meditation

Coming into 2014 alignment

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We made it through another year.

2013 has brought a lot of opportunity, and also a lot of change.   Stepping into the new year has brought me a chance to align with deeper parts of my own journey.  This is going to be a year of exploration, growth, and movement.

One thing that I have always wanted to do, but have for one reason or another have not gone all the way is shifting to eating raw.  So, this is the year I plan on going all the way with it.  Making the shift gives me better connection to the foods that are entering my body, my health, and my spiritual practice.  I do feel that what we eat should be part of our spiritual practice.

I’m spending more time writing poetry this year.  I got away from it for a while.  Poetry brings us face to face with the raw elements of our life.  Poetry is alive, it moves, it lasts mere moments–but echos deeply.   So, my goal is going to be to write a poem a day.  I’ll post some of them here.  I am also going to work a bit harder to get some of my work published.  I’ve wanted to do a chapbook for sometime, and now is the perfect year to make that a reality.  So, stay tuned for that.  I am also going to start attending open mics/slams again.  There is something beautiful and sacred about sharing your work in the public space.

I am spending more time with sacred texts, writing my own commentaries, and will be posting some of that here as to open deeper dialogue.  Too often we trust only the templates of others.  It is important for us to explore our personal relationship with spirituality.  2013 was a year of exploration for me.  I had the opportunity to dive into the study of paganism and witchcraft.  I learned a lot about myself, got to attend and meet some wonderful teachers, and saw how the dynamics of magick play a role in the ever-changing landscape of life, but as with all things that change, those are no longer my avenues of study.  I still practice personal forms of ritual, but I am moving those to the deeply personal, and no longer engaging the public sphere in that way.  I closed up the Yogawitch.com blog site, but will leave it up as an archive of my journey into intersecting Magick and Yoga practice.

2014 is going to be my year of placing spirituality in action.  I am diving deeper into soul specific work, working with intuition, and going back to my core spiritual work.  Journaling daily helps to connect to my soul journey.  My core practice has always been rooted in Christianity and the Eastern traditions.  I have a wonderful bible journal that I use to do study, soul dialogue, and daily tune ins.  Each day I take a moment to dialogue with my soul.  Intuition always has a lot to say if we pause and listen deeply.  The next step is capturing this dialogue, referring back to it, and trusting what is coming through.

I am going to start blogging with greater frequency.  Last night at the New Years Eve Psychic Fair at Sacred Circle Books, I kept hearing that I need to finish my book (from other psychics, and a few of my clients).  I am going to bring that through this year as well.

Diving deeper into my yoga practice (both professional and personal) is also on my list. I am going to be posting flow videos, technique study, and taking yoga on the road (big project in the works, stay tuned).

Travel is also on my agenda this year.  I plan to take my life to the road a bit, to do a spiritual adventure of sorts.  I am looking for places to visit, people to engage, and communities to share space with (place your suggestions below, or send them to me via email soulinteraction@gmail.com)

So, this is going to be a very engaging year.   This is the year of action, but also closure.  My mantra is: I am READY.

What are you shifting into this year?

You are loved.   You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Finding the flow, when you are caught in the waves

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oceanI haven’t been on the blog in a while.  Like many, I am feeling the upheaval of this time of year.  Life changes in an instant, and sometimes the entirety of our experience can shift.  When the waves are rolling in, it is important to start using all of those spiritual tools that we have been collecting over the years.  One of the questions I get asked a lot is,

“How do I stay centered in all of this upheaval?”

Now, what I am about to say is going to sound counter intuitive, but it is something that holds a lot of truth…Don’t try to stay centered in all of it.  Let yourself feel the entirety of the ocean.  Feel the waves of emotion that come through life experience, and acknowledge all of them.  Let yourself be present in your presence.  Staying in the moment is not an easy thing to do.  Holding steady, and just allowing the rain to fall on us when we have forgotten our umbrella is not easy.. but will running really get us less wet?

Many of us are taught to either push away the emotions that upheaval bring, or to pull them close to us.  The other option is to do nothing except give what arises within you your gentle observation.  In upheaval we can cling to that which is moving away from us, and this keeps us in a pity puddle.  Some of us get use to being the victims of our experience.  We get use to false refuges, and we stay in situations that feel safe.   Pushing things away can be equally harmful to our experience.  When we suppress emotions, when we do not acknowledge that grieving is a necessary part of any transition, we allow ourselves to move through anger, hurt, or heavier emotions with grace.  We allow tears to flow, because “being strong” means being vulnerable.  We we move into this type of grace with ourselves, we do not resist, but allow.

Another important part of finding our flow is allowing detox to happen.  Whenever we go through the currents of life, when we feel the loss, we have to allow a period of detoxification.  Part of suppression is moving too quickly into the next experience.  If we do not take time to process our lessons, we will have to go through them again, and they only get closer too us.

