Monday Mantra :: Connected

Last week's mantra focused on being grounded.  This week, we'll put our attention in the opposite direction.

In a theatre technique I trained in, we studied the qualities of gravity.  Gravity is pulling on all of us, all things, all the time.  Assisting us in our grounding.  What we theatre artists discovered is the drama (and good hero-worthy story-telling) was found in the character's WILL TO LIVE.  With the concept of physics at play, the will to live had to be strong enough for the character to stand up against gravity and move about the world.  

When we, the leading characters in our own lives, have that will to live, the will to RISE, we send energy in two directions.  Not only can our feet be planted firmly on the ground, but our crown's can be soaring and open to the heavens and we become powerful, authentic, connected characters.  

With much change happening in the world around us, feeling connected to our authentic selves and our community is extremely important and valuable.  So this week, I invite you to take a few minutes each day to feel into this connectedness: 

Take a deep inhale and exhale.

Bring your awareness to the tip top of your head (where awareness goes, energy flows).

Say to yourself: I AM connected.  

When you feel stuck, confused, frustrated, closed-off, unmotivated, or any other heavy sensation, this mantra exercise is a perfect tool to use to realign yourself to the highest good and your highest self.  If it's helpful you can imagine a beam of light coming out of the crown of your head, like the branches of a tree, shooting up into the sky.  Or maybe visualizing the clouds, the stars, the sun, the moon gives you that feeling of rising up and feeling one with the universe and all things.  When we connect this way, we can remember there are endless possibilities and we are never alone.  We can know that there's hope and hero-worthy, story-telling moments to be told.  

This week's mantra :: I AM Connected.

**I will be holding space for community at several different spaces in St. Paul as ways for us to connect to one another and ourselves.  Restorative Yoga and Reiki on 1/22 will be a sweet and savory way to connect with your body in a healing way.  An amazing group of people are already gathering for Breathwork on 1/27, where we dive into clearing our blocks, habits, emotions with the breath.  And on 1/29 there will be the opportunity to journal, share, and reflect in a new moon circle.  If you feel called, it would be lovely to have you. 

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.  

Monday Mantra :: LOVE

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  

2017 brings the return of the blog... little love notes each week for empowering, inspiring, and supporting you in coming home to yourself. 

{artist :: Silvi Alcivar, @poetrystore}

The above picture posted on Instagram on NYE reminded me of an experience I had a year or two ago when I participated in a group breathwork workshop at my favorite healing center in Brooklyn, back when I lived in New York.  At the very end of the session, I had a powerful visualization.  For me, breathwork brings about lots of images and other-worldly journeys.  During the quiet of the normal breathing this particular time, I had a vision of my adult self sitting in the hospital bed with my dad when he was dying.  For those who haven't heard this part of my story, my dad died from cancer when I was 12, but in this moment post-breathwork, in my mind and heart, I was bringing the past into my present for healing. All of our family and his friends were around us while the two of us were sitting up, side by side, in his bed.  In this dream, I asked him if there was anything he wanted to tell all of us, since he had made it to the other side.  Some words of wisdom or comfort he'd like to impart to us now that he was one with Spirit.  He said this:

"Love.  Just love.  All you need is Love."

At the end of the day... the bottom line... when we reach the end of our road... all we need is... simple (although perhaps difficult and challenging at times).  We need love.

My wish for you this 2017 is for more love.  To love anyway.  To love always.  
Love is love is love is love.

Start with yourself.  Shower yourself with love.  And this will cause a ripple that showers the rest of the world with love.  

This week's mantra: I AM Love.  

Moon Lessons 2: Which Trail To Follow

Several weeks back in January, the Minnesota weather tested my endurance to cold by throwing us some awesome -8 degree weather, which actually felt more like it was in the -20 degree department.  So,  in order to prove that we are made of hardcore northern Viking material, my man and I bundled up layers of clothing, hats, mittens, scarves, wool socks, and put yak tracks on our boots.  By the time we arrived at the dog park with puppy boy, all you could see of our skin was our eye balls.  

