“Choose Wisely…”
Namaste Friends,
Michael’s 50th birthday was yesterday August 26th! Happy Birthday to my soulmate, my halfside, my dearest friend. Michael is a special breed, in that I know very few people who have his discipline and devotion and discernment. He is a pure Virgo through and through.
We just entered Virgo season on the 22nd of August, which is about the same time that everyone gets back to school and their routines. Summer is ramping down and the steadiness of fall is slowly rolling in. Gladly so.
It gets to be too much to be constantly in social mode or go-go gadget mode-to use the catch phrase of days gone by. Its important to find some down time and quiet the mind.
The wheel is turning toward fall equinox this month. We come into equal days and nights. We start to find some balance and rhythm again after a long exhilarating play in the summer sun.
Its not surprising that in the late summer we transition from Leo, the sun sign, to Virgo, the sign of discernment, discipline, and devotion. Its time to turn our gaze inward toward our spiritual heart (hridyam) to get clear, centered, and connected to our True Self, or our High Self.
Virgo means “One who chooses Themselves”. The symbol depicts a beautiful maiden holding a sheath of wheat with a halo of light around her. The vestal virgin archetype. These young girls were chosen to hold the torch for living a pure and chaste life-in efforts to keep the pure goodness of life alive and well. They were taught discernment around the choices we are given in life. They are able to hold themselves steady and true to their heart while they review their choices.
As we enter the sign of Virgo-the Universe is asking us to look through this lens right now. The Sun is shining in Virgo saying this is the focus people: make good choices and put your health and wellbeing as a high priority.
“Things Are Looking Up!”
Namaste Friends,
We are camping again-4th time out this year. This time we are out for two full weeks! Our campsite is far enough to get away from the noise and hustle of the city, but close enough that we can still drive in to work as needed. I was telling my mom the other day that I can totally feel a difference in my energy when the majority of my day is spent outside in the quiet looking at blue skies, clouds, stars, lakes, hundreds of trees and tons of wildlife; unbridled nature rejuvenates my soul. No sirens, no billboards, no traffic, no technology, no concrete and very few distractions-my nervous system instantly goes into parasympathetic or rest and digest mode. I don’t remember where I read this, but I remember this line distinctly-“One doesn’t go out into nature, we are nature.” When we visit the wild places of earth, we remember a part of ourselves that gets lost in the fray of life.
Its this lost or forgotten part of ourselves that we desperately need to bring back into our awareness. In the Taoist tradition, they call it Wu Wei- pronounced “woo way”. It is where we get the term “wooey” as in “She likes all that spiritual wooey stuff”.
One of my favorite philosophers of all time is Alan Watts-he had an elegantly cheeky style like only a Brit can do, yet he was deeply profound and his insights poked holes into the fabric of some of our misaligned cultural norms-particularly our overzealous, puritanical indoctrination. He often wrote on the“nature” of things-This is a quote from his Three Theories of Nature-Letters from his Collected Works:
“Nature — human nature included — is an organism, and an organism is a system of orderly anarchy. There is no boss in it, but it gets along by being left alone and being allowed to do its stuff. That’s what the Chinese Taoist philosophy calls wu wei (無爲), which means — not ‘doing nothing’ — but ‘not interfering with the course of events.’ Not acting against the grain.”
In other words, Wu Wei is going with the natural flow of things. Take a river for example-the snow melts, it fills the alpine lakes and they overflow and the excess water finds the easiest pathway down the mountain forming the river bed, water falls, etc…ultimately heading toward the oceans. That is the natural flow of things.
When we are wooey, we too follow the natural flow of life-its called following our intuition.
“I AM THAT, THAT I AM”
Namaste Friends!
Summertime is official in just a few weeks. Daytime is extended by a couple hours on each end and I love having the extra light. For some reason, the more light we have in a day, the more energy I have to do things.
Conversely, in the dark season of winter, when the sun goes down at 4:30, I am ready for bed shortly after-I often crawl into my warm bed and am resting my bones by 6pm with a good book and a cup of tea.
But now I am crawling into bed much later, around 11pm and I don’t feel exhausted. The natural world instinctually adjusts to the light. So should we, hence it is very important that we have ample outside time in a day-regardless of what season it is-so that we can attune and align with the natural forces of Spirit. Nature Is Spirit.
The yogis call it Prakriti-its the totality of creation in either its seed form or potential or its physical form or manifestation. Its hard to imagine this, but there are many things in Creation that haven’t been “born” yet, they are energies that are held as potentials that can come into the physical plane, but haven’t been conceived yet. These are TBD-depending on our behavior and collective karmas.
