Joshua A Parable for Today Summary, Notes, Discussion

Lucid Practice Quarterly Transparency Income Report October~December 2013

AW Stats Traffic Statistics

2013 has come and gone and Lucid Practice has made awesome strides. We started with an idea back in April of 2013 — we had been inspired for years by different websites and social media handles/users and we knew we could add even more positive energy to the space of online inspiration.

I (Brian) remember thinking to myself in 2012 and the early months of 2013, “I’d love to learn how to make a website.” While I was on the internet for hours a day it was hard for me to grasp web design and the work that goes in behind the scenes.

Little did I know with vehicles like WordPress, web design is not as hard as one may believe. We continue to learn about HTML, Java, CSS, and SEO. It has been an incredibly fun process.

We want to personally thank everyone who is taking the time to read this. Thank you.

Every quarter we will update our readers on our blogging process. Our goal is simply to inspire others to practice. Whether that practice is asana or smiling once a day or eating clean foods, that is up to you. We *HOPE* to inspire practices based in love and positive energy. We *HOPE* to recognize and understand the fact that every breath we take in this roller coaster of life in Shakti is practice…asana is practice….eating is practice….family and friends are practice…life is practice.

As a wise man once said, “there but for the grace of God go I”…..I think that everything is here for us right now in this present moment….all of it….and let’s be thankful for being thankful!

Traffic Summary:

AWSTATS Traffic (Stats picture above): Traffic continues to grow since inception of LP. We have yet to see a month with a move down in unique viewers or page visits.  In December we saw a near 400% increase from the unique visitor numbers of November. This was aided heavily by the website Stumble Upon.

Stumble Upon readers liked a few of our posts and that propelled us into higher levels of their algorithm. We are proud to let people know that according to AWStats nearly 24,000 unique IP addresses (computers/tablets/phones etc) visited Lucid Practice in December 2013.

There was nearly 42,000 page visits or what most people would commonly refer to as “hits.” These numbers are humbling to say the least. To know that we may be able to touch one person’s life out there who we do not know is an incredible feeling. To see and hear the comments shared on our site is even more so inspiring. We love seeing and hearing from the faces behind the numbers.  

Google Analytics Traffic: As has been the case for almost all the previous months since inception, the traffic statistics differ when looked at through the eyes of Google Analytics. GA has us at 12,485 visitors this month with nearly 15k total visits or “hits.” If this were the case the growth would still be very positive.

Google Analytics Traffic Statistics

Thursday December 5, 2013: We had our biggest day of the year according to GA on this day. 4,985 people visited the site. This came as a present from Stumble Upon. On that day we were looking at our references and nearly 4300 of the visits came from SU.

Boom! A great day for Lucid Practice on December 5, 2013

Google Page Rank: 0/10

We would have loved for Google to bump us when they did a PR update in early December or late November but it was not meant to be. We know that we need to improve our SEO in order for our PR to take off. We also know that social shares are increasing in importance. Many have talked about Google adding this to their algorithm. When this happens, we will see a significant boost.

We need to work on our SEO. Our PR is something we can improve.

Domain Authority: 18 (an increase from a DA 14 in October 2013) – OpenSiteExplorer

Page Authority: 26 (an increase from a PA 19 in October 2013) – OpenSiteExplorer

We made decent strides in our DA and PA this quarter.

Alexa Ranking: 1,305,421 (an increase from 10,601,728 in October 2013) – Alexa

Sites Linking In: 336 (AHREFS) 555 (OSS) (an increase from 27 in October 2013)  

Social Media/Interaction: 

Twitter:

Twitter has been the main driver of traffic to our website. It has been our strongest social platform where we’ve connected the most with our readers.

We’ve experienced massive growth of followers. During the three month period of October 1 through December 31, we went from 4,500 Twitter followers to 8,600, a 91% percent increase!

We love interacting and connecting with many of our readers through Twitter and hope to do lots more in the future. Some of our most vocal supporters on Twitter have been @CoolMagic, @LelaindePeche, @AshleyQDavis, @thejoenazar, @faepanda and @FawnStudio. Thank you for your support!

Please, if you have not, reach out to us. We want to learn from you. Let’s connect here on the Lucid Practice Twitter Page.

