Browsing Tag

Skye Dyer

Gratitude, Guest Posts, Wayne Dyer

What Gets Us Into Trouble.

October 25, 2014

beauty-hunting-jen-logo-black

By Jen Pastiloff.

“It’s the things that we know FOR SURE, that just ain’t so, that get us into trouble.” ~ Wayne Dyer.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer is one of my greatest teachers.

Back when I was still waitressing and utterly miserable- I would get off my shift, and I would go, stinking of food and self-loathing, on these walks by the Pacific Ocean here in Santa Monica. I had Wayne Dyer on my iPod (after years of my mom’s insistence, and my adamant refusal, to read his books) and I’d walk and walk and walk and listen to the same recordings over and over again as I did my goofy speed walk with my dorky arm swing. I’d go faster and faster, as if I could end up eventually leaving myself behind.

Wayne was my company.

I memorized his lectures on those sunset walks. I knew when I walked by a certain palm tree, Wayne would be saying, “Don’t Die With Your Music Still in You,” and when I got to the incline that led down to the beach, he’d be talking about squeezing an orange.
He said when you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out. So, we are squeezed, by life, by traffic, stress, whatever it is, if vitriol comes out, if anger and meanness and ugliness come out, then that is what was inside of us. No matter who does the squeezing. Like orange juice. Doesn’t matter who squeezes it, it will still be orange juice. I thought a lot about what was inside of me and how I blamed a lot of other people/things for what was being squeezed out.

I had to walk the same route, listen to the same lectures. These were the things I could count on. Palm tree, sky, clouds, sun setting, orange, squeezing, don’t die with your music still in you, park bench. 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.

 

manifesting, Wayne Dyer

Hanging with Wayne Dyer in Atlanta.

April 14, 2012

With God all things are possible. 

Wayne talked of this a lot today. Now, I have heard him speak a lot. But today this got me. A chill ran through my body, as it does more and more lately. A sign that I am paying attention to what resonates. Or that more is resonated lately? That I am connecting to things I am meant to be connecting to more often?

All of the above.

And then some.

All. Things. Possible.

So what does that leave out?

NOTHING.

I love this.

I had that feeling today as I sat there in the second row as a guest of the author, my sister Rachel on my side. All the Dyers and Anita Moorjani and her husband wearing my blue Manifestation bracelets. Sara Blakely, founder of SPANX and the world’s youngest billionaire wearing my Manifestation bracelet.

Why?

Because: Anything is possible.

I dreamed this.

Over and over.

This is the life I want.

I want to be inspiring people on the level of Wayne and Anita and Sara. So why should I not be hanging out with them?

I told Wayne about my retreat to Maui next February and asked him if he would come over and talk to my group. He said “Anything is possible. Why not?

Ha! Wayne at my retreat? Pinch me.

(Who knows what will happen but… anything is possible kids.)

He told a great story today which I loved. He had just led a retreat on a cruise ship and he had asked everyone to go out and stare at the wake from the ship. He asked them to contemplate the wake. ( I feel a poem being inspired here already.)

The wake is the trail the ship leaves behind.

3 questions he told them to ask themselves:

1) What is the wake? Answer: the trail.

2)What is driving the boat? Answer: the PRESENT moment energy being generated is driving the boat. ( Key word: Present. Obviously.)

3) Is it possible for the wake to drive the boat? Answer: NO.

He suggested that most of us live this illusion though. The wake driving the boat! Ha!

I had such a breakthrough today. That kind of aha moment that happens before inspiration sinks in and kicks you in the teeth.

I think it is the poet in me that loves a good metaphor but, wow, is it ever an opportunity to give up your personal history, your crap, your story, when it is put so succinctly. So simply. So truthfully.

Another gem from today: Inspiration is when an idea gets ahold of you.

Motivation is ego driven.

Now that is something to think about.

I’d much rather be inspired.

As I am now in my life.

An idea has gotten a hold of me and I am being channeled. This is the best way, the only way I can truly describe my life these days.

Today Wayne said: writing is not something I do. It is what I am.

How beautiful a sentiment is that?

He talked so much about the “I Am” and I was so happy to be wearing my ” I am” Conscious Ink tattoo ( I gave him some and he went wild for them!)

Wayne talked about Divine Love as never changing, never varying.

There was so much to process today that it will take a few blog posts. Heck, a few years, but I wanted to share with you some inspiration and highlights.

Anita Moorjani, whom has become a friend, got up and spoke. She had a Near Death Experience after having Stage 4 cancer.  She came back because she has work to do. (Thank God she came back!)

Her message, to remind us all to be ourselves, is simple and IMPORTANT. She says more important than being positive is being yourself!

Her book Dying To Be Me has been called, by many, the most important book they have ever read. Wayne is a huge fan of Anita, as am I. She is so incredible, as is this work she is doing. Please take a moment and read my earlier interview with her.

She will change your life. As she says, remember your magnificence.

My dear friend Anita Moorjani. Please buy her book “Dying To Be Me”. It will change your life. Seriously. Go!

