Simplicity

Yogis,

As another Christmas season draws to a close, my mind turns to simplicity.

I truly love our family Christmas traditions - although my husband does sometimes call me Scrooge.  It’s just that the season has become a bit drawn out for me, covering multiple weeks…..  But the 4 days when my family is all here and we settle into our cocoon with plenty of cheese and crackers, champagne, eggs benedict, funny movies and board games are absolutely wonderful.  A time when we all move together as one unit, don’t care what we look like and spend 4 hours opening gifts one at a time.   I am incredibly grateful for those times.

But I realize that I also love, equally as much, but for very different reasons, the time when Christmas ends.

The first few days after the family has all left and the presents have been carried upstairs, I begin to sense and crave simplicity.   As I move furniture back where it belongs, strip the beds and mop away all of the cookie crumbs and pine needles, I can again see the texture of the wood floors.  The remaining desserts and goodies get packed up into the fridge and the counter top for the first time in a week actually shines.   And after the 5^th load of laundry I can walk into the laundry room without stepping over piles.  A sense of space returns.

This year my closet had been getting out of control for several months.  Too many clothes.   Too many shoes.  Where do they all come from? And how could I possibly ever wear them all?  So yesterday I literally took everything out of my drawers and closet and started over.  Clearing out the excess, not only from the room, but from my life.  Simplicity. 

And who can’t help but feel that enough is enough on the food and drink front!  I felt like one big piece of bread.  All I wanted was yogurt, salads, fruit and nuts. 

It feels like a cleansing.  But not only of the house and the closet and the body…..but also of my soul.  As I did my first true full yoga practice I realized how out of touch I was with “me”.   But after 3 practices and a walk to the river to open the front of my body to the brilliant winter sun,  I was “back”.   A time to return to  the simple joys of daily life.   A time to return to the beauty of stillness. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful New Years!  Yet another huge, completely blank canvas in front of us on which we can create absolutely anything we desire.  What visions do you have for yours? 

Simply,

SARAH

The Beauty of the Season

Happy holiday season Yogis!

 

As I finish up the last minute wrapping, decorating and “fluffing” of the house in eager anticipation of my family’s arrival, I have been contemplating the meaning of beauty.    We use the word so often.  But what is it?  How do we know when we see it……or is it more something we should feel instead of see?

 

Webster’s definition is “the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit”.    So although we are a vision driven society, where we are constantly reminded through tv, magazines and ads, what beautiful “looks” like, the definition goes much deeper than that. 

What about the beauty of a poem, how it stirs the heart.  And I remember the first time I went as a child to a large concert hall to hear an orchestra – the beauty and depth of the music brought me to tears.    Or the beautiful aroma of the air after the first spring rain.  The beauty of a rainbow…… just because it is so perfect. 

As we worked with opening the third eye over these last few weeks, it occurred to me that real beauty, the inner beauty of the soul, is seen from this spot, and not through the physical eyes.  Our physical eyes are attracted to what our mind defines as beautiful, but that outer beauty as they say….is skin deep.   If there isn’t a radiance behind it, it fades.  Beauty must have aliveness.  Like when you meet someone who has all of the outer trappings without the inner depth – your perception quickly shifts.  And likewise someone who may not stand out in the crowd,  but who turns and looks you right in the eye, and suddenly their brilliance washes over you like a wave of warmth.  The eyes are the window to the soul.

And who decided that wrinkles and aging aren’t beautiful?  I have been experimenting with this myself as I have taken a 6 month break from makeup.   Removing some of the outer layer that had become my habitual way of having the world see me.  But that really isn’t me.  Instead seeing if I can awaken my inner beauty and have that be what others see when they look.  (I will let you know how it goes J).  And as I look at others I too am trying to see them on the inside. 

So as we enter this holiday week my intention is to open to the true beauty of the season.  To not “look” for it in the bright lights, but to feel it with all of my senses.    Letting it all ‘exalt my spirit’!

Sending joy, lots of love, and beauty directly from my soul to yours,

SARAH

Another unexpected pause

Dearest Yogis,

The universe provided us another pause on Friday.  But this one was completely unexpected, not asked for, and unthinkable.  The Sandy Hook tragedy literally took our breath away……………………

 

 

Soon after the news started to arrive, I received an email saying that “it is hard to think about it without crying on the inside”.    So I sat with that during my Friday night time for me.  I sobbed.  I listened.  I opened.  And this is what I heard:

I am realizing that we are supposed to cry on the inside.   All of us.   Everyone of us.  Just a time of stopping and grieving.  Truly feeling all of those families.   Crying with them. 

But then for all of us not directly affected, those of us on the perimeter…..as we are ready, we begin to let that grief pour out the through the back of our heart, while we let the front of the heart start to spread wide open. 

