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February 11, 2011. 

Set your life on fire.

Seek those who fan your flames. - RUMI

I read somewhere that “no one is born with healthy self-esteem” we must learn this quality as we face our challenges.  In the energy system this is the work of the 3^rdchakra, the solar plexus, or Manipura.  The energies of this chakra have at their heart the intention to help us mature in our self-understanding like how we feel and take care of ourselves. This spiritual quality is about self-respect.  How we feel about ourselves, whether we have a strong sense of self-esteem determines our quality of life, our capacity to succeed in relationships, and our overall vitality.  

The spiritual truth here is that if we don’t like ourselves our energy sags.  And the lower our energy the less able we are to attract healthy relationships and job situations. To know if your 3^rd Chakra is in balance take a moment and honestly ask yourself: are you choosing situations, people, & things that drain your energy or grow your energy? 

For meditation ask yourself these questions:

·         Where were you last February 2010?

·         Where are you now?

·         Do you have more energy today?

·         Where do you see yourself February 2012?

From this practice of yoga I want us all to keep stoking the fire! I want for you to feel energized and excited about your life. And if you aren't feeling that way then the time is now to set an expectation for yourself – to your own growth and evolution – and surround yourself with those that seek to fan your flames. You are all amazing and as we continue paying attention to the health of our 3^rdchakra please know you have all come a very long way already and let's take it to that next level.  SET YOUR LIFE ON FIRE!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Silvia

*Join me with Alchemy Tours www.alchemytours.com to set the fire ablaze full blast!

 

 

To help us find where we might see ourselves through the eyes of myth rather than reality we used the “Double Basic Vinyasa” inspired by a friend of mine for double the fun. And a whole lot of core cultivation!  But this served to ignite 3^rd chakra more and in the words of Rumi “Set your life on fire.”  So this was about coming home…making the inner form the work of our soul selves the real story and not just the outer form. And as always it is all about LOVE.  So wishing you all the best love, the best lovers, the best life, Silvia

 

"You that love lovers,

This is your home. Welcome.

 

In the midst of making form, 

love made this form that melts form,

with love for the door

and soul for the vestibule.

 

Their dance is our dance.

You are the soul, the universe,

and what animates the universe.

 

Human beings, you have a great value

inside your form, a seed. Be led 

by the rose inside the rose.”

-Rumi

 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2009:   Dear Friends Happy Namaste!

Ok, it’s Monday.  So my question to you is can we get out of our “Monday Mind”.  You know, that mind that says to us this is going to be the same week as last week and feelings of boredom, worry get all stirred.  So to get out of the Monday mind join me tonight at 6:15pm or 7:30pm for yoga to cut through the crap and get to the Truth of your experience. That truth is ours to face and then influence to evolve so we don’t replay this same pattern of Monday Mind every week.

So as meditation today try saying to yourself:

I AM READY FOR CHANGE

This is very 3^rd chakra work and being on the mat will reveal what is necessary for us to allow our evolution to unfold.  We get to see where we have resistance to change.  Or where we doubt ourselves or hesitate which are forms of resistance.  We all know what we want, what we need, what we are ready for and often replaying Monday Mind only serves to “hold us back”. 

So today start the week off in a positive way by saying I AM READY FOR CHANGE.  I don’t want any of us to hold ourselves back from life.  Why?  Because who are we to think that we can be ecstatic LATER if not now?  What we get later is what we DO now.  We set the tone through our dreams and intentions for what we want for our life.

Now I know this is challenging.  I have faced the fear of making positive changes in my life many times over (both work related and personal).  I have tried the avoidance of making a healthy change and sat on the razors edge for far too long.  And that’s not a good or comfortable way to live life.  It all begins with a dream, some call this the power of intention, I AM READY FOR CHANGE. 

With the courage that comes from the strength of your heart can you speak to yourself of your SECRET HOPES AND DREAMS?  Make a list of your dreams, add to it.  We just don’t make enough time for dreaming. Mark Twain said, Optimist means Day-dreamer more elegantly spelled.  I know it seems kind of silly at first, but believe me until you start actually writing out your dreams you aren’t fully admitting them not even to yourself. 