As usual my friend Skye sang (Wayne’s daughter.) She added Whitney Houston’s Greatest Love of All which made everyone bawl, of course. Saje Dyer also got up and spoke. She is Wayne’s youngest. Adorable and hilarious. She talked (spontaneously) about how she healed herself at age 5 or 6 with a child’s belief system. It was so beautiful and funny and impromptu. Another Dyer with a big inspiring future in front of her.

Sommer Dyer was also there, who will be guest posting very soon on my blog. Wait until you read this Dyer daughter’s post. She is very special to me.

Sommer Dyer, Saje Dyer, me , my sister Rachel, Skye Dyer

I met Tracy, his eldest and bought a purse from her amazing company Urban Junket. Tracy is gorgeous and funny. It’s like there is something in the water they drink? Tracy creates purses from recycled water bottles. Hello, Awesome!

My sister and I each bought one. Get one. They are cute and support the Earth. Hello, More Awesome!

Lastly, Sara Blakely. The world’s youngest billionaire and founder of Spanx. She got up and said a few words about how Wayne had been a great inspiration to her and was one of the reasons she is so successful. I gave her my blue Manifestation bracelet which you can see in the photos and my Manifesting tee. She was talking to us forever. To say she is cool would be an UNDERSTATEMENT.

The coolest billionaire I ever met.

And she is manifesting, no less.

Bam!

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Wayne and Sara Blakely are so funny! They are showing off their Spanx! ha!

My dad and his other daughters. Hee hee.
Saje, Sommer, Wayne and Skye Dyer.

Tracy Dyer and I. I am holding up my Urban Junket bag. Recycled Water Bottles. Bad-ass!!!

My buddy Skye Dyer and I. She sings so beautifully.

Skye singing on stage with her dad. So moving.

Saje got called up. Surprise!
She was funny and inspiring.
You can heal yourself with LOVE, she says.
This girl rocks so hard.

So here it is:

I am manifesting:

Sara Blakely sponsoring my sister’s One Small Step Walk for Prader Wille Syndrome and doing a q&a on this blog, as Wayne did.

Wayne Dyer definitely coming to my Maui retreat next February. It’s happening folks. I see it. Book early as we will go deep and it will be intimate. (click here to sign up.)

Wayne writing the foreword for my book.

Writing for Oprah.com

 

 

Join me here at @jenpastiloff

Join me here at @jenpastiloff

 

 

Inspiration, manifesting

PMM: Pinch Me Moments.

April 1, 2012

I’m writing to you from the Upper East Side. As in New York City.

It’s so good to be back here. I feel more alive. I am awake. Really awake.

Thursday night, as I was teaching in SoHo at Yoga Vida, there was this moment when I caught my reflection in the windows facing Broadway. The buildings across the street and all the sweaty bodies reflected behind me in the reflection, and I thought This is where I am meant to be. I’m home.

I feel very much at home and comfortable on the East Coast.

Those that know me in person know that I am a bit of an anomaly in California.

So, I am here and loving it.

I taught my life affirming Manifestation Workshops in Philadelphia at Dhyana Yoga, my home studio there, and now in NYC at Yoga Vida in Soho and PURE Yoga West on the Upper West Side.

(By life affirming I mean we: sing, dance, journal, laugh, cry, play, go upside down, do partner work, write letters to our younger selves, twist, sweat and create new ideas of who we are. That kind of life affirming.)

I’ve never done this before but last night, as I sat at dinner with Wayne Dyer’s 4 ridiculously amazing and talented daughters, Eric Handler whose baby is Positively Positive and Oprah people, I pinched myself.

I reached under the table and pinched myself.

It hurt.

(I was just checking.)

Here I am in cities that are not where I live, selling out workshops. People are showing up in droves because they have read my words. That is my dream. Holy guacamole! They have read my words and have been so moved or affected that they came to my workshop which cost money. The green kind.

Here I am in the Village having a 5 hour lunch with my muse, the superstar and best selling author Karen Salmansohn, who also writes for Oprah. Telling her I would love to write for Oprah as well. (Wouldn’t you know just a few hours later I am at dinner with Oprah people and they are saying ” You should write for Oprah.com.”) Karen and I couldn’t part ways. Soul sisters is an understatement.

Here I am at a trendy Thai place in the Meat packing District of Manhattan having dinner with these folks and laughing my Pad Thai stuffed face off.

Three years ago I was asking: Egg whites or whole egg?. Chips or salad? More coffee?

Three years ago I was depressed and still did not have my hearing aid so I was half deaf and depressed. Ugh.

I had one of those moments last night where I simply stopped and acknowledged myself.

How often do you do that?

Like really, really acknowledge? Like the kind where you get goosebumps acknowledging?

Like when you get clear on what you have done and the goosebumps come.

Like when you get clear on who you are and the goosebumps come.

Like when you get clear on what you have overcome or broke through and the goosebumps come and never go away.

How often do we stop and acknowledge?

And, as my dear friend Frank Gjata always says: Acknowledge is Power.

(One of my favorite temporary tattoos of his from Conscious Ink.)

Lats night I looked at everyone at the table wearing my blue band. Yes, the misprinted ones that say Man-fest instead of Manifest. I sat across from the top producer at HARPO Studios wearing my blue bracelet as she ate her shrimp.

Skye and Serena Dyer (Wayne Dyer's daughters) wearing their Manifestation Man-festing bracelets.

