Special Saturday 1st, 2011- 10:30 AM New Year’s Day Ritual
Let us call down the angelic source to see us through the high wire act of coming year. Treat yourself to Pranayama, chant, Shakti-dance and Vinyasa heat, followed by restorative poses, perchance – space for revelation.
2011 is a four year, a Saturn energy. How can you best use it? How does it tie into your personal number? Come and explore New Year dreams, poses to conquer, Shakti Dances to sing, journeys to enter, Ideas to enlarge upon…the new life waiting to take its shape. Share what you will while eating burnt toast, hosted by Namaste Gang. …It’s all grist for the mill as we grind slowly toward becoming in 2011.
Class donations go toward buying a water buffalo through Heiffer International, spreading joy and generosity ever outward.
Third of three Breaths on connection.
What is the greatest connective energy? As an element, it is air. If it’s a force field, it is electricity. If it is through a mental process, it is a thought. From the emotional body, I say it’s love. Each in their way provide routes for unique and/or quotidian connection. We use them in every moment, rarely hesitating over how transference happens, never mind, why, what or with whom.
Facebook has made ‘the who’ pervasively relevant/irrelevant, Electricity connects the what of every city and citizen without hesitation, while thoughts roam air’s free ride, shooting out ideas every nano-second. I suspect the heart would like to feel as free, fast, and easy about connecting, and in a perfect world, it would.
How, in this New Year, do we connect more with, from, to the heart? Where does the courage come from to move toward another when we have not yet been welcomed. What is the tactic for risking unknown territory, that terrifying demand of being vulnerable? How do we stay connected to our own hearts when we disdain our actions, or worse, our very being? How do we create a fertile field where love is our first, and last connection? What are you thinking? How are you using your ‘force field’? your courage, and intentions to make love your process, the element du jour in 2011?
New Year’s Wish
May you unfold willingly
May you be truly nourished
May peace be in your every step
May gratitude fill you
May you reach others with your radiant heart
May you live with ease in 2011 ….
and for lifetimes to come.
Via Daniel Orlansky
Asana: Any pose that physically opens the chest/heart helps build the courage to emotionally follow suit. If you feel you have shut down from being hurt, scorched from loving, then try Practicing such poses as Matsyendrasana/Fish, Ustrasana/Camel, Wild Thing– Flipping open from Down Dog, Urdhva Dhanurasana/Backbend, and the standing pose Natarajasana/Dancer. (All poses can be found on website under Yoga, go to Poses.)
Health Notes: In these chest opening-heart poses, the lungs expand, inviting in greater life force, and we experience the ability to risk the physical act of opening, therefore allowing greater vulnerability to emotionally opening. I think it is one of the reasons you must keep your eyes open in all back-bending poses. The physical becomes teacher to the emotional body, and in this way we tale baby steps back toward heaven.
Astrological Notes: We tread Saturn ruled Capricorn territory until January 22, not an easy energy in which to open the heart. Saturnian demands are those of Big Daddy: “Do it right, march to the top, be the best, do it again, make good money, be successful.” Not bad dictates. We all require Saturn’s good bones and desire for structure, but the gooey heart struggles to find footing within those demands, and therefore needs greater nurturing and loving care when Capricorn rules.
Ayurvedic Notes: Ayurveda places the seat of inner consciousness in the heart, the spiritual heart, which is just to the right of the physical heart. Modern medicine places consciousness in the brain, but Ayurvedically, the brain only connects outer consciousness, and is not our source of awareness, which lives within the heart. The deeper mind, the most enduring and intimate part of our being is called Chitta. It is the psyche, or mind of the soul and Ayurvedically is associated with the heart. Reference- Dr. David Frawley
I so agree, Samantha, that the heart is the place for the beginning of all journeys whether inward or outward. The heart that has been broken is most vulnerable to the risks of opening up again and taking chances but therein lies the learning. I have read that the broken heart has been opened and therefore more ready to receive. Fear of the future needs to be replaced with faith in the future; faith that the lessons we receive from God, or the universe, are helping us to move forward with our journey. My plan for 2011 is to have new adventures with faith that God will direct me in the direction I am to go. I am in the last half of my journey here on Earth and am loving all the blessings that have been given to me with wonderful family, friends old and new, and health to enjoy them all. May you have continued blessings, Samantha, to keep writing and filling our minds and our hearts with your wit, wisdom and love.
I may borrow some of that faith of yours…hoping you have extra in the bank. My balance is low. I accept the wonderful blessings you pass along and double them back to you, and will try to write with faith that the words will figure out their own message, despite my lacks thereof. Thanks for finding meaning within. Your ‘broken heart’ serves you well, my friend. Glued back together with greater strength and understanding.