March Meditation is back!

Last call (well not really…..) to join us for a month of meditation.

If some quiet little inner voice is saying “maybe I should do this”…….that would be the Universe talking.  Then that follow up inner dialog that says “I don’t have time, this will be too hard, I don’t need to meditate, she doesn’t really mean me, blah, blah, blah……that would be the mind.  And the ability to decipher between the two is what meditation is all about!

March is quickly approaching…..time to meditate!  Who is in?

Last year about 50 of us meditated as a virtual community under the auspices of March Meditation Madness.    This year I would like to introduce:

March – A Mindful Month

 

What is it:   Daily meditation for the 31 days of March

What do I have to do:  Commit to 10 minutes a day  (everyone has 10 minutes…….really)

Where and When:  At your home or office, anytime of day

What do I receive from the program:  A daily email from me with guidance, ideas, techniques and inspiration

What do I get out of it:  Inner calm, better focus, increased health, slower breathing, deeper sleep, lower blood pressure and on and on and on. 

How do I join in:  Just send me an email letting me know which email address to use!!!  Please also pass this along to anyone else who may want to join!!!

Whether you are brand new to meditation, or a seasoned veteran I would love to have you…….as we all move together through March mindfully. 

One breath at a time,

SARAH

sarah@serenitycircleyoga.com

 

.....life is like a garden

Yogis,

One of the highlights of mid to late January is the arrival of the seed catalog!!  On a cold, blustery day I tromp to the mailbox with my snow boots on, looking in expecting to see the usual stack of bills and mailers…..but there it is.   The official beginning of the gardeners’ year!

Pages and pages of organic vegetable, flower, medicinal herb and native plant seeds.   Each one unique with its own story to tell.

Cardinal Flower – Native to the south and east; Roots used by First Nations people to make a love charm;  Brilliant scarlet flowers relished by hummingbirds…….Green Towers Romaine – columnar head that conserves space in the garden while pumping out significant quantities of salad!  Stinging Nettle – premier spring tonic and one of the best plant sources of micronutrients and minerals….Poppy – swift growing with outrageous flowers containing pain relieving alkaloids; general activity is soporific, inducing a deep sleep. 

Seeds are the containers of potential. 

 

The instinct is to quickly get the order in and get ready to plant!  But it isn’t time for that yet……..  February and early March are the tail end of winter, but they are still winter, and will clearly remind us lest we forget.  And every gardener knows the pitfalls of tending to the garden, or planting too early.  Patience. 

This is the time to continue tending to the inner soil.   During these cold months we have slowed down to notice exactly where we are.  We nourished our bodies with warm, comforting foods and kept our inner flame steady.  Less rush, slower movements, more sleep and fuzzy socks.  The shift now is not with what we “do” but simply with what we “see”.

February is the month to fine tune and crystallize the vision of what you want to manifest this year. The days are getting brighter and longer…lighting the way.  No need to do anything quite yet…just beginning to gently awaken from the  winter slumber, rub the sleep from the eyes and look forward. 

This weekend we had a glimpse of spring.  A big thaw and rising temperatures.  And if you looked up to the trees here you could even see the swelling of the buds.  Everyone was out – biking, walking, visiting.  So there is this temptation to jump into high gear.  To start doing things.

I considered raking some of the leaves out of the beds……but then the fragile new growth wouldn’t be protected.   Maybe I could at least reset some of the rocks that form the circle…….but it is too muddy and we still have the real potential of more winter storms.  I began to pull out some of last year’s pokeweed growth……but realized Bunny Rabbit would have less cover and protection.

So instead I pour through the catalogs, creating the image of the garden I want to have this summer.  Reading and re-reading.   Visualizing the vibrant mix of colors, the flutter of the butterfly wings as they land on the Zinnia, and the call of the Titmouse as he perches patiently on the Eucalyptus tree waiting for me to throw out some seed.  Seeing myself collecting greens to make a salad and filling a jar with chopped lemon balm to prepare a tincture.  Closing my eyes to “feel” myself lying on my grass pod as the bees hum.  I order the seeds and when they arrive they will simply sit on my table bringing me pleasure as I know they are the containers of potential. 

Late winter is the time to see and be grateful.  Being grateful now for what it is that you intend to manifest.  Thank you Universe for the delicious kale and the smell of the lavender!

So what is it that you want?  See and be grateful…..  See and be grateful.

So today I chose to take a walk, and then pull out a beach chair and sit in the sun.  Visualizing what I want (thinking big) and giving thanks. 