It was such a chuckle moment.

I love chuckle moments.

When I realize how life works and how sometimes it is just so comical. How easeful. How’s it’s like one big ride.

When they all started toasting me last night I had to laugh at the hilarity of it. Toasting me, Jennifer Pastiloff, for making last night happen, for bringing everyone together.

(Funny because that is what I think of myself as: The Connector. Not the Yoga teacher, but the Connector.)

I have Wayne Dyer, Oprah and Positively Positive all on my vision board next to NYC. I have a picture of Oprah and under it says “Oprah’s Favorite Things” where I taped the words “Manifestation Retreats.”

Hee hee.

So yea, Oprah may not be at my next retreat just yet or saying that it is her favorite thing, but hot damn, her producers are having dinner with me, wearing my bracelets, asking me all about my blog. I’d say it was kind of a chuckle pinch me moment.

A CPMM: Chuckle Pinch Me Moment.

I may change my flight and stay for Oprah’s life class on Monday. My flight is out of Philly so I can be back for my early Equinox class Tuesday morning.

Last night I started to fret. I cannot miss another class. Bla. Bla. I have to get back. Bla bla.

I cannot recall the exact fretting. But it was something along those lines.

Then I thought: Wait a minute, Jennifer Pastiloff, just you wait a minute.

This is your dream, you nincompoop.

You would say no?

What am I afraid of?

Why would I say no?

Here it is. I am going to divulge the fear.

When I am happy I fear that it will be taken away, that I will wake up and be back to working at the Newsroom so I can say ” See, nothing good lasts.”

Eww, pop psychology is so cheesy and predictable.

I refuse to be cheesy and predictable.

My Equinox class will still be there for me if I miss one more to see Oprah.

I deserve to have my dreams come true.

There. I just said that.

Can you say that?

Join me please so I don’t feel like I am alone in a cab on the Avenue of Dreams all by my lonesome.

And guys? Bliss goes with everything.

Wear it all the time.

Serena Dyer, Harriet Seitler (executive VP for Harpo, as in Oprah, studios), and Eric Handler of Positively Positive all wear their Manifestation bracelets. Bam!

Serena tweeting. Follow her at @serenadyer
She is co-writing a book with her dad Wayne Dyer which I cannot wait for!

My most favorite tweet ever came last night from Serena Dyer.

Now, as you know, Wayne Dyer, her father, is my beloved teacher. She tweeted this:

Serena Dyer ‏ @serenadyer

The Dyer’s have adopted an honorary sister @ManifestYogaJen, just call her Sennifer 🙂

Guest Posts, Inspiration

Little Ripples…

March 28, 2012

That’s what we are all doing here.

That’s what my mission is when I CONNECT with you. Whether it is here or through my classes or workshops or retreats.

It is my intention to always be authentic. Always. 

My hope is that I am a facilitator. That I can help you to pay attention to the ripples in your own life and start causing those ripples yourself.

Here is a letter I just received from someone who took my workshop in Austin at Black Swan Yoga. I was so moved that I am sharing it (with her permission of course.)

Dear Jen,

Since taking your manifestation workshop I have been trying to make sense of some things that have been going on in my life.

I think it is important to express gratitude to those who make an impact and I needed to let you know your role in my journey.

I came to the Black Swan Yoga training with the last ounce of energy I had to make my life work. I had struggled for the last several years with PTSD after a near death experience and I was on the verge of ruining my life. My marriage was falling apart, I dreaded getting out of bed and my kids deserved better. A few months before I decided to do the training I hit a cross road.

It was a particularly nasty argument with the spouse and I took off for a few days to clear my head. As I was driving down the highway, I had downloaded some good ole Dr. Wayne Dyer audiobooks. I was literally praying out loud in my car for something, ANYTHING to help me stop banging my head against the wall.

At that moment when I am about to make one of the toughest decisions of my life, I heard Dr. Dyer say, “We are not humans having a spiritual experience, but rather a spirit having a human experience.”

I kid you not, my world literally moved. It felt like an earthquake happened inside my body. I had to pull off the highway I was shaking and sobbing so hard. At that moment everything I had been trying to understand my whole life totally made sense. I immediately emailed my husband to tell him that I was choosing compassion and understanding over anger and frustration.

All in that moment I realized that I was, as is everyone else, an all encompassing light of love and that anything that didn’t reflect that was just a simple misunderstanding of the mind. As this new idea resonated with me, I started changing my perception and allowing the light to flow through. I started to notice things coming a little easier. As I moved through the training process I started to become more alive, energetic and centered.

By the time your workshop came around I was marveling in this new found happiness and gratitude for the thing the were coming into my life. During the workshop when you talked about how Dr Dyer had impacted your life, I had chills run down my spine.  I realize the global impact he has on people, but I had been sitting with this immense appreciation for him in the recent weeks and I was taken aback when I heard his name. It felt like you were somehow speaking directly to me. And then it happened again!

You started talking about our choices and opening up to the experience life has to offer and Eminem started playing, “If you had one shot. one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted. One moment. would you capture it or just let it pass you by.” That earthquake inside happened again. I remember laughing, almost uncontrollably.

