Do you have a word for the year? 
If not, have you ever thought about choosing one or worked with one before?

To be honest, before this year I have never been able to settle on one single word. I've had affirmations, intentions, resolutions and lists. But as the start of the year approached and through all the work I had been doing, one came and it has been so powerful to have a single word to keep coming back to.

My word for the year is Limitless.

For me limitless living is about finally breaking through all the blocks that have held me back in the past, be them self-imposed or by society. No more excuses stopping me from living the abundant, full and purposeful life I have dreamt of for way too long.

Having a word to encapsulate and represent what I want to feel and experience this year has been proving to be a powerful reminder to keep me on track to creating the year I want to have.

So here are 5 tools that I believe helped me uncover my word this year...

1. 2017 Best Nine

Closing up the last year with this reflection activity and choosing the best nine things about the year helped me to focus on all that was great about the year and see what things I wanted more of in the new year.

2. 100 Things list

Every year, for the last 4 or so, I have written a list of 100 things I want to accomplish and do over the course of the year that would make it an amazing year. This is another tool that focusses my attention on the things I want in my life, those that light me up, that make life life feel amazing and the year one to remember.

3. 12 month oracle card reading

Another activity I love to do in the new year is shuffle a deck of oracle cards and open up a 12 card reading, one for each month of the year. The cards give me an idea of the kinds of challenges, learnings and successes I will have over the course of the year and allows me to reflect on how I might face them and handle them or what I wish to focus on. 

4. Journalling

This is a great way to evaluate your values and what you want most. Allowing yourself space to write and reflect on what you want gets the flurry of thoughts out of your mind and onto paper. My 100 things list on paper changes over and over again until I feel it reflects how I want to feel. Another journalling activity I do is simply writing about all the feelings I want to feel during the year, a brain dump of such. When you see all the words in front of you there may be a theme that runs through them that could be encompassed by a single word or there may be one that stands out to you more than the others. I journal daily which reflects back to me the fluctuations I go through from day to day and can be very revealing when it comes to lessons we are going through or challenges we are facing. Themes, habits and patterns become more and more apparent, until maybe one day you are ready to face them, rise above them or let them go. This could be the moment that leads you to your word.

5. Meditation

Even 5mins a day of meditation can create substantial space for insights and intuition to occur for you. It can be as simple as sitting still focussing on your breath and returning to the breath every time a thought appears and allowing the thought to arise and fall like clouds floating past in the sky on a windy day. This was when my word chose to come to me. It came through loud and clear and stuck with me. I wrote it down straight after I came out of my meditation sat with it in future sessions to ensure this was the word for me. 

Now, I find the word arising for me throughout the day, whenever I am making a decision or facing a fear.

It has made me more aware of the excuses and limitations that I've placed on myself and gives me that space of awareness to evaluate where these blocks have a arisen from, what I can do to move past them, let them go or what I can learn from them. 

It has set such a strong intention to guide my year and I'm excited for all to come in 2018. 

If you would like to have your own taste of what we call in yoga and coaching as intentional living, then give these activities a go for the week and let me know what arises. 

However, if you are feeling drawn to receiving more support in this process, I'm honoured to be involved in a new group coaching program where you can connect with other like minded people and gain the support of not one, but 3 yoga teachers/life coaches over 4 empowering months. If you're called to make this year your year to remember and live with purposeful intention,  read more about the program here.

This story began in 2007, I blogged about it in 2015, and finally I've uploaded the video in 2017.
It only took me 10 years....I'm on to it! 

Some of you may have heard this story, and some of you may have read it here.
Well, now you can see it in action.

This is the story of how I used The Secret and the Law of Attraction to win on a game show. 

And ultimately, this is how I came to become a yoga teacher and the path I journey on now.
You could say it was one of the major turning points in my life!

Energy most definitely follows thought!

Enjoy! It'll have you at the edge of your seat, I promise.
If not, it will at least have you laughing at all the funny faces I pull :) 

I'd love to hear from you in the comments, have you had a big turning point in your life?
What was it? And how did it change the course of your life? 

 Have you heard of the movie, The Secret?
It's about the law of attraction, and I realised the other day, after a student asked about my tattoos, that this movie is partly responsible for me becoming a yoga teacher!