Let these next couple of weeks be exactly what they are, not wishing them away to get to spring.  Embrace the return of the cold.  Feel the slow shift of the season.  Spring and summer will be here soon enough.  And what manifests for you then will be based on your intentions today.  Because we can only create the future in this present moment.   

The time will come to turn the soil and plant the seeds.  And I will be ready.  But for now I am relishing the first step of the journey. 

Yes, it is coming indeed!

Friends with February,

SARAH

....Valentine's Day

 

Yogis,

I did not intend to write about Valentine’s Day.  In fact I nonchalantly try to ignore Valentine’s Day completely.  But with statistics like these, it isn’t easy to do…………..

Valentine’s Day Statistics	Data
Average annual Valentine’s Day spending	$13.19 Billion
Number of Valentine’s Day cards exchanged annually	180 Million
Average number of roses produced for Valentine’s Day	196 million
Percent of Valentine’s Day cards bought by women	85%
Percent of flowers bought by men	73%
Percent of women who send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day	14%
Percent of consumers who celebrate Valentine’s Day	61.8 %
Percent of women who would end their relationship if they didn’t get something for Valentines day.	53 %
Average number of children conceived on Valentine’s day	11,000

 

I have always found Valentine’s Day to be somewhat awkward.  A specific day on the calendar where the pressure is on to express your love in some outward way.   I know….I sound like a scrooge.   It is just a little too “pink” of a holiday for me – and those of you that know me well know I am not a pink person. 

 

Chocolates with a surprise, and not necessarily a good surprise, center.  Carnations.  Red hearts, candy hearts and teddy bears.  You’re mine.  Love forever.  Dates.  Dinners.  Romance.   It makes me feel boxed in. 

 

The irony of it all is that what I teach is love.  Opening the heart, rising to the vibration of love, feeling love, being love…………..and Valentine’s Day, after all, is the day of love.  So why do I resist it so much?

 

I watched on Friday.  First, I let my husband know that I didn’t need anything for Valentine’s Day.  In the last 7 weeks we have celebrated Christmas, New Year’s, my birthday and our anniversary.  In fact I never thought about it before, but did you realize there is a holiday in every single month except August?  Not even counting your birthday. 

 

So a usual work day, with a few “I love you” notes sent out.  But not because of the holiday – although that did prompt the thought – but because for the last few years I have really worked on saying it.  Those three simple words that I can be stingy with at times.   Again, why?

 

An evening of yoga and dinner in Bethesda.  Couples everywhere with women in dresses, teetering on high heels, roses in the arms of many.   A long line at Georgetown Cupcake and teenagers holding hands.  Champagne and set menus.  Me…..in my jeans and wool sweater with a beer.

 

I don’t know that I have an answer to share.  The trite answer would be that I just oppose the commercialization of it, which I do with so many of our lovely holidays, but it isn’t just that.  It is something deeper.

 

Love, when experienced in its truest expression is pure joy.  It is explosive, filling and radiates.  It is unconditional with no expectations of anything in return.   It is our true nature.  It is us.  And when experienced, there is less and less of a need to receive things.  You are so full there is no lack.  Once I discovered the inner energy of love, my desire to share it is more through deep connections, touch, hugs and looking others right in the eye.  Being there completely. 

 

But…….somehow Valentines’ Day made its way in through the back door.  During yoga class I looked down and noticed that I was wearing my new top which happens to be “pinkish”.  During dinner I found that my sweater was a deep red.  The full moon shone down with her magnificence on the ride home.  And as I began to run the tub and poured in the new bath salts I made that very afternoon…….I realized that I had blended them with white and red rose petals and rose essential oil.  Ok Universe, you got me!  Darn……maybe I am a closet romantic.   

 

Finally I have to share a new Valentine’s tradition that my parents discovered this year.  On Thursday they admitted to each other that with all of the storms they had last week, neither had gotten out to get a card.  So on Friday morning my father proposed to my mom that they go together to CVS, pick out a card for each other, exchange and read them…..and then put them back!  It is brilliant on so many levels!

 

I love you all!

 

With an open heart (even if I don’t like jelly in my chocolate),

SARAH



.....the junk drawer

Yogis,

The other morning as I woke and looked out my window to the garden and the woods beyond, I saw……..nothing.  No movement.  No squirrels.  No birds.  No rustling leaves.  No Bunny Rabbit. Nothing. 

