Crown....being with whatever is

Dear Yogis,

Thank you all so, so much for the notes, flowers, kind words, plants, poems and hugs.   I could feel all of you around me, like a meditation shawl drawn tight around my shoulders.    Being held.  Receiving all that you gave.   Grateful to, and for, all of you.

It made me realize that the depth of sorrow, is then filled in by an outpouring of love.    Without the one, the other would not have happened.    That it is in our toughest times that we experience the best in others….and in ourselves.  Not only did I feel all of your energy, but my own heart, after several days of crying, expanded back open and was so filled to the top, that all I could do was share it out to others.  And I felt that somehow even the animals sensed it.  At one point this week I looked out my window to the garden and it contained 2 chipmunks, a black squirrel, a gray squirrel, a cardinal, butterflies, a morning dove and my friend the titmouse!    

It is an ever flowing fountain.  And the more we give, the more we are filled.  It is the opening of the crown of the head to allow the Universe to flow through us….with whatever it brings.    Even grief.

 

We are not a society that deals well with death, sorrow, tears or sadness.  We don’t like to talk about it and when it happens we immediately try to “cheer” everyone up.    It is too uncomfortable.  It doesn’t fit into our vision of what it is to be a happy person. 

I have not had a lot of grief in my life.  There is only one time that I truly had to grieve.   So this week I tried to stay present and feel what it is like.    Allow it and be with it.  Crying when the tears came instead of wiping them away.  Letting the sobs out without trying to swallow them down.   Letting go into the pain.    And I noticed several things.

Grief, like anger, joy and love, or any of our emotions….. is an energy.  It has a physical presence. First I noticed how heavy it is.  The heart truly felt as if it had doubled in weight and was sitting slightly lower in the chest.  I only seem to notice my heart when it is contracting in grief or blooming with love.  Like a fist closing tight, only to open wide again. 

That when we allow the sobbing we are naturally drawn downward.   It has a sinking downward pull, usually bringing us to a prone position on a bed, or even on the floor.  Releasing out through the front of the body into the earth.   The earth will always take anything you no longer need.    She holds us.   And she would never let us drown. 

And in deep sorrow there is an intense contraction inward, right at the core, through the line that runs from the crown to the tailbone slightly in front of our spine.  Our whole being, breath and awareness dive deep to that line of energy that we work with on the chakra journey.   It feels like a clenching – a wringing out.   Like a strong squeezing out of a sponge that is then ready to soak up the new. 

I noticed that when the skies open to release a downpour, the eyes swell and spill over with tears.  The cleansing and healing power of water, both within and without.

………..And finally that whenever I came to my mat to practice, got still and began to breathe and move, that is when it became the most real. 

This is why we do yoga.  Yoga isn’t about how beautiful our dancer pose is, or how long we can stay in headstand, but is about how real we can let life be.    Can we make the time in our lives, every day, to stop.  To notice.  To be.  To flow with exactly what is there for us at that moment – without the need to “cheer” it up or change it in any way.   As humans we are blessed with the ability to feel an enormous range of sensations and emotions.  But if we choose to block any of them, or not get close to some out of fear, we limit our aliveness.  It is like building little dams inside the body so that the river no longer flows to its fullest potential.    Or removing a couple of crayons from the box.  Yoga helps us to have the inner strength to come face to face with each feeling – allowing discomfort – and removing the obstacles to allow the fountain to flow.  Being complete. 

So as we ground with our feet, to connect to the earth, and reach up through an open crown of the head, connecting to sky,  feel your breath and visualize it as the hum of the Universe flowing in and through you.  With no blocks.  No obstacles.   Completely  free.  Trusting.   Feeling it ALL……………….

 

Miss Molly - Always ready to teach!

Full and Alive,

SARAH

Molly.... a life well lived

Yogis,

It is with a very heavy heart that I write today.   This morning we chose to let Molly, our amazing yellow lab, go.   She would have been 16 in August…..an incredible feat for a large dog.  I would venture, at least a good 2 years beyond her expiration date.

Every now and then a very special dog comes along.  That was Molly.  She was an old soul.