Grief and joy/love are two sides of the same penny.   And all of us, everyone, on this outer rim who can,  should be sending that vibration of love from the open front of the heart to create a soft, tightly woven netting under all those affected.   Surrounding them with this highest vibration so that they can let go and truly allow their anger, grief and despair without the fear of falling.  Being held by all of us.

Too  often in times like this the opposite happens.  People begin to grieve for the families, but begin to take it on as their own grief.    Sometimes turning it into anger, or very often - fear.  Wanting action.  Reacting.  Analyzing.  Questioning.  That “we must do something now”.  That somehow we only care if we are “doing something”.        But this isn’t the time for that.   

There is enough anger and grief inside those involved without us all pouring ours into it, making it stronger.  Instead we need to be the support, to  just “be” love.  Emanate love  Only love will stop this craziness.    We need a true shift, not another political debate. 

Close your eyes, drop your shoulders and send out love.  Just love.   And now imagine just for a moment what it would be like if the whole county, or better yet the whole world, radiated love out the front of their hearts for even 15 minutes.  Powerful!!  Healing.  Helping.  

Last night I thought  of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  How in the early morning, once realizing all that had happened, they just joined around the tree, opened their hearts and sang.  Sending out the vibration of what it is that we all want.    Because what we live, is what we will be. 

And then down the road there can and should  be steps taken/action.  But from a place of peace and not as a reaction to a tragic event.

But for now, let this be the pause between the words.

With lots of love,

SARAH

Third Eye......the space between thoughts

Dear Yogis,

“Thoughts become things.  Choose the good ones.

                   ~Mike Dooley, author of Notes from the Universe

Our 6^th chakra, Ajna, the center between the eyebrows….our third eye.    Here we meet up with the mind.  Oh my.

Our minds are amazing tools.  But how many of us instead find ourselves slaves to our thoughts.  Referred to as ‘monkey mind’, that constant inner dialog telling us how we feel, what might happen, the fifty things that must get done today, what is right, what is wrong – spinning and changing direction on a whim.  Not a tool, but the commander in chief. 

And living in this fast paced, high tech age has only seemed to ramp up its speed and intensity.  The constant barrage of information,  noise and lights fill  our mind until we begin to feel like Fox News with two screens and two moving tickers along the bottom.    One thought to another to another to another…..until we have literally squeezed out the space between thoughts.  Controlled by thought.

Right now – just STOP.  Stop everything.  Suddenly STOP.  Notice what happens.  Now begin to move and think again….and then STOP.  Suddenly. 

 

 

At the third eye we find the void.  The gap.  The space.   The stopping.

Another way to practice this is to close the eyes and watch the breath.  Begin to notice the gap at the end of the exhale and over time lengthen it.  Allow yourself to see this gap.  Feel it.  It is the entryway “in”.  To me it feels like being suspended in mid air.  It contains nothing, yet contains absolutely everything.  It is our place of peace. 

So back to choosing our thoughts.   In order to choose them, we first must be able to watch them.  In order to watch them we have to be able to detach from them to observe.  And we have to put the space back in between them so we can at least differentiate one for the next!!!  This is called meditation.    

Meditation is simply stopping to watch.  Anyone can do it.  I have many people tell me they can’t meditate because their mind is too busy.  That is the same statement as I can’t do yoga because I am inflexible.  Which would be the same statement as I can’t diet because I am overweight.  Anyone can meditate.  It is a lifelong process that can begin at any moment.  A daily practice – as all parts of the yoga journey are.  I have heard meditation referred to as “dental floss for the brain”.    I love that!

Meditation needs no financial investment – just the desire to know yourself better and to feel better.  You can sit in a chair, or on the floor or your bed, with a pillow propped under you so that your hips are slightly elevated.  But sitting as opposed to lying.    And start with just 10 minutes.  Everyone has 10 minutes each day.  Everyone.  And pick a time that you can do every day.  Morning works well for this.  Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier, brush your teeth, go to the bathroom and then sit.  It will give you back much more than 15 minutes of sleep ever could hope to (or just go to bed 15 minutes earlier!). 

I like to wrap my shawl around me.  It tells my body that it is time to be still, like going into a cocoon.  Then close your eyes.  Take a quick scan through the body to release any holding.   Then watch your breath.  Just watch.  You can count your breaths backward starting from 50, or you can watch and feel that space at the end of every exhale.  And when the mind begins to wander……and it will……just notice.  See where it went, and then bring it back to the breath.  Over and over and over.

When you are finished, awaken the emotion of gratitude in your heart and send its vibration out.  Thank the Universe, and then open your eyes.    Aaaaaahhhhh….ready to begin your day from this place of peace. 

