How to Cultivate Abundance in your Mind, Heart & Life through Yoga

How to Cultivate Abundance in your Mind, Heart & Life through Yoga

 

 

Cultivate Abundance with Yoga & Meditation

 

“Abundance is about being rich, with or without money.”– Suze Orman

 

 

What does “abundance” mean to you?

 

Abundance can relate to material possessions, such as having lots of money, comfort, wealth – and it can also relate to a mindset and heart-set of gratitude, freedom and enoughness. ???

Abundance means “overflowing” – in other words, having more than enough. It’s a knowing, a feeling and a trust in the fullness and beauty of life within and around us. ?

It’s opposite is a feeling of contraction, scarcity and fear.

Truth is, having all our material comforts and possessions in the world will not inevitably lead to happiness and fulfilment.

Instead, Abundance comes from acknowledging the great gifts that we all have within us and all around us. ?

When we feel abundant – with love, connection, support, inspiration, nature, beauty… only then can we feel truly happy and free! ?

 

So how can we cultivate more of an abundance mindset & heartset?

 

The simplest path to feeling abundance is to practice daily gratitude and appreciation for life in its fullness as it is, and also practice trust in the process and great mystery of life.

 

Take a few moments to consider and/or journal about your relationship to abundance, both in the material and financial sense, and also in the spiritual and heart-based sense:  

 

?Where in your life do you feel abundant?

?Where in your life do you desire to feel more abundant

?What are you grateful for today?

?Where do you lack trust in life?

?What are some ways that you practice trusting more in life, in yourself, in the ever-unfolding mystery of life?

 

 

Let’s Practice: Laksmi Meditation with Abhaya / Fearlessness Mudra

 

Lakshmi is a goddess from the Hindu tradition who represents, wealth, love, beauty, grace, and lovely things. She is the goddess of abundance and is happy to be generous with us especially if we treat the earth and all of her splendours with tenderness and respect, and that we notice and delight in the wonder around us, the people we love, and that we listen to and honour the longings of our souls.

 

For this meditation, we emulate the mudra – energetic gesture that the image of Laksmi is expressing through her two front hands to help us cultivate a sense of abundance,

 

  • Sit in a meditation pose with your spine nice and long.

 

  • Raise your right hand shoulder height, palm facing outwards, fingers extended pointing upward, in a gesture of opening and receptivity. The wrist is bent at a right angle with the forearm. The left hand is hip height, palm facing downward in a gesture of giving and letting go.

 

  • Take some deep breaths to allow the flow of prana – life force energy – to fill you up with courage and peace.

 

  • Relax and make yourself comfortable.

 

  • As you inhale feel yourself receiving abundance in your life through your right hand, and as you exhale, feel yourself giving it all way.

 

Hold this position for 5-10 mins everyday, or as long as you can, and then release gently.

? Notice how you feel:

Are you more calm and relaxed?
Do your emotions feel settled?
Do you feel more abundant
Do you feel more fearless?

 

Awesome Abundance Quotes

 

“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”- Wayne Dyer

 

“If you look at what you have in your life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.”- Oprah Winfrey

 

“Riches are not from abundance of worldly goods, but from a contented mind.”- Nazr Mohammed

 

“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”- Tony Robbins

 

“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”- Lao Tzu

 

“If you want love and abundance in your life, give it away.”- Mark Twain

 

 

Any of these resonate with You?

Which do you love the most? Let me know

 

 

Ready to feel more Abundant & In-Flow?

Sign-up for your Free 30-Minute 

1:1 Flow Coaching Discovery Call with Francie Today!

 

E-RYT 500 Yoga Alliance | Post-Grad Dip. Education, Queensland University of Technology | BA Psychology / Philosophy, McGill University

 

Yogi, Life Coach, Musician, Entrepreneur, Enthusiast. Community Activator. Event Producer. Multi-Passionate, Free-spirited Lover of Life and Gypsy Soul. Francie is the inspired founder of the award-winning Pure Flow Yoga School in Thailand, voted one of the top 8 Retreats worldwide by the Guardian, 2018, 

 

As a devoted practitioner and life-long student, Francie has studied thousands of hours with master teachers worldwide, and has curated and led more than 150 + Yoga Retreats, teacher trainings, workshops and programs with over 600+ students from all walks of life.

 

She has been a featured presenter at the acclaimed Bali Spirit Festival for the7years, as well as Island Elements in Australia, Oregon Eclipse, Symbiosis Gathering.  In addition to presenting, Francie has also been involved as a festival producer with True:Nature Experience, Air Festival,  Sacred Circularities, and other global festivals, retreats, trainings and gatherings online and worldwide. 

 

Francie’s signature style embraces the most intuitive, creative, graceful and flowing movements that the practice has to offer, while tapping into the nurturing and powerful insights of the ancient tradition.  She offers all-levels, inspiring and playful classes in Hatha Flow, Vinyasa, and Yin styles and retreats that weave in-depth instructions on alignment, sequencing, and awareness of the breath with her love of flow, embodiment, storytelling, music, and dance with her knowledge of mindfulness meditation, pranayama, energy anatomy, and Yogic philosophy and wisdom.

 

Francie is known for her enthusiasm, joy, and dedication to helping to uplift inspire and empower people to live embodied, joyful, aligned, connected, playful, and awakened lives, and is committed to being in service and to living an exceptional life of community, co-creation, celebration and flow.

 

Francie is based in Koh Phangan, Thailand and Ubud, Bali, where she offers her one-a-kind Cosmic Flow Vinyasa, Hatha Flow and Yin Yoga classes, Masterclass workshops in Philosophy, Lifestyle and Vocal Awakening, Kirtan, Sacred Music concerts, Sound healings and her Signature intimate, magical & life-changing “Yoga in Paradise” Yoga & meditation retreats. 

 

For more info & inspirations visit:

Www.PureFlow.Yoga

Francie Fishman

Pure Flow Yoga Founder, Yoga Teacher, Life Coach, Musician, Pure Flow Yoga

Awaken your Inner GPS: Practical Guide to Create your Sankalpa

Awaken your Inner GPS: Practical Guide to Create your Sankalpa

Awaken your Inner GPS:

Practical Guide to Create your Sankalpa

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius

 

What is Sankalpa?

Whether it’s a New year’s Resolution, or simply an intention you’ve been asked to set at the beginning of a Yoga class, practicing self-inquiry, and getting clear on your personal, emotional, physical and spiritual growth mindsets can have deeply positive and often immediate benefits on your daily life.  

 

Sankalpa or focused intention, is deep inner resolution to allow for evolution. It is a way of planting seeds that align our wisdom, will and action to help bring more depth, meaning and significance to our practice.  

