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The Sacred Journey

 

Dear Sacred Friend, 

     Sometimes, things must break down and fall away before your true light can shine brilliantly through – the unveiling. There comes a time in every person’s life when spiritual transformation comes knocking on your door. It unapologetically asks you to shed parts of yourself that are no longer of service to find the hidden treasure underneath. The knocking is initially quiet; you will avoid it until it becomes louder. Perhaps similar to me, you put on a mask and earplugs to block out the knocking, you believe the mask you wear. 

     A person like this walks through life in disguise. The disguise works for a time, protecting them from becoming the lone wolf. Until it doesn’t. Until the mask begins to suffocate and the parts of them buried deep within begin to rise to the surface. The parts hidden and pushed away begin to get louder and more potent. The act of pushing these parts down and away will strangle them. What has been hidden away becomes a secret monster that eats them from the inside out if they do not allow it.

     The hero/heroine is being called to take a journey. It will become soul-destroying to resist this journey and instead conform to the world’s script. The world’s script unconsciously influences you to stay the same, follow others, and never venture into a territory no one has yet ventured. NEVER BE DIFFERENT. This journey will ask you to examine your beliefs, acknowledge you fear the unknown, and be curious about your biases. The journey asks you for a time to become the lone wolf. If you do not answer this call when it is ringing, you run the terrible risk of abandoning valuable parts of yourself, leaving them lost in your unconscious forever, condemning yourself to a life of either/or choices. You must hear the knocking and answer the call in order to embark on a unique quest. To wander in unexplored territory, to later return home, and to share your authentic story as a guide for others.   

     For many years, I had a recurring dream where I was intentionally jumping off a cliff into the deep water below. I would run as hard as I could and leap off the rock’s edge, descending into the depths of darkness and unknown, only to  wake up disappointed before plunging into the water below. For so long, I felt tethered to my life—my body constrained, and my spirit captive by a world that felt far too small for the vastness inside of me. Only in my dreams would the daily fear that I would never be free be suspended the moment my feet left the edge of the cliff. In my dream, the free-falling turned into exhilaration as my body was momentarily unbound and untamed. And then I would wake up, and the feeling of bondage would return, and the cycle would start again and again.  

     In early 2021, I was leading a retreat in Yelapa, Mexico. Near us was an area where people would regularly jump off rock formations into a river below for recreation. When I learned of this activity, my whole being lit up. I had to do it. And I did. I jumped. This experience embodied the opening the portal to the underworld to begin my journey. I answered the call. One jump and nothing has been the same since. NOTHING.  In The Heroine’s Journey, author Maureen Murdock describes this stage as the Descent. She writes: “It is a heavy period where you have no choice but to let go, dismantle, and destroy. This stage aims to reclaim the discarded parts of the self that were split off in the original separation from the feminine. Parts of you that have been ignored, not allowed, devalued, and hidden. To ultimately reclaim a connection with the sacred feminine to understand the lost parts, mourn the separation, and mother them back to life.”

    My need to descend had been knocking so hard that I could no longer close the door. It was now haunting me in my dreams. The interesting thing about that time was that my life was abundant. I was 41, had been healing for decades, and now was vibrant and alive. My heart was open, and I felt the connection of all things daily. My business was thriving, my bank accounts were full, and my relationships were deep. Everything I experienced “worked.” I had reached so many of my goals and behind the curtain (remember the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz)? Yes, like that. I felt incomplete–something was MISSING.

     This is where I fear I may lose some people. However, they probably stopped reading this chapter long ago. If I had followed the influence of the status quo, I would have closed down inside, turned off, and told myself to be grateful for all God had blessed me with. I kept moving forward in a ‘high vibe,’ growing and building, doing what I was doing because it was ‘working.’ From the perspective of our culture, I had ‘success.’ Despite this supposed success, two questions shouted at me from within my soul to be heard. To live the only life I can live- my own. My soul shared, ‘There is more than this. Are you living the way you want to live, Raechel, or the way others want you to live?’ and the final question, ‘Is this really all who you are? Do you know there is more?’ I felt the TRUTH to these questions only a few months after I started the journey. My path was paved in the past by doing one thing after another for external validation and security. Not for my own delight or unique purpose in the world. String them all together, and here was my life. I built a life in the masculine out of fear, and there was no going back. I was not living my life; I had been living someone else’s. I was not walking my path. I was far from free. A heavy burden I carried. If that was not enough, my very livelihood would be in question. My life’s work, my business that I worked to build over seven years, was missing so many of my gifts and was not as fulfilling to me as it once was. I spent six years becoming an expert in trauma. I had the privilege of studying with Bessel van der Kolk himself for almost a year at the trauma center. I had invested so much. How could I walk just away? 

     To achieve an artificial sense of safety and belonging, I played the role of a tame woman. There were parts of me that I was still hiding, and I sacrificed those sacred parts of myself to secure a place in the external world. I spent my whole childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood hiding. I put on my mask like makeup in order to cover my apathy. I imitated others’ paths, not even considering forging my own. I never knew that I was my own teacher, with my own answers, gifts, wisdom, healing abilities and intuition. 

     While Judaeo-Christian lore may classify the descent as “hell,” ancient healing traditions view the underworld a bit differently. It is a place of potential, greatness, and beauty with mysterious forgotten parts and unprocessed memories. It is a place of elemental forces that can renew the world. Though, we often think of it unfavorably. Because of its dark and unknown vastness, we may often fear being swallowed up by it and never returning to the topside world. Why would I venture into this? Why would anyone? In reality, we have no choice but to venture there if we want to be free. It is there we experience the great unveiling and find our truest Self. It is there where we learn to heal our inner child and mother ourselves back to wholeness. It is there where we learn to let go of control and befriend fear.  Eventually, the darkness begins to reveal our power and beauty.  It is the darkness that informs the brightness of your light.  

    Before jumping, I decided I would not live in authentically anymore; no matter what, I would walk my own path- that was actualized, understood, and completely true for me. I prioritized my life as sacred. I ran and leaped off the cliff in Yelapa. The danger of the jump was a mouse compared to the lion caged in me, slowly feeding on my insides. What is more dangerous than not fully living? I jumped into the underworld, and I structured my life in a way that I could not come out until I was utterly unveiled.  The temptation to return to old patterns was so strong.  In the year that followed, I left my business partnership, worked part-time-which meant my family had less, learned to be by resting and not creating a single thing that added to anything external for the eighteen months and hired a spiritual mentor to keep me from drowning in my own despair or crawling out to never return. 

