Nicole Doherty: Wellness

One of the biggest wisdom teachings I’ve been gifted in my life is the immense power of appreciation. I stand in awe in recognition of all the amazing things that I have manifested in my life in the last two years through appreciation rituals, preparing myself for the 2012 shift in energy and consciousness. Through consistent appreciation practices, intentions and goals, I have transformed my life and have created abundance in all aspects of my life.  I’d love to share a few things that I’ve learned about appreciation.

What does it mean to appreciate? 

The dictionary states appreciation is an awareness and recognition of aesthetic values, and an expression of admiration, approval and gratitude.  The Law of Attraction would say that to appreciate guides one’s feelings toward better feeling states and thoughts which in turn increases the positive flow of energy and improves our overall state of well being.  When we feel better we are more inspired, thus we begin to tune into a more positive frequency and we attract more of what we want. With more positive energy, we enter a vortex of well being and line ourselves up with Source or the Universal Matrix where we are tapped into life and things flow easily and effortlessly.

How can we appreciate?

I listened to an amazing audio book recently, The Power of Appreciation by Mike Robbins and I want to acknowledge him for inspiring me with some additional information for my toolbox.  Mike Robbins, you have impacted me greatly and for that I’m very thankful!

Change your Perception -  Easier said than done. We live in a society that encourages cynicism and criticism of just about everything. I call it the Seinfeld syndrome. Jerry Seinfeld made complaining cool. I do believe this is changing but look at your attitude.  Can you look for what is working in your life or do you always look for what isn’t.  Notice what you like more than what you don’t.  Flip your perspective and look for the fun and pleasurable.  Release the judge and the critic.  It is challenging in the work and public environments. It seems conversations or stories revolve around people’s faults, how one measures up, one’s demise or the collapse of something. Yoga and meditation have been miraculous practices for me in noticing my negative thought patterns and how I’ve been programmed. In the Yoga Sutras, this practice is called Pratipaksa Bhavanam.  We work to catch the destructive thoughts and focus our minds and cultivate opposite, positive thoughts.  The glass can certainly be full!

Practice, Seek and Take Action – Once you are aware that you need to change your perspective, practice seeking out things to appreciate.  Take action and do and say things that are appreciative. The challenge in our society to acting appreciative is our perception that we lack time.  But little things go a very long way in the field of appreciation.  Buy a stack of cards that inspire you and keep them so that when you want to thank someone you can shoot them a quick note.  Have little post it notes near your desk and when someone does something awesome, post a note on their computer screen. Surprise someone. People love surprises in the world of all things planned. Send an inspirational quote to a friend’s Facebook page just to let them know you are acknowledging them for something. Leave a short voicemail honoring someone each day. Buy small gifts that you have on hand that you give to people you want to appreciate. Learn to be motivating, inspiring and empower people through your encouragement.

Acknowledge Externally – For just a few minutes in the morning and evening take time to journal, pray or meditate on the things that went well in your day.  From the bed that you slept on, to the clothes on your back, to the food that nourished you, to all the people that supported you, to the car that drove you to work, and so on.  There are many daily things that we own, use or encounter that have a huge impact on our lives and the choices we make day to day. Start to recognize even what seems mundane as a true miracle that you and have created in your life.

Acknowledge Yourself – For just a few minutes in the morning and evening take time to journal, pray or meditate on the things that you did well. Sometimes our own goals get in the way because we are trained to see what we didn’t achieve. We spend a disproportionate amount of time concentrating on the negative. So flip this and think about compliments that came your way.  Appreciate tasks you completed or goals you achieved.  Even if you had a rough day, acknowledge that you made it through the day, you used your breath, and you did your best.  There will always be something positive that you can appreciate about yourself.

Be Authentic in Your Appreciation:  It’s easy to say a laundry list of things that you appreciate just to get it done, but that’s not really what the magnetic laws of attraction are all about.  You need to not only name what you appreciate, but really feel the vibration of it. So be genuine when you are appreciating. Place your attention in your heart, not in your mind. Tap into your heart and let the appreciation flow from this authentic place.

