Month: December 2012

Daily Practice: Keep a Yoga Journal

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journalingWhen we head out for our yoga classes, we pack our mats, our bags and even blocks, but we often forget to pack our journals.   The practice of journaling your yoga experience can really help you to embody the practice of yoga.  There is a lot that happens during a yoga session, and regardless of the type or style of yoga you are engaging it is important to catalog and dialogue with our practice.

Yoga is also much more than what happens on the mat, and being able to harness the power of our practice to move through our “off-mat” lives helps us to be unified with our actions, intentions and emotions.

I have always found journaling to be a powerful tool for assessing and dealing with emotions that come up.   Having a journal is like having a trusted friend that is there to listen, to help us process, and to help us connect to something below the surface.   If you are not currently keeping a journal I would really encourage starting one.  I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty of what type of journal you should carry with you, but I personally prefer hand writing out my journals.  If you are going to be using your journal in your yoga class, I would encourage a paper journal and then you can transfer to your e-device.

Here are some things to consider including in your yoga journal:

  • What postures challenge you?
  • What external challenges are reflected to you by the posture?
  • What postures feel really good?  (This one is especially good if you are feeling deep release or relax from a posture being able to re-create that out of class will be important.)
  • What intention are you bringing into your practice?
  • What is yoga doing for you during this session?
  • Are there things in your life that yoga helps you move through?  How?
  • What emotions are you feeling during the class?   Which postures evoke those emotions?
  • Are you currently using a mantra?  What have the effects of that mantra been on your life?
  • What is the hardest part about yoga for you?
  • What is the easiest?

These are just a few questions, and I’ll dissect some of these as blog posts in the future.  You can also just write a list of gratitude, or doodle, draw, etc there really is not a right or wrong way to journal… the idea is to get energy moving and to capture your progress on all levels.  One of the things that I love about my older journals is being able to see my growth, to see what yoga helped me work through.

Mantras are also powerful magical tools.   Choosing to engage and stick with a mantra practice, and then seeing what effect that mantra is having on your life will let you capture those experiences for reflection.

You can also write quotes, intentions and ideas that you want to take into your practice with you.  You can also dedicate the energy of your practice to individuals, places and things in the world that might need a little extra push of energy.  Writing those down helps us to solidify the dedication of energy, and then as we carry our journals with us we also carry those we care for.

What is your favorite type of journal?

What is your journaling process?

Do you have resistance to journaling?  Can you identify the resistance?

What do you journal about?

Feel free to share int the comments below!

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

 

Ecstatic Yoga

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EcstaticDanceYoga means union.  Union with the breath, union with movement, union with the divine, union with others in your class, union with your many parts, union with your imperfections, union with your perfection, union with your emotions, union with your physical body, and union with your soul.

Yoga is an ecstatic practice.

Ecstatic is a word that is making growing rounds in modern spiritual circles.   The definition of ecstatic practice is a profound and overwhelming sense of joy, or mystical experience.  I like to define it as a full embodiment of an experience.

Yoga can be rigid.  We run through our sun salutations, we may hold or pause in certain spots, and at times the practice might feel more routine than fully embodied.  There are ways to take your yoga practice a bit deeper that we often forget to incorporate.

Most yoga postures are meant to be held much longer than most modern class structures.  Imagine holding down dog for 6-15 min, or warrior for 10 min.  There is a moment when the asana lets go completely, when the body and mind separate from the asana spirit moves in.  Many forget that the purpose of the asana (postures) is to prepare for final meditation.

You can also add dance to your yoga practice.  Move your body, allow music to move you.  Move around in a dancing pattern, then drop though the yoga postures, then back into a dance, then back into a yoga sequence… don’t spend a lot of time thinking, just let your body move as it wants.  Don’t choose the asana, let them choose you.

You can also try to change-up the music that you might use for your practice.  If you normally use kirtan music, try rock-n-roll, or something completely different that you would normally use.  Shifting music can also shift your consciousness.

I’ll go deeper and give you specific practices to help you move your practice into embodied states.  For now, breathe fully… live fiercely… and be present in your divine experience.

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

The Power of Silence

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Shhhh….

This is one of most powerful invocations used to create silence.  There are times I just want to say this to the world around me.  Silence often escapes us, but it is one of the most powerful magical tools that we have in out tool belts.  We often forget what silence is.  It can be hard to find when the world moves at the speed of thought.