I finally realized I was aligning myself with God and my purpose. I saw in you exactly what I wanted to see in my self, authenticity. It took one more tiny internal earthquake a few weeks later (when I heard Dr. Dyer’s daughter was named Skye, like my son’s name. Little hints that remind me that we are all connected) to fully understand that my mind, body and spirit were aligning and I was finally understanding my purpose in life.

Last night I laid in bed with my eyes wide open in complete ahhh of this magical transformation. I could feel the light passing through me. My life long question, that I have prayed for every single night since I was a little girl, has finally been answer. My purpose is to be authentic and the rest will undoubtable fall into place. My faith in the Universe is unwavering. The people that need to come into my life will present themselves at just the right time.

I am so eternally grateful for my life.

Thank you for being a guiding light in my journey. namaste.

~~~~~~~~~

Wow. Wow.

Wow.

Listen folks: “I started changing my perception and allowing the light to flow through. I started to notice things coming a little easier.”

Did you read that? Can you hear that? Are you listening?

Let me write her words again: I started changing my perception and allowing the light to flow through. I started to notice things coming a little easier.

That’s a ripple. She started paying attention and observing the ripples. Or miracles, as I also like to call them!

Anita Moorjani and Wayne Dyer

This line makes me cry because it is so spot-on, so beautiful and so reminiscent of my mentor Anita Moorjani’s book Dying To Be Me

My life long question, that I have prayed for every single night since I was a little girl, has finally been answer. My purpose is to be authentic and the rest will undoubtable fall into place. 

That folks, is a ripple.

Go out and cause some!

manifesting, Q & A Series

The Magical Serena Dyer: The Manifestation Q&A Series.

March 21, 2012

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.

This next guest is an exciting one, not only because she is the daughter of my beloved teacher and mentor Wayne Dyer, but because she happens to be one of the most beautiful, authentic and inspirational women I have come across. Oh, and she is funny. Really funny.

Serena Dyer is the second of Wayne Dyer’s daughters that has been featured on the Manifestation Q&A Series. The first was my friend Skye Dyer, the incredible singer, whom many of you have heard during Wayne’s specials. Wayne Dyer himself has also been featured here. I am working my way, slowly but surely, through the Dyer clan. One “S” name at a time.

And just to be clear on this whole manifesting business I am so fond of: it works.

Wayne Dyer is THE reason I call my company “Manifestation Yoga.”When I started to achieve success as a yoga teacher very early on in my career people would ask how it was that I made such profound changes in my life so quickly. How so many amazing things kept showing up for me, from being on Good Morning America and traveling around the world with sold out retreats/workshops or becoming a writer for Positively Positive. As Wayne says: it is not our job to ask “how” or “when” but to say YES! 

That is just what I did.

I do not think all of this happened because of Wayne Dyer but I do know that he was the most powerful teacher I could have ever prayed for. (And, to be clear, I did pray for a teacher.)

He showed up in my life exactly when I needed him to, as the teacher will do when the student is ready.

To see how incredible his daughters are is truly a testament that he walked the talk. That he lived the life he spoke of.

Serena is currently busy writing a book, traveling the world, cooking her butt off, running an anti-child trafficking site and laughing at herself. The last one just might be my favorite. 

Not only is she stunning, but she doesn’t take herself too seriously. (One of my favorite qualities in a person.) She was lucky enough to grow with spiritual parents who taught her and her siblings that: “they are unique little creations of God, perfect exactly as they are, no matter what, and no one can take that from them. My parents raised us on this principle and I am so grateful they did.”

Her answers are profound and funny, hilarious and humble. I cannot wait to read her book and sit down to the meal she has made for me. (Serena, did you read that last bit? I’ll bring the vino.)

I almost want to put her in my pocket and keep her for myself, but, I won’t be so selfish. World: here is the amazing Serena Dyer….

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

Serena Dyer: Travel. I regularly daydream about places I would like to go and experiences in foreign lands that I would like to have and even though I don’t usually know how I am going to pay for the trip or how I am going to get there, it always works out. I am constantly baffled how everything falls into place so easily. I have been to 30 countries so far and I don’t plan to stop traveling anytime soon!

 

 

Jennifer Pastiloff:  Not -For -Sale.org. Can you share with us a bit how this was born and how you became so passionate about this subject of child trafficking?

Serena Dyer: I was an undergrad at the University of Miami studying religion and human rights. I came across a statistic that said “there are more people enslaved today than there were at the height of the Atlantic slave trade.” I considered myself to be a well-informd and conscientious young woman and I couldn’t figure out how there could be more people in slavery today if it wasn’t in the news everyday. I kept wondering, “if this is true, why don’t more people know about it. Why am I not learning about this in school?”

So I began a long journey to discover as much as I could about modern day slavery and what I found is that although it has a new name, human trafficking is essentially the same thing as slavery and not only is it an enormous problem in our world today, but it is increasingly on the rise.

I have always had a desire to serve others in the ways that I knew how and so I decided to start a non-profit organization that uses advocacy and education to spread awareness about this horrific practice. My organization, www.not-for-sale.org is in the beginning stages but I am proud of our web-presence and some of the ideas we have begun to generate.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What is your favorite part about traveling?

Serena Dyer: My favorite part about traveling is that I not only get to learn something about humanity and the world, I also get to learn something new about myself. I love new things and change and traveling, for me, is better than opening a present on Christmas morning. Waking up in a foreign place and having the whole day to just immerse yourself in a new culture is really exhilerating and energizing for me.

Jennifer Pastiloff: Tell us a bit about your love of cooking.

