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QUOTES I FOUND ABOUT
LIVING IN THE "NOW"

The following quotes are from:

With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future; I live now.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us.
~Michael Cibenko

Don't let the past steal your present.
~Cherralea Morgen

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.
~Jan Glidewell

Would you keep a chive on your tooth just because you enjoyed last night's potato?
~From the television show Boston Common

I can't wait all my life
On a street of broken dreams.
~Journey, "It Could Have Been You"

It's but little good you'll do a-watering the last year's crops.
~George Eliot, Adam Bede, 1859

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.
~Art Buchwald

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.
~Cherokee Indian Proverb

Living the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way.
~Edna Ferber

Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
~Euripides, Alexander

The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post.
~L. Thomas Holdcroft

The Past is the textbook of tyrants; the Future the Bible of the Free. Those who are solely governed by the Past stand like Lot's wife, crystallized in the act of looking backward, and forever incapable of looking before.
~Herman Melville, White Jacket

I need neither future nor past, but to learn to take today not too fast.
~Jeb Dickerson,

Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is peace.
~Author Unknown

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.
~Alexander Graham Bell

We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.
~John Newton

If you have one eye on yesterday, and one eye on tomorrow, you're going to be cockeyed today.
~Author Unknown

Today is the greatest
Day I've ever known
Can't live for tomorrow,
Tomorrow's much too long....
~Billy Corgan, "Today," Siamese Dream (Smashing Pumpkins), 1993

Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
~Jean Cocteau, Professional Secrets, 1922

Let the credit card companies market as they will, the only thing that's priceless is Now.
~Caleb Baylor Hive, 2005

Forever is composed of nows.
~Emily Dickinson

The other day a man asked me what I thought was the best time of life. "Why," I answered without a thought, "now."
~David Grayson

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.
~Babatunde Olatunji

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.
~Alan Watts

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.
~Mary Jean Iron

Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.
~Sholem Asch, The Nazarene, 1939

Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do.
~Jean de la Bruyere

If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is.
~Author Unknown

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.
~James Thurber

We crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow.
~Fulton Oursler

In today already walks tomorrow.
~Friedrich von Schiller

When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.
~Author Unknown

The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.
~Abraham Maslow

The future is always beginning now.
~Mark Strand, Reasons for Moving

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
~Albert Einstein

Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.
~Leo Buscaglia

The future is no place to place your better days.
~Dave Matthews

If a man examine carefully his thoughts he will be surprised to find how much he lives in the future. His well-being is always ahead.
~Emerson, Journals, 1827

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
~Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.
~D.H. Lawrence

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
~Dale Carnegie

Pile up too many tomorrows and you'll find that you've collected nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays.
~The Music Man

God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road.
~Isak Dinesen

Slight not what's near through aiming at what's far.
~Euripides

If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don't wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes.
~Senegalese Proverb

The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
~Abraham Lincoln

An Open Letter
to Those Seeking
Profound Enlightenment:
Connection, Insight, Self-Knowledge

My name's Yona McGinnis.

I'm not a professional copywriter... I'm a yoga teacher and Expressive Arts practitioner, but what I have to say is important, so I decided to write this message in the best way I know.

I figured... why not just tell you what I’d say about this Molokai Yoga retreat if we sat down for a chat over a cup of coffee.

So, pour yourself a "joe", and sit down and Listen. Ask questions if you want. {;>)

Have you some horrific event in your past that still gives you nightmares and keeps you from a fulfilling life?

I certainly did… but I've moved past that. It wasn’t a cake walk, let me tell you.

For years, the indescribably vile abuse I suffered as a toddler shadowed my life. I was anorexic for 3 decades. I was hospitalized for that eating disorder, where I became addicted to anxiolytic prescription drugs.

The only time I could be considered “normal” during that terrible time was during my 4 pregnancies, where my mother instincts over-rode those shadows.

I “kept track” of that time through drawing and poetry… often generated in an other-than-conscious mode.

At my lowest point, on the verge of suicide, a friend... a true “guardian angel”... found me and pointed me toward healing sanctuaries, and compassionate healers. I was extremely fortunate to find a supportive body-centered therapist who worked with me for 20+ years, gradually introducing me… I resisted a lot!... to those inner resources… resources that I was unaware of… resources that gave me strength, courage, and capacity to heal.

I doubly lucked out and found profound yoga…
in its healing, supportive and energetic-body form…
that was another driving impetus for healing…

The Yoga Beth McCann Practices.

