Inspiration

I’m Going To Oprah!

April 2, 2012

It’s happening.

Just a quick post to follow up yesterday’s. I AM going to Oprah’s lifeclass today at Radio City Music Hall.

I got invited by the Harpo people! They are making it happen for me!

I will blog from the plane tonight to share what I learned. (My LA folks, get ready for a supercharged week of inspiration. I am bubbling over with it!)

Yesterday’s workshop at PURE Yoga West was the perfect ending to my “East Coast Tour”.

I led 4 workshops in 1 week! What???

1 in LA, 1 in Philly and 2 in NYC.

And…..It was magnificent!

Yesterday was packed and sweaty and full of tears and laughter and dancing and inspiration.

It cracked my heart wide open.

Thank you New York.

My student flew all the way from Chicago to take my workshops in NYC. Thank you Kristina Soder! (Stay tuned because she is opening a yoga studio in Chicago!)

With my book agent. The best agent in the WORLD. Margaret O'Connor!
Love you Mags. (we look like sisters a little.)

With the incredible Mamaste! aka Sharon Pingitore.
Get to know this lady!

Inspiration, manifesting

PMM: Pinch Me Moments.

April 1, 2012

I’m writing to you from the Upper East Side. As in New York City.

It’s so good to be back here. I feel more alive. I am awake. Really awake.

Thursday night, as I was teaching in SoHo at Yoga Vida, there was this moment when I caught my reflection in the windows facing Broadway. The buildings across the street and all the sweaty bodies reflected behind me in the reflection, and I thought This is where I am meant to be. I’m home.

I feel very much at home and comfortable on the East Coast.

Those that know me in person know that I am a bit of an anomaly in California.

So, I am here and loving it.

I taught my life affirming Manifestation Workshops in Philadelphia at Dhyana Yoga, my home studio there, and now in NYC at Yoga Vida in Soho and PURE Yoga West on the Upper West Side.

(By life affirming I mean we: sing, dance, journal, laugh, cry, play, go upside down, do partner work, write letters to our younger selves, twist, sweat and create new ideas of who we are. That kind of life affirming.)

I’ve never done this before but last night, as I sat at dinner with Wayne Dyer’s 4 ridiculously amazing and talented daughters, Eric Handler whose baby is Positively Positive and Oprah people, I pinched myself.

I reached under the table and pinched myself.

It hurt.

(I was just checking.)

Here I am in cities that are not where I live, selling out workshops. People are showing up in droves because they have read my words. That is my dream. Holy guacamole! They have read my words and have been so moved or affected that they came to my workshop which cost money. The green kind.

Here I am in the Village having a 5 hour lunch with my muse, the superstar and best selling author Karen Salmansohn, who also writes for Oprah. Telling her I would love to write for Oprah as well. (Wouldn’t you know just a few hours later I am at dinner with Oprah people and they are saying ” You should write for Oprah.com.”) Karen and I couldn’t part ways. Soul sisters is an understatement.

Here I am at a trendy Thai place in the Meat packing District of Manhattan having dinner with these folks and laughing my Pad Thai stuffed face off.

Three years ago I was asking: Egg whites or whole egg?. Chips or salad? More coffee?

Three years ago I was depressed and still did not have my hearing aid so I was half deaf and depressed. Ugh.

I had one of those moments last night where I simply stopped and acknowledged myself.

How often do you do that?

Like really, really acknowledge? Like the kind where you get goosebumps acknowledging?

Like when you get clear on what you have done and the goosebumps come.

Like when you get clear on who you are and the goosebumps come.

Like when you get clear on what you have overcome or broke through and the goosebumps come and never go away.

How often do we stop and acknowledge?

And, as my dear friend Frank Gjata always says: Acknowledge is Power.

(One of my favorite temporary tattoos of his from Conscious Ink.)

Lats night I looked at everyone at the table wearing my blue band. Yes, the misprinted ones that say Man-fest instead of Manifest. I sat across from the top producer at HARPO Studios wearing my blue bracelet as she ate her shrimp.

Skye and Serena Dyer (Wayne Dyer's daughters) wearing their Manifestation Man-festing bracelets.

It was such a chuckle moment.

I love chuckle moments.

When I realize how life works and how sometimes it is just so comical. How easeful. How’s it’s like one big ride.