Silence is one of the most powerful magical tools that we have.  When we are silent we can listen.  We don’t need to rush.  We can just still in our own energy.

Stillness and Silence can be terrifying.  When kids are too quiet parents can sense that trouble is brewing.  We often have odd associations with silence.  We fear it.  It can be terrifying to stop and embrace our many pieces.  When we are still, some of us fidget, we try to find distractions to take us out of the silence, and then when we are finally there… we find those things that we were running from.  Sometimes they are painting on our walls with crayons, instead of getting angry we should take a moment to see what they painted for us.  Silence helps us to align.  It holds us accountable to our own sense of being.

Silence is powerful.  In the quiet pot on the stove the wonderful meal is created.  In the silence, there is rest.

Sometimes I visit the small graveyard near my shop and it is nice to sit in the silence.  The psychic noise is still.  I can be with myself and my many pieces.

Where did you find silence?

Where do you find stillness?

Are you afraid of what you will find there, and if so… what would help to ease that fear?

 

You are loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

 

 

FlowCasting: Manifesting With Your Yoga Practice

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Abundance-3We hear a lot of talk about the law of attraction.  I work in a New Age book store and the abundance shelf is lined with them.  Some of them are great, others just focus on material gain.  Granted, there is nothing wrong with financial abundance, but we have to also understand that the law of attraction is constantly active… even the bad stuff we might be experience is part of the overall journey.  I’ll go into the Law of Attraction a bit more in a later post, but I do want to spend a bit of time discussing manifesting and how we can use our yoga practice to generate energy for manifesting.

In yoga classes we engage movement, breathe, and generate energy.  Let’s use that energy to make a difference in the world around us.

—I am writing this in regards to yoga, but the same intentional work can be used for any body centered spiritual practice:  dance, yoga, sacred body movement, ecstatic movement, lifting weights, etc.

At the beginning of your practice start by setting an intention.  This can be something that you want to call into your life.  The desire can be something tangible, spiritual, or can be directed in any way you feel necessary.  If there are things you are wishing to let go of, simply let them fall away as you engage in your flow practice.

In yoga (and other body centered practice) there is a focus on the breath.  You cannot run a marathon while holding your breath, so as you breath you give the body life.

With each deep inhale visualize the intention you set at the beginning of your practice flowing through all parts of your being.  With each exhalation you are creating space for intention to become reality.

The heat, the energy, the movement, the flow of your practice helps that intention flow into creation.  Movement is a creative act.  Connecting to a sense of letting go of rigidity in your practice will help make this easier.

When I first started doing yoga I felt bound to the idea that a sequence of asana had to follow the patterns that others put into script.  As my practice progresses I feel my body moving into different postures, moving energy and stagnation out of my joints, muscles, cells.  The divine will speak to your body and the ecstatic release that happens creates powerful healing.  (I’ll post a video of myself doing ecstatic yoga flow soon as well).

I also try to not set a time limit to this practice.  I start and I stop.  If I only do a little bit of movement wonderful… If I do several hours of movement, wonderful!   Time limits can create another level of restriction.

Sacred space is set by your yoga mat, and the breath cleanses you and the space around you.  You can use the invocation located in the FlowCasting section of this blog to call in the elements for increased power.

– You can also write your intention or your manifesting list and place it under you mat.  As you flow through your asana practice you will be feeding energy directly into that intention.   The mind can wander, and if it does the written transmission of what you are asking will hold the thought for you.

-After each sequence or posture take a moment to center on the breath, the heart center, and your intention. Visualize the intention moving around you, glowing, pulsating into being.  Allow it to become tangible.

Don’t be afraid to ask the divine for assistance.  Using a manifesting list is powerful.  I love using the grocery store analogy:  If you walk into a grocery store without a list you end up getting a lot of stuff you do not want. You get the stuff you knew you should not get and that causes regret or guilt.  Going into manifesting with a deep sense of asking.. even demanding from the universe will help keep then energy of manifesting focused.

What are you asking for?  What is your favorite manifesting technique?

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Michael A Brazell (Mahayogi Das) CFT CSN MAT PAT

 

http://www.michaelbrazell.com

FlowCasting: New Page on the Blog

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So, how does a Yoga Witch create magick?  By FlowCasting.  FlowCasting combines elements of yoga and witchcraft to move energy, set intention, and move deeper into our practice.  At the top of the page, you’ll see a tab that will allow you to access the page.  Feel free to borrow and adapt what I post there for your own purposes.

