Embrace the natural rhythms of the moon

After my last post where I share with you my own journey into a deeper connection with the divine feminine, I wanted to share with you more about the new Sadhana and about the New Moon 

Life is cyclic, the seasons, the cycles of the moon, the dark becoming light in the night and day or dawn to dusk, the birth of life, continuity and dissolution of life… so my invitation to you is to move away from a linear concept,  to a pleasurable feeling of free flowing circular cycle... 

The Moon is associated with the mother and with feminine energy. The Moon represents your deepest personal needs, your habits, your reactions, and your unconscious. 

The Moon is reactive, receptive and reflective.  The moons feminine energy mirrors the woman’s and both have many faces through their monthly cycle or indeed life cycle… The phases of the moon allow you to feel and go deeper into your own cycles, observing the natural cycle of you. The Moon is facilitates the awareness of the inner world and the outer world, coming into a rhythmical ebb and flow of activity and energy.

How do you instinctively react or respond to problems in the different phases?

Phases of the moon had a profound effect on you physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. To become in sync or rhythm with the energy of the phases of the moon, help you to use the energy of the moon to make decisions within own cycles of life.

Symbolism of Moon Phases

The phases of the moon serve as another glimpse into her intricate meanings.

• Waning Moon: Symbolic of letting go, surrender, release, quiet time, contemplation, and a time of introspection.
• New Moons: 
Symbolic of new beginnings, a fresh start, rebirth
• Waxing Moon: 
Symbolic of growth, manifestation, attainment, gravity
• Full Moon: 
Symbolic of power, clarity, fullness and fullfilment of desire.

The New Moon Sadhana classes that I am offering  invites you to create a sacred ritual to get closer to the essence of life, the rhythm of nature, the essence of you and your essential nature. The moon changes faces and goes through her cycle of 28 days, just like a womans menstrual cycle. Each month this sadhana is opportunity for you to keep a journal, observe the changes in your own cycle in the month and potentially how the moon affects your mood, your appetite, your sexuality, your energy.  

Embrace the dark of winter and bring newness of you to light with the New Moon Sadhana. Use this time to check in, to balance, to go deeper into the self so you can explore and reconnect with you and your life and the space of being that is connected to everything.

• How can the practice help you to get more in tune with the world and the natural cycles in the universe? 
• And how can following the cycles of the moon allows you to become more in tune with cycles of your own life and connect deeper with your inner self? 

New moon as its name suggest is the time of newness, an opportunity of renewal tuning in beginning a new cycle. It is an invitation to look inside and see what it is that you wish to renew.

let the Old self go  with the old year and allow the new self to emerge… how does this feel for you?

1st January @  YogaRelax 530-7pm £10 - book now!

New Years day is an ideal time for you to set intentions to come  into your own divine feminine and commit to  the new Moon sadhana. this fluid rhythmical; practice with candle-light will offer you quiet introspection to explore news ways of being, new ways of thinking, new ways of receiving and giving… come create anything new you desire with the blessings of Mother Moon… 

email me to book

more mindfulness on your mats!

love n light
michelle x

Navratri navigates to New Moon Sadhana

After the New Moon of October 2013 my own sadhana of Navratri, (the festival honouring the nine (nav) nights (ratri) of the Divine Feminine Mother, Durga, each night honouring a different aspect/face of the Mother Shakti, the Goddess) everything changed for me… 

I finally accepted and embraced my many faces and felt whole in every sense. I came to see different aspects of myself, with no judgments, just loving acceptance. The whole year had been leading me up to this point of honouring and embracing myself in every sense, I was seeing myself, listening to myself and knew above all I truly mattered and will make a difference! I felt the power of the Divine Feminine with urging me to open and explore and help others to do the same…

 ♡♥Do you want to be seen?

\      ♡♥Do you want to be heard?

\       ♡♥Do you truly want to matter?

I came into my own power as a women; ripe, turned onto life and all it has to offer and a longing to share this. I want to help women, to be seen, felt listened to and know they matter and their purpose in life is a path worthy of seeking.  I am not excluding men from my niche market, especially if they wish to connect with their own feminine energy after all masculine and feminine energies are within us, they are One. My calling as I deeply connect with my own true nature as a woman, is to support women, business women, mothers, women who are doing so much for others that they have forgotten how important they are! I want to remind you! I want to nurture you to know how powerful you are as a woman. and men, I wish to help you understand the women in your life or for you to connect deeply with your own feminine nature which will empower you further…

It was as if the windows of the temple of my body were cleaned with the wisdom of the practices and

fully opened ready to receive and even more open to give…. One of my Sankalpas for 2014 is

♡♥“I am Open to Receive” 

I feel a strong knowing to truly support women in my life, to nurture women, encourage them to step into their power as a divine feminine being.  And so this knowing came into being at Diwali, the first New Moon after Navratri when the nights were dark as British Summer time’s cycle changed, I decided to honor of the cycles of a woman and the cycles of the feminine energy of the mother moon, and gave birth to the New Moon Sadhana…  

 New Moon Sadhana

During the winter months I invite you to celebrate the New Moon with a candle-light introspective slower, grounding, pulsating, instinctive practice to encourage you to get into the right relationship with your body, mind and heart to transform and truly come into a new way of being so you thrive and not just survive!

