“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” ~African Proverb

A recurring theme that comes up in a lot of our classes is self-talk. You know, the internal commentary that goes through our heads non-stop, EVERY. DAY? You know you do it, right? We all do it! We talk to ourselves so often that we don’t even realize that we’re doing it!

Self-talk isn’t a problem when the commentary is benign, but when it turns negative, it can have a huge affect on how we feel and how we behave. Let’s face it. We can really be our own worst enemy and the truth is that most of our commentary consists of cruel, inaccurate, unhelpful, unsupportive, negative statements about ourselves and others. How many times have you said to yourself “i’m never going to be good at this” or “this person doesn’t like me” or “you’re such an idiot, how could you have locked your keys in the car,” etc? We can be really hard on ourselves and when we are hard on ourselves on the inside, it shows on the outside.

So this weekend we challenge you to get your negative self-talk in check!

Last week, Steven Espinosa reminded us that doing something faster is not always better. Often times doing something faster or rushing through something means that we are “checked-out” or not present. In addition, you can actually end up hurting yourself. So this weekend, whether you find yourself rushing around the house, rushing your kids or rushing through your practice, we challenge you to SLOW DOWN. Mindful, conscious movement is always a better choice.

In our world of yoga, the saying “practice makes perfect” does not exist. We can only strive to get better and better. We start off as beginners, then we become mediocre, then we become  good, then we become  great, then we become amazing and so on and so forth. The point is, you will never be perfect. You can only be better than you were the day before. So this weekend we challenge you to do just that – strive to be a little more amazing than you were yesterday, on the mat and off.

This week we celebrated a very important day. Earth Day. But why is something as precious as our mother earth only celebrated one day a year? This weekend we challenge you to make a commitment to celebrate Earth Day everyday! Learn more about the environment and what you can do to protect it. From turning off the water when brushing your teeth to switching to online bill payments, if each of us does just a little a bit, together we can help make a big difference!

What do you do to help protect mother earth? Leave your answers in the comments section below.

“It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of someone else’s life with perfection.” – Bhagavad Gita

According to yogic philosophy, we are all put on this earth to fulfill a specific purpose and to follow a unique path; however, most of us spend so much time putting others needs in front of our own and trying to please everyone and anyone around us, that we become completely disconnected from our sense of self and stray far off of the path that we were meant to take. We wake up only to realize that we have unknowingly been living life for everyone else but ourselves.

So this weekend we challenge you to take some time to try and reconnect to your life’s purpose – make your way back onto the path that you might have strayed from. If you don’t quite know what that purpose is, the first step is to know who you really are. Dig deep to figure out what captivates your heart, what your passionate about it and what it is that really makes you happy. Your purpose will follow.

Last month, Stephanie Snyder reminded us about the importance of staying in the moment for the sake of joy. So this weekend, if you catch yourself thinking about what’s to come or thinking about what happened in the past, remember that joy is now, joy is in the moment.

When some people think of the word yoga, they think it means twisting themselves into crazy, impossible poses. For others, yoga means to be in perfect tune – that your mind, body and soul are in absolute harmony. For those of us who understand how powerful yoga can be, in every aspect of life, we challenge you to spread the word. So this weekend, we encourage you to tell someone who does not practice yoga, how yoga has positively affected or changed your life.

How has yoga changed your life? Please let us know in the comments section below.

We shared a photo awhile back that had the words “If you want to know what it feels like to be lucky, take breath.” It caught a lot of attention because it is such a beautiful reminder that each day given to us is a blessing. So this weekend, we challenge you and remind you to count your blessings, no matter how big or small they are and even on those days when you feel like you have nothing to feel blessed about. Remember that each day you are able to laugh, smile, speak, breathe, walk and talk is a blessing.

“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” ~Mahatma Ghandi

How often do you let other people’s thoughts and attitude affect your own? If a close friend, family member or colleague is in a bad or negative space, it can be really hard not to let it affect you – especially if that person is very close to you or if you are around that person a lot. Sometimes, you might not even know that they are affecting you until you catch yourself being a bit snooty or mean and say to yourself  ”Whoa, where did that come from? That’s so not me!” So this weekend we challenge you to examine some of the relationships that might be bringing you down. Remember, the mind is a powerful tool and only YOU have control over who affects it and who doesn’t.

Most of us think about it, yet only some of us really do it. Pay it forward. Where you experience a random act of kindess and in return, you do a random act of kindess for someone else. It’s such a simple act and it really should come natural to us, yet a lot of us are so caught up with life and responsibilities that we forget or it doesn’t dawn on us to do it. So this weekend we challenge you to pay it forward. Not because someone did something kind for you, but because it enriches the soul when you can make someone happy. Not only that, but can you imagine if every person did a small, random act of kindess everyday? The world might (just might!) be a better place.