Michael Brazell

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

Poem, Stream of Consciousness

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Last night I had a dream…

It was about the time I fell into your forever beneath a street light.  It was supernova in the rain, and the drops chased us like stardust. .We ran for cover, jumping puddles like hurdles to infinity… the kiss of rain on window panes as gentle as ear on heartbeat…

I’m still searching for the moment when heartbeats became war drums.. My ears became deaf to the instruments, maybe if I would’ve listened just a little more closely…

My eyes have learned the language of waterfalls..

My fingers stained with poems searching for safety like umbrellas on rainy nights

Poems are not road maps around the hurdles…

My mind grabs memories like puddles grab rain drops…

My hands puddle tear drops into poems…

My poems, stardust caught in street lights…

Dreams fade into sunshine… then we wake up..

 

Journey into spirit

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bibleA lot has been evolving in my life.  Each day brings moments of connection, opportunities to grow, and possibility.  Humanity is in a phase of cleansing.  Our tests are becoming more tangible, and we are being given chances to step into greater moments of grace.

For me, this is a great time to go back to my foundations, my roots, and the earlier moments that I met spirit along the road to here.   Introspection and contemplation are important parts of my spiritual practice.  Taking a look at where I am, finding appreciation and then looking at the doors that are opening up keep me moving.  Intuition comes in and helps me to discern the path, the door, and the experience.   This also causes me to look at the things that I am giving energy to, so that I can see what needs to evolve.

One thing that has been coming up for me over the past few weeks is a focus on my Christian roots.   The Bible in particular has really grabbed my attention and my focus.  I can remember sitting with my Grandmother and hearing the stories she would share from the bible, and it was in those moments that spirit came into presence.  I am going back to this book, and am going to take time to go through it, to read it, to make my own commentary on the text.  I am going to do this with a variety of sacred texts, but for now I am giving my attention to this book.  I know that many have their issues with Christianity and with the Bible in particular, and the beauty of the spiritual experience is that we are all able to take what we need from the spiritual experience and run with it.  I’ll post here some of the encounters I have during this period.  I think it is important to go back to our foundation, to keep it strong, and to grow anew from the nuggets we find buried.  Life has been interesting, and I’ll be posting some of my personal experiences via this blog as well as articles/channeling/and videos.

My personal spiritual practice and what I am offering to clients is also changing and evolving.  I am also planning lots of travel in the coming years, and am putting the manifesting practices to the test in making all of this a reality.

It is Time to Wake Up.

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The time to wake up is now.

I recently received an email from my wonderful teacher and spiritual mother Susan Zummo and this was what the text in the email said:

More changes and movement taking place.  Viewed as isolated events they have little meaning.   When you connect the dots, as look at these events as a series of symptoms, it’s easy to see that we are in the middle of a transition period.

Don’t be afraid and hide in the ignorance is bliss model.  Be prepared to help others if something happens where you live.  
It’s foolish to pretend these things could never happen near us, when we can see that they are happening every day with greater frequency.  

Preparation, faith and service to others eliminate fear and doubt.

 

At first I sat with this, and then decided to take this deeper into meditation.  I know that I personally have been going through this world only giving partial attention to the events moving around me.  I move through my spiritual paradigm and do the practice, do the healing, do the work, read books and do my writing.  I go to work, teach my yoga, and work with my clients.  All along there is a vast world that is moving around me.  There are forces that are at work that do not have our best interest in mind.  There are movements of love and light, but there are also those that walk in the shadows. Recently a good friend of mine turned me on to Alex Jones and a show called Infowars.  I’ve tuned into this show in the past.  I’ve also tuned into David Icke, and David Wilcock and have in the past appreciated the information they give regarding the hidden world around us.  I think too often in the New Age paradigm we get too caught up in our processes and our own illusions to want to see the world around us.  The Old Age paradigms are also not immune to this.  We get caught up in celebrating the seasons and the earth, but do not see (or care to see) what is happening in this world.  I think that often we use our spirituality to escape reality, and we need to shift that–We need to bring our spirituality into our reality.  I am not one for conspiracy theories, but there are things that are happening in this reality that we can no longer ignore.

Of course each of the people I mentioned above go deep into their own paradigms.  Everyone has an agenda, but we have to start tuning in.  Ignorance is NOT bliss.  We might not want to turn on our televisions, listen to the news, or tune into this third dimensional space, but you’re not turning on the TV does not stop the world from moving.  If you do not know about the disaster how will you activate and send your prayers and healing?   If you are not aware of the laws and governmental changes that could impact you negatively how can you effectively use your protection and grounding work?  I feel we have a duty as psychic, channels, intuitives  witches, and people living this beautiful experience to be aware of how this world is moving, and our place in it.  Politics, government, conspiracy, etc can be heavy to sift through.  Using discernment is a lost art that is becoming new again.  Are you getting caught in the illusion of the distractions around you?  How much time do we spend on Facebook?  How often to we each foods that damage us?

I know I’m ranting a bit, but I feel that it is time for us to wake up.  One of the big things I saw coming into this year was a sense of complacency.  People felt things were getting easy at the onset of the year, and in some ways this was true.  What I saw in the New Year’s eve psychic fair was that we were being given a reprieve.  2012 for many was difficult.  It was not an easy year, and for many it was filled with much upheaval.  January hit, and things seemed lighter.  I warned many of my clients, students and friends to not get caught in the trap of complacency.  Stay with your spiritual practices, reconnect and recommit to them, evolve your connection to spirit, but stay the course.  We can easily get caught in the glamour of our own experience.  As February opened, so did the chaos that was behind the curtain.  Just like ignoring the news does not make it go away, ignoring our shadows do not make them go away.

