Kundalini Yoga and Meditation Classes 9 am Wednesdays at Bergamot Spa Encinitas

 STARTING SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Contact Info: Bergamot 760-436-5140 or Soulutions for Balance 858-720-0078

WHAT IS KUNDALINI YOGA?

It is the yoga of self awareness and physical vitality. Through the combination of dynamic and static postures, breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation, this yoga teaches you techniques to take control of your health and ease the stresses of your mind. Kundalini yoga is for those who want a deeper connection to their spirit and their creative, infinite energy that is always available. Once only taught to a few chosen students, Kundalini Yoga was made available in the United States by Master Teacher Yogi Bhajan. His goal was to not have students, but to have teachers who will share this technology to everyone who wants to live their greatest life; living happy, healthy and whole.

Scientific research is proving the physical, emotional and mental benefits of yoga as a viable modality in preventative and curative therapy. Yoga, meditation and breath control have significantly improved conditions of people with heart disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, digestive disorders, women’s reproductive issues, high blood pressure & many more. Kundalini Yoga postures are designed to strengthen and tone muscles while pranayama resets the nervous system. Through meditation and mantra chanting, the pituitary gland, or “master gland” is activated and balances the endocrine system helping to combat negative effects on health due to chronic stress. All levels of practice and physical abilities are welcome. Drop in or paid series options are available.

Shauna Piscitello is an Occupational and Certified Yoga Therapist and RYT-500. She teaches yoga and meditation to private and corporate clients and is the owner of SOULUTIONS FOR BALANCE(TM). As a kundalini yoga

Photo courtesy of Tara Diamond

practitioner, she experiences the benefits that she teaches to her students. “There is nothing richer or more satisfying in life than being fully present to yourself and others around you, during the “good and bad” times. This self-awareness allows you to navigate through life with objectivity, joy and freedom to trust your inner wisdom. I owe my physical health and vitality to my daily practice of Kundalini Yoga.”

The next Serenity Right Now Mind and Meditation One Day Retreat is Sunday, 11/6/11 Bergamot Spa 8am -3pm

BERGAMOT SPA LOCATED AT 775 N. Vulcan Ave,, Encinitas, CA (Just north of Leucadia Blvd and 1 street E. of Coast Hwy) www.bergamotspa.com

Serenity Right Now Yoga and Meditation Retreat

www.bergamotspa.com

Are you craving some time for yourself? Would you like to be immersed in a day of mindfulness? Only two more “Serenity Right Now” Yoga and Meditation One Day Retreats left this year.  Join us for a day of bliss at the beautiful bergamot spa in Encinitas where we will be resting and rejuvenating the body with yoga, meditation and silence.  Yes, peace and quiet stillness is the theme for the day.  Book a treatment once the day is over and your day of serenity will be complete.

Sample schedule:

7:45 am check in

8 am retreat begins

Restorative Yoga

Meditation

Yummy Vegetarian Lunch

Meditation Walk on the Beach

Afternoon Gong Meditation

More Blissful Yoga

Retreat ends at 3 pm

RETREAT DATES:  SATURDAY AUGUST 6, 2011 OR SUNDAY NOVEMBER 6, 2011 8 am until 3 pm

Retreat fee is $185 and includes light refreshments and lunch.

To register or for more information call (858) 720-0078 or email shauna@livinginbalance.org.

Location easily accessed from I-5 or Pacific Coast Hwy

Serenity Right Now; A One Day Mind & Meditation Retreat

Moments of quiet serenity are few and far between these days unless we make the effort to rest our minds.  Be guided through a day of peaceful presence where you will begin to unravel the mind, even if for a moment and experience the simplicity of silence and the power of right now.  This simple yet profound practice is an essential healthy habit for greater well-being and fulfillment.  Leave feeling rejuvenated and equipped with mindfulness tools for everyday.