 

Establishing your sankalpa is a powerful way to build and strengthen a bridge from where you are now, to where you want to be. The more you are able to look within for the answers and make shifts in your life that are guided and nurtured by this self-inquiry practice and the inner wisdom that arises therein, the more narrow this gap becomes. 

 

Unlike a goal, sankalpa is not about quenching of a thirst for more money, or losing those 5 pounds. Instead, it is a profound way to connect to your highest truth and your BEST SELF, from the depth of your soul to be able to realise your most heartfelt desires. 

 

When your sankalpa arises, be willing to sit with it, feel it, cultivate the willingness to put in the work needed to align yourself to it. Then practice. Our resolves are nourished with practice and focus.

 

When you are clear on the “WHY” of your promise to yourself, you begin to more naturally show up for yourself and begin to track your follow-through progress – then your journey with practice can begin to flow with more ease. You tap more into the pure FLOW! 

 

Remember, when it comes to making a promise to yourself, adopting a new habit, a big life change, or moving through transition, the process, “the journey IS the destination”.  Enjoy the process, and let go of any expectation of how your sankalpa may or may not unfold.

 

How to Awaken your Inner GPS:

For me, it’s been quite helpful to think of programming my sankalpa in terms of programming my inner GPS – my inner navigation system, like I would in a car trying to reach a new destination.  

 

Step 1 – Let yourself be quiet for a few intentional moments. 

Take a few minutes to just focus on and slow down your breath.  Give yourself a few moments, to clear away the busyness, the hustle and bustle, the to-do’s, the what comes nexts….and be here now.

 

Step 2 – Program your Inner GPS

Get your journal or simply consider the following question for a few moments, in terms of your body, mind, heart and soul:

What do I really want?

What is my most heartfelt desire?

How do I want to FEEL?

How do i want to help others to feel?

What do I wish to bring into my life?

What new life-supporting habit  – thought pattern, relationship, skill, routine, self-care regime – do i want to add or amplify in my life?

What habit, thought or behaviour do i want to release from my life?

What do i need to let go of? What’s holding me back?

What is it that I truly want from this short and precious life?

What are the things that light me up and make my heart sing?

 

Step 3 – Purify – Prepare your Vehicle

Once we’ve programmed our GPS with where we want to go, and before we put the car into gear and let it follow the map, it’s important to make sure our vehicle is in optimal running order 

This is the self-care piece of the puzzle.

Consider the quality of your day to day life.  How are things running?

Are you well-hydrated, are are eating well, sleeping enough, surrounding yourself with people who uplift you to rise to your best self? Are you in positive clear environments.  Make an y upgrades you deem necessary for the journey to run as smoothly as possible.

 

Step 4 – Begin the Journey / Turn on the Ignition!

It’s time to turn the vehicle on, and go forth in the direction of your dreams.  Who do you need to be in order to actualise these intentions? What steps do you need to take? Create an achievable action step.  Then do it again. One foot in front of the other – keep showing up.  Persistence and presence are the key to making sustainable lasting changes in your life.

 

Step 5 – Trust the Mystery / Believe / Let go

Once everything is in motion, the exact route may unfold differently than you may expect.  In fact, life very rarely goes exactly to plan, as we’ve all so tangibly experienced this year.

What’s important it to practice the art of Trusting the Process.  Easier said than done.  That can be one of your intentions – to TRUST MORE IN THE MYSTERY.  Trust that Maps is gonna get you there eventually.  Trust that there is a greater intelligence operating in life, that is beyond our limited human comprehension.  Trust that simply doing your best to show up with love to each moment that presents is enough. 

Just as google maps has for me at least, on so many occasions, led me down unexpected routes, and sometimes completely wrongs turns and streets, eventually, ideally, we reach our GPS’s programmed destination. 

 

3 Practical Tips to Create your Sankalpa

1. Make your intention Personal – This is all about YOU

What do you want to get out of your home practice in the next couple months?

  • Be my BEST Self / Live my BEST life
  • Be more authentic, kind, compassionate
  • Feel more present
  • Master my emotions and heal core wounds
  • Improve physical, emotional and spiritual flexibility
  • Reduce pain
  • Manage anxiety, stress, depression
  • Grow strength
  • Improve mental function
  • develop openness of heart and mind
  • Something else?

 

How do you want to FEEL?

What is the deeper FEELING behind what YOU want. If you want to commit to a daily yoga practice, perhaps it’s the feeling of presence or openness you want to invite into your life. 

Or maybe you want to be fully free of suffering and think starting a Yoga practice could help with that.

 

2.  Keep it simple and concise: Phrase your intention positively & in the present tense – 

Keep your sankalpa simple and memorable so that you can go deep working with it over and over if you like. 

Rather than focus on what you want to release, let go of or change, focus your awareness on the energy you are currently cultivating – how you want to be feeling.

E.g. I am / feel: …Worthy / Free / Enough / Balanced Joyful / At Ease / in Peace / Healthy and Well / Connected / Relaxed / Rejuvenated / Recharged / Present / Empowered / Supported / in Flow…

 

3. Ritualise it. 

When you have found the right intention for you, it will feel expansive and resonant. Feel into that. Marinating in your sanklapa will take you and your commitment to the next level.

Take a moment to bring in the sacred. Acknowledge the mystery. A simple ritual to consecrate your intention can be simple – turn to your intuition and trust yourself

Perhaps you light a candle, some incense, share some insightful words or prayer of gratitude.

 

Create your Sankalpa – Let’s Practice Together:

Preparing:

  • Take a few moments to consider your Sankalpa and get clear on what you really want. 
  • Set your timer, and take 5 minutes NOW with your journal. Feel free to share in the comments.
  • Write point form or in sentences, in as much details as possible, your sankalpa, your resolution to evolve and integrate these qualities more into your life. 
  • Place it where you can see/read it every day – This is the best way to keep your sankalpa present and fresh in your awareness. Make it beautiful if you feel inspired!

 

Journal/Ask-Yourself:

  • What is inspiring you to create a sankalpa right now? What needs aren’t fully being met in your life?
  • How do I want to feel?
  • What do I really want?
  • What is my heartfelt desire?
  • What qualities do I want to grow and nurture in my life?
  • What qualities am I hoping to grow within myself this year?
  • How much time am I willing to commit to practice on a daily basis?
  • What are my top 5 excuses or reasons that will likely come up and deter me from fully participating/being present for my practices?
  • What are my top 5 challenges or distractions to Yoga/meditation in general?
  • Am I willing to face the inevitable resistances and challenges that arise along this journey? How?

 

Ready to Get Clear, Deepen your Practice, Feel more Balanced and Resilient & Align to Your Sankalpa & Purpose?