Serena Dyer: I love to cook because I love to eat! I like taking a whole countertop filled with ingredients and turning them into a delicious meal for everyone to share. I cook about 4 or 5 nights a week for my boyfriend!

Jennifer Pastiloff: What is the greatest lesson you have learned from running your anti-child trafficking site?

Serena Dyer: Since I am in the beginning stages of the site I am still learning a lot but basically that things take time and you have to be patient with the process and with others if you want to see really good results.

Jennifer Pastiloff: From your father, Wayne Dyer?

Serena Dyer: The greatest gift I have learned from my dad is that I was born with a little piece of God inside of me and that little piece of God connects me with everyone and everything. It is God that is looking out from behind my eyes, from all of our eyes, and knowing that I feel perfect, I feel safe and I feel incredibly loved.

Also, that if there is anything I want to manifest into my life I just have to align my thoughts and energy with it in order to become it, because you attract who you are, not what you want.

Jennifer Pastiloff: From the process of writing a book?

Serena Dyer: To be patient with myself, to accept myself as I am and not be so hard on myself.

Jennifer Pastiloff: From having 7 siblings?

Serena Dyer: You are never as cool as you think. (note from Jen: This girl is hilarious!)

Jennifer Pastiloff: From traveling?

Serena Dyer: Have an open mind to everyone and everything you meet. Just because something isn’t familiar to you, or makes sense to you, does not make it wrong or bad.

Also, don’t go to foreign countries expecting to get scrambled eggs and bacon the way we can get it in America… in fact, just don’t order scrambled eggs at all cause you will never get what you expect. Or iced coffee for that matter.

Jennifer Pastiloff: From cooking?

Serena Dyer: Sometimes when things don’t turn out they way they looked online, you didn’t fail.. they just used photoshop.

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?

Serena Dyer: My parents. Every week I see a story of another kid that committed suicide because of bullying. Every week I am reminded that kids weren’t taught that they are unique little creations of God, perfect exactly as they are, no matter what, and no one can take that from them. My parents raised us on this principle and I am so grateful they did.

Jennifer Pastiloff: When was the last time you laughed at yourself?

Serena Dyer: I crack myself up all day long and usually I laugh out loud and people look at me funny. About an hour ago I just saw paparazzi jump out to photograph this actress and there was a split second that I thought they were photographing me and afterwards when I realized that I actually thought that I laughed really hard- and almost tweeted it but then realized other people might not find it as funny as I did!

Jennifer Pastiloff: Who/what inspires you most?

Serena Dyer: Children inspire me the most. They are present, they are in awe of everything they see, they seek adventure and they are always learning and expanding. Children just want to love and be loved and when you are loved by a child, you really come alive. I have 8 nieces and nephews and I spend a ton of time with them and I always feel so present and aware when I am with them.

Jennifer Pastiloff: Who has been your greatest teacher?

Serena Dyer: I am not sure yet, at the end of my life I may have an answer but right now there are about 12 people vying for first place.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What is your favorite part about traveling with your dad?

Serena Dyer: Watching him do what he loves to do and seeing the reactions of people whose lives he has touched.

Jennifer Pastiloff: Some words Serena lives by?

Serena Dyer: Arrange whatever pieces come your way- Virginia Woolf

Jennifer Pastiloff: Can you share with us about the book you are writing?

Serena Dyer: I am writing a book about being raised with spiritual parents, from the perspective of the child (me). People always ask my brothers and sisters and I what it was like to be raised by Wayne Dyer and so I am telling them- and let me tell you, it was weird. Haha only kidding!

Jennifer Pastiloff: Who would be your dream person to do a Foreword for your book?

Serena Dyer: My dad is doing it, I never even thought about someone else!! 

Jennifer Pastiloff: How can we get involved in helping to stop child trafficking?

Serena Dyer: You can go on www.not-for-sale.org and sign up for an e-alert that will let you know when a new bill or law is being passed that might need your support.

Also, the Somaly-mam foundation is incredible and the work they are doing all over the world would literally blow your mind. Somaly-mam builds shelters for girls in foreign places to escape to if they are being forced into prostitution or sexual slavery. Somaly-mam is a survivor and every penny donated goes toward helping the girls she rescues, some who are as young as 4.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What is one message you would pass on right now to someone looking to manifest their best selves?

Serena Dyer: Offer to the world what it is you want to attract. If you want love then offer love to everyone you meet. In other words, become what it is that you feel is missing in your life.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What brings you the most joy? Your joy list….

Serena Dyer:  My family

My boyfriend Matt

My best friend Lauren

My nieces and nephews (which are family but they deserve their own category cause they are so f’ing cute)

My friends

Traveling

Cooking

Reading

Talking

Great dinner with friends and great wine

Feeling successful and knowing i am doing great work

The little voice inside of me that says thank you to all of my food and God bless you to people I walk by that look like they need an extra blessing

Jennifer Pastiloff: I do an exercise in my class called “I am-ness.” Finish the sentence I am _______________.

Serena Dyer:  I am divine love, I am. (I say this at night before bed).

Jennifer Pastiloff: Where can we find more of Serena Dyer?

Serena Dyer:  serenadyer.com

twitter.com/serenadyer

facebook.com/serena.dyer1

stop-child-trafficking.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jen’s “rules”:

1. Be Kind.

2. Have a sense of humor especially when it comes to yourself

3. Write poems, even if only in your head

4. Sing out loud, even if badly

5. Dance

6. If you don’t have anything nice to say… you know the deal

7. Find things to be in awe of

8. Be grateful for what you have right now .

9. Watch Modern Family, read Wayne Dyer, and end every complaint with “ But I’m so blessed.”

10. Duh, do yoga

11. Don’t worry. Everyone on Facebook seems like they have happier and funner lives. They don’t.

12. Tell someone you love that you love them. Right now.

13.. Take more pictures.

14. Forgive yourself for not being perfect. no such thing.

