Where Sacred meets Sassy

Foundations faltering? Part 2 fffffffood!

2012-02-03T18:08:00.000-08:00

Ever hear of a food hang over? Ever have one?

Who knew the day would come when I would find myself craving kale? Feels like a dream come true, or to some, maybe a nightmare! Nonetheless... true story!

My motive for choosing healthy live whole foods because I actually desire them, (rather then because I "should"eat them), is one of the gifts of doing the "4 bodies work".

I am feeding my mind body, enticing it with interesting, uplifting, and positive material. I am feeding my emotional body with proper daily doses of laughter, play, and creativity.I am feeding my spiritual body with meditation, gratitude, living my purpose while searching for the light in all things.

The result is a natural ability to listen to what my physical body is asking for.By nourishing my body, my temple, it runs well. I sleep better, I have sustained energy, and more focus. I feel confidant and strong.It was not always this way! I have a tangled twisted herstory with food. When I lived mainly in my head, before I was able to distinguish between the image in the mirror and who I AM, my emotions dictated when I starved myself, when and what I ate. I was spiritually cut off and living (not really living,more like going through the motions) without purpose. I perceived food and my body as the enemy.On my journey back home to the wisdom of my body, I have used one simple but extremely effective tool in healing my relationship with food and finally developing a relationship with my body. That tool is pausing before I eat to sit and give thanks. This isn't a religious ritual, as much as a moment to reflect on where this food came from. Who planted, tended, and harvested this food? How many hands worked to bring me this meal? Thank you. Somewhere stands an apple tree that grew this apple I'm about to eat. Thank you. I spend a moment with my body realizing it's amazing ability to receive and know exactly what to do with food to serve my highest health. Thank you. Soon the gratitude is palpable, I can sense it tingling through me. When I eat I am now conscious of the miracle at hand!Artist: Hall

Vulnerability

2012-01-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

I'd love to write a long post about vulnerability and share story after story of experience in this raw state. Instead I'll insert this brilliant video for you to watch by a woman I deeply admire and love listening to!

Enjoy

Is your foundation faltering? Part 1

2012-01-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

Let's take a look at our foundations, our roots.

There are 5 foundations of Self that must be tended in order for anything we're creating to grow strong!

I've spent years in Self sacrifice, believing that everything and everyone else took priority over my petty needs. Ahem, that was a series of disappointments and disasters!

If you'e expecting something esoteric and electrifying coming next, stop reading now.

Foundation #1

The topic of the hour is SLEEP. Yes that warm cozy nocturnal blanket of restoration so many of us deny ourselves. I realize there are times in our lives when sleep eludes us, and there is a grab bag full of other valid reasons for sleep disruption. Set those aside, relax your defenses, grab a cup of chamomile and snuggle in.

My favorite time to create, and achieve is while the rest of the house sleeps. I held onto this story for along time until I realized while this my be true, I no longer have the luxury of sleeping in til noon. (Is that even possible anymore? It's be fun to find out). The morning parade of family, home, clients, and a bagillion other requests, calls, unexpected upsets, and gifts goes on whether I'm on my game or not.

When I am rested:
I can really show up for my life in a way that matters.
I am clear headed and thoughtful in my approach.
I notice opportunity and seize it! My eyeballs don't feel like lead weights waiting to fall out of my head roll across the floor!
I have foresight.
Here's the big one: I am emotionally clear! Less drama and heart ache! I don't take things personally.

There are a couple sure fire things that drastically affect my ability to sleep, let me share them with you.

~Computer off at least 1 hour before bed time.
~No caffeine after 11am
~Exercising early in the day, makes me a tired girl by bed time!
~EAR PLUGS! These have been a godsend!

The real issue is boundaries. If I set them it's up to me to keep them. Can I trust myself to keep my agreements with myself??? YES, I am delighted to say, more and more of the time the answer is yes!

What are you noticing that supports or interferes with your sleep? After all it is one of the 5 foundations to a sane and successful life, and a healthy vibrant body!

Got Time?

2012-01-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

I recently heard a supposedly true story...
When preparations were being made for the Olympics in China, the staff was being trained on how to engage visitors in culturally appropriate small talk.
During the training for "American small talk", Chinese were instructed to talk about how busy they are and how time is just flying by. "Americans love to talk about how they just don't have any time!"

Wow. Really? Does this imply we're on our own weird time trip? That really got me thinking.

Let's look at our language choice:
Do you spend your time?
Do you invest time?
What about creating time?

Try it. Go through each one, switch it around, make an I statement. Read it out loud.

"I am spending time."
"I am investing my time"
"I am creating time for..."
All of these could be true and used in nearly the same context. Each statement elicits a different bodily response. What did you notice?

As you go through your busy day, I offer you a few time salvaging tips.

1) Do not check your email first thing in the morning!
Ever notice how an hour evaporates in just a few minutes? Talk about a time warp!
Spend a few minutes getting clear on the priorities of your day first thing. What are the goals? Notice I did not say the "to-do list". Make it more important than that, a list of your goals for the day. Remember things like a walk, a nap, dancing, or a relaxing bath can count as very important goals in your day. When you have your list, number them according to priority.
Formulate an email/FB strategy. I'm talking about boundaries here! Before you go online, gather your wits about you, decide how much time you choose to give this. An hour? 30 minutes? Scan for priority emails, answer those first! When your time is up, MOVE ON! Look at your goals for the day and get on with it!

2) Turn off media alerts!
Contrary to popular belief, the world will not end if you wait to answer a text, return a call or an email. Finish what you're working on. Enjoy the conversation with the person in front of you! Be present. Set a time to check texts, return calls, and emails. This may be a few times through out your day, but please do not make it your default mode. Each time you are interrupted, you lose focus and momentum.

3) The dishes can wait!
This is my personal weak spot. It takes so much will power to leave the mess til later! Any time a project gets difficult my default is to clean. It's instant results, I know I'm good at it, so I'll feel like a success, right? In the long run, noway. I can do the dishes several times a day, and say I just don't have time to get to Yoga class, I'm lying to myself.

4) Are you still watching TV? If so, watch it intentionally.
What show or shows are really important to you? If you have TiVo, or another method to zip you thru commercials, use it! Set some boundaries for yourself, how much television do you want to be watching?

What are you creating time for in your life right now?

"Your Not the Boss of Me!"

2012-01-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

Know any people who appear outwardly successful, but that’s all they seem to do is work? They don't know how to relax, or have fun?

Know any people who are whimsical free spirits yet they never seem to follow through, they don’t finish what they start?

Let’s talk about the balance of freedom and form.

This is one of my favorite Nia principles.

Freedom and form are like yin and yang, like inhale and exhale, like sound and silence. Each gives birth to the other. Each depends on the other to reveal its true nature.

Most of us have a lot of one or the other. We can thrive when we access and blend the two!

Freedom is the feminine free and flowing, expansive and creative.

Form is the masculine, the rules, strong and set, exact and concrete.

"When I grow up I am not even going to have beds in my house, they won't be allowed!"I remember declaring to my mother, along with, "I am going to have candy for breakfast and chips for dinner everyday!"

Thankfully my parents held Form, and I took care of the Freedom as most children do.

Who parents us when we're grown? Who protects my health and well being with firm structures now? Who creates and upholds boundaries?

I do. And you must do the same for yourself.

Debbie Rosas says “we balance the feminine with the masculine, the precise with liquid fluidity and the powerful with the yielding.”

It’s only in the last 5 years have I begun to really intuit, play with and exercise the balance.

Let me explain: To me Form is a structure that supports me, it parents me. For instance my schedule or daily routines, I love to sleep in, my Form gets me up early, keeps my yoga practice alive, keeps me taking my vitamins, and drinking more water. Keeps me checking emails, returning phone calls, and working diligently at my computer, when I’d otherwise be procrastinating like nobody’s business!

My form gives me a steady rhythm to my days, weeks, and months. It’s like a good strong bass line in a song.

My Freedom keeps me dancing, journaling, collaging, going for hikes, watching Office reruns with my teenage son. My freedom lets me peruse the Goodwill, and let my house get a little messy! Let’s me create new workshops and dance moves.

When balanced my freedom has boundaries, but it can thrive within Form. My form stays strong but pliable , not rigid.

Some of us go to the other extreme and strangle our creativity, snuff out our playfulness with too much Form. These people are convinced Freedom is dangerous, it can not be trusted, it's a waste of time. In general I find these folks not too much fun to be around. (Although they generally have very nice cars I wouldn't mind owning.)

Form is like a loom, and freedom is colorful threads. One is useless without the other. If you are creating the rich tapestry of an intentional life you must incorporate both! For any intention to not only survive, but to thrive, both are essential!

Ask yourself how your balance of Freedom and Form is supporting you. Check in, what do you find, a lot of tangled threads, or too much bare empty loom? What kind of tapestry are you weaving?

Magic formula for the New Year!

2011-12-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

resolution |ˌrezəˈloō sh ən|

noun

1 a firm decision to do or not to do something : a New Year's resolution.

intention |inˈten ch ən|

noun

1 a thing intended; an aim or plan . • ( one's intentions) a person's designs.

goal |gōl|

noun

• the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result : going to law school has become the most important goal in his life.

• the destination of a journey.

Ask yourself these questions:

1) Where do I want to be in my life next year?

2) What kinds of things do I see myself doing?

3) What areas of my life have I been neglecting?

4) Am I happy in my relationship?

5) Am I happy in my home?

6) Am I happy in my career?

Now that you’ve got the mental pot stirred up…

Take 5 minutes to brain storm, write freely about the changes you feel inspired to consider. Don’t over think it. You can not do it wrong, just go for it, let er rip!

Now for the magic formula:

Mental: Some of what you wrote is going to be trash, and as you wade through the trash you’ll find some gems. Jot down what feels most important to you. Pay attention to the wording. Focus on what you are moving toward, rather what you are leaving behind.

Ex: I am quitting my job.

I am starting a new exciting job that I love in the field of (insert your data), on or before (insert date)!

Emotional : Check in, say the goal out loud, how does it FEEL? If it feels like B.S., it’ll never happen. Adjust it, keep it realistic, keep tweaking it until it feels possible. Add language that ignites you. Dress it up with adjectives and adverbs that bring your emotions to life.

Ex: I am going to travel more this year.