Through all these practices of acknowledgment and gratitude, the wellspring of abundance appears naturally.  It really is the principle of “the more you give the more you get”, a natural law of the universe.  When we give abundantly, support appears in return.  Gratitude spreads contagiously because it makes us all feel good and joyful.

I hope today that you can find the time to take a step toward creating a life of abundance by finding a way to appreciate yourself.  Appreciating yourself is the first step in any life practice toward happiness and well being! 

Congratulations to our 14 Day Yogi Seasonal Food Cleansers!  The results are in!  You loved it and some of you are still doing it because you feel so great :-P

We are so proud of you! We want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to work and learn from you as well.  We have received a ton of amazing testimonials and solid positive feedback about the program that we are happy to finally share. We plan to implement your suggestions and continually improve and refine the program with each and every group we work with. We are so excited for this opportunity!

The next Winter Cleanse will be held in January 2012 after the holidays, so I hope you can join us in celebrating transformation after the New Year!

Our cleansers reported that they experienced:
•    More energy and focus
•    More mindfulness
•    Weight loss
•    A whitening of the eyes
•    Softer and clearer skin
•    Detoxifying and cleanse inspired yoga classes
•    A new awareness of their habits regarding food consumption (ie: emotional eating)
•    A better understanding of the importance of buying seasonal, local and organic food
•    Intentional self-care as a necessity, not a luxury
•    Better sleep
•    Reduction or complete removal of habitual substances, like caffeine & alcohol
•    A shift in consciousness around food choices and its origins
•    A deeper understanding of how food is prepared
•    More knowledge about how to shop for food
•    Joy in knowing that raw food could taste great!
•    Creativity in making new recipes
•    That eating less is satisfying and feels better
•    Happiness in sharing this experience with friends or loved one
•    Celebration in how they began to feel
•    A true desire to continue the cleanse even after it is over
•    Gratitude in learning tools that have resulted in true change

Some testimonials are below:

“Thanks again so much for this information really was an incredible experience. I feel great. I have more energy. I am more productive. I wake up easier. What I learned on this was life changing.   Eating this way makes so much sense –   it’s crazy what we’re doing to our bodies with food.”

Thanks again,
Scott A

“I am still following the cleanse regimen……fits perfectly with yoga and running and the weeks preceding Thanksgiving…What I liked about the cleanse was its simplicity.  The simple meals..less food..just as satisfying.   Love feeling light and empty! A sanguine kind of empty not an abyss kind of empty….Recipes are great…I tweaked recipes by adding garlic cayenne butter (raw)…. or more ginger or lemon here and there. Additionally, I wouldn’t mind more raw days…..YES!!!!

I would do this cleanse again…looking forward to the winter cleanse!!!!! and, of course, I am telling everyone how amazing this cleanse was both for the spirit and body…so I am inviting everyone in my immediate circle to join in on the next one! Hopefully, yoga, too!

Thanks to both you and Nicole for taking such good care of us!”

Peace
Judie G

“What I liked most about the cleanase was how thoughtful and mindful it made me. I am totally aware of what I put into my body. I look and feel different, my skin is smoother. The combination of yoga,hiking, the gym and mindful eating, has made me stronger. I loved the stuffed peppers.

Of course I would do this cleanse again  and I would refer anyone to try it in January!”
Liz

If you have ever thought about trying a Vegan diet, or a cleanse, the
two week Bronson Canyon Yogi Seasonal Food Cleanse created by Chrissy
and Nicole is a great way to explore.  The menu is soy-free Vegan
focusing on seasonal organic fruits and vegetables as well as assorted
grains and nuts. During the two weeks there is a period of raw food
only which was a challenge at first but ultimately quite doable.  In
general I was actually surprised at how easy it was to let go of
certain habitual items, like say diet coke.  Since the cleanse my
wife, mostly a vegetarian and I, a confirmed carnivore, have decided
to continue eating Vegan, and have now been doing so for six weeks.
We’re both feeling great and have each lost ten pounds since we
started.  Thank you Chrissy and Nicole!
~David

I loved the thorough information, support, weekly detailed/organized shopping lists and the awesome recipes. I liked that the cleanse advocated farmer’s markets and a more self-sustainable way of living. Mostly, I loved the way the Vegan diet made me feel: energetic, clear-minded, more intuitive and emotionally stable.
~ Erin

Thank you so much again for being a part of this amazing experience with us!  Feel free to contact Chrissy or myself if you’d like to join us for the next cleanse in January.  We are also have private one on one  cleansing clients. So if you can’t participate in the dates that we’ve outlined we will work with you individually to support your journey to a healthier way of living.

