sweet '16

Happy new year!

Have you have made intentions for 2016? Or is it just like any other day, neither anticlimactic nor obsessively goal-oriented?

Whether it's a new year or a new morning, we have the opportunity to create space for a clear intention and trust that the universe will hear us. It's like directing a movie, be it New Year's Eve or January 7th, and we as the authority figure of our script/production/editing etc have the power to make it so.

Bumps and obstacles arise, this is inevitable and does not mean we have failed, or that all hope is lost. This is where yoga comes in handy by teaching us how to not completely lose our minds, or at least to bounce back with a little more awareness and a little less edge.

There is no need to force anything: resolutions, outcomes, goals, yoga poses, diets, hairstyles, appearance, mindset, life. The more we force, the more resistance we face.

Loosen the grip and watch things slide their way into place as the heart gets a clearer on what it wants, even if it's not how originally expected [while we're at it, we can consider softening the expectation, too]. Like Eckhart Tolle mentioned in the quote above: create a space for transformation to happen.

When I was back in California over the holidays, I felt a peace of mind and relaxation that I knew I had not made adequate space for during the holidays. My grip was fiercely attached to my schedule, and although it was fulfilling my brain was at capacity. 

I invited the California ease-fullness to roll into 2016 with me from it's relatively quiet preceding week, and so I intend to keep the remainder of the year as smooth as possible, or at least to re-access that feeling whenever I find myself caught up in le rat race. I intend to wake up and invite it into every day.

Today is another day that just so happens to be in the first week of the new year. Wake up and envision the day, it's no different than making a vision board for 2016. Go live that vision board. 

Most importantly, remember we are worth those intentions, and we are most certainly enough.

Read on for a collection of my recipes [tell me your fav!], upcoming events, smooth new jams and more. 

*Photo by Renee Choi, wearing Ohm K eco elephant gear.