I am traveling to Troncones, Mexico and attending that awesome retreat, “Sacred Sensual Splendor”, everyone’s been raving about. I’m going to swim in warm water, body surf, dance, play on a beautiful open beach, and eat gourmet authentic Mexican cuisine!

Feel the difference?

Spiritual: Spend a few minutes letting the dust of the day settle. Just breathe. If you notice your mind chattering away, just observe, don’t believe it, judge, it, or try to stop it. Let your belly swell with air and draw your belly button back into your spine, exhale nice and loud with a sigh.

Let the waters of your being calm down. Think of a stormy raging ocean, that being the stress we hold onto. You could throw a semi truck into it that water and no one would notice.

Visualize and feel the waters calming. See a clear placid pond. Even a tiny pebble tossed in would be heard, as the tiny waves ripple out across the water.

That is the difference of 2 inner states of being. When you are distracted or stressed your intention is swallowed by the storm from within.

If you take a few minutes to rest, breathe, and become centered, your intention is noticed. It’s vibration ripples through you and out into the universe.

Each day take a few minutes to center yourself.

Gratitude is a key ingredient! Pause to gratefully notice all that is working. Take inventory of everything that is going well.

Review your intentions. Visualize your results. Be sure to feel your success. Emotions energize your intentions and remind you of why this is important to you!

I like to think of this as setting your GPS or recalibrating each day. This keeps your intentions in your field awareness. When opportunity arises you’re awake to take action.

Develop a practice of taking at least 5 minutes each day to do this. If you miss a day, oh well. Start again. This will be the single most important intention or resolution you will ever cultivate in your life!

Your thoughts + emotions + actions = results!

Question of the day: What is the most important thing I can do today to align with my intentions?

Do that 1 thing. Each day, just one thing. Small sustainable steps will keep you from burning out.

Remember it’s about the journey. It has to be enjoyable if you’re going to stick with it!

Take a look at what is working in your life. Celebrate your successes! Success breeds success. What you focus on grows!

Happy New Year!

We Are Made New Every Moment

2011-12-27T22:19:00.001-08:00

The pause after the big Holiday Hurrah, aahhhhhhhh sweet relief.

How will you spend the last week of 2011?

Let's start with how NOT to spend it:

Over indulging in preparation for the self imposed New Year's famine ahead.

The old guilty feelings of "oh I better eat this and not let it go to waste" are nothing but old guilty garbage. If it's not nourishing your body, if you're feeling sick of the sugar and rich holiday left overs, you DO NOT have to eat em! (I won't tell your mama or grandma.)

Surely by now you've cleared the house of empty boxes and wrapping paper, I give you full permission to throw out as much junk food as you want. You may toss whatever it is into the compost bin and be done with it already. I used to have this guilt thing with food on my plate, I had to stuff it in because heaven forbid I be wasteful. How is eating more than I want or need being any less wasteful?

Mind you, I am not saying you must do this. However, in case you're wandering around your kitchen nauseous from a food hangover, wishing that pie would stop staring at you, consider this a written permission slip to throw it away!

The less indulgent you are this week, the easier any upcoming changes will be, and small incremental changes are easier to sustain. Remember slow and steady wins the race!

BTW, anything new you may be considering starting doesn't have to wait til next week. You can start that new yoga class today. You can walk instead of drive, you can even stop drinking, smoking, gossiping, or nail biting today just as well as Jan 1st.

I'm not rushing you, just saying....

Simply Solstice

2011-12-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

We all know it's the first day of winter, but otherwise what's the big deal?

Some call it the birth of the sun. It was celebrated for ages before Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanza. (Pardon me if I missed any others.) Back when religion had more to do with earth, sun, weather, stars, rain, etc. gods and goddesses were created to ensure fertility of crops, animals, and people.

Mistle toe, holly, lights (fires), gift giving, and more all are survivors of this lineage. Somewhere along the line the church got tired of the battle they lost year after year. Suppressing the peasant festivals, ceremonies and rituals. If you can't beat em, join em! Slap your holiday right over theirs and everyone can celebrate.

Break out the festive meats and cheeses, it's time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, or is it? It still comes as shock to many of us, that Jesus wasn't born on Christmas, or even in winter. Bethlehem's tax season was in the spring. There's no harm in celebrating Christmas as the birth of Christ, and good to be educated on the facts. How can we bicker about other cultural celebrations happening this time of year when we realize how we've all borrowed and begged of each other's ideas, cultures, and traditions over the centuries? Remember, nothing has any meaning other than the meaning you give it.

As for Solstice, if you choose, it's a nice time for releasing the old, leaving it in the darkness and embracing the new as we step into winter's first light.

As for me, I'll celebrate every chance I get. Life's too short to squabble over parties. The more the merrier!

What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Season Survivor strategy #2 Holiday Parties

2011-12-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

For many of us the holiday cheer goes straight to our rear, thighs or love handles more like it.

Not only are many of us triggered emotionally this time of year, BUT everywhere we look there's oh so tasty sugary treats, and delicious drinks laden with heavy cream and alcohol. It's a disassociater's paradise.

What is your #1 pitfall? Deprivation!

Do not go to a party and plan to chew only sugar free gum and sip on carbonated water in between lip gloss applications. Not only will you be bored out of your wits, you'll be BORING! Yes, you may look totally hot in that dress, but if it was all about looks they would've requested you send a picture of yourself, instead of your person. Besides, the look of self sacrifice upon your face will crash anything the dress had going on.

In this kind of all or nothing mentality, your extreme self will and obsessive self monitoring will keep you preoccupied. You'll be stuck your head going over and over your taboo list only half listening to the conversation, irritable, and fake.

What's your strategy?

My favorite trick. Use it all year round! Mama knew what she was talking about... eat your vegetables!!! I'll say it again louder, EAT YOUR VEGETABLES!

Before you leave home. Eat a big salad, not a puny lettuce and tomato salad either, put all sorts of crunchy texture, taste, color variety in. The more nutrients you're packing into each calorie, the less hunger and less craving you experience. Or fill up on a delicious stir fry. Dr. Fuhrman author of Eat to Live, points out a few things that make sooo much sense.

1) Volume: If your stomach is empty you'll probably end up gorging on crap.

2) Nutrients per calorie: Many overweight people are malnourished and actually starving. Empty calories are nearly void of nutritional value. If your nutritional needs are not being met you will be wanting to eat all the time! Eat nutritionally dense meals. Ironically, more micro nutrients = less calories.

3) Calorie Counting? Lots of unnecessary work, Pay attention to what's in your calories.

All this to say, after you've set the foundation, filling up with some healthy pre-party food, go to the party, have a drink, eat some dessert, enjoy the Holiday season! Make socializing, or dancing the main event, rather than eating or drinking. Everything in moderation. You'll be fine, no you'll be fantastic!

Remember life is meant to be enjoyed. If your strategy lets you enjoy life, your far more likely to succeed!

Collage, "joy" by Kara McKay

Holiday hell? Simple Surviving the Season Strategy #1

2011-12-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

I'll be the first to admit I live in a happy holiday bubble. A bubble of my own making. I rock around my own christmas tree in my wet Seattle winter wonderland, with my ear buds safely sealing in the sounds of Silver Bells and Frosty.

"But it's so stressful..." Why? Because we have collectively agreed to make it so. Because what you focus on grows.

Since stress seems to be the hot end of the year topic:

1) STOP SHOPPING FOR EVERYONE!

(This does not apply to your young children.)

How many "I didn't forget about you" trinkets have you received with glazed eyes and smile to simulate airs of appreciation. Regift? More junk for Goodwill?

Here in the western world, our cups runneth over with jic-jac. I dare you to just STOP!

STOP ALREADY!

Heresy I know.

It will take people a while to really get it. They'll think you're being coy and wait for you to give them festive meats and cheeses in return for the 2011 collector ornament they gave you.

Yes, people will talk behind your back. "You know they don't even get me a gift this year..." (they talk behind you back anyway, who cares?)

I realize there will be exceptions, a boss or spouse. If you're really savvy you'll get your spouse on board as well. Forget the standard gifts, plan a night out together, spend more than just money, spend time together!

We've recently started a holiday tradition of making up batches of homemade Baileys. We bring this as gift to parties, dinners, etc. (See, we aren't bah humbugs, just more fun than your average guest.)

Another idea I love and put into practice, is giving a gift that will change a family's life. this year we are giving goats to family rebuilding their lives in Afghanistan. www.womenforwomen.org

Empower yourself to choose a new way, break a negative stress cycle, create a new easy tradition that allows you to kick back and enjoy your family, the lights, the yummy treats, to tweak the season to make it work for you.

As for the rest of the frenzied stressed out world? Smile, hug them, share some of that holiday joy you're accumulating from all the extra money, time, and energy you have!

A parable

2011-12-01T13:54:00.000-08:00

~ art by Bree Mathiason

Great so I've done it! It only makes sense that I should be kicking back, sipping a mental margarita (if not the real thing), basking in sweet relief and atta girls! Right???

I have observed in myself a strange phenomena. Each time I expand into a new area, step outside my comfort zone I go through an emotional obstacle course. Exhilaration, fear, dread, determination, courage... Then the actual action! The moment of stepping beyond my norm, I hold the hand of my fear and leap!

The vague and brief after glow gradually turns into a glow of embarrassment which thus far has guaranteed me an emotional collapse and tear tango within 24 hours of said success.

WTF?

I have observed this in my coaching clients as well. And here's the parable I'll offer:

He's been there for so many years, a gruff stern, but safe kind of giant. (Mine is usually Russian, don't ask.) I hired him as my emotional bodyguard somewhere in my first 6 yrs of life. He has kept me from falling off cliffs, down into wells, protected me from boogey men, dragons, and eventually from personal growth and success.

While he served me well in the beginning, this last decade he's been more of a pain in the...

Making me sit still when I want to dance, quiet down when I want to speak up, and for god sake, no running in the house, jumping on the bed, digging in the dirt, and you get the idea.

Why?

Because if I mess up, embarrass myself, him, or any of my ancestors, imagine what might happen.

What? What'll happen?

I'll die.

Really? Wow. Dead, huh? That's a big deal. Are you sure?

Yep.

Apparently I hired on an army of these guys to keep me in line. Each time an opportunity is offered to me, they tell me the same thing. If I do it, I'll screw it up, and we all know what happens then!