Strange story, but you see, I have one tattoo from 2003 of a moon surrounded by waves representing my star sign, Cancer, a water sign ruled by the moon. And around it is a cuff-like tattoo I got in 2007 of 8 number 8s that are meant to look like ripples in water to represent impermanence and to remind me of a turning point in my life.

This pivotal event was my appearance on Deal or No Deal, a popular game show on TV that my mum used to watch religiously every afternoon. If you haven't seen it, there are 26 brief cases with $ amounts in them from 50c to $200,000. You pick one case and then one by one open the other cases, and at the end of each round you are offered a deal to take or risk it to see what you have in yours, hoping you have the $200K or get a higher offer deal.

Yep, probably not the turning point you were thinking it would be.

It was around the time I was told my audition was successful and I was invited to the show's taping in two weeks,
I had watched the movie, The Secret.

Excitedly I told my friend about it and we started to actively visualise.
By actively, I mean we got clear on what we wanted to have happen, and then we visualised it repeatedly along with the feelings we would experience in that moment. So we decided I would be the contestant called up, as she didn't want to and I was doing this for my folks.  We then visualised ourselves high fiving each other after winning $100,000 and every time we saw each other we would high five each other and say "$100,000" recreating this moment.
We had a lot of fun doing this!

Funnily, my friend hadn't even seen the show yet! So one night she sat with her dad to watch it, when he said to her, if Tash has $200,000 in her case and you have $100,00 in yours, you'll get an offer of $150,000 guaranteed.
So then we upped the anti and started visualising that as well!

A bit of a side note, but an important part of the story, the night before the filming day, I lay in bed asking myself what number I would choose (I have a few lucky numbers) if I was called up. I remember this moment as if it was yesterday. The number 8 came to me and I thought to myself I should write it down, the pen and paper were right beside me, but then I tell myself I won't forget as it's my birthdate.

BUT, of course, the next day in all the excitement of being in the studio and watching the shows being taped the number 18 got stuck in my head after my friend mentioned the number during one of the games.

After watching 3 games being taped, the moment they called me out as the next contestant was so surreal. I remember us jumping up hugging and saying to my friend "We did it!", which you can actually hear me say in the show. As they prepped me with mics and make up etc, I was racking my mind about what number to pick as I knew 18 wasn't quite right but it was stuck in my head. It didn't help that the adrenaline was well and truly pumping and the number 18 case was right up the front. So when they asked, I said 18.

I remember looking up at the sea of other cases before me to pick my first one to open and the number 8 was shining brightly. And it had the $200K in it! Not the best way to start but at this stage I had completely forgotten what we had been visualising and that I was supposed to have picked the number 8 as my case.

I lost almost all the big cases in the first couple of rounds, except the $100,000, so I kept playing on, and the deals started to get bigger and bigger as the $100K stayed on. Until we were down to the last two cases, $100,000 and $5,000, my number 18 and my friend with number 2. It was at this moment that I remembered we had been visualising she would have the $100K and I would have the $200K, which I would have had had I chosen number 8!

Hence, I took the deal and though it wasn't the $100,000 we visualised, we still walked away with a mega $48,000.
And yes, she did have the $100K. 

After splitting it with my friend, I was shocked to realise I had received the exact amount I needed to pay off my debt, do all I wanted to that year and get ahead with some savings, all that I had written in a prayer and hidden at the start of the year... Apparently my manifesting had started a lot earlier than I realised.

So how is this all related to me becoming a yoga teacher??
Basically, I realised  after sharing my tattoos and this story with my students, if it hadn't been for this win, I would not have been in the financial position or had the space to even consider the teacher training when it came up. A training I initially I enrolled in for my own personal development and health with no intention of teaching.
Hence, it seems the universe had other intentions!​

Whenever I think back over this story it always serves to remind me of 3 valuable things...

1) We are powerful manifestors and co-creators in this world.
​What we think matters, our thoughts are powerful. As we say in yoga, Energy follows thought.

2) Always trust your intuition and do what it tells you.
This is what lead me to get the 8 number 8s tattoo so I never forget. Though I still often do :)

3) Everything happens for a reason
 Even if we may not realise it at the time, everything is unfolding perfectly.

