Oprah.com on Finding Your Passion

According to Oprah.com's Cheryl Richardson, there are five steps to finding your passion. All five are worth reading but my favorite step is this one: Take a Risk.

Step Five: Take a Risk.Stop thinking about your passions and start doing something. Take a risk, and step out to try something new. By challenging your fear with action, you'll not only raise your self-esteem, you'll expand your comfort zone. If you're not sure of what to do, ask a trusted friend or partner for ideas. Remember that good luck happens when you're in action. And, if you try something new (even if you're not sure of the outcome), you may discover a passionate interest by accident!

To read Cheryl's complete guide to finding your passion, click here.

Adventure Site of the Week: Under the Milky Way

There are adventures for the mind and body and there are adventures for the spirit. Rita at "Under the Milky Way" is training for all three as she prepares to walk a 500-mile long pilgrimage through Spain. I asked Rita to describe her upcoming trip and here's what she had to say:

I am an avid traveler, always looking for my next adventure. This time that adventure is a 500 mile Spiritual Pilgrimage, trekking across northern Spain, along an ancient footpath called the Camino de Santiago, through 3 mountain chains, some of the most beautifully preserved medieval villages, mostly unchanged in over 1,000 years, and some of the most scenic countryside in Europe, to the tomb of the Apostle Saint James. It is the 3rd most important Pilgrimage in the world, topped only by Rome and Jerusalem.

I will walk between 5 to 8 hours each day for more than a month, carrying the bare necessities on my back and staying in a network of places along the way, mostly in hostels, convents and monasteries.

The journey is an amazing experience in simplicity, leaving behind all the luxuries and conveniences of home, along with all the stress, burdens and politics. They say the road offers many lessons to all who walk it, the most profound being the journey of self discovery.

When asked why, at 62, I am taking on such an arduous journey, both physically and mentally challenging, even for someone much younger in years, I cannot give a clear-cut answer. I can only say that I am enjoying training by walking and hiking daily and I am looking forward to what the journey has to offer.

My Pilgrimage begins soon. I leave for Spain on September 6 to start my journey.

You can follow my progress by reading my blog which I will be updating while making my way across Spain.

To follow Rita's adventure, click here to visit, Under the Milky Way

Image courtesy of Rita at Under the Milky Way

Book Review: "Find Your Way Home"

I started this blog because I wanted to inspire women to expand their horizons, try something new and push their comfort zones. For some women that might mean surfing in a hurricane, for some women it means learning to swim. For some women, whose lives have been the hurricane itself, it means finding calm.




Find Your Way Home by the Women of Magdalene
A book review by Lorna Harris

I grab the keys to my house each day without a thought. Sometimes I complain because I can’t find them, they’re lost in the vast array of stuff filling our house. But they’re just keys. That’s all.

Reading Find Your Way Home I realized that a key offers you so much: security, love and a place to come home to. As one of the Women of Magdalene writes, "When I walked in, they handed me a key. I was so thankful to have that key."

This week the Women of Magdalene are celebrating their work and their new book. Written by 20 women, the book includes stories of prostitution, drug abuse and violence but each woman finds her way to the Magdalene community. Each woman is given a key and security.
The women in the community live by 24 rules inspired by the classic Benedictine Rule. Women come to the community and live together for two years, then graduate to become "sisters who are committed to one another for life."

Reading the stories in Find Your Way Home you realize that all of these women have reached a point where they feel there is nowhere else to turn. No one to help them. Some have received a copy of the book in prison and know that then when they leave, they have a place to go home to. Others have been approached on the streets and taken in. The stories are heartbreaking but have a positive outcome. Hopefully the work of the community will continue and more women will be able to turn to Magdalene when they need it.

There are many ways to support the work the community does including buying a copy of the book for yourself or for a local library or prison. Give a copy to a woman you meet on the streets along with toiletry items. Take a picture of a thistle growing in your city and send it to Thistle Farms to be used in their thistle gallery at www.thistlefarms.org.

The name, Thistle Farms, comes from the only flower that grows along the streets and alleys where the women walk. Despite their prickly appearance a beautiful flower emerges with deep roots.

When you pick up your keys this week, take a minute and think about what they mean, the security they offer and the importance of coming home.

By the way, the women of Thistle Farms have just launched their own blog. You can find it here.

Meditation Marathon

I was just reading an interesting post at the Everything Yoga Blog. There is another site holding "Compassion Meditation Marathons" every Saturday through 2009. Their goal: to bring more compassion into the world through 1 million hours of meditation.

For me, meditation is a quiet time when I focus on freeing my mind from any thoughts and concentrate simply on my breath, so I wondered how a site could organize an online meditation marathon. To be honest, it's pretty neat.

The emphasis here is on guided meditation, where someone verbally walks you through visualization and positive thoughts. There are 40 separate guided meditations on this site and you can sit for a marathon and go through all 40 or you can do several at a time for several weeks in a row. Check the step-by-step instructions on the left side of the home page or click here for instructions on how to get started.