I've been a naughty girl. A rebel. I've been a doubting Thomas, and I've recklessly been drawing outside the lines, not wearing a slip, singing Happy Birthday off key (loudly), and challenging the rules in the safety guide.

For 20 yrs I was waiting to be perfect before I auditioned for life.

I'm doing it! Whatever the challenge is, the opportunity presented, if I feel that feisty inner girl perk up, I take the emotional obstacle course head on!

The bodyguard, my old friend and guardian calls out a warning. Genuine concern for my wellbeing. If I take one more step out of bounds, I won't ever be able to get back. "Stop! Don't do it!" he cries. I glance back toward his fearful pleading, and realize it is not I who will die, but his purpose. He will no longer be needed, all his work and regulations will disappear along with my old stories of humility, and piety, playing small.

This is the grieving, the pain of expansion of growing into who I AM! It's a death of what I knew, and what I trusted.

It's ok. I'll make room for these tears of transformation.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-26T17:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks giving. Giving thanks.

What follows was written by a teacher of the Toltec tradition, the same school of wisdom that Don Miguel Ruiz draws on in his books, including The Four Agreements. It begins:

When we no longer take Life for granted, we become grateful for everything that we have. Assuming that we are entitled to anything in life robs us of our awe at the opportunity to be grateful.

I recall a friend of mine calling up one day, struggling with the notion of death. A friend of the family was in the final stages of cancer and was going to be passing on soon. She asked me, “Why Death?”

We talked for sometime and after she had made some peace with the specific issues that were troubling her I asked her, “Why Life?” Why do we get to have this experience at all? We weren’t promised any deal. We aren’t owed this opportunity to create experiences. No one was under any obligation to deliver us any particular deal in this realm. And yet we are here. A wide open opportunity to wake up and do something completely different every day. Every day, every moment even, an opportunity to create something in our life. We might just use the gift of every day to recreate it like every other day. Or, one day, we might not. One day we might look at it a little differently and do something completely differently. What is so different for me these days than the days of old is a profound sense of gratitude for the simplest things in my life. Why have I been blessed with so many gifts and so many moments of opportunity to experience them? My logical mind has no idea. But I will not waste my opportunity today struggling with that question. There may not be many days left so I will savor the ones I have with gratitude. When you are aware that death will someday come, you no longer take life for granted.

Thank you, Life. Thank you for this breath.  Thank you for this inhale.  Thank you for this exhale.

Thank you, Heart.  Thank you for this pounding.  Thank you for this pulsing.  Thank you for this Love.

Thank you, Feet.  Thank you for this walk.  Thank you for this run.  Thank you for this Dance.

Thank you, Eyes.  Thank you for the Sunrise.  Thank you for the Sunset.  Thank you for all the Colors.

Thank you, Ears.  Thank you for the Music.  Thank you for the Rhythm.  And thank you for the Stillness.

Thank you, Hands.  Thank you for the Caressing.  Thank you for the Clapping.  And thank you for the Holding.

Thank you, Mouth.  Thank you for the nourishment.  Thank you for the flavors.  Thank you for the Kisses.

Thank you, Nose.  Thank you for the Flowers.  Thank you for the Pines.  Thank you for the Sniffles.

Thank you, Arms and Shoulders.  Thank you for the Carrying.  Thank you for the Burdening.  And thank you for the Hugging.

Thank you, Voice.  Thank you for Expression.  Thank you for the Words.  Thank you for the Song.

Thank you, Emotions.  Thank you for the Joys.  Thank you for the Tears and Sorrows.  Thank you for the Richness.

Thank you, Mind.  Thank you for the Focus.  Thank you for the Knowledge.  Thank you for the Memories.

Thank you, Spirit.  Thank you for the Connection.  Thank you for the Wisdom.  Thank you for the Depth.

Thank you, Self.  Thank you for the Laughter.  Thank you for the Play.  Thank you for You.

Thank you, Life, for the Abundance that is.  Thank you for the Abundance that is given. 

Thank you for this Day.  Thank you for the Light.  Thank you for the Stars.  Thank you for the Night.

Thank you, Life.

Written by Jenny Lumb, Nia instructor, www.norishflourishnow.com, 828-255-2770

This piece was inspired by www.toltecspirit.com

Body like a machine, or Body like a temple?

2011-11-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

There are two ways of being with your body;
● Use your body like a machine
● Inhabit your body like a temple

Use Your Body Like a

Machine
When you look after your body with the intention to make it look good, toned and slim, and beat it into submission through arduous exercise instead of creative and sensual exploration, you are using it like a machine. There is little listening, little consideration of the body’s wisdom and most if not all of your focus is on the aesthetic of the body.
In this way of being with your body, you may find yourself judging, berating, blaming and abusing this human organism, if it does not conform to your ideals (and the images of feminine perfection that are promoted tirelessly in the media). You determine what is true for you based on what the outside world tells you and ignore your own thoughts, opinions, preferences and the crucial element, your intuitive wisdom.
Though you may enjoy sexual intimacy with your partner, you find you are hyper focused on the physical release, instead of the building and sustaining of arousal. You may notice yourself with a wandering mind, feeling obligated instead of inspired to accommodate your partner’s needs, thinking “oh well,” when your own needs aren’t met, and disregarding the sacredness of your own sensuality.

When you honor your body like the temple that it is, and seek to notice and respond to its subtle communications to you about its physical, emotional and psychological state, you are inhabiting your body, living from inside, intuitively, rather than from outside, gazing in from the periphery of the sensory experience.
Still choosing to engage in the activities that keep it healthy like exercise and eating wisely is important, however when you are honoring your physical temple you are more motivated by what you feel and sense, versus what you see in the mirror, and how it measures up to others and to the airbrushed images in the media. In honoring your female temple you also value the emotional and psychological benefits of the level of integrity you experience in being true to yourself, versus internalizing the opinions and standards of others around you.
To inhabit your body is to covet sensual and sexual pleasure and know the value of sustaining versus discharging arousal. You experience your body’s sensual expression as the divine dancing through you and your union with someone you care for or love deeply.
The two ways of being with your body I’ve described above are extremes. It’s unlikely that anyone will be just one or the other. The reality is that most of us dance somewhere between the two, body as machine, body as temple. Unfortunately it would be fair to say that most women tend to lean toward the first extreme, using your body like a machine. I believe that this tendency is a factor in the proliferation of depression, discontent and supreme isolation that many women experience in our world today. Despite the great strides that we as women have made through the decades, it is this disassociation that is hindering further and swifter evolution of the consciousness paradigm shift where peace and prosperity are experienced globally. Rather than just looking at our own blessed lives to measure the evolution of consciousness, we need to also remember the vast number of women who still suffer worldwide. This reality reminds us that we still have far to go before our work as a fully embraced, accepting and inhabiting female community is done. And if you believe in the transpersonal power that we each wield, you will certainly understand that your awakening to this embodiment is an awakening for all women.

Psychology studies show that young girls by the age of 11 have almost entirely stopped referring inward for their own truths, opinions, preferences and values,and almost exclusively refer to the outside world be it family, society or media influences to determine for themselves how they interpret who they are. Educating these young goddesses to move towards extreme number two serves to guide them and all women to look inside ourselves for the answers of our nature and our well being.

The practice of referencing inward, is a body centered way of being that I call Embodied Power.
When we practice looking inside for our personal power, our truth, our innate wisdom, we are practicing embodiment. When we take it a step further and dance that wisdom, we are using our embodied awareness as our creative source and inspiration. I use dance here to refer to any authentic expression be it movement of the body, writing, coaching, mothering or the managing of a company. Once embodied and danced, you are living that very wisdom and power, and can claim the role of embodied leader because of the high level of truth and integrity that you radiate and inspire.

As the founder of Vividly Woman, I actualized for my community the Vividly Woman Embodied Leader training; this program guides women back home to this quality of leadership I’ve shared. We begin with the initiation weekend retreat, Dance Your Power, where participants are intimately reintroduced to their three vital centers of embodied power; sensual, emotional and intuitive. The women who continue to further their learning through the three remaining modules that make up the leadership training program, will 1. radically excavate the authentic and unique truth living in these three centers within, 2. profoundly nourish these three long ignored places and 3. lovingly heal the personal wounds that have debilitated and frozen them most of their lives. Through this work I have had the honor and privilege of facilitating and witnessing tremendous courage and devotion of so many women who’s lives have been forever changed.

The journey of embodied awakening is a lush and winding path, a fertile adventure of birthing and re-birthing yourself, and one I am blessed to travel with brave and beautiful women I call sisters. It is a dance of remembering YOUR vital woman aliveness; spiraling, diving and reaching from deep inside the blessed temple that is your body.

Written by Leela Francis Leelafrancis.com

Finding the real ME in the mix

2011-10-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Will the real Self please stand up????

I look back at my life and marvel at the many faces of me. Often times I can't even connect to the woman who said this or did that. Like amnesia, I read through old journals and wonder.

What are the heart opening memories I connect most to? The times I put mySelf out there and I am proud of me?

I fondly recall spearheading a rally in my small town years ago. I caught wind of a skin head gathering, and without any knowledge of "event organizing" or even a plan. My heart catapulted me into activism. I put up flyers for a town meeting, contacted radio and TV stations, colleges and plastered local business store fronts with "Hate Free Zone" posters. The ACLU found lil ole me, and joined in the effort. People came from near and far to support us.

It was only after the fact that I thought to be self conscious, second guessing my fearlessness. Later that I lay in bed listening to the mind chatter and undermining my yesterday's inspired action. After the mind freak the real me stated a matter of fact that now lives in not only my mind but also in my body, "Wow, one person can make a difference."

What about the other times, when I recoil to remember the knee jerk reactions, that triggered me to close down, the moments I rendered my self inept.

Hearing a woman screaming horrible things to a child and my heart breaking, my mind spinning, feelings of intense rage and violence rising up against the woman. I was paralyzed, the emotional tornado inside me blocking love, clarity, and possibility. Walking away as helpless as the child. Sick to my stomach years later, and even today shell shocked at the replay.

Hearing her voice inside me as I have lost my temper with my own son. Hearing that ugliness spill out onto myself, when I beat myself up in those quiet toxic moments...

The faces and roles I've played consciously and otherwise. Some shine with the motivation of love, grounded wisdom, forgiveness. Others, well I'd rather not say. And yet these are all parts of me!