Please Join us for the Upcoming…


Embracing Change
7-Day Self-Paced Self-Love Virtual Retreat

Self Love & Self-Care from the comfort of your own Home!

 

E-RYT 500 Yoga Alliance | Post-Grad Dip. Education, Queensland University of Technology | BA Psychology / Philosophy, McGill University

 

Yogi, Life Coach, Musician, Entrepreneur, Enthusiast. Community Activator. Event Producer. Multi-Passionate, Free-spirited Lover of Life and Gypsy Soul. Francie is the inspired founder of the award-winning Pure Flow Yoga School in Thailand, voted one of the top 8 Retreats worldwide by the Guardian, 2018, 

 

As a devoted practitioner and life-long student, Francie has studied thousands of hours with master teachers worldwide, and has curated and led more than 150 + Yoga Retreats, teacher trainings, workshops and programs with over 600+ students from all walks of life.

 

She has been a featured presenter at the acclaimed Bali Spirit Festival for the7years, as well as Island Elements in Australia, Oregon Eclipse, Symbiosis Gathering.  In addition to presenting, Francie has also been involved as a festival producer with True:Nature Experience, Air Festival,  Sacred Circularities, and other global festivals, retreats, trainings and gatherings online and worldwide. 

 

Francie’s signature style embraces the most intuitive, creative, graceful and flowing movements that the practice has to offer, while tapping into the nurturing and powerful insights of the ancient tradition.  She offers all-levels, inspiring and playful classes in Hatha Flow, Vinyasa, and Yin styles and retreats that weave in-depth instructions on alignment, sequencing, and awareness of the breath with her love of flow, embodiment, storytelling, music, and dance with her knowledge of mindfulness meditation, pranayama, energy anatomy, and Yogic philosophy and wisdom.

 

Francie is known for her enthusiasm, joy, and dedication to helping to uplift inspire and empower people to live embodied, joyful, aligned, connected, playful, and awakened lives, and is committed to being in service and to living an exceptional life of community, co-creation, celebration and flow.

 

Francie is based in Koh Phangan, Thailand and Ubud, Bali, where she offers her one-a-kind Cosmic Flow Vinyasa, Hatha Flow and Yin Yoga classes, Masterclass workshops in Philosophy, Lifestyle and Vocal Awakening, Kirtan, Sacred Music concerts, Sound healings and her Signature intimate, magical & life-changing “Yoga in Paradise” Yoga & meditation retreats. 

 

For more info & inspirations visit:

Www.PureFlow.Yoga

Francie Fishman

Pure Flow Yoga Founder, Yoga Teacher, Life Coach, Musician, Pure Flow Yoga

3 Ways Yoga can help you to Thrive in Uncertainty

3 Ways Yoga can help you to Thrive in Uncertainty

3 Ways Yoga can Help You

to Thrive in Uncertainty

 

“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly”. – R. Buckmister Fuller

 

We all know the cardinal rule: Everything changes always. Yup, We can definitely count on that, for the seeming better or worse. Everything in nature moves in cycles and waves.

 

And even though we intuitively know that, change can be hard to readily and easily accept and embrace.  

 

Let’s face it, this has been a tough few years – if not for you directly, then for many of your friends, family and loved ones. Whether you’re thriving or surviving, literally everyone is being effected in some way, shape or form.

 

As a collective, we’re being called out of comfort zones and invited into the great mystery of life in a whole new way. Some of us have lost our work as we know it, some of us have lost loved one.

 

Relationships are shifting, and what we’ve counted on as solid up until now – the ground many of us stand on – has been fully shaken. The future can feel sometimes dauntingly uncertain.

 

Many of us are asking ourselves how to be ok, how to find balance and connection, how to overcome stress and overwhelm, how to BE in relation to this wild moment in time.

 

Every challenge and change offers us the opportunity for transformation or trauma.  Sometimes both!

So how can Yoga help us Thrive in Uncertainty?

3 Practical Keys

 

1) Yoga is a Practical Practice.   It teaches us Self-Discipline, Self-Care and Self-Love.

Focus on your own personal growth and transformation. Work on your self and your well-being. 

We are at the core of our own experiences.  All we can ever control, is our relationship to what each moment presents.  For most of us, finding and maintaining strength, balance and flexibility, in both our outer and inner worlds, requires deliberate PRACTICE. This will help you immensely to stay balanced, centred and grounded.

Yoga as a practice helps to teach us to keep watching the mind, and the stories we are telling ourselves about the moment – to watch the feelings, thoughts, and sensations arise and release identifications with them .  The practice is to keep coming back to the breath, and to open and move our bodies and move stagnation and stuck energy. 

Looking after your body, eating healthy whole, balanced, foods, drinking plenty of water, taking care of your hygiene, getting enough exercise are simple, beautiful and important aspects of our daily self-care regime, that when honoured, can help to build more self-love, respect and self-worth  Take care of your body.  It is the temple of your spirit. 

 

2) Yoga helps us to Consciously Cultivate Awareness, Presence & Adaptability.

So we can Allow, Let go & Create New Dreams

Lean into the discomfort.  Let all the feelings arise and breathe in to them. Allow the feelings of loss, grief, gratitude, nostalgia, emotion, endings, new beginnings. Let yourself be fully present with any discomfort. Practicing letting yourself completely feel whatever is there for you to feel in relation to the changes, whether you perceive them as positive or negative. 

Yoga as a practice is designed to help awaken our consciousness to the illusion of separation.  it is a pursuit of relinquishing suffering by virtue of come into direct awareness with our true nature.o slow. Breath into it.  Trust that it’s a process. And when you’re ready, start dreaming new dreams and growing towards more light and purpose.

Being able to witness passing thoughts as clouds moving through the mind, as one might in a buddhist mindfulness meditation practice, can help us to establish a space between a stimulus – a thought, feeling, or sensation – and our reaction. That space of awareness, creates the opportunity to instead of moving into reaction, we can cultivate more supportive responsiveness.

Dream. Plants and Grow new seeds. Cultivate them with your awareness and love. The Yogic practice of sankalpa, of creating intentionality in our lives, connecting with the ultimate feeling we desire to be experiencing or rise into – whether that inner calm and peace, or abundance and love – can really helpful in supporting the conditions for thriving.   

 

3) Yoga helps us to Strengthen & Resource Ourselves

To Welcome Connection, Support,  Learning, Letting Go, Growth and Transformation 

Our basic human needs for connection, belonging and purpose are still there, and are important ingredients to include in the recipe of thriving.  If you’re feeling alone, reach out – let yourself connect and be supported. I know it can be hard. Remember the ol’ adage “ask and you shall receive”.  You are not alone, even if it feels like it. People care about you – I promise.