Not a whole lot going on in the dead of winter.  No distractions.  No neighbors wandering by.  Quiet.  Stillness.  The season of rest. 

So this theme of emptying continued to sit with me again this week.  What better time to look inside then when nothing is competing for my attention on the outside.

So I, like most of us, have a junk drawer………………

Well, to be honest, I actually have two.  Yikes!

 

Neither one started out with the intention of being a junk drawer.  The intention was “This drawer will be for those items needed near the telephone.”  On our move in day I mindfully placed a few pens, pencils, tape, glue, a notepad and a few other items all neatly lined up in the drawer.  But then life happens. 

When things enter the home and I don’t know what to do with them or I sense that maybe someday I might need them, they are placed in the drawer.  What started as a few rubber bands has snowballed into 100 rubber bands of every size and shape…just in case there is a rubber shortage.   The box of straight pins that somehow always seems to empty itself into the drawer requiring me to retrieve them one by one with my fingernails and the patience of a saint…because you never know when there will be another wedding or prom where I am asked to pin on the boutonnieres.   And my favorite, no less than 40 loose keys, unlabeled and looking very sad as they line the bottom of the drawer……but of course when my son loses his car key, not one darn key in there is of any help as we end up calling the car dealership. 

We are very adept at bringing things in.  I have enough batteries now to power the street in the next blizzard!  But not quite as good at letting things go. 

Our minds can easily become that other junk drawer. 

The practice of emptying is one of mindfulness.  Allowing things into our lives with the inhale, being with them fully, and then just as easily letting them flow out on the exhale.  So that “we” remain uncluttered….able to experience what is here for us right now without connecting it with what happened in the past or our expectations of the future. 

There are many definitions of mindfulness.  I liked this combination of two of them:

A mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations  Mindfulness involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment.

Without judgment.  Without attachment.  Without getting stuck.

As challenging as it is to let go of the physical items that no longer serve us (oh, but maybe I will need that once I have grandkids!), the emotions we hold on to are even tougher. 

Without judgment.  We judge constantly.  I like this, this is bad, she is mean, that book is badly written, if only they took better care of themselves, and on and on.  That running inner dialogue as we label what we see and experience.  Watch yourself this week.  See if you can catch yourself when judging.   Let it go with an exhale and look with new eyes at the situation or person.  Simply see what is there if even for a moment.   Things just “are”.   

Releasing an old anger, or finally forgiving, can feel like we are somehow saying that what happened was ok.  That we are letting the other off the hook for something that was wrong.  It is so hard to do.  Part of our identity becomes tied to that anger.   But that anger, just like that large roll of masking tape that I never use, only takes up precious space and keeps us from being able to close the drawers of life properly.   

It is no different when letting go of something beautiful.  In fact it can be even harder…..releasing that time of life which seemed to be “the best”, a true love, or  the need to bring back memories on a daily basis.  The sense that if we let go somehow they will no longer exist.  But they will…. And at the even deeper level of the soul.

As we clear the junk drawers of our lives,  we become emptier and we gain clarity.  Seeing what is truly meaningful.   We live more presently. 

A friend sent me this cartoon last week.  It sums it up…..

The emptier I become….the fuller life gets,

SARAH

wringing out the sponge

Yogis,

We finally got our January thaw……it just took its time and waited until January 31!  And with the groundhog not seeing his shadow this morning, we have 6 more weeks to work with our inner world. 

This week we again practiced opening the crown of the head.  Connecting with the infinite spacious energy of the sky and dissolving the illusion we carry that we are somehow separate.  Breathing out to the very edges of our skin…..and beyond.   Bringing in clarity.

And learning to empty………………… in order to receive.

During my Friday night “download” from the Universe, the message that blazed in neon lights was – The emptier I get…..the more amazing life gets. 

One of the images that I think helps to explain this is a sponge.

 

You have a brand new sponge and you have a coffee spill.  You wipe it and the sponge becomes soaked with coffee.   Now slightly brown the sponge can no longer bring in anything new.  It is heavy and full.

So you hold it under the faucet and squeeze it out, allowing it to get saturated with water again, and squeezing it out.  Again and again and again.  Letting the coffee go to fill with fresh clean water.  The sponge becomes alive as it inhales in the fresh water, life and energy.  But in order to move forward and be useful in helping with the next spill, it must also exhale as all of the water is squeezed back out.  Filling and emptying.  Inhaling and exhaling.   Bringing in and letting to.

