yoga witch

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.

What is a Yoga Witch?

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Until now, I never really felt that I could claim my path fully. I felt to pagan to be a true yogi, and felt too much like a yogi to fit in a witchcraft setting. I find myself doing a Chandra Namaskar (moon salutation) sequence to celebrate the moon, and I add herbal aroma blends to invoke the senses in my yoga classes. Now, there are those that practice yoga that also engage in witchcraft, and there are witches that practice yoga… The Yoga Witch goes a bit further into the intersections. The Yoga Witch sits in the spaces where duality becomes singularity. There were times when I was afraid to wear my pentacle to my yoga class, and other times where I felt out-of-place wearing my “Om” covered prayer shawl to a Sabbat celebration. I think labels in some way allow us to be a bit more expressive with how we identify with an energy that not only moves around us, but moves through us. I also find that it gives us permission to step into uncharted territories. I’ve always felt on the fringe of my own experience and now, I feel the fullness of my being. The thing I love about witchcraft is that it allows the fluidity to be eclectic, to own yourself on your path. There are so many beautiful avenues and there is a process that allows you to be alone with God Herself, or to step into a group setting to connect into a collective vibration of divine flow. Yoga can be more rigid. There are preset movements, motions and prescriptions that need to be met within a class structure. At times, yoga tends to be devoid of its spiritual frequency. People become more connected to the physical aspects of yoga and it becomes a workout instead of a mechanism of expansion.

 

My connection to witchcraft has allowed me to deepen my yogic practice by allowing me to go with my own flow. I am able to be solitary in my practice, I can use asana (yoga postures) to engage in a ritual and to move with an inspired flow instead of rigidity. Yoga allows me to see the subtle in my spell casting (or what I prefer to call flow casting). It allows me to use my body as sacred space, to move energy, and to bring greater presence to the ritual at hand. Yoga and magical practice are more alike that different, and that’s one of the things that I will be focusing on through this blog. This is part discovery, part journey, a dash of curiosity, and a lot of movement. I don’t claim to have all the answers, nor do I know how all the pieces fit together… that’s part of the fun. This blog is a place to share. I am going to have some amazing guest writers posting their thought on the integrated Yogic Witchcraft experience. Our community comes in many beautiful shapes and sizes. Each day I am thankful of how blessed I truly am.

 

Namaste, Blessed Be, and Thank You.

 

 

Michael Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com 

Greetings and Welcome

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A lot of people often ask me what my path is… and I often struggle to respond.  There are so many layers to my being and I tend to be very spiritually ADD.  I can find myself in any given moment looking for the divine in the nooks and crannies of my experience.  There have been several constants or themes that seem to hold steady in my merry-go-round existence: yoga and magick.

I’ve always loved the idea of magick and can still remember my first book of spells that I bought from the flea market when I was 8.  I can remember gazing into mirrors hoping to see into other dimensions.  Little did I know that when I grew up that I’d be gazing into souls for living.

My path into yoga has been life changing and life affirming.  I love the connection that it gives me to my body, to the subtle spaces around me, and to the natural energy that flows from within.  Through yoga I’ve been able to tap into my spiritual and physical dynamics in a way that has brought alignment to my life on many levels.

Yoga and Magick play a big part in my life.  I’ve often tried steering as far away as I could from one path and into another, but each calls me back.  I’ve often felt like I did not belong in this circle or that group because of the sometimes clashing energies present within my diverse interests.  The lesson that I have found myself sitting with for the past few years is the path of integration.  Embracing my many parts and taking claim to who I am within this dynamic gives me freedom to enjoy my many parts.

I am currently working on a book about this integrated journey.  There is beautiful magick within the yogic framework, and alignment and breath takes us deep into the mysteries of who we are.

I am a Yoga Witch.

This is my journey, my path, and my direction.

Check back often.  I’ll be updating this blog daily.

This is an unfolding process and it is moving into a space of growth.  I’ll be posting videos and will be having guest posts from others doing similar work.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit for a spell.

Love, light, and namaste

Michael Brazell (Mahayogi Das)

www.michaelbrazell.com