She calls it “yoga from the inside out”.

When conducting her Yoga classes, Beth focuses on meditation, plus body movement (asanas), and breath control (pranayama) as a foundation from which we can know ourselves better...

  1. finding awareness...
  2. accepting memories and emotions...
  3. welcoming our shadow side...
  4. integrating toward congruence and vigour...
  5. in touch with our being in all its manifestations...
    • physical,
    • intellectual,
    • emotional,
    • spiritual
    • energetic

Another aspect of Beth's approach that I found different from many yoga methods is the supportive poses that are practised.

Instructors and students work in small groups supporting the efforts of a single group member, in turn. This provides an unusually safe and encouraging environment.

I can promise you all this... and more... at the Molokai Yoga and Expressive Arts Retreat.

Experienced yogis and absolute newcomers will find the total process to be

  • demanding yet gentle...
  • arduous yet energizing...
  • wearing yet satisfying...
  • a true yin/yang experience...
  • appropriate for all levels of expertise and knowledge
One of Beth's male students, now in his 70s, participates fully, even though he uses a chair, rather than sitting on a mat. He has made comments about Beth and her yoga, elsewhere.

Ultimately, Beth wants you to experience how rich life can be, when lived in the present.

She has a benediction for everyone with this in mind:

"Connect with the now... experience the power and magnificent support of the Universe that is with you there."

Of course, this idea… experiencing your life in the present… is not unique. I took the time to look up a bunch of quotes around that… which I have put in the left-hand column of this webpage.

It is definitely part of the "wisdom of the ages".

As well as having yoga expertise, Beth is a Hakomi practitioner. Hakomi is another healing modality.

For 5 years or more, I've been an ongoing student of Beth’s healing presence, have become a certified Yoga teacher, and now collaborate with her.

I've been a participant at her Molokai Yoga retreat for the past 3 years.

In 2006, during a yoga retreat with Beth, the Universe whacked me with a 2x4!

I felt/heard/experienced a command to get my ass in gear and help others whose lives are also shadowed with terrible pasts.

Trust me on this, a person pays real good attention to those cosmic 2x4s!

I fought this for a while. “Who am I to become a healer?” was my initial denial of possibility, but I eventually yielded to that directive.

Remember the poetry and drawings I told you about?

Synchronicity happened, and I found a therapy training program that emphasized Expressive Arts. Right up my alley!

A healing modality that leads you to profoundly deep self-knowledge through visual art, writing, music, movement, and storying... What a freeing set of channels!

Another “inside out” path...

It's not so easy to tell you about the "typical" Expressive Arts experience that I will provide at the Molokai Yoga Retreat.

For instance, in Banff (October 2009) I led participants through a group Expressive Art experience, using newsprint, covering a large table and working with pastels. As well, they did collage work, wrote of their experiences, shared what they had found, plus a few of us did an improv "play".

Some of my healing work is with a Hospice... grief therapy... and what I do is different for each individual client... for each group... we explore what seems to be needed and go from there.

So... I can't tell you what we will do in Molokai... exactly... but I can guarantee you an outcome... my benediction for you:

"Connect with the innermost place of your soul... follow your inner light to ultimate connection/ knowing/ loving."

Beth and I just knew that the two healing processes…
Yoga, the ancient…
Expressive Arts, the modern…
would fit together like the two integral parts of a complex jigsaw.

We really believe we are right. We tested the synthesis concept at a weekend retreat in Banff, Alberta, Canada, in October 2009. The participants were universally thrilled with the weekend. (To read what they say… check out the right hand column.)

Now we are using Beth’s Annual Molokai Yoga retreat (in its tenth year) to open that healing fusion to a wider audience.

You are wondering, no doubt, just what the location will be like?

First of all, it’s on Molokai, November 20 - 27, 2010!

I, personally, am ecstatic to get away from Edmonton, Canada, in November… the snow, ice, freezing car seats, frozen locks, energy-sapping winds…

Molokai, here we come!

The exact dates are November 20 - 26, 2010. That’s 7 days and 6 nights in Magical Molokai.

Added to the charm of the island is the luxurious retreat center we use.

Hui Ho’ Olana is a tropical wonder:

  • Slumber in comfy cabanas (2 people per room)
  • Feast on 3 gourmet meals daily
    (fresh, natural, organic, vegetarian emphasis)
  • Saunter about the lush grounds
  • Refresh in the pool
  • Delight in deserted beaches, rain forests, stunning vistas... just minutes away by car

I bet you're curious about exactly what you’ll be in for each day at the Molokai Yoga Retreat?