I am becoming more aware all the time of where I'm coming from. What does that feel like when I am in my Essential Self?

~Like I have all the time in the world.

~It feels gentle.

~I feel compassionate.

~I am calm, centered, and most of all CURIOUS!

Recognizing body sensations of being in Essential Self, I notice:

~A warm contentment flooding my body.

~My breath is free and open.

~I enjoy my heart beating, or the air on my skin, a rumble in my tummy, the tiny subtle body signals that otherwise go undetected.

I am gratefully spending more time here, in this expansive realm, while accepting those other parts that creep in to defend, to distract, to hide me from the "scary truth"...

body issues, inspiration, and a brownie

2011-10-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

"Every guy thinks every girl's dream is to find the perfect guy... pshh, every girl's dream is to eat without getting fat!"

I wouldn't have laughed so hard if it wasn't true.

Still after all these years I can feel the tension in my upper chest and back of the neck. This is where I carry that lack of trust. The scared part of me that threatens to tell on me if I don't work out, if I have a brownie while I type this. This has been my shame, my dirty little secret... that even now after years of training, numerous therapies, certifications, and coaching other women with their body issues, I struggle. There I said it. Aawwhhhhh! relief. However, Wow, has it ever gotten easier!!!

That is why I do this work. To remind myself, to forgive myself, to rediscover the tools, to be inspired. This is the reason I have birthed the I Am Body Experience. I aspire to live this way. I don't understand it all, I know when I take care of all 4 aspects of me, the tension decreases. I feel sane, grounded, I trust me.

My default is to run in autopilot. My mind in it's most unconscious state is regurgitating old data. It's rigid, rusty, musty, and mean. she gets really mean! She tends to believe she's the all of me.

Ever ask yourself "Is this all there is?" There's no juice, no tenderness, no felt sensation. Instead it's an existence of rules to follow, or rules to break.

Meanwhile under the mind's radar is a stifled down trodden little girl, who is tired of being told she's ugly, fat, not good enough, not smart enough, not rich enough. Sometimes I find her whimpering in a corner afraid to make eye contact. When I give her a voice, I can grow her up. She is wildly creative, and sooo funny. She wants to play, dance, and color outside of lines. The more time I am aware of her, the less time I am in judgement of myself or others, the more time I spend laughing, sometimes crying, always expressing my authenticity. I also remember life can be game.

Another discovery I've made is this eerie and fantastic Intelligence that isn't coming from my Mind. This lively vibrating, electric effervescence, that reminds me of who I have I always been. She gives me hints and hunches. In the quiet of mediation or the cries of lovemaking I find her. Unexpectedly sometimes, but always when I take the time and care to seek Her, She is there. The more time I am in awareness and alignment with Her, the more at peace, and in the flow I Am. Synchronicities abound, divine kisses and nods acknowledge my path illuminated. I have purpose, I have courage.

When these other 2 aspects of me are engaged, my Mind opens to full possibility. She realizes her role is far greater then to boss me and everyone else around. She craves higher learning, listening, and becomes the guide. Gently waiting to move to her next as led by my Spirit body and my Emotional Body. The 3 bodies of Mind, Emotion, and Spirit manifest in my Physical body. Suddenly my body is sacred, it is wise and precious. The loathing I had earlier is dissipated, the stress is released, I am embodied. Everything is alive and everything is okay!

I have been on this journey, practicing, learning, discovering, and intuiting. There is always more, another layer revealing itself to me. This is magical, it's freeing me, and letting me fall in love with me. Once upon a time I thought I hated my body. Actually, I just never knew my body.

Come discover what's been there all along. Stop struggling to change it, first why not get to know it? I guarantee you will be very surprised at what you find!

The I Am Body Experience, this Spring, Seattle Wa. 3 days, 4 bodies, one you!

Get signed up now, contact me at Kara@sacredsassy.com to learn more.

space is very limited.

4 faces of the I AM Body

2011-09-11T15:58:00.001-07:00

All 4 aspects of being (on most days) as perceived by yours truly...

Mental or Intellectual body: This "Moe" is used to running the show! She's the supah star, the hostess with the mostest, Your mad mama, your very own Judge Judy, our Lady Linear, da BOSS, and although She is vital, full of knowledge and has archives of experience, She's not ALL that and a bag of chips, HOWEVER she is capable of consciousness. Her favorite line is "I know." Are you the master of your mind, or the slave?
Emotional body: Hi five to your inner surfer, wave rider, wild child. She is unpredictable to say the least, the original shape shifter, age drifter, her symbol is the lava lamp, her totem? Every face of the totem pole! She is a rebel with a cause.... to be deeply felt! She will not be silenced, ignored, or bored! "wanna play?" When is the last time you embraced her?
Spiritual body: Pure unrivaled sacred Self! The bees knees, the first gasp of ecstasy, Ms Matrix, the Creatrix! Femme Vitale, (on the first day she created chocolate), Spiral Sister, Essential Potential, Authentic You, Truth, force and flow of life, your very own Magdalene, She who flirts with God. She whispers, "Listen". How do you stay connected to Her?
Physical body: Every body love your body! After all she is constantly created (from the inside out) by the Spiritual seamstress, while hosting the Diva of data and her moody side kick. An amazing masterpiece in the flesh. More than a bag o' bones or blood 'n' guts, a pleasure dome, macrocosm, microcosm, a museum of movement, temple of the Temptress, a living wonder, an ongoing sensual experiment, complete package, the REAL DEAL! She begs you, "don't hate me...*sigh* because I am beautiful, no really I AM." What are you manifesting in your Body?
Each unique aspect of our being responds to different tools, techniques, and tickles. I have been exploring, stealing, and divining these for years now! As we work and play together you will acquire these tools and begin to create your own collection. (nope no patten on them yet, if it works- USE IT!)

Freedom and Form

2011-07-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

"You're not the boss of me!" That was my default defense mantra. "Life is precious, I want to live an extraordinary life not a dull one filled with schedules and rules!"

Time was especially a sore spot. I refused to be shackled to this manmade prison of time and calendar. I experienced a perverse sort of high at making others wait on me, or not showing up at all. A triumphant "So there!" Looking back I shudder at this unconscious lack of respect for my friends and family.

It was my husband, boyfriend at the time, who illustrated the point in a way that dropped to me my knees. After waiting for me AGAIN.... he gently and sternly explained his frustration.

"You say life is precious, you don't want to waste it, yet every time I am waiting for you and you do not show up or are late.... you are wasting my life!"

OMG! He was right.

I look back on the enormous amount of free time and freedom I allotted myself, and the whole lot of nothing I completed. Since accepting timelines, scheduling, and structure I have achieved amazing results! Who knew??? (Apparently successful people everywhere). When I am scheduling and creating form I actually have more time for art, dance, and play. Freedom thrives on form!

I now see the yin yang balance of it. The structure of time, boundaries, form and discipline is a loom. My freedom, creativity, and passion are the colorful threads that I weave upon this loom, I love this tapestry I am creating!

Show me the truth of Love

2011-05-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a brief excerpt from this incredible book called "A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE"- by Alan Cohen

HONESTY AND TRUTH

Do you know the difference between honesty and truth? Honesty means that your words and deeds are consistent with your experience. Truth means and your expressions are consistent with reality.

EST founder Warner Erhard did an experiment in which he gathered together various groups of people who knew each other and asked one person to sit in the center of each group. The people in the circle were asked to express their feelings and reactions to the person in the center. The group members spoke in turn. over and over until they had each communicated all of their deepest and most personal feelings.

Werner discovered a consistent pattern-the initial responses were usually negative communications. "I am upset about this, " and " I don't like when you do that." At a certain point after each person had exhausted expressing their appreciation for the subject. Finally, nearly every person, without any coaching, spontaneously communicated, " I Love You."

This experiment tells me that at the core of our being we really love each other and we seek to express that love. Our fears and upsets cover the love at the center. When we honestly bring our upsets into the light, we unveil the love that was hidden. When these group members told of their angers and irritations, they were honest. When they declared their love, they were telling the truth.

We must be honest before we can be truthful. You cannot express the truth of love if you are harboring major areas of unspoken pain or upset. Be unafraid to speak of your upsets. If you hold your communications with the intention of healing and awakening, they will bring you the love that is the truth.

Special thanks to my sweet sexy sister and fellow coach Kerri Affronti, for sending me this beautiful piece this morning! xo

Know ThySelf

2011-04-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

Perfect: {pur'fikt} adj.

Lacking nothing essential to the whole; giving your best. Flawless; admirable. Just right.

And yet...

I am just landing from a turbulent inner flight. As I visited various states of numb and pondered the hypocrisy of me, "the coach"out of her game, when she is benched.

How hilarious this ego of mine is. As if the expectation of being a life coach were that I would never falter, fall flat on my face, call up my coach for a private crisis session (thank you Patti!).

Here is the victory of temporary "defeat":

I GET TO USE THE TOOLS! All these amazing tools I have accumulated over the years. I forget that they aren't only for sharing with others, duh- they work for ME as well! This is when it gets rich, where my foundations get checked!

Each trip down to Hades is new and old at the same time. First off, I now realize I'm down there a lot sooner! There are signs that allow me to know mySelf and my inner whereabouts.

Here are some of my tell tale signs:

1) I notice mySelf drifting off into fantasy land. Instead of using my imagination to create my future, to enrich my latest projects, to hone my life vision, I check out completely. In fact I pretend I am someone else entirely. I call it "Quantum Leaping" remember the show? Each week he'd leap into someone else's life and become them? It's sort of like that. Someone walks by and before I know it, I have designed and furnished their life, complete with car, lover(s), career, you name it. There was a time when I would literally be lost in this daze (mind maze) for up to a week at a time. Only interacting on the surface with my actual reality, then slipping back into the cozy death trap of what will never be. The life energy wasted here is tragic. Now I notice it immediately, but it's got a drug like seduction to it, and whether or not I choose to dip my toes into it or not....

2) I no longer taste my food. The flavors dull and I notice a craving for very spicy food spikes.

3) I feel NUMB in my physical body. I notice some pain, but pleasure hardly registers.

4) I do not feel love for my peeps. My conversation is light and flaky, distracted, and hollow.

5) I FORGET to meditate. I will go for months having been devoted to my daily practice and then suddenly, I just forget it even exists. Like amnesia.