      Directly after the jump, not a lot changed, however, I opened the portal and the years that followed were something my imagination could never have prepared me for. My ego fought these changes all the way through. The first year I experienced fear that on many days was unbearable! I unmade myself; I allowed myself to unravel. It was crucial for those eighteen months that I stopped building anything in my life. I left behind old ways of doing things. What happened next was mysterious, I grieved deeply for the younger versions of myself that did not get to be seen and experience life authentically. Earlier I did not even know those part existed. I felt the depth of ancestral trauma embedded within me as if the stories were lodged into my bones. I healed for my family and ancestors too. This descent was a grieving of my separation from the parts I had neglected for my whole life. My mother parts, my intuitive parts, my erotic parts. Raw grief swooned in my belly, and if you had the rare experience of knowing me during this time, tears flowed daily as a result of the separation from my intuition, flow, beauty, and delight. I scared the shit out of some people. I was “failing apart” they would gossip. Or was I? I was tender, vulnerable, and raw, which taught me more about love and compassion. 

     Later in the journey, I realized I had forgotten how to dance and how to play. Something I was really missing. I had silenced myself most of my life for fear of being judged and, worse off, not loved. Could you imagine fearing not being loved for being yourself?! I feel so much compassion for that younger version of me!  I started meeting the archetype of what I call the Generative Nutritive Mother. Think of archetypes, like characters we all have inside of us. Some we are aware of and others not so much. This archetype had the gift of loving me unconditionally in all my grief. She was where I learned to accept myself unconditionally as true acceptance cannot occur when you are on top of the world. You accept yourself when you come to terms with the shortcomings of your own life and the pain you have caused and still choose love. Later, the Sage and Mystic archetypes walked with me too, they built in me the resilience to trust and be in the unknown. They all showed me my true potential and my unique, natural gifts. Interestingly, these archetypes, which I only caught a glimpse of during my time of “success”, have become fully unburied and are now truly integrated parts of me.

   In Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone author Brene Brown calls this process as becoming an “outsider” she goes on to write: “belonging so fully to yourself that you’re willing to stand alone is a wilderness — an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. The wilderness can often feel unholy because we can’t control it or what people think about our choice of whether to venture into that vastness or not. but it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it’s the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand.” 

     You have parts of yourself you are covering up and have buried under layers of false stories, expectations, assumptions, and wounding. You have severed the dark parts in shame and guilt, dismissing the wisdom held within. Cutting out the very guide to your soul. Perhaps similar to me you have lost access to your untamed, connected, wild self because you have too many people you carry. If you carry to many there is no space for your parts to be at home in your body, nourished by Mother Nature, and at peace with the undoing of things all to survive in a conformist and patriarchal culture. Chances are you have hidden parts of yourself despite these parts being you, they have not seen the light of day. These parts are now unknown, unpredictable, and vulnerable. Culture, the patriarch, and repressive religion call these parts “dark” and “bad.” These parts are not bad; they are just unfamiliar. They are dark because they have not seen the light. They have yet to have the time to be understood, heard, and accepted. Do not be surprised if you have found yourself avoiding darkness, dipping your toes towards the underworld to be frightened and unconsciously turning back. This process can happen many times, as naturally, we avoid anything that evokes fear or a lack of control. However, do not worry each time you learn to release your grip and control, and get closer to your deepest truths. 

     Many people resist the journey which is completely understandable. You have REAL RESPONSIBILITIES. You are afraid of the judgment you may receive. Being perceived as losing your mind, being irresponsible, or having a mid-life crisis. This journey needs to be normalized. If you resonate and need support start to lean into what you have been running from, not knowing what is on the other side. When you face head-on what you have been working so hard to run from, the deep truths of yourself can no longer stay asleep. I understand it is scary to intentionally say “I am going to feel all that lies beneath me and unbury these lost parts of me. To heal, we must get up close and personal with what may feel dark, scary, and without control and let go of the false self that has been covering it all up.  

     Let me write more about the fear of this journey I was referring to. I wish it were not true, however, it has the most beautiful ending!!! After you build enough strength to leap off the ledge into the dark abyss of the unknown to answer a call that can only be felt and not explained. Some people do judge. They may even become afraid of you. You trigger their deepest fears, which they are desperately trying to quiet because they are resisting this journey themself and they do not know it. By embarking upon your process of reclaiming, you’ve become too much of a danger and a threat to the patriarchy and those who are clinging to their external identity.  Suddenly, others’ need for control comes out, and they desire to limit the amount of power you have. They will either judge or try to disempower you however they can. Doesn’t this sound familiar to many stories throughout history? Think about how many religious traditions that the divine feminine has been overshadowed by those that center on a great and masculine god. Even in the beloved Bible, the biblical story of creation features the first woman known as Lilith or Eve. In this story, the woman’s relationship with the Garden of Eden is an example that we are told not to follow. We are advised not to seek out the truth or be curious about it. We’re advised to submit to the masculine authority, to what they tell you is true. Eve was represented as a weak temptress instead of the one searching for the truth. In this story, she ultimately gets banned from her place in creation as punishment for eating from the tree of good and evil. Now, we’re told, as a result of her disobedience every female must labor, be punished, and redeem her worth until the end of time.  In Western culture, there is a male god that sits hierarchically above the female goddess, who is falsely represented as a beautiful, virtuous woman who is merely a servant to the divine masculine’s mission. The inherently fierce, instinctive, and wild aspects of the goddess are declared demonic and not included in the “allowed” parts of what it means to be a person. 

     For those people who cling to this patriarchal framework, your reclaiming appears to be an attack on the fabric of the false constructs that they have built for themselves in order to stay artificially safe. However, this doesn’t mean you will be all alone on this path. You can take the first step, you will not be the lone wolf forever.  These friendships are out there, with the ability to see your totality. They are wise; they are not there to steal from you but rather love you, as they do not live in a place of fear. They to have made the journey. When you rise, they will find you, and you will find them. They are as vast as the sky and as diverse as nature. Healing, loving, and welcoming you when you open yourself to your own truth. Therefore, do not fear becoming an outsider, walk your own path, and do not hide. Hold out, wait, and wander until you find your own authentic path and the people who will support you. 

