"To throw down our masks and find our real face, a face that knows no shame, a fearless face. To retrieve our original innocence with no pretensions or plans, no past or future, just a fiery spirit... This is soul retrieval, something we all need to do in order to heal an ancient and universal wound." — Gabrielle Roth in Sweat Your Prayers
I love Gabrielle Roth's words! In the above quotation, she's talking about dancing one's way to soul retrieval. For me, it speaks to one of the main reasons I do yoga and meditation: to shed the layers accumulated over the days, weeks, months, and years, so that I can hear my inner voice and understand who I really am and what I'm here to do.
Even though in my job as a yoga teacher I encourage people to slow down, quiet the mind, and listen, sometimes I don't do these things myself and I lose my connection to my inner wisdom. I get busy... life gets noisy... and I start to focus on just getting through the day.
Dreams Lost to Dishes
I'm very interested in dreams, and I aim to write the dreams I remember down in the mornings because I love to delve into trying to decipher these rich messages from my subconscious. But too often, I wake up with a drive to start doing -- check my email, get my son's jeans out of the dryer before he misses the bus, unload the dishwasher. I've lost countless dreams to dishes. I don't say this to berate myself but to acknowledge that modern life makes it difficult to get quiet enough to hear one's own inner voice, the voice of the soul.
This is why I'm so grateful to have found the practice of Kundalini Yoga. Yogi Bhajan talked about this time, the Information Age (or the Aquarian Age) as a time when we're flooded with information and stimuli, a time when we'll need to be mentally strong to deal with all the influences, a time when we'll need an all-consuming practice to get quiet and go within. That's what works for me about Kundalini Yoga: It's all consuming. The picture above is my daughter's lettering of one of my favorite Yogi Bhajan quotations: "Go within or go without."
The Key
We do "go without" when we don't tune into to our vast inner landscapes, beautiful, complex, and the key to living an authentic life. Right now, I'm practicing kirtan kriya, a great meditation that keeps me present for 11 minutes, with mantra, mudra, and visualization. The superficial thoughts still come but they start to make briefer appearances as I come back to the mantra "Sa Ta Na Ma" (Infinity, Life, Transformation, Rebirth) — the whole cycle of life in a moment.
At first, when I created Let Go, my meditation experiences for women, I was aiming to include all my favorite things — gentle yoga, restorative poses, chanting, and meditation. For a treat! A delicious escape! But, as it happens, each is also a way in, a way to, as Gabrielle Roth said, "throw down our masks and find our real face." The next session will be Sunday, March 9 from 11am-1pm at NJ Acupuncture Wellness & Fertility (70 Park Street, Montclair, NJ). Hope you'll consider joining me. Email me to reserve your spot.
And/or find me during the week, sharing the all-consuming tools of Kundalini Yoga: My Weekly Classes
I love Gabrielle Roth's words! In the above quotation, she's talking about dancing one's way to soul retrieval. For me, it speaks to one of the main reasons I do yoga and meditation: to shed the layers accumulated over the days, weeks, months, and years, so that I can hear my inner voice and understand who I really am and what I'm here to do.
Even though in my job as a yoga teacher I encourage people to slow down, quiet the mind, and listen, sometimes I don't do these things myself and I lose my connection to my inner wisdom. I get busy... life gets noisy... and I start to focus on just getting through the day.
Dreams Lost to Dishes
I'm very interested in dreams, and I aim to write the dreams I remember down in the mornings because I love to delve into trying to decipher these rich messages from my subconscious. But too often, I wake up with a drive to start doing -- check my email, get my son's jeans out of the dryer before he misses the bus, unload the dishwasher. I've lost countless dreams to dishes. I don't say this to berate myself but to acknowledge that modern life makes it difficult to get quiet enough to hear one's own inner voice, the voice of the soul.
This is why I'm so grateful to have found the practice of Kundalini Yoga. Yogi Bhajan talked about this time, the Information Age (or the Aquarian Age) as a time when we're flooded with information and stimuli, a time when we'll need to be mentally strong to deal with all the influences, a time when we'll need an all-consuming practice to get quiet and go within. That's what works for me about Kundalini Yoga: It's all consuming. The picture above is my daughter's lettering of one of my favorite Yogi Bhajan quotations: "Go within or go without."
The Key
We do "go without" when we don't tune into to our vast inner landscapes, beautiful, complex, and the key to living an authentic life. Right now, I'm practicing kirtan kriya, a great meditation that keeps me present for 11 minutes, with mantra, mudra, and visualization. The superficial thoughts still come but they start to make briefer appearances as I come back to the mantra "Sa Ta Na Ma" (Infinity, Life, Transformation, Rebirth) — the whole cycle of life in a moment.
At first, when I created Let Go, my meditation experiences for women, I was aiming to include all my favorite things — gentle yoga, restorative poses, chanting, and meditation. For a treat! A delicious escape! But, as it happens, each is also a way in, a way to, as Gabrielle Roth said, "throw down our masks and find our real face." The next session will be Sunday, March 9 from 11am-1pm at NJ Acupuncture Wellness & Fertility (70 Park Street, Montclair, NJ). Hope you'll consider joining me. Email me to reserve your spot.
And/or find me during the week, sharing the all-consuming tools of Kundalini Yoga: My Weekly Classes