If you would like to begin experiementing with this state please click on the link below to listen to a guided meditation in motion that lasts a little less than a half an hour. Listen in without expectations and let your body guide you into a new realm of unraveling your True Self ;)
The simple act of surrendering the weight of your body completely over to Mother Earth and then moving from that center point allows motion to become effortless. At Kripalu, where I did my Yoga Teacher Training, one of the things they are known for is meditation in motion. Yogis that were able to connect deeply to their bodies eventually reached a point where postures simply flowed from one to the next without thinking, without doing. The story goes that this is the way the hatha (posture) side of yoga actually arose. If you get deeply in touch with your body while doing yoga or any other activity, this kind of experience can arise. This could also be referred to as Flow...a state of ease, creativity, connection. By non-doing your body simply unfolds into the positions it needs to liberate blockages at a physical, emotional and spiritual level. I believe this is a way to access the unconscious that lives tied up in your physical body.
If you would like to begin experiementing with this state please click on the link below to listen to a guided meditation in motion that lasts a little less than a half an hour. Listen in without expectations and let your body guide you into a new realm of unraveling your True Self ;)
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Last night a dear friend told me that she hates her life. Wow what a statement! So I began to ask myself…on a scale of 1-10, if 1 is I hate my life and 10 is I love my life, where do I stand right now? And in considering setting resolutions for the year, have I actually defined what I want and what I am passionate about so I can get to a 10?
I feel that maybe it is difficult for me to pin down what exactly I want, what my dreams and passions are because they change more often than is socially acceptable. We are coming out of an era where a person trained for one type of career and then often stayed doing that job for the rest of their lives. But I recognize that is changing now. It is now ok to reassess your dreams, leaving the ego and worries behind, and notice if something you had wanted and yearned for is actually not quite as appealing as it was before. But going even one step further out of that box…you could even give yourself permission live in the uncertainty of not knowing exactly what actions or manifestations you want to focus on! It is always recommended to have a focus, but what if a molecule of water focused on the final goal of reaching the ocean rather than reaching the lake and then the next river and then the lagoon? Instead, this year as you define your New Year Resolutions write out what you want in a different language…write out how you want to FEEL in 2016. I love doing a fire ceremony for New Year’s Eve where everyone writes out what they want to release and everything they want to attract and then burns them. This year in addition, I am committing to writing out my ‘resolutions’ every single day for 40 days. Our handwriting is a window into our subconscious and writing something for 40 days can rearrange subconscious elements. I felt strongly this morning that I want to empower myself from inside and my first reaction was to harden like a rock so no one can move me. Then, as I was looking at the water stream by me in a creek, I realized the incredible power that can be found in flowing with what is. So I choose to invite the Universe to allow these things to flow freely into my life in whatever form they may take. I will send this intention out by writing out my invitations for what I would like to attract in 2016 from January 1st to Febuary 9th. So I will leave you with what I will write down tonight to release and then what I will follow up with for the next 40 days ;) Please let me know how you want to feel in 2016…and remember the more we share and create community, the more mutual support we create around us. I RELEASE:
I INVITE:
After one false start and almost calling the cleanse off a second time, I just completed the second liver cleanse of my life. I realized that ‘ideal conditions’ are something to strive for but MINDSET is one of the most important things to consider when striking out on this cleanse. The ideal conditions to do this liver cleanse are the following: » Digestion should be functioning well in the weeks leading up to the cleanse and at least the week of the cleanse. » If at all possible you should have a lot of down time during the cleanse, the whole week if possible and if not at least the 2 days of purging. » A woman should not be menstruating. » If there are any traumas going on in your life, you should wait until they calm down. » Seek guidance. » Set an intention! Experts say that your digestive function should be overall in good working order before venturing on a liver cleanse. I have had digestive issues for many years that still come and go and one of the reasons I chose to do this cleanse is that I had not been feeling that my digestive system was in top working order. Thus, to prepare my body I began a relatively strict diet that was practically vegan and gluten free for 2 weeks before beginning the cleanse and ate primarily easily digestible foods (ie warm well cooked foods). This process did help my digestive function to some extent but I still