We love you all and we hope you have a blessed holiday!!!!!

Peace, love and nourishment.

You are being called to create a new way of living on this planet!

Dear Community,

It has always been a dream of mine to be able to GIVE in a big way to a Festival that has provided me with so much incredible joy in my life.  I can’t say enough about what I have received over the years on so many levels. If you’ve been, you understand what I mean!

After I came back from the Temple in Peru this Spring, I vowed I would touch many hearts deeply this year through offering my love and service of Yoga. What a magical year to take this vow! Not only is the theme Rites of Passage, it’s my 7th year (lucky number 7)!

I am destined to help create a magical high vibrational experience for those around me and I was given these opportunities to offer Love and Seva at the Burn:

• Vinyasa Flow Yoga classes at Camp Osiris at 10 o’clock & Esplanade on Thurs, Fri and Sat at 10:30am (The Great Pyramid – can it get any better for a Yoga theme?)
• Singing my newly release song, Vision of Love,  live with Boomrock Saints so that I can express my extreme gratitude for the Love I’ve received in my life. Thurs 2:45am (coming off Wed night White Party!)

Using my new favorite word…simply…EPIC!!!   Please support me and take this offering of gratitude and love into your hearts.

On a final note, I released Yoga4Burners with my partner, Dr. Gino Dante Borges (The Wild Self) and created a free 20 min audio yoga sequence for download to your iPods or phones specifically to address physical pain from dancing and biking and to Relax & Renew your energy, so you can go out for more fun! Email:  nic@nicolepresents.com for the VIP link invitation from SoundCloud. It’s a limited invite Beta Test. Feedback is required!

The Gold I Gleaned from Wanderlust

The Wanderlust Festival this year was nothing short of incredible. Not only was this festival an opportunity to practice yoga and hear great music, but also it was a chance to collect valuable information from top-notch Yoga teachers around the world and get exposed to yoga modalities I had never tried before.

I think the most important thing that I took away from my Wanderlust experience this year was the importance of being Authentic.  Yoga becomes an expression of who we are as students, teachers and human beings.  The practice is beautiful, ancient and revered. Also, it is a highly creative and expressive art, science and philosophy.  It draws people out of their shell, breaks them down into little pieces and builds them back up into the most powerful expression of Divine love they can be.

We are all unique and it is that uniqueness that develops the Yoga that we teach or practice.  Students will follow whatever expressions they resonate with on a vibrational level and all forms of Yoga are awesome for this reason.

After 12 classes in just four days, I extracted a ton of great ideas and information from the workshops that will improve my practice and my teaching.  Below are some nuggets of information that I wish to pass along from some of my classes.

Rod Stryker
I was fortunate to be able to take three wonderful classes with Rod Stryker of ParaYoga. I could write a few blogs about what I learned through Rod, but will just highlight a few.

Class One – Hatha Yoga Pradipika
He made a point that resonated strongly with me -  a reminder -  that Yoga is not just about the muscles, asanas and breath, but also its about the Endocrine System, our organs.  It’s our organs that give us longevity and we use the breath and the bandhas to change the health of our organs.

Class Two – Treta Bandhas
Udiyana Bandha is the master key to Yoga.  This is where the fire (agni) burns up what Rod Stryker calls our “landfill”, the emotional stuff that resides in our second chakra that we need to burn up to get our spiritual Kundalini energy rising from the base of the spine.  He says Mula Bandha gets all the press, but it’s the Udiyana Bandha that we need to stoke.

Class Three – Prana Viyus
He was masterful in explaining the Prana Vayus. We watched our breath as it relates to the five Vayus. As teachers, we could watch our students’ breath through the five subsets and as it got shaky or stuck somewhere, we could relate that directly back to the physical and psychological blocks they were encountering in their lives.  This exercise was poignant for those participating and a real learning experience on the connection between breath and subtle energies.