She touched more people than some humans I know.  You couldn’t help but love her.  I can’t count the number of people who have told me over the years that they never liked dogs until they met her.  She knew how to work her way in.  Gently but steadily she would work you over until you softened and let her in.   She knew how to “lean in”. 

Molly was always my faithful yoga assistant.  Greeting each student as she traveled from mat to mat, finally settling behind someone to breathe with us.  And she was often our role model during savasana or meditation for that deep rhythmic ocean breath.   She watched me do my own daily practice and loved lying on my mat.  She knew how to relax. 

But boy was she stubborn!!  When she was done, or didn’t want to do as you were suggesting, she would sit down – plant those front feet – pull back with her neck and with strength like bull, let her intentions known.  She knew how to express her needs. 

She didn’t have a mean bone in her body.  I only heard her growl once in her entire 16 years, and I think that may have been at a sweatshirt that she mistook for some threatening animal.   Her response to aggression from others was to roll onto her back with her legs up in the air.   She knew how to allow without the need for struggle. 

Her absolute favorite activity was our late afternoon visit with our next door neighbor Danny.  They had a special bond.  In his driveway she was the queen bee.  Not only did she get her own treats, but every time another dog on the street was brought by, she got yet another for each one that they got.    Once we all settled in to sit and talk, she would plant herself right on his shoe. And when it was time to go home I would tie her to the front railing so she could lie in the grass and watch for him.  Our neighbor called her the compass dog as her nose always pointed due west.   She definitely knew how to love. 

So I grieve.   She has left a very large space that right now feels so empty.   But I do know that every death gives room for new births, and that the space….in its right time….will fill in with other life affirming spirits. 

Late last night as I lay with her and could feel her struggle, I remembered the words of my teacher Susun Weed.  That as women, we give life but we most also accept the responsibility of giving death.  That is our role.    I have never had to do it before.   But as we all sat around her on the floor in the vet today and heard all of our options, there was then that pause.   And it was clear that the expectation of everyone in the room, without discussion, was that I would make the choice.  So I did.  I gave death. 

We know move on our journey to the crown of the head.  Our final stop…..but not really.  The crown of the head is our place of enlightenment.  And to be awakened…. enlightened…. Is to allow a death of the old  in ourselves to experience a birth of the new.   And here we also must embrace ALL.  Not just the light and the  joyous, but the dark, the sorrow, and the difficult.  To be with it ALL.  To truly feel it ALL.   

Finally, one of my soul sisters, Lakshmi, told me recently that one of the spiritual beliefs is that a well loved dog is preparing for an incarnation as a human.  I love that.  If or when Molly comes back as a human, we should all hope to have the grace of having her in our circle.

“when it’s time to expire we take off this attire”  MC Yogi

 

I love you Molly,

SARAH

Third Eye.....making life more vivid

Dear Yogis,

Take the index and middle finger of the right hand and place them on the third eye (you will instinctively know when you settle into the right spot – like tuning into a channel with a radio dial).   Rest your elbow on the front of your body so you can lower your chin to rest your head on the fingers.  Close your eyes and shift your inner gaze to that spot.  Relax completely.   Take long slow breaths.  Lean in to that space with your energy.   Connect. 

The third eye is the seat of our psychic abilities.    We all have them, it is just a matter of to what extent they are noticed, used, opened and trusted.  Like any of our other abilities, it takes practice. 

What really are psychic abilities?  We often picture the gypsy sitting in the storefront on the boardwalk …crystal balls….tarot cards….. palm readers.  I know I did.  I was always very skeptical.  But as I work with them I realize that they are merely an expansion of our physical senses.  Being able to “see” things that our physical eyes can’t see, “hear” things that our ears can’t detect and “feel” things with our whole body that our hands can’t touch.    Reaching outward beyond the artificial boundary of our body to sense what is there.

As humans, our physical senses are quite limited.  We all know we can’t hear many, or maybe even most of the sounds that animals can hear.   The range of color our eyes can detect is narrow.   And when we have truly begun to slow down, be present and notice now, we start getting glimpses into how much more there is that we could feel if we only allowed. 