     As layers of my false self peeled away, parts of me surfaced that I once suppressed. Carl Young said these parts would be labeled my “shadow.” At one time, I related unfavorable qualities to the definition of shadow. I used terms such as “reactive,” “too emotional,” “overly sensitive,” “extreme,” and “overwhelmed. Words like “powerful,” “untethered, and “untamed” did not align with the ideal version of myself. What actually was occurring was that my shadow was not sinister at all but rather repressed. I left her afraid and confused about her power. I hid her away, and she was angry, untrusting, and hurt. Parts of my soul were lost. Over time, trust was re-established, and my shadow became my greatest friend and guide. She and the Mother, Mystic, and Sage archetypes returned to the basics, healed, and held me. They taught me to mother myself and be more honest with how i would like to live my life, my wisdom, my voice, my healing gifts, my love, and my intuition.  

      You must find the parts buried deep within you. Find them by allowing yourself to feel the truth of what is happening inside, allowing and expressing over and over again. After some time, you will develop a true resiliency that allows you to be present with truth—to welcome it, feel it, and ultimately move through it instead of staying stuck. Never again will you be false, hidden, or give over your power to someone else.  

     Later embody the delicate balance of the masculine and feminine. Through your heroic quest you learn of acceptance and love without judgment or condition. So, if you are wavering between taking the journey and remaining where you are, take the risk! Go against the status quo and dig up the gems buried deep within you. Unveil and then unearth the natural parts of you that propel your creative and full life. You can step away and be okay, I promise. There is nothing you can “do” during this process. There is no prescription, this is where modern psychology has it wrong. This part of your journey is the time for you to be. Have the courage to pause for as long as it takes. During this time, you will become an expert at feeling, sensing, and of your embodiment. Ultimately, your instincts will be sharp, and you will know how and when to act. This journey will provide you, along with many others the capacity to preserve the experience and balance of life on this great earth.

     You can collapse or be on the verge of burnout and it does not mean you are failing! You are unique, brilliant, and more powerful than you can even imagine. Start to feel your way down to the underworld. Once you feel your way, your inner knowing, your wise self will guide you in your journey and you are never really alone…

   Tools & experiences:  

1. During this time, be curious and invite mystery in your life. Start getting cozy with the unknown. Play with wonder, strengthen your embodiment, and give yourself time to explore the sacred practices that support you and bring out your inner life. The portal here is your body, as there are many sacred places to touch inside your body that will nourish you in change. 

  • Nourishing touch daily is how to remember our human being parts. The direct experience of our own human body is vital to healing. Start touching, massaging, and feeling your body as the sacred container of your soul even more.

2. Consider this as the time to actually leave the county and go on a journey. To experience ancient healing practices that connect to a higher state of consciousness. To begin to experience these different parts that may not come out in your current life or situation. My journey is the catalyst for all my retreats and pilgrimages.

3. For twelve months, stop ‘doing.’ It may take longer. This is a time for shedding what you are not so the hidden parts of yourself can be found and further actualized. Your energy at this stage goes internally to feeling and being. Anything that furthers your family, career, or bank account stops. Anything outside of you over the inside halts. You live slowly, do less, rest more, nourish yourself more, grieve, shed, become more aware, quiet, and listen inside. This is a time of profound self-reflection and inner growth, a journey that will lead you to a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. Do not worry; if you are being called to this stage and resist, your soul will take care of it for you. You will get very sick, depressed, crazy anxious, or some disaster will happen to you. You get the point. Let’s hope it does not come to that; however, many people stay asleep to avoid it!

4. Every day, touch your heart, feel it for a moment, feel your breath lifting and lowering your heart. Feel the life force sustaining you, and offer yourself this: draw your hand to your heart and tell yourself, “I love you.” this act of love may be small, but imagine the long-term impact of doing it for the rest of your life.  

5. In the weeks and months to come, develop a mantra and use it daily. Repeat it multiple times daily as a declaration of intention about your new way of being in communion with the world. If you do not have a mantra representing your intention, here is a suggestion. Feel free to change the words to fit your heart.

 Divine creator, I am grateful for this day.  Allow me to know and feel love with ease, knowing you are the unlimited source of all. Allow me to let go and be an easy conduit for love. Let me trust that all my needs will be met in amazing ways, and it is safe to give as my heart guides. Allow me to feel and listen to my heart, remaining wildly open to receiving from you and the world. May I know my strength, value, and worthiness deeply and receive from it in every way. Today, let what needs to go go and what needs to come come. Let me accept my life and trust all will be well.   

6. Receive massages, bodywork, yoga therapy, and practice types of yoga that include the word “embodiment” in the description. This will offer opportunities to strengthen your ability to receive. Receive from the sacred feminine, receive from your inner knowing the nourishment and sustenance your spirit needs from the present moment where you are currently building resilience.

7. Reach out to a friend who has been or is currently on the journey for support. If you are the first, find a person to walk with you and meet with them as your journey progresses. Find your Persephone, your lifeline between the topside and underside world. 

8. Listen daily to what your body is communicating to you. The whispers of your heart moving you to longing are different from the knowing in your gut and feel different from the power in your pelvis. Start to feel the subtle differences in how your body communicates to you and over time these sensations will grow.  Journal on these felt experiences. 

9. Find your own mediation practice. Mediation is your time in sacred union with the divine, giving you the sustenance to be present in the mundane. Start with fifteen minutes. feel your breath, warmth, and softness inside. These fifteen minutes allow you to get to know your breath and reclaim it. It’s okay if your mind is busy during your meditation. Let it be busy, then bring it back to feeling in your body. There is no outcome you are trying for, no right or wrong way to mediate. This is a practice of attention without attachment. It is truly a practice, not a thing to “do” in order to gain any desired effect or possession. Work your way up to thirty minutes over the course of a few months. End your meditation with your mantra. Consider entering into a deeper container for healing with teacher training. 

Author: Raechel Morrow

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By: Raechel Morrow

True embodiment can only happen when one’s soul is able to position itself to the physical world, settle into it fully, and feel completely safe to stay. The damage from trauma becomes a part of our embodiment because our full way of being was not welcomed or safe. This loss hides our essence, or natural blueprint. Sometimes, whole aspects of our psyches are completely blocked out or repressed.

Sylvia Brinton Perera writes that we have “archaic depths that are embodied in us which are capable of taking us over and shaking us to the core”. That is what it felt like for me, this return to the sacred feminine. Wildly unknown yet deeper sensation of coming home for the first time. 

In the past, I was trying to achieve my worth based on the value I contribute to a capitalistic and masculine society. I never felt enough. My natural way of being and capacity to love the world was drowned out by the doing.  I pushed, overworked, and disconnected. Nothing outside matched the inside of me. The embodiment of my soul was missing.