When they all started toasting me last night I had to laugh at the hilarity of it. Toasting me, Jennifer Pastiloff, for making last night happen, for bringing everyone together.

(Funny because that is what I think of myself as: The Connector. Not the Yoga teacher, but the Connector.)

I have Wayne Dyer, Oprah and Positively Positive all on my vision board next to NYC. I have a picture of Oprah and under it says “Oprah’s Favorite Things” where I taped the words “Manifestation Retreats.”

Hee hee.

So yea, Oprah may not be at my next retreat just yet or saying that it is her favorite thing, but hot damn, her producers are having dinner with me, wearing my bracelets, asking me all about my blog. I’d say it was kind of a chuckle pinch me moment.

A CPMM: Chuckle Pinch Me Moment.

I may change my flight and stay for Oprah’s life class on Monday. My flight is out of Philly so I can be back for my early Equinox class Tuesday morning.

Last night I started to fret. I cannot miss another class. Bla. Bla. I have to get back. Bla bla.

I cannot recall the exact fretting. But it was something along those lines.

Then I thought: Wait a minute, Jennifer Pastiloff, just you wait a minute.

This is your dream, you nincompoop.

You would say no?

What am I afraid of?

Why would I say no?

Here it is. I am going to divulge the fear.

When I am happy I fear that it will be taken away, that I will wake up and be back to working at the Newsroom so I can say ” See, nothing good lasts.”

Eww, pop psychology is so cheesy and predictable.

I refuse to be cheesy and predictable.

My Equinox class will still be there for me if I miss one more to see Oprah.

I deserve to have my dreams come true.

There. I just said that.

Can you say that?

Join me please so I don’t feel like I am alone in a cab on the Avenue of Dreams all by my lonesome.

And guys? Bliss goes with everything.

Wear it all the time.

Serena Dyer, Harriet Seitler (executive VP for Harpo, as in Oprah, studios), and Eric Handler of Positively Positive all wear their Manifestation bracelets. Bam!

Serena tweeting. Follow her at @serenadyer
She is co-writing a book with her dad Wayne Dyer which I cannot wait for!

My most favorite tweet ever came last night from Serena Dyer.

Now, as you know, Wayne Dyer, her father, is my beloved teacher. She tweeted this:

Serena Dyer ‏ @serenadyer

The Dyer’s have adopted an honorary sister @ManifestYogaJen, just call her Sennifer 🙂

Guest Posts, Inspiration

Serena Dyer: Part 2. Meeting Oprah. (Can I be Next?)

March 22, 2012

Meeting Oprah! via Hay House

One super special wish fulfilled.

by SERENA DYER

Learning from the one who sees good in all.

MEETING THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMAN of the 20th century has been a dream of mine since I first started watching her show in my early teens. This past February, as I pulled up to Oprah Winfrey’s home on Maui so she could film a show with my dad, I realized I was about to have one of my long term “wishes fulfilled.”

I love Oprah because she is the whole package: she looks for the good in everyone she meets; she has used The Oprah Winfrey Show to teach the world about spirituality; she has earned incredible wealth and genuinely enjoys sharing it and giving it all away; but most of all, just by being herself and allowing her true magnificence to shine, she has become a beacon of light for all of humanity. Oprah Winfrey lives her dharma and in doing so, she allows her true nature to shine. What a joy it is to watch and learn from someone who loves doing what they do!

One of the biggest lessons I have learned from Oprah Winfrey is that of setting your intentions, becoming what it is you want to attract (not just asking for it), and then most important, letting go.

I have learned from both my dad, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and Oprah that you don’t get what you want, you get what you are. I decided to apply this philosophy to my life and to become a person who is focused on serving others and not so focused on what’s in it for me. It was really challenging for me to blindly trust that things would work out, that money I needed would show up at the right time, and that I didn’t have to strive to arrive. There were times when I felt that I wanted to be like the rest of my friends and make a set salary, to have a position in a company that told me what to do and paid me for it. At the same time, though, I knew those things weren’t me so I decided to simply trust that if I served others, I wouldn’t be left behind. I started my own foundation www.not-for-sale.org that focuses on raising awareness about child trafficking in the United States. I became a Guardian-ad-litem, which is a volunteer advocate for abused or neglected children, and I spent a year working for free to raise money for a documentary film whose cause I believe in.