One example we all can relate to is intuition.  Just knowing something with no factual basis.   Sensing that the phone is going to ring.  Thinking of someone hours before they appear in your life.  Changing lanes on the highway because you just know the person to the side of you is going to move over – even though there is no turn signal or movement in your direction.   Begin to notice these in your life.  Don’t just brush them off so casually to coincidence.  Notice where you felt it in your body.

Dreaming also arises from the space of the third eye.   Entire movies in full color played on the blank screen behind the forehead.   Sometimes filling the entire body with so much sensation that it stays with you throughout the next day.   “Feeling” as if it is real……..and who exactly says that it is not?

 

 

So when we work with and expand these 6^th senses, what happens?  Why would I want to do that???

Because life becomes more vivid……… We see more.   We feel more. We hear more. Colors become brighter.  Our range becomes bigger.  Our intuition becomes stronger.   We experience everything that we always did plus more!

There are many practices that we can use to open and expand our psychic senses.  Here are just a few simple ones that you could experiment with:

·         The exercise this post opened up with can be done to connect with yourself, the energy of the Universe or with another who is not physically present.    You would just bring them to mind, feel that the pressure of your fingers is their forehead resting on yours and sense their energy.   Keep drawing them closer until you can “feel” them right there with you.

·         Candle gazing – use a standard tapered candle in a dark room.  Have it on something so that it is at eye level a couple of feet away.  Keeping your eyes wide open gaze at the part of the flame directly over the wick.    The intention is not to blink, but you blink when you need to.  You are energetically keeping the eyes open but relaxed.    And you just watch.  Not “trying” to see anything which requires constricting the eye muscles, but instead expanding and softening the eye muscles to see more.   A steady soft gaze. 

·         Mirror gazing – same as above but you sit a foot or two in front of the mirror and gaze into your own eyes.  First into one eye….then into the other…eventually into both.      This can also be done as third eye gazing where you put a small circle/dot sticker on your third eye and gaze there.    Best done in a dim room where the light source is behind you.  This one can get quite intense.  If so, just release the gaze, take a breath and then go back.

·         To enhance dreaming – mugwort is a dream herb and can be found growing wild typically in areas that are near streams or rivers.    I also have plenty here in my garden that you are always welcome to!   You clip off a top of one of the plants and put it inside of your pillowcase, below the pillow.  Leave it there.   Over time it just dries up and you can replace it…..of course always thanking the one that you used and putting it back out to the earth.   I have been sleeping with mugwort for over a year and I have gone from rarely dreaming to nightly dreaming, with many providing small insights and new sensations.    Thank you mugwort!

·         Daily meditation.  Every day…..at least 10 minutes.  J

·         And of course…..spending  more time in silence and in nature.   Listening for the chirp of the birds and the wind in the leaves, watching for the moon in the night sky, walking barefoot and feeling the air on your skin.  Awakening the physical senses to prepare them to grow.

Turning up your frequency to the “vibrant” channel!

Wanting to feel it all,

SARAH

Third Eye......connection

Dear Yogis,

Did we all send our voices out to communicate with the Universe?  Our sound.  Our vibration.   Remember….you are sending something out….so make it good!

We have listened with our whole bodies, both within and without, for guidance.  We  then expressed gratitude, love and even the simple things we have noticed out loud with our authentic voices.  And used journaling to give expression to our daily experiences.  Thank you Universe…… What a magnificent tree you are……..Wow moon!!

The other side to throat is this is where we make our choices.  Our place of free will.  Once we speak what is within, we begin to make it real.  Taking the potential and beginning to create it into form.    Moving it from the  un-manifest to the manifest. 

So whatever it is that you want…..CHOOSE IT.    CHOOSE it.    Take that first step by speaking it.  Sending it out clearly to the Universe through your voice or vibration.    Don’t wish it.   CHOOSE it.    And then begin moving through  life, acting as if it has already happened. 

Choosing can sometimes seem hard.  How can I choose that?  I am not worthy, ready, able to do that, prepared fully.  But if we don’t choose it, how can we expect it to become?   And when we keep out throat closed – when we don’t actively make choices – others make them for us.  We hand over our will.  Life begins to direct us.

