Releasing with the Harvest Moon

Last night I gathered for my monthly full moon dance. Normally this dance happens in a small temple and only women gather together to move in our uniqueness, with intention, silently to rhythmic music as we connect with the current moon. This month for the celebration of the harvest moon we invited our brothers and we danced outside on the salt flats by the Great Salt Lake. When I first saw this invitation I instantly knew in my gut I was going. I told/asked my husband and he said yes and actually asked if he could come. I said no women only, confused that men were also invited this month. Once I realized men were invited I invited him and we lined up my dad to baby sit our two children. 

Tyler and I arrived at the beach early. Watched the sun set, talked and played around with some yoga poses. When the sun set and the moon rose we gathered with our group and howled at the moon which appeared red. The love and excitement we all felt for the moon was palpable. I thought of all the women in all the times in all the lands who have looked to the moon and sought guidance. I felt grounded in my blood, in my bones, with my feet in the sand.

My bare feet stood on cold dry salt sand. It cracked as I moved on it and we gathered into our circle. Our guides welcomed us, talked about the moon briefly, and the "rules" for our movement and then let us dance. Music played over generators as we danced, jumped, hopped, swayed, rolled, skipped, spun, pulsated, smiled, cried, yelled, laughed, crawled, ran, sat... It was beautiful to witness the black silhouettes of these human beings connecting with themselves, moving and breathing in their authenticity and how lucky I was to share that experience with them. 

We moved at different speeds within our circle outlined in the sand. As we repetitively touched the earth the sand that started our dry became wet and muddy.  It was such a magnificent experience to feel the change under my feet. I felt grounded and connected to my Mother... Earth.

The full moon represents abundance and she is about to move into waning, into releasing. As I gazed up at the moon with my hands over my heart I thought about what I want to release. I want to release my self judgment, and my self criticism so that I can stand in my power with self love and self confidence! With this intention I walk through the threshold leaving my old ways, thoughts and habits behind me. I move forward in a new way as a strong women who loves and cares for herself. A women who knows she can accomplish so much if she directs her energy into other things instead of the size of her love handles. How many hours, days, years I have wasted of my life caring about my size? and what you think of it? I have been working on this for 10 years but recently I have felt a lot of manifestation of forward momentum. Of letting go of that past identity so I can stand in my power fully. 

When we were dancing I also though of how we are all spiritual beings. About how lucky we are to share this human experience with each other. I caught myself finding my husbands silhouette watching him dance to his own beat and think how lucky I am

to share my life with this being! We get so caught up in life with children, bills, work, plans that I can forget this human experience and take it to seriously that I miss connecting with him as a Being. Dancing with him last night sometimes together but often apart was so amazing. Being able to do our own thing, feed our soul, be authentic, come together and connect, kiss, smile and then spin off again was a gift from Grace and one I will never forget. 

As we left we talked about our intentions. I shared with him about my self love and being ready to move past this threshold. He told me about his (I won't share it). He kept saying how much he enjoyed the dance and needed it. He also acknowledged how important these dances are for me and how much he supports me making time for them and will continue to encourage me to go to them in the future. This mad me so happy because I haven't been to a moon dance in a few months because I always assume he would rather me stay home and help with the kids. So hearing him say. "Yes! Do this!I will help you make this happen" made me heart soar. 

We talks again this morning about the transformative experience we had under the moon. Both so grateful that we can share these experiences. Tyler grew up Mormon and pointed out that there are many people who would be to uncomfortable with free movement under the moon and others would assume we were all on drugs and wouldn't want to participate. I am so grateful I can have these experiences. I am BLISSED out and am already counting down the days until I can dance with the moon again.

Choose To Make More Beauty

Being on modified bed rest has been a great opportunity (looking for the good) to go through old yoga notes. Yesterday I was reading my notes from the Anusara-Inspired teachers gathering in Tahoe during Wanderlust, during it John Friend said, “Every day we get to choose to make more beauty, to make more light, to bring more love into the world, or not”. This really stood out to me. We have a choice! Meaning we can choose to bring more beauty + light + love into the world or we can choose to bring more ugliness + darkness + hate into the world. I hadn't thought about the flip slide of this before. I just thought laa dee daa I am bringing more beauty into the world. I didn't think that all those times I don't feel good, don't hold the door open for someone, flip someone off driving, make rude judgemental mental comments in my head at the market, gossip with friends about someone, be in self pity, or just leave the house in a bad mood. In all those examples I am choosing to negatively impact the world we live in and share.

This made me think about emissions. We are all emitting energy all the time, it is often called our aura or the energy field that surrounds our body. Think about what it feels like to be physically close to someone who is happy and how it makes you feel to just being near them. Now imagine what it would feel like if that person was sad, or angry. The energy they are emitting and you are experiencing just from being in their field is drastically different. In this way just by choosing our attitude we are choosing to either add more love + joy + enthusiasm to the world or we are choosing to add more  hate + sadness + angry to the world. (Not to say we should never experience these feelings it is healthy to experience the full spectrum of emotions but not healthy to stew in it... another topic for another post.)

When I think of things that emit in a way that brings more beauty and love into the world I think of the sun, artists, flowers, happy dogs, color full leaves, rainbows... when I think of things that pollute the world I think of smoke stacks, cars, oil spills, garbage, cigarette smoke.... Which do you want to be? I want to be a bright flower that makes people smile + feel better.

