Archives for April 2018

Earth Day Yoga and Writing

Editor’s Note: we apologise if you are receiving this twice! Somehow the first one got deleted.

“The universe corresponds to the nature of your song.” Michael Beckwith

Earth Day fell on Sunday 22 April this year so a special event was held at our new studio: our inaugural yoga and writing immersion. We took time out to go within and venture deeper on all levels of our being. This is what I call “extreme self care”, making time to connect with something so much greater than our small everyday self. Our day opened with a quote that reflects this so beautifully:

“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait so see what others do.” Mahatma Gandhi

By raising our own vibration we affect everything around us and this was our contribution to Earth Day as we spent Sunday afternoon investigating on a deeper level.

Kel and I enjoyed sharing the afternoon exploring writing before and after some yoga practice. We pondered the theme of Earth Day and one particular exercise provoked some great conversation around this year’s theme, plastic. Kel took us through a gratitude journalling exercise to finish our afternoon and this is an example that I wrote that I’m happy to share.

“I am grateful for the stormy weather upon us, the smell of the rain, the sound of the leaves being blown by the wind. The birdsong in my garden, varied, intriguing and delightful.

“The sand beneath my feet whilst walking on the beach this morning, the bubbles in the sea water as the waves washed up on the sand. The coolness of the water as it reached my feet.

“The sight of a rainbow out over the ocean, magic in the air. The dark clouds approaching, rolling closer in and appearing like ink splotches in the sky, from an ink pot, various shades of grey to black.

“All this playing out on our great planet Earth, so much to observe, feel, smell, sense and taste. I put my hands into the salty sea water then rub my wet hands over my hair, bringing that element closer to me.

“Oh all this from a reasonably quick walk on the beach, barefoot on a Sunday morning, Earth Day April 22nd 2018. I’m grateful I shared this experience with Kel – what a joyful morning as we then went on to brunch. More sensory experiences to enjoy as we enter the cafe. The rain falls and we smile.”

We will be running the Yoga & Writing workshop again on Sunday 8 July. If you’re interested in attending, please visit the High Aspirations website.

Wondering what the afternoon was like? Here are some comments from participants:

“Thank you so much for your inspiration to combine Dru Yoga and Creative Writing. The environment was very conducive to immersing myself completely in the process – the yoga provided the means to ‘go within; to find my creativity; and to stay connected to it’; the conversation about the creative writing process was supportive, informative and encouraging. I am delighted with my creative results from the workshop and feel encouraged to ‘do more writing’. :-)” – V

“Thank you for giving me a safe space to explore my creative writing. Most of my life I have written a lot of letters and stories in my head and just did not know how to translate them onto paper, not being a good speller and becoming anxious writing in the company of others has put a block on me coming out of myself. Being in lovely company of the group I was able to see things in a different light and many ways of starting writing.” – M

“I have studied Creative Writing and Writing Therapy as part of my ongoing BA and I am also a Yoga Teacher, who, not surprising, always is in search for inspiration. So when this inaugural workshop was advertised by Sarah and Kel of High Aspirations in Australind I didn’t hesitate to book in. Knowing that writing and Yoga can go very deep I was wondering how this fine line of writing from the heart and cathartic let go would be recognised and handled by the participants; and of course by myself. It turned out that Sarah and Kel skillfully nudged us onto the creative and spiritual side of things and managed to offer us a balanced and nurturing three hours of opening Yoga sequences, creative writing sessions and relaxation. Overall I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed this quiet afternoon with like-minded Yogis and, yes, looking forward to the next Yoga and Writing workshop!” – I

Yoga for balancing your energy system: aligning into one’s own place

I like to think of my body as a temple that facilitates the full expression of my soul. It puts a whole new meaning on how I care for this body temple! As we continue our theme of extreme self care, what could be more important than honouring our own temple? In my last post, we explored the first chakra and the importance of grounding to establish your foundation within your body. I hope you felt the difference some intentional grounding can make to centre the base chakra. This week we will explore the second chakra, svadhisthana, and its meaning and importance as we work our way up the chakra system and learn how we can manage our energy to bring about transformation in ourselves and our lives. We’ll look at how this chakra can have a huge impact on aligning us with our values and vision.

Hopefully you have already started with my last post by deeply grounding and forming a firm foundation for this work to sit upon; if not, go back and read it here and do a little grounding work. Moving into the realm of the second chakra, we start to work with feeling and sensation and how harnessing this power of feeling can empower our values and vision.

Feeling into our emotions is vital so we can allow the releasing that takes place when we open up to unexpressed emotion that may be ready to let go. When we allow ourselves to feel we bring consciousness into our body. Feeling in the svadhistana chakra includes emotional and sensory experience. Sensation is like a gateway between the inner and outer worlds. As we allow our senses to come alive, we become fully present to feeling, sensing, hearing, smelling and we allow the outside experience to be felt on the inside. Through our second chakra, we enhance our ability to relate deeply in the moment.

