Midweek Mantra :: Flow

This past weekend, I traveled to visit family in Texas and on Sunday we made a trip down to the gulf coast in Galveston.  In mid-winter, it was amazing to feel the water splashing onto my bare feet in the sand.  

As a Minnesota girl, growing up in the Midwest on lakes and rivers, watching huge waves rolling in isn't something I've been around on the regular and to see them flow in from the distance filled me with excitement and a bit of nervousness as I imagined getting swept up in them.  Such power and beauty there.  Shifting my gaze downward to the sand directly near my feet, it was fascinating to see how just a slight change in perspective gave this water a different kind of beauty - one of gentleness, swooping, and ease.  This got me thinking about our emotions. 

During the course of a day, we can feel a range of emotions in a matter of minutes.  Sometimes this can make us feel crazy, overwhelmed, or like we are being bashed around out at sea, but when we feel into them one at a time our feelings become touchstones, giving us information about what we care about, what's not working, and what we need to honor and heal.  The good news is E-motions work best when they are IN-motion, so rather than bottling up, pushing down, or ignoring our feelings, this week's mantra guides us in allowing them to move and pulse like the ocean water:

Taking a deep inhale and exhale.

Close your eyes to briefly scan your body from head to toe.

Say to yourself: My emotions flow with ease.

What insight do you get from your feelings?  Where do you feel you get stuck in them and when can they flow?  When we take the time to truly FEEL, to notice and name them, it can be easier to let them go.  Tune in periodically throughout the day this week, especially when you feel a particularly strong wave come up.  

This week's mantra :: MY EMOTIONS FLOW WITH EASE.

Breathwork is a great tool for getting your emotions to flow and I offer private sessions and hold groups on the 4th Friday of every month as a great check-in with yourself.  This is also a tool you can do on your own in the comfort of your own home!  

Monday Mantra :: Receive

While in class for my Reiki 1 healer training, we talked about the challenge in receiving. When we are the giver, we are somewhat in control and in charge. For some of us, this is easy and comes pretty naturally. Being the receiver of a compliment, a gift, a helping hand, a healing session, for example, requires a bit of surrender and vulnerability. In order to receive, there's a call for softening or an absorbing. There's an opportunity in letting our guard down to LET IN, which takes a little strength and courage if that feels hard for us. 
 

In honor of Valentines, I invite us to practice receiving. Whether or not you have a significant other, a sweetie, secret crush, a family, kiddos, or fur babies... YOU HAVE YOU. And what a good place to start. 

With the idea that YOU ARE YOUR OWN BELOVED, what small actions, mindset shifts, and loving words can YOU receive from YOU?  What does loving yourself look like?

And how might that ripple out to receiving from your friends, families, lovers, community, tribe?

Taking a deep inhale and exhale. 

Focus your attention on your heart center. Take a few deep breaths here and feel into the BACK of your heart, the receiving side of your heart chakra. 

Say to yourself : I OPEN TO RECEIVING LOVE. 

When we practice receiving love from ourselves through self-care and our daily thoughts, we learn what feels good to us, how we like to be loved, what our desires are, and a discernment for where our boundaries need to be.  One of my favorite authors, Danielle LaPort says, "Wide open heart.  Big f*cking fence."  Meaning we can move about the world with our big beautiful hearts open and we don't allow just anyone in willy nilly if they don't have our best interests in THEIR heart.  

So this Valentine's week, I invite you to explore how it feels to receive by dropping your awareness to your heart center and taking some deep breaths.  Say this mantra as often or as little as you like.

Sending lots of love from my open heart to yours!  

This week's mantra :: I OPEN TO RECEIVING LOVE. 