Located at Bergamot Spa in Leucadia, California, the Balinese inspired garden is the perfect back drop for a one day immersion into mindfulness.  The Serenity Right Now sample day includes:

Restorative and Kundalini Yoga

Sitting and Walking Meditation

Vegetarian Lunch

Relaxation Tools for Everyday

Spa sessions available for those interested in pampered treatments

Choose one of the following dates or join us for all four.  Regular mindfulness practices are good for the soul:

Sunday 2/23, Saturday 5/7, Sunday August 6, or Sunday November 6/2011

8am-3pm

Fee is $185 and includes light refreshments and vegetarian lunch

To Register, email shauna@livinginbalance.org or call (303) 503-5086

www.bergamotspa.com

 

Facilitated by Shauna Langford-Piscitello, OTR/L, Yoga and Meditation teacher (www.livinginbalancewithshauna.com).  Shauna has been conducting workshops for over 20 years.  What she values most from her experience and training over the years is a daily meditation practice.  This continues to be the most profound tool for health and personal growth.  ”There is nothing richer or more satisfying in life than being fully present to yourself and others. I hope you can join me for a day well planned for cultivating serenity for you right now.”                Shauna

Creating Sacred Space From the Inside Out

My new tag line is “Creating Sacred Space from the Inside Out”.  I have been assisting clients more in this area of their lives through feng shui, energy clearing and spiritual coaching.  As with any business, it evolves and grows to what is needed.  I have been hearing from people for years that they want more balance in their lives but lately, there has been more desire for connection, transformation, truth and authenticity.    Every home should support you for this; this is sacred space;  a place for you to express yourself to the fullest, with surroundings that are supportive and nurturing to your soul.  Feng Shui is often associated with changing things in your environment to have positive change happen in your life.  The work that I am doing does this, but goes even deeper.  Beautiful transformation occurs in my clients’ homes and work spaces, but where they reap the greatest benefit (and the reason I am so passionate about this work) is change happens on the inside too.  This is our most sacred of space; the quiet, peaceful place within.

I’ve been wanting to blog about my definition of creating sacred space and then today a client sent me an email with her testimony for our recent work together.  I could not have described it better, so with her permission, I am sharing it with you.

“There has been an incredible shift in my relationship to life as a result of a recent Feng Shui experience with Shauna.  As a single mom and full custody provider my life was craving support (financial and emotional), boundaries with my child and outside situations, and overall harmony in my relationships and career.  My relationship with the father was very sensitive with poor communication and I often felt used or disregarded.

I started with these three intentions (create clarity,  boundaries and enhance relationships), which then grew to some clear visions for my life over the months that I worked with Shauna on my home.  Not only was my home de-cluttered, my mind was as well.

I began to relate to every area of my house with consciousness and what I was saying to the universe, how I was inviting the chi in each space.  I also began to connect to each item in my home from walls to furniture to artwork, etc.  I was able to shed many items that just did not make me feel good that were either given to me or I somehow accumulated along the way. Through this process I was awakened to the fact that I never related to anything in my life based on how it made me feel.  It opened a place of vulnerability and sensitivity inside me that brought me deeper into compassion and balance.  This was the most profound piece that I carry with me even outside of my home.

I no longer live in that home, however, the changes that occurred through Feng Shui will carry me into my next home.  My career shifted to a more supportive environment including financial.  My relationship with my son’s father is very loving and growing more positive each day.  We have become very good friends that support eachothers choices.  Relating to how I feel liberated my fears and opened communication with him.

Our sleep was very poor and by changing the bedroom and adding supportive items; sleep for both myself and my son improved greatly.  This is really important to our health!

Getting clear is always a way to manifest change and shift things in our life.  Not only did this experience provide me with that opportunity it also showed me how to support these changes in my home which simply feels right and good.”  Carissa 6/8/10

Carissa supported her intentions with meaningful items

Thank you, Carissa, for your testimony and thank you for diving in feet first to the feng shui experience.  You had fantastic results because you dedicated yourself to creating sacred space for you and your son.

