Uncategorized

Keeping practice simple

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Daily practice is important. It helps to connect us to our spiritual path, and to anchor us into our lives. Committing to a daily practice isn’t always easy. We often simplicity-01want to rush down the road, and simplicity gets pushed aside for complexity. I see this a lot in yoga. We often want to jump into the complexity of inversions and arm balances, and only use sun salutations as a warm up. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t reach for things that are complex, but we have to start where we are. Simplicity invites us to start at the foundation. In yoga, this may be simply showing up to your mat, having a seat and breathing deep
ly. Yoga is harmonizing the breath, the body, and movement into an integrated, embodied flow. Simply breathing is where we start, anything beyond that is magic.

Where are the foundations of your practice?  How often do you return to check in with that base layer of your Great Work?

In yoga, much of the other more complex poses and sequences are found in sun salutation. There is so much that happens in those 12 asana. There are some months, where I solely focus on building this base. Coming back to sun salutations, not as a warm up to my practice, but as the practice it self. There are some days when rolling out the mat and sitting on it are enough.

From that place of simplicity, I find myself able to reach for the more complex aspects of my practice. When things get out of control, or more difficult to manage, I return to the foundational work. I pause, sit and breath… from there I move, and I build until I arrive at a place that feels right for that moment.

How we define simplicity will vary from person to person, and practice to practice, and moment to moment. This is just an invitation to explore what you are currently doing, to invite simplicity into your work.

 

 

New name, new energy, new growth

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

 

Screen Shot 2015-12-05 at 12.50.16 AM

A while back I put this blog on hold. There were lots of changes on the horizon. Life was taking new and dynamic twists and turns, and I needed time to find myself in the chaos.  Things are beginning to balance out, and I’m feeling called to kick the blog into high gear. Over the past few  years I’ve moved from DC to Columbia, SC, I’ve deepened and leaned into studying Feri Tradition witchcraft again, and am creating more poetry. Life is calling me to do more than just observe.

My yoga practice is also shifting from that of a physical practice to once of devotion. The path of Bhakti is the path of devotion and love, and this progression for me feels natural. When we do asana (physical practice) we can do so in devotion, and this is something I’ll be exploring in this blog.

Change really is a beautiful and powerful thing.  It helps us to see where our power is, and it lets us do the deeper work of integration, and this is the deeper work of yoga.

Yoga is the process of integrating breath, body and spirit. Magic and witchcraft aligns in very much the same way. This blog is my place to explore the intersections of my work as a witch and yogi. Over the years I spent a lot of time holding my parts in separate compartments, and in order to be whole, it is important to notice the beautiful meeting places that allow me to deepen my experience. As a teacher, it is also important for me to use the tools I’m asking others to take on.

With this blog, I hope to also build community. We are living in a world that is shifting quickly. I hope you find a place to sit, to breath, and I hope you find inspiration. This blog is an experiment in my truth. It’s a place for me to explore the dynamics of my practice. If you have questions, or if something calls to you, reach out and connect.  I’m going to be creating Facebook group, and much more over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Namaste!

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Pilgrimage to the Heart (Part 2)

/ soulinteraction / 1 Comment

543428_10200973243806535_281176769_nI’ve really been taking my time writing this follow-up post.  There is a lot changing for me, not only in the way I am personally engaging my spirituality and path, but how I am relating to other.  Lots of wonderful movement is occurring, and my biggest lesson is stepping back and allowing the changes to take place.  I think too often I get in my own way, I feel that I “have to do”, rather than just hold presence.  Taking the trip to South Carolina opened me up to a lot of things that I needed to see.  I won’t be sharing all of the changes here, as those are meant just for me.  My journal is now my constant companion, as is a mala (I take different ones out depending on the day, my mood, and which one calls to me from my altar).

I had the opportunity to sit with my past in interesting ways.  I found a stack of my old journals.  Many of them leading up to my transition to DC, and I even found one that I kept for my first year in the Navy.  Seeing my personal transformation through these texts really brought me into a deep place of gratitude for where I am, and all the beautiful trials and tribulations along the way.  Getting to be with family helped me to root, to ground, and to just be me for a bit.  I didn’t have to be a teacher, a student, a psychic, a healer, and sometimes when we have the opportunity to step out of our roles we shake the wrinkles out–then we put our multicolored coats on once again.

Now that I am back into my routine, I am getting to live a lot of the changes that I experienced on my Pilgrimage.  I am in the process of de-cluttering my life on many levels (internally and externally).  I am looking at where I am and where I am going a bit differently, and am allowing the changes to take place through a place of deep and unconditional trust.  I am reconnecting to part of my path that are calling to me, and am being kind to myself a bit more.

Spiritual transformation takes many forms, and sometimes we have to step into and out of our lives to gain perspective.  One of the things I did when I went to on my trip was to ask the universe to give me clear signs as to the changes I needed to make… and so my perception opened, and I listened deeply.

