Happy Navratri!
Today is the first day of the nine days festivities dedicated to Durga Devi battle against Mahishasura. The Goddess Durga symbolizes purity and strength, whereas Mahishasura represents egoism. Each of us constantly do live this battle in life. In a world where feelings are more constant then our own nature (if you come to think about it, love, joy, anger, lust, greed, fear,etc. have always existed in a constant manner and we do experience all of these feelings) ,we are brought to find the strength and purity to overcome harming sensations. 
From today until the 19th of October Navrati will be celebrated around the world.  
It's a great occasion to start a smooth detox, dedicate yourself these days to clean your house, nutrition, body and mind. You could start your first 3 days with a soft Tratak meditation ( gazing a candle, starting by visualizing the burning of the negativities in your life), blessing your house by smudging white sage. Try ritualizing the moments of shower and don't skip your dry body brush! Reduce your online times, take long walks...Make it a whole, detoxify your life as the battle of Durga. 
Then, the 4th day is dedicated to Lakshmi, the goddess of spiritual and emotional wealth, prosperity and fortune. In these days  , you could use mindfulness while you cook for your friends and family, enhance the ritual of cooking with the loved ones, and sharing, give value to ethical eating, share vegan biological food with the sceptics.
 The last 3 days are dedicated to  Goddess Saraswati, the deity of knowledge and arts.  This is the moment you could turn back into yourself, dedicate time for arts, discovering yourself through dance, music, painting, crafts. Create anything which accomplishes you, learn from what you create. Why not trying a mandala with flowers and pigments ?
Namaste!
​Meric

Try this quick sequence twice first thing you wake up in the morning for 21 days and you will discover a new You who is actually a morning person!
It's a fast and effective sequence which loosens and tones the complete body!

 

We all have heard about the famous ''continuing the yoga out of the mat'' quote. Maybe it's easier to tackle the question case by case... A good way to start this is to recognize the attitude helping us to achieve our goals on the mat and keep it out as well. For example, for most of the people the problem to come to the Crow Pose is that they are not really conscient about the alignment mistakes they do such as the position of the wrist, fingers,elbows, the inclination of the arms and legs, the focus on when and which muscle to squeeze and where to switch the intensity. This Asana is not the most strength/flexibility demanding Asana, but it requires a lot of focus and self awareness; the yogi should be able to feel each part of his/her body at that moment and control it. Ans this is one of the major reasons one should focus on if he/she chose yoga instead of some other activities. 
 Soon, this awareness becomes a habit, and one improves also the posture, knows how to handle the body in particular situations etc... And this is why they say ''Yoga brings light to every corner of the body''. And this could be one thing to start out of the mat: Facing the dark corners of our own personalities. Having the will & strength of facing the untamed parts of ourselves, the parts which needs to  be trained and refined; so in a reaction of anger, jealousy, bitterness,etc... instead of shifting the responsibility to others, choosing to face it and as we do when learning to come to the crow pose,  understand our weakness and focus on the alignment, on each part of the situation, on each movement & action until we come to our aim & it's perfection. 
 This is just a simple illustration of how the practice of yoga gives the taste of moving energies on the mental level as well. Once the yogi starts achieving his/her Asana goals, soon understands the trick to change his/her life as well.
Wish you a week full of awareness, 
Namaste,
​Meriç

Lately many of us has at least once in a while the FOMO syndrome (fear of missing-out). Which in a good amount could be stimulating to perceive your one's  needs and life and encourage to take action for their realisation. However, lately, most of the FOMO sources are mostly influenced by the lives of others. Social media is playing a big role in this; seeing photos and check-ins of friends in cool parties, exotic vacations, posts about their latest success and living in a society where more or less everyone is expected to race for the same objective. So the irony is that we are all racing for the everything: We race  to be fit like an athlete, we race to be young and beautiful like a model, we race to be culturally uppdated as professor, we race to be as social as a night-life organizator whithout thinking about the fact that each of these people chose one path to focus on and that's why they succeeded. The very popular saying ''find what you love and let it kill you'' stands for this situation; find a few passions in your life, and burn with it: develop your skills with patience, life-long, if on the road you meet something else, it's ok, continue that way, the first one was meant to lead you there. But don't jump on everything, blindly, at the same time, just because you saw that the last 5 instagram posts were in that way...So if ever you feel like your stressed of missing out, just ''get out of the situation'', go to a park, look to a tree, and breathe, take a 5 minutes meditation about the power of being rooted to a few duties in life, and notice it's importance &perfection. At that moment you will know that it's ok to miss out what is a bit_superficial...
Namaste,
Meriç

 The 5 principles of Hatha yoga was explained by the Swami Sivananda by a metaphor with a car; "The body needs proper breathing (pranayama), breathing is the life force, as a car needs proper lubrication/oil. The body needs proper exercise (asanas) to make it function properly, as a car needs a proper engine. The body needs proper diet, as car needs fuel. The body needs proper relaxation, as a car needs a radiator to cool down. The body needs positive thinking and meditation, as a car needs a responsible and learned driver."

 Take into account that at that time we were not overloaded by smartphones, internet, and all sort of electronic gadgets, so the Guru did not risk any misunderstanding like we are risking today. Today i read about an article called  "Thync Vibes" created in the silicon valley, pretending to "zap your brain into a state of calm or energy with only the push of a button". it 's a small triangular device placed to the side of the forehead and attach another small strip to the back of the neck or behind the ear. Using the Thync iPhone app, you adjust the intensity and duration of the session, which can range from 5 to 20 minutes. During that time, pulses of electricity will activate either your parasympathetic nervous system (the "rest and digest" system, which slows the heart rate) or your sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the "fight or flight" response), depending on whether you choose the "calm" or "energy" setting.  ( For More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brain-stimulation-thync_55b15ed7e4b0224d88319a6d?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067 )

It might be a great invention for neurologic health issues, but the risk of random people using it is terrible; using an external device seeking for inner peace lacks of sense, it's like taking drugs to avoid problem, laxatives for constipation etc. ; the  result is only an illusion of satisfaction, more you seek for extrnal helps more it becomes difficult to reach the results by yourself. Anyone wanting to invest in this life to an inner accomplishment of internal peace should know that the path is leading to it is rough and unwalked, but each trial will smoothen the road and it's a road that you can take only by yourself.

 Props, high-tech yoga mats, apps, White noises, color therapy lights, "himalaya soul candles" are just little helpers, decorations on this road, not tools.  No problem  enjoying some decoration but never forget that one of the Keys opening this road is  non-attachment , "Vairagya"(term used to roughly translates dispassion, detachment, or renunciation, in particular renunciation from the pains and pleasures in the material world, Maya.)  and discrimination "viveka" ( Discrimination is used to make choices that bring stable tranquility).


Namaste,
Meric