About: Michelle Fajkus
Posts by Michelle Fajkus:
Rage against nothing: how to deal with anger and aggression.by Michelle Fajkus on Jun 15, 2011 Anger is not the enemy. It’s a sure sign that we are alive and immersed in the fundamental, paradoxical complexity of this life. 1,059 views |
Crowning achievements: awakening, insight and enlightenment via sahasrara chakraby Michelle Fajkus on Jun 7, 2011 The element of the crown (sahasrara) chakra is THOUGHT, so daily meditation is the best practice for balancing the crown center. 268 views |
Flowing with Divine Energy: a guide to your 7 chakras. (eBooklet)by Michelle Fajkus on Jun 2, 2011 Chakra translates to wheel in Sanskrit. There are seven main chakras at points along the spine and hundreds of others throughout the body. When the chakras are balanced and in alignment, energy is flowing, and you are healthy. If your chakras are blocked due to mental, emotional or spiritual disease, you may feel the effects [...] 3,099 views |
Get intuit: inspiration and intelligence at ajna (third eye) chakra.by Michelle Fajkus on Jun 1, 2011 The element of the third eye (ajna chakra) is LIGHT, so practicing in natural light helps balance and heal this chakra. 754 views |
Throat chakra: find your voice with open communication and flowing creativity.by Michelle Fajkus on May 24, 2011 The element of vishuddha chakra is SOUND, so chanting (e.g. “OM”, “Sat Nam”, “Om mani padme hum”) can help balance and heal this chakra. 841 views |
A broken open heart: healing and connecting with anahata chakra.by Michelle Fajkus on May 17, 2011 The element of anahata chakra is AIR, so any and all pranayama practices (breath exercises) help balance and heal this chakra. 572 views |
Solar power: firing up core strength and self-discipline with manipura chakra.by Michelle Fajkus on May 10, 2011 Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. ~Anaïs Nin 371 views |
The sacred sacral chakra: sexuality, sensuality, intimacy, desire, control, emotional expression.by Michelle Fajkus on May 3, 2011 The Sacral Chakra: sexuality, reproduction, sensuality, intimacy, desire, control, emotional expression. 1,237 views |
Get to the root of the solution: heal your muladhara chakra.by Michelle Fajkus on Apr 26, 2011 {Learn more about all 7 major energy centers — Fun with chakras! — brought to you by Yoga Freedom} The body never lies. ~Martha Graham Root chakra concerns: survival, stability, physical needs, security, connection with the earth Root chakra essential questions: What do I need? What keeps me grounded? How do I connect with my [...] 707 views |
On emptiness, grief & the unconditional love of a dog.by Michelle Fajkus on Mar 31, 2011 Note: This is an abbreviated version of a longer article which can be found on Yoga Freedom. My heart is empty. My life is a country song. My lover left me. My dog died. The dog was a way better companion than the lover could ever be. Lucy was with me for nearly nine years, [...] 816 views |
Yoga Schmoga 101: Breathe.by Michelle Fajkus on Mar 26, 2011 The most important part of yoga is the breath. Right now, take three deep, complete breaths. Inhale fully, filling the lungs and relaxing your abdominal muscles. Let your exhale be passive, in other words don’t push it out or try to lengthen it unnaturally. Already after just a few breaths using this method, you may [...] 458 views |
The trouble with yoga.by Michelle Fajkus on Mar 3, 2011 the trouble with poetry is that it encourages the writing of more poetry, more guppies crowding the fish tank, more baby rabbits hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass. And how will it ever end? unless the day finally arrives when we have compared everything in the world to everything else in the [...] 762 views |
Living in the places that scare you.by Michelle Fajkus on Feb 22, 2011 “The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.” ~ Pema Chödrön, The Places that Scare You Being without self-deception is a long, gradual process that requires daily diligence. Most people like to deceive ourselves a little bit. We like to think we are safe, to feel somewhat in control of our lives. Though I am [...] 295 views |
Everyone has special needs.by Michelle Fajkus on Feb 15, 2011 Every single human being is “on the spectrum.” There’s no such thing as normal. Though we as a society prefer to label and categorize people, every individual is so unique and complex that diagnoses oversimplify and lead to generalizations. (“Oh, he has Asperger’s, so he must be like this other kid I knew who had [...] 208 views |
