The best gift you can give is one to yourself. Seriously.

It is a fact: in order to give to the world around us, we must be fully charged, energized, nourished and nurtured to truly give. Yet when times get busy, most people actually fight the urge to slow down and replenish what is available in their own energy stores. Why is this? Could it possibly be that we are martyring ourselves on a sub-conscious level? Do we feel so inadequate that in order to feel our own worth we give everything we have? When we over-extend ourselves, we are actually giving away a false sense of self worth. Doing too much for others and not enough for yourself is like "Here, everything I have within me is in this act of doing something I cannot energetically afford. And in my emptiness, I might actually see that I was full." Maybe overextending ourselves is not such a good idea after all.

What you are worth as a person cannot be measured by what you give or do. Your worth is infinite. The amount of energy you can put into what you give, however is finite. The amount of energy you have is NOT a measure of who you are and what you are worth! Giving to yourself is like putting money in a bank where the return is always 100%. Ghandi once said, "I have so much to do today. I am going to have to meditate twice as long." This may sound like a silly joke, but it is very serious and meaningful. The more we connect with stillness and truth, the more wisely we spend our energy. Our ability to discriminate between necessary and unnecessary sharpens. Instead of procrastinating and doing things we resent, the truly important things naturally rise to the top of our list of priorities. This can include saying no to family member without feeling guilty. It can include asking for time off work to be alone or with loved ones. It can include not attending parties. Maybe it means not sending cards this year. It might even mean indulging less than modestly in all of the festivities and foods surrounding this time of year, instead of denying yourself.

One thing I know to be absolutely certain, is that just like Ghandi needed to meditate, yoga is the gift I give myself when I need a recharge. It is meditation in action. It is satisfying and pleasurable and I swear that the more yoga I do, the more time I actually have on any given day