4) Magic happens
I'm only one of millions of stories I am sure as living proof that it does. Don't stop believing!

Since completing my 100 days of Gita daily yoga practice challenge at the start of the year, I have done a lot of contemplating about what I learnt from the experience.

In my last post I shared that the biggest lesson was to simply SHOW UP and keep getting on the mat.

But when you've fallen from the path for an extended period of time, or trying to establish a new habit, this wasn't always easy. So I also learnt a few tricks along the way to keep me on track on those days when I could very easily fall off the wagon onto old paths and into old patterns I am seeking to break. 

In case you find yourself in a similar position, I thought I'd share them here with you...

1. WHAT'S YOUR WHY

Having a strong reason why you want to create a daily practice (or change) for yourself will help keep you motivated on those days when you feel most likely to stumble.

Dig deep and find the bigger picture for yourself. What is it that you wish to gain? How do you wish to feel and why? What is it that will have you coming back to the mat time and time again?

For me, my why is to feel balanced, grounded and empowered so I can be of bigger and better service to others.

When I had a consistent practice during my teacher training, I knew it was responsible for keeping me grounded and centred during my everyday life and stresses of studying two diplomas at once, working etc. After I had moved interstate and returned to the family home to regroup after a  tumultuous couple of years, routines were disrupted and I hit a low point. I knew deep down reinstating my daily practice to it's former glory would help me create the inner physical and mental balance I needed to regain the power back in my life. Cue: 100 Days of Gita. It did just the trick!


2. ACCOUNTABILITY

Falling short of a strong why, I found having a way to keep yourself accountable as the next best thing. 

Find yourself a coach, make a public declaration, start a 100 day goal, or a blog.
What works best for you?

One thing I find when I hit my lows and stumbling points,
the excuses to fall off the wagon seem stronger when the ego is at it's loudest.

For me, having the 100 days of Gita challenge and publicly announcing it was a great starting point, but the clincher was deciding to video my practice everyday. I couldn't have a missing day in this video, now could I?! :)


3. DO WHAT YOU LOVE

There are many styles to choose from and as I tell my first time students, "Never give up after your first class of yoga, there are 100s of styles and 1000s of teachers so the combinations are endless. Find one that resonates for you!" 

Picking a practice you love and one that makes you feel good makes it easier to keep you on track.

I also found having a practice that can be long or short enabled me to fit it into even the busiest of days. It was also handy to be able to alter its pace and intensity to match the energy I presented with on any given day. Hence, why I love the Gita style of yoga, on top of the fact that it leaves me feeling balanced, grounded and empowered every time.


4. SELF-FORGIVENESS 

 This point was not originally in my top keys, but the more I considered what had helped me to stay on track, the more I realised the vital role it played!

Stumbling and struggle can be enlightening when we look a little deeper into why it occurs.
Not sure about you, but when I stumble I am pretty good at putting myself down. The "negative committee" in my head starts going on (and on) about the "failure" story that has kept me down in the past. Stumble for longer than a day or two and it gets pretty hard to hear anything but this story. 

However, being able to bring forgiveness into that moment of realisation creates a space of self acceptance and the time gap needed to choose a different story and start over from wherever I am at.

Being able to practice a healthy dose of self-forgiveness when you stumble allows you to get back on the path without getting stuck in the story. 

Forgiveness, would probably be top of my list, and is something that is coming up time and time again in recent times for me to work on this year. As Michelle Marie McGrath once posted and I've never forgotten, forgiveness is "for giving love again". 

So that is how I did it. And I how I continue to approach my practice and any new goals I have. Once you find the winning formula that works for you, it's all about rinse and repeat. 

For example, I'm currently working on my 100 things to do in 2015 list, number 97, Handstand training. When I saw the Handstand February challenge, pictured above, I knew it was perfect for me. I love a goal with a time frame and doing it with friends and having to post a daily picture helps to keep me accountable.

Now I just have to use these keys more successfully with number 30, Blog weekly ;)
{Though, self-forgiveness says, fortnightly is more frequently than previously, so you're getting there!}

I hope sharing these with you gives you some extra tools for those moments when you're struggling with your practice, or that resolution, goal or habit you are attempting to establish in your life.