I always knew I wanted to work for myself, but I was so afraid that I would fail or that I wouldn’t be able to get anything done if left to myself that I held myself back. However, when I started to focus on other people and how I could help them, I realized that the universe was clamoring to help me achieve what it was that I wanted to do. Having this knowing that things really do work out, that I can truly just let go and be at peace and everything will handle itself is a really freeing lesson to learn. I used to feel so stuck in my career and my life, and I had this belief that I had to push and push to get everything done. Now, I have learned to set my intention, become what it is that I want to attract and then let go. In the past, when I had something that I wanted to attract in my life, I would call everyone I know and talk about it. I would listen to their opinions on it and then start to doubt it or feel unworthy of it. Now, when I have something I would like to attract in my life, I offer myself up to the universe to become it for others first, and I don’t talk about it with other people. When I am lacking peace in my life, I don’t ask God to please send me some peace. I ask God to please “make me an instrument of thy peace.” When I wanted a loving relationship, I asked God to please teach me how to first truly love myself so that I could then offer that love to someone else. Then, I assumed how it felt to really love myself, to really feel deeply loved by someone else and I concentrated on that feeling.

In 2008, I decided to make a vision board so that I could have a visual reminder of the type of person I had set my intentions on being. I wasn’t sure what type of career I wanted so instead of putting a specific job on the vision board I put words that represented feelings I would have if I was doing my dream job. I also put on my vision board words representing the man I would like to attract into my life rather than images of a really hot guy. I also cut out photos of other people doing activities I wanted to do, like meeting children in Africa, driving an old car down the coast of Italy and going wine tasting in an exotic location. I actually glued my face over the other people’s faces so I could see myself doing these things and not just imagine them! I cut out images of a big yacht, a silver Mercedes, some nice jewelry, and I put the word “travel” all over that thing just in case the universe was being extra generous!

I also put on my vision board images of Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres with myself right next to them and can you believe it? I had the opportunity to meet Ellen in 2009 and this past February, as Oprah put her arms around me and gave me a big hug, I was experiencing one of my long term wishes being fulfilled!

Pretty much everything on my vision board has come true. I went wine tasting in Sonoma this past September. I drove in a vintage Aston Martin in Sardinia in 2010 and that big yacht and silver Mercedes? Well, it turns out that my dream man has both of those, and we just celebrated our 3 year anniversary together. My career is heading in a direction I feel proud of and I have had the opportunity to take so many trips in the past 4 years that my friends jokingly call me “the world traveler.” So many of the material things and experiences I desired happened to show up in my life in ways that I can’t even explain or make sense of, but the truth is, that isn’t even the coolest part.

The really neat thing for me is that these material things are not the best part of this experience. The best part has been really learning to become like Oprah. I find myself wanting to share everything I get, wanting to look for the good in everyone, and most important, more than anything else I want to serve others in the way that Oprah has so graciously demonstrated for me. Learning to serve others without asking “what’s in it for me” has given me a sense of peace and purpose that feels better than any jewelry or vacation ever could!

I believe that I learned how to align myself with the power of intention by offering to others what it was that I was seeking. In doing so, I became what it was that I wanted to attract. Then, as I learned from Ms. Oprah, I let go and I let God.

~~~~~

(This was published today via Heal Your Life through Hay House and since I published my Serena article last night it seems we are on the same wavelength so I thought I would share this inspiration!)

Serena Dyer is a student and human rights activist whose mission is to eradicate child trafficking through advocacy, education and research for the Stop Child Trafficking Coalition. Serena is currently co-writing a book with her dad, renowned author and speaker Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. The book, Don’t Die with Your Music Still In You is scheduled to release in Summer 2013.

~~~~~~~~~~

Note from Jen: I am manifesting meeting Oprah by this summer! Stay tuned……

Jennifer Pastiloff will be teaching at the Tadasana International Yoga & Music Festival over Earth Day weekend on the beach in Santa Monica, CA, April 20– 22. Click here to check out the festival website and purchase tickets. Enter the code Pastiloff for a $50 discount! (Please note that discount codes expire April 1).

Guest Posts, Q & A Series

Best Selling Author & Oprah Columnist Karen Salmansohn: The Manifestation Q&A Series.