And then there is all that has come into manifestation already-the plant and animal kingdom, the celestial bodies, the world we see and live within-all the inventions, the arts and music, the infrasturctures- everything we see and know as life. Prakriti is the great mother of all life as we know it. Born and unborn. She is Mother Nature.
Prakriti comes from Purusha. Purusha is more challenging to explain because it is the ALL-the yogis actually say it is the unnameable because there isn’t a word that can capture all that it is…but it is similar to what we might call Source, Spirit, Supreme Being, God. It is all-knowing, all-seeing, and ever-present-it has always been-and it will always be-yet it isn’t an entity and it doesn’t have a form. And, it dwells in all creation-every single being carries Purusha within themselves. It does not create or manifest, that is Prakriti-but it is the essence of everything created-including Prakriti. And it is Pure Consciousness itself. In Dr. Frawley’s book, Yoga and Ayurveda he defines Purusha as such:
“Purusha/Pure Consciousness is the ultimate principle behind the universe, which in its marvelous order reflects the workings of a supreme intelligence. Pure consciousness is the source of all subjectivity or sense of self through which we feel alive and can act independently. We all feel ourselves as conscious individuals and not as mere objects or instruments. This is our connection with the Purusha within us, also called the Atman or higher Self” (15).
Stoke Your Inner Fire…
Beltane Blessings Dear Ones❤️
Beltane, sometimes called May Day marks the exact mid point between spring and summer. Beltane loosely means bright fire. Bel is a Celtic God whose inner fire or Spirit, was so bright and shiny that their Light radiated out like 10,000 suns.
We all have this divine spark of spirit and Beltane reminds us to keep our inner fires bright and use them for creativity, transformation, and healing. In the Gaelic tradition, as with most ancient, earth-centered, wisdom traditions, it was customary to honor the changing of the seasons. Beltane is the peak of spring-when spring is feeling like it pushed all its little Imbolc seeds into full grown teenagers, who then begin to fully blossom open as we come into summer, the next turn of the wheel.
Instead of using the traditional cross of 4 seasons: winter, spring, summer and fall-which is a very linear or masculine approach, The Celtic tradition adds in the quarter seasons too, so instead of a square of four seasons, it becomes a wheel of continuous change, which is very feminine and flowy.
On the opposite side of the seasonal wheel of Beltane, is Samhain- or Halloween. At both of these turning points on the wheel the veil is thin between the two worlds. That means we can more easily receive our cosmic downloads or spiritual attunements, or we may experience a sudden shift in our consciousness or awareness, that feels elevated. The first is the world of Spirit or Light Consciousness, and the second is the world of Matter or dense consciousness.
Beltane welcomes in growth, abundance, fecundity, and purification. Halloween lets go of the old, or is the death of things. Both equally celebrated as important parts of our soul’s evolution.
Full Moon Inspiration…Take Charge
Full Moon Blessings,
I hope this message finds you well. Michael and I have been enjoying settling into the newness of the yoga center. We keep puttering around the studio creating little spaces for people to find respite and commune with one another. I love seeing people hanging out on the couches relaxing and connecting. So perfect for this Libra moon-whose energy is strong for building connections and relationships and bringing things into unity or harmony. Its a good time to strike a balance between you and other, your inner world and the outer world, the material world and the spiritual world.
And then after we pass through this full moon we will enter into a very auspicious planetary alignment all in the sign of Aries. By the end of this month there will be 7 luminaries (planets) in the sign of Aries! Mars will leave Pisces and move into its home sign of Aries, Mercury will enter next, the Sun, Chiron, Saturn, and Neptune are already there, and the Moon will round it out toward the end.
Whenever there is a pile up of planets in a sign I pay attention. There is definitely
some energy brewing and if I am attuned, I can tap into it and use it for my highest good.
Aries is the sign that heralds in spring and new beginnings. It takes initiative and asserts itself. Traditionally depicted as a strong, fiery warrior type, it isn’t afraid to wield its sword and charge onto the battlefield of life. If Aries is out of balance, it can be too controlling or domineering, aggressive and forceful. But in balance, it uses its incredible tenacity to forge new pathways and push through obstacles that seem daunting or insurmountable. One of the biggest attributes of Aries in balance is being confidently open-hearted.
The Antidote to Fear is Love…❤️ Grand Opening Celebration March 14
Namaste friends.
