Listening To The Voice of Love: The Good Times Are Here!

It is so important for us to listen to the voice of love. This is the voice we search for and this is the voice we can speak to our selves. A 20, 30 or 60 minute session of YLF is a dedicated time to speak the voice of love to ourselves, to listen to this voice and to imprint what it has to say into our cell-level memories so we can operate from a fuller, more energized foundation.

“How do you know?” A voice asks me. “How do you know we can imprint things on our cell level memories? How do you even know a cell has a memory? What are you talking about, Karen,” the rational voice of reason asks me? That is a good, valuable voice. Among other things, it taught me that looking both ways before I cross the street is a life-saver. It is also the voice that came up with the phrases “paradigm shift”, “quantum leap” and “I have a dream” when it couldn’t quite explain logically how something can come to be.

As long as we are alive, there will be challenges and negativity to deal with. We are seeing that this comes with living. The point is this: where do we put our focus? We are in a magical time on the planet.

While I was at the Conference of Heartfelt Service last week, I got to listen to some amazing excerpts from Martin Luther King, Jr. The outstanding thing for me is that the night before he passed, he told us that he had “been to the mountaintop”. He said that good times were coming and, “I may not get there with you,” but that they were coming and we would get there.

I realized he was talking about now. The good times are now. We are here, now. Do you think any of his followers had an inkling that 40+ years after the “I Have a Dream” speech a man of color would be the president of the United States of America? No. If I were a betting woman, I would bet $1000 that not a single person who listened to that speech that night sensed what profoundly good times were coming in this country, except for MLK Jr, who had seen it, in a dream of premonition.

Notice how the good times come, however. With our new strength-of-heart as a country, we have been served great, great challenges. Economic, environmental, medical, you know them already. That is how it goes with each person’s spiritual growth, too. Often, with the more blessings we are given, the more spiritual strength is required of us to sustain those blessings. Said another way, to those whom much is given, much is expected.

What Yoga of Love & Forgiveness offers to you is a way to tap into the beautiful loving Voice that breathes our world and sings our birds and blesses our hearts with forgiveness. Focus that Voice into a singular place: you, in order to sustain you as you go out and do good in this world.
By the way, I’m not a real big “do-gooder”. I am simple. I look into the eyes of the person who stands before me-- beggar or baron-- and I see the God in them. I just love them. Maybe it’s at the grocery store and I say to the short lady who is reaching, “Can I hand you that carton of eggs?” It equals, “I love you.” Some part of her knows and gets that loving. It’s pretty simple.

With our new president in high office, there’s a lot of clamoring about volunteerism and serving causes. Now hang on. Let’s take a moment. Relax and take in a breath. Before we jump on another bandwagon, missing entirely the fact that we are in MLK’s good times now, let’s take a moment to be in the good times. That is how we can expand them Pay attention to them.

Here is how we do it with YLF:

Lean your head to the right. Lean your head to the left. Move around until you feel a tight place in your neck or shoulders. Focus your attention there. Ask yourself, “Are we holding onto something that we can let go of?” Listen unconditionally to yourself. What do you answer? Let it be.

When you get your answer, or even if there is no answer, you can bring-in forgiveness. For example, “I forgive myself for judging myself as needing to be afraid of life. I forgive myself for judging that I should be doing things better. I forgive myself for forgetting that I AM Loved exactly how I am, right now.”

You can also say, “I forgive myself for judging that I should be able to get a message from my body,” if you’re not hearing anything.

Now that you have released through giving yourself unconditioned attention and self- forgiveness, you must put in what you do want, instead. Focus on the same area, put your hand there if you wish, and breathe in your positive intention for yourself. Imagine your positive intention going into your cells!

Mine is: “I am good.” I want myself to have this understanding. I want the voice of love to remind me that I am good. What is your positive intention for yourself? Tell yourself like a parent tells their child, with love and certainty. This is the truth of who you are.

Now, notice how your neck feels better! Rational voice, this is your proof!

The good times are here and now. You see? As we listen to the Voice of Love we are given great gifts. The question is where do we focus our attention? We can heal the economy, we can heal our compromised integrity in medicine, insurance, and government and we can strengthen our shift as a country by Getting Real and healing ourselves first with love and forgiveness.

Listening to the Voice of Love and Sharing It with You,
Karen
XO

Appreciating Your Body

Yoga of Love and Forgiveness is Appreciating Your Body.



We see a great car and go "Wow!"

By regularly making the quantum leap that is Yoga of Love and Forgiveness, we are going, "Wow!" to our own human, physical body. And it loves this! Our body likes to be appreciated.