December 24, 2011

Dear Manifesters, I am so honored to bring Karen Salmansohn, one of my greatest inspirations and muses to the Manifestation Q&A. I am Jennifer Pastiloff and this series is designed to introduce the world to someone I find incredible. Someone who is manifesting their dreams on a daily basis.

By now, you have all seen Karen’s posters (NotSalmon) on my blog or my Facebook page. As is Christy Turington, our last guest, and myself, Karen is also a contributor for the incredible Positively Positive website. i decided a few months ago to surround myself with people who inspire me and make me want to write more, dance more, sing more and love more. Her posters and words make me feel good. They make me want to get up on my desk and do a little jig. Sometimes I do just that.

Karen has a generous spirit and a ” I-don’t-take-myself-too-seriously” attitude which I admire. That is one of my favorite qualities in a person, to be sure. Her joy and humore shines through in all her posters and her books.

I am also in love with her story. She was very high up in the advertising world and left it all to follow her bliss. Truly, a woman after my own heart.

Please read the following post and fall in love with my friend Karen Salmansohn. It is impossible not to. She is simply irresistible. Yea, like the song.

I have also included links to her books because you will want one.

You’ll see.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What are you the most proud to have manifested in your life?

Karen Salmansohn: I am most proud of my now 16 month old son – my miracle child – as I’m a late in life mom. My son is the kindest and happiest child – always smiling. Already at 16 months, it’s obvious he’s a milk bottle “half full” kinda guy! 🙂 Truly. Someone in my building came up to me the other day and said, “Your son is doing the building a public service. He’s always smiling that big happy smile – and waving hello to everyone – making everyone who sees him so very happy. He always makes my day.” My son truly has the most beautiful spirit.

And I also have great appreciation for being able to do my passion of writing and designing books and posters which help empower people to live their most fulfilling lives – my brand of what I call “self help for people who wouldn’t be caught dead doing self help.”

Jennifer Pastiloff: What are your favorite top 5 NotSalmon posters?(include pics.)

Karen Salmansohn: These 5…

Jennifer Pastiloff: What is the greatest lesson have you learned from your son?

Karen Salmansohn: I’ve become aware of how closely linked curiosity and happiness are. My son is always so curious about everything he sees, hears, tastes, touches – and this curiosity keeps him in a constant state of delight and appreciation.

I’ve been reminded how the best way to stop negative thinking is not merely by stopping it. You also have to swap it. You have to do what I call a “stop and swap.” What I mean by this: If my son is crying over something – like how I won’t let him play with my laptop – I can’t simply tell my son, “No you can’t play with mommy’s laptop.” I have to offer him something new to play with – so he can refocus his mind away from the laptop. Without swapping in something new, my son will naturally keep returning to his negative thoughts about how he’s upset he can’t play with my laptop. But as soon as I give my son a fun toy to play with, his mind is refocused and not thinking about my laptop at all. Ditto with us adults. If we’re stuck in a negative mindset – thinking about regrets, worries, fears, resentments – it’s not enough just to tell ourselves we have to stop these negative thoughts. If we don’t have something new to think about in replacement, we will keep going back to them. Hence we have to swap these negative thoughts for positive ones. We adults also have to do a stop and swap – and trade in our negative thoughts for a positive thoughts to latch onto. This is one of the many reasons why I’m a big believer in writing gratitude lists. When you’re having a negative thought, you can stop it and swap it for something you’ve written on your gratitude list – and immediately refocus your attentions onto something which will make you feel happier.

Jennifer Pastiloff: How was NotSalmon born? I believe I read that you came from an advertising background. I am inspired daily by you, and so are all my readers, and we would love to know how you manifested this dream into what it is today?

