Heart Centered Morning Yoga + Breath Work Part 1

Here is a heart-centered morning yoga flow because I believe everything health starts within. I want to emphasize the strength and courage we all have in our hearts. We should not only send kindness and love towards others but also towards our selves. In this video, you can see a breath technique that helps draw focus on the heart. I also believe a strong core is what holds us up strong in the physical realm. I hope you feel infused with self-love, compassion, courage, energy, strength and resilience to take on life’s challenges, and if not don’t be hard on yourself. We are all a work in progress 💜🙏🏻

Professional snowboarder and four-time Olympian Kjersti Buaas is passionate about that health is a holistic approach. Here e is a heart-centered morning yoga...

Get out of your mind - The Reason Why Modern Society is stressed

We all know that feeling of rushing through our day, disconnected, unfocused, feeling behind on our to do list and stressed out of our minds. In fact, I believe that last saying “stressed out of our minds”is not used properly to describe this situation. When we are stressed we are actually very much into our minds, in fact so much that we believe we are our minds and our identity is the content of our minds. This identification and the absence from the present moment are two things that tend to cause lots of stress in the body.

The key to elimination of this stress, is to bring awareness and attention to the #PRSNT moment. In this moment it is nothing to fear, nothing to be stressed about, because stress and fear belongs to the ego and the ego simply can’t live here. The ego feeds on thoughts and identification, labeling, drama, future and past. In the present, time doesn’t even exist, because this is the only moment that is. It doesn’t need time. Time is future and past. The ego likes time and tries to tell you you are sooo busy and have no time.

So, next “time” you are running around, stressed and crazy, stop yourself & take a second to tune in with your breath. The breath lives in the moment so you can always trust that it will help calm you. It’s like an inner GPS for peacefulness.

EASY TIPS YOU CAN DO TO BRING YOURSELF INTO THE PRSNT MOMENT

• If you extend your exhales and make them about twice as long as your inhales you will notice the instant benefits that happens due to a neurological switch of your nervous system.

• Extended exhale triggers the relaxation part of the nervous system and is a great way to channel peacefulness.

• You can’t be present and stressed at the same time.

• You will not feel chaos when you are peaceful.

• Embrace this moment & reconnect with who you truly are. Then, as you keep going with your day and feel stress arise, return to the Prsnt moment with your breath as a guide

LOOSE YOURSELF

FINDING MY INNER ZEN IN THE WOODS OF COLORADO CAPTURED BY ALI VAGNINI FOR ZEAL OPTICS

Ever thought about the concept of what would happen if rather than trying to find yourself, you completely let go and allowed to loose yourself? The practice of NOT trying to find myself feels strange and challenging, but to be honest; to completely be comfortable with not knowing who I am is the most liberating thing i’v ever felt. It’s even more liberating than hitting a 80 foot jump on a snowboard, flying through the air (this can be scary too but most of the time liberating 😊)With this approach to life, I am realizing that my expectations around who I should be is disappearing. Even other people’s expectations are disappearing, as they were only illusions of a limited mind anyways. What is left is just me. Exactly what I was looking for in the first place. It’s my Being. Not defined. Not categorized. When we give up trying to define our selfs, we open up space for our Being to come to life. Additionally, we open up space for others to be just them selfs too. Pure consciousness without labels, makeup, fancy clothes or gold medals. It’s life itself and here in the PRSNT moment we are always enough 

MOVING MEDITATION

SWIMMING CAN BE A GREAT MOVING MEDITATION

P: @chanellesladics

What is your relationship with the #PRSNT moment? Every day I do 2 x 20 minutes meditation sessions but to be fully transparent, some days it can be challenging to find space and time to practice. This especially happens when family is around or I have a long “to do list” or if I am really stressed out. With that said, I know how beneficial a consistent meditation practice is, so rather than getting frustrated when I can’t do my regular practice, [or skipping the meditation] i’v learned to find a way to flex and flow with what er is going on around me. One solution that I absolutely love is to practice #movingmeditation 🏊‍♀️ This style of meditation can be integrated into activities like for example running, swimming and snowboarding. In fact, you might even feel like you have been meditating while immersed in these activities. The reason for this is that when we connect with our bodies and breath, we naturally become a part of the #PRSNTmoment, because the body and our breath is always present.

