Nourish

It's one thing to be fed by any old thing; it is quite another to be nourished.
~Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés

October will stand out as one of the most powerful and pivotal months when we look back on this transformational year. A new season is upon upon us and the scales of balance tip toward longer, darker hours in the Northern Hemisphere. This is a time of paradox and reflection as it's about reaping the harvest of all that we "planted" in the Spring as well as experiencing a letting go and shedding of the old skins. In the Native American tradition, Autumn holds the position of the West on the medicine wheel and it represents the direction where one would go if you desire healing on a spiritual level. Its position relates to the setting sun, introspection, and developing the strength and stamina required to live in true connection to Creator. We have essentially been placed in this kind of retreat all year long and the energy continues to build as we navigate the final quarter of 2020. 

We have three lunations this month with Mars (the planet of action and willpower) and Mercury (the planet of communication and thinking) both retrograde, making it extra internally oriented. This month is bookended with a full moon on the first and last day and the Super New Moon in Libra on the 16th. These will be days that you will definitely want to set aside and create some time for meditation, relaxation, purification and creative dreaming.

This is a month to focus on staying aligned with very high vibrational self-care practices to support the deeper inner work that will be assigned to you to complete. As difficult as it may sound, try to cultivate the opportunities to stay in the flow of joy, gratitude and heart coherence. Notice the temptations within or around you to fight, force, fix, or otherwise remain attached to suffering. The great big invitation this month: LET GO TO LIBERATE. Challenge yourself to perceive everything you're experiencing as an invitation to liberation. "This is here to set me free" can be the mantra. Trust that you are safe and that in your surrender, you will be met by Grace. Often times it's in the refusal to let go of our expectations and rigid tendencies to control outcomes that we actually block ourselves from receiving something much more nourishing. Be gentle, we are all in the gateway of the Unknown.

I invite you to join me this month in this inquiry: what does it mean to you to be truly nourished? Several years ago as I was creating my website and talking about its design and content with a dear friend, she asked me: "If you had to choose just three words to describe how your offerings support, help or serve others, what would they be?" After some time I said: Nourish. Create. Transform. This is the kind of alchemy that I enjoy exploring the most. It's what brings me alive and when I can enter the conversation in this way with another or others, it becomes pure, undeniable magic. It's a process that begins purposely with nourishing because without that foundational piece, it becomes very difficult for the unfolding of new creations and personal transformation. Of course, this isn't a linear process as we are always invited into the spiral dance of discovering entirely new levels within the journey itself.

​If we are constantly overwhelmed, stretched thin, depleted and worn bare by the demands of our days then we won't have the emotional energy, mental clarity, or intuitive fluency for creation or transformation to be possible. Often, this is where crisis, illness or some other challenge enters our lives as an agent for awakening to change. This is usually the point in the story that I meet students or clients. Truly, it's precisely the juncture where we get to meet ourselves again if we are willing to take the opportunity. By feeling our exhaustion, facing our seeming brokenness and turning toward our suffering with tenderness and love, we allow ourselves the chance to find the Source of what feeds us most deeply: the warmth and Light of our own Soul. Nurturing that connection with ourselves is the greatest gift we can receive and through it we discover what truly nourishes. 

Nourishment for me looks and feels like creating spaces that are beautiful, being in nature with my bare feet on the Earth or swimming or soaking in water. It's spacious, gracious, abundant. Some days clean, simple, orderly, quiet and refined. Other days less curated and more carefree or superficial. It's following this delicious prompt that my dear sister Wendy offers in her work: Let your desire counsel you. Most often lately it's slowing down, savoring and saying YES to what I truly desire in the moment. . . which is a yes to the weaving and welcoming of my hand-made life. Nourishing is allowing for all the parts and pieces to be stitched, knitted and braided into the tapestry of my design. Uniquely and beautifully my own creation; no better or worse than another~simply a reflection of my creativity. Daily life with the mess and miracles as my holy grail. It's the meeting of wonder at the crossroads of laundry, self-love making, dinner prepping, divine channeling, painting and poetry, asana and pranayama breaks, broken shower doors, co-parenting gymnastics, grief spilling over into memories or moments of pain, communing with the hawk that shows up in my backyard every single day, belly laughter at my son's incredibly accurate impersonations, inhaling the last remnants of baby in the skin of my 11 year old, aging parent appreciating, daily garden tending of my own longing. Leaving plenty of room for any of what I have planned to be improved upon or all together replaced by sacred surprise. Moments of supreme mystery interlaced and exchanged with the predictability of the mundane. This body and heart, herself, a cross+road for creative genius to build a home in exactly the way She desires. My nourishment looks like the sign next to my front door that says: LOVE. It's my invitation to myself, really, that means Live here, Love. Live here xo

I welcome you to consider what nourishes you and create your own signs, love notes or language for living it more fully this month. I also invite you to my new weekly class: Energy Yoga--a Kundalini fusion practice where, together, we will explore this theme of nourishment and see where it leads us! We begin Monday 10/5/2020 from 10:30-11:45 am EST at One Yoga or Zoom. 

I am also available for private mentoring, healing, or coaching to support you in the discovery journey of weaving a new level of wellness, creativity, and self-care into your days. Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] for a complimentary 30 minute session to determine how I can help.

​Wishing you a deeply nourishing month and beyond~