It started with being with more sacredness in life. Then my relationship with my body and the energy it contained slowly became more sacred than things. I experienced the nature of reclaiming the intrinsic relationship with myself. Let me share a deep glimpse, In her book Descent to the Goddess (1981), Perera writes, “What has been valued in the West in women has too often been defined only in relation to the masculine: the good, nurturant mother and wife; the sweet, docile agreeable daughter; the gently supportive of bright achieving partner. This collective model is inadequate for life; we silence ourselves trying to compress our souls into it just as surely as our grandmothers deformed their fully breathing bodies with corsets for the sake of an ideal.”

As women, we have been cut off from parts of our innate nature or wholeness- if you are still reading, you feel this too. The trauma we internalize begins as young girls, when we realize that some parts of us are unwelcomed and often labeled “bad”. We continue to feel unseen because there are little examples present to reflect our wholeness and variety. 

Where are we to find the full mystery and potency of the feminine?

Collectively,  we are experiencing the return to the “sacred feminine”. But I question if it is enough?  Because present-day society has not understood, has feared the process which women must undergo to claim her power and wisdom, has recognized only the masculine process, women have been left little alternative but to speak ‘as men. Women have become alienated from her and have begun to expect to have the energies, emotions, and attitudes of the masculine. It is a tragic token of the lack of recognition of a separate and unique feminine process…

I am not writing about gender. Rather, the acknowledgement of the intrinsic need for a balance of the feminine and masculine. The feminine energy, is the language of the soul.  As a result, many men and women have disconnected from their soul. This imbalance has caused fatigue, depression, anxiety, and greed. The feminine nurtures from this abundance and wisdom, but instead is met with scarcity and disconnection. 

Most of us “know” that something is missing from our life – but most of us struggle to discover what exactly is missing. The “doing” strangles intuition and feeling what is deeply missing is never discovered. A deeper understanding, awareness and knowing is never experienced. Life becomes a series of attachments to external stimulus to suppress the caged energy within. 

What to do? One of the greatest challenges in the journey towards embodiment is allowing the deep sadness a woman will feel about her separation from the feminine. To allow herself the time to name what is missing and grieve this loss in whatever way is needed for her. Then to release it and reclaim.

Most women NEVER get to this point. This necessary state of sadness and despair is not normalized in our culture. She will need a loving, positive, mentor to simply witness her while she expresses outwardly what has been contained. As women, we need to be this for each other. Stop being afraid to be vulnerable and be deeply compassionate. Fight the desire to dominate.

Then your true embodiment becomes the action of reclaiming your lost treasures.

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Live a life that is sacred!

You are designed to fully LIVE your life and bring about real connection in your world. A life that is sacred. The definition of sacred assumes connection and deserving veneration. Despite being deserving of, at any moment, you may have any number of responsibilities to attend to. Growing a thriving business, working full-time, raising human beings, going to school, running a not-for-profit, educating others, taking care of grandkids, serving on boards, volunteering, and much more! All so important to survival and living as a generative and responsible adult. Your efforts are your tribute to the fabric of our society that knits our culture together. Despite the immense value, holding space for sacredness everyday can feel unattainable.

Previously, sacredness was incongruous in my day-to-day life. It was more familiar to work for my worth and safety. I could not believe I was entirely worthy of pure grace and could have it daily. What I am about to share you may not believe. I know it took a lot of faith in my intuition and experiences before I could be at complete ease. 

Play, Pleasure, Connection to the Divine, Eroticism, Mystery, Untamed Energy, and Nature are sacred, and you need them in abundance every day. These sacred parts of life are not just for the lucky, privileged, intelligent, affluent individuals. They are your birthright.

The world gives you what you need. Maybe not what you want all the time, but what you need. Most times, individuals do not realize what is genuinely needed in one’s life. Therefore, grasping and choosing survival trumps all else. All around is poverty, the marginalized, underprivileged, scarcity, and alienation. What begins to shift this heaviness of, is when the human experience integrates the importance of the sacred. The sacred moves our energy out of scarcity. Leaving scarcity brings our energy to a higher vibration. A higher vibration will allow for more connection that is free of attachment. Then we can genuinely hold those sacred spaces.

You can take time for sacred body regimes. Adorn in pleasures. Pray deeply. Connect to your own inner mystic, or connect to the mystery in your life. Once you are in your own sacred sovereignty, your internal narrative moves from the “Me” to the “We.” Your value is already inside you, not to be earned for later. Not when you “become something” or do something. Now is the time for you to experience the sacred. Not “once you are healed,” not once you know the Self, not once you reach the goal, not when you have the vacation, not when you buy that next big house or cottage.

NOW IS THE POWER!

Now let’s get to the magic. These are some ideas to get you started with bringing more sacred into your everyday life. First, your “doing” needs to come from being. If your doing doesn’t emerge from a state of rest and connectedness, it will ultimately undo you. When you are connected to yourself and in a state of wholeness, your life becomes meaningful and peaceful. 

1. BEING IS AS IMPORTANT AS DOING:
Your body and mind cannot function from non-stop doing, doing, doing. There needs to be stillness every day, or there is no space for sacredness. It does not matter how busy you are-find it as if your life depended on it! Not just some days-every day.  

OFFERING:
→ Mantra: “I have all I need” or “I have enough time.”
→ Create a self-care ritual for yourself in the morning and evening. Perhaps nourishing your skin and body. It must have the quality of indulgence and self-soothing. 
→ Meditate
→ Watch the sun come up every single day.
→ Listen to the frogs sing at night.

2. CREATE A MORNING SPIRITUAL RITUAL:
Every morning includes a sacred text or reading, candles, prayer, gratitude, breathwork, and mantra. To start a sacred morning ritual, reflect on what practices set the positive tone for your day and allow you to move forward with conscious intention? What is special for you? What is spiritual to you

OFFERING: 
→ Journal
→ Commune with nature
→ Sing
→ Pray for yourself and others

3. MAKE YOUR WORK YOUR LIFE AND YOUR LIFE YOUR WORK:
As much as possible, shift from believing that your work and life are two separate entities. If you don’t, work will feel like “work.” When there is a flow between your work and your life. You remain the same person. So, if you are in “life,” you are the same person– and when you are in “work,” you are the same person. There is no division. When you are one with this reality, you no longer dread one over the other, and therefore your Universe becomes sacred. 

OFFERING:
Ask yourself: 
→”Is my whole Self showing up at work? Why or why not?”
→”Am I offering what I am meant to in the world?”

