Welcome to the Yogalosophy homepage, where you can follow the intention of the month.

What is Yogalosophy (View Video):

I have found that changing my attitude affects my emotions, and my body changes accordingly. Sometimes I am motivated by nurture, sometimes by intensity. My motivational hybrid technique revolves around cycles of change. Yogalosophy can help you use the natural flow to recreate your body through intentions, emotions, and other motivational triggers.

MARCH/April 2010

SET YOUR INTENTION

“Start where you are.”

This month's themes (click below):

• Envision Your Goals
• Name It to Claim It
• Spring Cleaning
• Act like a Warrior
• Beginner’s Mind

Envision Your Goals

Any goal I have ever reached began with me visualizing it. It began in my mind before it became tangible. Spring is the time for new beginnings, and contains a potency for planting seeds for the entire year. The eyes need a visual image to connect us subliminally to our goals and desires. That is why each year, I create a vision board that depicts my goals and dreams. I find images through magazines and personal pictures to cover all areas of my life: my identity, how I look, finances, values, communication, family, home, children, creativity, play, service, health, diet, relationship, the dark side, mysticism, transformation, education, spirituality, career, friends, humanity, and the unknown... and then I let it go. Looking back, my last couple of years are right there on that visual map. Instead of hiding it in the closet, or barley glancing at it on the way to the fridge, I have found the best place to put mine: on my yoga mat! VisionMat is a place where I can keep my vision board, and the images permeate my subconscious while I am practicing yoga. Its a great subliminal way to see and focus my goals and dreams. I am leading several VisionMat workshops, that I hope you can make to create your own VisionMat for the year!

Back to top

Name It to Claim It

Naming and declaring what we want is extremely powerful. Beginning a class with an intention brings meaning to my practice that is deeper than just getting a great workout (even though that matters too!). Naming it is part of the goal-setting process. Some of us have adopted a superstitious attitude regarding saying what we want, or we feel a guilt because we think it may be selfish. Having a desire and going after our goals is completely okay. It's just important to stay detached from the outcome; once you get what you want, there will be another thing you want! It's perpetual motion. I think that desire is god-given and following that impulse using our intuition will lead us to our correct place. Be a leader. Be an inspiration, and declare it. Identify yourself. Mandy, Amanda, Mag, Maggie, Moon, Moonie, Noon, Noonie, Goat, Nelson... Mandala - these are some of my names. The latest name I have claimed is my own: Mandy Ingber's Yogalosophy. Follow me, Msmandyingber on Twitter as I share my daily intentions and short-term goals.

Back to top

Spring Cleaning

At last! Springtime is here! After all of the ruminating, restoring and weeding out, it's time to plant the seeds and make the love... just do it! There are certain times that support shifting the diet, and Spring is that time! The time to start is now, without hesitation, just follow your impulse. Shift your diet and be strict for 4 weeks. Add to your exercise regime, perhaps a vinyasa flow class or a hot yoga class once a week. Add cardio work into your routine. It is a great idea to set a short term goal that has an end date. Cleansing yourself is a great beginning.  I usually do a cleanse two times a year. One in the fall, to prepare for the coming harvest and one in the Spring, to clean my system and start fresh. Have you ever noticed that sometimes no matter how hard you try, you cannot be disciplined, and others times, we set our intentions and they happen so effortlessly? Begin!

Back to top

Act like a Warrior

Isn't it interesting that yoga has an image of peace and love, hippies and pacifists, yet many of the poses are versions of WARRIOR. What does it mean to embody the energy of the warrior? Hatha yoga is literally translated as “the yoga of force”. So why do we avoid this fierceness? We become lazy and lose our energy. Anger turned inward can become depression. So what to do with this vibrant passion? Assume the position.

When I am in Warrior 1, I am head on, hips squared, allowing the strength of my legs to ground me. I am planted, and prepared. Ready for anything. I am also extending arms up, like I am wielding a weapon from the universe.

In Warrior 2, I am open, my gaze is fixed and pointed. I am alert and relaxed, confident and focused. The gazing point is down the center of my hand, just past my fingertips, and they say when the gaze is still, the mind is still. My aim is clear.

In Warrior 3, I must stay balanced, so my gaze must remain focused and my mind must be clear. Focused on the breath. What gives me balance is my extension, and there is a grace in this position that is dependent upon a line of energy reaching out through the crown of my head, and out through my heel. Dynamic energy, two opposing forces.

Yoga teaches me a lot about the balance of the mind and body, and gives me the strength to go to war with the parts of myself that no longer serve: judgement, laziness, etc. Remember, being physical is in and of itself a daily battle, so embody and embrace the Warrior within you.

Back to top

Beginner’s Mind

When I come to the practice of yoga, or anything that I have done over and over again,  it is easy to get dull and think I know it all. The truth is that I have a completely new body each day. And I can discover something new in every practice. “The more I live my life, the less I know.” I feel my best when I approach my life as if I were a child. My eyes are open to the present and what is happening now. See if when you enter into any situation you think you know, you can shift your perspective to beginner’s mind. Dig up an old childhood picture of yourself, and connect with that innocence. There is a part of me that is untouched and that is exactly the same as it was when I was 3 years old. Connecting to that place within is very helpful to developing a childlike wonder.

Back to top