We’ve been routinely getting double digit “retweets” and “favorites” from our loyal followers. Here are some our top tweets (most retweeted) from the past three months:

The Miracle of Gratitude

Stand up for what you believe in.

Facebook:

In our previous income report, we shared that Facebook likes had been hard to come by. This was because we hadn’t been making a viable effort to reach people. Facebook has 1.2 billion users and we are firm believers in it’s power to connect us with readers who are looking for inspiration in yoga, international travel, art, and wellness.

Brian really dug deep into Facebook in the last 3 months, increasing our likes from 6 likes on October 1 to 820 likes on December 31, a 13,566% increase. Most of this growth (80%) has been organic but one month ago we also signed up for Facebook advertising. This has contributed about 150 likes. We’re thrilled to have been able to share the messages of love and positive energy to so many people on Facebook. Click here to connect on the Lucid Practice Facebook page.

Here’s a screenshot of our Facebook page as of January 2 2013:

Pinterest:

Three weeks ago, Kate took the initiative to start our Lucid Practice Pinterest page. She’s done an incredible job, adding 11 boards and 626 pins. We only have 13 followers so far but the foundation has been set. We’re excited to connect with our audience on this amazing visual platform.

Our pin boards looks awesome thanks to Kate

Comments:

One of our goals is to connect with people, answer questions about yoga, meditation, spiriutality, travel, art, and wellness. To build a community. We hope to inspire readers, to learn from readers. One of the ways to gauge this is through the comments section on our website. If people are leaving comments, it’s a good sign. As of October 1, we had 34 comments. This increased to 122 comments by December 31, an increase of 258%! 

We encourage you to leave feedback, comments, and questions in the comments section. We’d love to connect with you, learn more about you, what your passions are, what your goals are, what makes you tick.

It’s noteworthy that our readers Bob Campbell and “PM” have been the most active in posting their comments and sharing insights via comments on our posts. Thank you, we appreciate your contributions, we’re grateful to be able to learn from you!

Our Blog Post w/ the Most views: Our post on Mildred Barthe’s Happiness Quote received 7,465 views through a combination of Stumble Upon and Twitter.

Our Blog Post w/ the Most Comments: Our post on It’s a Wonderful Life During the holiday season has 9 comments so far.

Most organic searches: Our post on backpacking Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia receives multiple unique views every day from travelers looking for valuable information.

One post that we thought would be good but flopped: As bloggers, sometimes we think we have a great post that will really resonate with our readers…. but then when we share it…. crickets.

That’s what happened when we wrote our two part piece on our summer basketball league. We worked hard on writing and recapping our team’s remarkable season but the post barely received any shares or comments. This is perfectly fine, just an interesting observation 🙂 Here’s a link to the Epic Summer Basketball Championship Team.

One post that ended up being more popular than anticipated: Conversely, there’s often a post that you think nothing of, then it suddenly explodes. For us, that was the post on the Mildred Barthe quote featured above. We got thousands of unique visitors on this one post alone.

Advertising: We’re still not doing any advertising though we are starting to cultivate relationships with advertisers. We have been approached by a lot of amazing websites wanting to promote specific products, books and such. Its a humbling feeling.

We are in a blog consultation program and learning everyday about how to make this a full-time job. Being location independent is something we believe is a true Lucid Practice. Hopefully, with time and practice, we can develop a strategy that stays true to our values and promotes links, products, activities, trip information on our site that we feel will benefit our readers.

Partnerships: Quite a few bloggers and writers have approached us asking for an opportunity to write for us. They see that we’re growing quickly and want to “get in on the ground floor” so to speak. We haven’t accepted any of these inquiries yet because we’re not sure if we want to open up the platform. However, we are accepting guest posts and we’re running an interview series in early 2014. Click here and scroll to the bottom to get involved!

Again, any partnerships must stay true to our values of positive energy, honesty, and inspiration.

Other Opportunities: Other bloggers and website owners have inquired about our methods for reaching readers on Twitter. We’ve developed somewhat of a “system” that funnels us organic followers every day. We’ve discussed developing a business plan or offering a course around Twitter for travel, yoga, and/or wellness bloggers but we’re not sure if we’ll go this route. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions or click here and scroll to the bottom to contact us 🙂

What’s Next? Next week, we’re rolling out a series of interviews with yoga bloggers and travel bloggers. If you’d like to participate, leave a comment below or click here and scroll to the bottom to contact us.

