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