felt a little turmoil in my abdomen when I began, which I am sure was primarily emotional. When cleansing the body, it is a great time to cleanse the mind and spirit as well. If you can take a few days off of work or even the full week and go on a retreat, that is ideal. However, in my case I chose to do the cleanse at a moment I felt I needed it even though I actually had a hectic week at work and could only get Sunday off. That said, I did meditate more in the weeks leading up to the cleanse and I tried to avoid stressful situations as much as possible. A woman in general should avoid activities that put stress on the body while menstruating. Although possible to cleanse while menstruating, it taxes the body considerably. I had started drinking the apple juice and preparing everything to do the cleanse and had to put everything on pause for a week to respect this feminine cycle. I have been feeling a lot of energy moving in my life for several weeks now, like my being is ready to let go of something but there is resistance. I received a very intense healing therapy on Friday morning that helped me see clearly what I needed to let go of. The therapist recommended I not do the cleanse because the therapy I received is like a spiritual surgery. I choose here to go against this advice, instead choosing to honor my own curiosity and drive to get past this. But, I do not necessarily recommend this, see below why. A cleanse can be done on your own. I suggest at least communicating with someone who has done it before even if they are not an expert. Having an expert guide you smoothes out the need to navigate the technicalities while also trying to focus on what your body and soul need. I had some help and guidance from Leonardo Cordero, an Ayurvedic Consultant. He gave me the information of when to do what and encouraged me in certain areas that I had not considered with my first cleanse. Below I adapted the schedule Leonardo suggests for this kind of cleanse and if you would like further guidance please visit his website at www.lifeenjoyer.com. Set an Intention! This may be the most important part of the cleanse and it may not necessarily even be “I want to remove the toxins from my liver”, which will happen on its own anyway. Since our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies are intimately intertwined, we hold many past traumas and emotions in our organs. I set the intention to release a childhood trauma and forgive all parties involved. Throughout the 2 days of the actual cleanse, I meditated on the emotions, felt where the emotions were being held in my body and mentally repeated that I choose to let go of the anger and resentment surrounding this situation, always keeping it very present in my mind. Additionally, during these 2 days and the days that followed I did inner child work. If anyone has never heard of this please feel free to contact me about it but in general it is where I went back as the Jodi now to the time and memories of the trauma and held her and explained to her that I am now a strong woman capable of taking care of her and that the people I believed hurt me were doing it totally unconsciously and without any malicious intent. This liver cleanse, as it was combined with the intense therapy I had the day before, was ground shaking. Last year my cleanse made me feel tired and a little out of it. However, this year I actually had to call in to work 2 days straight because I couldn’t leave my house and thereafter did not feel like myself again for almost 2 weeks. There were a lot of variables involved in making this happen and I don’t think it is at all the norm but I share this information because if you go into the cleanse with a strong intention, the experience could set off a deep transformation. Please just make sure you have a support system and that you have informed them about your decision to cleanse! If you have any questions or comments please place them here so that everyone can benefit from the discussion ;) I have long recognized a feeling deep inside of me that I don’t belong. I traveled across many continents and countries year after year in search of something I felt was missing that I couldn’t quite seem to identify…that one magic place or person or situation that was once and for all going to MAKE ME FEEL HAPPY AND SATISFIED. I understand now why it never came. That one thing is not outside of me. That one thing is not a magic bullet that I can find one day and then the rest of my days will be filled with sunshine and butterflies. That one thing, I now understand, was actually two seemingly mutually exclusive aspects of life that rather than pulling in the same direction towards my contentment were pulling in opposite directions assuring that neither was properly fulfilled. The self-induced separation from others that always made me feel that I don’t belong…I didn’t feel like I belonged in my family nor in my community nor with my peers nor even in this world as a human…made me burst into laughter yesterday as an understanding lit me up. My lack of belonging was based around my perception that I am very different than others, that I saw life differently, that I often felt out of place and like I could/should always be doing something more important than spending time with people who anyway were just ‘wasting time’. Yesterday as I was driving home in Costa Rica (for anyone who has never driven in CR it’s like driving on a different planet!) chanting a very peaceful song I came upon someone parked