WHAT ARE YOU EMITTING?

 OR...

This simple yet profound teaching has struck a chord in my heart and now I am so much more aware every time I open my mouth to speak (or sometimes too late, and I notice it after I have already spoken...change comes at first with awareness).  I am a big fan of the gratitude practices, of writing in my journal, often at night, a list of things I am grateful for. I do this especially when I am feeling sorry for myself. Well I am starting a new practice! A Shri (beauty) practice! I write down how I added beauty + light + love to the word for the day. It has been making me feel really good to look at the list and brings happiness to my heart as participate in creating a happy earth for all. I invite each of you to become more conscious of the ways that you contribute more beauty to the world each day.

Look, touch, speak, and breathe beauty!

Definitions:
E·mits: To give or send out (matter or energy).
pol·lu·tion: The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

Trees

I have been going on hikes at the top of big cottonwood canyon (the pictures below are from Blood Lake) and have been blown away by the feeling I get around these towering trees. Being with them I am reminded of what phenomenal teachers they are. I often take them for granted as I drive past them but I like to pause and take time to acknowledge their strength and vitality. To think about all the times they have been shaken to their core by the wind and storms and yet they continue to root down into the earth and reach up toward to the sunlight. They are a symbol of Grace.

I will often visualize a tree sometimes its a tree from the thick forest of Washington, sometimes its a tree from the dry desert in Moab. Visualizing the tree I think about some qualities that I admire so much at that I want to embody more in my life. Today visualizing a tree the qualities that come to mind are:

• Patience
• Perseverance
• Grace

I asked my students to do this visualization to come up with their own qualities they want to embody from a tree and to reflect on them as they move through this practice.

The principles of emphasis are:

1. Muscle energy: from the four corners of the feet drawing up to the hips firming all sides of the legs. In tree pose you cultivate muscle energy by first engaging the standing leg, feeling the strength of the leg with the sole of the bent leg foot, then press firmly the foot into the thigh and the thigh into the foot. I love all these tree variations because it really makes you figure out how to press your foot and inner thigh together so it doesn't slip down.  
2. Expanding Spiral: spiraling from the inner heal around the legs and draw the inner thighs in, back and wide. In tree after creating that firm pressure of foot into inner thigh and thigh pressing into foot, use the foot to draw the inner thigh toward the back of the room. You might notice the butt sticks out and you get a in and up curve in your lover back.
3. Contracting Spiral/ Organic Energy: from the hips scope the tail bone and root down through the feet. In tree after broadening the inner thighs toward the back of the room scope your tail bone and root down first through your standing leg and then from your hips out through the bent knee widening it toward the direction it is pointing. Sometimes when I am widening the knee I will find my hips twisting in that direction. This is a no no it will tweak and damage my standing knee over time so watch that there is no twist in your hips.

Tadasana - Vinyasa
Tree
Plank with legs in tree - DD with tree variation - Bridget's cross
Mod. parsvakonasana - ardha chandrasana
Low lunge quad - parsvakonasana - ardha chandra chapasana
Eka pada rajakapotasana
Sphnx with tree variation. The tree will cause a deeper back bend in your low back so work that contracting spiral and scope your tail bone down powerfully causing a lift in the low belly to protect the low back.
Standing pigeon
Ardha padmasana in Tadasana, super active muscles in your legs and feet. Floint your foot and make sure it doesnt sickle. I rarely teach this pose because students seem to sacrifice the alignment in order to get in the general shape of the pose and I want to look out for the knees. If your foot is sickeling do tree.
Utthita padangustasana A- B- A
Prasarita padottanasana twist
Janusirsasana
Septu bandhasana with legs in tree variation
Supta tree
Supta baddha konasana

Awareness

Fall is a time of change and offers a great opportunity to be more aware. Be aware of the changing colors of the leaves and sounds. Be aware of the air, the way it feels, smells, and even tastes. This awareness and wonder of nature helps me be present. It encourages me to feel my breath, my body, and notice what going on in my mind.  Today I walked my dog taking everything in, the beauty of nature, the honking horns of cars, the man racking up leaves... We walked to the park and toward the tree under which I often practice yoga and I saw two bums sleeping. I left the park and found a grassy patch down an alley. There  I practiced.

Did an hour and a half practice. My intention: Awareness. As I went through my surya namaskar A and B's I noticed my breath, the grass under my fingers, the feeling of my body... often thoughts would cross my mind, "That man racking leaves is staring at me". As I returned to stand at the top of my mat with my hands in front of my heart, I paused with my eyes closed. I noticed how I felt standing, I reflected on how my last sequence went, was I aware the whole time or were there some distractions. I noticed the answer trying to be as compassionate to my self as possible. In other words not criticizing myself for being a failure for having thoughts! Then I reflected on my intention of being aware and continued into the next pose and continuing to reflect.

Being aware made this somewhat intense practice feel sweet and calm. I even ended up doing sirsasana (headstand) drop backs, and a few rounds of Mandalasana. This is one of the first times of me really doing mandalasana multiple times  back and fourth. I had no clue I was going to be performing that today but I felt this inner pull because I was so present with my self and with my surrounding. It was really great experience.

Here is a link of Noah Maze freaking rocking Mandalasana and includes tic- toc from Sirsasana (I did not do the tic toc jumping back and forth)