Being yourself

The stone wall

I took pride in how hard the stone wall around my heart was. I thought that was made me so strong. Every stone righteously placed there to protect my aching heart.

Victory, I was numb.

But it wasn’t a life worth living.

Each time on the mat I allow the stones to fall and crumble and my heart to open. Sometimes a flood opens and sometimes a tiny crack.

True victory as my heart is open, it feels, it’s vulnerable and brave, courageous . My heart is alive and now I practice the surrender and releasing those stones.

These moments captured Justin Wright taken at the backyard community yoga space called It Takes a Village in Walnut Creek. A place to practice releasing those stones and opening the heart. In gratitude.

Heart artwork by Alex Vincent

📸 Justin wright photography

Your laundry

Warrior tip... make your laundry as enticing as possible. I’ve heard it said to work as though you’re working for the glory of God. I think in this moment, of the pile of laundry, I kinda understood just that. Everything can be yoga, everything can be breath, everything can be worthy of praise. This is how to warrior, when the struggle, pains and complains come, warrior on with an attitude of gratitude. Even your laundry is beautiful. 

Warrior

Misunderstood

That's the sash I wear....Miss Understood.

Teenagers

Teenagers. I love them.

I started this talk by honoring the rebellion, the revolution and the energy in the room. I looked at each of these fine young ones today and felt the world was in good hands. And wow, remembering I was once 17 too.

I had the honor of speaking about fear and our calling at American High School in Fremont, CA being their guest speaker for their Mental Health Awareness week. I talked about their I AM statement. Becoming their greatest project. And being a warrior.

For me, I was living in my dreams. Speaking and sharing my story and impacting lives but ya know, they made a pretty big hand print on my heart too.

I am an amazing mom

Happy Mother's Day. Thank you. I am an amazing mom.

That's the mantra I want for you. When someone celebrates YOU today, RECEIVE it well and fully with your "Thank you". Then PROCLAIM it with your "I AM" (I am a joyous mom, I am a worthy mom, I am a fun mom, I am a powerful mom, I am grateful mom, you get to fill in the blank for you)

As for me I am choosing amazing. I had my first child almost 11 years ago and up until the last 2 years, I've been pregnant and/or breastfeeding. These 11 years have been some of the darkest but most beautiful in my life. But one thing that I'm not sure that I ever truly did in that time was CELEBRATE the mother that I am and my becoming. Which why, thank God, we have Mother's Day. It gives us the practice to really celebrate what we are. So take it, receive it and get into the habit of celebrating your motherhood (and if you're not a mom, celebrate YOU!)

It probably goes without saying, but a reminder about mothering. You have the energy of the sun inside your body. You grew a human inside you. You birthed that beautiful creation. It didn't stop there, oh no, then you fed and nurtured that creation from your own body. You had it in YOU the entire time. You cherished your creation, you blessed it, your protected it. YOU BECAME MOTHER. And YES!! isn't it time we CELEBRATE all of that - ALL of YOU sweet mothers

I'm saying this for myself friends. I have been a mother for almost 11 years. I could have been told 900 times, "you're a good mom" etc, but I never heard it. Why - because I never received it - because I am not sure I fully believed it. I wasn't celebrated nor allowed myself to be fully celebrated. The world shames us as mothers. Demands that we cover up. Demands with birth a certain quiet and medicated way. Demands we cover up shamefully when we feed our babies. The worlds denies us of our rightful celebration. Is it any wonder we suffer so much as mothers, with high c-section rates, low breast feeding, post natal depression. We become shells of ourselves and in complete survival mode - becoming a machine called mom, not celebrated, not worthy and we have become what the world demanded us to be. Quiet, small, uncelebrated.

Here at It Takes a Village we celebrate and we practice receiving. Come just as you are this weekend and lets celebrate - our moms, your mom, my mom, yourself. Lets choose to to receive and believe. Lets choose celebration. With our breath, our body, our movement and our beliefs.This weekend dedicate your practice to your own amazing self. You are amazing. Just. As. You. Are.

How will you celebrate YOU this weekend? How will you receive your celebration.

This is one of my favorite pictures of me being a mom. Its everything - the huge smile on Rocco's face. The weird face I'm making. It cracks my heart wide open every time I see it. I give thanks to these three stars that made me a mother - my greatest becoming. I am celebrating this year, this day and this moment - the dark, the dirty, the light, the lovely and all the in between. I am an amazing mom.

Thank you - my MOM Nancy Hammel! I know I am today because of YOU!