Would love to hear from you… do you have a goal you're working on, what do you do when you hit stumbling points and which of these keys or others would you use in those moments.
 
Best of wishes and love always,
Tx

I'm sure it is not a coincidence that as I write this, the new moon is peaking and we're being guided to set an intention with the words freedom and synergy in mind.

You see for some reason I always seem to get stuck when it comes to writing posts. My mind has a tendency to run away with itself , and before I know it I find myself in a world of overwhelm and the longer I leave things the bigger the inner blocks grow or so they seem. Hence why I need yoga and meditation in my life :)

So in order to step closer to the freedom I desire and to my goal of blogging regularly, I'm freeing myself of this one block using the biggest lesson I learnt from my daily yoga practice challenge…

Here she is, a 2min compilation video of my complete 100 days of Gita.

One pose from each day of my practice!

And my biggest lesson…

SHOW UP! 
Or as Nike espouses "Just do it!"

Yep, the excuses will arise, the self learning can be confronting, the negative chatter will always be there, …
but just keep showing up on the mat {and in life}.

These things will pass, clarity comes, the chatter quietens, inner strength grows, the body softens, the heart opens, the soul soars and the spirit will prevail.

It may take time, but ironically, 
the freedom you seek comes with each decision you make to show up!

When there is a will, there is a way :)

This I definitely proved to myself with 100 days of Gita!

And see just like that, the post that's held me back for over a week has been written. Yay :)

Wishing you strength on your journey to show up and shine as only you can.

Big love,
Tx

As one year draws to a close and another begins, we are often quite naturally drawn to reflect on the year that was as we look forward to the year ahead. Over the past few years, particularly since I came across  Leonie Dawson's workbooks, I've realised the importance of consciously closing off one year and setting intentions and dreams for the next. 

There are many ways we can do this. And it is very much each to their own. 

But in case you're new to this or stuck at a lose end this year, let me share with you some tools I have found useful which I am using this year to dream up my best year yet.

As I mentioned, for the last few years, I have been using Leonie Dawson's workbooks to both close the year ending and dream and plan for the new year. I particularly love the closing ceremony for the year that's been. This is such an important step that should not be overlooked as it gives us a sense of closure. Being able to look back to acknowledge the lessons learnt, our accomplishments, and all we have to be grateful for, allows us to embrace what we wish to carry forward into the new year, and release what we are ready to let go of. Leonie has workbooks for both Life and Business planning and they are full of creative ways to consciously choose the life you wish to create!

Now, to be completely honest I can be a bit of a FOMO when it comes to courses and books. That is, I suffer from a Fear Of Missing Out. In the past, if I heard of something transformational, I would often buy it. Only issue is I don't always implement everything I learn. Hence, 2015 for me is the year of implementation and I'm doing things a little differently.

Danielle LaPorte's Desire Map was one such book, wAs she says, "Everything we do is driven by the desire to feel a certain way."ith the subheading of "A guide to creating goals with soul", I couldn't resist it. I listened to the audio book on my way up the east coast but as I bought it on e-book and was too busy exploring and not on my laptop much, I didn't get to delve into it or implement it as I wished to. I am choosing to use it now in combination with Leonie's workbooks, as the basis is to focus more on our Core Desired Feelings rather than physical goals. This makes a lot of sense to me as I know it's definitely true for me that I am pulled by my emotions in life. I have had the question "How do you wish to feel?" on repeat in my head as I contemplate my core desired feelings for 2015. These feelings will then influence all I do and the so called "goals" I have rather than setting a traditional resolution. As Danielle LaPorte says, 
"Everything we do is driven by the desire to feel a certain way."

The final piece of my New Year dreaming puzzle is my Daily Dream Creator. Unfortunately I heard that they have sold out, but you never know there could be one or two floating about or they may do another print run. Doesn't hurt to ask :) This is a mega planner for dreamers, and as I have some big dreams for 2015 I decided to go all out and buy myself one of these for Christmas. There are other planners along the same vein so you could look for one that suits you. What I loved about this one particularly were the pages for yearly, monthly and quarterly goals. These are great to help me keep my goals and intentions from Leonie's workbooks in mind throughout the year and not just for January. These sorts of things are really important to factor in if choosing a planner of this sort. Plus each day has a section for your intention, top 3 things to do, what I am grateful for and a few other sections, and one I'm particularly keen on for keeping track of money matters, which is one of my big goals for 2015. 

