I'll Be Back!

"The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure." Joseph Campbell 

I'm not really going fishing . . . . . that's not my thing!  I am "closing up shop" for a brief period of time though as I will be going on retreat in Guatemala.  I learned about this place a few years ago, and I keep finding different connections that are coming up for me.  Now feels like the time to go, so I am saying YES to this adventure : )

I hope to come back with some new offerings and things to share and already have ideas floating around about new classes, products and treatments that will be available on my return.  I plan to resume teaching sometime in the next 1.5-2 months, so check back then to see what is shaking!  Until we meet again . . . . . . shine on!! 

I Am Divine

“He who knows others is wise, but he who knows himself is enlightened” Lao Tzu 

As mentioned in the last post, our society and culture seems to be based on the concept that someone or something outside of ourselves knows what is best for us.  We rely on our society to tell us how to behave, on our government to tell us what rules we should follow, on our religion to tell us how to be moral, on corporations to tell us what to buy, on our doctors to tell us what medical treatment we should follow, on our friends and family to tell us what path we should take in life, etc.  I’m not proposing that we chuck everything and allow a free for all.  What I’m trying to illustrate is how maybe the decisions we think we are making for ourselves are actually decisions that are based on how we are told we “should” be living.  Have we really taken the time to get to know ourselves, to know who we are and what is best for us?  Or, is it easier to let those things and people outside of us tell us who we are and answer these questions for us?

Find Your Light

“It is not so much a matter of trying to get somewhere as it is removing the blocks to seeing that we are already there.  The goal is not to climb to the crown chakra as quickly as we can, thinking our journey comes to an end in some conceptual enlightenment, but to be as conscious as possible about the entire journey – to bring as much depth and wisdom as we can to each and every level” Anodea Judith 

Coming up past the crown of the head, we arrive at one end point of our chakra journey.  We reach up to find the crown chakra.  I won’t refer to it as the end as our energies are continually moving up and down, around and through all of our chakras in continual motion and action.  We can never truly arrive as the minute we feel that we have reached a destination, or learned a lesson or acquired some knowledge, we come to a new beginning with so many more areas to explore. 

Weekend Workshop

Come out to move, whirl and meditate.  See you then : )

I See What I Perceive

“Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it.  Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held.  Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books.  Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin.  Believe nothing just because someone else believes it.  Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true”, Buddha

We have numerous thoughts running through our heads over the course of a day.  Many of these unconscious thoughts are either based on beliefs that have been passed to us from outside sources (family, friends, media, etc.), or they are thoughts that are driven by fear.  One of the major hurdles of working with the third eye chakra is sorting through these thoughts, pictures and images we’ve created in our heads and figuring out . . . . which of these things do I truly believe based on my experience and which of these things are there because someone else has put them there?

Let's See

Continuing along our chakra journey, we come to the last of the chakras that lie within the physical body (the crown chakra rests above us, but . . . . you’ll learn about that next week). Making our way up this rainbow staircase, the physical becomes less important and now we are more focused on working with our mind and inner world.  This sixth chakra or third eye chakra is located between the eyebrows and is known as the “command center” as it is here where we work on learning how to master our minds – the center that is in control of everything. Last week with the throat chakra, we focused on the sounds within our inner world.  Here at the third eye, we enter into the world of intuition, clairvoyance, imagination and visualization.  We work on what we can see on the inside.

Can You Hear Me

 Many people carry tension in their neck, shoulders, jaw or all of the above.  This is the domain of Vishuddha or the throat chakra.  Why is this such a problem area for most of us?  “Our modern world bombards us with dissonance – vibrations that we tune out of our conscious mind while our body and nervous system continue to endure” Anodea Judith.  Not only are we surrounded by constant, insignificant noise on the outside, but we are encouraged from a young age to ignore the very thing on the inside that we should be listening for – our inner voice.  We are trained to “fit in,” avoid being different, and to look outside of ourselves for not only the causes of problems in our lives, but also to find the solutions.  As we are growing up, we are taught to believe that “somebody/something” else knows what is best for our lives.  We are not taught to trust our own internal wisdom. 

Listen Up

The next stop on our chakra journey brings us to the throat chakra.  While the heart chakra was a bridge between our earthly connections and our divine world, the throat is a gateway between our inner world and our outer world.  By entering and going through this gate, we enter into “the symbolic world of the mind.  Words, images, and thoughts . . . “ Anodea Judith become most important here for us.  It’s more about intangible things and concepts that may be more difficult for us to grasp, yet can have the biggest impact on the course of our lives.