called Prader Will Syndrome and his doctor is in Gainesville at the Univeristy (people drive and fly from all over the world to see her.) We were taking a weekend mini-holiday at a small coastal town a couple hours away from the University called Flagler Beach before heading to Dr. Miller on the way back to Georgia where they live. I sat wedged in the back between Maddock (who hit me almost the whole time) and Blaise and Timber.

It was a long long ride.

The beach town had been cute. It was so different than California and I spent most of the weekend tickled by this difference. The water is so warm! So different than California! It’s so calm! It’s so humid! As if I hadn’t grown up in New Jersey and spent summers down the shore. As if I had never experienced this type of weather or the Atlantic Ocean.

Its easy to forget that our lives are not it. That it doesn’t stop and end with our town, our street, our weather, our children, our problems. I forgot that there was weather outside of California. I forgot that there was another ocean besides the Pacific. I forgot that palm trees actually grew places and weren’t simply placed there as an aesthetic gem. Miami is very different from that sleepy town last summer although I adored that sleepy town and the little local fish restaurant we went to where we ate off paper plates and drank beer. I was also with my nephews and I wouldn’t trade anything for Blaise saying Ocean, Jenny, ocean? And then sitting at the shoreline with him on my lap as he grips me for dear life with that combination of terror and delight children love to feel.

My Miami workshops at Green Monkey went really well.

It was a big step for me. Being flown to a place where I have no “following” per se, to do my thing.

What if no one came? and all the other usual fear based thoughts fought their way to the top of the food chain of my mind.

They came. They loved it.

The biggest deal for me really was the fact that Skye and Sommer Dyer came to my Friday night Karaoke Yoga workshop. They are 2 of the daughters of my beloved teacher, Dr. Wayne Dyer. (Sommer is the one who will be assisting me at my Maui retreat in February and if I can manifest Wayne coming over to talk to my group then I will have accomplished one of my greatest dreams.) Wayne truly changed my life and anyone who has spent any time with me, especially in my classes or workshops, knows how often I quote him and speak of him. I have become friends with his daughters and they drove 1.5 hours to come. It was a little unnerving at first because I quote him all the time so I felt nervous and self-conscious.

That lasted a few moments. Once I start, I get channeled in a way that I don’t pretend to understand and I forget all about who is in the room. My intention becomes clear. Skye is a beautiful singer (if you have ever heard Wayne speak or seen his PBS specials, you have heard her sing.) She sang for us in savasana and it was like one of those moments when you are at once outside of yourself and yet so utterly present at that it is almost unbearable, the surge of emotion a reminder that you are very much alive despite moments of depression or feeling lost or confused or any of the other ways in which we go slack. Its like the feeling you have when you get married, and, I am guessing, when you give birth. Is this my life? and Yes, this is my life! joining in such a way that time stops, your breath catches and you feel solid and essential to the world like soil air.

The workshop on Saturday was lovely as well. I felt really proud of myself. I have taught in Philly and NYC and NJ and sold the workshops out, but Miami? I had one friend there and no students or tribe. Yet, I did it.

I. Did. It.

And they showed up.

One woman, the beautiful Sue, flew from Michigan to take my workshops in Miami. That was a huge moment for me, to acknowledge that. She follows me on Facebook and reads my blog and from that she flew all the way to another state to attend my workshop. I am owning that. I think it can be too easy (for me at least) to own the things about me I don’t like or what I have done “wrong” but when it comes to just being with the fact that someone is moved by me, or thanking me, well, that is as difficult as telling someone just who you are and having them look in your eyes for 3 minutes without speaking or moving. And yes, we do that in my workshops.

So I am looking in the proverbial eye of it all and accepting it. Owning it. Taking responsibility for what I did. This is not a random thing. There is a cause and effect.

I manifested this. By imagining it first and then working toward it, all the while staying true to myself and being authentic.

I wonder how often we don’t realize our own gifts? Or else we do, and we feel we somehow don’t deserve to own them?

I am on a plane heading back and feeling good. I will be back. I feel calmer than I have in a while, less anxiety, more present. Perhaps it has to do with all the travel I had over the last few months and I can sit here and say Wow from 30,000 feet at all I have accomplished. Perhaps because there is no wi-fi in flight. Perhaps its hormones? Who knows? Who cares.

It is terrifying going into the unknown. It really is. I get it.