A friend asked me if we are limited in the number of dreams we have and what happens when they come true?  I said to them our dreams know no bounds, they are limitless.  There is no stop to the flow.  I know this because as I said to another friend (and I hope you don’t mind my sharing my thoughts here):  “For me as a lover of nature I look at mother earth and I see her dream of change in seasons, colors of leaves changing, she dreams of rebirth in the Spring, of being comforted and blanketed in the winter, of children playing in the waters of the oceans of winds blowing and reaching amazing heights to the tallest mountains.  If the earth is in a constant state of fantastical dreaming then I can be too.  She doesn’t seem to stop dreaming, manifesting and hatching new dreams.  So I believe I can live the rest of my life (a day, a year, 60+ years) always dreaming, planting new seeds, believing in them, seeing them come to fruition and making new dreams my realities.”

I would love for you to understand that YOU CREATE YOUR REALITY.  Your Monday Mind can influence the week in a dark way or change it out and dream big and each day of your life becomes as Rumi writes “a day of festival!”  Yes, it really will if you allow yourself to keep evolving in the direction of happiness which the yoga sutras say is our natural state.

Start now…I AM READY FOR CHANGE.           

Love to you, courage to all of us! Silvia

The most difficult thing about change is that we meet our fear.  So we fire up the third chakra to promote feelings of courage and self-determination that help us be with the dynamic dance of change in our lives. Now we could just avoid it all. There is that.  But as Jon Kabat Zinn says about life, it’s like the lottery, you got play to have a chance at winning. Each day we have a choice to show up or not.  We have a constant opportunity to make decisions that guide our lives.  When we avoid what scares us then we turn over all our power to someone else.  They control our lives. And it’s hard to be enthusiastic about life when you’re avoiding making decisions or lack the fire in your belly to run your own race.

I know this is not easy. There is friction in making our own choices since we might make mistakes or fall down.  But at least we know we had the courage or Tapas to try.  This is no different than rubbing two sticks together to great friction, heat, or fire.  To bring this home we hatched a dream we’ve had for ourselves and took time to really give it life. Then was talked about sharing that dream out loud with another person. That by talking to someone about an intention we have for ourselves that’s like the two firesticks rubbing together to create fire. 

“Fire is not seen until one firestick rubs against another, though the fire remains hidden in the firestick. 

Let your body be the lower firestick; Let the heart be the upper. 

Rub them against each other in yoga and meditation.”  (ancient writing)

Fire is often symbolic of rebirth.  Fire cleanses, burns off the negative and energizes one to light the path forward.  This is the time to empower yourself towards transforming your life!  I wish you the courage of your heart, Silvia

The spiritual truth here is that if we don’t like ourselves we won’t make healthy decisions about our lives.  People with low self-esteem attract relationships and job situations that mirror and reinforce this.  So if you don’t like YOU others will walk all over you, taking advantage and bullying.  Your physical and emotional strength to set healthy boundaries are from this chakra, your personal power center.  To know if your 3^rd Chakra is in balance take a moment and honestly ask yourself: are you choosing situations, people, & things that drain you or empower you? 

During class we used poses to build physical strength and core awareness to help all of us strengthen our Third Chakra.

The other aspect that we spoke about in class was how a balanced third chakra aids our ability to feel more centered. When our 3^rd chakra is out of balance our thoughts are all over the place.  And if our thoughts are unfocused then it is more difficult to handle the crisis that life might put in our path.  We used the centering breath to return our minds to that place of peaceful balance, sama breathing, no matter what pose or discomfort we faced in a hip opening sequence.  We also learned the solar plexus Mudra called Rudra Mudra with the tips of our thumb and index finger and ring fingers together while extending the other fingers out in a relaxed way.  Our mantra was “I rest at my center and draw joy from my center, I love myself.”

For meditation we asked ourselves these questions as part of our practice:

·         Where were you last June 2008?

·         Where are you now?

·         Are you able to see how much you’ve grown and give yourself credit?

·         Are you on the right path?

·         Where do you see yourself June 2010?

I promise I will check in with everyone June 29, 2010 and hold everyone accountable for deepening their commitment to give birth to the life they really want. That this practice reminded us to set an expectation for ourselves – to our own growth and evolution – and remain centered enough to meet our ambitions.  You are all amazing and as we continue paying attention to the health of our 3^rd chakra please know you have all come a very long way already and with a courageous sense of self-respect and self-esteem little by little we will travel very far by this time next year! May your thoughts, feelings and actions find alignment.

Love yourself, love your life!  Silvia