Connect with community, support and let yourself be supported. A key component of a spiritual practice is to support yourself with a sangha – a supportive community of like-minded seekers who are committed to the path of love and evolution and help you to ask important questions, seek truth, and rise to your highest self. 

Stay curious. Breathe into it. What is adversity teaching you about yourself and life in general? What can you learn from your emotions, from what’s happening all around you? Yoga teaches us to reflect – svadyaya – to study ourselves, to know ourselves.  To see all the tricky ways the ego works to keep us in sufffering and separation. 

Yoga gives us mantras like “om mani padme hum” – a powerful mantra for peace and compassion from the buddhist tradtion.  The mantra translates as the “the jew is in the lotus flower”. The basic symbology of the lotus is a representation of the human journey – Rooted in the mud, the lotus rises in beauty and grows towards the light. In the other words, and in the words of Thich Naht Hanh – “No mud. No Lotus”. When we repeat this mantra, we practice replacing our negative or looping thoughts with this sentiment that we hope to realise – that even if we feel we are in the mud right now, there’s more beauty to the picture that we can’t yet see, that will be there as a direct result of having been in that mud.

 

Would you like to be a part of the Pure Flow Yoga Membership Magic?

You’re invited to Flow with us!

Join the Movement.

E-RYT 500 Yoga Alliance | Post-Grad Dip. Education, Queensland University of Technology | BA Psychology / Philosophy, McGill University

 

Yogi, Life Coach, Musician, Entrepreneur, Enthusiast. Community Activator. Event Producer. Multi-Passionate, Free-spirited Lover of Life and Gypsy Soul. Francie is the inspired founder of the award-winning Pure Flow Yoga School in Thailand, voted one of the top 8 Retreats worldwide by the Guardian, 2018, 

 

As a devoted practitioner and life-long student, Francie has studied thousands of hours with master teachers worldwide, and has curated and led more than 150 + Yoga Retreats, teacher trainings, workshops and programs with over 600+ students from all walks of life.

 

She has been a featured presenter at the acclaimed Bali Spirit Festival for the7years, as well as Island Elements in Australia, Oregon Eclipse, Symbiosis Gathering.  In addition to presenting, Francie has also been involved as a festival producer with True:Nature Experience, Air Festival,  Sacred Circularities, and other global festivals, retreats, trainings and gatherings online and worldwide. 

 

Francie’s signature style embraces the most intuitive, creative, graceful and flowing movements that the practice has to offer, while tapping into the nurturing and powerful insights of the ancient tradition.  She offers all-levels, inspiring and playful classes in Hatha Flow, Vinyasa, and Yin styles and retreats that weave in-depth instructions on alignment, sequencing, and awareness of the breath with her love of flow, embodiment, storytelling, music, and dance with her knowledge of mindfulness meditation, pranayama, energy anatomy, and Yogic philosophy and wisdom.

 

Francie is known for her enthusiasm, joy, and dedication to helping to uplift inspire and empower people to live embodied, joyful, aligned, connected, playful, and awakened lives, and is committed to being in service and to living an exceptional life of community, co-creation, celebration and flow.

 

Francie is based in Koh Phangan, Thailand and Ubud, Bali, where she offers her one-a-kind Cosmic Flow Vinyasa, Hatha Flow and Yin Yoga classes, Masterclass workshops in Philosophy, Lifestyle and Vocal Awakening, Kirtan, Sacred Music concerts, Sound healings and her Signature intimate, magical & life-changing “Yoga in Paradise” Yoga & meditation retreats. 

 

For more info & inspirations visit:

Www.PureFlow.Yoga

Francie Fishman

Pure Flow Yoga Founder, Yoga Teacher, Life Coach, Musician, Pure Flow Yoga

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Drishti: Find your Balance

Drishti: Find your Balance

 Drishti: Find your Balance in Life

by Nadia Moon

 

Find Your Drishti and Balance in Life

The Sankrit word for Yoga is translated in English as “union”. Yoga is indeed the practice that unites body, mind, spirit and beyond. Beyond duality there is yoga, union.

If I look back at my personal yoga journey, I have to confess that the reason why I started practicing yoga in the first place was mainly to keep my body fit.

I was not interested in spirituality and very sceptical about the whole idea of it. I was very much body-only focused – probably also reflecting the society I was living in. I had no awareness of how powerfully this practice would have transformed my entire life very soon.

However my body knew it. The body is very wise and it knew that it was just the beginning, so I kept going.

As I increased balance, strength and flexibility on the mat (through yoga asanas and pranayama) I started to notice those changes off the mat as well, in all aspects of my life.

After 5 years of yoga practice (including meditation) I quit my toxic corporate job, I quit an unhealthy relationship I was stuck in for over 10 years and I started a journey of listening to my soul and following my higher purpose in life.

Yoga has certainly been the tool I needed to break through my conditionings and find balance.

Now I can share with you the beauty of yoga in all its universal benefits.

Everything we learn and master on the mat influences the way we show up off the mat in our everyday life.

Let’s look at one of the qualities we often seek for in our lives: balance, and how the yoga practice can help us achieve it more deeply.

 

Drishti

The balance in a yoga asana (a body posture) can be reached by finding our drishti.

Drishti is a sanskrit word for “point of focus”.

We can’t balance in an asana by focusing on the whole wall in front of us. We need to chose a precise point on that wall, stick with it with full awareness and commitment and let go of the rest. That point on the wall is our drishti.

Once you find your drishti, the invitation is to commit to it and to let the breath be deep and smooth.

And every time you fall, honour that.  Honour the commitment you have to get back up again, and again.

Let’s remember that it’s not about how many times we fall, but rather how many times we are willing to rise up once again. Enjoying the process is the real goal.

Likewise in life, to be balanced, we need to develop the ability to chose to focus only on the things that are beneficial to us and let go of that don’t serve us.

Following our dreams, our true desires, our soul purpose in life – that’s our Drishti. It requires determination and practice; it demands to believe fully in our dreams and to drop the resistance or attachment towards what doesn’t serve our purpose. We are capable of the impossible if we only believe in it.

Yoga gives us the tools to find that drishti, that balance on and off the mat.

 

Practice: Balance your Breath

Beside yoga asanas (body posture) we can practice the principle of balancing with the breath as well.

Set aside 5 – 10 mins now, or longer if you can, to practice this gentle breathing meditation and increase your awareness on balancing:

Find a conformable sitting position or lay down in savasana.

Take few moments to tune in into what balance means to you.

What is the quality of balance you wish to bring in your everyday life?