facing me on my side of the road. Immediately I lifted my arm up and nodded my head with a what do you think you’re doing parked there annoyed look. HA! In that moment I recognized how much I actually am just like others and how much conditioning has seeped into me from society. Today, with this new understanding, I was speaking with a girl about how life is so hectic these days, especially in the U.S., and how most people feel they have no time and are exhausted and yet still do NOTHING to change their lives. She calmly mentioned that perhaps I have forgotten living here in Costa Rica that the pressure to fit in and keep up with what your neighbors and co-workers are doing is intense. YES, of course. So in wanting to feel accepted by my peers and competing to see who is being more productive and accomplishing more on a daily basis, I keep myself BUSY all the time. So putting these two short stories together I am beginning to weave together a fascinating and very ironic story of human existence that had confounded me up until now. I want to feel unique and special but I also want people to accept me. My need to be accepted drives me to DO more leaving little time to just be with myself or my fellow man, thus alienating me from myself and the bigger community. I feel lonely and constantly search for that special someone or something missing but I never even consider the person staring back at me every day when I look in the mirror or the drones of people surrounding me every day that are very likely feeling comparable emotions! In conclusion, what is actually missing?? In my case, what was missing was self-knowledge, self-acceptance and self-love. In the moment that I realized that I am just like others in so many ways, I also realized the ways in which I am different. In the moment that I finally felt, yes I belong, I also felt permission to diverge from the norm. As loneliness converges with pressure to fit in, it is sooooo easy to feel like something is missing because you are neither YOU in this Worldly manifestation (meaning the you that uniquely loves to draw abstract figures while munching a salty/sweet popcorn or clean the house while dancing and belting out country songs) nor are you YOU in your Essence meaning in connection with all other beings and the Universe as a whole. So from my experience I would suggest 2 things to those who feel like something is missing. 1) begin to cultivate self-knowledge, self-acceptance and self-love (you can see previous blogs for some ideas) 2) Become more social, interact with others for the simple reason of exchanging with no goals in mind. As you begin to see yourself in others and others in you, you begin to see the Universe in all and in You, creating that essential connection to something bigger of which you and all other beings are a part. As you nurture these 2 complementary parts of your being you will begin to notice that little by little your intuition will grow, your passions will become stronger and opportunities to play with those passions will manifest more often, in work or personal life and your overall satisfaction will evolve right along with them ;) I realized last night that by SPEAKING MY TRUTH I am not hurting my loved ones or myself, rather I am helping free us all from underlying assumptions, resentments that arise from not speaking up and the rejection of intimacy. By allowing myself to see my ego-self and its resistance to admitting that there are two sides to every discussion, I opened myself to a kind of compassion I perhaps have never felt before. That compassion led to the understanding of the DIFFERENCES in each beautiful being inhabiting this world. Every single being is an individual, has personal triggers, is deeply saddened by certain events and set off in rage by others. This can be understood by looking at nature. What makes mother nature resilient? Diversity is one of the greatest strengths that allows for adaptation in nature. In humans this is no different...it allows adaptation , beauty and evolution. Imagine each being as a kind of fruit and try this experiment. Make a plate of many different fruits and sit down with a friend to play. Try each fruit individually, noticing the scent, texture, taste and sensations it creates for you. It would be even a greater experiment if you put some of your favorite fruits along with one or two that you are not particularly fond of. As you play with this, be mindful that each fruit has not only its own scent, texture and flavor but each also has a very individual internal composition of nutrients, minerals, sugars, etc. See if you can appreciate the qualities of each fruit even if the flavor is not your favorite. Follow this playing up with a short Metta (type of prayer) session before you go to bed that night. First create a prayer in your own mind wishing for yourself 3 things: May I be peaceful, May I be Loved, May I be Free (filling in whatever words you wish for yourself in this moment). Then imagine a loved one and send the same prayer to them: May you be peaceful, May you be Loved, May you be Free. Now imagine a stranger, someone you have seen before but really don't know or have particular feelings for and send them the same prayer: May you be peaceful, May you be Loved, May you be Free. Next imagine a person you believe has brought you some kind of suffering or that for some reason you don't like to be around and send them the same prayer: May you be peaceful, May you be Loved, May you be Free. Finally, send Metta to the