Like any new habit we are trying to form, it will take time.  But since “you” are the commander in chief, and not your mind, all you have to do is decide that you are going to do it.  That’s it!  Just decide and do it every day for a month and watch what happens.     Oh, and when your mind tries to talk you out of it each day…..notice that too. 

Meditate, live vividly.

Ooooommmmmmmmm……………………

SARAH

Throat.....baring your soul

Yogis,

This week we drew from deep within, allowed the energy to rise, and then toned, screamed, roared and sent our vibration out.  And it felt very freeing! Expressing our true selves.  Finding our authentic voice.

We all have many voices we use – our parent voice, our spouse voice, our friend voice, our board member voice, our work voice…..and they go on and on.  Usually each one slightly different in words used, body movements, facial expression and sometimes even the pitch of our voice.    Each one tuned to what we feel is “expected” or “accepted”.   We build these voices based on life experiences and how we were responded to when we “spoke up”. 

As social creatures we want to belong and be acknowledged.  We want to please.  We learn at a very young age what is “ok” to say at home, in school and on the playground, and we slowly develop voices around it.  Often at the expense of our one true voice. 

So here we are on this spiritual journey.  We find the stillness and see the pure potential.  We begin to feel and awaken desire to sense what it is that will make this life fulfilling.  We visualize it in detail and send it out to the universe fueling the inner passion, and believing we can do it.  Then at the heart we start to sense there is a benevolent energy much bigger than us that we can  surrender to with utter trust to support us…………  But then we must begin to express it.  It has to make its way passed the throat and out into the Universe to make it real.  I have to begin to speak as ME. 

The throat is a very narrow channel and it is easy to  get in the habit of “swallowing our words”, becoming choked up, or having a lump in the throat.   The archetype of the closed throat is the silent child, and it is often the cause of throat issues, TMJ and tension in the neck.  Our radiant inner energy, our truth, expanding and yearning  to get out and be heard, but trapped.  It is often said – that which you cannot communicate will control you. 

What this isn’t – telling people what you think.    That is the flow from the brain out the mouth.  No throat really involved there.    Vishuddha is our place of purification and free will.  Here we are communicating from the soul.  The flow is from the tailbone through your very core and out the mouth.  Speaking from the heart.  These words are honest, meaningful and pure and resonate perfectly with what is on the inside.  Letting ourselves be seen.

So this week as you are speaking, begin to notice where the words are coming from.   And if you find they are just a pouring out of the mind’s inner dialog, take a pause.  Drop your awareness to your tailbone and slowly draw an inhale up along the spine, through a wide open throat and send an expressive exhale out the mouth.  Changing the flow.  Sending you out!

My soul speaking to yours,

SARAH

 

Life's Pause Button

Yogis,

Have you ever noticed how a holiday seems like a big pause button on the remote control of life?  Before a holiday, life ramps up, trying to squeeze both our regular responsibilities and the preparations all in the same 24 hour days.  But then it arrives…….and everything pauses. It is like the gap between breaths.  The space between words.  A time of veering off the trail .

 

During a holiday like Thanksgiving, we step back.  The to do list drops away.  Work seems like a distant memory.  We sleep late, eat what we crave, and do whatever we feel like….often with a lot of togetherness.  It is a time of becoming present.  Being in the moment without much concern for the past or the future.  Just being.  Selecting what to do next not by what you should do, but what you feel like doing.   It’s as if the world will just wait.

And I had a second layer of pausing piled on, like the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie ……I was still sick for most of the holiday. It dragged me back to the pure physical-ness of walking through life in this human body.   Aware of each discomfort.   I realized that illness also is a form of stopping.  I didn’t run for two weeks, and only practiced yoga a few times throughout.  So this Wednesday I  finally gave in and visited a clinic to get antibiotics, and found myself diligent in not exerting.  The “me” who always wants to do, help and give, had to rest.  Had to surrender.  Even sending out my vibration was too exhausting so I just allowed the Universe’s hum to soak in as comfort.  I personally did many things I never do in my daily life – watched tv, ate rich foods, and sat on the couch for hours on end.  At one point we watched 3 back to back episodes of “The Big Bang Theory”, just because it was one of my sister-in-laws favorites – and because we could. 

When we pause we notice and become more aware.  And what we see or experience may be pleasing, annoying or even uncomfortable.  During the pause of holidays, or being sick, there can be just as many moments of wanting to soak it all in, as there can be of wishing you could run away as fast as you can.  We see everything, including our own lives, our likes and dislikes, our hot buttons, and our vulnerabilities, exactly as they are.   This is what mindfulness is all about.  Being with it all.

But tomorrow the play button will be pushed, and life will pick up right where we left it.  Work will be there and I will dive back into my running and yoga.  Like coming out of a cocoon.  Making our way back onto the trail.  But is it possible to bring a piece of this pause with us (perhaps without the green bean casserole and stuffing) so that we don’t become removed from all that is here?