I hope this finds you well. Did you make it through the eclipse portal? There were definitely strong currents of energy at play the last two weeks, and really they still are quite strong. The Year of the Horse is chalked full of astrological dynamite for sure. Soon we will be getting back to sharing our Shaman and the Mermaid astrology reports, but we have had to use all of our focus on moving the studio and getting all the new systems in place for our grand opening on March 14th. Please join us for all the festivities that day.
I want to thank everyone who helped us make the transition. My heart is full with emotion and I have shed many tears of appreciation and gratitude for the overwhelming amount of support we received from this special community. I am in awe and you literally have taken my breath away with all that you have done.
So many of you helped with the physical move, painting and packing, unpacking, planting and potting, and also donating the funds to create the space. We raised nearly 50k…and it was from individuals like yourself giving $50-$100 dollar donations. So that means MANY of you helped us. And at the risk of sounding boastful, I must say that it turned out so incredibly beautiful and the energy of the building is very special. Together we have created a sacred community center-a yoga home for many people to gather and commune, share their ideas, talents, and resources. And of course, breath together in harmony on our yoga mats.
❤️ YOU are the Love the world needs… ❤️ New Space Opens March 1!
This is exactly what we are doing with Karma right now. Since our last newsletter we have begun construction of our new community center. Walls have been framed and drywalled, the floors were in need of more than just a polish so we have had them completely stripped and sanded, they are getting stained and polished in the next few days, we have hired plumbers, electricians, HVAC specialists, construction crews, painters, movers, and floor, window, and sign specialists. And we have also ordered the new shirodhara table for the Ayurvedic Spa.
And YOU all have made it so we can do this. Many of you suggested we put a GoFundMe out there to help us afford to move the studio to our new home. When we realized this move would probably cost about $54K to do it-we decided to ask for the help-and you have shown up so incredibly generously. Our community has collectively donated $41K to bring this new center to the light. The $41K is going fast, and we are hoping to still make the end goal of $54K. So if you are considering a donation, it is still very much needed. Every single penny is going to making this a safe and inclusive place for everyone to gather within a community of loving, kind, and goodhearted people-like yourself.
Special Edition…The New Karma Has Arrived!
Namaste friends,
This is a special addition newsletter. We’re doing things a little bit different than usual for this lunar cycle. We replaced our monthly astrology video, Michael’s, astrological report and my mega long message with the short video that showcases the new studio we will be moving to in a very short time.
We have found a new home for the studio and it’s only five blocks west of our current location at 1760 S. Broadway. It has twice the square footage as our current location, which enables us to be able to increase our offerings, our classes, and expand our community.
We will need to do some build-out improvements in the new space. And the time clock is ticking, as we need to be out of our current location by March 1st. And we intend to open at the new space at that same time.
We have set up a GoFundMe page, as well as a Venmo and Zelle donation account. We are hoping we can collect enough money to make these improvements. We currently have raised 18k and our goal is 54k. We are so very grateful to the many of you who have contributed-every little bit helps.
Building A Spiritual Community…
Namaste friends,
Happy almost winter. We finally got some snow! I have enjoyed the Indian Summer, but its weird to be in shorts in December in Colorado. I am happy to see the landscape covered in white, especially the mountains. Snow packed mountains means spring abundance. Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Winter Solstice is around the corner and that means its time to get our nests ready for hunkering down. Michael and I put the down comforter back on the bed. We pulled the little heater out from storage. All the outdoor plants are either brought inside or put to bed in their garden homes. The storm windows are put on, the swamp cooler is wrapped in a blanket, and the sprinklers blown out. We have old radiators that heat water to warm the house, and they make an endearing gurgle sound as they begin heating and moving the water through their pipes. Our holiday decor is pulled out and on display, and the extra pines and boughs around give that cozy cabin feeling. By 5:30 I am ready to put my jammies on and crawl into bed with my book.
Winter is a still time. A quiet time. A reflective time. By design, it is meant for slowing down and restoring our energy. Yet our cultural norms have made this one of the more frenetic, expensive, and socially active times of the year.
As a extrovert, I love going to all the galas, parties, plays and concerts…but I also feel how counter-intuitive this is to my mind, body, and spirit. My little ego self wants to get dressed up, indulge in the fantastic feasts and spreads, see all the people, lights, and glitter that adorn the plethora of community functions.
But my High Self, or my spiritual heart says, choose wisely as to how you spend your energy. In fact, it says try to restore your energy, replenish with rest and quiet introspection. Use this time to go inward and listen to the deep wisdom of my inner knowing. I am called to journal, write, read, draw, paint all the things that are coming to the surface from deep within my soul. And then study their meaning and look for the messages that are coming from my Higher Power…