**If you're located in the Twin Cities, we'll be exploring this theme of LOVE this month in circles.  I've added a new moon circle to my offerings each month, where we use journaling, reflecting, guided visualization, and a creative craft to set intentions for our best life.  Breathwork circles are a self-healing evening of setting intentions and then using the breath as mediation to process emotions, listen to our body, and clear out any of that old ish we no longer need.  If you'd like to come to both, I created a Monthly Moon Pass just for you!  Hope to see you soon. xo  

Monday Mantra :: Taking Up Space

This past weekend, I spent a few days in Chicago visiting my sister and was reminded by the lesson that big cities can teach us: take up space, yo!  Very early on as a polite gal from the midwest living in New York City/Brooklyn I realized that if I didn't push myself onto that crowded subway, be the first to walk through the open door, or make myself seen by that taxi during my commutes, I wasn't going to get ANYWHERE.  I'd be stuck waiting for a sea of people to go first before I even took my first step.  I believe this is true, and we can use this metaphor, for other areas in life.

While there is value in holding the door for our neighbor and making ourselves "hidden" can be a useful skill, this week our focus will be on where in our lives we can (and need) to speak up and make more room for ourselves.

Where do you feel yourself playing small?

When are you holding back or biting your tongue at a detriment to your own happiness, health, desires, dreams, authenticity?

Who can you ask to help get your needs met, whether from your boss, your lover, your family, your friends, your government, your divine support team?

What is one action step you can do for you that puts you one step closer to your desires?

When reflecting on those questions, what feelings come up for you?  Nervousness?  Anxiety?  A lack of clarity?  A crystal clear vision of that life area you want to see bigger, bolder, more bad-ass?  While we could get very deep with this practice and reflection, this week, we'll keep it simple and just give ourselves permission:

Take a deep inhale and exhale.

Bring your awareness to the space right below your diaphragm in the center of your core (your solar plexus!).

Say as many times as you need: I allow myself to take up space.

As you breathe into this mantra, imagine and feel into the space and your boundary around your solar plexus, around your core.  Feel it expand.  Feel it broaden.  Feel it get stronger and brighter and more full.  This week the moon is waxing (getting bigger and more full) - follow her inspiration and really magnify your needs, wants, and your ability to hold (and ask for!) all you desire.   

This week's mantra :: I ALLOW MYSELF TO TAKE UP SPACE.  

Monday Mantra :: Stillness

When I moved to Brooklyn from Upstate New York a few years ago, I didn't know what I wanted.  In a women's workshop early on during that transitional period in my life, I was instructed to ask my heart what I wanted and I was embarrassed that I had no idea.  I also felt frustrated and let down by myself that I didn't know myself. 

Then, I began to attend monthly moon circles.  Each month, cycle by cycle, new moon by new moon, I would gather with different women around a different theme and slowly but surely, I was reminded of who I was and what I stood for.  By taking time each month to check in with my body, my breath, what I was feeling about life around me and IN me, I got more clear and more authentic.  I was reminded of how to find my center.  

Sometimes I forget and feel stuck in my own muck of confusion or lack of clarity, especially when I find myself in the middle of a transition in my life.  But when I come back to stillness on a regular basis, I find my inner guidance.   

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With the new moon on Friday, I was again reminded of that period of my life and why I love to gather around this time each month.  But you don't need to be with other people or attend a workshop or a class to find your center, to discover what you love, declare what you want, and be your authentic self (although finding and being with your tribe is a lovely way to support all of these things!).  This week's mantra is a practice for you to go inward and to listen to your own inner guidance: 

Take a deep inhale and a deep exhale.

Close your eyes for a moment and bring your awareness to your core.

Say to yourself: In stillness, I find my center. 

This short and simple inward gaze can take two seconds and can be done at any time of the day.  Before you hop out of bed, while you brush your teeth, between reps at the gym, before you walk into work, as you finish up your meal, in the shower, walking your dog, on the road stuck in traffic, in a crowd, or in the quiet of your home on your meditation cushion.  Stillness.  Inward.  Oh, there you are, self!

With so much going on in our world right now, there's a lot of pull around ways to act, protest, engage, or not.  Our beliefs, opinions, and what we stand for may be called into question, challenged, or engaged in conversation.  It's easy to get caught up in the chaotic energy of the internet, the scrolling of the newsfeed, and the speed of information, so use this mantra this week when you need a little reminder, a little pause, a little stillness in the eye of the storm we call life.

This week's mantra :: IN STILLNESS, I FIND MY CENTER.