In the end, it is not about staying centered, but staying with the flow. YOU are the center, and where you are is where you are supposed to be. It might not be pretty, but it is the reality of any given moment.  This acceptance allows you to be in the flow, and in a place of balance with the forces around you.  So, don’t look for the center, be the center.  Be all that you are.

So, getting back into the blogging flow.  I’ll have more to post soon, new things are coming, new projects, a move, and new experiences.   I am not sure what comes next, but the flow is wonderful.

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Michael Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Finding inspiration, moving deeper into practice

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There has been a LOT going on over the past few months.  It seems that life is shifting us in a multitude of directions.  We are learning to swim the hard way.  When we go through the struggles, we get a chance to see where we need to place extra plaster, we get to test the seams of our experience.

I’m personally feeling the call to dive deeper into my own spirituality.  Recently a good friend of mine Pheonyx Roldan Smith passed away.  I believe when a soul like his leaves the body a sonic boom of energy occurs.  He lived his life in the deep spiritual planes, but also reached out to many of us to dive deeper into our own experience.  I have found myself sifting through things on his blog www.thocgproject.com.  I felt inspired by what I was reading, his journey, the trusting, and the opening of experience, and moving through the fear.  I see a lot of my own path in his work.  I am also aware of where I am holding back, where I need to trust more, and there is a lot of new energy that I will be bringing through in the next couple of weeks.

“If not now, when?”

That becomes the mantra that plays in the back of our minds when we place that “thing” spirit is giving us, that “thing” that is begging to come in and shift the world.  We have to start trusting our intuition.  We have to start asking the deeper questions.  We have to start honoring our bodies by giving them proper nutrition and exercise.  We have to get away from our technology and BE part of the world around us.

I am starting a fast.  When I start I tend to go deep into the experience of fasting.  I go for an all water fast for a few days as a reset.  Starting next week, I am going to do a chakra specific cleanse.  Engaging and dedicating a charka per day.  This will be a week-long ritual of clearing the energy so that soul conversation and guidance can be more clear.  Journaling is becoming more direct.  I usually keep two journals.  One that I capture my personal moments throughout the day, my personal insights, growth points, moments of reflection/contemplation and planning.  In the second journal I focus my intuition into the space around me.  I am making it a point to pay closer attention to the news (alternative and mainstream), predictions that intuition is giving me/ and those I am seeing others present, engaging discernment and tuning into the TRUE narrative.

I am also going to be doing a better job of capturing and dialogue my experience here.  Videos are coming (yoga, QiGong, meditations and teaching).  I need to do deeper, more specific meditations as well.  I’m feeling the call to connect to others doing this work.  I am also going to be doing a few community projects as well.

The journey is more than just what we as individuals are going through.  When we as individuals show up to the work, dig deep, work through the process of ascension we elevate all those around us.  We elevate humanity.

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

 

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

 

 

Distractions

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ModernDistractionsCOMICWe live in a fast paced world.  It seems that the more advanced we become the less time we have.  There are so many things around us constantly calling for our attention, and it can be a bit hard to keep up.

Distractions can come in many forms, and at times we allow our distractions to become limitation.  When we give energy to one thing, we are choosing not to give energy to something else.

How much time do you spend on facebook a day?  Do you spend an equal amount of time making actual friends, new connections?  Instead of spending time in Farmville, go out to a farm and actually engage the earth.

Identifying our distractions can be easy, changing the patterns that keep us bound to them can take a bit more work.  If you do not currently keep a journal, I suggest you start one sooner than later.  One way to see where you are surrendering time is to keep a log of how long you spend in meditation, on the computer, working, reading, etc.  Keeping a time log is much like keeping a calorie log.  Until you know where your calories are coming from it is difficult to balance your diet.

One thing that I also encourage is setting spiritual goals.  What is it that you want to create, do, or experience spiritually?  Giving yourself things to work towards allows you the ability to move, but it also allows you to better identify the distractions along the road.  An example of distraction impeding spiritual practice is often seen in mediation.  We decide we want to meditate.  Then we have to go out and buy the meditation books, cushions, just the right meditation music, and all the while we could just start meditating.  Now, I understand it is important to expand knowledge, to get fun tools to assist in our practice, but if the search for “just the right” tools is keeping us from starting our practice, then it becomes a distraction.

Being able to take conscious steps to engage our distractions, moving away from things that are limiting you.  Decide on a place to move towards, and then start moving.

What are your distractions?

What keeps you from showing up to your practice?  What can you do to remove those limitations?

You are loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine

Fasting and Detoxing: Day 1

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Life is a fantastic journey.

