There are days I wanted out… but you wrapped your arms around me like love, or.. broken promises. The grip of all that we could be holds me like the echos of pennies tossed in wishing wells… dreams are sometimes nightmares, and we wake up screaming I love you into memories of how things use to be… how things were when we first met… They said we wouldn’t last, but we proved them wrong, your name tattooed on my skin, you’re forever part of me.. ink kissing skin, spilling into poems… forever.
April is National Poetry Writing month! What this means is that everyday for the month we write a poem. It sounds easy enough, but it can really throw you for a loop. I’m going to do my best this year to stick to getting a poem up each day of the month.
We were a beautiful mess.. We could sing back up to car wrecks, we were anthems to brokenness.. we wrapped broken promises around us hoping to keep warm, like your arms around me the day you left… You reached into my chest and etched your name on my heart… I write poems to forget, only to remember that poems never die… you are etched into my skin, tattooed… You were the first, the ink touches my skin, the pain payment… the battle scars beautiful… our memories endless.
just a bit of stream of consciousness for tonight 🙂
Many of us are entering this new year shedding off the old. The dust is finally settling and it is time for us to move into greater states of connection with what we want from life. So, here are a few questions to sit with: What do you want from life? What are you doing to achieve it? What is your resistance to making these desires manifest?
As we move into this new year I want to bring a bit of warrior energy into our practice. In yoga, warrior postures take us into places of strength, balance, focus. I will however point out that too often we hold these posture with too much rigidity. Warriors have to be flexible, they have to move with the elements, with life itself. Engaging the practice of asana work helps us to embody the warrior. When we move our bodies into a posture that represents our warrior nature we are calling that force into all of our parts.
Here is a quick and simple mediation that you can do to help you find balance.
Warrior 2-
Step one leg forward into a lunge. Your back foot is at a slight 45 degree angle. Your front knee is either above the ankle or slightly behind. You can lessen the intensity of the lunge depending on your fitness level. Your hips are turned outward. One hand is moving forward, the other back. Look forward and back and your hands should be aligned through the center plane. Here is a video to help work your into the posture:
Once in the poster here is a meditation to help you get the most from the power of this posture:
This warrior posture represents standing in the center. Being fully in balance and in control of our experience.
While standing in warrior two, listen to your body. Where is your mind drifiting? How does your body feel standing in the posture, do you feel strong, weak, small, big? Sit with these thoughts as they come up. Where do you need warrior energy in your life?
Now shift your focus to the rear hand:
What in your past is still binding you? Do you find yourself drifting through the your past? Where do you feel that you need balance in your past experience? Send light and energy through your fingertips to those areas of your life.
Now Take your focus to the front hand:
Where in your current experience do you feel bound? What do you feel about your future, does it bring fear or joy? Where in your current experience do you need energy, balance, strength? Send energy through your fingertips to those parts of your life that need it?
Switch sides and do the same thing with the opposite side forward. This becomes a practice of balancing our bodies and engaging the mind/body/ and spirit connection. After you do this practice, take a few moments to journal your experience. What thoughts came to mind? What came up for you? Do you feel powerful, do you feel like a warrior? If not, touch the solar plexus, ask the body what it needs in order to bring that energy into your life?
Blessed be warriors! Practice, connect, love, and stand in your power!
and remember… You are Loved. You are Beautiful. You are Divine.
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.
Bhakti Witch 