CONSIDER:
→What can you do to make the shift to begin “loving” your work more?
→If your life doesn’t create love and joy, ask yourself, “What is missing for me?
→Whose path are you on right now-yours or someone else’s?

4. SACRED PLAY EVERY DAY
How will you be like a child, be in awe, and use your imagination every day? How will you laugh today? How can you find meaning in everyday things? Connect to the mystery that is your life. 

OFFERING:
→Go play with your children and start to be more like them.
→Pay attention to your dreams.
→Make dinner on a bonfire.
→Sleep under the stars.
→Play dress up and take yourself out on a date.
→Paint or write your own story.
→Make a sacred place.

5.GET TO KNOW YOUR EGO:
Ego is your survival. It is necessary but powerful when directed by the sacred. Otherwise, it can make you grasp, dependent, and reactive. It is only when you are intimate with the workings of your ego that you will be able to catch yourself from closing down or reacting unfavorably. Only when we can pinpoint, “Ah that, is my ego talking,” will we be able to transcend it. The ego mostly shows up in the insecure ways of our “inner child.” When we are in touch with our inner child, we can stop reacting to them in unconscious ways. When we are not compassionate with our inner child, we act out, thinking we are oh-so-grown-up, but actually, we are just behaving like a child.

OFFERING:
→ Do not do this alone. Find a circle or seek a guide. 
→ Trust your intuition. 
→ Live in the present moment. Doing so is imperative. You bear life’s sacred fruits – fruits of joy, purpose and meaning away from the ego when you do. Are you living this moment with your whole present-centered awareness?

Being with what is sacred is similar to going from watching television in black and white to color.  No need to prove to yourself or to others with anything more “worthy,” because nothing is more worthy than being connected and having a receptive heart.

About the Author

Raechel Morrow, Depth & Spiritual Psychologist, Yoga Trainer, Speaker, Certified Yoga Therapist and Certified Trauma Specialist. After years of researching, learning, and working in the field of trauma treatment, she was overwhelmed with the profound understanding of the value of actively seeking what was lost from the trauma of colonization.

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I used to see my pain as this tangible monster that needed to be run from. I thought that once I got far enough ahead of it, it’d be gone forever. I’d gain enough of a lead to catch a deep breath in peace. The sky would open for a moment, and I’d see not just the dark clouds that’d always clouded my lens, but also the sun and all that blue around them. Relief.

dawn people woman hand

Oftentimes I declared victory, convinced I’d lost my monster to dust once and for all. I assumed that the process of healing chronic pain was linear and finite. That’s the approach most doctors I saw took, at least – surely, they must know what was best for my body… right?

Wrong. That monster found me eventually, each and every time I ran away. Every time a doctor comes up with some miracle idea such as injections, muscle relaxers, physical therapy, etc. It found its way, always sprinting back up to me – until I found Mindfulness. That’s not to say I’m cured of all that hell, because I’m not, but I have found a state of continuous healing. I discovered through sacredness and self-compassion that the monster I always ran from was no monster at all. The monster was a culmination of all those internal parts of me that felt injured and left behind which I repressed so hard. Less monster vibes, more wounded inner-child that needs nurturing vibes.

Unluckily for me, my lived experience made me a prime candidate for neuroplastic pain. Hypersensitivity… check! Childhood trauma… check! Self-critical thoughts… check! Repeated injury… check! The list goes on – check, check, check, check, check.

Neuroplastic pain is pain that roots in the brain and is not a reaction from a musculoskeletal issue in the body. It can sometimes begin as a result of injury, but unlike acute pain (or what I like to call “primary pain”), it sticks around. It is “secondary pain”, the arrow that fires again and again as a result of learned pathways in the brain. It shoots until safe-response pathways are intentionally created to combat the painful pathways. Many people spend years and fortunes trying to determine what their pain is a symptom of, because that’s what doctors are taught to do. As it turns out though, in most cases of chronic pain, pain is the monster itself… Not just a symptom.

woman in gray tank top while sitting on bed

Unfortunately (yet very fortunately), the only way to heal pain that originates in the mind is to heal through the mind – most specifically, through the mind-body connection. Unfortunate in the sense that it requires your own undying effort and resilience, but fortunate in the sense that it’s very possible to heal, and it’s all within your own hands. Empowering, isn’t it? It’s not something you can simply pay someone else to rid of for you without much work on your part. It’s a call – a message from your body – to find your footing on the trail of self-compassion.

A few years ago, I found my first footing. I surrendered, decided to look my monster in the eyes, and listen. Tend and Befriend. Notice, Allow, and Accept. I learned how to breathe and still smile on the days when the entire sky is all dark clouds and birdless. I’m not pain-free, but my pain is far less life-sucking than before, and it doesn’t bother me as much anymore. When I feel it swelling up inside of me now, I know that I have a choice: to dive deep into the overwhelm, feel the weight of the past, the pain, and the future, and try my best to run away from the monster impossible to run from… OR …to instill messages of safety to my body and mind and remind myself that the sky does always clear those dark clouds away.

Despite all the work I’ve put into myself, I still sometimes go with the first choice. It’s the easy choice, and after years of dealing with all of this, I’m still not perfect. I only say this to express that it’s normal, right, and human to fall off the path here and there. But every time we forget and we fall is also an opportunity to remember and get back on. It’s in those moments of remembering – of choosing the path of Self in the face of pain again and again – that true transformation occurs.

This is not a call to cure, but a call to find your own footing. If you’re feeling that call, I urge you to respond by signing up for my Monday evening yoga class at The Body Mind Being Institute. One thing that’s always helped me is to have witnesses like those I’ve been incredibly lucky to have within those doors. During class you’ll be provided with that witness and plentiful modifications to allow you to take your mind off of strain and towards a comfortable presence. The tools I’ve gathered along the way as gifts from my mentors or as birthed by self-discovery will be passed down to you, too. Embodied movement, breathwork, meditation, and themes of transformation will assist you on your path and as you confront your own monster and choose self-compassion.

This path of healing chronic pain is not linear. It is not impersonal, and it looks different for everyone. Pain is a message from your body, urging you to lean into signs from the universe.

Will you allow this to be your sign?

I really hope to connect with and witness you Monday evening. Register and you might say you’ve found your footing.

Ally Schmidt

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A GOOD guide, teacher, healer, therapist, etc. masters memorize and learns. Not that memory is bad, it only becomes a problem when what comes from memory becomes the authority. Even more dangerous- the truth.

A TRUE guide uses its life as inspiration from inner experience, from a state of knowing, not from previously acquired knowledge. Simply holds the space for others to find their OWN unique true Freedom.

