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Look out, and go within
Look within. Who do you see?
My morning walk led me to this meditation: Look out, and go within.
The scene around the quiet lake was beautiful, I wish you could have been there.
The deep navy blue of the morning ether, the lush green of the trees before fall takes their color, the calm stillness of the lake rippling from the cool breeze, and the contrast of the white steeple from St. Eugene’s.
It all took my breath away, and I had to exclaim to myself aloud, “It’s beautiful!”
Seeing nature in all of its glory, the colors, sounds, and scents gifted to us by God. How lucky we are, if only we allow ourselves to look out into this magical world and see the same magic within.
Squirrels scurrying to store their nuts for the coming winter. A darling duck covered in muted peach and cream feathers nipping away at the greens. Cardinals chirping high pitched songs, reassuring us that our ancestors are near and keeping us safe. The musty smell of fresh rain on the earth.
I challenge you to see, really look into the world with your eyes and into your spirit with your intuition. Allow your ears to open, listen to the stories being told to you by mother nature. Touch a tree or the ground to feel the earth and know that you, within, are calm, still, and grounded…you are part of the beauty that surrounds you at every moment of every day.
This morning, looking out I was able to go within.
Can you go within by seeing the inner reflection of all the universal beauty that surrounds you?
Try…try…try…See the beautiful world out there and know that it is also in you.
Peace, peace, peace, may you know a deep calming peace within. Namaste.
Breath Ratios - Square, Rectangle, or Circle?!
Hello there, friends! I’ve recently been involved in conversations about Square Breath - in my Yoga Teacher Training program, and with clients. Square Breath, it seems, is the go to recommendation of all types of providers. If you’ve ever tried square breathing, you may notice it works really well and you love it, or you’ll notice it’s really difficult! Read more…
Read moreListen...
There are times when words are unnecessary. If we sit quietly and listen, we know.
Basilica of Saint Lawrence, Asheville, NC
Welcome a New Year
The New Year ushers in a blank slate for us all. We need nothing other than to look within and listen. The Universe supports our intentions and uplifts our Spirit as we adapt in order to find our passion for life, our passion in life, our passion for the Divine.
Contemplation Points:
📿 blank slate
📿 nothingness
📿 balance
📿 passion, burning desire
📿 beauty in nature
📿 gifts
📿 my perfect karma
📿 the wheel of life
Open your heart...
Open your heart with the spirit of the season. Offer your gratitude, peace, and compassion to all beings, and know these gifts will return to you as love, joy, and kindness.
🕯❤️🙏🏻🧘🏻♀️❄️
Continuing Yoga Education
Last Friday a new yoga journey began!
I started my next level of teacher training through the Subtle® Yoga RYT500 program.
I am grateful to be studying alongside a group of beautiful souls, and learning from the collective wisdom of the group and our amazing teachers! Yay & Namaste!
I Manifest...
I Manifest
my thoughts
my actions
my emotions
into positive, earthly delights
in order to come home to myself
healed
at peace
loved, and
whole
In need of a Mindful Moment?
Pick a beautiful, bright red pomegranate. Hold it in your hand and consider its symbolism. Then, open it and find yourself drawn in to the fruit, carefully removing each seed, by seed, by seed.
I find myself completely focused when peeling a pomegranate, my mind fully engrossed with the beauty that lies within. Oblivious to the outside world, if only for a short time.
Find a pomegranate and allow yourself to have a mindful practice peeling it, and uncovering each of its seeds. Savor the taste.
And, if you like, follow your mindful pomegranate peeling practice by a slow, interoceptive yoga sequence that leads you to uncover the miraculous seeds within you.
On My Mat
It is here, on my mat, where I connect to the Divine.
With every inhale I feel the expansion in my lungs, and a lengthening of my life with arms reaching high overhead to the heavens.
With every exhale and fall forward, I feel the freeing of my chest, my core, my back, my shoulders, my neck and head. I feel the freeing of my mind and exiting of anxieties held deep within. I feel the Earth beneath me, feeding me her wisdom.
It is here, on my mat, I find the Divine in me. We meet again and again, day after day, to say I love you, you are love. You are alive, live.
It is here, on my mat, where I realize my full potential. Where I manifest all that is and will be. I feel the strength in my arms and my legs, and my soul. I intuit what is next and what may never be.
It is here, on my mat, I am aware that the Universe is in me. And it is you, too.
Join me. Grab your mat. Let’s meet the Divine. Let’s return to a meeting of ourselves. Free and full of love and potential. Another beginning, a birth awaits.
Truth. Love. Peace. Grace. Yoga.
A Year of Inner Magic & Transformation
In 2019, Elk Mountain Wellness, LLC will launch an online and in-person program that combines yoga asanas and ethics (the yamas and niyamas) along with chakras, tarot & oracle cards, and words of inspiration to assist seekers who are journeying towards Inner Magic & Transformation.
Participants will receive weekly emails featuring yoga sequences centered around a theme that will focus on different areas of the body, and will be supported by a specific archetype or oracle cards, poetry, essays, educational pieces, and more.
We will kick off in January with themes such as Cleanse, Vision, and Breathe. In February we will focus on the theme of love, and you can bet The Lovers card will appear, along with asanas to open up the heart and its corresponding chakra!
Please consider joining us for this exciting, rewarding year-long journey - A Year of Inner Magic & Transformation. Your Mind, Body, & Spirit will thank you!
To learn more, submit the form on the Contact page, or send a quick email to michelle (at) elkmountainwellness(dot)com.
Your Yoga
I don't teach my yoga, I teach your yoga.
As your guide, I will help you: find your comfortable movement into the postures, learn to listen to your breath, connect with nature and your divinity, and gain the confidence to move at your own pace.
Yoga & Mindfull Movement classes are infused with awareness cues that will help bring you closer to your inner light, your inner teacher.
Connecting our spirit to our physical bodies, we know where we are, physically, in this world. We know we are safe and we can make good, solid decisions that will lead us on the path to well-living.
Journal Lost
While walking the streets of Downtown Asheville yesterday, my Moleskin journal fell out of our daughter's stroller. It contained ideas for this business, notes from the books I'm reading now that apply to spirituality and well-being, and some special poetry. The wind was strong. It could be anywhere in these hills by now. I hope it landed with someone who needed to read the words inside. And still, I'm heartbroken it's lost.