Breath in your intention with full awareness. Stay here for few moments as you plant the seed of your intention. Water it with your breath.

Then let go of your intention for now, drop any story in your head and shift your mind from whatever is drifted to, to watch the rise and fall of your natural breath. Without changing it, just bring awareness to it for few minutes.

As you inhale you receive energy, as you exhale you give energy. Pay attention to whether your inhale is longer then your exhale or vice versa. Notice if that is also true in your everyday life. Is it probably time for you to receive more? Or to give more?

Then start to bring balance to your breathing. Feeling that the inhale and the exhale become equal length. Counting the breath may help. Breathing in for 5… breathing out for 5… noticing the gap in between each breath. That tiny little pose at the bottom of your inhale and the tiny little pose at the bottom of your exhale.

Continue for few minutes and then release.

What have you noticed?

 

I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to share and comment,

Enjoy the process!!!

With Love, Nadia

 

Nadia will be sharing her passion for Yoga on our upcoming Yoga RetreatsThailand @ Pure Flow Yoga, in April 2019.  Learn more about here or on her website @ www.NadiaMoon.com

Yoga & Sacred Activism: 3 Ways to face the Darkness and stay Light

Yoga & Sacred Activism: 3 Ways to face the Darkness and stay Light

Yoga & Sacred Activism:

3 ways to Look into the Darkness and Stay Light

The world these days is like a dirty house. It’s been sullied with injustice, cruelty, selfishness, and greed. But just like a dirty house, it has every capability of being righted. We, as its inhabitants, have the choice of sitting in its filth, or being the ones to help clean it.

There are three ways to address the darkness in the world around us.

  • One, we can pretend we don’t see it so that it doesn’t bring us down.
  • Two, we can let it break our hearts and lock us into a state of depressed inaction
  • Three, we can be honest about its existence and understand it as a place asking for attention, action, and change.

 

 The Path of Service

Stepping up to the wrongs of this world is not an easy task for anyone, but it is the task worth doing. Atira Tan, founder of Art to Healing (www.arttohealing.org) and Yoga for Freedom (www.yogaforfreedom.org.au), first heard her call to action in Cambodia in 2004.

After witnessing the on-goings of a child sex slavery ring in the street below her hotel room, she was faced with a choice. She could look away, board the plane to her next vacation destination, and move on with her life. Or she could stay, step into the discomfort of a painful situation, and try to help these 9-10 year-old girls being sold by their family so they could survive.

Atira stayed. She spent the next four years living in Cambodia and working for a non-profit to prevent and heal the trauma of child sex slavery. She took the time to speak with these girls, girls who had experienced an unimaginable devastation of spirit from the trauma they’d undergone, and she chose to believe that there was still life within their deadened eyes that could, and needed to be, revitalised.

Today, Atira continues to follow her path of service and seeks to encourage others to do the same. In 2005, she founded Art to Healing, a non-profit that incorporates art therapy and yoga to help both women and men affected by sex slavery to foster a healthier relationship with themselves and their bodies. Furthermore, she launched Yoga for Freedom yoking the yoga community with social change, a world-wide fundraising event that taps into the billion-dollar yoga industry to raise money for women and children who have experienced child sex slavery in Asia.

 

Yoga & Sacred Activism

“Yoga is such a powerful tool for source energy,” Atira explains. “It helps me to connect with what’s true, to move beyond the notion that we are separate from each other. We can take time to tap into our practice and fill up and open up to be a vessel of love and light and that affects our actions and what we do in the world.”

 

Atira Tan uses yoga in her own life to keep her firmly on the path of service and sacred activism.  So, exactly how can we use yoga as a tool for social activism?

 

1. Don’t take time to worship, make your life worship.

 Yoga does not end in the studio. Yoga is a practice of union that is cultivated just as much on your mat as in the waiting line at the DMV. Be present in each moment. Dedicate your life to something more, whatever more is, and remember that it flows through you in everything you do, in every breath you take.

When we attach ourselves to something bigger than us, our actions become more in line with what we are incited to do, rather than what we think we should do.

 

2. Let go of your egoic notions of success, and surrender to the infinite

We are incredibly attached to our egos and outcomes; it’s a part of our culture to want to be successful.  The work is the only thing that matters and it is the only thing that exists. Activist burn-out does not come from the work itself; it comes from expectations.

The truth is that none of us know the outcome of anything. Let go, surrender. Act for the sake of action, act because you feel incited to do it. Let life take care of the rest. It’s going to do that whether you have a prediction or not.

 

3. Dedicate your life to being in Service

Dedicating one’s life to service is the quickest practice to kick us out of our egos. When we attach to something more and when we act for something more, we become something more.

When you dedicate your life to service, you must find something you feel purposeful about. You may care about the environment, but if that work doesn’t light you up, let it go. Find something that gives you meaning, that makes you feel alive when you connect to it. “When I work with women and children,” Atira says. “I know from the inside that I’m meant to be doing this work and I couldn’t be doing anything else. There’s an energy that is bigger than my mind. That is what sustains us in this work of activism.”

Sacred activism is not a “rescue” mission and it cannot be done through the mind. As activists, we cannot approach the work as the “rescuers” who have come to save the “victims.” This is not sustainable, and it is not true. Sacred activism is about coming together as one and learning from each other as human beings. It’s about discovering what we all have to offer one another.

The “call” to service is not always a pleasant one. It can be uncomfortable and frightening, even daunting. Our egos fear what will happen if we fail, or how we too may become hurt if we get involved. Yet, we all have the power to overcome our ego and attach ourselves to our life’s purpose.

After witnessing the horrors of the earthquake in Nepal, Atira Tan received an idea for a new endeavor during her meditation. It was an immense project to take on, and despite misgivings at the onset, she decided to set the idea into action.

Three years ago, Atira Tan held the first Yoga for Freedom movement in Australia, previously named International Yogathon for World Peace, alongside Off the Mat, into the World Australia and NZ. Her vision was to create a global yoga and social change movement that tapped into the 27 billion-dollar yoga industry and filtered that profit to the birthplace of yoga, a place that rarely saw the financial gains of the philosophy it shared with the world. The event invited yoga teachers to teach a Yogathon in 3 cities that donated its proceeds to the earthquake recovery effects through Art to Healing. The event was incredibly successful and raised over $16,000 in one day.

Now, Yoga for Freedom is a week long international yoga movement, will be held annually across 4 continents between 40 yoga ambassadors. All proceeds will go towards providing food, shelter, and safe accommodations to women and girls in need, as well as education and therapeutic programs to heal the trauma they’ve endured.

