I’d like to share a poem I came across about 11 years ago. It is one that I often share during my yoga classes. Many of the passages have been extremely relevant to me at different times in my life. There are still a few that remain unanswered, and I am sure I will face many of the questions again and again.
Yoga and this poem came into my life at the same time, and both have been invaluable tools during the ups and downs and highs and lows that I’ve encountered so far. The practice of yoga and the reflections within this poem will connect us to our sometimes hidden truths. It’s that inner truth that isn’t always convenient, but its the space within us where no matter what mistakes we have made and no matter what trouble we have caused ourselves and others, and even as time continues to pass us by, this inner self remains unscathed, pure, loving and authentic and always beckons for our return.
Perhaps reflect on each passage and answer the questions, or return to it from time to time to discover what passage stands out and gives you strength and inspiration on that particular day. Keep in mind that the actual poem is a little different but this is the version I first came across and love. It is paraphrased somewhat.
The Invitation
It doesn’t matter to me what you do for a living, I want to know what your hopes are and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, or for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with your own pain, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, and dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning yourself to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life beauty’s presence.
I want to know if you can live with your failure, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done for your family.
It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with those you love and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. If you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
Free yourself of harmful parabens and synthetic ingredients!
Since I began my yoga practice many moons ago, I became conscience of what exactly I was putting into my body. Its always nice to be able to pronounce and recognize the ingredients of food products before eating them for nourishment. That consciousness eventually spilt over into my world of shin care and I began playing with the herbs, oils and other ingredients I could find in my kitchen pantry.
A morning facial scrub that I use daily is simply:
1 part almond milk
1 part flax meal
I usually let it sit for about 15 minutes so the flax meal can absorb the milk.
When I have extra time I will leave it on my skin until it drys for extra pampering.
The almond milk has a slight bleaching quality due to the almonds which leaves the skin nice and bright and the flax meal is known to protect the skin by its ability to lock in moisture thus keeping irritants out. After the scrub I use straight up coconut oil as a moisturizer.
I also use coconut oil on my kids after they take a bath and one night my daughter began taking fistfuls of the coconut oil and started eating it! It then dawned on me that it made perfect sense to be able to eat what we put on our skin because our body is ultimately absorbs it.
When using these simple ingredients as a mask here is a nice reading while your relaxing.
I AM ME
In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me
Everything that comes out of me is authentically me
Because I alone chose it - I own everything about me
My body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions,
Whether they be to others or to myself - I own my fanatasies,
My dreams, my hopes, my fears - I own all my triumphs and
Successes, all my failures and mistakes Because I own all of
Me, I can become intimately acquainted with me - by so doing
I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts - I know
There are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other
Aspects that I do not know - but as long as I am
Friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously
And hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles
And for ways to find out more about me - However I
Look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever
I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically
Me - If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought
And felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is
Unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that
Which I discarded - I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do
I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be
Productive to make sense and order out of the world of
People and things outside of me - I own me, and
therefore I can engineer me - I am me and
I AM OKAY
Quick Tip: Naturally Simple! Exfoliating body and facial scrub. Take a plate of sugar and a lemon wedge into the shower then dip and scrub away.
By Courtney Dutch
Unfortunately not all skin care products are as safe and natural as the above scrub. Here is a list of potentially hazardous ingredients that are currently used in skin care products.
Are these in the products you currently use? It’s time to check.
Ingredient Use Dangers
Parabens: Heavily used preservatives in the cosmetic industry; used …in an estimated 13,200 cosmetic and skin care products. Studies implicate their connection with cancer because their hormone-disrupting qualities mimic estrogen and could disrupt your body’s endocrine system.
Mineral Oil, Paraffin, and Petrolatum: These petroleum products coat the skin like plastic – clogging pores and creating a build-up of toxins. They can slow cellular development, creating earlier signs of aging. They’re implicated as a suspected cause of cancer. Plus, they can disrupt hormonal activity. When you think about black oil pumped from deep underground, ask yourself why you’d want to put that kind of stuff on your skin…
Sodium laurel or lauryl sulfate (SLS):also known as sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) Found in over 90% of personal care products! They break down your skin’s moisture barrier, potentially leading to dry skin with premature aging. And because they easily penetrate your skin, they can allow other chemicals easy access. SLS combined with other chemicals may become a “nitrosamine” – a potent carcinogen.
Acrylamide: Found in many facial creams. Linked to mammary tumors.
Propylene glycol: Common cosmetic moisturizer and carrier for fragrance oils. May cause dermatitis and skin irritation. May inhibit skin cell growth. Linked to kidney and liver problems.
Phenol carbolic acid: Found in many lotions and skin creams. Can cause circulatory collapse, paralysis, convulsions, coma, and even death from respiratory failure.
Dioxane: Hidden in ingredients such as PEG, polysorbates, laureth, ethoxylated alcohols. Very common in personal care products. These chemicals are often contaminated with high concentrations of highly volatile 1,4-dioxane that’s easily absorbed through the skin. Its carcinogenicity was first reported in 1965, and later confirmed in studies including one from the National Cancer Institute in 1978. Nasal passages are considered extremely vulnerable, making it, in my opinion, a really bad idea to use these things on your face.
Toluene: May be very poisonous! Made from petroleum and coal tar… found in most synthetic fragrances. Chronic exposure linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage…May affect a developing fetus.