Today I bundled up and walked down to the river to just sit.  And sit I did for ½ hour, quieting my mind and letting the world pour in.  And I realized that this is a pause that I do weekly.  The day up to that point, and the walk down are filled with activity.  But then I just stop.  Completely stop.  And when an inner voice tells me I am done, I express gratitude, and then hit the play button of life.  But I enter back in with a calm and a broader view.  We all need these pauses, and not just at times of big events, holidays and illness.

So what is your pause button in daily life?  And do you hit it often enough?

Pausing to notice,

SARAH

Throat.......your vibration

Dear Yogis,

The Universe has an unusual sense of humor.  This week we began our classes on Vishuddha, the throat chakra, where we find our voice…………. and I completely lost mine.  During Tuesday’s classes my glands began to swell, my throat became sore and by the end my voice was deep, gravelly and hoarse.   By Thursday night I tried to be heard through loud whispers, and by Friday’s class I gave in completely and we just did a gentle flow.   Talking had become utterly exhausting.

But even though Vishuddha is about self expression and being authentic, its deeper meaning is in the silence.   And I was given, without necessarily asking, the chance to explore it.

 

The organ of action for the throat chakra isn’t the mouth or tongue.  It is the ears.  Listening.  Listening within. 

The majority of our speaking has a specific energy flow ….from the mind, out through the mouth.  From the mind, out through the mouth.  From the mind, out through the mouth.  Speaking what we “think”.   Letting others listen to what we “know”.  Filling the silence with the busy-ness of the mind.

But to speak with our authentic voice we must first get very quiet and go deep within – changing the direction of this energy flow.  Noticing (earth), uncovering our true desires (water), awakening passion (fire), opening the heart (air) and then radiating all of this through our out breath in words.  From the tailbones connection to earth, through our very center and out through the mouth.  From the tailbones connection to earth, through our very center and out through the mouth.   Speaking as “you” from the heart.   Honestly.  With courage.   With this kind of talking, there is a whole lot less of it. 

So this week as I tried to rest my voice I could watch.  I would only speak when something needed to be said.  And I worked on my vibration.

As beings of energy we have a vibration.  You know how you can tell when someone is behind you, often before hearing them?  Or you walk into a room and instantly know that someone is angry?  You can feel them.  Our vibration communicates, affects others, and leaves a mark on the places we go.  And the more you begin to lead life and speak from the heart, the higher your vibration will become.  Like the perfect circle I spoke of in my last post, you begin to radiate love, the highest vibration…. And you become a magnet. 

You can also actively send your vibration out!  Try it.  Your vibration is a form of self expression, as much as, or possibly more than your voice.  Close your eyes and find some part of “you”, the real you, that you  don’t typically let others see.    For me it is what I have always referred to as my “wildness”.   For others it might be your soft side,  your sensuality, your humor, or your grit.  Something deep inside that the “persona” you have built up on the outside, can’t really express.   “Feel” what it feels like.  Then energetically spread the whole front of the body wide open, drop your shoulders to give your throat a lot of space, and send it out through vibration.  If you are alone, there may even be a sound you let out with it.    The more you do this, over time the easier it will become to let that part of you “OUT” all the time. 

How freeing!  Aaaahhhhh………………….  Can you feel me?

Not needing to speak,

SARAH

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

            ~William Arthur Ward

Heart.....the perfect circle

Dear Yogis,

Begin as we always do.  Slow everything down and notice this moment. 

Notice your breath.  Notice your physical presence.  Notice the space that surrounds you and its sounds and sensations.  Feeling what it is like to be “you” right now.   Right here.  It never gets old, does it…..

Now bring your awareness to the space around your heart…..an inner bow…. And watch the breath flow like gentle waves over the heart.  This is our sacred space and if you get very still you will begin to notice that  it feels like no other space in the body.  The heart has a unique energy.  And it is quite powerful.

This is the home of our joy, our sorrow, bliss and grief.  It is also our space of love.

Love.  That elusive emotion.  Sometimes it charges at us with blinding force.  Other times it seems to slip away.  Sometimes just out of reach.  It can lift us to soaring peaks and wound us to our very core.  Sometimes smothering and other times so very comfortable.  But the one unifying thing about love is “we all want it”.  It is our most primal longing to be fulfilled.   But what is “it”?

Have you ever met someone in a random situation where your eyes locked and you felt like you had known them forever?  Where your conversation was immediately so comfortable and deep that you felt you could talk forever?  Where when it is time to separate it felt like two magnets being pulled apart?  That is one of the Universe’s way of giving us a glimpse of LOVE.  It is the seeing of the other’s soul through the window of their eyes.  LOVING them not for who they are, what they wear or what they look like, but because it is like talking to yourself. 