See you tomorrow 9am on the mat with Jessica. Lets celebrate YOU.

Love,

Becky

P.S. Hey mom's I dare you to post your favorite pictures of you being an amazing mom. I want to celebrate YOU

Stay cool!

Dear Warriors,

How are you all enjoying this sunshine? It seems sudden and warm and welcomed. As soon as it gets hot I often find my self asking "was there ever a winter?" The seasons move quickly.

I have something to confess. It is my experience that just as the heat comes in, so does my heat. I find my fuse that much shorter, my patience that much less, my cool consumed by heat. Also, just when I want to lose it, is when the thing/person around me (including me) needs the most encouragement, medicine, or remedy.

And isn't that handy for me?

It's like having a very sensitive sensor that tells me when to slow down, cool down, observe and think about what kind of encouragement, medicine or remedy is best in this situation. Loud, shouty, encouragement is seldom what's required. Which is too bad, since that's precisely what I'd like to do. I mean, I excel in loud, shouty encouragement, Its a gift.

I'm truly not kidding when I say my fuse is short, but I'm trying to see it as a gift, this sensor that tells me its time to check in and see what is required of me to encourage, cool, remedy the situation. This has been a life long quest. At first I didn't see it as a gift, but a problem. Why am I yelling? Why am I getting so mad over the smallest thing? Why am I in a fury? Why do all these little things annoy me? So, I took it that something was wrong with me.

Now, I look it as a gift and a fire that I get to control. Like I said, isn't that handy for me? To have a sensor that tells me to find some medicine.

And a side note, as the weather does get hotter, so does my sensitive fuse.

So, here are a few tips that I want to pass on to you to stay cool, in your body, and perhaps tend to you fire before it consumes you.

1. Drink water. Drinking water can sound really hard so here is how I hydrate. I put sea salt in my water and it helps me stay hydrated. Its electrolyte water. I drink a large glass the very first thing in the morning. I prepare my water the night before so all I have to do is down it. The last thing at night is drink a large glass of salt water. I also set an alarm in the day to do the same thing.

2. Incorporate cooling foods. During the day I try to eat something cooling - like cucumber, cilantro, mint (also good in water), yogurt, aloe vera and green veggies.

3. Meditation, Yoga and Breath - Silence and stillness calms the fire and resets that heat gauge - I can tolerate and accept so much more when I have been still and silence at least 30 minutes in the day. I'm centered and my fire under control. Meditation is a survival skill and NO ONE deserves to a hot fire thrown on them. Yoga and Breath - We can move a lot of energy through yoga, be it stagnation or heat. Movement is key. Our breath can heat AND cool us - we have our own air conditioning and heating unit - our breath. With yoga we combine breath to movement and movement to breath. This is how we reset our system, including our gauge of tolerance and how we want to meet the world.

I recently read something that went along the lines of this. Imagine you have your cup of tea/coffee and someone bumps you and it spills all over them. What you poured into your cup will pour all over someone else, they just happened to bump you and they got what you put in your cup, in this case coffee.

But now imagine this, what if you loaded your cup with intolerance, anger, frustration and someone bumped you, that is what would spill all over them. And guess what, when that is spilled on us, we tend to react and spill it straight back on who dumped it on us, or the next victim.

And lastly, imagine that you decided to pour into your cup cooling fresh water, cooling foods, cooling breath, calm silence. Chances are when you're bumped, your love, peace, patience, kindness, compassion will pour into someone else. That person that bumped you will receive your grace.

So for me, in this season of HOT, its important that I pour into my cup some cool. I can personally confess I have spilled hot over way too many people, especially as they accidentally. bumped me. For that, I'm sorry, but Im learning. I've got to use my fuse as a sensor and a gift and taking good care of that sensitive gift.

Village is here for you for you breath and movement and community. Its a tool for your tool box for your best self. Use it. This Saturday MuscleKups has generously given us some protein coffee. We might muscle up so we can hit those chutarungas. Kendra is teaching.

The next Desire Through Silence retreat is May 3. Space is limited and is filling up. This is some of my precious work that I would love to offer you. We use silence as the medium to take us to our desires and bring them to the visible surface. The evening of the retreat you will receive yoga with live piano music, meditation, 90 minute float, vegan meal and guided vision boards. Included in the retreat are 2 additional floats the week of the retreat a 1:1 session with me. I hope to see you there. A wonderful way to stay at your peak, practice silence and remember what you want.