The best part about the particular park we went to on this late Sunday morning is the hills and trails.  While your dog is off leash running anywhere and everywhere to check out all the smells, you can hike up and down these steep pathways and work up a pretty good sweat.  Moon Boy is pretty darn cute and will run ahead and explore, but will always stay at a safe distance where he can check in to make sure we are still there following behind.

At one point, we decided to veer off to the left and head up another path we had yet to take, so we called out to Moon, who was of course already ahead of us, as we trudged on in the new direction.  What happened next caught me by surprise.  I had expected Moon to turn around, come back along the path he had already been on, and THEN make his way up the same path we had just begun.  But instead (!), he crashed through the trees and brush to make a straight beeline from where he was as he sprinted to the path ahead of us.  Rather than retrace his steps, Moon forged a new path to get from point A to point B.  

This broken expectation, while a super small blip in a moment in time and could easily have gone unnoticed, got me thinking!  How often in my life have a followed a course of action just because I already had it mapped out and not necessarily because it was the most efficient or healthy option?  How often do I trudge on because it's "what I'm supposed to do" instead of looking for other ways of doing things that might be more direct, ease-ful, or enjoyable?  How often do I ignore my instincts and intuition because it's not as clear cut or perfectly paved?  And what holds me back from dashing towards my end vision or dream that I can see in my minds eye?  Fear?  Uncertainty?  Old thought patterns that don't give me the room to see a new way?

Now, there's definitely something to be said for sticking to a plan and following through with it to the end.  There are absolutely times when completing a course of action or standing by a decision is valuable and essential.  But this experience also showed me the value in taking pause to EXPLORE what's working and what's not.  Giving the opportunity to DECIDE to stay or DECIDE to change it up.  What is in my best interest and what is harming me?  Where might there be other options or paths that would get me to the same outcome but in a more ease-ful or more exciting way?

Taking time to contemplate these questions once a month (or more) is super valuable to make sure we are living a life that feels authentic and true to our highest selves.  Sometimes things change for us and sometimes staying the course is what feels best because dedicated time on a project or purpose or goal is what is needed.  With the fast paced, busy lives we lead, we can forget to evaluate, so having a regular check-in with ourselves helps remind us that we are always a work in progress and there's always room for growth or movement.  

Using Moon's namesake here as inspiration can be helpful as each month the moon becomes dark in the sky.  The new moon is an invitation to go inward... to check in with your heart, your core… to examine how you feel on the inside versus what's going on in your external world.  What feels aligned for you and what feels out of balance?  What good changes are working and what still need some adjusting and editing?  Maybe with that quiet moment with yourself you realize that your job makes you really happy or grounded right now, even if it wasn't what you thought you'd be doing.  Maybe you discover you'd rather do an in-person class, because the on-line course you've been taking isn't lighting you up like you thought.  Maybe you realize that your body needs better nutrition before you incorporate so much exercise.  Maybe it's realizing you need the joy and thrill of a new adventure to mix up the day to day normality.  Or maybe it's finding that you are super content with the way things are right now, so you're just going to enjoy and savor where you are.

This Monday, Feb 8th, 2016 is new moon time.  I encourage you to take a few minutes to yourself.  Light a candle.  Pull out a journal if that's your thing.  Close your eyes gently and place a hand to your heart.  And listen to what your inner guide tells you about what's happening for you.  Then you can make a choice…. you can keep going in the direction your headed or you can veer off to the left to take a new path or you could sprint through the trees to add a little spontaneity to your journey.  There is no right or wrong answer.  Your inner wisdom will know exactly what to do for you. 

**MN loves, if you're wanting some guidance or clarity about your journey or decisions in life, come join me for a Breathwork Healing Circle on Friday, Feb 26th, 2016 and let the breath help clear some space for contemplation.  More information about it here on the event page.  Private sessions also available for long-distance sessions.