Most of the love we experience in life is personal love.  The love of our friends, family, homes, traditions……and it is beautiful and wonderful and provides us with support, warmth and joy.  But it contains some boundaries and limitations because it is the type of love that we seek from the outside.  The feeling that someone or something outside of us will “complete us”….. make us whole…make us happy.   That missing piece that when we find it, we will be full.  Like a pie with a missing slice.   Looking to be “loved”.   But when the piece no longer fits correctly, or our empty space shifts or changes, the love fade away.  It no longer serves us.  This is human nature. 

But the emotion we look to awaken in Anahata, the heart, is LOVE.  Unconditional, universal.  Vibrational.  It is spiritual and it is contained completely within you.   And when this is touched…when this is opened, it is like a volcano.  Limitless and filled with tremendous power and light.  Fulfilling….right out to the edges of your being,  becoming “complete” from within.  Needing nothing from without.   A perfect circle.  And because it is an ever flowing fountain, it can’t be contained within the artificial boundary of the skin – so you begin to emanate LOVE.   Not looking for love, but being LOVE.  ……and the more you give, the more you feel.

And from this space you can begin to see it in others.  Recognizing “you” in everyone.  All flowing from the same fountain. Feeling the other “complete” circles when your paths meet. 

LOVE is like coming home. 

"and think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course"
                          ~The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran)

But we must LOVE ourselves first, 

SARAH

 

Opening the heart.......through surrender

Dear Yogis,

That outpouring of gratitude I saw in all of the emails was incredible!  Couldn’t you just feel it through the PC?  Just imagine if you were standing close by….. Just imagine if we did that every day…..We are energy and we can build whatever it is that we desire! 

But don’t let it stop there.  Gratitude is a daily practice that becomes a way of life over time.  Creating a list of 10 each day gets it going.  Maybe sending them again to all of us.  Maybe falling asleep or waking up to them.  Maybe writing them daily in a journal.

Someone gives you a genuine hug….thank you Universe.  You receive an unexpected gift….thank you Universe.  As you open your eyes in the morning, the first image you see is fire red leaves against a brilliant blue sky….thank you Universe.   You host the 25^th  annual Lobsterfest dinner for 10 close friends who you only see once a year….thank you Universe.    And thank you especially for that much needed extra hour of sleep afterward!

 

Now the tougher one.   To open the heart, which is to have the ability to love others unconditionally, you must first love yourself.  Deeply love yourself.  Warts and all.  Successes and failures.  You must believe you are worthy.

So the practice this week is to create the quick list of  10 things about yourself that you are grateful for….  And read them aloud to yourself in the mirror.   This is not for the fainthearted….Why is it so much easier to be grateful for everyone else?  Why?

In the first 3 chakras of Earth, Water, and Fire, we noticed the vastness around us filled with pure potential, we turned on our sense of feeling to allow desire to rise, and then created the vision of how it will be once we have that which will fulfill us.    And we painted it on this blank canvas in front of us, projecting it out clearly into the world, and we see it daily with an unwavering focus…believing that we can and we will.

Now as we enter this 4^th chakra of the heart, Anahata, the unstruck chord, we are asked to surrender.    Just to surrender.  Trust.  Beginning here to move away from the physical-ness of our 3 lower energy centers, over the bridge of the heart, to our much more expansive, spiritual side, where all is possible.  Here we sense that there is more.  Much more.  Learning to  trust the unseen.  The universal energy that is so much bigger than us….yet not separate.  Moving from Me to We.   

This takes a loosening up on the reins.  This takes a “leap of faith”.    Leaving doubt and worry behind.  Closing your eyes and falling back into the arms of the Universe with utter trust. 

“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”

                ~Rabindranath Tagore

Aaaahhhhh………………

SARAH

 

 

 

Gratitude......every day

Yogis,

First – stop whatever you are doing right now.  Stop completely…….. Notice this moment.   Now close your eyes and take 3 slow mindful breaths.     Changes things, doesn’t it!

 

These two weeks we are working with the energy of the heart.  And gratitude is one of the most important practices here. 

 

So each day spend a moment coming up with a quick list of 10 things you are thankful for.   Written, spoken or thought….doesn’t matter.  Just have them come directly from the heart (not the things you think you are supposed to be thankful for).  Then give a quick thanks to the Universe!
 

Here is my list for today:

·         Seeing the sun return

·         The vivid colors outside

·         My yoga

·         The special piece of cactus that Molly gave me

·         My breath

·         Deer

·         My neighbor Danny

·         The beautiful shelf that Paul made for me

·         Watching a small songbird bathing in the water pooled on the grill cover

·         All of you

 Anyone else want to share yours?

