Cracked Wide Open

Definition of WHOA
verb imperative ˈwō, ˈhō, ˈhwō

1—a command to stand still

2_ cease or slow a course of action or a line of thought :pause to consider or reconsider
—often used to express a strong reaction (as alarm or astonishment).

Namaste Friends.

Its been awhile since I last wrote my blog.  But Life recently gave me a big “Whoa!”  My beloved was killed in a car accident at the end of June and it ripped my heart right out of my chest.   There hasn’t been a day that I haven’t felt his loss.  But at the same time that my heart pains and longs for my mate, something else has begun to shift.  My heart has cracked wide open, in the best of ways.

My teacher, Saul David Raye, has consistently taught us that “When the heart breaks, it is really just breaking open”.  This phrase has always resonated with me although I hadn’t really felt this kind of heartbreak before, but I understood it in principle.  Now I have a whole new appreciation for this poignant sentiment.  And I don’t think you have to lose a loved one to appreciate this concept.  But for me, the “breaking open” took on a whole new feel.  Now, when I see a person’s eyes I see their heart.  When I feel the rain fall on my skin, I feel the essence of the Creator. When I hear a child laugh, I am hearing the sound of joy.  Essentially, I am experiencing what it is to see Love in all things. Whoa!  What?  Yes. Absolutely true.  I see  Love/God/the Divine  in all things.  I will explain.   And no, I haven’t lost my mind. Its still on top on my shoulders chit-chatting away at me.

For most people this kind of talk is too heavy.  But I feel that given we are in a powerful, spiritually transformative time in the Universe (Ahem…2012),  it is important to try to develop some understanding around the next evolutionary phase of our human existence.  We seem to have forgotten, we are spiritual beings having a human experience, not human beings having an occasional spiritual experience.  Everything in the natural world is evolving: day to night, summer to fall, sow to reap, birth to death, cave man to Facebook  man.  Of course we have been evolving this whole time! We have been  developing every aspect of our being…except the spiritual aspect.  But the “reap” is upon us.  We are in a huge shift.  We need to embrace this new dawing.

People resist this idea.  I totally get it.  We have been taught that it has to be “proven” to be true.  Got to see it.  Touch it.  Shown the mathematical calculations.  But not everything in our Universe is seen or heard.  Some things are felt through the most potent commodity in the world: energy.  And I’m not speaking of oil.  But rather Divine energy.  Everything in this world is made of energy: atoms and molecules spinning together at a certain frequency creating matter, sound, and vibration.  The chair you are sitting in; the tomato in your garden,the  music you listen to, even your own amazing Self is just spinning energy.

And this is what I speak of when I say my heart cracked wide open in the best of ways.  Because so much of my awareness has been with my heart, albeit  pain and sorrow, I also became deeply aware of the energy of Divine Love.  Here’s some math.  Remember analogy problems in school? Well, Pain is to Love, as Darkness is to Light.  You can’t have one without the other.  They dwell in unison.  So when you feel the energy of one, you become to know the other; Like the Yin/Yang symbol so beautifully depicts. So while lingering in my heart energy, which is the adode of your True Self, I became very aquainted with my  heart energy or “Love”,  “God” , “Light”, “Source”, “Divine Self” energy.  (Fill in the blank with the term that works best for you).


Now for some of you I just took a few too many steps into the  “Wooey” zone.  The unknown, intangible, invisible realm that makes us uncomfortable to talk about.  But be brave, read on.  We all know on some level in our heart of hearts that “It” exists.  We all have had a “gut feeling” on something.  Or felt our heart ache in compassion for someone hurting, even if  we have never met them before; Recognized something you have never seen or known.  Experienced “random” or “coincidental” acts or encounters that save the day.  Had feelings of deja vu’.  Of course you have.  We ALL have a sense of the unknown, God-like realm. This is our 6th sense. Our Inner Knowing. Or our Intuition. And we must feel it strongly because many wars are fought over whose idea of  “God” is the best.  I know you get the wooey piece a little bit.

Now I’m going to switch gears for a minute and give us some language to work with for this next part.  It might help conceptualize the wooey parts.  I have mentioned the Heart, our Intuition, and our Mind.  Sometimes these three aspects of our being get muddled and confused, particularly between our mind and our intuition, and between our intuition and our heart.  Here is another analogy:  The Mind is to the Ego, as Intuition is to the Heart.  They are both a voice for their source.  If you want to follow your Ego, listen to your Mind.  If you want to follow your Heart, listen to your Intuition.

Breaking it down further:
Ego: discerning, judging, criticizing, analysing, comparing, competiting,worrisome, jealous, temperamental, compartmentalizing; Little you with a face and body.
Heart: compassionate, loving, peaceful, generous, joyful, feeling, sensing, open, omnipotent, infinite, omniscient; God.
Mind: the non-stop chatter in your head that tells you what to do, where to go; it is the voice of your Personal Assistant.  “There is no way you can get all this done.  Once again, you take on more than you can do.  You Suck.”  Repeat 108 times to yourself.  She/He works for the Ego.
Intuition: the quiet, calm, inner knowing voice inside you that occasionally you glance at and say, “What do you think?” and just when the strong, quiet voice is about to answer you say, “Just as I thought you got nothing“.  Then as you irreverently and impatiently walk away, it says exactly what you need to know in a soft, tender whisper.  She/He speaks for the Heart (or God).