15. Thank the Universe in Advance

**********

Jennifer Pastiloff is the founder of The Manifest-Station. Her work has been featured on The Rumpus, The Nervous Breakdown, Jezebel, Salon, and more. Jen leads her signature Manifestation Retreats & Workshops all over the world. The next retreat is to Ojai, Calif over Labor Day. Check out jenniferpastiloff.com for all retreat listings and workshops to attend one in a city near you. Next up: SeattleLondon, Atlanta, South Dakota, NYC, Dallas, Tucson & The Berkshires (guest speaker Canyon Ranch.) She tweets/instagrams at @jenpastiloff.

Guest Posts, Q & A Series

Guest Post. Wayne Dyer’s Daughter: Skye Dyer, Singer Extraordinaire.

December 20, 2011

Welcome to the Manifestation Station Q & A Series, where I sit down with someone inspiring whom I want to share with the world.

Today’s guest is an exciting one for me. Dr. Wayne Dyer is my main source of inspiration (and I am manifesting doing a Q & A with him. It is on my vision board, folks!). I believe he truly taught me the power of manifesting.

Today’s guest is his daughter Skye Dyer.

I met his daughter Skye a couple years ago when he spoke in Santa Monica and she graced the audience with her voice. Since then, our friendship has developed and I can safely say that she is one of the kindest people I have ever come across. Together, we are conspiring to make an amazing DVD in 2012, with me teaching yoga and Skye singing. Her voice is lovely as many of you who have heard her sing at her father’s talks or on PBS or through Hay House already know.

What you don’t know is what is coming next for Skye!

I want you all to get to know this woman because she is about to take the world by storm with her music. She plans to release an album of her own soulful music at some point next year where the world will get to see her in a new and profoundly different way. I chose Skye to start off the series with because I found her story to be so inspiring and to resonate so closely with what The Manifestation Station is all about. She chose to follow her bliss and take the road less traveled. And for that, my dear Manifesters, I love her.

She loves deeply and lets that love shine through her voice.

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

Skye Dyer: I am proud of so many things that I have manifested in my life but I am most proud of the love and respect that I have with my husband.

Jennifer Pastiloff: How much of your dad’s (Wayne Dyer) philosophies and words do you live by?

Skye Dyer: I truly live by all of my parents philosophies. I am who I am because of all the wisdom and knowledge that they have bestowed on me, and the freedom to decide if these ideas mesh with who I am. I never take for granted how lucky I am to have been raised by two of the most spiritually intelligent people I have ever met.

JP: One of my favorite stories to hear your dad share is when you wanted to leave school to follow your bliss and be a singer. Can you share with us a bit about that. Not everyone is as much a Wayne Dyer fanatic as I am, so some do not know it.

SD: I have always known my true passion was for music and truly believed in my ability to sing. I was at college studying Jazz Vocal and at school they were constantly reminding us of how it would be very difficult to excel in this profession and that very few of us would be successful, possibly none at all. These ideas did not gel with what I had been taught my whole life, and that was to never put limitations on yourself, and all they were doing was trying to limit our potential. I decided that I was going to switch majors and sing because I loved it and for no other reason. I then decided to leave school and start traveling with my father and gain some experience by singing in front of his audiences. It was the best decision of my life 🙂

JP: What is your favorite part about traveling with your dad?

SD: Getting to spend time with one of my favorite people in this world. My dad is truly the most intelligent person I know and I love that I am constantly learning when I am around him. He also is the most humorous person I know so I love that we are always laughing. Basically my dad is the greatest and I love him.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCxrarPGQwM]

JP: Knowing you personally, I know there is something else waiting for us in terms of Skye Dyer music. What is next for you?

SD: More songwriting that really expresses who I am and what is going on around me or within me. I am always exploring and traveling the world so that I can connect with people thru my music. Hopefully people will finally really know me!

JP: What or who inspires you most?

SD: People that are living a life of service and on purpose, they inspire me the most.

JP: What is Skye Dyer manifesting for 2012?

SD: I am manifesting songs from my heart and the ability to truly touch people with my voice.

JP: I have set of rules. See below. What are some of Skye’s rules?

Skye’ Rules:

1. If you have the choice to be kind or right, always be kind

2. Love with an open heart

3. Remember to laugh at yourself and others

4. Be grateful and enjoy every moment

5. Never care about anyone’s negative opinion it is their opinion not yours

6. Become obsessed with something you love

7. Sweat and meditate everyday

8. A little wine never hurt anybody

JP: If you could thank one person right now, who would it be?

SD: I would thank my husband for loving me unconditionally and always believing in me no matter what.

Skye and her husband.

JP: My dream was to be on Good Morning America. Did it! My next dream is to tour with your dad to at least one city and have him give me a blurb for my upcoming book. ( It’s also to raise at least $500,00 for Prader Willi Syndrome research.) If you could have one dream come true in regards to your music, what would that be? THE WORLD IS LISTENING.

SD: I want my album to come out this year, a collection of songs that really shares who I am with the world, to be touring and singing those songs for people everywhere. And loving every second of it.

The stunning Skye singing her heart out.

JP: I am excited that we are partnering up for my yoga dvd, and even more excited about how our friendship has developed. For those that don’t know, I am a firm believer in ” ask and you shall receive.” The burning question is: Do you practice yoga?

SD: Lol I knew you would ask me this. I do practice yoga but I am not as diligent as I should be, maybe you can whip me in shape 🙂

JP: How does family play a part in your life?

SD: My family strongly shapes every part of my life. They are my world and I am so grateful for each and every one of them. They are all my teachers and my best friends and I don’t know what I would do without them.

To learn more about the lovely Skye please join her Facebook page. Stay tuned for her album and her own world tours!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Skye-Dyer/113118728730689

