www.breathflow.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nThe benefits for breath-work are immense:<\/span><\/p>\nWe breathe at about 15-20% of our capacity<\/span><\/p>\nHabituated breathing patterns create stress and anxiety by depriving essential energy. Conscious breathing patterns sustain happiness, peace and well-being<\/span><\/p>\nOxygen is the miracle element. In Latin, spiritus means to breath. Respiratus (the root of respiration) means to re-spirit. Breathing deeper and fuller creates a catalytic transformation within our bodies And our souls, inviting more expression, creativity and vibrancy into our lives and our relationships. <\/span><\/p>\nAs women, we often restrict ourselves in protecting past wounds and potential vulnerabilities. Having a process to work through any hurt opens us up for greater possibilities of loving and living that comes from a willingness to accept and receive. <\/span>Conscious breathing connects us to a life-force energy, and creates a physiological and fundamental \u201copening.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\nI hadn\u2019t anticipated how the structure of An Invitation would instantly bring us intimately closer to our own vulnerability. Creating an Invitation has been an exercise in trust for me as well. <\/span><\/p>\nBecause EXPERIENCE really is the best teacher. We invite you to join us for our next Invitation. <\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Discerning” _builder_version=”3.19″ global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
We\u2019d like to express our deep gratitude to Anastacia Nutt for leading the Invitation on Discernment. It was a magical morning in lessons of the embodiment of peaceful power. Anastacia teaches throughout the United States, Canada, the UK and in Israel to bring new healing and ancient wisdom to women and their communities. We learned to construct pathways to our imagination and intuition enhancing our critical lens of discernment. Gained were practical strategies for cultivating a spiritual life,<\/span> decompression and intuitive discernment for the input-laden lives we women navigate today.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\nAnastacia has a mystical quality and carries a powerful narrative of the feminine. Found were answers to supporting the inner life in a way that grows and nourishes the outer life.<\/span><\/p>\nA portion of the session\u2019s notes are included here:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\u201cAn Invitation\u201d Presentation Focus: Spiritual decompression and intuitive discernment for the input-laden lives we women navigate today. By Anastacia Nutt<\/span><\/p>\nDECOMPRESSION <\/span><\/p>\nBefore we can engage our Imagination\u2026our Intuition\u2026or Discernment in a strong and reliable manner, we must \ufb01rst take the time to decompress. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nLet\u2019s de\ufb01ne this term. To Decompress is to loosen, open, expand, recover and thus return to \u201cnatural\u201d state of being. To Compress is to tighten, squash, pressed, \ufb02attened, contract into a smaller state of being. To \u201cdecompress\u201d is to withdraw our orientation to the \u201cexternals\u201d and reengage with the \u201cinternal.\u201d \u00a0We do this through Stillness. <\/span><\/p>\nToday, our attention and therefore our orientation is on what\u2019s coming at us and how to respond. This over-focus on the fast-moving story of life around us creates an imbalanced state within us. Our bodies, our emotions and our hormones react to this imbalanced state locking us into patterns stress and illness, depression and overwhelm. To stay healthy, vital and balanced in our world today, it is essential to take time every day to decompress from the outside in\ufb02uences of our lives and return to the inner in\ufb02uences. <\/span><\/p>\nIf we operate in constant compression we cannot engage our Imagination our Intuition or Discernment in even a moderately reliable manner. \u00a0Why? Because\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n\n- Imagination is how humanity participates in Divine Creation. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
- Intuition is the conversation between ourselves and our souls, or ourselves and the Divine. <\/span><\/li>\n
- Discernment requires us to have a broad perspective rooted in wisdom; as opposed to a narrow perspective rooted in survival. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
You see, for us to work well with Imagination, Intuition and Discernment\u2026we must Decompress and thus return to our \u201cnatural\u201d state of being.<\/span><\/p>\nMaterial Copyright A. J. Nutt 2017<\/span><\/p>\nTo learn more about Anastacia and purchase her books visit: https:\/\/rjstewart.org\/the-mothers-of-change\/<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Releasing” _builder_version=”3.19″ global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
As we gathered together in the front I said, \u201cWelcome to Ecstatic Dance. We will be dancing with about 150 people. The music is the only sound, as this is a completely silent dance.\u201d One woman spoke up and shared how she thought we would be walking over hot coals. Another asked if we would be retaining our clothes. We all laughed.<\/span><\/p>\nStill, they came. My instructions were simple, \u201cOur bodies hold memories. Ecstatic Dance is where we\u2019ve come to master the JOY place. Pay attention to how you arrive at joy and what kinds of resistance emerges.\u201d Empowerment is when you step squarely into possibility and court the great mystery. <\/span><\/p>\nWeeks later, we sat under a star filled sky, warmed by a fire and shared our reflections. One woman has given permission for me to share her journal entry with you here below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nTonight I danced…\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nSomething awakened inside.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nI didn’t worry what others thought of the way I shook my hips, the ones that birthed five amazingly beautiful humans. The hips that I have grown to love instead of despise at the thickness they’ve become.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nI left any sort of calculating that constantly goes on in my head; my mental lists of what I need to do, where I need to be….as the group of ladies and I stood and chatted outside.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nTonight I opened my heart wide and allowed endless possibilities to flow.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nI allowed myself to take back the true woman that I have withheld for too long. I allowed myself to feel sexy, to be sexy; to feel my own eroticism. Tonight I did it just for myself. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\nNot anyone else.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nWe stood on the edge as we entered the room…<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nMy hips started swaying,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nMy beautiful long fluid dress flowing<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nI slowly made my way towards the center of the universe.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nAnd then it was just me.