The past few weeks have been interesting to say the least.  I feel more connected to my own journey and experience but feel that it is time to pull out one of my favorite techniques for going a bit deeper.   We imprint, and we are imprinted constantly by living the human condition.  What we eat, what we think, what we choose to let in, and what we let out imprints on us on many levels.  When we fast we are taking time to let go of distractions, and detoxing is polishing up the pieces that need a bit of attention.

I’ve done a few posts in the past on this topic, and this one is going to be a bit different.  I typically share the details of my fast and detoxing plan, but I am going to hold that part sacred and just for me.   Fasting on many levels is a very sacred action.  We are communing with the soul, and allowing space for growth…. as a teacher, it is also my purpose to help show others that they too have access to these tools and they are there when you need them.

When many people hear the words “fast” or “detox” they immediately jump to food.  This is one aspect of fasting, but in a time and age where distractions are a plenty you can really choose to start anywhere.  You can fast and detox from facebook, from your cell phone, from speaking, from food, from sugar, from candy, from smoking, and the list can really go on and on.

Things change when you begin the process of letting go of distractions, emotions come up, resistance starts barking at you…. have a plan.

Going into a fast or detox without a plan is a good way to set yourself up to not complete your goals.. on,  and have some goals or milestones you want to move toward.

Write your plans in a journal and keep that journal with you.  The fast should challenge you, it should not be something that is too easy, but something that is not going to harm you.  Fasting allows us to see what power we have given away to the distractions in our life… are we mindlessly eating?  are we addicted to being online?  how much power does texting have over you?  can you go without tv for a few days?

When we create space by removing distractions we often begin to see we have more time… we might have more energy… we might find we have more awareness of our surroundings, etc… awareness begins to shift a bit… and this is powerful.

What holds you, and what are you holding onto?

If you are doing a dietary cleanse/detox or fast… Do your research.  Do not jump into it without knowing what you are doing to the body, what you are feeding yourself and the effects of what you are removing can have on your body.  Ex… removing caffeine can often cause headaches, etc.  Allowing your body to detox slowing, doing 1/2 caf, reducing, shifting to teas, etc. can assist with helping you make the transition away.

When you detox you are resetting the body.  Not just the physical body, but we also notice our patterns and habits that might be bound to the food/action.  “I must have that morning cigarette/cup of coffee”…   we hold affirmations that can at times bind us to the actions, not always are those affirmations positive as you can see above…  Keeping a journal of the emotions that come up in the absence of the cup of morning java, can show you a lot about yourself and your patterns.

Fasts can be as short or as long as you want.  Some people can go up to 40 days, others do a  3-7 day experience… One thing that I always like to point out is that there is no such thing as a failed fast.  You start, then you stop.  If you stop before your goal is reached, what caused you to terminate the fast… journaling this will help you to do the internal dialogue necessary to help you the next time you decided to fast/detox.

This is a bit of a ramble post…. and in the future fasting check in, I’ll be posting more of a journal style entry to give you a bit of insight into my process (internal and external) when taking on this sacred practice.

 

You are Loved.

You are Beautiful.

You are Divine!

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.yogawitch.com

 

PBP2012: M is for Micro Meditations

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I love meditation.  There is something beautiful about the sacredness of coming into that deep place of being.  When we are finally able to become still enough to align breath, intention and will.  Where we meditate can play into when we can meditate.  For many of us that are engaged in a spiritual journey we may have altar or sacred spaces we have designated as our meditation area.

If you are like me, you are most likely feeling this hectic energy that is pushing us in a multitude of directions.  Many of us are being called to service, and many others are finding their lives in the midst of chaotic energy.  I look towards my meditation corner longingly, but I at times neglect making time to  devote to sitting in front of my altar… What’s a busy mystic to do?

We have to find time to meditate in the moment.  I find that sacred space is constantly around me if I allow myself to tune into it.  Creating space in the moment is also important in allowing spirit/intuition/and inner guidance to step in.

These micro meditations can last a single breath or they can last several moments.  There is no right or wrong way to meditate, but we have to be able to let go of some greater prescription of what meditation has to be.  If you are not able to meditate for one breath, then how do you expect to be able to make that hour-long meditation work later in the day.  Meditation usually ends up on the cutting room floor at the end of a hectic day.

However, if you are adding micro meditations in throughout the day, you are allowing full integration of your practice and life experience.  We have to carve out those moments, otherwise many of us take on a bit of regret for not finding the time to meditate.

Take a look at your day.  When would you be able to squeeze in meditation?  Be creative.  I like using the crosswalks on the way home from work.  When the light is red and I am waiting, I tune fully into my breath.  I allow my mind to become still, and I focus on how red the “do not walk” sign is.  Once it changes I continue my journey home.

Share your micro meditations experiences  or ideas below!

Michael A Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelbrazell

www.paradigmshiftdc.com