Additions: We’re proud to say that our teacher Rory Trollen, has joined us in our quest to inspire a passion for practice. Rory will be posting an article every three weeks. Click to check out his first article on Svadhyaya. If you haven’t already noticed, Rory is a very special person and a gifted teacher. His contribution to Lucid Practice means the world to us.

Ryan Calvert has posted consistently since the beginning of LP and we are beyond grateful. The content he drops is fresh and different. Ryan’s ear for dope music is something I’ve enjoyed since meeting him some years back at Penn. I continue to try to pick his brain and motivate him to post more because I genuinely enjoy the content he shares. We really enjoyed watching this video he posted last week.

Kate and Danielle continue to be instrumental parts of Lucid Practice behind the scenes although they’re taking a more visible role of late with Kate running the Lucid Practice Pinterest page and Danielle contributing awesome posts like this Vegan Pizza Recipe. We’re  grateful for their unending support ever since Day 1 of the site.

What We’re Working On: We’ve come to find that our readers enjoy our original content. Our original content also drives “shares” on social media and email. Our original content posts have been drivers of organic search engine traffic as well. We’re going to intensify our efforts in this regard. We’re also going to be featured on other blogs via guest posts and interviews.

Brian is heading to Central and South America with Kate on January 23rd. We look forward to bringing you travel experiences and inspiration from another continent!

The Bottom Line:

We haven’t made a dime but we’ve inspired thousands 🙂

Most bloggers wait until they’re profitable before posting a report like this. We’re sharing the process with our readers so you can follow along from the ground up!

Most importantly, we believe in what we’re doing and we’re in this for the long haul!

Whether you’re a blogger going down a similar path or a loyal reader who enjoys learning more about us, thank you for reading this. Please add a comment below as we’d really like to hear from you.

What recommendations do you have? What have you liked about Lucid Practice so far and what would you like to see us improve upon?

Walter Issacson did a great job with the Steve Jobs autobiography. Both Paz and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. We intend to read his classic books on Einstein and Benjamin Franklin at some point. Interestingly enough, it seems that he is modifying his writing strategy.

Via Bloomberg:

Several weeks ago, Walter Isaacson, the author of the biography Steve Jobs, quietly began an experiment: He posted a passage from his new book, about the origins of the personal-computing age, on the website LiveJournal and asked for feedback. Not much happened, so he turned to Scribd, then to Medium, the buzzy writing website created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. One post on Medium was read by about 18,000 people and inspired about 125 comments, plus dozens of e-mails and a few full articles exploring some aspect of Isaacson’s subject matter, the author said in an interview on Saturday.

The people responding have ranged from folk Isaacson doesn’t know of to some of his primary subjects. Stewart Brand, the editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, who figured prominently in Silicon Valley circles in the 1960s and 1970s, wrote a lengthy response without specific prompting from Isaacson, who then posted it to Medium as a separate post.

Isaacson’s search for online collaborators was inspired primarily by a desire for help in writing a book, which can be a difficult task. But he says it also makes sense, given the focus of his book: the people who laid the foundation of modern digital technology. “I got to the point of the book where people started using the Internet to collaborate,” he says. “It didn’t take a genius to say, ‘why don’t I use the Internet to collaborate?’”

Read on — here. 

Image via Google Commons

Ever since the value of one Bitcoin rose above $200 USD in late October, I’ve been obsessively catching up on all the lost time I’ve missed out on since the ethereal cryptocurrency was born in 2009. Back then, like all sorts of other tech enthusiasts who completely missed out on an opportunity to make a bunch of fast cash, I decided not to invest in Bitcoin. Why? Well, to be fair, it was less of a conscious decision and more of a fleeting thought pattern that went something like: “Huh? What is this thing? I don’t understand it, let’s move on.”

If you’ve completely avoided learning about Bitcoin up until this precise moment in time, my favourite way to explain it is with this animation that was screened at the LeWeb conference in London earlier this year. If learning through CGI isn’t your thing, and you’re still unclear on what Bitcoin is, to be brief: it’s a digital form of encrypted cash that’s designed like gold—in that there is a finite supply of 21 million Bitcoins—so theoretically its value should continue to increase over time. So far, that system of increasing value is working remarkably well, and in the interest of full disclosure, I have invested a bit of my Canadian coin into Bitcoin.