Great yoga practice for our second chakra is hip opening movements. To start with, try some gentle figure-of-eight movements starting with one hip then swap over and go the other way. Circle your hips around one way then the other. Latin dance moves are great for this so maybe put on some Latin music, leave any inhibitions behind and move those hips, get that body swaying and transmute some energy. If you attend my classes you might remember our hip release sequence where we lie on our back with feet on the floor, interlace your fingers and place hands under your head. Then with feet hip width apart let your knees lower to one side then the other, repeat a few times then do the same again with feet and knees touching. Take hold of both knees and hug them into your chest, gently circle around and massage your sacrum into the mat. That should leave you feeling a little freer in the sacral region.

As we open to this centre we may discover pockets of stuck emotion ready to bubble up. When we are grounded in the base we find the courage to go deeper into our practice, stay a little longer, and let the amazing wisdom of our body/mind/heart to come more into balance. I encourage you to start to notice the sensations and feelings that may be there during your practice and when you notice something have a sense of wonder. Explore with your breath as you breathe into this feeling and breathe out of it, letting your breath transform this feeling and release it.

“Let the breath be the thread that weaves your mind and body together.” Rodney Yee

In the practice of extreme self care be kind to yourself. When you feel emotion bubbling up go with it, feel it, express it then allow yourself to rest. Give yourself the gift of yoga nidra, relaxation practice or restorative yoga that soothes your whole being.

Some other acts of self care may be:

walk barefoot on the beach and let your feet be washed by the salty sea
take a walk in the bush, breathe deeply and take in the freshness of nature
read something inspiring; you may have a book of quotes that inspire you or some spiritual reading that nourishes your soul
listen to music
light a candle and prepare a nourishing meal for yourself

A balanced second chakra will allow you to feel more balanced, less reactive, to come from a place of understanding and acceptance not only with yourself but when relating to others. Balance here will also allow a sense of flow in life and easeful creating; therefore, spending time to bring balance here will allow you to clear the way forward to align with your values and vision, raising your vibration to match your vision.

Happy exploring of your second chakra, let the feelings flow, let light flow in, move with ease and grace into more balance and harmony and see your life in more colour.

Namaste

Sarah

Yoga for balancing your energy system: entering the physical body

Balance in life is all about energy management. Your energy management.

As energy beings we are made of energy. Everything we interact with is energy, all of varying vibrations.

An example of a vision board

Last week I talked about values and vision. I’m working on my new vision board collecting pictures, words, photos and planning where I’m going to place them. I’m also working on bringing my vibration into alignment with my vision. That brings me to the issue of balancing my whole energy system, starting with my base chakra.

A chakra is an energy centre, a spinning vortex of subtle energy. In Sanskrit the meaning of ‘chakra’ translates to ‘wheel’. It is generally accepted that you have seven main chakras and many minor ones throughout the body. We are going to work with the seven major chakras over the next few weeks in this blog.

“A chakra is a chamber in the temple of the body that receives, assimilates, and transmits life force energy.” Anodea Judith

In yoga we refer to life force energy as prana. Prana can be found everywhere in varying levels of vibrancy. It’s in the sunlight, the air, the food you eat, and it’s in and affected by the interactions you have moment by moment with people, places, experiences and more.

Your chakras receive, assmilate and express prana all the time. They are like portals between the outer world you live in and your inner world connecting your body mind as they filter and assimilate from your environment. How well you know and manage your energy is dependent upon how well you know and manage your chakra system. Yoga gives you tools to open pathways and raise your awareness of what’s going on inside. Everyone has the capacity to develop this awareness.

“Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.” Eckhart Tolle

Mooladhara Chakra

We will start with Mooladhara, the base or root chakra, associated with the element of Earth and the colour of a rich, ruby red. When balanced this chakra provides support, stability, and a solid foundation to feel grounded and stable in life. When unbalanced or deficient we may feel scattered, ungrounded, flighty and or fearful. If this chakra is in excess we may feel heavy and weighed down. When Mooladhara is out of balance, it can affect all the other chakras.

How can your yoga practice support your base chakra? By connecting with your physical body. Your body is your vehicle from which to begin this journey. To be deeply rooted in your body temple is embodiment. You need to be comfortable in your skin, notice and learn how best you can serve your body.

In our Dru yoga tradition we use activation at the beginning of a class to bring your awareness into your physical body by shaking, twisting and stretching with full awareness and presence. This helps bring you more fully into your body and become aware of your body in the space around you. The root chakra element of Earth will help you connect and ground your body. This is why, if you are currently attending regular classes with me, you will notice that I guide you to check in with how you are feeling in your body, heart and mind. This helps to bring you into the present and be fully mindful.