6) I lose compassion. This translates into intolerance, impatience, and taking things personal which leads me to the next clue...

7) My feelings get hurt easily.

Knowing these tell tale signs is incredibly helpful. When I wake up to the trance I've fallen into I can take immediate action. Noticing is action. Being is action. Upgrading my internal conversation is action....

My mind tells a story that goes something like this:

I have fallen from glory, it's too late, don't bother. Peace is light years away. How many times do we have to go thru this same BS? am I really worthy? blahblahblah

I am now familiar with this lie. I can nod at it, and remember:

1) to grab my journal, curl up get cozy (on the couch with my favorite down comforter) and write my heart out, be furious, ridiculous, pathetic, nonsensical, whatever let it flow.

2) Light a candle, just sit and be.

3) CRY! Cry hard and loud, soft and muffled, get snotty and ugly, dramatic is ok too.

4) Take a bath

5) Move my body! Run, walk, dance, jump, stretch, SENSE my body.

Any and all of these things work. Some better than others depending on the day. I have several starting points, recovery touch stones!

When I've journeyed back home and feel safe secure, connected again. I am always grateful for the underworld, my shadow, and it's teachings, the empathy carved out, the fresh raw gratitude for an intentional life.

I am renewed, empowered, enlivened, delivered, in LOVE, present...I am!

What's your story Morning Glory?

2011-02-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

If it's all a story, why not make up something phenomenal?

History, Herstory....

It was Brooke Medicine Eagle who first challenged my story.

"Tell me about your childhood."

What follows that invitation is usually a neatly compiled memoir of one dysfunctional event, followed by many more. We groom our victim stories, fondling and cradling them until they have grown so large in our minds they overshadow and drown out the happy times in between.

It's so handy to have all those excuses for playing small, for not forgiving.

Brooke's challenge blew my story wide open. It washed away the excuses, and made my grudges seem as ridiculous as they actually were.

I was instructed to find and record my earliest happy memory. To see that memory as a bead and begin to string a necklace of happy child moments one after the other as they came back to me. At first it was rusty awkward work. I was accustomed to those well lubricated larger than life poor me dramas. They bubbled up to the surface several times a day.

What we give attention to grows. Keeping at it, more and more of these other memories showed up. Creased and faded they poked their heads through the crust of my old victim story. I found myself grinning fondly, chuckling, even blinking back tears of gratitude.

In just a few months my entire life story had been retold. I was brimming with gifts and lessons from my unique childhood. As I traveled from then to now I had been recreated.

Thank you Brooke!

Last night on my Women's Circle call we stopped to notice the stories we are currently telling ourselves. It was a great reminder. Today I did some editing and made my story about a beautiful, talented, intelligent, funny me who loves my life!

What's your story?

This Is Not My Beautiful Life!

2011-01-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

It was in the space between waking and dream, tangled and tripping on the thin veils that define the two realities, when I stubbed my toe on an old rotting stump of a memory.

It was cold tile slick with my snot and tears, I was gagging on the mediocrity of my life. "How did this happen to me?" Even more disturbing was the lack any real proof or permission to feel this way.

I had a successful and thriving business, a healthy child, a relationship free of infidelity, physical abuse, etc. I chose to work 3 days a week. I had a loving supportive family to watch my son. My Yoga practice was consistent and strong. I had plenty of time to cook, paint, write, hike...

Why had this life become too small, so intolerable? What was this growing resistance inside of me? Why was I insistent on more?

That day I screamed it out loud to my shower curtain, to the gods of plenty, (and apparently to a neighbor who came over later to check on me) "THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL LIFE! I WANT AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE! NO MORE MEDIOCRITY, ENOUGH!!! I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO REALLY LIVE MY LIFE!" over and over and over again.

(The next day in Yoga class my left hip was magically opened. The hip that I had all but given up on. That's another story for another time.)

8 years later, this morning, I leapt out of bed... The awareness of that declaration made manifest. I was thrust into this truth: I am doing it. I have been slowly but surely creating, cultivating, growing, nurturing my beautiful life. It is extraordinary. I have released what no longer served me, upgraded from mediocrity, I surrendered and birthed a whole other me, that was asking to be born.

My days are rich with deep connection. I am in meaningful service and PLAY! I have amazing communities of sisters, dancers, coaches, artists, and mentors! I get to dance almost everyday! I love my body, finally! I am surrounded by family and friends who love me, and I love them!

How did I get to be this lucky?

Wait I'm not done...there's more!

This Thursday I am leaving to spend more than a week in Troncones, Mexico. I will be in Circle with my Vividly Woman Community! Dancing, playing, swimming and soaking in Sacred Sensual Splendor. www.vividlywoman.com

This isn't luck. It is intention, it is saying Yes to my heart's desires. I am powerful in my life.

We are powerful in our lives. I choose to be extraordinary! Did you hear that? We can choose the extraordinary!

Tell me, are you living YOUR beautiful life?

Come as you Are

2011-01-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

Come to us however you are.
Come whole.
Come broken.
Come and gather your pieces here.

Bring your heart and mind and soul, and know that we hold space for you.

If you are stuck, sit in the center of us, and we will buoy you forward, like a lifeboat on the tide. Even if four of us are stuck, we are strong enough. Even if half of us are stuck or hurt, we are strong enough. Even if ALL but one are unable to move, that one is strong enough.

And if we were all unable to move, every one of us broken or scared or stuck, we would join arms, look upward to the Great One, and scream. We would reclaim our power, as one, and then each take it with us, back to our lives. Our ferocity.

So come if you are RADIANT. So radiant you're afraid to blind us!
And come if you are in shadows, so shadowed you're afraid to mar us.
Come. However you are, BE WITH US. Be here, in our circle.

Because we are a circle that meets and holds one another -
with golden shimmering ties of love -
that neither time nor distance can efface.

May LOVE hold us and buoy us forward, beating hearts of sisterhood. RIGHT at this moment, beating. Living. Hands held for our lifetimes.

guest blogger Mary Agnes Antonopoulos

Mary Agnes Antonopoulos, Vividly Woman Leader Sister, is a writer and social media expert and coach.

RockAwayWriter.com

New Year's Wish

2010-12-30T17:33:00.000-08:00

The collective sigh is reverberating across the country... The Holiday season is almost through. The stressful ones are over (unless you are hosting a New Year's Eve party, which I am not!) . I love this gelatinous week in between the 26th and the 2nd. There are still sugar and fat to be found in most homes. The work schedule is lax, or at least most of us pretend it is. Throw another log on the fire, put the kettle on for another cup of tea, or better yet how about some of that homemade Baileys? Lounging and general slothfulness is accepted. (In my house it is encouraged, unless you're a teenager, and that is the only gear you ever move in).

Then what? The mania begins for most of us. Lofty expectations of oneself begin to hail down. The clean fresh start of a New Year is already polluted with pressure. Week one's dogma is week three's apathy or despair.

I know, I do it too. Already my mind is poking my relaxing week in the ribs whispering curse words like, "cellulite - mucking out the house - paperwork" etc. "This year is going to be...blahblahblah"

I am going to remind myself again and again (It's like brushing my teeth, once isn't enough.)

Destruction happens in seconds. Creation takes time. When we decide to implement change, we want it NOW and we want lasting results. Think of any time in your life when there has been lasting change that happened immediately. I can think of the sudden death of loved ones, loss of a job, and cutting my hair off (no really, I mean ALL of it OFF!) that felt like it lasted forever.

Then I think of building businesses, relationships, or growing my hair back out. The headway that was made bit by bit day after day. Small, consistent, and less than spectacular. This is the kind of change that is actually sustainable. There is name or a method to this approach, "Kaizen".

Earlier this holiday season I noticed myself feeling lousy because I was eating more junk than my body is accustomed to. My intellect donned it's dictator mustache and declared, "That's it! Enough with the garbage gut! You are allowed nothing but water and kale, before you poison yourself and rot out your teeth."

My inner child FREAKED out, immediately seeking fudge and revenge. Thankfully a shower of sanity fell from the heavens, resulting in Kaizen: "If I eat a piece of fruit each day and 1 raw veggie, go ahead have the cookies!" whew. Amazing. The charge around the junk food was gone. I didn't even want the fudge anymore. (Yes I did have some the other day) My point being, this is manageable. I like fruit, especially with breakfast. I also enjoy snacking on carrots, celery, and peppers. For me this was so easy, I could not fail. Did I lose weight? nope. Did I gain weight? nope. Did I enjoy myself, food, drink, friends and family? YES!

As I move into the new year I will continue this practice, even when the cookies are gone. I like the habit I am creating, It feels good in my mind and body. I have not yet decided what my next Kaizen step will be this January, but I do know it's going to be easy, and I'm going to succeed!

This year I propose trying this approach. Experience a way of being softer, gentler, steady, gradual, thoughtful, and probably successful.

Pick one thing, and start there. Make it so easy you can not possibly fail.

Happy New Year!

What does Sacred mean to you?

2010-11-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

What happened to Sacred Ceremony?

There are still remnants of the rich tapestry of Ritual and Ceremony lingering...

The wedding ceremony, baptism, bar/bat-mitzvah, graduation are some of the remaining threads of culture marking our passage through life's doorways.

Many of us have left the religions of our heritage and in doing so, we have thrown out Ceremony and Ritual.

Can it still exist without religion? What if it could be larger, inclusive, modern, ancient, serious, fun, or anything you desired it to be?

Inside the details, lives the cause to be witnessed, celebrated, and supported.

Ritual is an act of consciously opening ourselves to the presence of our own Spirit. Pressing pause on the rushed routine of life to say, "Hey wait a minute. Check this out, something is happening and this matters!"

We design rituals to bring ourSelves to a deeper place of reverence. Creating physical metaphors to signify, acknowledge, and honor the change that is underway.

Ceremony holds ourSelf, loved ones, and our Ritual, in celebration.

Western Culture is starving for the PAUSE. We are begging to be witnessed, upheld, and supported as we embark on our conscious journey of Life!

In this melting pot we are privileged by the influence of so many cultures. If we have no link to the ways of our ancestors, we can still can learn, divine, and collage our own rituals, lush with all that speaks directly to our own soul.

If that seems wonderful and overwhelming, relax. consider...

Sacred Sassy Life is here weaving rituals and originating ceremonies.

We'd love to co-create with you!

