Your heart is the size of an ocean. Go find yourself in its hidden depths. – Rumi
Beloved hearts,
How is it going in your part of the world?
I have been back in the studio, teaching “live” at a lovely riverside space. After teaching Yoga for Nervous System virtually for a year, I have almost forgotten how wonderful it is to connect in person. You know what, the mandatory face mask and social distancing do not separate us. We are connected like the web of life that binds us all. I love what Edward Lorenz so poetically wrote, a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle and a storm subsequently brews in northern Europe.
More than 18 months on, there are ever-changing dos and don’ts, and restrictions are abound around the ups and downs of a viral outbreak that is still wreaking havoc globally. Covid is the reason we consciously and conscientiously live our best lives simply because there is so much life has to offer.
The recent passing of a prominent figure in the Kundalini Yoga community has gotten me contemplating the close shave with death a few people near and dear to me had in the last year. What and who have I lived for? Are there longings and regrets I want to tend to? What are my last thoughts and words when I exhale for the final time? There are big questions with little immediate answers. The immensity of life simply demands an introspection just as proportionately profound.
When Grim Reaper is a hair’s breadth away, there is an urgency to spend more time doing things that truly matter, with people I want to walk to the end of the world with.
Choosing heart-centered living means I show up for Me with a capital M, even if it sometimes means going against the expectations of others and societal conditioning. Allowing the heart-brain to lead is an extraordinary path of fulfiling the highest destiny in this finite human experience. We are gifted tools to navigate happiness and grief, love and loss, certainties and unknowns, synchronicities and inconveniences. There are sunshiney days filled with rainbows and unicorns, and stormy moments of fire and hailstones.
You know what I am coming to. Yoga is the answer. I write this as a seeker who sought the answers to equanimity pretty much all of my life. Yoga works. The ancient teachings of yoga makes even more sense in the current tumultuous world. The way I like to practice and teach yoga is how I live my life, cultivating a sensitivity of the sensory system so we are in touch with what it is to be living optimally physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
On my mat – and may I add in the school where I teach little children – there is freedom to make mistakes. In fact mistakes are very welcome. I like to invite the courage of curiosity. I welcome unknown answers in unknown realms. This is how we open the higher centers of intuition, by welcoming curiosity and fearlessness.
On my mat, we exhale, inhale, let go, let in. With every breath, we surrender more and more, trusting we are safe and lovingly held so we can journey deeper. With every breath, we breathe purposefully, listening in to the goings-on on the [yoga] mat, to the beatings of our little hearts. The heart that knows it all. We allow the unraveling and becoming in the quiet. We turn inside, connecting, integrating, aligning, one breath at a time.
This is how I intentionally rise every day. This is how I live light and be the light. There are no shortcuts living a life I want to call whole and holy.
How are you living the fiery heart of the bold and courageous lion this Leo season? How are you harnessing the fullness of this one precious life? What do you want to birth on this expansive 8/8 day so you can live your most potent life?
May this New Moon in Leo ignite your mojo and passion to live the life you always dreamt of. May the surge of light waves from our spiritual sun inspire you with courage and strength to follow the calling of your heart. May you know you are safe and protected as you pursue your highest existence, led by the brain in your heart. Sending you lots of big-hearted sparkly love. Roar!
Join me for in-person Yin + Crystals by Candlelight and Himalayan Sound Bath at The Wise Life Co. I am taking a pause from teaching Yoga for Nervous System virtually as I return to the little children in school at the end of summer break. It is all about carving out an even wider berth of breathing space to tend to Me. Spots for private classes and healing sessions are limited and by appointment.
