Publisher's Letter

Contributors
A Deployable Asset:
Meet Captain Sherrell Murray

1. Gifting and Receiving
2. Rebuilding: The Genius of Your Inner Wisdom
3. Entertaining at Home for the Holidays

1. Make Work Group Culture Work for You
2. Surviving the Office Bully
3. Personal Bias in the Workplace: How it Affects Our Interaction and Communication With Others
C’mon, Let’s Laugh!

1. Teacher Recruitment and Retention in North Carolina, Part 3
2. The College Search: Where to Begin
1. Winning Ideas from Winning Women with Lorraine Stephens
2. Commercial Lending: Business Borrowing–Important Factors to Consider (Part 4 of 4 Articles) 

1. Gratitude and Grace: The Yogic Perspective
2. Sister to Sister: Everyone Has a Heart Foundation Encourages Women to Get a Heart-Health Check
3. Five Holiday Hints
4. Oh, Happy Day!
5. Five Strategies for a Balanced and Joy-filled Holiday

1. Who Owns the Stormwater?
2. Avoid Getting Lost in Translation
3. ADD and Coming of Age: A Mother’s Dilemma
4. Lett’s Set a Spell: Holiday Memories and Timeless Traditions
Joy: The Angel Sounds

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Cyndi Bulka, Director,
Moving Mantra Yoga Studio

Gratitude and Grace: The Yogic Perspective

The traditional practice of Yoga teaches us more than poses. With consistent practice we can develop strength and suppleness, and reduce the tensions held in our bodies, but we also develop clarity of mind and a calmer, more relaxed perspective on life in general. When we embrace the teachings and practice of Yoga, we learn to let go of our ideas about the way we think life should be, and instead embrace life’s experiences just as they are, trusting that all is as it should be. With this kind of attitude, we live life more fully. Whether we are in a space in our lives where good fortune governs our days, or in a place where we are troubled and experiencing what I call the “difficult privileges” of hardship, betrayal, loss, and challenge, we accept and understand the ebb and flow of our lives with a sense of peace, and, yes, gratitude.

Gratitude is a space we hold in our hearts, a deep and infinite space that resides quietly within us, offering limitless potential to renew our spirits, to accept and forgive imperfection, to unlock the fullness of life. Embracing gratitude is a way of being in this world, not simply a seasonal feast or celebration. Gratitude opens us to moments of grace. If we are intent on and able to remain conscious in the moments, we can begin to notice that the flow of grace is continuous, that everything that comes across our path is grace.

Connection opens us to the experience of Gratitude. Shedding our inauthentic selves, our ego-identities, and settling in to our true nature, and then becoming willing to take the sweet risk of connecting to others from that place, we can cultivate the “attitude of gratitude” as a heart-felt sensation from which everything we experience can emanate. Gratitude is about living in the moment, more alive in the experience of now, relishing all the gifts of “presence in the present.” Gratitude as a conscious intentional practice allows us to celebrate the inherent, simple joys of life: breathing and being, experiencing the world through all our luscious senses, seeing clearly, giving and receiving love.

Gratitude ripens the soul and softens the heart, melting away the barriers that we may perceive between ourselves and others, ourselves and the world. This allows us to expand and grow, to be free of the incessant distraction of want and acquisition, to live a more conscious life where there is resonance between thought and feeling and action, which amounts to truly living with integrity. Through the experience of gratitude, we merge with all that is … the true essence of Yoga.

It is often simple to recognize the obvious blessings in our lives, the positive experiences and people, our work, the material goods we possess, our good health. But often we tend to lament our lack and limitation. These, too, can and must be included in the practice of gratitude. May our hearts be broken open by life rather than be broken down. May we learn to trust the difficulties and misfortunes of our lives as truly wise teachers, blessing it all as it arrives on our doorstep to be opened. May we feel the connection to all the love in our lives in all its various forms, present in every experience, every person, every sound and sight and feeling. This is the true meaning of giving thanks.

Cyndi Bulka has been practicing Yoga for nearly 20 years and teaching for more than 10. She opened Moving Mantra Yoga Studio in 1999 to share with others her eclectic approach to Hatha Yoga, focusing on organic movement and gentle unfolding from the “inside-out.”

Cyndi’s teachings are the combination of years of instruction and practice under nationally and internationally reputed Yogis. Her exploration and study of Yoga is continually expanding as she attends educational courses and workshops annually.

 

As a teacher Cyndi shares her wisdom with students in a manner that is inviting and simple to comprehend. With extensive experience in the field of wellness, her knowledge of anatomy, injury and recovery aids in her ability to help students balance the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of a continuing Yoga practice.

Specializing in therapeutic Yoga for healing, Cyndi views the practice as an empowerment accessible to everyone and every body. Her interactions with students create a playful environment that gives the freedom to experience and explore the inner self.

The foundation of Moving Mantra rests on a range of classes that inspire a journey to understanding our true self which include therapeutic, prenatal, meditation and gentle, as well as beginner to advanced levels. Cyndi also offers workshops, corporate classes and private and semi private sessions by appointment.

Cyndi Bulka, Director
Moving Mantra Yoga
(919) 449.0530
www.movingmantrayoga.com