Rod’s funny response to our discussion on the Apana Vayu and the importance of elimination on a physical and psychological level….“Spirituality goes out the door if you haven’t crapped in four days!”

I would highly suggest checking out Rod Stryker. His new book the “Four Bodies” was just released and I would bet that it’s nothing short of amazing!
This is his website:  http://parayoga.com/

CorePower Yoga
CorePower Yoga was an expression of Yoga rooted in physical training and fitness. It was a high-energy class filled with lunges and Utkatasanas.  We used weights to sculpt and sweat a bunch.  I could see this form of Yoga doing really well for the gym devotee and was very happy that I got to experience it.  I could see myself hitting one of these classes once a week to really get the heart rate up and challenge myself on a physical level. CorePower Yoga teacher Becky reminded me that, “there are seeds of transformation at every turn.”

Seane Corn
Seane is epic all the time!  I don’t even know where to start other than to say that I find her to be one of the most empowering individuals on the planet.  She always has a huge message and it calls you to do great things. When I leave her classes I want to be her – a badass – ready to save the world, raise money and do something great!

I could write a book of favorite quotes from Seane, but this one was particularly funny and it stuck out in my mind…(it’s paraphrased)… “Wow, I just whiffed the alcohol some of you are sweating out. I’m getting high off your sweat. Luckily, Yoga is a practice of detoxification!”

Shiva Rea
I walked out of Shiva’s class with Random Rab and Steve Gold and found myself walking around completely stoned off her energy. It’s Shakti -  its sensual and mystifying.  I don’t even know if we did much asana, but we sure shifted our consciousness quick.  What I love about Shiva is her willingness to be spontaneous, her ability to hold space and allow people to dive into their sensuality. I get high off her love of music and dance. It’s a breed of Yoga that’s just plain … Shiva.

Off the Mat and Into the World – “Finding Your Voice” with Suzanne Sterling, Kerri Kelly and Hala Khouri
A revealing and empowering experience!  We worked with our fifth chakra, Vishuddha, to enhance our ability to communicate.  In our society, many of us are told at a young age that we can’t sing or that we shouldn’t say something when maybe we want to.  From these mini traumas we close down in this center.  We are dying to express ourselves! We learned the power of singing as a tool to heal, express and release the tension we’ve accumulated at the throat.  Together, we practiced opening this chakra through asana, moaning, groaning, shouting and above all singing as a large community.   I realized that we are all amazing singers and have tremendous voices when we can sync up as a community and feel safe and supported! Beautiful.

John Friend, “Creating Potent Themes”
All heart, all the time.  John Friend is a devotee to Bhakti – devotional being and practice. He embodies Yoga as a prayer. In his workshop, Creating Potent Themes, we discussed the importance of language in creating an experience for students of Yoga.  He taught us how we can call upon themes as they relate to the Universal Divine and how themes draw upon heart characteristics. As an example, we analyzed the ‘Five Elements’ and how they relate to actions in our bodies, characteristics of the heart and ultimately express the Divine.  I love Anusara and its intention to open to grace and love!

Kathyrn Budig
I knew Kathryn was beautiful as I see her in Yoga Journal all the time, but I had no idea how down to earth and absolutely adorable and funny she was until Wanderlust.  She’s hilarious and promotes fun and joy! She also has a sick practice and is really great with analogies, simple instruction and making really hard poses achievable.  I look forward to taking many more classes with her in the future.

Michael Franti
I captured part of a story he was telling and thought I’d share it. It’s a little cut off at the end but you can just see his sweetness! He is astounding. Michael is a family man, a musician, a Yogi, a businessman and a spiritual guy.  His energy is profound and intoxicating.  He’s got a heart of gold and a real purpose on this planet to help transform it.

Overall, Wanderlust Festival was amazing and I look forward to next year and all the related events they are hosting around the U.S.

Yoga is a conscious practice that is raising the vibration of this planet one breath at a time on a massive scale. I feel so blessed, honored and grateful that I am able to get on my mat every day and experience this gift of breath and transformation.

Great thanks to the Wanderlust Festival founders for having this vision and manifesting it into our reality!