I’m going to be writing a series of articles relating my processes moving forward and reflections on the deeper changes that are taking place.  Fasting, writing, loving, being, meditating, yoga, silence and a bit of solitude are now part of my experience.  My processes are mine, but it is my hope that we can share, learn from one another, and grow through the beauty of our shared experience.

 

What changes are you making, and what is changing you?

When you venture into a retreat, take a pilgrimage, or attend an event–how do you integrate what you bring back from the experience into your life?

 

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

Michael A Brazell

Michael@michaelbrazell.com

http://www.michaelbrazell.com

 

Defining Wellness

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment
What is wellness, it is a word that we hear tossed around a lot in fitness, nutrition and spiritual circles, so let’s take a deeper look.
Wellness (as defined by dictionary.com)
1.the quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate effort.
2.an approach to healthcare that emphasizes preventing illness and prolonging life, as opposed to emphasizing treating diseases.
wellness2There is a reason the fitness industry is a multibillion dollar a year industry fitness and wellness are overwhelming topics.  Even in the above definition you will see several trigger words that can often act to cause confusion and a surrendering of power to those you think know more than you.  When engaging fitness, wellness and nutrition it is of course important to seek out guidance and information, but we MUST still engage our intuition and discernment.  Too often do I see people toss out intuition and discernment with the promise of quick results, and impossible goals.  In the above definition you see the following:  state of being healthy, deliberate effort, and prolonging life.  These phrases are ones that can cause the most confusion when making the decision to move into a place of greater health and well-being.
One of the first things that you should do is make a commitment to YOU.  What are your reasons for wanting to move into greater states of health.  If you do not have a journal by now YOU SHOULD. Journals and logs are your best friends on the spiritual journey, and fitness/wellness are part of that journey.
Keeping a journal is one of the first ways to bring wellness into your life.  A commitment to daily logging of your calories, your workout routines, but also your intentions, moments of gratitude, your emotions, insights, dialogue with your intuition, anything and everything.  A journal is sacred space, and too many of us keep a separate journal for each aspect of our lives, this can often divide us.  Keeping one journal (for at least a while) where you write everything allows you to get an overall picture of where you are.  I know many people like keeping electronic journals, but often with these you only get narrow focus on what is right in front of you, non-electronic journal allows you to flip forward and back, to shift around, add notes to, cross things off.
One of the reasons I am stressing the importance of a journal is that you’re going to need it for the next part of this blog.
In order to move into wellness, healthy living, and fitness you’ll first have to define what these are to you.
What does healthy living mean to you, what does it look like, feel like, and what would it take for you to move in that direction?   These are questions to meditate on in your journal.  Contemplative meditation allows us to arrive at our own definitions.  When we OWN wellness, fitness, and health we can begin embodying those principles.  We know where we are, and are less likely to linger in murky waters.  Remember also that your definitions can change daily, and should.  As you grow and evolve on your path to wellness, so will your definitions.  What changes are you making, and what is changing you.  Some days emotions may dictate you take a day off, others those same emotions may dictate a powerful workout to burn off energy.
What are your intentions for moving towards wellness, fitness and healthy living?   Intentions are more important than goals.  Often when it comes to fitness we set goals that may seem impossible, “I am going to lose 15lbs in 3 days!”, or “I am going to work out 7 days a week for 6 hours a day” or any number of the passing fads that present false promises and unrealistic goals.  Intentions are much deeper, they are in the moment, they have greater purpose and we can live them now.  An example would be “Today, my intention for my great work of wellness is to love myself through the movement of my body, to nourish myself with greens, and to breathe in this moment fully.”  Intentions can be single words that you carry with you through the day, “Today I carry love in all my actions, thoughts, words, movements, and nourishment”.  Find what works for you.  Setting intention allows us to have a place to start, it allows it to show up daily and to commit to our life fully.  In a later article I’ll talk about setting positive/healthy goals that are in alignment with your intentions.
Make lifestyle changes.  Wellness and Fitness are a way of life.  When you feel healthy, whole, and nourished you are able to rest more fully, engage your life with more passion, and wield magic from a place of full power.  Your journal allows you to look back on your journey, to see where you were, where you are growing, and where your struggles exist.  It allows you to find appreciation and compassion for ourselves.
In coming articles I’ll take these ideas deeper, we’ll move towards lifestyle changes, and as always feel free to post your questions in the comment section below.
What holds you back from moving towards health, wellness, and fitness?
How do you define health?  Wellness? Fitness?  Are these definitions mutable or are they rigid?
You are ALL loved.  You are ALL Beautiful.  You are ALL Divine
Namaste and Blessed Be.
Mike Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

The Magick of OBW Exercises

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

So, unless you’ve been in the fitness world the abbreviation OBW might not mean much… but it is one of the most powerful, but often overlooked ways to engage the body.

OBW means Own Body Weight exercises.  Using the body itself as your gym.  It is working out and engaging fitness in its most basic form.  Simplicity is often overlooked.  OBW workouts engage the core, an example of an OBW exercise are push ups.  Many people use the gym as an excuse or as resistance to working out.  Yoga is working out through the OBW method.  We use the body as our equipment.  In a push up the core is engaged, the weight of the body becomes natural resistance, our bodies work.  No gym is necessary, no machines, nothing other than time and what you naturally have at your disposal.