We bring special meaning to the many stages of women's lives:

The Blossom Rite of Passage is a powerful coming of age ceremony honoring the transformation from girl to young woman. Sprinkled with wisdom, humor, honesty this event cultivates a positive self image early on, and a vital appreciation for our bodies.

The Bridal Sweet is a union of Self Ceremony. Surrounded by close friends and sisters, the bride to be consecrates herSelf, committing to preserving "the Me in the We".

The Mother Blessing embraces a woman, in preparation emotionally, mentally, and spiritually for her upcoming passageway into Motherhood.

This Ceremony is beneficial to women adopting children, as well as pregnant women.

The Reclamation Rite is the journey back to Self. Following divorce or death of a partner this is a beautiful and intimate ceremony of reintroduction, restoration, and rebirth.

Kara@SacredSassy.com

More Than A One Story House

2010-11-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

I recently fell in love with the left handed no looking technique.

I drew, painted, laughed and wept. (Special Thanks to Barbara Krauss creativity Coach and artist! www.barbarakrauss.com)

As I prepare to move out of my home that I love, and open up to my next, this came out of me and I am grateful for the medium.

Here is the story, spotted inside the house:

"I have held children growing, tea kettle whistles, and turkey's roasting. I heard the snoring, sobbing, as well as the muffled moans of so much lovemaking. I have worn your bright colors, been caressed by laughter. I could not help but to fall deeply in love with all of you. You have been my family.

I will move with you, hidden in the photo albums, and forever the back drop to your child's memories. Just as you will be kept safe here. Your dance deeply impressed upon my floorboards. Your dreams and your gratitude, the sweetest residue, tucked neatly into my nooks and crannies.

I am well seasoned with love and celebration, prepared to wrap myself around the arriving hearts, dreams, and the next story.

I am more than a one story house."

Thank you for witnessing

The Gift

2010-11-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

This stunning painting is called "Sunburst". The beautiful artist is Terri Gerard.

If we are lucky; if we are intentional; if we are growing; if we are
searching; if we are relentless; we may, in our lives be offered a gift.
That gift will not necessarily be wrapped with shiny paper, ribbons and a
big satin bow. That gift may look like anything but a gift. But indeed it
is a gift. The gift I am talking about is the gift of self-reflection.

It may come in the form of a loved one who reacts to you, or who attacks
you. It may come in the form of a friend who embraces you, or rejects you.
The gift may arrive as a business deal that you close, or that you lose. IT
may come with the loss of a loved one that is close to you, or with the
success of a stranger on American Idol. But if you are fortunate, or
intentional; if you are relentlessly searching, and hell-bent on growing, it
will come to you. And this gift will be the realization that your response
is all about you.

For the uninitiated, the prayerless, those victimized by life and those who
are simple not ready, the fit will be offered. It has been offered to each
of us a hundred times a day, a thousand times a month.
How is this possible? That we would be offered a gift but say "no"? This
is part of the gift. A gift can be offered, but until I am ready to receive
it, the gift will be sent back: no such number. Moved, left no forwarding
address.

The beginnings of receiving are those moments where we notice: boy, I really
got hooked there. Or, I wonder why that upset me so much? These are the
beginnings of the gift that keeps on giving: the gift of noticing, of
awareness. Of taking responsibility for our own experience of life and
seeking to expand our ability to receive more and more, so that we can
become more and more. Being responsible for more and more is the game.
One cannot receive without being simultaneously able to hold more, and less.

The alternatives to receiving the gift? A blameless life full of blame for
others. Judging others and remaining separate from them. Pitying yourself
or others and becoming pitiful. Criticizing others and becoming
unacceptable to yourself. Playing alone in the sandbox for fear of exposing
your weakness to yourself.

Here we are, on our journey. If you find yourself in tears, in the flow, in
the arms of another man or woman, know that you have found yourself, with your
million and one reactions, predictions, declarations and early dismissals.
Know that these are not the gifts. Your receiving of these happenings with
your awareness is the gift. To be able to receive the ripple effects of
every action and reaction is the gift and it is offered to you in every
moment. This is a treasure. You are the mine.

IT happens for those persistent enough to look
into the next dimension, where life is the mirror of you.

May you continue to expand your tenderness, your ability to feel, your
asking for and receiving, and all the ins and outs of a life lived fully.
This is my prayer for usall tonight. Amen. Awomen. Aho.

Writing by Karen Blum RadicalDander@blogspot.com

Dancing For Darfur

2010-10-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

Day 4 of my teeny tiny commitment to raise funds for displaced persons in a women's refugee camp in Darfur, that just happens to be changing my life...

www.darfurpeace.org/programs/womens-center

This is turning out to be a wild ride on the home front. My husband and son have unexpectedly got involved.

On the second night, having not yet developed a routine time for this dancing, I came home exhausted and ready to crawl into bed and slip into heavenly slumber. (Just now as I wrote those words a wave of gratitude for having a bed, a deliciously warm cozy soft dry bed, enveloped me. How many nights do I take that for granted?!)

My husband reminded me, "Ahem- didn't you make a promise to dance daily for that Darfur fund raiser?" Uhoh. *gulp* My mind raced for a cop out, something along the lame lines of I'll dance twice as long tomorrow started to form in my mouth. He cut me off with this save the promise invitation, "Come on I'll dance with you!"

As I shuffled thru my ipod searching for the right musical choice, my son hijacked the DJ role and announced, "Mom, if you let me pick the music I'll dance with you too!"

That settled it. For 3 evenings we have turned our living room into a most unlikely dance club. Songs from Jack Black, Flight of the Concord, to Usher have been the soundtrack of this nightly event. This wasn't quite what I had in mind when I signed on. I imagined mySelf lost in the rhythmic sounds of world beats, drumming, chants, and some Nia blends.

This is perfect! All day I look forward to this time together, laughing, busting out sweet faux break dancing moves, and being supported by the 2 most important men in my life! I am so blessed!

Check out the fundraiser, get involved! www.vividlywoman.com/darfur.htm

Stretching ourSelves

2010-10-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

There we are! (We are missing a few). Circles to Spirals Sweaty Goddesses surging with life and renewed passion for Sisterhood and ourSelves!

We danced, played, were in ritual, nature, and bliss last weekend!

Here's what I notice after a fabulous weekend of expansion:

I walk back into my life and it feels too small. I grow each time I surrender mySelf to another retreat. No matter what my role at the retreat, Growth is inevitable and somewhat uncomfortable. (Yet not growing is far more painful.)

I feel like Alice in Wonderland, bumping my head on the ceiling of my old life, cramped, and awkward. It takes a few days of maneuvering, lots of rest, writing, oh and let's not forget the crying. Yes the unexplained grief, Who knows? It's just my process. Your is probably quite different. I'm not setting this up for a good sale am I?

Wait I'm not finished... On the other side of it... where I am today are:

waves of creativity

awareness of pure potentiality

elation at the view from up here

a deep calm grounded knowing

It's delicious. Oh yeah, now I remember who I am. I do have a definite purpose, even some clarity, and some kick ass tools I am wielding with ninja like precision!

2010-10-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

Kindness Poem

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab Nye

2010-09-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice-
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do-
determined to save
the only life you could save.

-Mary Oliver

sometimes S is for shame

2010-09-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

There is a still a part of me creaky with rust, not quite decomposed that clenches onto the inherited shame stories of sickness.

I have fallen sick 3 x since the Solstice, I feel the shame unleashed.

Confusion. Hypocrisy?. Why the healthy lifestyle, if health isn't the result?

What old religious debris hangs on whispering, "I am bad- this a punishment."?

Ruby drives solo to Austin TX. Our road trip left up to her. Healing my body left up to me.

There are other voices soothing, singing, and chanting truths to remind me and bring in presence.

My head keeps asking, what should I do? I hear, "just be" my body resonates.

One of my NSA practioners, Brian Lumb, once explained to me, every time we build another floor on the tower of our being, we immediately return to the basement. The foundations need checking. Are there any cracks?

I've been doing a lot of Self building, expanding and I found some cracks...

I am grateful for the opportunity to be. Just be. To rest, dream, soak in the bath, cocoon at home, and heal.

Ruby Dee, I'm gonna make that road trip to Austin with you one day! Just you wait and see...

The Force of Life

2010-09-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

Just received these powerful words from Karen Blum, one of the amazing women on my Circle.

But you can suppress it, and like water, like the feminine, like emotion, it will rise up again, appear, make itself known, seep through, humanifest, womanifest, find its level, and suddenly what was only hinted at, longed for , deeply hidden, becomes splendid and on display, in the midst of a streaming white light dripping with blood of menses, of murder, of childbirth, of ripped hymens, of bleeding hearts, of ecstasy lost and wisdom comes pouring forth again as women reuse and refind their voices, their byways and scarcely trodden highways, their footpaths, their natures, their longings, their strongings, their weakness, their meekness, their pouring forth into abundance, gratitude and heat, their surrender of pain and rebirth into the privilege of speaking, laughing, storytelling, moaning, giggling. Celebrating, ululating, until the secret pathways and shrotas and incense trails and lacy fingers on the backs and behind and gaping pussy holes become mouths and voices, all of them ululating in the ancient cries of woman’s voice. Woman’s voice. Women’s voices raised in singing, crying, lullabying, joking, laughing, bubbling, giggling, whispering, praising, raising, phrasing, all good, all loving, all flowing in the ceremonial space that is woman. She is crafted for ceremony, naturally spiritual, connected, needing no form. We are the form. Built for loving, being loved; cradling, being cradled: there is no life without woman. We are life. We are drive. We are power. We are desire.

Celebrate yourself. Wake up to the music that is you.
Lift your head to whiff the smouldering incense that you are.

Shield your eyes as your gaze is brightened by the radiant white light of your being.

Feel the textures of silk and saliva, velvet and blood, satin and hair that drapes and adorns the fiber you are made of.

Taste the salty you, the sweet you, now the pungent and acrid you; the smoky burning paradise of you, the pickled you, the honeyed you, the candied you, the peppermint and rose hips of you.

You are the embodiment of all of life.

You are a celebration.

Your are the feast and the feasting, the dinner and the diner, the sup and the superb, the breakfast and the break slow, the snack and the morsel, the taste and the treat, a neverending changing and delicious banquet of woman.

