journal

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

 

Pilgrimage to the Heart

/ soulinteraction / 2 Comments

I’ve been moving through a lot of new energy over the past few months.  Things are manifesting, growing, evolving and in that process sometimes we can lose perspective of what is necessary and calling us from our core.   Sometimes, in order to gain/claim perspective it is important for us to step out of our normal space and into another.

I am taking a trip home to SC.  To me, this is more than just a trip to see my family (which is also equally important), but it is also a time for me to gain some perspective on things in my life, my training, what I am creating, and who I am.  Going back to a place that is home, a place where there are deep roots is great for this purpose  I am taking this time to also clean up/out some things that need cleaning.  I am going raw for the time I am down in SC, taking minimal stuff, and making a plan to completely declutter my life when I get back.  I am planning to do a lot of writing, contemplating and just enjoying the trip.

Pilgrimages can be done in our own backyards, and this is another thing I am gong to do when I get back.  Taking time to just be in our own energy, to explore what is right around us, to see Her mysteries moving through and with us, and to be in the presence of our own divinity.  I plan on making changes when I get back, some big, some small.

One thing to keep in mind when planning to take on something like this… a pilgrimage should not be an escape, but should be an action of moving into something.  What are you seeking, what is seeking you… what steps will you take to do the work?

I’ll post more on this later, but wanted to get some initial thoughts on this blog before I head out.

What are your thoughts on journeys, pilgrimages, and detachment/perspective work?

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

Mike Brazell

 

Learning to Trust

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

trustThere is an energy of change moving through all of us.  You can feel it in the air, and see in those around you.  I know I’ve been feeling the call for deeper connection to spirit, to my path, and to my practice.  Change is not always a pretty thing, sometimes it is harsh, visceral and can be difficult.

I’ve been going through my own changes over the past few weeks, but thinking back on some of these changes, the seeds were planted years ago.  My life is constantly evolving, and I love this process.  The one thing that I do notice about my life are the things that remain.  There are constants that make up my purpose and are guideposts on my path.  Those constants keep me grounded in moments of change, and as an experiential learner my changes usually are more visceral.

A few days ago I made the decision to leave the yoga studio I’ve been teaching at for over a year and a half.  It was a difficult decision, but one that needed to be made.  I feel that my life is transitioning quickly.  My guides, guardians, souls, angels have been speaking to me with greater frequency, and the message they have been repeating over and over again is:  Trust.

Trust does not come easy.  This is evident in any yoga class.  We often struggle to trust our bodies within the asanas (postures).  We have to learn to trust our instructors, trust our mats, and even trust that the floor will indeed catch us if we fall.  We have to trust that the breath will sync up with the movements, and that we’ll be able to make it through the more challenging postures.  Trust does not come easy, but it comes.  Eventually we forget that we did not have trust, it becomes part of the process, our minds become more at ease… and then we get introduced to new postures, ideas, and concepts that challenge us.. yoga is an action of magick, and extension of trust.

Challenge helps us to identify trust, to encounter her and to sit with difficulty.  Letting go of one part of our lives allows space for new things to enter, and that is where I am finding myself.  I am going be dedicating a lot of time to creating a solid yogawitch.com community and engaging the unfolding path before me.  There is fear, but that is okay.  I trust that what is opening up for me is the most positive and most powerful, because I trust my soul unconditionally.

In the next few weeks I’ll be posting videos, meditations, poetry, spells, and much more.  I also want to hear from all of you!  If there are things that you’d like to see me discuss, videos that you’d like to see, and even if you just want to say hi!  You can contact me via this blog, or at:  theyogawitch@gmail.com

What is trust to you?   What is changing in your experience that causes you to sit with/challenge trust?

As always-

You are Loved.

You are Beautiful.

You are Divine.

Namaste.

Michael A Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.soulinteraction.com

www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelbrazell

NaPoWriMo Poem

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Cherry blossoms,
Floating like butterfly wings,
Winds kissing the tress,
Beautifully impermanent,
We are speck of dust in the eternal dance,
Spinning and floating like wind kissed blossoms,
Only here for a moment,
An kiss from our mother’s lips,
A whispered prayer,
A beating heart,
Silence.

NaPoWriMo Poem

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

I asked the moon to shine, she blushed bright beautiful golden yellow…  Her light kissing my cheek, sneaking trough the clouds, the stars, they danced a jig to the pitter patter pounding of my feet, I am a promise break dancing its way across he sky…Bright beautiful speck of start dust, spinning tornado of infinity… break me open like a piñata.. I am sugar sweets on the inside, hurry and get your fill… There isn’t much to go around, but my pieces if planted in a garden will grow roses… and thorns… Pricking fingers.. My petals kissing your nose… the Moon… she’s still blushing.. Beautiful

NaPoWriMo Day 14 and Day 15

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Poem Day 14

The distance between us is measured in heartbeats… if you listen closely you can hear mine drumming the rhythm of your dancing feet… We’ve become masters at tap dancing around the tough issues, and my fingers have gotten better at tap dancing poems, I write because the songs in my head need words, the echos of prayers I use to send up to a God with really bad cell phone reception..  Maybe one day she’ll check her voice mails.. until then, I’ll write the poems and bleed the words…

Poem Day 15

If I could be a flower I would be dandelion… The prettiest weed in the bunch.  She thrives on sunshine and wishes… I wanna be like that, a whispered breath, breaking open, planting infinite seeds of possibility across all creation..

Day 9 NaPoWriMo Poem

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

You were my sweetest mistake… Like forbidden chocolate when I am on a diet… you are the empty calories I’ve learned not to count on… I feed myself on your words, but the shards of your promises slice me open from the inside…  You and I feed of one another… Like Gods dining on used up souls… let us feast, pray, and be full.

Day 7 and Day 8 NaPoWriMo

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Ha, I seem to be doing a double dipping poetry day.

Day 7

You are oceans away from me,  the distance of our silence overwhelms me.  You are penny wishing well that takes my quarters and never gives any changes.. you sit statue against the sound of dripping tears, each one an echo of a prayer my heart never stops beating into me… One day you’ll look up to find me, and I’ll be an echo to the memory of a prayer you once said… because I’ve started tossing my quarters into my own well, and all I can see is change…

Day 8

Rose petals… whispers… rose petals… song… dance delicate lover, your scent is illuminating, I see who I am in your wonder… rose petals..and whispers lead me to your waiting arms… rose petals.. song.. the once we’ve been singing since our eyes first kissed… your lips are rose petals and song.. whispers I’m longing to hear… wrap your words around me like a love poem we never tire writing… and like this poem.. we, are, endless…

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.

 

Nanowrimo Day 5

/ soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Tonight I’m looking for falling stardust… my out stretched heart catching blessings like pennies on a homeless night..  My idea of God is a Cheshire cat smile shining down from a cloud… the cloud shifts from goddess to god to mirror… My reflection a blessing, my many imperfection worn like ink on skin kissing its way into forever… and most things.. are forever.. Like us, holding our outstretched souls hoping for a momentary miracle, a chance to let go, a flying kite signaling how free we are… every night I fly a bit higher, I dance a bit crazier…Look at that moon, she gets me drunk on moonshine, and I can help laughing.. a Cheshire smile across my face… a penny in my heart, and my soul… overflowing with blessing.