Peace,

Shauna Piscitello

COMING FULL CIRCLE IN 2010 – A WOMEN’S WORKSHOP FOR LIVING A BALANCED LIFE

If you’ve been inspired by books like the “Power of Now”, “Eat, Pray, Love” , or “The Secret Life of Bee’s”…

If you want to take back control over your schedule, emotions, energy, _____(fill in the blank)…

If you want to deepen (or begin) your yoga practice and integrate it into your life off the mat…

If you know that the time is now to connect with your authentic Self and enJOY life to its fullest…

then this series is designed for you.  Join me for a look at what it means to be at peace with yourself and experience life at the deepest levels.  Learn valuable techniques to handle stress, bring your life back to balance, have fun and sincerely live in the moment.

We, as humans, are sophisticated beings that rely on the alignment of our physical, emotional, and spiritual systems.  When these three systems are in balance, our lives flow with greater awareness and ease.  We currently live in a time where little attention is paid to the energetic aspects within us.  We are literally “burning out” physically and emotionally, largely due to lack of balance within our three part system.  We all know that there is more to life then our “to-do” and our “done-that” lists.  But on a deeper level, do you know that in every moment our lives hold a rich opportunity to connect you deeply to your purpose and the true meaning of living here now?

2010 is the year to bring yourself in harmony with all aspects of your being and tap into the juicy parts that you know are there.  This 6 part series will give you the opportunity to understand how the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of your life work together and what tools can be practiced for harmony and balance in your life.  These sessions are for anyone who wants to experience life fully and joyously.

The Details:

When: Sunday evenings 6-8pm March 28, April 11, 25, May 9, 23 and June 6

Where: Encinitas, California at Indigo Village 1052 2nd Street, Suite B (760)-633-3754

Register by March 15 and the fee is $295 ($350 if after)

Sign up by calling (858) 720-0078 by phone or email fengshuishauna@aol.com

Looking for Love?

When it comes to Feng Shui and Romance this is a great time of year to set your intentions for  your relationship.  Why?  Well, one reason is there are so many LOVE affirmations out right now readily available to you.  Everywhere you go there are hearts, fabrics in rich red, luscious pinks or wild animal prints.   If you are looking to spice things up, do a little Valentine’s shopping and makeover your bedroom.  Add a few pillows in your favorite fire color (reds).  Textures are yummy too.  Faux fur and satin sheets are very sexy.  Adding art with romantic landscape views or a couple in a loving embrace will enhance the luvv vibration of any room.  Whether you want to enhance a current relationship or attract the ch’i of a new one, support your desires with intentional  feng shui design

What are You Devoted to?

