2012 paya calendar

The official 2012 Paya Bay calendar is now ready for review. Book early to get 2011 rates!

exploring dance at ananda

In what was a dream come true for me, last night at the Ananda Movement Center we explored freeform dancing based on the teachings of Gabrielle Roth and her transformational 5Rhythms® "dance as a journey to the soul" methods.

It wasn't long before everyone was being danced by Spirit! It turned out to be an absolutely amazing evening! Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

life is now

The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds, the one factor that remains constant. Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.

- Eckhart Tolle

grand cayman blue iguana back from the brink

We expect to reach our goal of 1,000 iguanas in managed protected areas in the wild in a few years. After that, we will monitor the iguanas to make sure they are reproducing in the numbers needed to maintain the wild population. If we get positive results, we will have succeeded.

- Fred Burton, Director of the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana Recovery Program

Photo and source: Great News Network

Yay! I love GNN!

quote of the day

Everything is a wave.

- Paula Tursi

working the law

If you want to attract a better job or anything better than what you currently have, it is important to understand how the law of attraction works.

You know that to bring in something better you must imagine what that better thing looks like in your mind, and then live in that picture as though it is here now. But you should also know that if you complain about your current job, for example, and continue to focus on all the negative things, you will never bring the better job to you. You must look for the things to be grateful for in your current job. Each thing you find to be grateful for is helping to bring that better job to you. That is really working the law!

- lessons from The Secret

quote of the day

There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

- Victor Hugo

See or read The Secret. It's important.

honduras immersion

"Honduras Immersion," a yoga retreat and teacher training intensive led by Paula Tursi (Reflections Yoga, New York City) and Peter Kaaberbøl (Denmark) is the first group to make use of the new Ananda Movement Center at Paya Bay Resort. The immersion started July 21 and continues through August 18.

It's truly amazing how the movement center came together so beautifully. We are so happy to welcome Paula, Peter, and their multinational group of yogis to Paya!

Namaste, amigos!

tolle on religion

Religions, to a large extent, became divisive rather than unifying forces. Instead of bringing about an ending of violence and hatred through a realization of the fundamental oneness of all life, they brought more violence and hatred, more divisions between people as well as between different religions and even within the same religion. They became ideologies, belief systems people could identify with and so use them to enhance their false sense of self. Through them, they could make themselves "right" and others "wrong" and thus define their identity through their enemies, the "others," the "nonbelievers" or "wrong believers" who not infrequently they saw themselves justified in killing.

- Eckhart Tolle

My thoughts exactly on this subject. [Speaker gets on his soapbox.] This Tolle quote is especially timely and relevent given the tragic events in Norway this weekend. A nightmare of hatred allegedly carried out by a religious fundamentalist. If fear, hate and killing are the results of any spiritual concept or idea, there is something fundamentally flawed with that concept or idea, and it should be discarded from the collective human consciousness. That's why I keep a safe distance from nearly all 'organized religions' and explore alternate ways to experience spirituality. I urge others to do the same.

Consider the dreadful track record of some religions thus far: the Inquisition, the Crusades, countless assassinations, rapes, massacres and wars, the eternal cauldron of hate that is the Middle East, the crimes of colonization, the crimes of slavery, Madrid 2004, 9/11, Oslo 2011, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Enough already! I look forward to a New Earth free of the insanity of these oppressive, hate-filled, farcical "I have the only answer" dogmas. There simply must be a better answer for humanity's spiritual needs than this absurd madness.

Time to wake up, folks. The emperor (religion) has no clothes. I know the collective change in consciousness needed seems monumental, but as Mahatma Gandhi wisely instructed us, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  If not YOU, who? If not NOW, when?

memories of esalen

Forget everything you've learned up until now. Your life is starting over. Now you are REALLY going to start living.

- Tihikpas, Native American sage and shaman (on the left in photo; another new friend, Cheryl, is on the right). Esalen

quote of the day

The way is shown with the first step.

the ananda movement center

a·nan·da: Noun: (in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism) Extreme happiness, one of the highest states of being.

I'm back in Roatan after a wonderful break in Big Sur, California. Upon returning I found that master builder Miguel Padilla and his team had completed the final touches on what I've been calling the "yoga pavilion," henceforth to be known as The Ananda Movement Center. While certainly ideal for practicing yoga, these 1,200 square feet of extraordinary space can also be used for other types of movement 'medicine': dance, tai chi, aerobics, etc. And 'movement' isn't necessarily limited to just the physical body; I suspect many will also experience both mind and/or spiritual movement. Calling this beautiful and sacred space a 'movement center' is, therefore, the description that probably best portrays both its intent and its tremendous potential. Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

This could very well be the premier yoga and movement facility in Central America...

It's time to celebrate this accomplishment and give thanks for the divine guidance provided. Laissez les bons temps rouler!