I don't need to tell you what a marvel of interactive systems we are. We might say that we owe it to ourselves to give these systems focused, conscious love and even self-forgiveness for the times when we forgot to take care, or when we didn't know how to do better. Besides good food, rest, and aerobic activity, the YLF approach is like putting the cleanest, highest octane fuel imaginable into your body. Your positive focus coupled with gentle yoga movements allows a deep experience of appreciation because you are speaking to your body in its language: movement. And it can get this. You will notice that you are getting it by how your body responds: it lets go and releases pent up energy for you to use- perhaps more wisely than in the past.

What do I mean by wisely? Is this a value judgment? No. You determine what is wise for you by keeping your eye on your goal and doing the things that line up with your goal. My goal is to consciously and clearly serve the Spirit. I am learning how to do less of what doesn't line up with that, and more of what does. Among other things, this takes courage and teaches humility. I like this very much, and the benefits are divine!

Sometimes people come up to me and say, "I've never done yoga before, and I'm 40 (50 or 60...) Can I really start now?

And I say, "Yes! While giving you a fantastic workout, the magic of Yoga of Love and Forgiveness is that it is less about commanding great poses and more about imbuing your body with great energy that comes through appreciating it. The poses come as a by-product. You can start at any age."

You are God. You believe what you say to yourself. And, the more you show up for yourself, the more you believe in yourself. This is the foundation for YLF. We are showing up for ourselves.

No matter what has happened in the past, who you are is worthy of your own appreciation right now. Start doing YLF regularly and see how much more energy you have! No matter what size, shape, age, or condition your body is in, YLF is about APPRECIATING your body.

The Willingness to be Intimate

Yoga of Love and Forgiveness is an opportunity to experience your natural intimacy. You don’t need another person to be intimate. You, yourself, are amazingly colorful and interesting and worth your attention.

A person’s bodies are naturally intimate- physical, emotional, mental, and soul - and maybe some subtle bodies we are less aware of, too - are interconnected in a gorgeous, loving way. As we open to this flow, a romance can unfold. This inner-romance generates self-trust, self-enjoyment, wellness, and a special electricity - energy for you to use!

Your physical body loves to serve you. Like any intimate friend, it also loves to be listened to, particularly through the vehicles of touch and movement.

YLF is a method of listening to yourself, while also working out. Love and Forgiveness are spiritual qualities that each person possesses that can clear blocks, and help to release memories, judgments, or emotions that you may be gripping onto, often unconsciously.

These things may have been fed into the body over time and can function like pollution, clogging our energy and movement channels. We have aches, pains, coughs, tiredness, and we don’t know why. We try pill after pill, and as Dr. Abramson writes in Overdosed America, we see that "reclaiming personal responsibility (is) the best antidote to a fundamentally flawed (medical) system."

Willingness to embrace your intimacy is a first step to reclaiming personal responsibility for our health. As we begin the Yoga of Love and Forgiveness journey, we start with willingness to see what’s stored inside the tissues, willingness to love and let go, and willingness to live from a new paradigm- which we give to our self.

Replenish your Powerful Self with Yoga of Love & Forgiveness™

A Miracle

YOGA of Love and Forgiveness means UNION of love and forgiveness with the physical body. Miracles can occur by doing this. Here is a miracle for you...

Awhile ago, I prepared to receive radiation treatment for a condition of swollen lymph nodes known as Hodgkin’s Disease - a disease from which some people die. My doctors readied me by saying, “You will soon be on a liquid diet because your salivary glands will be rendered inoperative by the radiation treatment we are going to give you. Your liquid diet will last for about 4 weeks.”

A liquid diet? All I could think was, “the dude will not abide!”

I turned to forgiveness. For God’s sake let’s forgive everything and everyone we’ve ever judged we can SO WE CAN EAT!

In order to guarantee they hit their marks in my nodes, the techs made a plaster of paris mask for my face and buckled me down onto a gurney to keep me immobile while I was inside the big machine receiving the radiation. Can anyone say “claustrophobia?”

Each morning for about a month I would report to the hospital, slip into my sexy hospital gown and use the “shpilkes” (nervous trembling) I felt while being strapped in, as a cue to begin forgiving.

As I forgave the many judgments I had made over the years, the claustrophobia was replaced by a warm balmy feeling throughout my body. I began to relate to the trips to the radiation clinic as an invitation to this all encompassing, sweet state.

I forgave my mother for judging me as a bad kid. I forgave myself for judging my mom as a bad mother. I forgave myself for having a bad temper. I forgave my dad for having a bad temper. I forgave myself for judging the Jews as pushy people with bad tempers. I forgave myself for judging bad tempers as a bad thing. Our lymph system is a kind of sewage system, and apparently mine had gotten backed-up with judgments.