Even something as basic as wanting to be happy.  CHOOSE happiness.  Decide that you want to be happy, and begin to speak and live as if you are (even if you are not!) .  Start sending out the vibration of happiness, and you will become a magnet for happiness.   Don’t just wait for it to come to you, choose it and move toward it.   

Energy wants to resonate.  Like grandfather clocks in the same room that begin to tick in unison on their own.  Resonance.  Like attracts like.  So CHOOSE whatever it is that you want and begin to resonate at that vibration.  Create.

If we could bottle the throat energy it would take the place in the medicine chest of cough syrups, throat lozenges and night mouth guards.   When we are balanced here our throats are clear, jaw and tongue relaxed and voices strong and pure.   Like the mother wren on my deck each morning – lengthening her neck, opening her throat, looking upward and singing her little heart out!

 

From Vishuddha, the throat chakra, the energy of sound, we now move up to the even higher frequency of light.  Ajna Chakra.  The Third Eye.  Our ability to see what is real.

We began to build our relationship, our bond, with the Universe through our daily conversations and now we connect.  To me  the connection of the third eye feels like plugging into an electrical outlet.    A high energy, free flowing, warm loving current.    Sort of like the umbilical cord to the energy of the Universe.  One of the most intimate things we can do with another is to place our foreheads against each other, close our eyes and breathe here.  Connect.

The best place to begin to find this current is in the gap.  The void.  The space between the breaths. 

Take a moment to get settled into your seat.  Root down into your chair with the sit bones and tail bone, and grow the spine upward – finding length and space.  Drop your shoulders and bring the chin to level.  Soften the jaw and physical eyes and open the crown of the head. 

Notice your breath…..

Feel the rise of the inhale from the tailbone along the front of the spine up to the crown.  And the exhale as it cascades back down – taking with it anything you no longer need.   Filling.   Emptying. 

Now begin to notice the natural pause that exists at the end of the exhale, before the birth of the new inhale.    Feel it.  Allow it to lengthen.   Sink into it with your whole being.

Practice this all week. 

Make sure you are keeping your heart open J

 

 

Ready,

SARAH

Throat......ASK LOUDLY!

Listening Yogis,

“Can you hear that?”

Notice what you do with both your body and mind when someone says – “Can you hear that?”  Or when a noise startles you awake in the middle of the night.  “Did you hear that?”    Shhhh…I am trying to listen.

When we choose to listen….really listen…we do it not only with the ears, but instead open up all of our senses to ‘hear’ with the entire body.    It is the same way when listening for guidance.    It requires stillness and silence so that the messages from within can be heard.   Opening in order to absorb. 

And just to be clear – silence does not imply no noise.  When we become good at this, we can listen deeply even in the middle of chaos.  We can pick out the singing of the wren above the drone of the planes.  We can hear what the other is trying to say even when they can’t seem to find the right words.   We become able to effortlessly sift through all of life’s noise to hear the true meaning. 

The other side to Vissuddha chakra is communicating out that which you have heard.  Making it real.   This is our communication.  Our authentic voice.  Our vibration. 

This week while we continue to listen let’s work with two forms of outward communication – speaking to the Universe and journaling. 

Speaking to the Universe.  This can be one of our purest forms of speaking.  We can simply be us with no need to use a certain voice or choose our words carefully.    The Universe is constantly communicating and giving to us and this is a way of changing it into a 2 way conversation.   It can begin as simply as a “thank you for this beautiful day” or “good morning” each time you wake.    A simple “thank you” when you step outside and feel a breeze or “you are just gorgeous” when you turn a corner and the beauty of spring takes your breath away.  But don’t just think it……say it…..out loud.    “Hello Moon!” when you notice her in the night sky.  Or “ok I get it!” when a situation finally hits you over the head with a message of what you are supposed to do.   The Universe has a wonderful sense of humor.