Karen Salmansohn: Yes, I used to be in advertising – but I always wanted to be a writer. I was a senior VP and creative director at the age of 27 – and I won a CLIO my first year in the business. I worked with the big guy agencies like J. Walter Thompson, Young and Rubicam and McCann-Erickson. I kept threatening to quit to write books, and my parents would say, “How can you quit now – when you’re doing so well?” But the truth is, if I were doing lousy, I probably would have stayed to prove something to myself. But I figured if I could do well at something I didn’t like so much, I’d do far better at something I was passionate about – and I was passionate about books. And so I quit and didn’t tell my parents for a few weeks. I just didn’t want them to keep talking me out of quitting. I developed what I call “Mr Magoo Vision.” You remember how the near blind Mr Magoo cartoon character never noticed all the cars honking as he crossed the street? He focused on MUST GET TO OTHER SIDE OF STREET. That was me when I left advertising. I stayed focused on MUST GET PUBLISHED and tried not to notice all the honking naysayers. To keep my intentions strong, every time I passed a book store I’d head to the shelf where all the authors who’s last names began with “S” were. I envisioned my book on the shelf next to them. I was excited to see I’d be in good company. My last name in Salmansohn. I’d be a neighbor to Salinger. My first published book was a novel – which I sold to St. Martin’s Press to be book – and then got optioned by Miramax to be a movie starring Marissa Tomei. I wrote the screenplay – but alas it was never greenlit to be filmed. But you never know… 🙂

Jennifer Pastiloff: What are you most inspired by? Where does the daily source of inspiration for your posters come from?

Karen Salmansohn: A lot of what I write is inspired from my own life – the challenges I’m dealing with – and trying to gain insight about. I love writing. I’ve been writing in journals since I was 12 years old – and for me writing has always been cathartic and therapeutic. For me a journal is like a Ouija board. I sit down in front of it with no clues as to what I’m going to be writing, then start writing, until then suddenly I realize, “Ohhhhh, so that’s what I’m thinking.” Basically, I not only write about what I know – I write about what I didn’t know that I knew until I started to write! I’m joking – but I’m serious.

As far as my posters, I started to design them each morning after my son was born, because I no longer had the time and concentration to write pages of concentrated thoughts with a baby in the house. I now had diaper changes and Mickey Mouse Hot Diggety Dog dances to do. I found it was easier to start designing a poster – be interrupted by my little dude – then return to finish this poster – than it was to start/stop/start/stop writing cohesive paragraphs of thought. And so I started to create these posters in replacement for my morning writings.

When I’m designing my posters, I usually have Sesame Street or Mickey Mouse playing on the TV in the background as I work. Sometimes I wonder if the playful creativity and music from these terrific shows is somehow contributing to my creative process. I also take breaks in designing a morning poster to play with my son – and perhaps this loosens up my creative thinking.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What do you do when you feel stuck?

Karen Salmansohn: I meet a friend. I read a book. I see a movie. I drink too much coffee. I look at videos on youtube. I go for a walk. I dance with my son to all kinds of music. I drink too much coffee. I play on Facebook. I re-organize my closets. I drink too much coffee.

Jennifer Pastiloff: What are you up to now? Is there another book on the way? Where can we find more of Not Salmon?

Karen Salmansohn: I love writing and designing books – and am excited to have a new one coming out next year called INSTANT HAPPY – published by the same pub house as my best selling HOW TO BE HAPPY DAMMIT. The mission for this book is to create an instant peptalk for people dealing with challenging times – in the same way my BOUNCE BACK BOOK offered support.

I’m also psyched to now be offering new ebooks on my site — like my newly released BUSINESS LESSONS OF A SWIMMING COCKTAIL WAITRESS and PRINCE HARMING SYNDROME. Plus I’m excited about my new shop at my site – which offers a line of goods which inspire people to feel and do good – like inspiring, tees, totes, clocks, coffee mugs, etc. (I’m drinking coffee out of my NICE GUYS ARE THE SEXIEST coffee mug right now!) Plus, my website presently offers all kinds of FREEBIE screensavers and ecards – which I’ll be continuing to be updating.

Basically, I invite everyone to come visit my site notsalmon.com to find more stuff – and find out more about my stuff. 🙂

Jennifer Pastiloff: My favorite things in a person are a sense of humor and gratitude. You possess both, obviously. If you could say thank you right now, who would it be to?

Karen Salmansohn: Well, first – love to thank you for all your kind comments – and inviting me to come play with you and be on your wonderful site! I think you’re terrific – and am thankful that the wacky world of social media connected us.Next up, I’d thank coffee – for making finding time to do everything I need to do in a day possible. Next up I’d thank my wonderful and supportive partner Howard – my human caffeine. 🙂

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Follow Karen on Facebook too!

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