The key to entering your body according to Anodea Judith (2016) is to embrace the first chakra element, which is Earth. This element represents everything solid – not only the dirt beneath your feet but all material substance, especially the flesh and bones of your body. The essential properties of the Earth element are gravity and solidity, and they make an important pair.

Here’s an example of this at work. If you wanted to jump you would first have to bend your knees and push down into the earth to enable you to spring upwards. The pushing down activates and energises your muscles and this energy then can fill your legs allowing you to rise upwards. So you see that your yoga practice can benefit greatly by being aware of and practicing this principal. All this is relevant to managing your energy because when you can generate and manage this energy you can fill your body and direct this prana where it needs to go to bring balance into your whole being.

Try practicing this in Tadasana (mountain pose), setting up a great foundation to begin your standing postures from.

Once you have aligned yourself into Tadasana start to push down into the earth as you breathe in, bending your knees slightly, then exhale and slowly push down through each leg. As you do this your legs will begin to straighten; ensure the knees do not lock as that will block the energy flow and prana you are creating. Repeat this, breathing fully and slowly with all your awareness on grounding and bringing that prana up into your legs and imagine it filling your base chakra. Explore in your own practice and observe.

Sarah doing the Tree pose

You can bring this practice into other postures like Vrksasana (tree pose, pictured left), Uttanasana (peace pose) and Setubandhasana (bridge pose). Try it with Adhomukha svanasana (dog pose) and also Bhujangasana (cobra pose) as you use the same principal with the arms and hands to push down.

I hope you enjoy exploring energising your base chakra and the self inquiry that comes with practicing at a deeper level.

Happy practicing,

Namaste

Sarah

Judith, Anodea. 2016. Chakra Yoga, 1st ed. Llewellyn Publications. USA.

The Value in knowing your Values

As we come into the second quarter of the year (yes a quarter of the year has gone!) it is a good time to reflect upon what our intentions were as we came into the New Year in January and where we are now.

You may well be on track and know exactly where you want to be in six months time or you may not. You may have got swept up in the new year fever of making many plans and, for want of a better term, new year resolutions.

As you know I declared this year to be my year of extreme self care. Well what was I thinking? Here we are coming into April and I am struggling as I try to work out what that looks like, what sort of things represent self care to me, how many do I need and how often do I need to do them and so much more. This declaration has sent me into some deep soul searching.

One could look upon a year of extreme self care as making time to go to the hairdresser more often, pamper oneself, see more movies, eat more cake, buy more clothes, shoes, jewellery and so on. Or, as I am realising, this self care needs to be long lasting and sustainable, it needs to feed my body, heart, mind and soul.

This deep soul searching has reminded me to re-evaluate my values and check in with whether they are taking me where I want to go. I do a lot of values and visioning work with others and have done a lot for myself over the years. When I looked at my vision board recently it was pleasing to see that many of the visual representations I had on there had materialised; in fact, as I looked more I realised that most had and I actually needed to do a new vision board and therefore also re-visit my values.

I had been feeling like I was treading water a bit, whilst I have a lot going on in the area of study I didn’t have a clear vision of where I’d like to be in five years time. My vision was vague, tired and colourless. This was reflected in my body, mind and heart and was beginning to flow out in my self talk.

As I embarked on some serious values assessing I began to see that some things in my life had radically changed. For example, I got married, and that’s pretty major. I have also changed my business structure and I’m now making changes that include Nic, my husband, and his work as we look at combining our skills to offer more services in the wellness industry. These are major changes for someone who has been independent in all areas of life for a long time.

So my reflections go deep. Deep into the changes that being in relationship bring and the opportunities for strong soul growth. While couples often share some values, and that’s probably what brings you together, there is a healthy need to be clear about your values and revisit them when major life changes take place.

I am continuing to reflect on my core values I encourage you to do the same. How do you find your core values? Start asking these sorts of questions:

What makes my heart sing?
If time and money were not an issue what would I be doing?
How would I like to be remembered? Write your own eulogy perhaps, and that will give you lots of clues to what you feel is important and what you need to do next.
How am I giving back to the world – what am I contributing?

These questions will set you on your way to exploring what is important to you.

Narrow your values down to five and keep them handy. Write them on a card and keep it in your wallet, on your bathroom mirror, on your car dashboard – wherever you will see them every day. Then check in with how well you are walking the talk with them, as though someone was looking upon your daily life and checking off with your list of values all the things you thought, said and did that reflected them.

If you need some help consider some life coaching with me as this is an area I love and a couple of sessions should see you on your way with your values development and vision board creation.

Namaste
Sarah