Today, Bitcoin is worth well over $1,000 USD per coin and is approaching parity with gold itself.

To learn more about Bitcoin and how it has changing currency as we know it click — here. 

Via Vice

Via About.com

Have you ever heard people say that they tend to be more of a right-brain or left-brain thinker? From books to television programs, you’ve probably heard the phrase mentioned numerous times or perhaps you’ve even taken an online test to determine which type best describes you. Given the popularity of the idea of “right brained” and “left brained” thinkers, it might surprise you learn learn that this idea is little more than a myth.

What Is Left Brain – Right Brain Theory?

According to the theory of left-brain or right-brain dominance, each side of the brain controls different types of thinking. Additionally, people are said to prefer one type of thinking over the other. For example, a person who is “left-brained” is often said to be more logical, analytical, and objective, while a person who is “right-brained” is said to be more intuitive, thoughtful, and subjective.

In psychology, the theory is based on what is known as the lateralization of brain function. So does one side of the brain really control specific functions? Are people either left-brained or right-brained? Like many popular psychology myths, this one grew out of observations about the human brain that were then dramatically distorted and exaggerated.

…..

The Right Brain

According to the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory, the right side of the brain is best at expressive and creative tasks. Some of the abilities that are popularly associated with the right side of the brain include:

• Recognizing faces
• Expressing emotions
• Music
• Reading emotions
• Color
• Images
• Intuition
• Creativity

The Left Brain

The left-side of the brain is considered to be adept at tasks that involve logic, language and analytical thinking. The left-brain is often described as being better at:

• Language
• Logic
• Critical thinking
• Numbers
• Reasoning

Click to read more on how the brain works. 

Via Yoga Dork:

Thinking about yoga school? How about getting your master’s degree? Now you can. Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles is the first in the US to offer an honest to goodness two-year masters degree in yoga studies.

A little pricier than your average 200hr training, $18,000 a year tuition at LMU ($1,000 a unit) will afford you the opportunity to learn how to read Sanskrit and to study the history, philosophy, physiology and anatomy of yoga and how it relates to religion and spirituality. In your second year you may pilgrimage to yoga’s motherland India to “soak in the culture.” 

This is incredible work. The practice of yoga continues to grow.

It’s interesting to note that people did not used to pay their yoga teacher to learn. One developed a consistent practice and listened to their guru.

Still, this program is a continuation of the massive growth of yoga. In 2013, according to surveys, there are over 20 million yoga practitioners. The world will certainly be a better place if the numbers continue to increase. Let’s hope that more of these programs begin to sprout up in years ahead, educating tomorrow’s leaders of our society and raising consciousness across the world.

In early 2013, when a leaked internal memo from Yahoo explained that the company had lost effectiveness since allowing its employees to work remotely from home, some declared that the days of telecommuting were over for everyone. But Scott Boyar, Ph.D., associate professor at the UAB Collat School of Business, says such blanket judgements are difficult for businesses to make accurately. “The success of an employee working from home depends on the person, on the job and on the training the organization provides to do that role remotely,” Boyar said.

Boyar identifies three important questions a business and employee should ask before deciding to telecommute:

• Does it fit my personality and preference for integrating work into my family environment?

• Can I structure my time and stay motivated to work throughout the day?

• Will I fight the temptation to want to skip workdays altogether?

If these can be answered in the affirmative, Boyar said telecommuting can be an excellent option for an employee looking to better balance the time spent working and the time spent with family. And this can lead to a happier employee base, which is a great asset for a company to have.

Via Big Think

Lisa Hedley runs an interesting site called LAH Life.

She has a few great resources to get started on an Ayurvedic path — or at least on learning what Ayurveda is.

The integration of Ayurveda into daily life relies in great part on the creativity of the mind – the imagination to link the physical body, to the thinking mind, to the spiritual mind to the intuitive senses and hold them all together without getting nauseous.

 Check out more — here.

Kara Leigh-Grant explains how The Five Koshas Impact our yoga practice — here.

The yogis define our body as having five layers or sheaths, each one contained within the other, like Russian Dolls.

Called Koshas, these sheaths cover every aspect of our being, from the most gross to the most subtle.