“The intention is to come back to the heart and dedicate our thoughts and practice in meditation back to the world,” Atira explains. “It’s to turn the focus from Instagram and Facebook and getting in perfect in shape – yoga is meant to be something that uplifts us all, that uplifts the planet. It’s a practice that can shine light within ourselves in the darkest place of shadow and we have to help others find it too. We have to use this practice to shine light on the darkest corners of humanity.”

To get involved with Art to Healing, visit arttohealing.org. To become involved with Yoga for Freedom, please visit www.yogaforfreedom.org.au

6 Ways to Nourish your Immune System this Winter

6 Ways to Nourish your Immune System this Winter

6 Ways to Nourish your Immune System

this Winter

by Ellanah Fawcett

For those in the Northern Hemisphere the phase of winter within our yearly cycle is beginning to settle in. With it comes the gift of our annual time to really go inside, reflect on the cycle that has been, bring light and love to our deep inner world and generally get really yummy and cosy.

 

Sometimes though we can forget that behind the clouds and blankets of cold there is a burning, radiant sun still shining its light into our world; the days can feel heavy and dark, our heart energy turns inwards as we tense and hold our bodies against the cold and our immune system can begin to struggle if we are not cultivating our inner fire and working with the internal sun of our heart.

 

So here are 6 ways you can tend to your heart fire and nourish your immune system to feel radiant, balanced and filled with vitality this Winter time:

 

1. Chant Mantra

 

 

Mantra is one of the most beautifully, powerful ways to balance our entire body-mind-being. It works so viscerally within our physical body all the way to the subtlest expressions of our self.

 

When we chant mantra we are inviting our mind to align with the essence of the heart. As this re-alignment and reprogramming gently occurs the immune system gets a huge boost. Our thoughts begin to take on a much more peaceful and loving energy transforming our whole entire energy field, which leaves not much space for any winter lurgy to live and thrive within us.

As little as 15 minutes of chanting a day can have profound effects on your whole being, those around you and the energy of your home; give it a try!

 

A beautiful mantra to explore this wintertime is the Gayatri…chanting to the Goddess of the Sun and the ancient wisdom of the Vedas.

 

You can find many recordings online to listen to the pronunciation, a beautiful recording is by Deva Premal & Miten (you can find on Spotify or YouTube).

 

Om Bhur Bhuvah Suvaha

Tat Savitur Varenyam

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi

Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat

 

Really see if you can savour each syllable and invite the essence of peace to be experienced through the mantra, embodying the essence of the mantra; this will permeate your entire being, helping to transform your thoughts, emotions and physical being.

 

There might even be mantra chanting circles or Kirtan in your local area, have an explore online and see what is near to you so that you can share and connect with others.

 

2. Embodiment Practices

 

Dancing fun

Dancing fun

 

Movement fans the flames of our inner fire. When our outer weather is cold we can balance this by keeping our body-home warm. We can’t control our outer environment but we can create the most nourishing inner environment.

 

When we are embodied within our self the immune system naturally functions at a higher level. Our awareness expands throughout our body and this awareness is essentially warmth and love; thus creating the conditions for more peace and joy to flourish.

 

Find a movement practise that brings joy to your heart and warmth to your body, whether it is Yoga Asana, dance, shaking, running, jumping, climbing…if you like to move alone, find a space where you can let your whole self be free or if you like to move with others find a class or group or start one yourself.

 

Activate the heart, feel it beating as you move, beating warmth and life into every corner of your being.

 

3. Metta Meditation

 

 

 

Anahata, our heart chakra, is directly linked to our Thymus Gland where T-Blood cells are produced that are an integral part of our immune system. When Anahata is in balance our Thymus is able to work efficiently, creating a healthy immune system for us.

 

Metta Meditation is one of the most powerful ways to activate and balance our heart chakra; opening the doors to the compassion that is innate within all our hearts and inviting our love to flow to the world around us, our loved ones, those we are struggling with and to ourselves.

 

You can find a Metta Meditation on our Pure Flow Podcast and plenty on YouTube and Insight Timer.

 

4. Ayurvedic Golden Milk

 

 

In Ayurveda winter time is associated with Vata Dosha (cold and dry), which means to balance this we need to invite warmth into our system. Ayurvedic Golden Milk is a beautiful way of doing this, working with the immune superfood Turmeric.

 

Turmeric is a magic herb that has been proven to be highly anti-inflammatory for the body, supports healthy liver function, boosts immune system, reduces the risk of cancer, balances hormones, manages arthritis pain and many many other beautiful gifts.

 

To make this warm, Ojas boosting, turmeric-based drink is lovely and simple:

  • Bring one cup of organic cow, almond or coconut milk to a gentle boil.
  • Add a teaspoon of fresh grated turmeric or turmeric powder, a small amount of ginger, a pinch of black pepper and a teaspoon of coconut oil.
  • Gently stir or whisk
  • Pour into a cup adding honey to sweeten
  • You can also get creative and add other winter warming herbs to this mix such as cinnamon, clove or nutmeg

 

 

5. Creative Free Flow (Journalling, Drawing, Crafting…)

 

 

The natural essence of energy is to flow. When energy becomes stuck or stagnant (held by a thought form or by not allowing our emotions and bodies to flow and move) it creates the conditions for ‘dis-ease’ to manifest in our physical reality. We can keep the mind and emotional body flowing through some form of creative outlet.

 

Each morning put a timer on for 5-10 minutes and invite your pen to flow across the pages of your notebook without stopping and without censoring. This may express in the form of words or drawings or paintings.

 

If you are someone who resonates with sound, then for this time you can explore and allow sound to flow; be curious with how sounds feel in your body, where they come from and which sounds different parts of the body want to express on any given day. Find your outlet and invite in a sense of flow and grace.

 

6. Making space for rest and relaxation

 

Our bodies need down time in order to regenerate; this means making sure we are getting an adequate amount of sleep and enough time spent just simply being.

 

Some favourite ways of gifting these precious spaces of silence and healing are: Yoga Nidra, Meditation, time spent simply being in nature and restorative or yin yoga. These deep states of silence refill our cup so abundantly and invite us home to the peace we seek that’s always available inside.

 

Create a technology curfew each evening so that you can disconnect to reconnect and set aside an amount of time each day that feels manageable to really gift yourself space to simply be.

 

When we nourish our heart and really awaken a deeper sense of self-love our body and surroundings naturally come into alignment and vitality. Let us know what your Heart nourishing winter practises are, we love to hear and share!