So there you have it, the 3 tools I am using to dream and create my best year yet. I will share more about the process in future posts and keep you posted how my dreams are tracking :)

May 2015 be your best year too!

Love and blessings, 
Tx

PS: The pic above is my 12 month "oracle" spread one of many great activities from Leonie Dawson's Life workbook. I've used my Wild Unknown Tarot cards, which I adore and plan to use more of this year. Aren't they beautiful!

I would love to hear from you in the comments below, your answer to this question...

 1 week into my 100 days of Gita challenge. Only 93 days to go :)

 Happy to say I have kept up my daily Gita style yoga and meditation practice.
Though I must admit that there were a few wobbly days. You know the late start, the feeling ill, and the family commitments days. They do say the first few weeks are the hardest, don't they? 
Each time I knew I could easily let myself fall off the wagon and some days I had to get creative to stay on track. 
What I did learn from this first week though is the great power of setting an intention.

I realise it may seem strange that a yoga teacher needs to create a challenge for herself to practice, but it has been refreshing and enlightening for me which is exactly what I had hoped for my practice.

You see, at some point my practice had begun to feel like a "should". 
Just because I am a yoga teacher, I should be practicing daily. 
 I had started to question my practice and explore other styles.
I was a bit like a teenager on rebellion, testing the boundaries.

But I know Gita works , I keep coming back to it. 
And now that I live in Perth I miss being able to attend a Gita class.

So I started this little personal challenge because I wanted to own my practice, remind myself of it's true magic and why I loved it so. {And I wanted to share my love of it here with you}

So setting a powerful intention to practice for 100 days straight gave me a goal and an intention. 

It's all about the intention.

A conscious decision made.
A deeper meaning given.

This is what helps during those wobbly times.

Set a powerful intention, and everything is imbued with a sense of purpose!

And this is one of the first things I noticed and loved about Gita style yoga.

Intention, and a spiritual one at that, is what I love about yoga above other forms of "exercise". 

The word yoga comes from the root word 'yug', meaning to yolk. To unite.  

What are we uniting? 
All of us. Our mind, body and breath. Our inner and outer world. Our spiritual and human selves. 
Cultivating the inner peace that reflects back out as world peace. Ourselves with the universe/life/God/the sacred/insert term you prefer here.

I know it is possible to achieve this sense though other activities, but this is what had drawn me to practice yoga.

Don't let the spiritual talk put you off, rather I hope that by sharing this extra information with you it helps you connect deeper with your practice when you see that every pose has a purpose. An intention.

The layers of intention is what drew me to Gita style yoga  and is what I love most. 
Every breath. Every movement. Every pause. Every pose. All has a purpose. An intention.

 And its this that I am looking forward to sharing with you in this blog series. 

For now, I'd love to hear from you, do you set daily intentions? How have intentions helped you? 

Look forward to hearing from you!

Wishing you every success with your dreams and goals. 

With gratitude and love,
Tx

PS: Below is one of my henna doodles. In an attempt to get my creative juices flowing more and assist my learning more about henna design I started drawing these a few weeks back. I do one #hennadoodleaday {which you can check out over on instagram}. What I found was that once I put my positive statement, mantra or intention down, every line drawn thereafter was infused with this meaning! So it has become a powerful intention setting tool in my daily practice.

PSS: You know how I said I had to get creative on the wobbly days, well I decided to film my practice to keep myself accountable, document my progress and also as a way to share it with you. Here is week one's compilation of my practice videos in time lapse mode. If you want to see more, subscribe over at my YouTube channel, Pocket Yogini TV! 

Been out of action this week, so wanted to pop in with a quick post.

I've been helping along the spring cleaning my body has decided to undertake with this mantra, plenty of rest, smoothies & water. It's been a great opportunity for mind cleansing too I’ve come to realise.

This mantra {wise words I heard from a wise teacher} has been helping to keep my mind positive,
 while I focus on healing the body.

Hope you have been well!
Txx