Whoa!  Deep.  But you are hanging. Now jump back to where I said I can see Love/God/ the Divine in all things.  When I lost my beloved, I lost his earthly embodiment.  I lost his arms around me, his laughter, his smile, his talks.  I lost him incarnately.  But the Love or Heart of a human can never die.  That God/Heart energy becomes Essence.  Or Divine Intelligence.  It is the same Essence that makes the trees bloom flowers and bear fruit.  It makes the clouds gather moisture and disperse it on the crops.  It makes the flower so red the hummingbird can’t miss it.  And, what I learned is that if we see everything as interconnected, we will see that it is the Heart or Love of a person that matters most.  And when their shell or body dies, their Love or Essence lives on. We see it in the stars, the open fields, the majestic mountains, the golden sunset, the waves of the ocean- all of which is their Love or Essence coming through as matter;  And you are not separate from any of it.  That same Essence in that blossoming tree is in you, in me, in the ocean, the flower, the bee…It is Energy. It is Everything.  We are all connected through Heart Energy/Love…or God.  So don’t hate anyone.  Don’t hurt anything.  Especially send Love to those who challenge you the most.  Send Heartfelt Love to everything: The planet, the cosmos, the creatures, the people.  Beam as much Love from your Heart as you can.  As sentinel beings of life, it is our job or duty to be Loving.  Don’t wait until your heart cracks wide open to begin this practice.  Start Now.  Hold each other up.
Sometimes the Universe delivers the Whoa! moments for us.  And you grab on for life and figure it out.  But, seeing that you are the Universe, you can deliver your own Whoa! moments in your life too.  You don’t have to wait for the Universe to hit you up side the head.
“Whoa”,  according to definition means to stand still; pause to consider, change a course of action.
Close your eyes. Put your ear close to your Heart and listen.  Then when you open your eyes you will see Love is Everywhere.  And Everything.
Whoa!  Enjoy your beautiful life while you are here, and we will enjoy your beautiful life after you leave us.
Hari Om. (We are all One).
In loving memory of Greg Sturtz.
Namaste
“I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells.
I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light, and of peace.
When you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me,
We are one.”
Much love,
Katrina
P.S.  I encourage you to watch this short video from my teacher Saul David Raye, who is speaking on the difference between the heart and the mind.  Click here to view

Special Events for August

To sign up for any of these events:

Go to the Classes Tab.  Click on Schedule then Click on Sign up for Classes.  Go to the Workshops tab and search for the event you would like to sign up for.  Create an account to sign up online and know you can always give us a call and sign up over the phone!

Art and Yoga Workshops with Una

Dive into your yoga and creative practice all in one wonderfully prepared workshop facilitated by yoga instructor, artists and art teacher, Una Viggiani. Each week Una will guide participants through a vinyasa practice to open the body and heart. Then participants will get to learn new art techniqes while creating a completely original art project. The workshops are cumulative so you must sign up for the whole month of Mondays. At $15 a class that’s the same as a drop in yoga class AND you get to go home with a hand made art piece. This is an ongoing workshop that will have a different focus each month.

Katrina Gustafson subs for Una in August.

August’s Theme: Alter your life. Using the medium of decoupage and beading, create change though the power of prayer beads and your own personalized alter box that will hold all your sacred items.

Four Mondays (Aug 3, 13, 20, 27) 7-8:30pm  $75         Includes: prayer shawl, murti, and mala. ($15 extra this month due to beads for mala)

Tantric Alchemy: Manifesting the Four Desires with guest teacher Katie Silcox

This workshop builds around the key yogic teaching of Purushartha – a yogic theory and practice on building the power and means needed to manifest the highest desires of our soul. Based on the book, The Four Desires, by Para Yoga founder Rod Stryker, this workshop will teach practical and powerful approaches to truly embodying the highest principles of yoga. You will leave with a strong set of tools and practices that guide us towards achieving spiritual as well as worldly fulfillment–mukti and bhukti.

In this workshop we will cover:

Strong-body, purifying physical practices for clearing out the mind-body vehicle, enabling us to increase our POWER AND POTENTIAL. By maintaining a strong and purified body, we can better hear the voice of our Soul and walk with clarity through life. Includes instruction in Tantric-form asana, bhanda, mudra and mantra.

Discussion and practices that help you UNCOVER your soul’s unique purpose, as well as the ancient yogic teachings on happiness, shaping destiny, and achieving lasting freedom.

Tantric meditation and yoga nidra (systematic yogic relaxation)- The intersection between practice and philosophy. You will learn the ancient practices of Shakti Sadhana, designed to help uncover the unconscious patterning, allowing you to live a life that is more fearless and courageous.

Saturday August 4th    1-5pm   $55 in advance, $65 the day of

Kundalini Workshop

Shannon Earthtree comes through Denver this weekend from Telluride to host this special Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bajan workshop. The focus will be on Bound Lotus from 2-3:30pm and include an optional meditation from 4-4:30pm.

Sunday August 5th               2-4pm                   $35 per person


Sound Healing Mantra Meditation and Gong Session

Dev Darshan leads this journey with a beautiful mantra to help us clear unproductive emotional patterns so that we can flow from an authentic and joyful place. After the meditation, we will relax in the soothing vibrations of the gong. This month’s theme is grit and courage.

Friday August 10th 7-8pm                           $10 per person


 

Chanting Workshop

Naad Yoga, or the yoga of sound, is one of the most transformational of yoga practices. Come learn 3 chants to help raise your vibration. With Lisa Schlelein.

Saturday August 25th 1-2:30pm            $10 in advance, $15 the day of


 

 

Yoga Teacher Training

Our next training begins in the fall!  Call or come in for more information.

If you love yoga and are looking for a way to deepen your practice or feel called to teach this is where to begin. Learn how to put words to your experience on your mat and how to artfully share this practice with others, as the teacher.  Pick up a brochure, inquire at the front desk, or find Katrina or Lisa for more info.  There’s no better time than now!
$2500 per person