 

An adventure loving soul, Ellanah is forever exploring new ways of connecting to our true self and the magic of everyday life. Her sunshine infused classes explore the flowing dance between breath and movement; cultivating greater space, peace, and presence in both body and mind. A nature loving Reiki Master with an eclectic background in performing arts and Anthropology, and a love for all things dance; Ellanah draws from a creative mix of inspiration, always exploring how we can come deeper into awareness and move deeper from love. She is an avid believer that each individual’s yoga mat is an inspiring microcosm for life itself, encouraging us to flow with freedom and compassion both on the mat and out in the world.

Check out Ellanah Yoga on Facebook 

Ellanah Fawcett

Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master, "Life is a Gift, Let it Flow" - Yogi Bhajan

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My Top 5 Favourite Yoga Poses & Why!

My Top 5 Favourite Yoga Poses & Why!

My top 5 Favourite Yoga Poses

For Anytime & Anywhere

On your mat, get set, flow….

Developing a home practice can feel intimidating at times.  Often we have blurts flowing through the mind – I don’t have time, Where do I start? What comes next?…

A home practice can be as simple as sitting in your mat for 5 minutes and stretching, breathing and witnessing.  Ultimately our practice of Yoga is designed to guide us inside, to listen to our inner wisdom and to the body, to be able to feel what feels stuck, tight or tense, and thus what we could benefit the most from next.

Today, I invite you to try these 5 simple yet awesome poses and their variations with me.  Feel free to do these poses anywhere and anytime you have a few moments to open your bodymind!

Give yourself 10-15 minutes, put on some nice music, roll out your mat, light a candle and some incense,  lay out your altar, or even just a flower/something beautiful to feast your eyes upon, and spend 5 or 6 full breath cycles in each pose, and see how you feel after. Make sure you have some props around; a cushion or block to support you to completely relax into these shapes so you can go deep.

With the right support, these simple and accessible poses are available to all levels and bodies, .

 

1) Supta badokonasana – Reclined bound angle pose

This is one of my favourite poses to start and end of class with, and anytime I find myself in the horizontal.  This is a beautiful hip opener,  groin softener,  heart and chest opener  Energetically,  we are cultivating an energy of letting go, allowing, receiving, and surrendering  I like to practice this pose with a cushion or block underneath the back of my heart, and maybe even some blocks to support underneath my knees.

Hang out in this pose for a few minutes. Feel the support of the earth below you as it holds you, receives and transforms that which you are releasing, that which no longer serves you,  with each exhale.  Feel how nourishing it is to surrender to the knowing that you are supported.

2) Kapotasana – Pigeon Pose

Another beautiful grounding, and supported pose – PIgeon pose, and all it’s variations. is my favourite go-to Hip-Opener  I practice this pose every day.  Many of us hold a lot of tension in the hips – The hips represent our ability to move forward in the world with grace and ease.  In this pose, enjoy the yummy external rotation of the hips, stretch to the hip flexors,  release of tension in the hips and increasing range of motion in the legs.  Hips are also famously known in Yoga to be the place where we store stuck energy. It said that the cellular memory connected to grief and sadness holds in the hips. Go to your edge,  breathe there,  and enjoy the softening, opening,  surrendering and relaxing. 

This first pic shows the “sleeping swan”, forward fold variation of pigeon, and the second pic shows a more engaged heart opening “king pigeon” variation”.

 

 

 

 

3) Adho Mukha Svanasana – Downward Facing dog.

The classic resting pose. As Yoga teachers often remind students,   this can be a resting pose if you have the right alignment of attitude and body: Find the alignment of your hands – spread wide, shoulder distance apart, the alignment of the feet hip distance apart.  Let your knees have a soft bend as you lengthen the tailbone, bringing belly to spine, rolling the shoulders away from your ears.  Let there be an even weight between hands and feet and explore the openings possible as you breathe into the body and tune into where the body is tight.

Play around with the concept of dynamic stillness – allowing each inhale to create more length in the spine and space in the body, and each exhale deepening and expanding.  Play around with 3-legged dog, lifting one leg at a time and opening the hip into scorpian tail.

 

Variation – 3-Legged Dog

Variation – Scorpian or Fire-hydrant Pose

 

4) Wild Thing

 

Backbends are heart openers and energising poses.  Many Yogis would agree that this is one of their favourite poses.  It’s so fun, beautiful, strong, fierce, and open.  It’s just so energising and satisfying to stretch that whole front line of the body, the front of the thigh,  the side body and the throat.When I practice this pose I feel vibrant and alive. If ‘m fully warmed up and open in the spine, I’ll play with bringing this pose into a full wheel.

 

 

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5) Balasana – Child’s Pose

 

Forward folds are calming poses.  You can gift yourself this pose anytime throughout the practice, anytime you need a rest, anytime you wanna come back to the breath, anytime the mind gets lost in a labyrinth of thoughts.  Play with different variations: Knees together or knees wide, forehead or chin to the earth, arms lengthened forward, or walking to each side for a side stretch.  Play with the ams alongside the body, or your elbows rooted in the earth next to your shoulders with your hands in a prayer towards the sky.

 

 

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Hope you enjoy your practice today!

Please comment below: What’s your favourite pose?

 

 

No Mud. No Lotus

No Mud,  No Lotus.

No Mud. No Lotus.

Om Mani Padme Hum – Mantra for Inner Peace

 

In many ancient cultures and traditions,  the lotus flower is considered a symbol of purity, enlightenment, awakening, perfection, and rebirth and serves as a metaphor for life,

Rooted in the mud, the lotus draws energy from the muddy waters below and grows towards the light,d transforming into a beautiful flower

The journey of the lotus from the darkness of the mud to the light of the sun is a perfect metaphor for the human condition,. We often forget that we are divine beings with seeds of infinite potential waiting to blossom within our hearts.

The lotus begins it’s journey rooted in the mud of our beings: the judgment, criticism the conditioning, jealousy, the anxiety, all of the shadow elements. The power of the sun’s light encourages the lotus to grow up and out of the swampy murky waters, to surface into the clean air above, finally freeing itself from the harsh conditions below, and blossoming in the light of warmth, truth, love and compassion

We can all relate to that feeling of being stuck in the mud.

The lesson of the lotus is to look at our obstacles, struggles and challenges of life, and see that they are the fertile soil of our being that prepares us for transformation and beauty. 

When we realise that we can pull something from every experience, from the mud, this can help us grow.  When we can see life this way, we can awaken to the remembrance that we choose to grow towards the light and bloom.

OM MANI PADME HUM – Mantra of Compassion

The first word Om is a sacred syllable found in Hindu/ Vedic Traditions

The word Mani means “jewel”

 Padme means “lotus

 Hum represents the spirit of enlightenment

Today I invite you to sing, chant along, or simply bathe in the vibes and notice how you feel after.  Chant this mantra at least 9 x.