Through the sacred practices of Yoga (meditation, mantra, mudra, pranayama, asana + music, movement) you will learn to evolve the natural cycles of life and  honour the ritual of respecting your self at the highest level, so that you don’t feel the need for something or someone outside of your self to make you happy. As a woman I invite you to (re)kindle a connection with your own divine feminine, or as a man you connect deeply with the power of your divine feminine energy within. This feminine energy within has a yearning to connect, or to deeply reconnect your inner and outer worlds as One and the Mother Moon longs to nurture you along your cyclic path.

Join me…

Let’s turn inwards into the dark mystery of our deep knowing and invite the New Moon to breathe new life into new projects, ideas, relationships or ways of being through the New moon Sadhana (learn more about the moon on my blog link below)

♡ Book now! Just £10 a class

The first one is truly auspicious New Years day 1^st January 2014

♡♥ 1^st January 2014 5.30-7pm

♡♥ Thursday 30^th January 2014 7.30-9pm

♡♥ Saturday 1^st March 5.30-7pm

♡♥ Saturday 29^th March – this will be part of workshop day as actual New Moon is 30^th March and the first day of British summer time so lighter nights – then we will start to follow a Full Moon Sadhana…

More on your mats at YogaRelax

Love n light, 
Michelle ♡♥

Mind Full or Mindful?

In  each day there are millions of thoughts dancing around your head, so of course it, the mind, may feel full! however have you every thought about emptying the mind… probably a tall quest, however being mindful is a tool to help you empty some of those thoughts processes.

you get to choose….

do I attach to that thought process, going round in circles or then another tangent comes into being and the thought process has gone down a whole new avenue all by itself 
or 
do i choose to obSERVE… and by observing I become more aware and then this action of self awareness serves me to a great depth of being…

In Yoga the tools we learn, pranayama, mantra, asanas all prepare the body and mind for meditation, and meditation means to reflect, contemplate, become aware. Meditation isn't just about emptying the mind, the pulse of the mind is endless as i've described, but the wave of thoughts, you choose which one to ride. 

Our thoughts tend to take us from the hear and now, away from the present. the thoughts can make up stories about what is going on, judgements may be placed on yourself or the situation and the more this happens the mind becomes fuller and the more you are taken away from the present moment.  Then it is more difficult if not impossible to respond consciously and skilfully to the present moment.  

does this sound familiar? 

in these times you are cutting off the opportunity to the possibilities of learning, evolving and indeed healing, the "I'm possible"conquers rather than "impossible" judgements because your thoughts, your stories led you away from something revealing potentiality if you are present and conscious.

In my yoga classes, I lead a dynamic class and often students say they are focussing so much on the class and the vinyasas that they didn't have time to think about the million other things that were stressing them prior to class - perfecto! they were present. of course the opposite is true - have you been in a class in a forward bend ladies and thought "oooo my pedicure needs doing… shall i do it or shall i go get it done? what colour?…. blah blah blah!" haha

My own practice is very ritualised and I teach what i practice, so at the beginning of a class I teach centring, it's an opportunity to observe what each of of us is bringing to the mat, the intention to let it go if it's not serving us in that moment…It's a beautiful time to become more aware of the inner and outer experience, or as i like to call it the inner and outer altar.  How is your inner altar being revealed in front of you in your outer experiences. I invite everyone to to step into the sacred to go beyond the body and mind and step into the sacred heart space, the heart fire that burns away that which isn't serving and fuels you to ignite what is present, that wants to be seen, that wants to be heard and wants to matter!

isn't this something you desire?

