NaPoWriMo Day 14 and Day 15

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 7 and Day 8 NaPoWriMo

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…

Nanowrimo Day 5

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.

Nanowrimo Day 4

Today I tossed a penny into a wishing well shaped like my heart…  Dreams come true, and my hands… are dream makers, my poems, echos of prayers kissing life into memories…  I’m learning slowly that perfection is found in falling down, life is about getting back up again, learning to dance with two left feet and my shoe laces tied together, but I dance… I sing a bit out of key, my voice.. tuned to my heart strings.. pluck me open, kick down the doors of my soul, lets dance in the rain, splash puddles under out feet, sweat glistening  something beautiful on skin… the moment sinking its way in… another poem kissing a memory, making beautiful love..

Fasting Blog (The Pre-Fast)

Today I am beginning a journey into a fast.  I have decided to share the journey here and to be a bit more transparent than I usually am with this process.  I sometimes tend to be more guarded with my process as fasting is a deeply personal venture.  When we start sharing we often will get criticism and judgment.  I will open up my process for discussion, but am not going to debate my fasting process or reasons for fasting.  That said, I feel that fasting is a powerful tool for both spiritual and physical alignment.  It is a way for us to let the internal organs rest, reset and align.  Fasting also brings us facet to face with our fears.  The fear of not having food, nutrition, or energy.

The biggest tool on a fast is a journal.  It is important to do a lot of self reflection while engaging the fasting process.  One, it allows you to do tunes in with where you are in the fasting process.   You want to pay attention to your health, where you are in the body and how you are connecting to the process itself.  I typically do not try to maintain strict time lines for fasting, but this time I am going to push past my own boundaries and go for an extended water fast.  I’ll be journaling the experience and of course blogging it here.   I am also going to do weekly video blogs that I’ll post here to give you updates on my progress.

I always start my fasts on a Monday (I’m a big OCD with dates and things, lol) so the Sunday before the fast I ease myself into the amount of water that I’ll be taking in for the duration.   I also give myself a few light, healthy low calorie snacks to ease me in to the fast.  The key is working with the body, bringing in the mind with ease, and allowing the spiritual component to also unfold.

So, that is just a bit of information for now.  I’ll post a bit more this evening.

Engage Your Inner Warrior: Standing in Balance

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.

STR_Warr2

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:

STR_Warr2

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:

STR_Warr2

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.

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.facebook.com/yogawitch

www.michaelbrazell.com

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theyogawitch@gmail.com

FlowCasting: Manifesting With Your Yoga Practice

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