Kosha #1 is Annamaya kosha – the outside layer of the body, and roughly translates at the food body.

This is our physical body – our muscles and our bones, our ligaments and our tendons. This is the kosha most people are concerned about when they begin a yoga practice. They want increased flexibility, they want to tone up their muscles, they want to learn to relax their bodies, they’re looking to gain strength, improve their balance and find stress relief.

The primary way to impact this kosha is through asana.

The practice of asana will also impact Kosha #2, Pranamaya kosha – the energy body.

Like the Chinese have chi, the yogis have Prana – or life force. Prana moves around the body via channels, or nadis. Some 72,000 apparently, although who counted them, nobody knows. When we practice asana and pranayama, we are impacting Pranamaya kosha.

Any blockages in those nadis (and believe me, you’ll have blockages) are worked through, bit by bit. And your improved flow of energy in the body can then affect the Annamaya kosha and also impact any health issues you may be having.

Prana comes into the body via food and water, but it also comes into the body via breath. One of the major benefits of yoga is that we become conscious of our breathing, and – sometimes for the first time as adults – we learn to take proper deep breaths.

This increase of prana into our system literally makes us feel more alive and it invigorates and powers Pranamaya kosha.

#3 on our tour of the Koshas is Manomaya kosha, the mental body.

People usually come to yoga for the physical benefits and stay because of how yoga impacts Manomaya kosha. Put bluntly, you feel bloody great after class – mentally clear and emotionally up-beat. That’s what keeps you coming back, time after time.

Manomaya kosha is that aspect of Self which takes care of our instinctual needs, plus it also helps us obtain our individual desires. On a practical level that means it’s about safety, security, obtaining love and taking care of loved ones.

If you’re experienced underlying anxiety because you’ve lost your job and you don’t know how you’re going to pay rent, you’re experiencing that in Manomaya kosha. A calming yoga practice like Alternate Nostril Breathing can alleviate those feelings and thoughts.

Most of us have a tendency to ‘live’ in one kosha more than the others. Some people are body-orientated, Westerners tend to be mind-orientated. However, the practice of yoga helps us to balance out our awareness of all the layers of Self and shift us out of being primarily just in Manomayakosha.

This can mean that our anxiety fades somewhat. It will still be there, but we may be more grounded in Annamayakosha or kosha #4 – Vijnanamaya kosha, the wisdom body.

That grounding in the Wisdom body gives us a broader perspective on our life experience, and we’re able to see that we’ll get another job, or that we have plenty of resources to call on. The anxiety fades.

Cultivating Kosha # 4 – Vijnanamaya kosha is an unexpected benefit of yoga for most people.

You turn up expecting an exercise class and wanting to touch your toes. But you find yourself connecting to a deeper level of intuition, greater internal wisdom and a sense of higher knowledge.

Granted, deepening into an awareness of Vijnanamaya kosha may take more a class once a week, but if you continue to practice, it will come.

It’s at this more subtle level of our Self that we begin to shift from a primary I-ness orientation – I am a separate being – to a primary One-ness orientation. We feel, and understand, on a deep level that there is no real difference or separation from Me and You.

We move beyond feelings and concern based on survival and security, and into feelings that encompass and include all – like compassion, love, and joy. Our relationships change, and become more fulfilling, and more joyous. Life simply becomes good. We’re well along the path of yoga and that journey from ego/mind or small self to Atman or Big Self.

Shifting into Vijnanamaya kosha is mostly about doing the work that removes the blockages in the three lower koshas. We find comfort and harmony in our physical body, we release blockages in our energy body, and we heal and release fears from our mental body.

Shifting more and more into Vijnanamaya kosha is like watching life upon up before you, into an expansive landscape where you love everyone. Truly love everyone.

Now that’s a pretty cool benefit of doing a few sun salutations every day huh?

Finally, there’s Kosha #5. Anandamaya kosha, or the Bliss Body.

Exactly as it sounds, it’s all about the Bliss Baby. No longer separate, you’re bathing in One-ness with All that Is. You and God, you’re One and the Same. And that’s about all I’m going to say about kosha #5, because if you’re getting there, you don’t need me to tell you about it. And if you’re not there, I can’t tell you about it, because I’m not there either.

Yet.

Read more — here.