• to be seen?
• to be heard
• to truly matter?

the inner you, I'm sure is desiring this and mindfulness helps you to become more aware of this and know how to live it. - Give yourself the permission to receive… and then it will be revealed on your outer altar of you life!

when you begin to be more mindful it's about:

• pausing
• awareness
• observe
• feel
• listen
• acceptance
• liberation
• freedom
• surrender

so I invite you to simply start to obSERVE, serve yourself. Observe your life, life situations, your mind, your thoughts, when they arise try not to get attached to the thought process, observe the judgements placed. Observe whether you begin to think negatively about a situation and pause, see if you stop that judgement and see if you can start to re-write a different story. when you find you are following the endless path of a thought…. breathe inhale the word "let", exhale the word "go"... and observe the breath, or chant a mantra so you are focussing on something else. you will find the more you do this the less the tangents will come in and then in observing the new potentiality arises… the ah-ha mOMents! 

when you are out walking like the picture above is it a cloud of thoughts or do you see the trees, the buildings, the landscape, feel the beauty of the wind caressing your cheek, or the rain cleansing your soul… there are endless ways to think… you choose - positive or negative, judgement or how can i change that process and write another story...

What I love about teaching, coaching, the therapies i offer, is I utilise skills to encourage each person to self-regulate, to observe themselves, to let go of the judgements and I empower them to plant new positive, strong liberating seeds that grow into a new story, a new way of being that they then remember and tell themselves when and if they find themselves in that situation again!

their memory has a positive to recall to mind, they can let the thought go and be aware… be mindful nor have a mind full!

this week november 11 2013 - more or this on yr mats at YogaRelax!

hope you observe

namaste
michelle x

Metamorphosis

In light of the Metamorphosis workshop 2 days ago at YogaRelax I was contemplating the profound experience for myself and the attendees. It was a celebration of the beginning of Diwali a Hindu festival, which means festival of Light and I celebrate every year with a workshop. It celebrates the victory of good over "evil", or as I described the good over hardships, the hope over despair, the positive over the negative. in Metamorphosis, how the year has transformed, the evil, being the challenges you have over come to be a shining beacon in your life.

there's no getting away from it, Life sometimes or maybe a lot does challenge us, yet its in those challenges that we evolve, learn, reconnect with our light. In the Metamorphosis workshop I invited all the ladies to contemplate how their year, their life, how they had transformed?

this word transform in sanskrit is Parinama. I recently read someone translating it as "folding within to offer out" I found this beautiful. My contemplation  that to truly transform, to see a change or to see metamorphosis or to step into the light you need to turn inwards, sit with it, like in meditation, or reflection or contemplation or a moving meditation of vinyasa yoga like I teach, then as you rest into it, you evolve and it transforms into an offering from the inside out….is that not wonderful?!

It reinforces my intention at Diwali and any of my other ritualised practices to fill the outer and inner "home" with light… I teach to turn in to the temple of your body. Diwali is an opportunity to truly light up your inner altar in the temple of your body so that vibrationally the outer manifest ions mirror this...

for me this unfolding from within, the parinama at you temple altar summed up my other invitation to the ladies ~ to make beauty with their body from the lotus of their heart…we did a meditations, comtemplations on this to help turn innards for the answers so they revealed in the practice the deeper intent...

the celebration of Diwali is honouring the deities Ganesha and Lakshmi, we invoke Ganesh at the beginning for he represents the removal of obstacles, the lord of new beginnings so the transformation occurs, and Lakshmi is the goddess of beauty, auspiciousness, wealth, fertility and love. As we invoked (another blog about that soon) Ganesh, his representation clears the path for the goddess Lakshmi to come forth, and the secret with the goddesses as I told in my stories, is she remains hidden unless you invite her in…. so the invitation to make beauty externally in their asanas allowed each women to come into her radiance, the wealth of her innate beauty and  bring it to birth, for me allowed them to connect deeply with their Lakshmi within….

It was an honour to witness the parinama…

Aum Shrim Maha Lakshmiyae Namaha

here's what some women wrote about the workshop

"Amazing yoga workshop today. Absolutely loved it.  Music, candlelight, lots of heart openers, insights.. it all really appealed to me...A wonderful, insightful, heart opening workshop.  A beautiful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  I am grateful for your dynamic yoga practice and the time to reflect.  After a twin pregnancy and early motherhood my body has often not felt my own; your yoga practice has challenged, inspired and helped me start to feel myself return.  Thanks as always and Namaste x" ~ Lisa

"Absolutely Loved it too. Perfect way to start to slow down to get ready for labour. I think it was the best one ever! thanks a million x" ~ Margherita


"Thank you Michelle for a sublime way to spend a Sunday afternoon, particularly as dusk descended and the light of the candles grew brighter at the perfect time for introspection!
Such a complement to last January’s workshop where we set our sankalpa – so timely to contemplate any progress made [or not!] during the year. My appetite is truly whetted for January’s all day workshop and really looking forward to delving and diving deeper [in every sense!] x" ~ Jan