The more gratitude you share with the Universe, the more of life’s joys will flow back.

Grateful,

SARAH

 

Fire....becoming comfortable in the uncomfortable

Dear Yogis,

As I sit here in the calm before the storm, anticipating Hurricane Sandy’s approach, I feel centered and peaceful.   But I know that is not necessarily the norm.  That for many people weather events can be very anxiety ridden.

The weather, nature, Mother Earth can be quite unpredictable.  And in events like this she shows us just how mighty she can be.    Just when we think we have our life in order, and that we are steering the ship, feeling good, whistling a tune……whoosh……….we realize just how small we truly are.  And that can be very uncomfortable.

The element of fire is all about working toward being “comfortable in the uncomfortable”.  Life is not a straight path with a clear map of what comes next.  No matter how hard we plan and how much order we create around us, there will be unexpected turns and obstacles.  This is all part of being alive.

But what we do have control of is how we face them.  This week we built the steady fire in Manipura, the confidence and inner strength, which is there to teach us that no matter what, everything will be ok.  That we can weather the storms by  staying grounded and letting go into the flow. 

The media doesn’t help.  We are bombarded with the most dire of warnings, hour and hour, day after day.  So the first step is to turn it off.  We all know what basic things we need to do to prepare.  And once those are done, tune instead to this moment.  Bring yourself back to this breath.  And for now, sit by the window and watch.  Notice this moment.   

And if over these days you begin to feel anxiety bubbling up…..do just as we did in our deep squat in class.  Allow the discomfort to rise.   Breathe into it.  Feel the sensations and notice where they are in the body and ask them to relax.  Slowing everything down.  Breathing into the belly, letting go of struggle and moving inward. 

So whether the storm is one from without, or from within, it is all just part of the path.  And if we want to be the infinite creators that we are meant to be, we must keep the front of the body open and continue to move forward through all that life brings us.    Being comfortable in the uncomfortable………..

All of this work with the fire element, although it may seem “hard”, is merely preparation for the real work – opening the heart.  Now that is the real challenge!

Believing I can, all the way to the center of my core,

SARAH

Quote of the Day

I must be a mermaid, Rango.  I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.

                                     
                                  Anais Nin
                                           (1903-1977)
                                        French-Cuban author

Fire.....transformation from within

Dear Yogis,

Bring awareness to the navel.  Send your breath there….beginning to breathe in and out from the navel center.  Opening up the whole front of the body.  Looking forward.  Exposed.  Unafraid. 

Manipura, our third chakra.  The place of transformation.  The fire.

 

It is in the heat of the fire that we find change.   Where we are challenged, uncomfortable, pushed out of our habits. 

We started with earth where we became still and quiet –  “aware” of the vastness that surrounds us.  Like a blank canvass on which to create.  With water we introduced movement, finding our flow and beginning to “feel”.  Awakening our aliveness and allowing our desire to bubble up.  Diving deep to discover what it is that will fulfill us.

Now we enter the fire where we give life to our desire.  Here we visualize what it will look like when we have manifested our desires into our lives.  Visualizing it as if it is already here. “Seeing” it clearly and  projecting this image onto this vast space in front of us with intention.  Painting the picture.  And then all we are asked to do is take baby steps…..

Water was the pilot light, simmering below the surface.  Fire is the passion.  The fuel of change.  Going from feeling like life just happens, to creating the life that you want and deserve.   And it doesn’t matter if your vision is some small change or something truly life transforming…..the Universe will respond exactly the same way.  So “see” big!

But it takes inner strength.  It takes discipline.  It takes knowing that you “can” and you “will”.  It takes an unwavering focus.  “Seeing” it day, after day, after day, after day.  Stepping out.  This is all comes from our core.  Without fire, it remains a wish. 

And when we find this true inner strength, we also find softness.  Nothing to prove.  This is the kind of strength that makes you feel beneath no one, but also above no one.   Not a blazing flame that burns others in its way…………. but a steady well stoked fire that provides fuel for action, warmth during the inevitable lows, and a guiding light on the path for both you and others. 

Seeing what I want, every day, with an unwavering focus,

SARAH

The new moon.......letting go to the darkness

Dear Yogis,

First of all I have to start by apologizing to the moon. 

Month after month I have talked about the beautiful cooling, feminine energy of the moon.  Month after month I check the calendar to note the date of the full moon and remind you all as it approaches so we can pull down her energy.   And as she approaches I am watchful to the night sky to see her in all of her glory and bask in her beams.  Anticipating.

But that is only one side of the moon.  Just as important and just as beautiful in its own way is the new moon.  The night she is dark.  The night she rests. 

But somehow I hadn’t noticed. 