whole world wishing all beings the same you wish for yourself: May we be peaceful, May we be Loved, May we be Free. Simply be aware of the internal ease or struggle as you recite these prayers in your mind. Now take the next week to see if you can pay special attention to what triggers different emotions in you and in your loved ones. Notice how you may see things one way while another person sees them completely differently... and the best part is that is OK! By becoming familiar with our own triggers and those of our loved ones we can begin to have compassion for the innocence surrounding each being and the fact that very often rage, sadness, hatred, etc. surges from very deeply hidden parts of us that we are often not even aware of AND preferences are the spice of life not a reason to isolate ourselves and reject the amazing experience that comes with opening our hearts to intimacy. Have you ever felt like when you try to push the limits of your normal routine you hit an internal wall that comes up with excuses why you SHOULD stay in your comfort zone, why you CAN'T get what you desire, Reasons why NOT to take a leap of faith, etc?? The other day while receiving a short therapy I began laughing, almost hysterically, because the image that came into my mind as I was focusing on letting go of what was making me anxious was Austin Powers...in one of the movies there is a part where he is in a tiny cart between 2 walls that are very close together. He continuously puts it in drive and reverse, banging into the wall in the front and the back. This is precisely how I imagined my Inner Landscape at that moment, strong walls creating a very reduced space and not allowing me to blossom, limiting my potential. I understood immediately the message...if I want true transformation, I have to first see my walls clearly and then begin to push them outward or break them wide open with a metaphorical sledge hammer. That same night I went home and drew my interior walls as depicted here. Admittedly, drawing is not my forte but permitting the creative expression to flow freely aided me in defining the walls I am working with and seeing that I have burst through at least the first tiny box I had been living within. I also observed that I have an abundance of truth, freedom and peace within. They had simply been blocked out by the layers of emotions, conditioning and unconscious beliefs. The truth of the matter is these are the emotions that are most abundant and natural within me (and all beings), I just have to remove the layers of bland stone and mud for the gemstones to be revealed and shine out through my eyes and smile. Find a quiet moment and sit down with a blank piece of paper and colored pencils or crayons with the intention of reflecting your Internal Landscape on paper and LET IT FLOW! The other morning I had a very strong image come into my head of pulling in conjunction with or in the opposite direction of the Universe and other beings... it came out like a team of huskies! If we are all unified regardless of color, nationality, mental capacity, etc. then what happens when we pull with versus against the flow of all other beings?? When we think thoughts that a co-worker is useless or I hope that person fails and feels miserable because of something they just did to me... or when we dream up something we would like to manifest without considering the consequences to those we love or all other beings, what are we doing? In these cases it is as if one is choosing to go far off to the right when the rest of the pack is headed straight. I imagine the Universe as the Alpha sending subtle guiding messages to the rest of the team. And, when all chose to put their force into that direction, all arrive at their destination faster and easier. I am not claiming that you should not dream... quite the opposite actually. When we imagine ourselves for example offering life coaching to those who may need guidance in life and put a lot of energy into manifesting the dream to make our living from this activity, we are in fact sparking an impulse in the whole team to move towards a healthier and more passionate way of living. THUS, dream, imagine, manifest... always keeping in mind that there is an alpha gently guiding the way that demonstrates us where our energies are best spent and how... if we chose to follow the way is of course our choice but remember each dog is still on its own path and leaving its own footprints ;) Have you ever felt confused about what you 'should' be eating because there are people out there prescribing a paleo diet (no grains and loads of fats), a vegan diet (no animal products, not even honey), juicing fasts, or even more extreme dietary restrictions that claim to give you more energy, help your digestion and help you lose weight?? Confusion is a natural reaction to being overloaded with many different opinions and not having the tools to personally weed through which are true, which are fads and which are just plain ridiculous. Consider for a moment that what all the 'experts' tell you is #HEALTHY is actually just one opinion and the TRUTH is that every single body is unique!! This is where #MINDFULNESS and experimentation comes in. The journey of life gives us a million opportunities to experiment in this laboratory of life and understand our one of a kind self. As an adult supposedly we are not supposed to #PLAY with our food. But, I utterly encourage playing with what you eat, how much you eat, and how you eat because all of those things