Monday Mantra :: In and Out

We are in waning moon time, with the end of the week (FriYAY!) bringing us a new moon.  This means it's the perfect time to clean house, both literally and figuratively.  Clear out the clutter from your counters, closets, drawers and the clutter from your thoughts, emotions, and energy. 

What is no longer working for you?  What leaves you feeling uninspired and stuck?  Where in your life could you use some breathing room or a breath of fresh air?

This week's mantra gives you a practice for calling in what you need and for letting go of what you're ready to release.  A way for you to clean the house of your body with your breath: 

On your INHALE, say in your mind and hold the intention: I BREATHE IN LOVE.

On your EXHALE, say in your mind and hold the intention: I BREATHE OUT FEAR.

Continue a few reps, filling in the blanks for what you want to breathe life to and what you want to release.  Here are a few more examples to get you started: 

I breathe in peace and I breathe out stress.
I breathe in calm and I breathe out anxiety.
I breathe in abundance and I breathe out scarcity.
I breathe in energy and I breathe out depletion.

This week's mantra :: I breathe in ______ and I breathe out _________ .  

Monday Mantra :: Grounded

We are constantly surrounded by information at our fingertips.  Articles to scan, social media pages to scroll through, video clips to watch, and a plethora of other distractions or important knowledge to consume and digest.  It's amazing that within seconds we can look something up we need to know or find directions of where we need to go.

With all of this, we very easily start to live up in our minds and miss the connection to our bodies, unless we make a conscious effort. When you are in need of clarity or have the desire to hear your own truth (rather than what google tells you), GROUNDING comes into play.

And grounding can be super simple.  This week, I encourage you to take note of your feet.  Set an alarm on your phone, write it on your calendar, post a reminder to your bathroom mirror, do it when you get out of bed in the morning, when you're eating a meal, and/or before you drive your car.  Do it once a day or do it multiple times a day:

Take a deep inhale and exhale.

Feel the bottoms of your feet on the earth.

And say to yourself: I am grounded.

That's it!  Where awareness goes, energy flows.  Just by bringing your awareness to your feet, your energy begins to ground.  The more you practice this, the easier it is to move about the world connected to both your beautiful mind and your beautiful body.  

This week's mantra: I AM Grounded.  

Moon Lessons

A few months ago, I adopted my brother’s dog, Moon.  I never expected to be mommy to a doggie especially at this point in my life, as I always thought I was a cat person, but Moon has been a surprise and joy to my life.  He is teaching me many lessons about being present, trusting love, and play.

The latter one is what I’d like to explore today.  When I was researching his breed (we think he is part Catahoula, among other things), all the sources agreed that this breed needs AT LEAST an hour of VIGOROUS exercise everyday.  Wowza.  Living in a tiny New York/Brooklyn apartment, this is a tough one to accomplish.  Luckily, there is a dog run in a park about 15-20 minutes walk away. 

And what I’ve found going to the dog park almost everyday is that part of this vigorous exercise for Moon has to be social playtime.  He LOVES to play.  And even though he looks like a scary big dog, he plays well with almost EVERYONE!  Tiny dogs, big dogs, medium dogs….dogs who like to chase, dogs who like to wrestle, dogs who like to play tug-of-war with sticks.  He even does the rounds and give licks to the humans.  When he’s had his fill, his tongue is hanging out, tail wagging, and with a look that could be seen as a grin on his cute face. 

This is Moon's "stop working and play with me" look.  How can you resist such a cute face??

This got me thinking about us humans.  What if we were to schedule play into our lives like I schedule it in for Moon?  What if we were to get AN HOUR (or more) of play EVERY DAMN DAY?? 

And what is PLAY?  What would that look?  Do we hard working adults in a workaholic culture even know what play is anymore??  I keep saying I need more play in my life, but haven’t really implemented it yet, cause I’m not actually sure what “play” means to me now.  When I was younger it was arts and crafts, playing make believe, dressing up, running around outside with the neighbors.  Then eventually in high school and college, there was always something to read or homework to be done, but theatre became my playtime.  Entering the “real world” and starting a business, there’s ALWAYS some work to be done at every moment.  But as Moon has taught me, play is essential.  And that’s a piece that has been missing, so it’s time to schedule that in too.  Julia Cameron of the book The Artist’s Way suggests taking your inner child out on “artist dates” once a week.  This might be a great place to start!  Looking back to what we did as kids is also a great place for inspiration.  Is it digging in the dirt?  Is it reading fiction?  Going to a movie?  Playing with toys?  Creating something with your hands?  Going dancing or singing songs?  Nature walks or museum visits?  I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to use this last month of summer to really embrace my playful nature!

I’d love to hear from you: what is play for you?  What do you do for fun and how might you add more of it in your schedule?