Hopeless happiness.by Michelle Fajkus on Feb 10, 2011 You can give up hope without giving up. The word and the concept of hope is pervasive in our society. “Hope you had a good time.” “Hope you’re well.” “Hope to see you there.” The winning Obama campaign sold people on change (a fact of life) and hope (an aspiration we so desperately needed in [...] 193 views |
All you need is metta.by Michelle Fajkus on Jan 26, 2011 “Go forth on your path, as it exists only through your walking.” ~St. Augustine {Read the Spanish version.} Metta is a word in Pali (the language of the Buddha) that signifies compassion, love, friendship, and kindness. Empathy for ourselves and all beings. The first and last goal of this human life is metta. It’s easy [...] 274 views |
Mind your own mind.by Michelle Fajkus on Jan 21, 2011 Teaching and learning mindfulness and wisdom in the classroom. I have a sign on the wall of my classroom that says, “En este salón, todos son maestros y todos son estudiantes.” In this room, everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. I became a full-time school teacher in 2006, after a brief career [...] 219 views |
Veg out: the yoga schmoga flexible un-diet.by Michelle Fajkus on Jan 18, 2011 “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” ~Albert Einstein Have you ever thought about giving up meat? For a day? For a month? Forever? Since the early 90s, I have experimented with diets and “lifestyle changes” including, but [...] 1,067 views |
Stop the Palinsanity.by Michelle Fajkus on Jan 9, 2011 “All violence is the result of people tricking themselves into believing that their pain derives from other people and that consequently those people deserve to be punished.” ~Marshall Rosenberg Wouldn’t our lives be easier if Sarah Palin was single-handedly responsible for the atrocities in Arizona yesterday? She was not. Obviously. Today, however, I have zero [...] 506 views |
Yoga is my salvation.by Michelle Fajkus on Jan 4, 2011 “By persistent and sustained practice, anyone and everyone can make the yoga journey and reach the goal of illumination and freedom.” ~B.K.S. Iyengar Sometimes it’s easy to forget. I wasn’t always this happy. I still have my moments of despair but they are now accompanied by the soothing presence of the witness, that unnamable thing [...] 612 views |
Vows are not meant to be broken. Or are they?by Michelle Fajkus on Dec 27, 2010 “Perhaps we should end the year with a vow. To vow is to go beyond, to go from the visible to the invisible, from habit to freedom, from the conditioned to the unconditioned — yet never to land in the invisible, the free, or the unconditioned. To vow is to go from what you know, from [...] 442 views |
There’s nothing to hold on to.by Michelle Fajkus on Dec 14, 2010 We can cultivate “an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.” Note: This article was inspired by this 2009 post by Elephant Journal founder Waylon Lewis. Gracias! Pema Chödrön‘s dharma teachings on the middle way: In the middle way, there is no reference point. The mind with no reference point does [...] 306 views |
Technology, addiction and the ten-day challenge.by Michelle Fajkus on Dec 9, 2010 Technology can be a tool and/or a toy. Whether we are willing to admit it or not, many of us with 24/7 web connectivity have a fierce addiction to technology and the constant stream of information. We find lots of fascinating and useful information online; we waste countless hours of our lives online. Since becoming [...] 488 views |
It’s a Festivus miracle.by Michelle Fajkus on Dec 2, 2010 How to throw a heretical holiday party. For the past several years, I’ve celebrated “Festivus,” the fictional holiday created by Frank Costanza in an episode of the ninth and final season of Seinfeld. In other words, due to my own spiritual confusion-slash-frustration with the ever-chaotic holiday season, I throw a Festivus party instead of a [...] 321 views |
Holiday mindfulness in a nutshell.by Michelle Fajkus on Nov 24, 2010 Happy Holidaze! For many of us, this season of festive gatherings are accompanied by mounds of cheese, cookies and cocktails, gift exchanges, hope and disappointment. December is the most challenging (and therefore most perfect) month to start or recommit to the practice of mindfulness. Here are a few gentle suggestions. Love your relatives. In A New [...] 385 views |
Land of eternal contradiction.by Michelle Fajkus on Nov 17, 2010 “If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for human freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. That’s your choice.” ~Noam Chomsky Before moving to Guatemala in 2009, I [...] 322 views |