How do we do this in our lives?  It’s easy to talk about emptying, but how can we actually do it?

First, like everything else, you must want it.  Then it’s all about letting go….letting go….letting go.   And the three tools that have caused dramatic changes in my life have been the yoga asana practice, meditation and the breath.   With yoga and meditation we slow down to become present and mindful.   Cleaning the slate each time.  And of course our incredible exhales.  Full and complete.  Holding nothing back.  Squeezing out the sponge to prepare to be filled again. 

The emptier I get….the more amazing life gets.  

It isn’t that things get easier or go away – they just appear easier.  Less worry.  No anxiety.  Not thinking ahead or looking back for very long…..just quick glimpses.  Then getting back to the beauty of this moment.  And of this moment.  Empty and ready for something amazing.

Meditation teaches us to catch ourselves when we get lost in thought.  Notice.  Allow.  ……and let it go.  Over and over and over.  Clarity.

Eventually your trust in the benevolent force of the Universe becomes so strong that you don’t want any clutter to be in its way.  You begin to move through life simply setting up the framework, seeing and feeling what you want, and trusting the guidance you receive to handle the details.  Empty in order to be filled. 

An old grudge….let it go.  A failed relationship….let it go.  Wanting things to be different….let it go.  Judgments of others…..let it go.  The need to control…..let it go.  Fear of heights…..let it go.  An attachment….let it go

Our yoga teacher on Friday night shared that when they were trained they were guided to use “essential speech”.  The definition they were given was – Be open and move forward.   Wow.  Simple, but what a strong energy that has.  I love it!

The emptier I get…..the more amazing life gets.

 

Bunny Rabbit came to me in my circle when I called to him late Friday evening.  Like a vision against the snow.  I love you Bunny Rabbit!

Empty and loving it,

SARAH

a vacation....or a retreat

Yogis,

It has been a week since returning from my retreat in Costa Rica.  I have had a little time now to let it settle and reflect on it all.  

The week is difficult to put into words….to explain….to give others a sense of what a week retreat truly does.  The difference between going on a vacation and going on a retreat. 

I take several vacations a year.   A time to relax.  A time to see things, do things and experience new places.  Vacations often involve more sleep, less responsibilities and time with the family or friends. Typically good food and perhaps a few more beers around the pool than usual, or that afternoon bag of Cheetos on the beach….just because I can.   I love my vacations.  I return refreshed, but what I find is that 2 or 3 days back into the routine I am basically back where I started.   Vacations remove us from our day to day routine (although the unfortunate consequence of technology is that we tend to keep one foot somewhat back in the office), but can cause a sadness when we realize it is time to go back.  And there is that old adage that “I need a vacation from my vacation!”

A retreat however, has the ability to offer us true change……………

   

Our View

On the first day, as Jill and  Bob, the owners of Amatierra, described the multitude of excursions we could choose from, we all quickly voiced the ones we really wanted to do and tried to figure out how we could fit them all in.   Our “vacation” minds were still in action.  Bob told us we could simply decide what we wanted to do Monday and then make further choices later.  And then he made a comment which snapped me back to center and stuck with me all week………”the excursions are wonderful, but the real magic is right here on the property, up there in the yoga space.  That’s where you want to be”. 

The small wellness center of AmaTierra – lovely earth – has amazing healing energy.  A hum.  And as the days began to pass, that hum began to settle into my bones. 

During morning yoga as the sunrise would reach the tree tops, the cicadas began their vibration which remained steady and strong until sun set during evening yoga.  And as we would lie on our backs in Savasana, watching the moon rise over the mountain, the bats would swoop down into the studio from the glass cupola on their way out for the evening.  The 3 toucans would land daily like clockwork on the solitary tree we faced as we practiced, resting for a few moments as if to greet.  All of our surroundings simply moving in unison with the natural rhythms of the sun and the moon. 

Once  the dark had settle in, we sat up from Savasana to be led in evening meditation by Jill, bathed by the vibration of her crystal singing bowls.  A time to soak.  To take in all of the sensations of the day. To feel and go inward.

I had a Thai massage by free spirited Rebecca and an extremely healing hands on session by Tanya, an incredible young woman trained by shamans.  Her touch released deep emotions being held in my body, inviting me to dive even deeper to uncover what it is that I want.  She brought things to the surface.  Unplugging from society to tune in to what is always inside….but often low on the priority list. 

By Wednesday evening we had decided we didn’t want to go on any more excursions.  That yes, the magic was right there. 