And finally…..tell the Universe clearly and loudly what it is that you want.    State it.  The Universe works best when you are very clear.    This isn’t asking with the ‘hope’ of receiving (which makes it a little different than prayer).  You ask with the expectation that it will come.   So those visions of what we want to manifest in our lives, that we have been seeing with our unwavering focus – now it is time to also speak them.    Whatever you need – ASK LOUDLY. 

BTW – talking to your plants or to the birds counts as well!

Journaling.  This week keep a little notebook by your bed or somewhere that you will see it each night and take just 5 minutes to journal.  Open to a blank page…..look back through your day….listen….and then write.  Just short quick phrases of what ways the Universe communicated with you.    Not “I went to the store”, but perhaps, “I saw Sue today at the store after just having thought of her”.     

Here is mine today -  Saw my first hummingbird of the summer.   Wren has taken up residence in my birdhouse.  I wake to her singing.  Molly  struggles but is showing me the way.  Garden is beginning to bloom.   I asked the Universe to help me “see” my website.  Teaching throat this week has helped me feel more energy.  I made stinging nettle and catnip tinctures. 

The more you do these two thing, the more you form a relationship.  A bond.  A deep meaningful friendship.  Sensing how you are supported, held, guided and loved - always.    And when you find this….you never ever feel alone. 

I have a lot to say,

SARAH

Throat.....choosing to listen

Heart Centered Yogis,

WHAT IS LOVE?  Pause and think about it.  What exactly is love?   

We know it when it happens.  We know it when we feel it.  We know it when we are “in” it.  But what is it?

Often it seems that love is something outside of us.  Something that is caused by another.  Out of our control.  We fall in love.  And it is magnified when the other falls in love back!  But the love is not outside.  It is who we are, but we begin to associate it with what on the outside got the engine burning.  We love him.  We love her.   We love nature.  We love ____ fill in the blank.

Love is an energy…. and a mighty powerful one at that.  It is upward lifting, expanding, spacious and exhilarating.   And boy does it feel good!!    So if we could have that engine revving all of the time, wouldn’t we all choose that?

We can.    But it is a shift in thinking.  Recognizing that the one we fall in love with is simply the lighter that lit us up.   That the love itself is the energy we are sending to them, and not the other way around.    We create it, we feel it, we choose where to send it.   And we have the ability when we open the heart to start sending it to everyone and everything.  And like anything, the more attention and practice we put here, the stronger and more powerful it gets.    This is  what it is to live life from the heart.

Everything that we search for is right inside of us.  Sometimes we just need a guide. 

If we bottled the heart energy it would take the place in our medicine chest of blood pressure medication, anti-depressants, inhalers, and cholesterol drugs.  When the heart is in full swing, our entire circulation and breath flow with strength and ease.  Life is beautiful. 

And I can’t go without a big thank you to Ms Amaryllis that joined us in classes this week!  She is truly a symbol of a open heart.  Once she blooms she stays wide open – not closing for the darkness of night, unwanted visiting bugs,  or even the accidental bump with the vacuum cleaner.  She is willing to be vulnerable in order to send out her beauty to all of us.  It was a joy having her.

 

So now we move upward once more……to the throat.  The narrowest channel that this journey takes us through.  Quite easy to get stuck here.

Vishuddha chakra is our place of free will.  It is here that we make our choices.  It is where we find ultimate freedom, but when blocked,  it can instead feel like a prison.  The lump in the throat.  Swallowing our words.  The silent child. 

There are two sides to the throat chakra – the ability to listen inwardly to the heart, and then the ability to express outwardly what we hear.  What we know to be our truths.    We will first focus on the listening. 

One of the best ways to work with this it to find time every day for silence.  No talking, no tv, no reading, no computer, no phone, no ipod (I could go on and on but I think you get the idea).   For those who meditate, this is  some daily built in silence.  Or it could be while you cook, while you drive to work, or taking 10 minutes when you arrive home each evening to sit outside.  Just listening.   It is in our own silence, that we hear all.    And if you do this for longer and longer, over time a lot of the distractions that we were once so addicted to begin to sound like nails on a chalkboard.   Silence becomes your music. 