~~~~~~~~~~

Jen Pastiloff’s rules:

1. Be Kind.

2. Have a sense of humor especially when it comes to yourself

3. Write poems, even if only in your head

4. Sing out loud, even if badly

5. Dance

6. If you don’t have anything nice to say… you know the deal

7. Find things to be in awe of

8. Be grateful for what you have right now . yes, even your little one bedroom apartment with the ugly carpet

9. Watch Modern Family

10. Duh, do yoga

11. Don’t worry. Everyone on Facebook seems like they have happier and funner lives. They don’t.

12. Tell someone you love that you love them. Right now.

13.. Take more pictures.

14. Forgive yourself for not being perfect. no such thing.


Daily Manifestation Challenge, Gratitude, Self Image

What Do You Love About Yourself? Daily Manifestation Challenge

October 16, 2011

Today’s Challenge is a Love Note.

To Yourself.

When I teach kids, special needs or not, and I ask them the question What do you love about yourself? it’s easy for them to answer. It’s like saying yes to cake or staying up late. A no brainer. They have a long list even.

It’s especially inspiring to me to watch the kids with special needs answer this. One of my girls, who is autistic and blind, answered ” my life!” when I asked her what she loved about herself.

She loves her life even though she can’t see a damn thing!

I know a few people I would like to have her hang out with. I would hire her as their teacher and have her show them what self-love and gratitude looks like, in the dark, with no mirrors or television.

I ask my adult students What do you love about yourself?

Dead silence.

Crickets.

Tumbleweeds.

What the hell did she just say? 

Or they pretend I was not talking to them.

Yes you. I am talking to you.

I am not suggesting that you to be conceited or arrogant or think yourself better than anyone else. Quite the contrary. Do you have any idea how inspiring and contagious and humbling it is to be around someone filled with self-love? They never come across as “cocky”.

There is an inherent difference between being arrogant and truly loving yourself. Just think of this: The guy you went out with and maybe even slept with who didn’t call you ever again after he said he would; he’s most likely arrogant. The person who looks at the reflection of themselves in the window instead of looking at you as you speak is arrogant and, frankly, kind of rude.

That’s not self-love we are talking about. These aren’t the people we look to and think Wow, I’d love to live my life like that. I aspire to be that way. The love they have for themselves is overflowing and now I love myself even more! 

I went and saw my mentor Wayne Dyer speak in Pasadena Friday night as his daughter Skye’s guest. She sings at his events. It was a dream come true for me and something I have manifested into my life. He spoke of the the God within each of us. One of the most profound things he talked about was the fact that the only place in the Bible where God is named is the Old Testament. And God’s name is….. I AM.

I am.

Wow.

God is in every single one of us then? 

Yes.

This is not blasphemy. It is finding the part of you that is birthless, deathless and never changing. Call it God, call it what you like, call it “I” even. It is the “I am” in you. In plainspeak, it is the most YOU part of you.

People are often scared to love themselves. I know, I get it. I didn’t love myself for a very long time and even went to great lengths to abuse myself, emotionally and physically.

It’s as if we have been raised by a pack of wolves and told never to love ourselves, at least not openly, or other wolves will eat us.

With children there is no stigma. I taught the kids at the Prader Willi Research Conference of Saturday and we sat in a circle and I asked ” What do you love about yourself?” There was a fight over who would answer first. They all wanted to tell me.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX1zlg_ERcw&feature=channel_video_title]

Can you imagine adults being this way? Authentically? Why not? What are we so afraid of? What the tribe will think? The wolves will get us? We’ll sound stupid?