We often overlook the simple things, even in our craft work we often try to make things too complex.  When there are too many moving pieces we get away from the core of our work.  OBW exercises prep the body for using machines.  Understanding where we hold energy allows us to engage magick without the dependence of tools.  OBW exercises are also foundational.  Pushups, planks, squats, dips, pull ups–these exercises are foundational to strength training.   Going back to our foundational spiritual practices allows to access a deeper power.  It helps to reconnect to our roots, and this gives us the power of foundation.  It lets us collect those parts of self that we may have forgotten were there, we can tend the garden of our spiritual experience, check the soil, and create new growth.

What are your foundational practices?

I’ll be posting some specific workout routines in the coming weeks.

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

Day 4 & 5 Napowrimo

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

So, yesterday got a bit busy, but today I’m making up for it with a double poetry post

 

Day 4

There are poems here, if you close your eyes and open your heart you can hear them.. They fly like fireflies through my caverns, little blinking illuminations, like snow globes you shake to remind yourself to “shake it up”… and each poem I bleed on to paper is shaking it up…  I write until my pen runs out of ink, my poems never run out of memories to fuel them… they are speed cars racing around tight bends, and crashing something beautiful into kaleidoscopic fragments… You might not get them, and I’m okay with that…. I’m not writing these for you, they are my poems, and they are hear… so close your eyes, and open your heart so you can hear them…

Day 5

Spring has sprung, and the birds… they are singing life back into the blossoms, and the grass, she is kissing our feet.. Dancing clouds move from images of cotton balls to animals and soon we’ll be blowing wishes on dandelions…  The crispness of the air gently reminds that winter, she’s only napping…  The clouds dance fiercely in the sunlight, and my feet… kissing the earth.

 

Morning Practice

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

imagesEvery Tuesday I get up at 4am to head to the yoga studio for Sunrise Yoga.  I often wonder why we call it that since the sun is still in bed at this hour.   Sometimes I fight the knowing that I have to get up and make the chilly walk to the metro, and even as I walk in the studio I am shaking off the dreams and bits of sleep.  There is a beautiful silence this time of morning.  When our bones are beginning to wake up.  The psychic noise is still quiet and we can tune in a bit deeper to that voice that guides us.

When I my students come into the studio, we are sharing in a moment.  There is something powerful about answering the call to connect when others would rather stay in bed.  We open the day with our sun salutations, we begin to move our bodies and shake off the sleep.  We set intentions for the day, and fuel intention with the movement of our bodies.  My brain reaches for the asana, but like all my spiritual work, I allow spirit to guide us.  We flow through postures that are difficult, we laugh, we breathe, and we share in a moment.

There is a moment in practice, right before the end when you finally notice that the sky has shifted from darkness to light.  I like to think that on these Tuesdays we are the reason the sun comes up.  The rustling of our souls inspires creation.  Starting off the day a bit more connected, maybe a bit more sleepy, but worth it.

When do you feel most connected to spirit?   When do you create time to connect to the breathe?  My challenge to all if you is try a early morning practice.  Rise before the sun (just for a day).   Sit in the silence, the stillness, and the quiet knowing that YOU are the reason the sun is rising that day.

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

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelbrazell

www.soulinteraction.com

www.facebook.com/yogawitch

Re-aligning with Purpose

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

So, I took a bit of a break from working on blogs, writing and just about everything else.  When we engage spiritual work for a living we have to give ourselves space to take a step back, to re-examine our purpose and to decide what new directions we wish to explore.  Life is a dance and we sometimes need to take a break and wait for our favorite song to come on before we step back onto the dance floor.  One of the big things I know is that we have to give ourselves space to say no, to hold silence, and to rest.  So, I’ve been in hibernation.  Now, it is time to come out of the shell of my silence and bring into the work and world something new and engaging.  Life gets busy, and we forget to take time to reflect and align with the stuff that calls us.   My yoga practice has brought me a lot of balance (pun intended).  I find that with my yoga practice that regardless of how I feel emotionally that just moving my body helps the emotions to flow.   Some postures can be angry, some can be humble, others can open the valves of sadness, and others bring unconditional joy.   We hold a lot of who we are in the physical body.  It is often the piece of the puzzle that many of us forget to engage.  This body is the one living this beautiful experience.  Sometimes the beauty we live is a bit brutal, and the body remembers this.  It holds it, and we feel it.  I use my practice to move through this.  Over the past few weeks I’ve felt many emotions move through me and my practice.  The second action is journaling.  My journal helps to capture these moments for self reflection, so that I can sit with the narrative of my life experience and see the dance an its many parts.   

So, there is going to be more writing, more self-reflective posts and I am also going to be breathing life back into my other blogs.  Its time to move through the shell and to commit to this experience fully.   

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