Here’s what a typical “day” looks like at Hui Ho’ Olana.

At 7 a.m. you will start your day with meditation and chanting, led by Beth.

At 8:30 a.m. you will partake of a fine breakfast.

When 9:30 rolls around, it is time for you to work with intuitive expressive arts, which I do.

Followed at 11:30 by one hour of restorative yoga. The subsequent half hour (12:30 p.m. until 1 p.m.) is guided relaxation time… both of these with Beth.

Then an hour for more gourmet food… lunch from 1 – 2 p.m.

From 2 p.m. until 6, there is time to explore the wonders of Molokai… breathtaking natural beauty, rain forests and deserted beaches

6 until 7:30 is supper.
(Did I mention incredible natural, fresh, tasty gourmet meals?)

For the next hour, there is an expressive arts session… me, again.

From 8:30 p.m. on, there is debrief and socialization time.

Then, bedtime.

Now I'd hate for you to think that Beth and I are stuffy “new age” gurus with no sense of humor, who “drive” attendees all day long.

You will work strenuously at times, during the day, but there's a lot of laughter (tears, too) going on as well... not to mention free time to enjoy Molokai.

Let me tell you a short story about our last trip to a Molokai Yoga session, in November 2009.

That year, Beth, 3 others, and I arrived early on the initial Sunday at the Hui Ho’ Olana Retreat Center. We unpacked, and headed for the common room where the first bottle of wine was uncorked (the first of several).

Beth heard the owner of the resort say to her cook, “My God. They haven’t been here an hour, and they’re already hitting the sauce!”

Beth and I love to share good times!

You need to find out more… because… truly, this will be a significant experience for you

Use that little form (top right of this webpage) and give Beth your first name and email address.

Information on Molokai Yoga will be sent via email, so make sure your form details are correct.

Well I've pretty well run out of things to say. Hope your coffee didn't get cold.

Fill out that form... top right... to get more details.

Sincerely,

Yona

p.s. Get the Molokai Yoga information you deserve to make an informed decision, because, this will be your pathway to inner connection, incredible insight and self-knowledge… profound enlightenment.
Fill out the form (top right of page).

p.p.s. I thought you might like to see a picture of Beth and me, taken in 2009 at the Molokai Yoga session, plus learn some more about our qualifications.

Here's Beth McCann

Yoga Connections

Edmonton, Alberta
YAA Certified Senior Yoga Teacher
Hakomi Practitioner

Here I am, Yona McGinnis

Soft Warrior Yoga

Edmonton, Alberta
Expressive Arts Practitioner
YAA Certified Yoga Teacher

PERSONAL NOTE:

In the late 80’s,when I was hospitalized for anorexia, I became a prescription drug addict, when I was given Haldol for extreme anxiety. I haven’t had any anxiolytics since 1989.

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Molokai Yoga & Expressive-Arts Retreats

Frequently Asked Questions
F.A.Q.
About the Molokai Yoga & Expressive Arts Healing Gathering

Q. How can I find out more about Beth?

A. Click this link... it will take you to Beth's Website


Q. How can I find out more about Yona?

A. Click this link... it will take you to Yona's Website


Q. What is Hakomi? (Beth's other healing therapy modality.)

A. Click this link... it will lead you to a Hakomi Webpage

Q. What is Expressive Arts? (Yona is an apprentice in the World Arts Organization.)

A. Click this link... it will lead you to an Expressive Arts Webpage

Q. Where might I find more information about the Hui Ho’ Olana Retreat Center in Hawaii?

A. Click this link... it will take you to the Retreat Center Webpage

Q. What is the YAA that certified Beth and me as yoga teachers?
A. Click this link... it will take you to the Yoga Association of Alberta (YAA) website


Q. What is the website where most of the quotes came from?
A. Click this link... it will take you to the Wisdom Quotes website

Here are some Testimonials about Beth (and me, too)
Click the links

I took a deep breath...
GW from Alberta

Beth is a skilled teacher...
Erin from Calgary

5 Years of Searching...
by that 70 yeal old I mentioned from Calgary

The Expressive Arts Workshop...
Holly from Alberta

Read all the testimonials

We could use your help designing our next Molokai Yoga workshop
because
We Value Your Input
Click Here

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