affect how you feel post-mealtime. Start taking mental notes on how different foods affect your mood, energy level, digestion, etc and be open to the possibility that each factor as well as your #NUTRITIONAL NEEDS may change on a daily basis depending on life situations. The more in tune you become with your body through mindfulness, meditation, yoga, dance, etc, the more capable you will become to adapt your dietary needs. This will manifest not as a restriction - choosing to give things up you think are 'bad for you' - but as a flowing conversation where your body nudges you towards craving the foods that will bring you into harmony with what your body needs on a daily basis to accomplish what the day brings you. Give it a try, #PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD!! If you remember the movie Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner you may remember one of the best lines... 'If you build it, they will come'. What manifests in our life at this moment is a direct result of what we focus on, care for and takes actions to achieve (plus, I personally believe a dash of divine will). Thus, what we experience in our life today results from what we thought and believed yesterday and before. So if you feel inspired to achieve something, here are steps to follow to get there: ∞ Expect your dream to become reality... really KNOW it will happen (Walt Disney went bankrupt 7 times before achieving his dream but he kept right on believing it!) ∞ Attract your dreams by surrounding yourself with images, people and things that make you feel as if you are already living the dream (make a dream board and place pictures from magazines or begin to treat others as if you already have universal love running through your veins and the patience of a Saint) ∞ Cultivate your dreams by taking at least one step/action towards them every single day... just one! ∞ Reflect your dreams like this photo which is using a setting on the camera to reflect a waterfall. Every morning and every evening before bed when your subconscious is more accessible, imagine yourself doing what you want to do. For example, I want to host a Yoga Retreat in April. So rather than 'watching' myself host the yoga retreat in the image I create, I imagine myself prodding people to move their bodies in a non-linear creative manner, see myself sitting in half lotus listening to Ken guide the portable mindfulness class at Quercus in the open air listening to the creek below, feel myself sweating as I dance to the live drums under the starlight and so on. The brain actually does not know the difference between living an experience and when we imagine it this vividly so the reflection implants itself as if it were real and our subconscious believes it is already happening! So start today... set a CLEAR goal and get the ball rolling! So last week a friend brought me to a doctor that does Auricular Therapy. Although I have been learning a lot about alternative therapies, I had never heard of it before. Auricular Therapy, or Ear Acupuncture, dates back centuries. It utilizes Chinese Medicine principles based on meridians in the body and aids in harmonizing the body's internal organs, structure and function. The version I tried involves the following non-invasive procedure: The doctor/practitioner passes an electronic instrument around your ear lobe and its beeping becomes more high pitched when it detects a part of your body that is out of balance. He then explains what parts were triggered and asks if you have noticed for example that your digestion is off recently. After you consult with him for a few moments you decide together where to apply the pressure points in the ear. The first time I did it last week he used small round metal buckshots with a strong Band-Aid type circle over it (as you can see in the photo ... yes that my ear for those of you who know about my elf tendencies ;). You leave them there for a whole week and just have to remember to press/stimulate each one for approximately 1 minute 3 times a day. After having them on for a week I started to question what the effect had been. I noticed that I had overall more energy and in some instances, like the one he put on for sadness, I felt like it exacerbated the emotion to some extent. But since I know that emotions like to be acknowledged I see it as a positive that they helped me to recognize and really face the sadness I was feeling and let the tears flow freely. When I went to the second appointment we swapped ears and some of the points were the same with a couple of new ones. This time since he was unable to get ahold of the proper supplies we did it the old fashioned way... with chia seeds and tape that he cut into squares! One of the points he repeated with me is called the Shenmen point, which helps to open the general flow of Chi (energy). And some studies have also shown that placing a small stimuli on this point in the ear helps to increase parasympathetic nerve activity (http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/945063/), which essentially means you are lowering stress, strengthening your immune system, lowering your blood pressure and lightening your mood! Auricular Therapy may used to treat addictions, obesity, mood disorders, anxiety, pain, musculo-skeletal and nervous systems disorders (stress), among others. I feel like it is absolutely worth a try if you have any obvious afflictions or just want to improve your overall well-being! |
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