Chakras

November 24 - Read the section on Chakras. Take this week to do the water cleansing practice on page 14. Practice the bija sounds to enliven the chakras. In teaching a chakra meditation, follow the General Outline on page 9 of Air and for the middle section, focus on one chakra OR Root + Heart + Crown OR the whole chakra chain either bottom up, or top down.

We practiced simple breath in the more tantric directions - inhale feel air and energy move down (feel pelvic floor soften), exhale feel air and energy rise up (feel the pelvic floor tone/lift). This is like an energy pump for waking Kundalini.

December 1 - Chakras as a map for meditation. I want to expand on what I said last night b/c Kalee was curious and I wasn’t in a very structured frame of mind last night when I was trying to say that both thoughts and bliss live in the heart and that ether has variations of density. There are more chakras than the 7 we’re studying. Soooo, starting from root we have 1. Muladhara and the element of Earth - physical body (body scan practice); 2. Svadhisthana and the element of Water - energy/breath body (pranayama); 3. Manipura and the element of Fire - emotions (as per the scripts in the binder). 4. LOW HEART called Atma chakra - element here is subtle air (belief/thought/imagery practices). My teacher Richard Miller says that this is the seat of the “I” thought. If you sit in meditation and feel/watch this space, you can witness the I thought bubble up. 5. Anahata - the element here is Air (Bliss practices) 6. Vishuddha and the element of ether/space (soft/fuzzy space “consciousness pervading”); 7. Ajna and the element of subtler space/Ether (still soft/fuzzy space, but now you’re not just perceiving it outside of you, but also inside of “you”); 8. Sahasrara and even subtler space (emptiness, all the soft fuzziness kind of drains out.) There are also chakras beyond Sahasrara, the next one is Narayanana with even subtler space - this is what I was talking about last night when I said you might notice that you exhale and then you just pause, not breathing. This spontaneous breath retention is called Kaivalya Kumbakha and that open, formless stillness is the domain of this chakra. And another chakra still called Bramananda - thiiiiiis one is merging with and as Pure Awareness and absolute dissolution of the personal “I”.

For purposes of mapping your mediations using the chakras as an organizing (behind the scenes) guide - you move from gross (dense) to subtle. Body, Breath, Emotions, Thoughts, Bliss, Space! :) This is the “Middle” section of the general outline on page 9 of the “Air” section of your binder.

Chakra Chant Bijas HERE

Ecstatic Breathing

December 1 - I loooooooooooove pranayama and chanting as means of enlivening energy. Since we can’t do either of these things easily together b/c of the pandemic I wanted to have a class where we were all at home and could exhale and yell to our hearts’ content. The breath style we did has a bunch of different names - I’ve done it as Ecstatic Breathing and Holotropic Breathwork and Neurodynamic Breathwork and another one that has no specific name. I’ve done it with “trance-y” shamanic type music, with no music and with popular music. Really, there are no music rules, just the experience you want to create. If we were on retreat, I likely would have done more trippy kinda’ music, the popular music helps level it a bit I think for everyday life :)

I do not consider this a beginner practice. You should practice this yourself MANY times before offering it so that you understand the energetics and know that you are prepared to handle the variety of responses that may arise in your students.

Yoruba & the Moon

December 8 - Refresh on the wheel of directions and elements that we have built through these past 5 months. Introduction of Yoruba creation story, some of the Goddesses of this tradition and the framework for that system’s compass/wheel. Reminder that these systems are about remembering our wholeness - what are you doing daily to remember YOUR inherent wholeness?

4-week Meditation Initiation

Over 4 weeks, you will practice meditation DAILY and document your experiences.  Meditations need to be 20 minutes or more (15 minutes can count if you’re in a real pinch) and write a journal entry describing your experience for EACH session.  We need to actually PRACTICE meditation in order to be authentic teachers – this group activity will help to get you into the flow and into the habit.   This is a no excuses, no BS adventure.  If you want to be a meditator you have to meditate, if you want to be a meditation teacher you REALLY need to meditate.  

Here’s how it will work! 

Triad Groups: Stella, Angela & Kalee. Lauren, Emmi & Starr. Christina, Pao & Torrie. Sarah, Olivia & RosaLia. Make sure your group sisters are doing their meditations - accountability & inspiration :)

December 23 – 31 

Do meditations of your choosing and document them in your journal - 1 per day.  (Any meditation here as long as it's 20+ minutes)

January 1-10 

You will be enrolled in the 10-day meditation challenge.  Practice a meditation from the challenge each day and write about it in your journal, or in the discussion section of the challenge. If you would like to purchase a tshirt, tank or hoodie to go along with the challenge, we have a discounted price for ya’ll: https://www.yogaonhigh.com/special-order/meditation-magic These will not be available for purchase - only available to ppl in the challenge!

January 11-18 

Do a meditation of your choosing and write about it in your journal each day. 

January 19th – turn your journal in to me during class.  Your journal will be returned to you on the 26th. 

Reiki Attunements Complete for Level 1

January 12th Happy Birthday Olivia! Happy Almost Birthday Lauren.
Meditation Scripts due.
You taught to each other and received the 3rd and 4th attunements. You have a complete reiki level 1 manual in your TT Manual. Please read and review the information there.

Why UNTAMED?