See you tomorrow morning,

Love,

Becky

Alcohol

I feel that this just scratched the surface on the benefits of releasing alcohol from our lives. I have been alcohol free for 4 years and feel amazing. No substance comes close to the feeling of having a clean temple.

I openly share my story of alcohol and redemption and health. I’m here to support you or answer any questions if releasing alcohol is calling you.

What happens to your body when you stop drinking alcohol

A happy picture

My daughter found this picture of me from last summer and said “this is my favorite picture of you mom.”

“Oh? Why is that?”
“Because you look so happy. I love it”.

Oh to see ourselves through the eyes of a child, especially our own. And I am happy. I’m not trying. Not posing. Just caught in a moment of joy.

Thank you for seeing me dear daughter especially the times I can’t see myself. Thanks for your perspective and the reminder of truth.

This is who I am, a warrior with a smile. May my smile be the most contagious and may I wear it boldly may you smile ever so bodly. May your smile be the most contagious. In this crazy chaotic life, pass on a smile. A smile truly changes the world.

Thank you dearest daughter for the reminder. May we smile. This is my most beautiful. This is how I warrior. 📷 Stavro Media at Star Method Boxing, Walnut Creek.

Truth

“I used to try to be good. I thought no one wanted me as I was, so good was my go-to. But good got me nowhere. Not like truth. Truth tore me to shreds, she devoured me whole and spit me out shaking and new. Truth keeps a box of matches in my pocket. While Good, kept me afraid of transformative fires. Truth keeps me real, even if it makes everyone in the room uncomfortable. Truth, unlike good, doesn’t let me bow down to bullshit or undeserving soapboxes. Truth doesn’t let me give in to bullies, misguided or fear-based criticism and cowards. Truth is a queen and a humanitarian, while Good, she’s a silent scared little sheep. Truth knows that Good dulls my already radiant fierce and loving soul. Good showed me how to hide my wings, my words my angel vision. Truth taught me to be brave. Truth taught me to respect myself. Truth allows me to hold impenetrable space for any story, but first in for most, for my own. And Truth, well she changes everything, and my friend, she’s coming for you, too.” Tanya Markul.

Warrior Training

Warrior Training. Hydration. Grey sea salts from Dhyana Center for electrolytes and magnesium and other minerals. Grey salt is sustainable unlike pink Himalayan salt. I add salt to my water in a glass jar. Don’t use metal or it turns it to table salt. Add some chia seeds to flood the cells with even more hydration. We can drink just water and it can go straight through us. This type of water is to plump the cells full of nourishing hydration so I operate at my best. This is how I fight, as a warrior.

Yoga

Yoga means to yolk or to bind. To unite our mind, body, soul and spirit as one. We move with our breath and we breathe into our stillness.

I practice yoga so I can try to meet the world like this....one hand to the Heavens open and in gratitude, one hand to the core to stay grounded offering myself as the conduit between Heaven and Earth to be used, “May I Serve.” Is my prayer.

Yoga is my prayer in motion.

Yoga + golf

Do golf and yoga have anything to do with each other?? First of all golf clubs make great props. Look at the extension I’m getting.

Yoga helps me breathe. I hold my breath a lot when I play golf. I can’t play golf without that life force. I practice my yoga breath in my pre shot routine, for focus, visualization and relaxation.

Yoga helps me reset. So you bet I do chutarunga between shots to rinse out and prepare for the next shot.

Downward dog sends blood to my brain and a new perspective. Seeing new shots and different ways to play is all about new perspective.

I go down into malasana squat in my set up to ground my legs and power through my shot.

Yoga has taught me that I can be what I want and move how I want and flow. When I played competitive golf I was so caught up in my performance and therefore ridden with anxiety and fear of failure.

Yoga has taught me to breath, move, flow and just be on the golf course. Plus, when I incorporate yoga into my range time I work up a sweat and hit maybe 45 balls with precision, dedication and devotion rather than plowing through a bucket of balls.

Yoga changed the way I play golf. And if I can breathe and have fun on the golf course, learn new perspective, let go and keep going, visualize, trust then I can do that anywhere. I took my yoga practice to the tee box today.

What does yoga have to do with anything?? Breath, movement and prayer. And perhaps that is just everything.

Warrior in training

Warrior Yoga.

Warrior in training. Becoming unleashed. Come get fierce with me.

My son made this video to help me promote my classes this week. I gave him the raw stuff (hence why half of it is sideways).Children and weapons not included.

Tuesday 7:45 pm and Saturday 9am at It Takes a Village

Wednesday 7:30 am at Peak Performance Float, Inc.

Watch the video here