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Being a young female reader:
Florida State university found that only 31% of children’s books have female central characters. The study was taken from a pole of nearly 6,000 books published from 1900 to 2000. While it could be very hard to qualify the sort of impact this has on woman as a whole, it wouldn’t be far fetched to think that from a young age we teach woman that they are secondary, we teach young woman that they are not the main story but an afterthought to someone else’s, that society finds male characters both standard and more interesting than females. I can only imagine the physiological damage this inflicts on young females. I…
Being Yourself: A Story From the Author
By Sharon Cleere, Author, Namaste Rainbow! After graduating college I felt a tremendous pressure to immediately find a “successful” and “high-paying” job. This pressure came from professors, parents and other graduates but more than this it came from myself buying into the idea that if I had money and had a stable job this would make me happy. So sure enough, despite knowing this was not what I wanted, I quickly found an office job doing legal work. From the initial interview I felt like was pretending to be someone I was not: detail oriented, highly analytic, and systematic, passionate about law. Turns out I am very good at pretending;…
Meditation Myth Buster:
No Right or Wrong Way to Meditate There is a myth out there that meditation is serious stuff: that there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. We might all feel it differently, we might do it at different times, some may even do it more often than others but no one is better or worse at feeling the wind. Similarly, no one is better or worse at meditating. In the same way that there is no right or wrong way to feel the wind on your face, there is no right or wrong way to meditate. Even for those of us who have a hard time…
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Being a young female reader:
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Corporate Wellness: Meditation
Why is meditation is so useful in a company setting? When our jobs require more from us mentally we need a way to find balance. Regarding employee satisfaction, America has come a long way from the industrial revolution. Working conditions were dangerous, hours were long and labor was cheap. Laws over the years have increasingly favored the employee. Unions were born and acts like The Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act were established to protect employees. In more recent years, companies have realized the positive impact the improvement of employee’s lives has had on their bottom line. It is becoming more…
Why Yoga and Meditation Belong Together:
My dog trainer once said to me that a happy dog is a calm dog and a calm dog is one that is balanced both mentally and physically. As much as we humans might think we are different from our pets, in this respect, we are very much the same. We need a proper diet, proper exercise and proper mental stimulation to lead a happy and healthy life. When we are happy and healthy, we are calm. Pretty simple. This is why I have a yoga and meditation practice, it creates balance in my life. Going to yoga is like taking myself on a walk. But it doesn’t stop there,…
Nature and Meditation
Nature and Meditation How can you model your life after nature? “Wu wei” is an important concept in the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism. It is used to describe nature and as a way to model our lives. “Wu wei” translates to mean “effortless action” or “action of non-action.” While this initially might seem paradoxical, the idea is that nature has a way of moving, changing, and acting without effort. A river floats downstream rather than up the mountain. It uses gravity and other elements to pave it’s path naturally. A river is both strong and gentle. So to should humans attempt to live their lives. As a guided meditation…
The Philosophy of Yoga
The Philosophy of Yoga “What even is the philosophy of yoga?” A Philosophy Ph.D and a good friend of mine had inquired in a casual conversation between the two of us, “What even is the philosophy of yoga?” I can see how the confusion would arise. Modern day philosophy at the university level is mostly analytical symbolic logic and science (yes, I realize this is a gross generalization. Philosophy is many things but for this sake, just go with me). Then, there is yoga. In the west, is yoga is often seen as a trendy exercise. However, in the east and as a tradition, yoga is much more than asana (poses), it’s…
We Aren’t All Meant to Be Monks!
We are not all meant to be monks living the spiritual life free of all desires, but we are meant to experience peace. If we were all monks, there would be no sex (no babies), no drugs, no rock and no roll, and while this utopia is a very peaceful, quiet world it isn’t a balanced one. Without darkness there is no light. Without light there is no darkness. We must accept both as one. Photo by: Sam Austin There are two ways to free yourself from desire: the first is to simply let go, the second is to fully indulge until you realize that you no longer needed it…
What is Mindfulness?
If meditation is reaching a point when you have no thoughts, mindfulness is having one thought at a time. Furthermore, it is the ability to choose a thought wisely and move to the next with intention and fluidity. As a meditation and mindfulness instructor, I use a metaphor (stolen straight from the ancient Taoist text, “The Toa Te Ching”) to explain this to my students: the metaphor of the bowl. The usefulness of a bowl comes not from its material but rather, the empty space it creates. From this space comes its ability to hold things. A bowl is not the things that it holds. Similarly, we are not our…