Soon, I noticed more and more ease inside. Sweetness filled my thoughts. More warmth filled my heart. Buoyancy bubbled through my body. This was the real me, the true Karen, and I began to focus more and more on that.

Week one passed and I was eating our favorite burgers from “The Charcoaler”. Week two ended with a caprese on focaccia. Week three passed with succulent roast chicken, and after the final week, week 4, we celebrated with champagne and crunchy chicken tacos. No liquid diet!

This and other graceful things he observed seeded my Oncologist’s new integrative medicine practice. He thanked me. As for me, I was learning that forgiveness is indeed the Key to the Kingdom -as in the title of John-Roger’s book. The kingdom of my replenished, powerful self and celebrating this in gastronomic delight!

XO
Karen

Seven Steps to Embodying Forgiveness

I often get asked about how the process of Forgiveness works in my Yoga of Love & Forgiveness classes. Here are 7 simple steps to replenish your powerful Self!

1. Ask for a blessing of Light to fill, surround and protect you.

2. Identify your positive intention for yourself. This is a positive quality that you want to be experiencing more of in life, such as: Self-acceptance, Self- Trust, Loving, Forgiveness, Healthy Success, etc.

3. Ask the area that is tight, “Is there anything we are holding onto here that no longer serves us?” That “no longer serves us” part means it’s an old pattern that could be blocking your greater success or what you want more of – like more joy, more self-acceptance, more of a toned, flexible body, or more wealth and riches -whatever.

4. Unconditionally allow your body to communicate its truth to you. Whatever it says or doesn’t say to you is just fine. You are there to accept and receive, just like a loving friend. Trust the body. In its area, it is VERY wise.


5. When you begin getting information, it may surprise you what is there to be released. Stuff from yesterday, 5 minutes ago, or your childhood. Just let it be. It takes STRENGTH not to be reactive and shut back down. Just stay open and observe. If your body area says something like, “I have to hold on tight because that’s how we keep it together in life,” you say, “I forgive myself for judging I have to hold on tight to keep it together.”


6. Your body may play an image back to you of something that happened that you locked-down on. Besides forgiving what ever happened, you forgive yourself for judging yourself and for judging the others involved.. For example, I forgive my sister for beating up on me. I forgive myself for judging my sister as a bad person and a bully. I forgive myself for judging myself as a weakling.


7. Ask that it all be lifted up into the Light and cleared out of your body, and put in your new pattern. Ask that your Intention for ---______ be placed in that area instead. Breathe it in. SMILE! You did good!

Clear Blocks to Your Success with Yoga of Love & Forgiveness™

When you have a dream of greater success, your regular practice of Yoga of Love and Forgiveness can help you get there.  Whether it is getting another acting job, making a million dollars,  landing that perfect position, or experiencing greater vitality and peace. Yoga of Love & Forgiveness can assist you in making that dream your reality! 

Just like acting is about revealing, not concealing, through your regular YLF practice, you reveal to yourself what needs to be cleared from your  consciousness that your physical body is still holding onto.  You are given the keys to open your heart to yourself and to your dreams and the specific actions to take to release the patterns from your body that no longer serve you.  Yoga of Love & Forgiveness is Blessed by John-Roger.  and I have found that if you are willing to commit, this process works majestically to replenish your powerful Self.

After awhile of doing Yoga of Love & Forgiveness regularly, you may find that a repetitive theme is occurring about what your body is holding onto that you wish to release.

Sadness, grief, anger, resentment, control, food addictions, any kind of addiction - it could be anything.  This is the pain and stuck-ness in your body, the place where your muscles won’t go any deeper into the strectch, or won’t hold the pose any longer because they are just working hard to “keep it together” at the old level you may have unconsciously programmed into yourself. 

This also can be the very physical, emotional or mental pattern that you need to release in order to achieve your next life dream or goal!

That’s the beauty of Yoga of Love & Forgiveness. You will work intimately with yourself at an energetic level to love, forgive, release and reprogram.  It is a joy-filled, uplifting hour where you get to listen to yourself, and strengthen yourself-not only physically, but also spiritually.

That is why my friend, international author and educator  Agapi Stassinoupolos calls Yoga of Love and Forgiveness her “wellspring of happiness”.

Join us!  Get stronger!  Get happier!  Replenish your Powerful Self with Yoga of Love & Forgiveness™ at KINETIC eco-gym.  17400 San Vicente @ Gorham.  Brentwood, CA  90049. Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.