This is how you change lives. Let me explain…

Your unique life story breeds the ability to transform lives. It is not about how perfect you master a process rather as Brene Brown teaches it is the ability to Brave The Wilderness. Most people do in order to be. The intention is to act because they feel incomplete. The ancient hunter-gatherer impulse which is still in our DNA.

This is tragic….

If you live and work in this way, sharing your knowledge, what you have memorized connection is impossible. You use hierarchy, which turns something that could be sacred into disempowerment. When what you know becomes the truth and what you offer it renders you completely incapable of ever experiencing real truth let alone the space for others.

This is why I created this transformational offering staring this fall.

Our 350 Hour Integrative Life Yoga Therapy Program is a hybrid of high-caliber professional training and an in-depth personal development program.

This is a fusion of psychology, neuroscience, archetypal study, yoga, shadow work, and leadership training woven into one complete training.

You are ready if you desire……….

  • To deepen your study in eastern philosophy and create sacred rituals that are meaningful to you.
  • You are sick of putting a band-aid on the symptoms instead of accessing the root issues.
  • Differentiate yourself by integrating mental-emotional health skills into your offering
  • Specialize in a holistic approach to the science of yoga that’s in high demand…
  • Radically expand your teaching, coaching or clinical practice by breaking through blocks, beliefs, and behaviors that keep you “playing small” …
  • Gain confidence and trust in the ability to transform.
  • Experience deep healing through your own personal journey of self-discovery + shadow work…
learn more

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December 3, 2020

|Raechel Morrow

In the wake of Covid-19, we are creating low-frequency vibrations from stress, fear, and disconnection. We are not immune to the impact of this low vibration around us. Many would agree we are influenced by a cycle of creating, radiating, and consuming – and it is EXHAUSTING. Hence, our vibrational frequency is lower and chaotic.

With every crisis in history, we survived by supporting and caring for each other. This danger is more critical than any before. Covid-19 has forced us to isolate and hide parts of ourselves away.

Scientists have found that differences in vibrational characteristics correlate strongly with the different rates of infectivity and lethality of different kinds of corona viruses, taken from a global database of confirmed case numbers and case fatality rates. (By DAVID L. CHANDLER, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY).

What are we to do? Deep inside, we know this low level of energy will not save us. We know there is a different way to heal. As it so happens, Mother Nature has a different story to tell. Mother Nature is trying to guide us naturally to slow down, take care of her resources, connect, prepare our bodies for the winter to come, and the Sankalpa (the intention from your soul). A higher source is naturally guiding us to becoming a beacon of light for those around us.

Ancient civilizations recognized this turning point toward the gradual return of the light known as the Winter Solstice, a time of reawakening and rebirth – a time of new beginnings. There is no time like now to awaken our collective consciousness and prepare for our spirit to open and receive the coming light.

There are many ways you can bring the magic of Winter Solstice into your homes and prepare for the new season of the Sankalpa. It is so important to have shared collective experiences to remember the oneness with each other. 

Start honoring this season now. Try a few of these suggestions below. I have found them to help me receive the nourishment of the season.

1). 5th annual Winter Solstice Celebration. This year will be extra special. Collectively, healing communities from the lake-shore to Grand Rapids will join us in self-reflection necessary to clear old patterns to serve our world. A time for introspection and preparation for our spirit to open and receive the coming light. Our intention is to provide space to begin this preparation through meditation, asana, breath work, and ceremony. Learn more and register!

Get your free ticket

2). Join Raechel Morrow and Kelley Rasch to prepare for the season of Sankapla: Between the Winter Solstice and reawakening and rebirth, a time of new beginnings. Our intention is to provide time to begin this preparation through kriyas , meditation, asana, and inquiry. This is preparatory work for your heart as you move into the next season. These are free weekly zoom classes through January 7th. Spaces are limited and you must register before each class.

Register now

3). Write a letter to your loved ones. Sharing why you love them so much and how they have impacted your life. Imagine how this small effort could make a enormous impact on their life.

4). Take walks under the moon at night and early morning. Ask the question: how am I naturally to be in this world? Try both! The cold, fresh air will help with inflammation and keep your lungs clear. Journal about these questions.

5). Increase your Meditation time and with candlelight. Listen and witness yourself without judgement. Just witness and let IT all be. Nothing to change. Without stillness it is impossible to move away from old patterns.

6). Create a ceremony with candles. Invite your family members or close friends either online or in a small group to light a candle and arrange them in a circle. Each candle represents what your heart is commiting to during the time of new beginnings.

7). Without a daily practice of embodiment, prayer/dedication and devotion nothing above is possible.

Raechel Morrow

About the author: Raechel is the founder and Executive Director of the Body Mind Being Institute. She offers training in therapeutic yoga, yoga therapy, and trauma-informed modalities. She works with clients privately to help create emotional, mental, and physical release through yoga and other healing modalities. She is known for saying; “It all gets to be here.” By creating a safe and non-judgmental space for the client to explore their patterns, Raechel offers body-based therapy for creating change and transformation. She believes that each can find their answers and discover their deepest Self when given the opportunity to be empowered, embodied, and explore.

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By Raechel Morrow

At its heart, Body Mind Being’s pulse is for expansion and transformation. If we look closely at the process of transformation from one state to another state, we see it is not an easy process. It takes time. Look at the process of the caterpillar becoming a butterfly. A caterpillar must develop strength and resiliency first and may even die before even becoming a chrysalis or before changing into a beautiful butterfly. But when it transforms into a butterfly, it is beautiful and wonderful for everyone to see.

A great transformation also can exist within us. We can see all these steps as similar to the process a butterfly must undergo. At the Body Mind Being we have a firm belief that every human being has the capacity to become a better person.

This is why Grand Rapids Healing Yoga needed to dissolve. Our services to educate and empower those who seek to experience their full potential was not available to all people. When we left the Wellness Collective we stopped classes, workshops, and some trainings. I had the insight that to transcend to making the kind of impact that comes when guided from a higher source I would need to be guided from a place of connection. A complete death and resurrection needed to organically unfold.  

Once the transition from Grand Rapids Healing Yoga to the Body Mind Being was complete the next month, our world was in a pandemic. What transpired over the next few months was a profound connection with each other. A community started forming between us and a greater inquiry of what is a community? 

What I am discerning is being a part of a community can make us a part of something greater than ourselves. It can give us opportunities to connect with people, to reach our purpose, and provide safety and security. It’s important for every person to feel and know that all are welcomed within the community. A community is a familiar thread used to bring people together to advocate and support each other and belong. 

