Aren’t we all? Isn’t it beautiful? YIOM will also be expanding soon. We’ll be adding an ongoing yoga blog network to the month-long project. It will have a home base on it’s very own 
site (eventually) at http://www.yiomsite.com/ That probably won’t happen until I finish YTT next Saturday, but hopefully it won’t be too long after that and we’ll have it up and rolling by the early part of may. Stay tuned to this site and the new page for information on how to join!
Namaste!
L
YIOM started as a one month long celebration of yoga blogging, in the spirit of NaNoWriMo or VeganMoFo. However, it’s now the 20th of the month and blogs are still joining. This makes me wonder if there is a need or desire for a yoga network of sorts. It would basically be an index of member yoga blogs, with twitter names, RSS feed links, blurbs, etc. that then could be used by anyone looking for a blog and would also help yoga bloggers to find one another and facilitate community posting and exchange of ideas. Wonderful communal blogs like YogaDork or large-scale yoga information sites like Elephant Journal are similar in some ways, and this would not be intended to replace or supplant those. It would simply be a network of blogs, connected through the directory and use of the logo, and with the intent to enhance connection. I’m thinking I could start it as a page on this site and then eventually shift it over to its own. So, YIOM members or fans, what do you think?
Image by CrystalGinger
We would want to reshuffle the acronym meaning (I think the acronym itself still works) to something else. I’m not coming up with much creative for it at the moment : ) – Yogis Inviting Oneness Mindfully? Yogis Investigating Oneness Mindfully? Yoga Inspired Online Mudra (as in pose, not as in hand gesture)? Yoga Inspired Online Movement? Hmmm…
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Lorin
It’s so easy to engage in body criticism, body shame, and body sadness. Social scientific research, media reports, and everyday experience suggest that many of us engage in daily mental accusations against our own bodies. This is understandable, and as someone with a history of eating disorder, it’s certainly something I can relate to. But, from a pragmatic perspective or a yogic perspective, such self-negation doesn’t do much that is good for us. We can use constructive analysis of the body to help us focus our health efforts, but non-constructive negative self-talk only 
clutters our minds with more vrtti, places our focus on the physical over the emotional or spiritual, emphasizes the division between self and other, etc. Yet, coming up with some positive things to say about and to the self isn’t always easy. In this post, I present to you some examples of honest but positive affirmations related to the body that can become a part of the ongoing self-talk we all engage in. Not every affirmation works for every person, as we all have different bodies, but we can all find positive things to say about the body.
My body is so miraculous. It’s a cybernetic (self-correcting) system in action!
24 hours a day, I breathe and I don’t even have to think about how to make that happen. That’s amazing.
I love that I can experience the taste of sweet, salty, bitter, and spicy food on my tongue. Yay for my tastebuds!
I’m so grateful that I can get from place to place with my own two feet (or one foot or hands – whatever you use for locomotion).
This body I’m in allows me to hug, touch, kiss, hold hands with those that I care for and that’s a fabulous thing.
It’s so wonderful to be able to see, and hear all of the beauty in this world.
I’m so pleased for a digestive system that allows me to enjoy food that sustains me. My gut rocks!
My eyes (lips, toes, knees) are so pretty.
Oranges, violets, and vanilla (or chocolate, roses, and beer?) smell so fabulous to me. I love having a nose.
It feels amazing to run my toes or fingers through sand and water. I’m so happy for fingers and toes!
When I stretch, I feel like I’m opening myself up to the world. That is so nice!
My skin is such a pretty shade.
I’m grateful for this body that allows me to interact online with others who love the things I do.
My body is one hundred percent unique!
Some of this may be a little too corny for you, but it’s really no more corny than the time we spend thinking “My butt is too big,” “I can’t do a backbend like Jill,” “I wish I could run a marathon,” “Why isn’t my hair curly?” Why do we say things like this to ourselves when we would never ever think they are ok to say to someone else? Treat yourself as lovingly as you would a child in your care. What would you be willing to say to him/her about his/her body?
Tell yourself 3 good things about your body right now. Do it again tomorrow and the day after. Eventually, maybe you’ll believe it even if you don’t right now. Eventually, maybe it will crowd out some of the negative self talk.
Namaste,
L