So far on this journey we have planted the seed of what we want to have manifest in our lives, watered it with our desire, built the strength in the belly where we created the clear vision of what it is and began taking baby steps toward it.    In the heart we then surrendered to the Universe with complete faith that it will manifest.  And so now the Universe will give you plenty of signs along your path.  Plenty!!!   But you have to hear them.    When we are living on auto pilot, walking around with our narrow focus, we could trip right over them and not notice.  But when we keep that heart open through the good, bad and the ugly, get quiet and expect to be guided….we  start to notice the pointers.  So listen for them.   And when you get one – “choose” to go that way. 

On Friday night it occurred to me that I am beginning to “do as I am told”.    I know that most people would read that and feel sorry for me.  But it is an amazing feeling.  And I know, without any doubt, that the Universe would never steer me wrong or harm me in any way.  It would be utterly inconceivable.     And in “doing as I am told” I feel stronger and more powerful than I have ever felt. 

Today is mother’s day.  So sending love to all of you mother yoginis out there!   I always choose to spend this day in my garden with the mother energy of the earth.   Today I made tinctures of stinging nettles and catnip.  So Happy Mother’s Day to her too!

Listening for guidance,

SARAH

Heart....contraction and expansion

Yogis,

Spread your shoulders wide, lift your heart……and notice this moment.  The sounds, smells, sensations and textures.  Your breath.   Notice everything about “now”. 

Erich Schiffmann refers to each moment as the “New Now”.   Here we are in this New Now.   And now here we are in this New Now.  Every one is unique.  Every single one an opportunity for something amazing.   In fact our entire life is just millions of New Nows strung together. 

It seems so basic.  How silly it is that we have to practice being right here, right now!  But we do.  That is why we do yoga and meditate.  To help us learn to tune in to what is already here.  Experiencing life, because life only happens in each of these New Nows. 

At the end of one of my classes this week, a student commented that “your playlist for heart always seems so sad”.  It stopped me in my tracks.  She was right.   Darn!!!  Somehow I thought I was going to get through the Heart chakra weeks this time without speaking to sorrow…………..But I realize that wouldn’t be right.

Often when we hear the term “open your heart”, we picture the arms spread, heart lifted and joy filled.  Or the vision of opening the heart in order to love another, or to walk through life in bliss.   And vice versa, the term “closed heart” paints a picture of one who has been wounded, filled with sadness, or lacking the love of others.  But my vision of an open heart is one that can be in each New Now through it all – joy, sadness, love, sorrow, laughter and tears.   Experiencing them all fully.  Diving deep in to our humanness. 

Opening to joy is easy.  The challenge is opening to sadness

We all have sorrow.  As children we could go from pure joy to sadness and back again without hesitation.  But from a young age we are told not to cry.  Not to be down.   Sadness makes people uncomfortable.  So we learned to keep it at bay.  But sorrow and joy are just two sides of the same penny.   One can’t exist without the other.  Tears of laughter and tears of grief come from the same well.   So to open the heart we have to learn to be comfortable in the uncomfortable space of sorrow (that is why we built that strength in our belly!)

When we want to strengthen and open any part of the body we move it in both directions.  To open our backs we do both forward folds and backbends.  We need both.  To open our ankles we do things that both point and flex our foot.   It is no different with the heart.

Sorrow and grief draw us in.  They contract and squeeze the heart, making the heart feel heavy.  The exhale.  The closing of the fist.   While joy, gratitude and love expand and stretch the heart, providing a sense of lightness and space.   The inhale.  The open palm.  And just like our breath, the deeper and more complete we can allow our exhales to be,  the fuller our inhales become.  Relaxing into both. 

So  allow sorrow and “feel” it without resisting.   Let it pull your energy downward and then once complete, the joy can fill in the newly created emptiness and lift you skyward.    The deeper the sorrow, the more expansive the love.   Contraction.....expansion....contraction.....expansion creating a wider range each time.

Finally, Madam Dandelion has followed us upward on our journey.  She has moved from the fiery strength of the sun to the complete faith it takes to surrender to this element of air.   Faith – no doubt, no worry.    The wind will carry her wherever she is meant to be. 

 

 

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater thar sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

            ~Kahil Gibran

Filled with life,

SARAH