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nDancing. Feeling my Joy.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nTonight I raised both arms in the air and felt the vibrations of my soul.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nTonight, I freed myself more than I was free yesterday.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nBecause I began to master the true feeling of Joy.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nI fell more in love with the woman who is breaking free.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n~Chant\u00e9 Okic Ouye Wiya~\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nDo work from their heart woman<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nMolly Ryan-Kills Enemy<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A special thank you to Ahva Lenay, Rhythm Sanctuary Founding Member and joy instigator. <\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.rhythmsanctuary.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”The Power of Quiet” _builder_version=”3.19″ global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
The idea of a soul cleanse first came to me in 2017 after the holiday buzz leaves its usual hangover and a new year commences. In the process of life\u2019s internal turmoil and external overload, I realized I needed some sort of interruption. My psychological and spiritual state was in need of a reset and yet I wasn\u2019t quite sure how something like that could be accomplished. I had decided to take a vacation from my life but I didn\u2019t want to escape and I didn\u2019t want to be entertained. My goal was to travel inward. <\/span><\/p>\nWe become so habituated to our daily routines and unconscious in our own patterns. In listening to a friend\u2019s experience of a vision quest, \u201cGoing up the hill,\u201d as some American Indians call it, the plan for a soul cleanse began to take shape. <\/span><\/p>\nMy point of departure from the traditional vision quest was the element of struggle. I felt that life had provided an ample serving of suffering. As I approached the middle of my life, it was my hope to access more in the areas of ease, comfort and joy. I wanted to create the kind of experience that would disrupt my normal and yet not create further hardship.<\/span><\/p>\nDuring my three day soul cleanse, I simply courted the quiet. Quiet and stillness connect you to the place of knowing where uncertainty isn\u2019t frightening and trust replaces the need to control. Amidst the noise and expectations, it\u2019s important to construct the spaces where the whisper of our souls calling can be heard\u2026and lived.<\/span><\/p>\nIt was space that attracted me; the need to simplify with some way retreat from the chaos into the silence. Some part of me knew the answers were not where I had been looking and I needed to change course and begin again with new eyes in which to see the path.<\/span><\/p>\nIncluded are some of the pictures. Please join us for the next Invitation where we collectively explore the power of QUIET. <\/span><\/p>\nSince spirituality is practiced in the imagination, consider these questions: <\/span><\/p>\n\n- Who or what are you communing with?<\/span><\/li>\n
- Where do you go to connect with spirit?<\/span><\/li>\n
- How do you get there?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What is shared or exchanged?<\/span><\/li>\n
- How do you communicate?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What is experienced in the process?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cLife will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u2013 Louise Erdrich<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”The Freedom of Forgiveness” _builder_version=”3.19″ global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
Thank you to those who attended last month’s INVITATION, \u201cHow to break the bonds of resentment and find freedom through forgiveness.\u201d Your stories illustrate how forgiving even the unforgivable is possible and liberating. There is tremendous power inside a circle of women who hold each other in the tender space of love and acceptance.<\/span><\/p>\nA Love Letter from God<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\n
If you are broken, I can\u2019t fix you
<\/span><\/i>You can fix yourself<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nI cannot speak for you either
<\/span><\/i>Because you have a voice<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nIf you are lost, I can\u2019t find you
<\/span><\/i>Trust those around you to point you in the right direction<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nYou are not alone
<\/span><\/i>To know yourself\u2026
<\/span><\/i>is to find yourself<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nIf you are afraid
<\/span><\/i>Move forward anyway<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nIf you make a mess
<\/span><\/i>Clean it up<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nIf you create something beautiful
<\/span><\/i>Share it
<\/span><\/i>And celebrate<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nWhen you hurt someone
<\/span><\/i>Or a thing that bears the capacity for injury
<\/span><\/i>Make amends<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nIf you are wrong
<\/span><\/i>Forgive yourself<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nIf they are wrong
<\/span><\/i>Forgive them<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nEven if I could save you, it would mean denying you one of the most important reasons for being alive\u2026
<\/span><\/i>To save yourself<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nYou are free\u2026it is my will<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n
Angela Engel \u00a9September 16, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”From Attachment to Detachment” _builder_version=”3.19″ global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
Answering the hard questions of why we hold on and how to let go. This month we explored the attachments that keep us stuck and constrained and discuss ways to move towards more freedom. <\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019ve provided a small glimpse of our work through the detachment meditation. The written words falls short of the power that comes from a circle of women, relating honestly and authentically and in support of one another. If you haven\u2019t tried an Invitation, the door is always open… <\/span><\/p>\nDetachment meditation: Reflect on all stages of your life and what you\u2019ve brought with you into this moment\u2026into this space. Infancy, adolescence, your teen years, early adulthood, the years before you knew better and the years when you thought you knew. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\nExplore: <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n* The past events that marked your development <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n* The roles you chose and were assigned <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n* The beliefs you held <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n* The commitments you made, consciously and unconsciously <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n