If you are new to meditation this is an easy way to begin your own practice. If you are experienced then you already know the wonderful benefits meditation can bring into your life. Either way, I encourage you to visit Compassion Meditation Marathons for a peaceful inner adventure.

Addendum (4/17/10):
I recently learned about a nice site that will help you take mini meditation breaks throughout your day.  Visit the Mindfulness Bell and set the pleasant bells to ring at regular intervals or randomly. As long as you are near your computer, you'll hear the tones gently reminding you to take a moment to concentrate on your breath and quiet your mind. 

Try Taiji (Tai Chi)

Monday I wrote about wushu as an umbrella word for Chinese martial arts and focused a bit on the "external" art of kung fu. While it's dramatic, fun to do and very fun to watch, the fast-paced art might not be your style. Another option in the wushu family tree is taijiquan, also known as tai chi.

Tai chi is known as an "internal" martial art meaning players use mind and body together to produce soft, highly-coordinated moves that are as effective against an opponent as those of the more explosive external styles. It is said about tai chi players that one ounce of effort can move 1,000 pounds of force. It is also said that a tai chi master is steel wrapped in cotton. (It is also said that it takes a very long time to become a tai chi master.) At this point, you may be thinking, "Wait, I thought tai chi was that slow-motion exercise that the elderly do in parks." Well, it's that too.

Depending on your instructor, tai chi may be taught strictly as a slow exercise or it may be taught as a traditional martial art where the martial application of each posture is practiced against an opponent. In both cases, tai chi players practice "the form," transitioning through a series of postures, slowly, softly and without stopping. Doing the form will strengthen the legs, improve balance, increase circulation and focus the mind. Click here for the Mayo Clinic's article about tai chi's health benefits.

There are a number of different tai chi styles including the oldest, Chen, and the most popular, Yang. Chen is characterized by low stances and explosive movements while Yang style is the known for continuous soft movements. Finding the style and instructor that are right for you may take a little work. Visit schools, take sample classes, talk with instructors. As a long-time tai chi player, I can tell you it's worth the effort.

Click here to watch Kelly MacLean doing a beautiful Chen routine.

Pick One Thing That Scares You...

Since this week has a bit of a book theme, I have a book-based challenge for you. I just finished reading a terrific book, The Friday Night Knitting Club. Author Kate Jacobs has woven many themes through her novel but one of my favorites has to do with facing a fear (not too surprising). There is a point in the story where a character addresses the women of the club and declares, "Let's all make a pledge to do something that scares us. Something that will challenge us." I think this is a great idea!

Here's your challenge for the next seven days, think of one thing that makes you uncomfortable (maybe it's holiday related, maybe it's just a personal fear) and tackle it. Be adventurous and try Mabel's turnip casserole, tell your family how much they mean to you, read Philip's manuscript, stop smoking right now, give the holiday toast, register for that class, sing out loud....

You could put this off by turning it into a resolution for 2009... but can you think of a better way to end the current year? What challenge am I going to give myself? After my rant of last week, I think I'll bake a pie.

Labyrinth: A Maze or Something More?

Some use the terms labyrinth and maze interchangeably but there are differences. A maze, like a corn maze, is a puzzle of multiple paths, dead ends and separate entrances and exits.

Looking at the picture above, you will notice that the labyrinth's winding pathway does not have dead ends and is not hidden by high walls. In fact, you can see the layout of the entire design at a single glance. Ultimately, where a maze is a fun way to lose yourself, a labyrinth can be a way to find what you have lost.

There is only one path in a labyrinth and it takes you to the center of the circuitous design. To exit, you must reverse your steps and the entrance becomes the exit. A walker who allows her mind to become peaceful as she travels the labyrinth's path will experience an inner adventure. According to Veriditas.org, "...there are three stages to the walk: releasing on the way in, receiving in the center and returning when you follow the return path back out of the labyrinth. Symbolically, and sometimes actually, you are taking back out into the world that which you have received. "

Dating back as far as 5,000 years, labyrinths are found around the globe in many cultures and many spiritual traditions. To find a labyrinth near you, use Veriditas’ World-wide labyrinth locator.

If you are housebound or you need a break at the office, try a virtual labyrinth walk. Labyrinth Online offers two virtual options. The first is modeled after the famous design found in France's Chartres Cathedral. You can “walk” this labyrinth by visually following the ball along the path. The second, classical labyrinth, offers a shorter virtual walk.

Photo credit: Roberta Sautter, Veriditas

Yoga: An Inner Adventure

This is a guest post from Diane Cesa, yoga therapist, writer of The Everything Yoga Blog and sooo much more. For more about Diane, see her "Adventurous Woman" post.