January 19th Fight the MF’in patriarchy peeps!
Journals Due
Divine Masculine Qualities (“looks like a resume” -Stella). Doing: structure, sun, firey, productive, organised, linear, goal oriented, individualistic, intellectual, analytical, physical strength, self-starter, provider/protector in kind ways, not domineering, literal. Divine Feminine Qualities. Being: communal, generous, soft, embodied/sensual, wild, healing, nurturing, abundant, flowing, listening, moon, goddess, intuitive, earth, sensitive, inner world, spirits, restful, creative, cyclical, imaginative.

You are the Goddess of [element] and protectress of [word]:

Angela - air, intuitive
Lauren - ether, sensitive
Olivia - fire, sensuality
Kalee - ether & water, generous creativity
Torrie - air, listening
Rosalia - earth & water, intuition
Stella - ether, listening
Pao - water, intuitive
Emmi - earth, abundance
Christina -
Starr -
Sarah -
Michele - air & ether, imaginative & wild

Final Evening

January 26th We Belong Together
Opening Chant: Om Shrim maha lakshmyai namaha. Ohm shreem muh-ha luck-shmyai nuh-muh-huh
The goddesses are said to have three forms through which they can be engaged: the image we see in paintings and statues and visualizations; the mantra; and the geometric form, or yantra. Each of these forms is said to fully contain the energy of the deity.  We use sadhana (practices) to activate the goddesses energy and embody her powers – we are enlivening her specific boons within ourselves.

Abundance Exploration:  Goddess Lakshmi – Hindu Goddess of Wellbeing, Abundance, Prosperity, Generosity and Sustainability

Shrim is Lakshmi’s bija mantra (pronounced shreem). Shri – noun that signifies all the qualities associated with auspiciousness:  good fortune, loving kindness, material prosperity, physical health, purity of motives, energy, vitality and radiance. 
Mantra:  Aum shrim Lakshmiyai namaha or Om Shrim maha lakshmyai namaha
Lakshmi’s symbols:  the lotus, the rose, colors are red, pink and gold. 
Festival:  Diwali.  Also known as Kamala (the Lotus Goddess).
Invoke Lakshmi for:

  • all forms of abundance

  • contentment

  • good health

  • good luck

  • support in worldly life

  • gratitude and generosity (cultivating these in yourself)

  • positive self-impression

  • being receptive (open to receive)

  • experiencing beauty in your life

  • money $$$

  • gracefully exercising authority

  • fine arts

  • harmonious relationships

  • enjoying pleasure

  • love

  • giving blessings

  • inner radiance

  • happiness

    First meditation - Astral Altar!!! Magical world where we have our communal sister, goddess altar. We can go there any time to be together and to tap into the flows of divine feminine energy. I made a pinterest board (wednesday morning after class) to highlight some of the imagery I imagined - what the altar looked like, what doorway would I walk through to this liminal world. What did east (meadow), south (jungle), west (ocean), north (snowy forest) look like? What was it like to have earth energy spiral up? Now, these images aren’t exactly what I imagined, some are closer than others - but it can be helpful to have clear images to guide you if you have a particular place to go. For instance, you might want to travel through the same doorway every time to get to this particular astral altar. I would recommend starting your own b4 you look at mine :) PINTEREST LINK

    Heart rock - Rhodonite: is a stone of compassion, an emotional balancer that clears away emotional wounds and scars from the past, and that nurtures love. It stimulates, clears and activates the heart. Rhodonite grounds energy, balances yin-yang, and balances spiritual energy. To me it is a super connector and a super heart soother - carries the energy of THE BEST therapy dog or tree ancestor.

    Journey - to the upper world. Light beings. White animal - shapeshifting and/or merging. Seeing through the eyes of the spirit animal. Pick one inquiry: What am I ready to see? What am I ready to receive? What am I ready to heal?

    Handout - I gave you a print out of Joan Ruvinsky’s Pratyabhijna-hrdayam, The Heart of Recognition. It is important…this is a book to take on retreat with you and let the meaning unfold in you. Expanding and contracting y’all - it’s divine play.

Ongoing

Attention vs. Awareness I want to share more on this in regards to language when teaching meditation. Though many people use attention and awareness interchangeably, it can be really useful to differentiate them. When I teach I use “attention” to mean the focus of the mind, moving from object to thought to sensation to whatever. When I use “Awareness” I mean the omnipresent part of us that is always effortlessly meditating and taking it all in. One of my favorite teachers pretty much uses awareness for everything - it’s not wrong, and also, I like this distinction - it creates clarity in my teaching. (I developed this language from my iRest teachers).
Contemplation - those of you who when through our 200hr, revisit the opening section and read the contemplation there. It is the framework that built YOHI in the beginning and it is very much what my daily inquiry meditations look like. (Brief refresher - formulate question, feed it to the mind, and let the mind answer. Send it to the heart and let the heart answer. Drop it in the deep heart (or the deepest place in you) and let that Presence answer.) This particular contemplation framework was arrived at by Katherine Dufrane who was Linda, Marcia and Martha’s energy teacher.
Deepening - I highly recommend you go back in the next month and re-read the first section starting with the Elements and pay specific attention to my definition of meditation and maybe dive into the inquiries at the bottom of that page and on page 18. You have more mature eyes and more open hearts. See if things land differently or if you understand things that felt fuzzy before.
Accountability - I really feel that if you are going to teach meditation you need to a) practice meditation 6-7 days a week and b) go on retreats. You can read all the books you want and listen to loads of teachers, but don’t confuse intellect with embodiment (or intellect with heart.) How can you hold yourself (and each other) accountable to this?