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

The Elements of Yoga: Fire

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fire-girlFire burns through our practice.   Fire allows for transformation, growth, renewal.   Shiva as the Nataraj, the cosmic dancer moves through fire and dances.  Fire also purifies.  The breath of fire is a breathing technique that some yogis use to excite the kundalini shatki energy.  Kundalini burn through the body as she rises.  The energy purifies the chakras, and starts at the root.  Asana practice helps the body to build heat, the joints become lubricated, the muscles of our body come to life through the movement of our yogic practice.   Invoking the element of fire in our yoga practice allows us to connect to passion, desire and will.  Fire both creates and destroys.

The electrical system in the body ignites our hearts.   It keeps us alive.  In yoga we often chase kundalini.  We have to be careful.  Spiritual fire can burn us from the inside out, and it can kill us if we are not careful.

What ignites your passion?  Where do you find fire in your practice?  How do you invoke fire your practice and your life?

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

 

Michael A Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

Sacred Space on the Go

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sacred_space2I often dream of taking a yoga retreat to beautiful Costa Rica.  I imagine the sacredness of the beach, the water, the jungle…but the reality of life says.. Make due with what you have.  We live in a hectic world.  Life seems to call us from a multitude of angles, and we may feel as if we are pulled between home life, work life, and our spiritual life.  Finding balance is key to having an integrated life.  Taking mini-retreats or finding simple sacred moments throughout your day or life is one way to help balance the hectic and the sacred.

How do we define sacred space?   For me, sacred space is any place where the divine and I can sit for a few moments and enjoy each others presence.  We may have altars at home, temples or churches that we visit, but what about during the day or when we are away from home?  Creating sacred space is simple, and it is possible to drop into sacred spaces during our day.   I thought I would take a few moments to share a few ideas to create sacred spaces in hectic times.

Yoga Mat as Sacred Space:   Yoga is a sacred practice.  Many of us that do yoga own yoga mats.  Doing yoga on that mat infuses it not only with your energy, but the energy of your practice.  Yoga mats are extremely portable and many of us carry them with us through our day between yoga class and home.  One simple way to create sacred space with your yoga mat is to roll it out and meditate while sitting or laying on it.  The mind and body have a connection to the mat.  When you lay or sit on it the body remembers the familiarity and the practice you engage in while using that mat.  This allows you to drop gently between the worlds without doing more that rolling out your mat.  Go to a park, conference room, storage area, or any space that allows you to get away for a few moments.

Journal as Sacred Space:  Journals are places where many of us spill the innermost aspects of our being into written word.  We allow our soul to step into this realm through our pens, so in essence the journal is a sacred space.  There are times when I simply open my journal and stare at the page in front of me.  This allows me to disconnect from the world around me and lets me just be in the energy of the empty page.  I allow myself to be appreciative of the potential that blank page holds.  If I choose to write, it deepens the experience, if I don’t, it becomes a visual meditation practice.  I recommend carrying a small notebook in your back pocket for this purpose.

Close Your Eyes:  It’s simple.  When we close our eyes and tune into the sound of our beating heart.  The movement of the breath through our lungs.  We enter the void of darkness that sits right inside.  We can stay there for just a few moments, or we can sit there for as long as we need.  This is the simplest way to drop into sacred space, but often the one that is overlooked.

The divine is with us constantly.  Take a few moments to invite the divine into your life and allow every moment to be sacred.

Where do you find sacred space?   What do you do to CREATE sacred space for yourself away from home, at work, or on the go?

You are loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

The Ahimsa of Witchcraft: Embracing Kindness

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ahimsa2

Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, An it harm none do what ye will

Ahimsa: the law of reverence for, and nonviolence to, every form of life

The words above from the Wiccan Rede really sum up the yogic principle of ahimsa.  Ahimsa is non-violence towards any living being.  One of the beautiful things about nature based religions are the built-in reverence for the earth, the elements and for well.. nature.

Many yogis extend ahimsa to their plates by observing a vegan or vegetarian diet (This is something that I will be going into in-depth in future posts).  It is one of the first principles that many first time yoga class participants will hear about.  Ahimsa is also extended to mean not competing with others in yoga class, allowing yourself to be okay just where you are in your practice.