 

Last night as I lit the candles and turned on the music for my Friday evening “time for me”, I did as I always do….. glancing out to the night sky to find the shine of the moon to spend time with her.  But I found only darkness, and remembered that we are approaching the new moon. That I would not be able to find her with my eyes.  That I needed to look inward. 

Where the full moon is the peak, the new moon is the valley.  Where the full moon is the abundance of summer, the new moon is the naked bareness of winter.   The full moon is time to celebrate and dance, while the new moon is time to retreat and take stock.   For women, the  full moon is the time of ovulation, where the new moon is the time to bleed.  The inhale, and the exhale. 

I tend to grasp for the peaks, and am still  not quite as comfortable in the lows.  I easily become addicted to the big bursts of growth, and struggle when things just simmer.  I love expansion.  I resist contraction.   But she reminded me last night that we need it all.    It is all part of the flow…..of the hum. 

So Monday night is the new moon.  The quiet darkness.  Time to retreat and journey inward.  To shed.  To reflect.  To feel where you are.  Taking time to nurture and pamper yourself.  Perhaps lighting a candle in her honor, or soaking in the tub.  Honoring yourself exactly the way that you are. 

And then Tuesday the moon will begin to wax back toward full again.  And this is the time of new beginnings, and of change.  Perfect as we move into our third chakra….Manipura…. our place of transformation.  Beginning to “see” what it is we want with an unwavering focus. 

But for the next few days, just soak.

Learning to become comfortable in the dark,

SARAH

 

Water......finding your flow

Dear Yogis,

 

This weekend was the Women’s retreat in Rehoboth, where I and a magnificent group of goddess yoginis, headed to the beach…to the water, to submerge ourselves.

And that we did.

 

With earth we got so still and silent that we noticed the unbelievably infinite vastness we are part of.  Filled with limitless possibilities in which to create. 

With water we now take that awareness and open up to “feel” it.  Feeling that space.  Feeling who we are.  Feeling what it is we truly desire -  what we long for.  Just plain feeling. 

So this weekend was filled with water.  From diving into the October ocean to go deep (and those of you who have been to the ocean with me know this was a big step!!!!)……. to lying drenched on the sand with no chair and no blanket, just  to feel the sand on our backs and the sun on our face…... being watched over all day long by the moon in the daytime sky……...to the very next day, walking to yoga class in the cold fall rain. 

But water is even more.  It is about finding your flow.  Finding that exact radio frequency on the dial that is yours and yours alone, to let go into.   

Today’s world would have you believe that life is about struggle.  Struggling to “get ahead” .   That “working hard” is the way to  succeed.  That the “daily grind” is required and necessary.  Swimming upstream.  “Fighting” your way to the top.  That is takes “toughness”, “grit” and “sweat” to make it.

But the journey I am on, and the one I hope to share, does not abide by those rules.  Life is not a test.  It is a magnificent, beautiful winding path that you can choose to create.  First by finding what it is you desire.  Don’t try to “think” of what that is.  Don’t analyze it or come up with a million reasons of why it can’t happen.  For now, just FEEL it.   And let go.

Not swimming against the current, but giving in to its flow. AAAaaahhhhh….

SARAH

Diving deep..........water

Yogis,

With earth we sat on the river’s edge, just watching.  Nowhere to go.  Feeling the ground beneath our sits bones.  Relaxing deeper with each exhale and noticing the sheer vastness and limitless opportunities that surround us.  Becoming completely still in order to awaken.  Aware of this moment…perfect exactly the way it is.

Now it is time to dive in.

 

Our second chakra, Svadisthana, the element of water, is located right in front of the spine at the back of the pelvis.   Earth defined where we are, water begins our movement.  Earth is the spark of creation, water brings it to life. 

As we move inward and dive deep we uncover our subconscious, creativity, sensuality, and emotions.  Like the feeling of the first soaking rain following a drought.  Our moisture.  Our place of aliveness.

This is also the well of desire. Beginning to feel.  Desire is what propels us forward.   Those inner stirrings.  But what is it that you really desire?

To me “want” and “desire” are different.  We all have plenty of wants.  I want ________.  You fill in the blank.  A pair of new shoes, to be thinner, a bigger house, a smaller house, a different job.  But none of these, if we get them, will satisfy us for very long.  The wants will just change.   They rise from the ego. 

 

But desire comes from a much deeper place.  Our desires are often buried under layers of life.  We have forgotten them, or perhaps feel we don’t deserve them, or maybe were once told they were wrong.  Yet they are the  very things that will fulfill us.  I desire _______.  Unconditional love.  To completely accept myself.  To let go of fear and anxiety and live from a place of trust.  To shed all of my shields and masks and live as me.  You will know you have found them when just speaking them makes you tingle.  They rise from the soul. 