Communities are also rich in resources when brought together. The Body Mind Being Institute belongs to the community. It is a place where we can educate, and empower all who seek to experience their full potential. It is for connection, giving, and receiving. 

The Institute is a school where transformation and change are possible and supported. By opening the new space we are supporting the three pillars of truth for our students and teachers:

 1). Teacher: Knowing your own truth. You are your greatest teacher. Remembering who you are and the process of living in harmony with your mind, body, and spirit.
2). Dharma: shows up in the experiences of our lives, as a matter of choice. Which choices and practices best serve you? Through being we bring ourselves back again and again to the present moment. 
3). Sangha: Community. A heightened sense of connection, a greater appreciation of mutual interdependence, and a shared responsibility for all beings to respect and care for one another.

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How one simple choice can change your life…

Albert Einstein has remarked that the single most important decision any of us will ever make in our lifetime is whether or not to believe that the universe is friendly. In the absence of proof, we have belief. And belief is a choice.

“If we decide that the universe is a friendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries, and our natural resources to create tools and models for understanding that universe because power and safety will come through understanding its workings and its motives. Because God does not play dice with the universe” –Albert Einstein.

Each of us must choose how to see our world, and this choice will essentially determine how our life will unfold. If a person decides that the universe they live in is friendly, they will see the good much more than the bad, spend more time feeling positive emotions such as happiness, love, and gratitude. That person will beneficially serve the world. However, if someone decides their universe is unfriendly and harsh, they will feel negative emotions such as jealousy, hatred, and fear. That person will contribute to their world based on taking more for them self or preserving what they already have.

Say what? I hear your inner ego protesting. Have you followed the news recently-we? Are in a pandemic, a fight for survival? Are you posting this blog now-are you crazy?  A friendly world would not create a virus such as covid 19. 

I understand any resistance to this choice. As a person who holds space for individuals with traumatic experiences, I assure you I am all too familiar with the world’s ugliness and evil. My losses in life at one time or another have been unbearable. I think of the experience as a vigorous dance of energy. There’s this give and take. When you dance, one leads, and one follows, but both are giving and taking. Just because the universe is a friendly place doesn’t mean that bad things can’t happen.

This pandemic has forced us to confront significant change – both on individual and social levels-right? Looking at the harsh areas of human life during this pandemic can help illuminate it and allow us to lean more into wonder and possibility. The universe is not friendly to a small, egocentric self. Everything we think we are, we’re going to lose; death comes to all of us. But because we are the universe — we are of it, and it is of us, with no real separation — it is not unfriendly. I believe profoundly; my life is a miracle. For me, this notion boils down to a fundamentally supportive life system that provides for me and all other living beings to the full extent that we are willing to draw on it in ways that serve a universal greater good.

Now, I am not suggesting that we put on rose-colored glasses and say everything is right with the world. Nor I am suggesting looking the other way or bypassing darkness. The truth is that there are horrors and tragedies all around us. But this harsh reality does not mean that the universe is vindictive, punitive, or out to get us. That view, too, would be a choice. Right?

What will your choice be?

Today and every day, I am committed to living in a friendly universe, to a practice that supports me in shifting into a perspective and energy that is sacred, full of joy, light, and love. When life does get harsh or unfriendly, I seek what is sacred to balance (read a blog from last year) https://bodymindbeinginstitute.org/2020/11/06/why-cultivating-your-sacred-with-your-survival-is-not-a-choice/

Would you like to join me?

Repeat these words from Einstein and live accordingly: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.”

Look for extra online classes and support through 2020. Only together we will thrive.

Deep bow to you all,

Raechel

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This blog post was originally posted on 2/14/2019 on the blog under our previous brand, Grand Rapids Healing Yoga. We hope you continue to find the insights offered here to be both fruitful and restorative.

Written by Jacqui Poehlman

I thought I had healed from all of my trauma.

I had been to years of therapy and talked through my divorce, being sexually assaulted at a young age, and the emotional scars given to me from my family. I thought was done talking and processing. I felt like I was ready for action. At the start of last year, I left behind both a relationship and a job that were not serving me, and stepped out on my own.

I could not have been more wrong.

I started my own communications consultancy, and Grand Rapids Healing Yoga was one of my first clients. As a yogi for years, I was intrigued by their offerings of healing trauma, but I felt that their services were for things I had left in my past. I wasn’t interested in revisiting them. 

Through my work with Raechel and her team, however, I learned that trauma isn’t something you can necessarily just file away.

My trauma is everywhere, and it’s part of my every interaction. Most surprising to me was exactly which traumas continued to spill out of me. It wasn’t the life-altering painful events. It was then that I began to understand that trauma is something that can and does happen every day.

As I worked to create my business, I found myself unwrapping layers of trauma I had yet to understand or process. Fears of being not good enough, of screwing things up, of being a fraud all came up to the surface.

What I love so much about working with Raechel is that she provides a safe space for people, including me, to be honest and vulnerable about where we have been in our lives and the path we would like to unfold in our future. We have a wonderful working relationship because neither of us expects the other to have all the answers. We’re allowed to have and express feelings of unworthiness, frustration, and joy.

Raechel and the other therapists Grand Rapids Healing Yoga have also taught me to understand what it feels like to live in and love my body. A great deal of my own trauma stems from body image issues in my past.  

Raechel’s style of yoga is the first I’ve experienced where I am given choices about what to do in a pose to make it feel right for my body at that particular moment in time. Everyone in a trauma-sensitive yoga class is an individual with unique challenges, and we’re encouraged to truly listen to our body to give it what it needs.

I remember after my first class with Raechel, I found myself able to truly listen to my body for the first time, ask for what it needs, and be comfortable in providing for myself. Even if that need was to rest rather than work out, or to wear a larger size clothing that I had worn before.

Sometimes, my body and my mind need to sit with the fact that I’ve been impacted negatively by what has happened to me in my life. Not from a place of action or anger, but of acceptance, understanding, and compassion. I no longer feel shame for being triggered by something (even if it means lots of tears at inopportune times!). The work I’ve done this past year has helped me start to become more grounded, confident in mind and body, and starting to live the courageous life I’ve always dreamed about,

Yet I acknowledge there is and always will be more to do. My traumas are still there, and I know I will unravel new ones every day. But like my body, trauma is something that I have learned to love as a part of me, not something that defines or limits who I am.