Jesus wouldn’t do that.by Michelle Fajkus on Nov 11, 2010 Note: This article was inspired by my recent blog about John Lennon and the subsequent comments made by a Christian reader. Authentic yoga is an innately spiritual practice, a prayer in motion.. Religion involves ritualistic, organized worship a deity or a gaggle of deities. Yoga has no requisite god. The fact that yoga grew up [...] 639 views |
Practice Makes Imperfection.by Michelle Fajkus on Nov 8, 2010 “Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory.” ~ Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois Spiritual practice requires practice. This practice takes on a different shape and form for all of us. Hatha yoga, sitting meditation, walking, eating mindfully, painting, traveling to unexplored places, running, knitting, and listening to music, for example. No matter what your practice is, you must [...] 511 views |
The Tao of Dating: Six Sex Guidelines for Empowered Women.by Michelle Fajkus on Oct 28, 2010 “Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.” ~ Billy Crystal This is all the wisdom I have gleaned about partnerships, dating, sex, love and romance over the past 16 years. How simultaneously empowering and pathetic: My entire love life can be summarized in mere paragraphs. All those dramatic, chemical, sticky, [...] 2,344 views |
Yin Yoga for Our Yang World.by Michelle Fajkus on Oct 21, 2010 “What I dream of is an art of balance.” ~Henri Matisse Even in our yoga, Americans have managed to Americanize things to the point of absurdity. The most popular styles of hatha yoga in the US involve borderline obsession with the physical form. I acknowledge the value of Iyengar yoga, and B.K.S. Iyengar’s wonderful teachings, [...] 452 views |
The 8 Dazzling Truths of Yoga Schmoga.by Michelle Fajkus on Oct 16, 2010 My friend Lynn spent 17 years living in Nepal and Zimbabwe with her husband, raising their daughters, studying Buddhism, teaching yoga and soaking up diverse cultures. When we met a year ago, I asked her that most common and most annoying of questions for a yoga instructor, “What kind of yoga do you teach?” She [...] 1,307 views |
Popular Lately
Skip Your Morning Meditation & Watch this Instead. 3,198 views
Your Ugly Vagina Is Normal & Gorgeous. (Adult) 1,824 views
Six Tips on How To Get a Gig Teaching Yoga. 1,211 views
How to Really Know Someone. Really. 960 views
Chakras: The Energy Within. ~ Amanda Ramcharitar 960 views
18 Life Lessons I Want My Daughters to Hear. 821 views
10 Reasons Why Fifty Shades of Grey should never Tie any Self-Respecting Woman Down. 814 views
The Real Reason Downward-Facing Dog Is So Good for You. ~ Sara Calabro 680 views
A Meeting In Central Park With The Oldest Living Yoga Teacher In The World. ~ Photographed by Robert Sturman 643 views
John Friend moving to...Denver? 613 views
Tragedy at Diamond Mountain: an Update. 613 views
How to Get in a Girl's (Yoga) Pants. 599 views
Classic Interview. Respect, Anderson Cooper. 571 views
A Respectful Letter to Yoga Journal Magazine: Represent & Unify. ~ Shira Engel 533 views
Why Lying Broken in a Pile on Your Bedroom Floor is a Good Idea. ~ Julie (JC) Peters 522 views
Popular This Week
- Skip Your Morning Meditation & Watch this Instead. 21,973 views
- How to Really Know Someone. Really. 14,946 views
- 18 Life Lessons I Want My Daughters to Hear. 10,189 views
Bruised, Battered & Scarred. ~ Tiffany Cruikshank 7,164 views- Your Ugly Vagina Is Normal & Gorgeous. (Adult) 7,130 views
- A Meeting In Central Park With The Oldest Living Yoga Teacher In The World. ~ Photographed by Robert Sturman 6,334 views
- Tragedy at Diamond Mountain: an Update. 5,093 views
Popular All-Time
Someone asked the Dalai Lama (?) what surprises him most. This was his response. 413,145 views- Skip Your Morning Meditation & Watch this Instead. 306,978 views
- Why Lying Broken in a Pile on Your Bedroom Floor is a Good Idea. ~ Julie (JC) Peters 180,484 views
Eight things I Learned from 50 Naked People. 129,286 views
Rockstar / Yoga fanman Adam Levine of Maroon 5 gets sexy for prostate & testicular cancer prevention. 114,064 views
Shake the dust – this one is for you. 103,671 views- A Meeting In Central Park With The Oldest Living Yoga Teacher In The World. ~ Photographed by Robert Sturman 83,373 views
The 10 things you’ll do once you start yoga (that have nothing to do with yoga). ~ Lee Anne Finfinger 77,366 views
"You can hate PETA, but this is f**king bullshit." 71,858 views
This Poster Might Just Change Your Life. ~ Nicole Duncan 67,988 views
Dating a Yoga Goddess. 66,793 views
The video every yogi needs to see! 65,562 views
Sponsors $108/month (recurring) 
TIFERET: A Journal of Spiritual Literature
Bryan Bowen Architects
Lighthouse Solar
Incense Guru
2UYoga
The Green Pet Community
Joia Botanicals
Members $9/month; $108/yr (recurring)