Neva kept reminding us to bring the hum around us, nature’s song, inside.  To open up to resonate with our surroundings, so there is no longer an inside and an outside.  No longer separate.  Union with all that is. And we would all stand there together and breathe that in. 

Organic home cooked meals, movement, meditation and breath.  A retreat nourishes……the body, the mind and the soul.  So on Saturday morning when  it was time to prepare for the journey home it wasn’t with that let down that I often experience at the end of a vacation.  Instead it was with the anticipation of taking this new rhythm home with me to see what I am capable of doing with it.  A lightness. 

So I returned to Storm Janus – the Roman god of January – who represents transitions and beginnings.  Entrances and doorways.  And I returned different.  My vibration has changed.  A shift.  Another new beginning.  Yes, I had to go back to work.  Yes, I am doing laundry and cooking dinner.  But all  from a different place. 

Thank you AmaTierra!  Thank you Universe!

Bob was right,

SARAH

........I did it!

Yogis,

Back to our regular schedule this week!  I am looking forward to being with all of you!

I have returned from a week of full immersion in the amazing healing energy of the earth.  Costa Rica is so alive that you can’t help but feel it with every cell.   Awakened each morning by the sunrise and call of the birds, practicing yoga surrounded by mountains and lush greenery, visited by the toucans, and finally lulled to sleep by the rush of the full moon winds as they blew by the open windows.   By the end of the week my rhythm and the hum of the cicadas were in perfect harmony.  Outer and inner worlds melding into one.

I wrote earlier in the month about setting intentions……one of mine being “I am a lucid dreamer.”  But another more challenging one for me was “I am facing fears.”  This trip gave me the opportunity to do just that, and I accepted.

One of my deep fears is heights.  I am fine in airplanes or tall buildings, but the very thought of stepping close to a ledge (even with a railing), or looking down through a crack to see space below, ignites fear.   But when I heard zip lining was an activity we could choose, I chose it….and I did it!

Everyone raves about zip lining but this was not about having fun for me.  Standing on that platform at the top of the mountain, high above the trees and hanging only from a cable was terrifying.  So I watched…..as my heart began to race, my skin began to tingle and my voice became shaky.  I watched.  And I noticed.  When there is fear you are completely and utterly present.  Focused.  There is no “monkey mind” when you are in its grip.  I watched and then I jumped………only to have to do it 12 more times!

I watched the night before when lying in bed how the mind began its dance of worry.  Maybe you can back out!  What if you get there and just can’t do it?  What the heck were you thinking!   Each time I would exhale and release the thoughts, only to see them bubbling to the surface again.  Awake and aware.

In the morning as the time drew closer I told the others in my group that I would need their support.  I voiced my fear out loud.  Honoring and bowing to its presence and its truth.   

Fear is constricting.  It pulls everything toward you.  Eyes widen.  Nothing else exists.  As I land on each platform and have to walk around the tree on which it is bolted, a mere foot or two of wood slats sit between me and the edge, so the trees became my best friends.  I lean into them for grounding.  For strength.  For the courage to get back up on the stepstool and leap again.  Over and over. 

Everyone asks if I wasn’t afraid by the 3^rd or 4^th one.  I wish I could say that was true.  But this morning I realized that my intention was “I am facing fears”, and that is what I did.  I simply faced it.  I tried to find peace in its discomfort.  It was one of the most difficult things I have done in a very long time.  But I believe that is required before you can change the intention to “I have let go of fear”. 

Emotions, whether it be fear, anger, sorrow or hurt, are waves of energy within us.  They are us.  And if we choose to turn the other way from the ones we don’t care to experience, they simply find a cozy dark place within our tissues or muscles to settle in.  They wait.  Eventually they will no longer remain quiet.   So we can choose to keep them in the dark….like the monster under the bed….or take out the flashlight and invite them to tea. 

Before I left I wrote about letting something go in order to make room for the new.  And guess what??????  

Last night on my first night back in my own bed I was in the midst of a beautiful and vivid dream when I suddenly said to myself – Am I dreaming?  And the answer I came back with was YES!  Deeply dreaming, yet awake and aware.  I did it!  I was having a lucid dream!!!

Thank you, thank you Universe!  Anything is possible if only you see it and move toward it with an unwavering focus, an open heart and complete faith.  Makes me realize that I need to think even bigger J

So what is it that you want?

Feeliing expansive and brave,

SARAH