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! 

YOGI SEASONAL FOOD CLEANSE – Fall Dates Announced!

Tuesday, October 11th – Monday, October 24 (14 days). Just in time for Halloween ;)

It’s time to cleanse before the crazy holidays! Join our professional team of yogis for a 14 Day Fall Cleanse designed to align your physical and energetic bodies as the weather and season changes.  You will learn how to detoxify and heal the body through the use of local, organic, sustainable food and use our yoga practice to further eliminate toxins and boost your immune system in preparation for the holiday and flu season.  This is the ultimate “foodie” cleanse!  No starving here, just wholesome clean foods that will make you feel better than ever!  We hope that after participating in the 14 Day Fall Cleanse, you will attain the knowledge that will guide you toward long term healthier practices and an enhanced life!

14 Day Cleanse Includes:

• One in-person group q & a meeting (optional)
• Daily outdoor yoga classes at “Bronson Canyon Yoga” geared specifically toward the cleansing process. ** if you are out of town email us about discounts or book Skype privates for yoga sessions
• Email forum/Facebook
• PDF workbook including a detailed description of the cleanse, expert advice on how to succeed and get the most out of the cleanse, journal templates, 2 week sample menu, shopping lists, list of local farmers markets and organic markets, vegan restaurant guide, delicious seasonal vegan recipes and more.

Save the Date: (optional class)
Sunday, October 9th
9:30am morning Yoga class + in-person group meeting

Price:
Early Bird Special!!!  Pay by October 1st and pay only $150!!!
$190 (under $14 a day including yoga!!!)
Email us if you are not located in LA or can’t attend yoga for discounted cleanse options.
nic@nicolepresents.com

Yogi Seasonal Food Cleanse

Bronson Canyon Members $50.00 Cleanse No Yoga $80.00 Cleanse Yoga 6 Days $120.00 Full Program – 12 Days Yoga $190.00 Trade (email us) $0.00

I have a new game that’s really fun.  I call it “The Awesome ABC’s”!

I can’t think of any “ABC’s” first without actually breaking into song… so let’s take a breath to honor MJ, send him gratitude and get that out of our system!

“A-B-C…is easy as 123…or simple as…do re me, ABC, 123, baby you and me girl! “

OK…Moving on!

I started compiling a list of super cool, positive words that I could reference daily. By using these types of words I am projecting a better all around feeling and based on the Law of Attraction I know this will bring more profound positivity and better feeling thoughts.  Those, in turn, will inspire others and me with more yummy goodness!

If I find myself using negative language, I quickly identify the emotion behind it, acknowledge it, challenge my negativity and replace those thoughts with my awesome, inspirational ABC’s.  This process in Yoga is called Praktipaksha Bhavana as explained in Yoga Sutra 2:33, “When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite (positive) ones should be thought of. “  In the Vortex, by Esther and Jerry Hicks, there are powerful tools like “The List of Positive Aspects” or the “Positive Rampage of Appreciation” that work similarly .  These tools allow you to get into a higher energetic vibration (the Vortex) based on writing lists of positive thoughts to break habits and patterns of negativity. There are many great tools for breaking patterns and releasing negative thoughts. You’ll have to attend my workshops to get more in depth and familiar with this work!

Here’s a small sample of my word collection moving through the alphabet!  I will leave it up to you to create your own collection of words.

Alive
Beautiful
Courageous
Delicious
Evolve
Freedom
Grace…

There are so many more great words!  So don’t stop here.  Go to Z.  Take out a pen and paper and start writing! Then, if you are inspired, take a few of these awesome words and weave them into your personal mission statement (if you have one)! Before you know it, you are feeling great and you have all these new words at your disposal that imbue the community with love!

Hope you have fun with this new game!

The start of a new year is a great time to set intentions! I used to set goals with numbers all the time or I’d say “I’m not going to do xyz.” This year I’m taking a whole new approach to intentions one that I think is way more powerful. As I know from the Law of Attraction that saying you are NOT going to do something just brings that NOT into focus and existence in your life. The goals with numbers can be good, but if you are a perfectionist like me, you can be setting yourself up for disappointment if you aren’t exact, then you feel bad. Why set intentions that don’t make you feel good?

So this year my intentions are positive statements. These are ways I wish to manage my life. These are all attainable and manageable and written in a way that is simply inspirational to me! So I wanted to share them with my community. If you share your intentions you can also be held accountable for them and I love having the support of my community to keep me true to my intentions!

My Intentions for 2011 (and beyond)!

To Love Myself

To Forgive the Past

To Live in the Now

To Have Compassion in My Heart

To Hold Space for Listening and Understanding

To Listen to My Inner Wisdom

To Have Gratitude for Even the Simplest Things

To Give and Receive Equally

To Honor All Things as Divine

To Love Freely

To Bring Happiness and Joy to the World

To Embody Peace and Love

To Watch My Mind and Guide It Toward Stillness as Often as I Can

To Sing A Lot

To Practice Yoga All The Time

To Dedicate My Time to Serving Others

To Respect Others Path’s Without Judgment

To Speak My Truth

To Release Fear-Based Programming and Language

To Find Balance

To Trust in the Wisdom of the Universe

To Believe in Me