4 Ways to Awaken Your Light-Part 2
In Part 2 of your journey towards our January 17th-20th virtual evening retreat, "Awaken the Light Within You," we'll explore the Brave Heart and its connection to the element of water. It's a taste of what you might get on Day 2 of the retreat.
Day 1: Strong Mind/Air
Day 2: Brave Heart/Water
Day 3: Wise Body/Earth
Day 4: Noble Spirit/Fire
Yesterday, in Part 1, we explored the use of your breath (Air element) to cultivate a Strong Mind. As you continue to do the conscious breathing practice, and develop your awareness of your breath and your thoughts, begin now to notice the feelings you have associated with your thoughts.
Our heart center is where we feel things deeply. It's where we give and receive love, hurt, sadness, joy. Water, like our emotions, is fluid. Every changing. It also evaporates just as we can do with emotions that drag us down.
A Brave Heart is one that isn't afraid to feel and show emotions. The old saying, "Keep a stiff upper lip," is just that - stiff. Not fluid. When we repress our feelings they get stuck inside of ourselves, and our Wise Body speaks to us with physical pain and dis-ease.
Brave Heart Practice - Name It to Tame It
This practice will help you identify your feelings without judgment, allow good feelings to deepen, and release those emotions that don't serve you in a positive way.
Find a comfortable position either sitting or lying down
Close your eyes (this is important, so you can notice your feelings without distractions)
Find your breath - continue your conscious breathing without force.
Relax your muscles, and allow yourself to surrender to gravity
When thoughts arise, begin to notice how those thoughts make you feel. Don't judge. Just notice.
Name the feeling (for example, angry, sad, scared, happy)
Sit with the feeling, even if it's difficult. Don't be afraid to cry. Those tears are salty and fluid like the waves of the ocean - coming and going.
When you're ready to release the unwanted feeling, imagine what that feeling might look like (a word, a photo, etc...) and use your breath to send it out into the atmosphere. Watch it float away like clouds in the sky. Clouds, after all, are water in the air that we can see.
To help you get clear on what you need to shed from your life, join us for our 4-evening virtual yoga/meditation retreat Awaken the Light Within You starting January 17th. Click HERE to learn more and register.
Also, begin your journey to Awaken the Light Within You, with our gift to you - an audio meditation recording guided by Live Free Yoga's Co-founder and meditation master, Tida Chambers, taken straight from our virtual yoga/meditation retreat in October. Get a taste of the power of what you'll experience. Just click the link below to download.
Author, Phyllis Smith, is the Co-founder of Live Free Yoga, which provides yoga and mindfulness programs for youth and adults who serve them. She is also the co-creator of Lighter Being, a transformative mindfulness video series to help you find more balance, self-love, and a lighter state of being.
Photo by Kathy Tran