I woke up this morning reflecting on this last year and began thinking of what it means to be devoted to something.  Much of my life I have avoided using this term as it fell outside of my comfort zone.  I had associated it with religious practices and I never truly experienced that kind of devotion.  I was brought up and baptized in a Protestant church, but wasn’t connected in my heart to the teachings.  I believe in God and the mysteries of creation, stories of great enlightened masters such as Jesus and Buddha, but this was more on an intellectual level because I had not experienced this kind of devotion in my own life.  Innately, I felt that it had to originate with an energy within the body and soul.  So if someone like me doesn’t have a religious devotion, then what am I devoted to?  Of course, I have a deep love for my husband, family, children and a passion for my work, deep desire for all people to be treated with respect, love and compassion and awesome gratitude for nature and our planet.  But this doesn’t define devotion.   My epiphany this morning was that I have been devoted my whole life to self awareness.  I am inspired by new learning on many levels, but particularly, in consciousness.  Expanding my world view, releasing judgements and past conditioning, and allowing the idea of infinite possibilities to be my mode of operandi.  So in this quest for new learning, spirituality and rediscovering ancient traditions that honored what I am passionate for, seeking was my compass for raising my consciousness. But from the outside, I appeared to have no particular direction and lack of specific skills that would get me there.  I also didn’t have much means to measure my progress except that I learned from my mistakes and surrounded myself with situations and people that are also on the same path, but I knew something was missing. This was particularly clear when I heard a high monk speak in Tibet a few years back.  When someone in our small group asked him about religion and what was the best path to higher consciousness, he replied that their are many paths to God, but the most important practice is to be devoted to one.  There it was again, devotion.  In my quest for self awareness, had I lacked the most important ingredient?  I do know that everything happens in perfect timing and that every step along the way has led me to exactly the experience I am ready for, so when Kundalini Yoga was on my radar for trying something new, I was willing to try it out.  Yoga has been a natural part of my path to self awareness.  The practice of being in the body, being present with the breath, letting go of the ego while assuming difficult postures and quieting the mind was a natural direction for me to go and I began that path over 10 years ago.  First studying hatha yoga, participating in weekly classes, taking several yoga and vipassana retreats and eventually starting and stopping several times a home practice. I know that my love for yoga has changed my life and much of my life choices have been influenced by this practice, but I would not say that I experienced devotion.   It was not until I began practicing Kundalini Yoga and decided to take a teacher training course that I began to understand what true devotion meant.   Yogi Bhajan (brought this style of yoga to the west from India in 1969 and began training teachers) calls this yoga the Yoga of Awareness and said that it is everyones birthright to be happy healthy and holy.  Kundalini Yoga is technology that has been passed down to allow you to fully realize yourself and your potential.  It is a practice of  yogic postures, breathing techniques and mantras (sound technology) that is designed to wake us up.   The effect of a daily practice (sadhana) began to take hold for me.   The slow and steady effects of meditation alone, have been a mind altering experience.  I can find that stillpoint between my thoughts, experience peace and calm within and carry it throughout my day.  No longer reacting in ways I used to, letting go of the unimportant stuff and the best part; quieted the neurosis and fears that used to seep in during sleepless hours of the night.  It wasn’t until one day during morning sadhana while chanting, that I was overcome by an overwhelming sense of bliss and love for life and all that has been created by the creator, that I realized what devotion felt like.  It is really not an experience you can put words to, but what I do know now is that it is the force within me that moves me to my grace in life and to the discipline of kundalini yoga and my commitment to all things that I am passionate for.

How do you know  you are devoted to something?

1.  It connects you to your core.  It is simple and the experience is pure joy.

2.  You are committed to it on a regular basis, even when you feel the energy is not there for it, the force within you keeps you going.

3.  It is with you and you experience it at times (even when you are not actively engaged in your devotion).  For example, yoga releases energy within the body that is invigorating and palpable.  I can at any time during my day feel energy vibrating within me.  I am experiencing self awareness. The only way to describe it is that I am humbled by this feeling at the same time I am in complete gratitude for life and the infinite.

I hope that your devotion elevates you and your passions in life. After all, isn’t that what we all deserve, to be truly happy, healthy and holy?

Optimize Your Energy

Need a quick energy shift?  The following tips are useful for optimizing your personal ch’i.

To calm down and increase mental clarity:

1.  Take 3 long deep breaths in and out.  Close your eyes and mindfully breath the breathe deeply into your lungs and exhale completely out.  Try it, you will feel the difference immediately.

2.  Take a break.  If you are inside, go outside.  Be present in nature.  All it takes is just a few minutes.

3.  If you work at a desk, make sure your desk is positioned so that you can see the door from your chair.  Ideally, you should be facing the door, but not directly in line with it.

To energize yourself:

1.  Breath in and out through your nose, forcefully pumping the breath at your navel point. Focus on the outbreath and the inbreath will occur on its own. This is called Breath of Fire and just 1 minute of this will heat things up for sure.

2.  Go outside again.  Nature is the perfect antidote for whatever your energy level is.

3.  Wear red.  Throw on a red sweater or scarf.  The vibration of this color is activating and you should feel your energy shift.

 

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Where is Your Energy?