Probably.

Some may not even be able to think of one thing they love about themselves. It takes practice and a willingness to see the parts of you that at first may not seem like the “best” parts. My hearing loss for instance. It used to make me despise myself but now I feel as if it has made me more compassionate and a healer.

One of the boys this weekend told me he loved his artwork. One said he loved his life. One loved her smile and her belly.

I am still waiting for the day where I say ” I love my belly.”

One of the boys had this tshirt on:

What makes you uniquely you and not Joe the Plumber or your mom or the person texting in the car next to you?

Today’s Daily Challenge is to make a list. You don’t have to check it twice. You just gotta live it! Each day write down at least one thing you love about yourself. No crossing it off, just adding on. For the rest of your life.

In the comment section below, if you feel brave enough and inspired, leave your “Love Note” as it were.

I love my injuries because they have allowed me to be a better yoga teacher.

I love my heart and it’s capacity to love.

I love my hearing loss because my other senses, such as my touch, are that much stronger.

I know it will get hard at times. It gets hard when you are out of work or in a bad mood or feel like you have gained weight or hurt someone or they have hurt you or you have gotten sick. I know it’s hard. Trust me, there are days when I yell and cry and scream “Fu*k you Ears!”

I curse. Get over it.

I am still spiritual but I do curse and drink wine and coffee. And I love that about me, Damnit!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Am that I Am:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I Am that I Am (Hebrew: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎, pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh [ʔehˈje ʔaˈʃer ʔehˈje]) is a common English translation (JPS among others) of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name (Exodus 3:14). It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah. Hayah means “existed” or “was” in Hebrew; “ehyeh” is the first person singular imperfect form and is usually translated in English Bibles as “I will be” (or “I shall be”), for example, at Exodus 3:12. Ehyeh asher ehyeh is generally interpreted to mean I am that I am, though it can also be translated as “I-shall-be that I-shall-be.”[1


Gratitude

Thank the Universe in Advance

September 5, 2011

Thank the Universe in advance for what you are manifesting!

That is the theme of my classes and my life this week.

So here’s what I am thankful for that is on it’s way:

1) A cure for Prader Willi Syndrome ( my best buddy/nephew Blaise suffers from this.)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO930NCKxCA]

2) My Manifestation Yoga ® t-shirt & bracelet line becoming a world wide success. I will be donating all profits to my charity G.A.M.E. Gifts and Miracles Everyday: Free Yoga/Skateboarding for kids with special needs.

3) My Mexico retreat with The Travel Yogi is a fundraiser for Prader Willi research. That money will help find a cure. So thank you! Sign up now. Jan 28- Feb 4 to Xinalani.

4) My new apartment with an extra room where I can do my own yoga and teach yoga privates. We also have an office where my husband can work on his award winning films. Our kitchen is divine and there is loads of light!

5) My tinnitus mellows out and my hearing is crystal clear!

6) My yoga dvd with Skye Dyer music is a huge hit and the beginning of many more to come.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaIHASbf3tc]

7) My memoir is a bestseller and helps inspire many people.

8) Manifestation Yoga ® is a world wide name!

9) My travels around the world with Laura Donnelly as her personal yoga teacher since she has become a huge star around the globe.

10) I’ve brought poetry way back into fashion.

11) My friend Amy Esacove’s film “North Blvd” wins an Academy Award and she is off in NYC doing the show on Broadway.

12) My friend Shana Feste becomes one of the most sought after director in the world and wins an award for female directors who have changed the world.

13) I have bought my parents a house and they are able to retire so they have loads of time to go visit the grandkids who live far away. I am also able to fly my sister and the boys out every two months from Atlanta so we can see each other very often! Money is just energy and I am so thankful it flows so easily now into my life.

14) Christy Turlington and I do a special together about Giving Back! She talks about Every Mom Counts and I talk about GAMEyoga.org and PWS research.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F6hngJFGOk&feature=player_embedded]

15) The next year to be as painless and filled with joy and unforgettable moments as possible for my soul sister Emily Rapp whose baby boy has Tay-Sachs Disease. Her blog “Little Seal” has become a best selling book and she has become an inspiration to people everywhere.

16) My husband Robert Taleghany’s movie “Eyes of The King” starring Luke Goss is an absolute money making slam dunk hit. Luke is a international A-list star and Robert’s Led Zeppelin project is also an unprecedented slam dunk.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_DBFqNr73w]

17) The VeggieBoomBoom show starring Krista Allen is changing the way people eat and treat animals!

18) My Annabel Ruffell painting is worth $50,000 dollars, the cheapest of all her paintings.

19) I am traveling the globe leading Manifestation Retreats ® along with my buddy chef Caspar Poyck and Randy Bruck aka the Malibu Healer, helping transform lives, eating good food, and drinking good wine. Wayne Dyer often joins us. Sometimes it’s Oprah.

**************************************************************************************

A mantra for you: “Whatever I need in the form of assistance to guide me in the direction of my life is not only available, but is on its way.”
What are you thanking the universe in advance for? Act as if! Be in the feeling of what you want to receive. Feel free to share what you are manifesting and grateful for. Yell it from the mountaintops!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU FOR ALL THESE THINGS SHOWING UP!