I was told before going how Miami loved its physical practice, its handstands, its power yoga. Its not that I don’t do that stuff, I do. I slip it in, I use it as a causeway. But it is not what you think of when you think of a Jen Pastiloff class or workshop.

I went anyway and I stayed true to who I was and what I do and they came and they loved it. If I had let my fear sway me I would have cancelled, I would have shirked, I would have changed myself to fit in with the status quo.

I leave you with this as we are about to land and I have to shut my computer:

Where are you playing small?

What is your “Miami?”

What are you scared of?

What are you willing to do anyway?

Where can you go that you have never been before, both literally and in your imagination?

Simplereminders.com are incredible. Check them out. Thanks for this poster of me in Miami!

Looking into someone’s eyes is powerful business. I am ______.

Here are 3 emails I got today from 3 people who attended my Miami workshops: 

Dear Jen, I don’t think I can thank you enough Jen. I would have never thought taking a karaoke yoga workshop could have changed my life that way that it is. I was very hesitant to sign up for the workshop. It was something that initially I didn’t think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did. I have so many things to be proud of but always searched for the approval of the people that wronged me and never believed in me. I always belittled my accomplishments. I always made excuses. Now I am finally starting to feel free from them. I value myself so much more than I did before I walked into that workshop on Friday. I put on my post-it: LOVE. When I first put it on my post-it I was thinking of manifesting an awesome man to love and love me back. I had it all wrong though. I want to manifest love for myself. Thank you for inspiring me to be my true self without the fear. I wish you nothing but the best! You are a God send and it has been such a blessing for me to have had the chance to meet such an amazing person!

~~~~~~~

Hey Jen ~THANK YOU for yesterday. It was beyond what I thought it would be and it was life transforming, truly. I feel like I woke up today with fresh eyes and a better outlook. It was astonishing to me how much you and the workshop resonated with me. I too have battled depression, its always nice to know I’m not alone. I too ALWAYS say “i’m tired.” Not today! I have literally talked myself out of it, manifesting an abundance of energy 🙂 Yesterday, I posted on the Green Monkey wall ‘happiness.’ Thats what I am manifesting. And our ‘HI-YA!!!’ bit, I was kicking the shit out of fear! Ha! Thank you!

~~

Hi Jennifer, I cannot stop thinking about the workshop you did on Saturday at Green Monkey. It’s amazing how we weren’t supposed to participate but by a twist of fate were able to. There are no coincidences in life. I loved every minute of it. When we were doing the forgiveness/breathing exercise you came up to me and gently placed your hand on my back as if to say “it’s ok to let go”.

I was in the process of forgiving myself for not being the person who I thought I would be in my life right now.

 

Delight, Yoga Classes

Look For The Whee In Everything!

September 17, 2012

whee interjection ˈhwē, ˈwē

Definition of WHEE

—used to express delight or exuberance

I have a few quirks as a yoga teacher. I have some rules. One of them, which you all know by now is: If you fall you must laugh.

Rod Stweart’s wife Penny and I for a filming of Karaoke Yoga for the British show Lorraine. She liked my rule! We laughed a lot.

Another one: You are not allowed to take YOURSELF seriously.

And then there’s: when you are hopping up and attempting a handstand you must yell “wheeee!” 

There are a few reasons behind this. One is this: try and say Whee without smiling.

See. I told you. You can’t.

In a land where most of us (read:me) take ourselves too seriously, and especially our yoga, a little smiling can go a long way. A little light heartedness to go with the light footedness.

The whee brings the joy back, the silliness, and the idea that this is not as serious as I am probably making it out to be.

It also helps you lose any self-consciousness (much as my Karaoke Yoga® class does.)

So here is the question: Can you find the Whee in all you do?

Where is the whee?

Reminds me of that awful 80’s commercial: Where’s the beef?

Look for the whee in everything.

Even in what can be perceived as a stressful situation, there is a Whee lurking somewhere. Maybe it is just laughing at ourselves for a moment.

I love when I get messages from people who move away or can no longer take my class and they say things like: I miss the Whee!

Why shouldn’t there be more Whee?

I am not suggesting you don’t take your job seriously or your yoga practice. I am suggesting you (read: me again) stop taking yourself so seriously!

Most of us are desperate for more joy, more connection, more Wheeeeeeeee!

Post below your Whee of the day.

Must have at least on Whee a day says ancient Chinese proverb!

Wheee! Filming for CBS The Doctors at Equinox! We had a lot of Wheees!