Celebrate! Allow the bells to ring, the drums to beat. Entice the hips to move and the pubic bone to find its own rhythm. Allow the lovers to emerge into the light. Hide yourself no more. Be free. Warm your wings in the sunlight. You are nascent. You are alive Your many voices poised to shout as one, in birth:

Confessions of Self Censorship and Spray Tan...

2010-09-13T12:37:00.001-07:00

Enough already! I can't take another second of this self imposed strangulation!

I've been mulling over the possibilities, start a new blog? Throw myself head first into a bag of something fried and salty? I have grossed mySelf out with this Self censoring. In the shackles of supposed professionalism, I have edited out my unique quirky authenticity. For that I am sorry.

From this day forward. while blogging or otherwise...

I will be honestly irreverent!

I am giving mySelf full permission to be the goofball mystic of my soul's choosing!

I will no longer edit my snarky humor, or creative mumblings....

AAAHHH that feels better.

This permission, reminds me of the day I finally came to terms with being a white girl.

Some of my earliest memories are of deep Caucasian denial.

1) In the horse field with a friend rubbing our limbs down with dark earth and admiring our amazing tans!

2) In preschool using marker (the cinnamon scented kind) to color my skin. I was interrupted by the call to snack before I turned into the bronze Goddess I was creating- I did however lose marker privileges for the remainder of the week.

3) In the bath staring at my oh so mundane pale skin, practicing my illusive super powers, while chanting my first mantra "I am tan, I am tan, I am tan, I am tan, I am tan ( No you are NOT-doh!)

4) Imagining I was the Coppertone girl with her little puppy (remember her?)

The list is longer, and more detailed as I began imagining I was all sorts of exotic beauties. Every race except mine! Remember the first fake tanning lotions? Q2? Nothing says junior high like orange streaky skin!

Or the slippery summers spent slathered in baby oil...brown for a season.

Just a few years ago I fell prey to my siren fantasy again (no really)- this time in the form of a spray tan. Someone tell me why these places are still in business? Never have I scrubbed my elbows, feet, ankles, and wrists sooo long and hard. SCARY! Then as it wore off I just looked dirty, not a glowing woman of color? no not even a tan whitey!

And so, after over 3 decades of racial self struggle. I buckled. I just gave in to what was, what is.

AAAHHhhhhhh that feels better! Accepting me, just as I am.

Let's remind each other: it's perfectly ok to be me...to be you... just as we are!

September Schedule

2010-09-11T17:17:00.001-07:00

SCHEDULE

"Don't ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
– Howard Thurman

My Nia and Yoga classes are limited at this time although I am available for privates, parties, and some subbing.

I am focusing on creating and nurturing projects... Playshops, "Creatrix Parties" (top secret for now), Collaging, Inner Beauty industries, and my women's circle.

I am currently apprenticing with Leela Francis (www.vividlywoman.com). I look forward to advancing my coaching this Feb with Jill Badonsky's Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching method (www.themuseisin.com) So much exciting juicy life!

Each Tues-Wed are spent at my barbershop making my friends/clients look and feel fabulous while
messing with tresses, tendrils and sculpture!

My Sept classes are listed below

September

10:

OWL sex ed , Gage Academy of the Arts, Seattle

12:

Yoga 9:45 am LA fitness, Renton

"Breath of Light" workshop. Maya Studio, Renton

4-5:30 pm, www.Mayawholehealth.com

17:

OWL sex ed, Gage Academy of the Arts, Seattle

19:

Yoga 9:45 am LA fitness, Renton

24:

Owl sex ed, Gage Academy of the Arts, Seattle

25:

CREATING MORE TIME Playshop

1-4 pm Maya Studio, Renton. Register now www.Mayawholehealth.com

26-30th

AUSTIN TEXAS! with my dear friend Ruby Dee! www.rubydeemusic.com

2010-09-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

I learned something this morning about Gandhi. He was inspired by Tolstoy. It was after reading Tolstoy's ideas on passive resistance that he envisioned a Way.

That thread of inspired love is woven through out our history. Over the centuries, how many average human beings awoke to it? Outgrowing "average", swelling with the confidence of peace to invoke the masses and alter the world as we know it.

Blasting away the age old lie of "That's just the way it is"!

"Reasonable people adapt to the world, unreasonable people adapt the world to themselves. Therefore all progress is left up to the unreasonable people!"

-George Bernard Shaw

2010-08-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

Conscious Eating Playshop

Yesterday I was joined by 7 precious women who came together courageously and opened up their hearts and voices to share, learn, and heal their relationships with food and their bodies.

This Playshop was particularly personal and even a little scary for me. I stepped out of the shame of my herstory of eating disorders, and embraced the gift of that wound. I experienced a deeper healing in telling my old food story, and passing on what I have learned through out my slow decade of healing and new consciousness around food, and my body!

I was especially touched and inspired by one of the women, who is living quite a unique life. This fabulous lively woman is blind and deaf , she is also a single mother of two! Wow! What a blessing to meet her and see the power of intention, attitude, and curiosity!

I look forward to September's Playshop "Creating More Time". Sept 25 th 1-4 pm.

If your first thought was, "I can't do that, I'm just too busy", then make the time for this Playshop, I created it just for you! We will look at the time and energy leaks in our lives. Learn a brilliant system for weekly scheduling that allows us to accomplish goals that reflect what is most important to us.

Let's question the story of "Getting it all done", and explore how to enjoy time with family and friends, and still have time for ourSelves! And yes we can still fulfill the mundane tasks with mindfulness, and proper priority placement. It is possible, come learn how!

Remembering our loveliness

2010-07-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

I think of a story Wayne Dyer tells about a tribe in Africa. When a person of that tribe screws up, everything stops. Everyone who knows that person comes to surround them. One by one they go before the person and tell them the happy memories, the great qualities they have, and recount each time they remember this person acting in kindness. The idea is that if we can remember who we truly are, if we can reconnect to our essential Self we will only act from that place. If someone messes up, it is only that they have temporarily forgot who they are. It is the job of the family and whole community to remind that person of their greatness. In this tribe these episodes of "crime" happen only about every 5 years. There are a couple thousand people in this tribe...

Meditation is working it's magic. There is space around myself and the lesson I am in. A space that liquifies or gels time and judgment into a clay of sorts. Without the push of time or divisions of judgement I sense possibility. Pain is rich with possibility. As the wave crests and swallows possibility I can cry. I can feel my way through it emerging into possibility again, this is the rhythm.

2010-07-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

How to Break Through Suffering:
A Reorganizational Healing Perspective

Last time we described how we create suffering by: making the experience all-pervasive and seem permanent, taking it personally, feeling helpless and option-less, avoiding the experience, giving it a name (conceptualizing it) and making it seem real, and feeling separate.

We also presented "Why would anyone WANT to learn how to fully suffer?" and the transformative power of being fully with the experience (instead of the stories or concepts that perpetuate suffering) even for an instant.

Now, how do we break down the system of suffering? What steps must we take to move through and experience the real energy underneath? As all suffering is in the avoidance of suffering, the following list of options helps us to be fully with what is, dissolving our concept of suffering:

Find a way to make the experience merely scary without needing to put a story or label on it.Example: "I'm frightened of the pain I feel in my back" is different, and more real, than "I might have cancer, I may never walk again, it's my karma, God is punishing me, etc"
Fully experience and define the painful experience as it is. Define its borders and depth in your body, the quality of the sensation, the color, the sound, the flavor, the rhythm in it, everything that can be SENSED. No story about it, no meaning, no name/diagnosis - just the sensations.
Find a way to make the experience or concept even slightly impermanent. Notice the times when your focus is on other things and you don't experience suffering. Find what other experience you put in the front of your mind that makes suffering irrelevant (something pleasurable, peaceful, exciting, etc).
Remember that others have or have had the same type of experience. Suffering is a mindtrip that says you're utterly alone, and at its worst will warp your self-esteem to gain significance - "king of the garbage pile". You are so much bigger than this! Others can and do understand.
Find something else that can be changed in life. It may be that the pain or story will never change, but the charge can come off so you can go on in your life. Forget fighting it - that keeps it alive. If it never changed, how would you live life? What is the wisdom in this experience?
Ask the suffering to intensify and expand from its location until it fills every part of you. The fear is that if we feel it, we will die, yet that fear is a kind of living death. Reclaim the power to dive in and fully experience it in every cell, and then ask it, "Is this the best you've got?" When you do this, you cannot be helpless.

All it takes is to look at one part of the story we use to avoid suffering and realize that it's not true, and we lose our servitude to suffering.

This practical advice on living is brought to you from, Center of The Universe Network Care, office of Dr. Matthew howe. 2622 NW Market St Suite C Seattle Wa

check them out at centeroftheuniverse.com!

2010-07-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hey out there to all the Power Mamas! Those of us raising our babes, raising our businesses, and raising ourSelves in the process.

I am just reminded that while I'm out there inspiring light in others, coaching my peeps back to them Selves, there is one privilege before me that is greater than ANY event, client, presentation, contract or contact.

It's the life I am cradling and shaping, the life I brought into the world, my baby who is a boy turning man. A teenager ready to take on the world, so cool, curious, and creative! no matter how he distances himSelf from me, it's fleeting. He's right there telling me about the latest band, the coolest video game, (Yes, even raised a Waldorf kid, for those of you with younger children, those of you still having your idealism in tact..allow me to shatter it for you!) It's all about Facebook, and heavy metal, or punk rock these days (came with the summer mohawk)

The details aren't important, what I'm getting at is the freedom in throwing out the idealism, in releasing my agenda for him.

When I show up present, authentic, open, (like I would for you or a client) I become curious and entertained by who he is becoming. It's all about the questions, deep listening, checking in with my neutrality. Continually tossing out the judgments, the assuming. When the alarms go off, asking more questions. Over and over again I find the gold inside him. I find an open minded young man exploring ideas, styles, questioning authority (mine included) The rules remain in place, he is held strong. He knows how to think, not what to think! He pulls out values along with his logic. Often I find myself learning new facts that open my mind. Suspending my lecturing, and know it all attitude, the connection we have is secured. I don't believe we have to lose our teenagers. I do believe it is up to us to stay open and curious about there process. Maybe that is just more idealism, for now I'll keep trying it, it seems to be working.

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday, it read: The most important thing you can spend on you kids is TIME!