Where is your energy and why should you care?  Energy is the unseen power that propels us – in our bodies, in our minds, in our relationships, in our environment.  Energy is for feeling as sound is for hearing.  You can feel it and are in tuned to it when you are aware of it.  Having positive energy in and around you is what makes life juicy.   Most people think of energy in terms of not having enough or having too much.   There are many contributing factors that play into your level of energy like your overall health, whether or not you are well rested, what types of food you eat, etc but I want to address subtle energy that not many talk about. Like how your environment affects the way you feel – cluttered environments feel overwhelming, sterile environments feel cold or  how the people around you affect your energy – happy optimistic people have a very different energy than someone who is overly critical and pessimistic  and what your internal voice does to your energy – are you in constant judgement of yourself or others, do you doubt your own inner voice?  There are few guides to assessing your energy in this way, so to help you gain more awareness around how these areas of your life are affected here is a simple place to start:

1.  On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the low-end and 10 the highest) – rate 10 of the people you spend most of your time with on this scale. How do you feel when you are around these people?

2.  On a scale of 1-10 rate the environments you are in on a daily basis – home, office, car, school – how do you feel in those environments?

3.  Close your eyes and take a deep breath.  Listen to your voice inside your head.  What is being said?  Is it a voice of doubt? judgement? or calm and comforting?

Take some time and look over your assessment.  If it shows that you are surrounded by people who feed you and environments that support you and your inner voice is on your side than your life is filled with positive ch’i, but if you have many numbers that are 5 and under then it indicates that you could use an energy makeover.  If that voice in your head is keeping you down it could be sabotaging your energy. The first step is getting in touch with your energy and where it may be draining from you. Next week I will discuss ways to lift the energy in and around you.

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The Feng Shui Formula

Nancy called me for a Feng Shui consultation for the first time after hearing about it through a friend.  She was a bit skeptical, but her friend had a few new things happen in her life that she attributed to the Feng Shui rearrangement of her home.  Nancy’s life was going pretty well.  She had a good teaching job, she had just learned that the adoption papers went through and she would soon be a new mother to a little girl.  She was feeling a little overwhelmed by the responsibility that would soon ensue and financially, it was going to be a challenge.  So she decided to give Feng Shui a try.

In our follow-up conversation a few weeks after the consultation, Nancy was excited to share her news.  Her home felt much more calm and inviting. She has gotten organized for the baby and will be welcoming her soon.   She told me,“I did everything you said and actually started finding money in my home while I was in the process of moving stuff around. But the best part is, I received an inheritance check I had no idea was coming.”

I hear stories like Nancy’s all of the time.  People ask me how Feng Shui works and I tell them it is 10% action (placement orientation of the home and arrangement of furnishings) and 90% intention and attention.  The formula looks like this intention + attention + action = desired outcome.

Many people have heard of the Law of Attraction; like attracts like.  But most do not know how it works in their own lives.  It is more than a positive thought or desire for a different outcome.  It requires an understanding that we create our lives everyday with thoughts and action.  The link between intention and action that manifests our reality is the attention or the “feelings” we have about our lives.  How we feel in our “gut”, in our heart and in our skin when we are putting intention into action. Is what we desire possible?

How do we affect feeling?  By paying attention to it.  One of the principles of Feng Shui is that our outer world reflects what is going on in our inner world.  As a practitioner, I am looking for clues that show me how people feel about themselves and their life.  If a single person is looking for a relationship, but their home is set up for one (a bed with one night stand, no room in the closet, single chairs dispersed throughout) then I can see that they are not surrounded by the energy or relationship ch’i.  This may sound simple to address, but it takes an objective, trained eye to see the difference in what is desired and how the environment is affecting the ch’i.

Feng Shui is a systematic approach to assessing ch’i.  How people are affected by this energy is how you feel”in a space whether it is conscious or unconscious.  And because we have a strong connection to our home and work environments, if we affect the energy there, we can affect our feeling.

Nancy’s story is a good example of intention + attention + action = desired outcome.  Her intention was to increase her finances, be more organized and lessen her feelings of anxiety about being a new mom.  She affected her feelings by paying attention to her environment (I looked for clues of lack or financial strain, disorganization and overwhelm) and she took positive action by moving and intentionally placing objects that supported her desires (she removed items that she no longer needed, made room for baby, and planted a “money” tree to just name a few of the recommendations I suggested).  Nancy’s great results are why I love practicing Feng Shui, by guiding her and many others to their desires through arrangement and balance.

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