The benefits of chanting Om Mani Padme Hum are said to be infinite: When we recite this mantra, we invoke the energies of the lotus, and It helps us purify mind, body, spirit, and cultivate deep love and compassion and bring more meaning to our lives, bringing us to the highest blissful state.

As your chanting, bring your awareness to it’s meaning: Om is the sound of the universe, and helps us to align ourselves with the frequency of the universe Mani, means jewel, the jewel of love,  Padme, means the lotus flower.. the flower of wisdom, Hum, helps us to keep all the negativity and suffering away.

Kirtan / Rainbow Song Version

12 hour Mantra Meditation Version

Path of Practice

Do your “Big” or “Small” practice – Enter your “Yay” or “Nay”.

Chant or bathe in the mantra ” Om mani Padme Hum” at least 9x

 

Journal  / 3 Gratitudes

Can you see the challenges of your life as gifts?

Think of some of the less pleasant things in life that you’ve gone through?

How have they helped you to grow towards more light?

 

 

Please add your Comments Below

Developing a Successful Home Practice

Developing a Successful Home Practice

Developing a Successful Home Practice

Strategy for Successful Home Practice

Creating the conditions for your Rhythm & Routine

One of the most beautiful and liberating aspects of yoga is that you don’t need any fancy equipment or a designated building or field to practice. Yoga is available to you where ever you are at – as long as you are willing to approach it, and have a strategy..

In Yoga, we stretch and open our physical body, to promote a more easeful and comfortable flow of energy within the body so that we can sit for a long time – essentially we are creating the conditions in which meditation can occur.  Similarly, to set ourselves up for a successful daily practice, we need to create the conditions in which your Rhythm & Routine can occur.

The willingness and desire to create a habit of Practice is not enough to sustain us on the path in and of itself.  As we’ve all experienced by now on Day 4, motivation is transient – its comes and goes, ebbs and flows. Everything from our sleep last night to the conversation we just had can effect our motivation.

We need a strategy!  We need to create the conditions in which practice can occur.

Developing a home yoga practice and committing to it is a profound tool for deepening into your own personal relationship with yoga. Here are some tools that have helped me in my home practice of Yoga:

1) Create a foundation for your practice: Start with a set sequence.

 

It can be powerful to repeat the same poses every day, Practicing the same poses every day helps you keep consistent with your practice. This repetition offers you a clear vantage point from which to watch yourself grow and change.

Click below to access a dynamic & energising flow sequence. 

Let us know what you think in the comments at the bottom of the page.

 

2) Commit to a specific time of day & a minimum amount of practice time. 

 

For some of us, first thing in the morning works best, for others its when you have a bit of time in the afternoon or before bed.  Experiment with yourself, find a time that works best for you and stick to it.  The more consistent you are, the more the habit of practice will be able to stick.

For me, I wake up every morning excited about coffee.  So my first sip of coffee is my trigger for my first sit on the mat.  I do my journaling, my coffee drinking, then I begin to open my body and meditate.  What an you use as your practice trigger?

Choose a minimum amount of time that you are prepared to commit practicing for.  Even if it’s just 5 , 10 or 15 minutes, make yourself a promise that you will do your time. That’s your practice – just that – everything else is bonus time! Start small (baby steps!); this way you can stick with your commitment and feel positive about your practice rather than guilty if you don’t have a lot of time/energy that day.

This is why we have our “big” and our “small” practice: Ultimately, it’ more important to establish a steady, grounded and stable routine of practices that we can sustain over long terms adding in bits and pieces as we journey through life. 

3) Clear Space / Clear Mind: Sanctify your practice:

 

Our outer space reflects our inner space: Creating the conditions in which practice can occur is absolutely key.

Today we invite you to spend some time cleaning your bedroom or house. Start with making the bed,  clearing off any surfaces that collecting scattered papers, cleaning out the nooks and crannies. Then noticed how you feel. 

Creating a space in which you feel good and free to practice is key to a successful home practice. You want to create an intentional space, and I would even recommend creating a small altar of what it is that you want to focus right now. It can be simple. A candle and incense maybe a picture of someone who inspires you, maybe a crystal or something you found in nature that inspires you. Let it be uniquely and personally meaningful.

Create an altar. As you clean and look around your room look for objects or flowers, and arrange them in a beautiful place in your space of practice. You’re welcome to keep adding to the altar as you find things in nature or are gifted things from loved ones.Tadah! Now as you come to your mat each day, you can infuse your altar with your intuition and intention.

Alters our ancient tools of transformation, and act as a focus point for ritual, reflection and contemplation and a serve as reminder of your intentions, wishes, prayers and gratitudes for that which is the highest good within you.

4) Amazing Resources are all around. Use them!

 

There is so much inspiration all around – from yoga classes and community centers, to podcasts, online videos, yoga books, movies, documentaries and more.  You can take online classes, read blog, visit Yoga website.

 

I love being a student and often will go to classes for a little tune-up.  

 

Working with a great teacher can be a total game changer. Find someone whose style you resonate with and start to going to some of their classes.  This will help bring attention to areas of your practice that need assistance, and it will also provide you with new inspiration and motivation for your daily home practice.

 

Tip: Some of the online resources I like to use when I am travelling are YogaGlo / See Hear Be Now / Yogadownload.com – all of which offer free trial memberships and classes with great, experienced teachers.

 

 

With Infinite Love & Endless Gratitude

XOXO

Francie

Contemplation Questions for Clarity, Self-Love & Self-Study

Contemplation Questions for Clarity, Self-Love & Self-Study

Contemplations & Journal Question

for Self-Study, Clarity & Self-love

Questions for Clarity,  INsight & Self-Love

Everyday’s a school day! Everything that arises can be seen as a lesson to be learned if you are willing to see it that way.  This is the attitude of the curious seeker, a Yogi. 

 

Ready for some homework? 

 

I invite you to join me in some self-study, to spend some time with these questions over the next few days,  or lifetimes, journaling or simply contemplating, and see how they can help you on your journey to emotional mastery, self-love, peace and clarity.

 

  • What is happening right now?
  • Can I be with it?
  • If I can’t be with it, can I be okay with that for now?

 

  • What would life look like if it were easy?

 

  • When faced with a decision – is it Love or is it Fear choosing?
  • What would a person who loves themselves do?

 

  • What wants to be birthed through me?
  • How am I avoiding it?
  • How am I keeping myself small?

 

  • Who am I?
  • What do I love?
  • Knowing I will die, how should I live?
  • What is my greatest mission?
  • What are my gifts to humanity?

 

  • What do I need to do right now to really walk the talk?
  • How can I open my mind?  my heart? What am I resisting?

 

Blessings on your journey.

XOXO

Francie