This is the most important position I will EVER hold in life! Showing up for our children is mandatory! Not just in that drive you around, wash your laundry, "did you do your homework" sort of way, but in that REAL heartfelt way. Don't check that message, let the e-mail be...climb into your child's reality, instead of trying to drag them into yours!

Here are some must have tools....

Earnest Listening

Conscious communication

Intentional touch

Energy awareness

Maybe I should start teaching these allies to more than just the Beauty Industry????

2010-06-30T22:22:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be offering a new 4 part "Essential Balance" series!

Let's cut through the confusion and debris of life, and get back to the basics!

I have designed these playshops, to provide a simple path back to the building blocks of balanced mind, emotions, spirit, and body.

How do we bring balance into our lives?

Meditation: An intro to Meditation. Creating balance through stillness. This is the essential groundwork for a life of harmony, health, and ease! Sample different meditation styles, de-mystify common meditation myths, learn about the health benefits! Design a practice that fits your unique lifestyle!

July 17, 1-4 pm

Conscious Eating: The Art of Eating! Food issues? Weight issues? Examining our relationship with food? Bringing awareness back into mealtime.

This is a hotspot for many, and one of the foundations for health of mind, body, emotions, and spirit! (There is no agenda, vegetarian, or otherwise in this offering!)

Aug 21, 1-4 pm

Time Management: Creating time to live the life we long to be living! Identifying time and energy leaks. Examining priorities and designing a practical schedule and strategy that allows us to live in alignment with our long term goals, feeling balanced and stress free, while accomplishing what we deem to be really important!

Sept 18, 1-4 pm

Financial Focus: A practical system for prosperity! This is NOT a Law of Attraction wkshp! Learn to how to apply 4 ACTION steps that allow for abundance through discipline, awareness, and balance!

Oct. 23, 1-4 pm

change, what else?

2010-06-21T21:16:00.001-07:00

Occasionally the changes I've been striving toward sneak up on me. There are no marching bands announcing a leap of consciousness. The little blurps toward wholeness aren't riding in on the tails of a raw food, yoga, meditation weekend.

This latest surprise came after spending a week away from 2 of my loves. One being my husband, the other being dance. While my son and I were enjoying my best friend and her family in Sant Fe (Il Vicino, you'll always be my favorite Italian restaurant!) , my man was enjoying a weekend dance workshop with the world champions of west coast swing, and most of our dance community!

Which leads me to my admission of, often times feeling left out and angry when I don't get to be doing all the fun things everywhere all the time. My inner 2 yr old comes out to reek havoc. This has been a pattern that I've played with more times than I can count. But... But...

All week I kept waiting for the sudden pang, the mounting panic ("everyone is having more fun than I am"). Even if in states of bliss this pattern has struck like lightening. I have a sort of PTS about it. Each time I checked in, the feeling was genuine happiness. I was happy he was able to grow, to learn, to laugh, to dance and play! Yay! (ummm I think they call that love).

He looked into my eyes the other night telling me bits and pieces of the weekend, and it just slipped out. "I had the best dance of my life..." okay, that woke up the 2 yr old! Time slowed way down, I looked at my husband and saw the childlike glimmer in his eyes as he boasted and glowed. A tenderness sprang forth and I knew it was ok, it wasn't about me. My inner 2 yr old wanted to be the best dance of his life yes it's true...but hey his life isn't over! I shushed her and she fell back to sleep. I held the space for his story, for his accomplishment, and my heart opened back up! WOW!

I haven't mentioned any of this to him, it's my goofy evolution game. But I think the excitement he had as he shared with me, might've felt a little like the excitement I feel right now sharing with you!

2010-06-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Impeccability ( harder to live than spell!)

This is the season of my awareness of impeccability. It is now that I am diving deeper and realizing it on a whole new level.

Every voicemail that isn't responded to, e-mail left unanswered, or bill in wait of payment, these are the small things, yet they slash the energy sail, create small blockages, damming up the flow and ease of what I am manifesting.

What then about the relationships in disrepair and disregard? The wounds inflicted consciously or otherwise, and yet now as I am wiser...I know I had my piece in the destruction.

That heavy burden I have been carrying for weeks, unable to set down, until now. I set it down, and use impeccability as my guide. I groom every detail of what I am responsible for, lovingly. Knowing its the energy behind my actions.

Today I commit to working and playing in the spirit of being impeccable:

~With my word

~With my time

~With my thoughts

~With my actions

I make amends with all my relations. I make amends with mySelf.

2010-05-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

“The body is fundamental and necessary for the realization of the Divine Intention” ... Rumi

I am tired. It's a good tired, the kind a 20 minute nap might take care of.

Today I am pondering commitment. Reveling in the sweetness of the staying.

Depak Chopra's "7 Spiritual Laws" made commitment come to life for me. Before it felt so stagnant and rigid. Now I am understanding the deep textures and constant change that make commitment feasible. The flexibility necessary to navigate the changing conditions of life while staying the course.

I write my intentions each week. Some intentions remain the same, others change. I write them juicy and larger than life sometimes. Other weeks I write them gently, subtle and more focused. Each morning I say them out loud, a declaration of my path. A reminder to my intellectual, emotional, and physical body of what my Spirit is suggesting I hold in this day's awareness. My internal GPS, a compass for my intentional life.

Then I go into meditation. Sitting to notice. Some days my breath and clarity only illume for 3 breaths, the rest is watching the mind thrash. Once in a while it is heaven. Perfect silence, body humming, timeless, breath, light, everything/nothing. Regardless each day I show up, check in, and calibrate.

This practice has changed my life. It has kept me motivated thru the lulls, the doldrums, and the frustrating details of birthing a dream, as well as kept me calm in the exciting bliss when I want to shout from the rooftops.. instead I am harnessing that energy to keep on my path...to stay committed.

Thank you Depak!

2010-05-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

Circle within a Circle.

We are powerful in community!

What a beautiful weekend with new sisters, my family keeps growing.

Thank you Dina for our "Going Deeper" choreography wkshp. Filled with magic, laughter, tears, and power!

2010-05-17T14:56:00.001-07:00

by Jewel Mathieson

We have come to be danced
not the pretty dance
not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance
but the claw our way back into the belly
of the sacred, sensual animal dance
the unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance
the holding the precious moment in the palms
of our hands and feet dance

We have come to be danced
not the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him dance
but the wring the sadness from our skin dance
the blow the chip off our shoulder dance
the slap the apology from our posture dance

We have come to be danced
not the monkey see, monkey do dance
one, two dance like you
one two three, dance like me dance
but the grave robber, tomb stalker
tearing scabs & scars open dance
the rub the rhythm raw against our souls dance

WE have come to be danced
not the nice invisible, self conscious shuffle
but the matted hair flying, voodoo mama
shaman shakin’ ancient bones dance
the strip us from our casings, return our wings
sharpen our claws & tongues dance
the shed dead cells and slip into
the luminous skin of love dance

We have come to be danced
not the hold our breath and wallow in the shallow end of the floor dance
but the meeting of the trinity: the body, breath & beat dance
the shout hallelujah from the top of our thighs dance
the mother may I?
yes you may take 10 giant leaps dance
the Olly Olly Oxen Free Free Free dance
the everyone can come to our heaven dance

We have come to be danced
where the kingdom’s collide
in the cathedral of flesh
to burn back into the light
to unravel, to play, to fly, to pray
to root in skin sanctuary
We have come to be danced
WE HAVE COME

2010-05-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

The dust of life is settling.

This week was the Sensual Heart Dance http://www.vividexistence.com/WTWW_event_Seattle.htm

It was a beautiful gathering of women dancing to create change! We raised awareness and money for survivors of war.

It is horrifying what is happening there. Women being used as weapons of war, as rape destroys individual lives, families and communities. What is a even greater tragedy is that we who have so many freedoms, privileges and luxuries know this is going on, and yet we choose to do nothing.

What if everyone of us just picked one thing, anything that calls to your heart, and we choose to acknowledge the pain of another, to left a finger to give aid, and our one small act eased another's suffering, or changed many lives????

What if?

We would be the change we are seeking in the world!

Here are some links if you wish to learn more about the Sensual Heart Partners:

http://www.darfurpeace.org/programs/womens-center- recipient of live tour funds raised

http://womenthrive.org/- recipient of virtual tour funds raised

http://womenspeacecollection.com/- Inkind sponsor providing baskets for raffle and director of the Darfur Peace Women's Center basket weaving cooperative

2010-05-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

Just about the time I teach something...

I am slammed back into the universal classroom.

I've come to believe we teach exactly what we are learning, over and over and over again.

I am diligently taking the left brain steps to bring what I do to the world in a shiny box. Soon I will magically appear on your screen.

This grueling process is perfect. It is the opportunity of a lifetime. How do I show up authentically for cyberspace?

I had a rather psychedelic awakening from a nap this afternoon. Have you ever woke up and had no ego? No grasp on time or space, let alone the "who am I, what am I doing here?" part!

The sensation seems to go on forever and yet it is over in an instant. It left me with this urgency, a reminder of something I keep forgetting and can never quite articulate...

One of my teachers, Wilbert Alix, says “ immediate felt

experience is a determining factor in our aliveness in each

moment”. Alberto Villoldo, another shamanic teacher, says that

the difference between religion and spirituality is that religion is

based on beliefs, while spirituality is based on experience. I

would emphasize experience here to mean the immediate felt

experience, that Alix speaks of above, also referred to as felt

sense experience

A word from one of my teachers, Leela Francis, quoting her teachers.

2010-04-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Just checking out the foundations, looking for cracks, before I build another story.

My next story is career transformation. After 20 years in the same business, it is time to expand this sweet and bitter Beauty Industry.

I prefer sculpture and the earthy funk of the barbershop. There is something gritty and real in the creating of those illusions.

We have a unique position behind that chair. We are creating art that people will not only buy, but they will walk around with it displayed their heads! Read that again and take yourSelf a little more seriously.

What I have learned about the Industry is a lot about human connection.

I am teaching what I know a lot about, what I have mastered. What has built me a thriving, beating the doors down, loyal to the death, amazing clientele.

The arts of:

~Energy Awareness

~Earnest Listening

~Intentional Touch

~Conscious Communication

~Career and Life visioning

This has been an oversight. Up until now the Education has been all outward application techniques. The people weren't ready for more, but all that is changing...