I want to take this a bit further.  When we discuss the application of harming none, we often speak in reverence to our practice.  Yogis being yogis try to do no harm in their yoga pursuits.  Yoga Witches are cautious to do no harm in our craft… but how often do we forget to take this beyond our practice.

In this fast paced world it can be hard to remember to extend kindness to all of those around us.  As we enter into the holiday season I’ve been pushed by many hurried shopper on the metro trying to make it to the next big sale, and often I catch myself after the I’ve called them a name in my mind.  Ahimsa is bringing awareness to our thoughts as well as our actions, our sense of being as well as our sense of crafting.

Taking it deeper, we have to be kind to ourselves.  It’s often the part of doing no harm that is truly forgotten.  We might remember to not say something mean to a loved one, to not allow our energy to be reactionary, but there are times when we say unkind things to ourselves.  We often forgive others, but not ourselves.  We have to remember that we are beautiful souls living a human experience.  Our many imperfections are what make us perfect.  We beat ourselves up for minor things, we hold things in our hearts that bind us.  Learning to love ourselves unconditionally is the lesson that ahimsa brings to us.

Take a moment to reflect a time when you were harsh with yourself.
Now breath into that moment and extend love to your heart center.

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

Daily Practice Minute: Look Up

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147943431_730b0c3b62Daily practice is essential to opening our spiritual lives.  Each week I’ll give you an exercise that you can use to establish a practice, or that you can integrate into a current practice.  Some of these will be simple and quick, and others will be designed to take you a bit deeper into your practice.

Many moons ago I use to be a Navy Instructor.  Each week my students would have to take tests on the knowledge they had learned during the week.  Coming into the Navy from civilian life was not an easy next step and there was a lot to absorb in a short amount of time.   During the tests I’d see them struggling, and crinkling their brows.  I remember telling them “Look up for inspiration and not Down in desperation.”

Fast forward to now.  Stepping from the mundane world into the spiritual world has the same effect.  There is so much to absorb and often it can become overwhelming… not to mention that life itself can at times feel overwhelming.

Looking down is typically a sign of worry.  Our minds become heavy and we forget to look up.  Looking up does a lot more than take our eyes to the sky.  We we look up our heart center opens to sky.  Hunched postures are locked postures.  Heart center is a posture of surrendering upward.  When our spines are aligned energy can move through us a bit more freely.

Place your hand on your heart center.  Look down, now look up.  Feel how your heart rises to the sky, or compresses into your center.

How often do you notice the tops of the trees on your walks?

Take a deep breath deep.  Look up.  Surrender your heart center to the sky, to the divine, to your breath.

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Michael Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

Raise Your Voices: The Power of Kirtan

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The one thing that is truly shared by yogis and pagans is the power to raise our voices to bring in the divine.  Last night I got to attend a beautiful Kirtan Festival.  Kirtan is a call and response devotional gathering, in many pagan drum circles the same happens invoking different chants to pay homage to the divine.

The beautiful thing about these types of gatherings is the community that is invoked.  All the walls come down and we can connect.  You do not have to be a professional singer, you do not have to be a skillful drummer, but I am amazed how how in sync everything always is during these sessions.  The divine presence becomes tangible.  You can feel God Herself moving through our voices.  Many get up and dance, clap, and let the energy move through them.  We become possessed by the mantra, the chant, by the divine.

There is always a bit of trepidation for many first timers, but those walls quickly come down.  There is always a little bit of fear when it comes to letting go.  When we start chanting we may feel nervous that we do not know the words.  We may feel that people will stare at us.  The beautiful thing about these types of events is that as the sacred names or songs of the divine are lifted through our voices, the walls naturally start to come down.  There is no need to do anything but be present.  The hard part of spirituality is showing up.  If you are in the room, you’ve done the big step… anything else beyond that is beautiful.

Chanting and singing is something that is also wonderful to add to your own practice.   Find a song, mantra, or chant that calls to your soul… Sing it daily–in the shower, while you are doing yoga, while walking… keep the song moving through your heart and your mind.   Anything we offer to the divine is returned in plenty.

This is Bhakti Tree... One of the amazing performing groups from last night’s Kirtan Fest.

This is T. Thorn Coyle leading a chant and circle dance.