Working with the element of water takes diving in.  You can’t be an observer.  But once you are submerged you just lie back and let go…… let go of struggle and release into its current, like floating in an inner tube.  Head back, sun shining on your face.  Not knowing what turns are ahead (that’s what makes this all so exciting!)  Flowing with the hum of life, and feeling it all. 

“It is not by denying desire that liberation is found, but by discovering your truest, purest desire: then the obsession and need surrounding external satisfactions naturally lose their power.”       ~Isha Judd

Feeling alive,

SARAH

Full Moon.....welcome Goddess!

Tonight is the harvest full moon!  The energy of the goddess.  Be sure to soak her in..........


The harvest moon is the full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox, and will rise right around sunset.  Take time to go outside, stand on the earth (best in barefeet!), spread the front of your body wide open, tilt your gaze up and draw her energy into you with each inhale. 

Then close the eyes and just feel.  MMmmmmmm............

The moon is the element of water which we will be moving into this week.  More on that on Monday!

Feeling,
SARAH

Earth....the beginning and the end

Dear Settled Yogis,

Take a slow full body inhale – filling, filling, filling…. And then a long slow full body exhale- emptying.... emptying…………..emptying.  Becoming so still and quiet.

And now just notice.  Pure awareness.  Noticing exactly where you are. 

This is earth energy.

  

Molly, my yellow lab and most faithful yoga assistant, turned 15 a couple of weeks ago.  She is most definitely a crone (wise woman) now.    And with her age I am witnessing that slow pull back to the mother….back to earth.

From earth we come and to earth we must return.  Earth is creation.  It is that mysterious spark that takes nothing and creates something.   Look around you.  Everything came from nothing…from the field of pure potentiality.   

But earth is also death.  That return back to nothing.  And without death there can be no birth.  They are the same flow of energy.  Just like giving and receiving.  Joy and sorrow.  Beginning and ending.  The natural rhythm of life. 

So back to Miss Molly….. Over the last several months her walks have slowed w..a..y.. down.  Way down.  It is more of a sniff than a walk.  A few steps and a pause.  A few steps and a pause.  Really, really slow.

At first I resisted.  I would try to hurry her along, feeling impatient.  Until I woke up to see what I was doing.  What was my rush?  Where exactly was I “going”?  What was wrong with just being right where we were?  So I too have slowed way down to match my rhythm to hers.  And while she pauses to sniff, I pause to just be.  To feel the breeze on my skin and notice the way the sun reflects off the road.  To become aware of both earth’s and my vastness and beauty. 

In my training with Susun Weed this summer, she spoke of how creation is the goddess, the feminine, the shakti energy.  And how we as women have that role of “giving life”.  But that we as women also have to be willing to “give death”.  That it is also our role, but one that we seem to have handed off, but must reclaim.  That we can’t have one without the other.  Honoring both. This too has caused me to pause.  Am I willing to give both?

Stopping to notice,

SARAH

Dear Earthy Yoginis,
 

Dropping down,

……down, down
              …….down, down.  Letting go completely.  Stopping.  Being right where you are.

And taking a big exhale.

We have already started this connection to earth with all of our reading, talking, tasting and getting to know the plants.  If you wanted to order any herbs and haven’t given me your order, please do so!  I am placing the order on Wednesday morning.   I have also loaded all of the info that I have sent out on the herbal infusions (and I added in Comfrey) to my new blog!

www.ASpaForTheSoul.blogspot.com

So here we are again.  At the beginning.  Our first chakra – Earth – Muladhara.

Earth is about stopping and noticing exactly where you are – how can we set out on a journey until we know where we are now?  So these two weeks we will slow way down.

Planting the feet.  Feeling the space around you.  Giving in to  gravity, becoming so heavy.  Solid. Silent. Right here.  Noticing everything about this moment.  Because this is the only moment that is real.   And we certainly don’t want to miss even one! 

The Earth is the mother.  She is where we came from and where we will return.  She is us and we are her.  To think that we can “fix” her is pretty egotistic of us…..we only need to surrender to her, love her and respect her in everything that we do, and she in turn will always provide for us. 

This summer in my garden I finally got it.   I am not one that reads the “details” about how to take care of a plant.  I don’t “dig the hole 2 X the root size”.  I don’t test the soil – in fact my soil is hard clay and rock.   I don’t fertilize (other than throwing in my herbs that are left over from infusions) and I don’t water on a schedule.  But what I do, every day, all the time, is LOVE my plants.  When I am with them, love oozes out of me.  I know they can feel it and therefore things happen like a Eucalyptus tree grows to be 15 feet tall in Cabin John and Goldenrod shows up when I ask! 

So walk barefoot.  Lie in the grass.  Sit on a rock.  Touch every plant that you walk past and give it a compliment!  They will LOVE you back!

With love to you all,

SARAH