RUNNING, TUNING INTO THE BREATH AS A MOVING MEDITATION

When we systematically apply a technique of breath awareness to an activity, we draw the attention of our minds into the moment and practice what is called a moving meditation. It’s similar to when you just get “lost” in the activity but with an added layer of mindfulness. The result is a strengthened capacity to return to the #prsnt moment - In day to day life, when stressful situations arise, this is a great tool to have in your tool belt. Did you know that fear can’t live in the present moment? The ego, who is is responsible for triggering fear, pain, disappointment and so on, can’t survive in the now. That’s why, when we draw our attention into the #PRSNT moment, we feel so good. We become free from the ego and feel love, fulfillment and bubbling positive vibrations 🙏🏻

What actually happens when we write down our goals!

It amazes me what happens when we actually write down our goals and start taking action to invest in them...

On a rainy day in the fall of 2016, after a work out in my garage, I wrote down some thoughts on a piece of paper. I don't know if you can relate, but often when I am in movement, I feel really creative and inspired to take on life. It´s something about the natural aspect of being in the flow of movement that ignites me, sparks my inside flame and brings me the confidence to think I can take on the world :) 

I started to scribble away on the paper and said to myself to just let anything come out - not to judge my thoughts or feel like it had to be perfect. I had a blurry vision and it needed to come out in the shape and form it wanted to. Eventually, I paused and realized that my vision had become more clear as I put the words on my paper. I saw that I had created myself some pretty epic, abstract goals. It sounded something like this:

I am here to guide meditation to big and small groups, help spread love and compassion and elevate the collective consciousness. Keywords: Big room, people meditating and breathing together, another form of speaking gig where we are elevating together. The audience is feeling and doing, not only listening...

How will I attract this: Take a meditation course and be open to every opportunity. I will attract this naturally as I am following my inner compass (heart)

I didn't really know what, when, where this goal would manifest, but I folded the paper and knew that because I had followed my heart, I would not need to fight to make this happen...In December 2017 I started studying meditation with an online program.

Dream Team aka Me, Klaudia Medlova, President of The UN Mr Lajčák & Chanelle Sladics 

Skip forward about 6 months as I find myself in New York, at the United Nations Head Quarters. During the winter Olympics in South Korea I had received an invitation by the UN president himself to the #Youth72 Dialoge together with professional athletes, Chanelle Sladics and Klaudia Medlova. As we arrived at the UN I was told that I had a spot to speak during the open mic session. At first, I panicked, as I didn't know what to talk about on such short notice, on such an "important" stage. But, as the president himself opened up the conference by saying, the more raw and organic, the better, I felt sort of calmer. The planner in me wanted to prepare so badly but the freestyler in me spoke louder. I took the challenge to let go of control and trust that whatever came out on stage was perfect for the moment. I walked nervously on to the stage with my bare feet...

Continue reading below the video for the full story...

Professional snowboarder and four-time Olympian Kjersti Buaas is passionate about physical health but also about mental and spiritual health. She has been practicing meditation for 8 years and uses it in preparation for and during big competitions.

When I came back home I found some old notes on a piece of paper. To my surprise (yes, I had forgotten about what I wrote on that rainy day) I had accomplished the abstract goal I wrote down about a year ago. Looking back at this video reminds me that when we follow our inner compasses we will start to attract what is true to us and what belongs to us...

So I want to ask you some questions:

What are you dreaming about?

Do you have any goals written down at the moment?

If not, what is preventing you from writing down your goals and dreams?

What needs to change in order for you to start writing down your goals and take action on them?