About the author: Jacqui Poehlman is the founder of Communicate Your Joy, a Grand Rapids-based marketing consultancy for healers and  heart-centered entrepreneurs. Jacqui is also the co-founder of Mamas Making Waves, a podcast and online community dedicated to helping mompreneurs ditch the hustle and find the flow in life and business. Jacqui serves as a Board Member for the Body, Mind, Being Project, bringing trauma sensitive yoga and education in trauma to mental health professionals and unserved communities. When she’s not plotting world domination, Jacqui  enjoys good books, lakeshore sunsets, a strong cup of coffee, napping, and time spent with her two children.

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This blog post was originally posted on 4/29/2019 on the blog under our previous brand, Grand Rapids Healing Yoga. We hope you continue to find the insights offered here to be both fruitful and restorative.

Written by Raechel Morrow

You are driven to fully LIVE your life and bring about real change in your world. BUT you are also growing a thriving business, working full-time, raising human beings,  going to school, running a not-for-profit, educating others, taking care of grandkids, serving on a board and much more! All so important to survival and living as a generative and responsible adult. Who has time for sacred? AND what is “the sacred” really anyways? 

I have entirely been in your shoes. I mean I literally walked in them. What I am about to tell you, you may not believe. I know I did not for a long time. BUT deep down inside you have an inner knowing, and you know this to be true. 
Play, Pleasure, Connection to the Divine, Eroticism (yes this too!), Mystery, Untamed Energy, Nature, all this is the sacred and you need it in abundance every day. A friend of mine  Jessica Roodvoets told me that pleasure was my birthright. It blew my mind. I thought “well, of course, it is,” not just for me but everyone.  It was a real game changer. 

The world gives us what we need.  However, within ourselves, there is a temptation to grasp and hold on the only survival. We look around and see poverty, the marginalized, and the underprivileged. We can all relate to trauma, scarcity, and alienation. What begins to shift this heaviness is when the human experience integrates the importance of the sacred.  The sacred moves our energy out of scarcity. Leaving scarcity brings our energy to a higher vibration. A higher vibration will allow for more connection that is free of attachment. Then we can genuinely hold those spaces for others.

We can take time for sacred body regimes. Adorn in pleasures.  Pray deeply. Connect to your own inner mystic or connect to the mystery in your life.
Once we are in our own sacred sovereignty, we can then focus on moving from the “Me” to the “We.”  Boy did I do that backward! Your value is now not later. Not when you “become something” Now is the power!!!!!!! Now is the time for you to experience the sacred. Not “once you are healed,” not once you know the Self, not once you reach the goal, not when you have the vacation, not when you buy that next big house or cottage.  Not tomorrow because it is the weekend. NOW IS THE POWER!
Now let’s get to the magic. These are some ideas to get you started with bringing more sacred into your everyday survival. The doing-we-do needs to come from being. If the doing doesn’t emerge from a state of rest and connectedness, it will ultimately undo us. When we are connected to ourselves, and in a state of wholeness, all the doing-we-do will be open and meaningful.
BEING IS AS IMPORTANT AS DOING:

I have come to feel that my body and mind cannot function on non-stop doing, doing, doing. I have tried it does not work. There needs to be stillness every day, or there is no space for sacred. It does not matter how busy. When my twins were babies, my silence was in the shower. I have come to accept that every Virgo such as myself, that works too hard and every parent out there, needs to create intentional stillness. As hard as it is for me to build new patterns, I have delight living in the moment. Every day I work hard and engage fully in the things that are sacred to me. Not just some days every day. Self-care GLORIOUS SELF-CARE – is what I am talking about. This is our mandate as women, mothers, parents, humans. 

OFFERING:
***Mantra: “I have all I need” or “I have enough time.”
***Create a self-care ritual for yourself in the evenings. Perhaps nourishing your skin and body. It must have the quality of indulgence and self-soothing.
***NOW IS THE POWER
CREATE A MORNING RITUAL
For me, every morning includes a sacred text or reading, candles, prayers, gratitude, breathwork, and mantra. To start a sacred morning ritual, reflect on what practices sets the tone for your day and allows you to move forward with conscious intention? What is special for you? What is spiritual to you?
OFFERING: 
***Either journaling, commune with nature, meditate, watch the sun come up, listen to the frog and birds speak.

MAKE YOUR WORK YOUR LIFE AND YOUR LIFE YOUR WORK:
As much as possible, and I know it cannot be accurate for everyone, shift from believing that your work and life are two separate entities. If you don’t, work will feel like “work.” When there is a seamlessness between your work and your life.You remain the same person. So, if you are in “life” you are the same – and when you are in “work” you are the same person. There is no division. When you are one with this reality, you no longer dread one over the other, and therefore your Universe becomes sacred. 
OFFERING:
***Ask yourself:
“Is my whole self showing up at work?”
“Am I really offering what I am meant to in the world?”
What can you do to make the shift to begin “loving” your work more?
If your life doesn’t create love and joy, ask yourself, “what is missing for me?
Whose path are you on right now?
GO PLAY EVERYDAY
How will you be like a child and use your imagination every day? How will you laugh today? How can you find meaning in everyday things? Connect to the mystery that is your life. 
OFFERING:
***Go play with your children and start to be more like them.
***Pay attention to your dreams
***Paint or write your own story*** Make a sacred place
GET TO KNOW YOUR EGO:
Ego is our survival. It is necessary but powerful when directed by the sacred. Otherwise, it makes us grasp, dependant, and reactive. It is only when we are intimate with the workings of our ego that we will be able to catch ourselves from closing down or reacting unfavorably.  Only when we can pinpoint, “ah that is my ego talking,” will we be able to transcend it. The ego mostly shows up in the insecure ways of our “inner child.” When we are in touch with our inner child, we can stop reacting to her/him in unconscious ways. When we are not compassionate with our inner child, we act out in all sorts of ways, thinking we are oh-so-grown-up, but actually, we are just behaving like a child.
It is only now, after many, many years of working on myself that I can instantly spot the ego and because of this, I am quicker to reign it in. I am not always 100% efficient in doing this because, boy, the ego is sneaky and manipulative – it has developed all sorts of underhanded ways to get my needs met. Recognizing ourselves when we enter ego is the key to living an authentic life. 
OFFERING:
***Do not do this alone. Find a sister circle or seek a guide. 
***Your ego takes you into your head, confuses. Are you in your intuition or head most of the time? ***Living in the present moment – is a practice that we need to cultivate daily. Doing so is imperative. When we do, we bear its fruits – fruits of joy, purpose and meaning away from the ego. Are you living this moment with your fullest presence and awareness?