If you’ve yet to have an experience with yoga (or perhaps you’ve had a bad one), you may think that yoga is all about wearing stylish yoga clothes, or bending yourself into pretzel-like positions, or sculpting a tight bum or ripped abs, or burning incense and chanting OM (typically in a cave high a top a mountain in some foreign land). There are a lot of off-base ideas about yoga out there. There’s also a commercialized version of this ancient practice out there as well. Unfortunately, all of this buzz about yoga has focused attention in the wrong place.

Yoga goes beyond the cool clothes, the lean bodies, the talk of vegetarianism and being eco-friendly, the label “hip, cool, and sexy,” and anything else that you might believe or have heard about yoga. Open your mind and welcome to the wonderful world of yoga…

What is Yoga?
Often you’ll hear that the definition of yoga is union or to link or join. Those are correct but it’s not simply about joining to something else for the sake of union – it’s linking to something purposefully, intelligently. For example, if a person who starts practicing yoga is a smoker, overtime he/she may unlink from smoking and link to yoga. There is a joining to something positive, which then negates the need to join to the cigarettes.

If you go back to the definitive text on yoga – The Yoga Sutras by Patanjali – you’ll find that yoga is defined as concentration. It’s the ability to direct your mind in a chosen direction for a period of time. This is a reminder that the benefits of yoga go beyond the physical. A regular yoga practice can literally change your mind. We’ve all heard about the importance of being in the present moment and bringing awareness to your life. Yoga trains your mind to do this. It doesn’t stop all of your thoughts, it merely changes the quality of your mind. This is why people who practice yoga regularly report feelings of well-being, calm, and focus.

Unfortunately, the commercialization of yoga has changed the way people teach and practice. Some of the yoga you find out there today is a far cry from the yoga that was practiced in ancient India. Here are some myths that I commonly hear from folks in regards to yoga:

I have to be thin and flexible to practice yoga.
My clients come in all shapes and sizes, in every age. There’s no one “type” of person that practices yoga. That’s the beauty of it – it’s universal. You don’t have to look a certain way, be flexible, wear special clothes, have a lot of money or fancy yoga gear, subscribe to a certain religion or follow a guru to practice yoga. All you need is an open mind and a willingness to be intimate with yourself.

Yoga is stress-relief.
Yes, yoga can help reduce your stress. However, to classify yoga as only a stress-reducer is selling it short. Yoga is a holistic practice that involves your body, breath, mind, emotions, and your personality. All of these aspects are linked together so when one is changed, the others change as well. This is how yoga – when practiced as it was meant to be practiced – transforms a person. The truth is, stress-relief is only a small part of what a person who practices yoga regularly experiences.

Yoga is exercise.
Yoga is definitely not exercise. If you’re viewing your yoga practice as a workout, then you’re missing out on the subtler benefits of yoga – and shortchanging yourself. First of all, the goal of exercise is to accelerate your heart rate. In fact, the goals of exercise are often physical. The goal of yoga is to even out and lengthen the breath and to change the quality of the mind. Rather than release the sympathetic nervous system, yoga consciously supports the parasympathetic nervous system. While exercise is one-dimensional (exercise often works one part of your body) yoga is multi-dimensional and works you as a whole – your body, breath, and mind.

I don’t think I could keep up in class.
I am trained in an old tradition that believes that the yoga is adapted to the individual rather than the individual must adapt to the yoga. That means that the practice goes entirely at your own pace (your movements match your breath) and the function of the pose is more valued than the form (in other words – it doesn’t matter how you look, but how you feel in the pose). The idea is not to force your body into postures to look like your teacher or the student on the mat next to you (this isn’t a game of monkey see, monkey do). The motto here isn’t “no pain, no gain.” It’s about tuning into yourself and your body and practicing in a way that feels right to you. Your breath is your barometer – if you’re holding your breath or you find that your breath is choppy, then you need to back off. That’s why yogis practice what’s called Ujjayi Breath (that’s the sounds-like-Darth-Vader breath) – because it makes the breath audible and brings your awareness to it.

How Yoga Brings Positive Change
Thoughts run through our heads 24/7, and it’s quite easy to get pulled out of the present moment and lost in the sea of thoughts (this is how you end up living your life on auto-pilot). Yoga gets you out of your head and into your body while at the same time focusing your mind. Movement to breath engages the mind – believe me, when you’re matching your movements to your breath you’re thinking about/focused solely on what you’re doing. That means that your mind is in the present moment rather than wallowing in the past or the future. You’re in the moment, in your body, and one with your breath. In this way, yoga is truly intimacy with self. Of course like anything else, you have to practice consistently to reap the benefits. It’s better to practice for 10 minutes every day than 60 or 90 minutes a few times a week.

For me regular practice is essential because it's easy to get lost in the static of the world or the static of my own thoughts. My yoga practice roots me in the present and gives me the space to discover and engage with myself. At the very least, it provides me with the perspective I need to know when I’m in the present or lost in thought. That awareness alone has changed my life.

What makes yoga a true adventure is that it takes you inside -- it's an inner adventure. Yes, it can affect your body in positive ways, but its true magic is that it goes deeper. And deep work like that can have profound changes on your life.