Just had an idea from reading and posting in the "newbies supporting newbies" thread that it at times takes on the flavor of sort of a community journal and how there wasn't one of those elsewhere for those no longer in P1. (although I'm not sure how many in that thread are still in P1 either!)

Anyway, though I would start an experiment here in the official journals area where anyone can wander by and drop in and say Hi and relate anything at all going on in their world at the moment. Certainly everyone who already has a journal would want to keep those and keep posting there as well, so it is not intended to replace anyone's personal journal, but be more of a community gathering spot to just hang out, keep folks updated on what is going on in their worlds or just catch up with what has been going on with other regulars, semi-regulars, and passers-by who stop in and say Hi and post something.
????: South Beach Diet Forums http://www.southbeachdietbulletinboard.com/journal-your-way-thin/2264-village-coffeeshop-come-set-spell.html

This is NOT intended to be my journal, it is intended to be for ANYONE who wants to post anything and check in on others who are here. Hence the name of the village coffeeshop or really anywhere people would meet, congregate and visit.

So either it will catch on or drift away...

So I'l start. Today I went to an Anusara based yoga class as part of the requirements for my teacher training in power vinyasa yoga. (We have to take an Anusara, Ashtanga and Iyengar class outside of our own studio system. I hope to get in the Ashtanga class tomorrow as we had this week off from our own weekend training classes.) Anusara is probably one of the fastest growing styles of yoga in the US and perhaps the world at this point in time.

If you want the full spiel on Anusara, you might as well go to the website of it's founder and developer, John Friend. About Anusara- Anusara Yoga But here is an excerpt from that page that pretty much summarizes it's basic philosophy.

And in fact in our post-thanksgiving weekend we focused on gratitude and appreciation of those people and things and we love and bringing those things closer to our hearts while of course working on some kick-ass yoga asanas along the way!! I particularly liked the imagery of our hearts softening to a soft, malleable wax-like organ and as we passed the images of those people and things in our lives we are most grateful to and appreciative of and towards in front of our closed eyes and then to snatch them off the projector of the mind and press them into the softness of our hearts to keep them close during our practice and through the rest of our day, week and lives. It was a good reminder that really every day should be a Thanksgiving of some sort. For our life, for our health, for our family and friends and so forth. It's sometimes so easy to forget how truly amazing each and every one of is and how much potential for greatness we all have when we are willing to tap into it and embrace that within us and bring it forth through our hearts to those around us.

Redrox
thanks so much for sharing your experience. It sounds like you are training your thoughts to visualize thankfulness, kindness, gratefulness---so much research out there that points to the existence of bio-chemical pathways in the brain
That the more you establish intentional directions in your thought processes the more you will see and discover in that thought arena...you are physically enabling yourself to become more enlightened.

mercy! keep it up!

__________________
:Jump Rope: live life like you mean it!!

hehehe... which is pretty much the purpose of the physical side of yoga. Preparation for meditation and to open new pathways and to simply practice being a better person. Not really expecting or looking for samadhi/enlightenment. Not in this lifetime anyway!