This part of Susan’s email really struck a chord:

“More changes and movement taking place.  Viewed as isolated events they have little meaning.   When you connect the dots, as look at these events as a series of symptoms, it’s easy to see that we are in the middle of a transition period.”

I’ve been contemplating where my path is moving, and what I am being called to do.  As I tune into these various news and information sources I am hearing each of them holding pieces to a bigger picture.  I am going to start bringing together, and bringing forward information.  I am going to be starting a new blog soon for this purpose.  I am going to comb through different sources, pull videos, review documentaries, and offer my own intuitive connection to the information.  One of the thing I often see is a lot of information about how the government is doing x,y,z and how we are screwed… or, this is a holographic space and xyz… The aliens are coming and xyz, Nutrition is killing us and xyz…

We get glimpses of truth, but the distractions grab us and we get lost in our own illusions.  This is how it is designed.  I cannot count how many times this year I have heard “I feel like something big is going to happen soon”… Just like the birds know before the storm, we too have an intuition that is activating and sounding the alarm.

I’ve started making personal changes to my nutrition, my spiritual practice and how I am gathering information.  I’ll be posting on this in the near future.  It is time for us to open our eyes to this reality, how else are we to create the changes we want?

I am also going to be setting up an email address for submissions, guest posts, and am going to be dedicating a night/couple nights a week to a radio show to bring the discussion to a live and archived format.  I think it is the activist in me awakening again.  It is frustrating seeing so many people not in realization of their birth right…. to be Gods, Goddesses, to stand in their power.

I’ve been contemplating this over the past few days and have been researching directions and what I want to do with this.  I’ll still be posting here and to my yogawitch.com page.

The new website/blog is going to focus on:

  • new science/consciousness
  • spiritual nutrition/engaging the physical body
  • local/national/global/cosmic news and updates on items of interest
  • local/national/global/cosmic weather events
  • research/experimentation/and integration of practical spirituality
  • conspiracy discussions
  • actions to help you open to reality and to create changes
  • bringing forward information from various websites that I feel helpful to readers and listeners.
  • local/national/global/cosmic politics
  • channeled information
  • prophetic information and predictions from different sources
  • book and documentary reviews

I am going to cover topics that will not be popular, and I am not going to be pushing a viewpoint.  I hope that by presenting information in a unified way that we can start getting a look at the big picture.  It is also my hope that we can engage in discussion that will help us to peel back the layers of this onion.  We might shed a few tears in the process, but the soup tastes better for it.

I’ve also been receiving some interesting channeled downloads and dreams that I will be offering on this new site.  I am also going to be teaching developmental on-line workshops to help connect those interested to their intuition, nutrition, and body mechanics.

I am also going to be inviting psychics, channels, mediums, witches, healers, yogis, and spiritual practitioners to offer opinions, thoughts and perspectives, debate, and to guest post.

I did not expect to write so much, but spirit compelled me to do so.  It is time to connect the dots, to live in our purpose and stand in our power.

If you want to help with this project feel free to email me:  michael@michaelbrazell.com

Thank you for taking the time to listen, to share and to be on this journey with me.

 

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

 

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.yogawitch.com

www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelbrazell

www.facebook.com/yogawitch

 

Poem…

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Haven’t done poetry in a while.. tho, I’m in a poetic mood, so here goes….

 

Tonight I am wrapping myself in blankets of memory, some of them warm, some of them are patchwork quilts.. memories stitched together, the seams sometimes blurred.. Like me…

The poems elude me.. I am dancing in the silence of my own symphony… Sometimes wondering if all this meaning has purpose, and if that purpose will carry all of us to a new tomorrow… and tomorrow I’ll get up and start over.  Sometimes the knots in my stomach remember your hands…  You hands, they were brutally soft.  They knew all the right buttons to push, self destruct was the easiest to find… I’m still looking for the off button, but for now I’ll settle for a cup of grace… two scoops of hope, and memories that sometimes keep me up like a heavy dose of caffeine…

But for now,

the knots they keep me from coming undone…

Spiritual ADD, You Betcha…

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My spiritual journey is much like my life–joyfully chaotic with the occasional rainbow, and sometimes a pot of gold.  My life can really be summed up as an action of never letting my attention fall in one place for too long.  I often joke about having spiritual ADD, but the more I step back, the more I notice that it’s more of a reality.

My tattoos are a good sign: I have reiki symbols, Hindu chants, Buddhist chants, Ganesha, Jesus, Shiva symbols, a butterfly, a day of the dead skull, a heartagram, a pentagram, and well… the list goes on.  I wear my short attention span as a badge of honor.

I feel that if I stay in one place too long the dogmas might come up and bite me, grab hold and not let go.  I tend to float in on clouds that my head rarely comes out of, but I’m present enough to see the beauty that sometimes is lost.

I love a Christian jubilee just as much as I love attending a Pagan worship circle. I love sitting in a Quaker meeting just as much as I love listening to Atheist radio programs.  I think we don’t dip our toes in enough waters… but I rarely wait for the sharks to come nibbling.. before I’m off to the next adventure.

I pause long enough to let things sink in, but tend to do that on my terms.  I’m quick to play Devil’s advocate, even if I agree, just so that we can take it a little deeper.  We don’t question life enough, and life is about living the experience rather than hearing about it.

I have 10 books that I’m reading at any given moment, only to abandon all of those to listen to a great new harmonic frequency that will take me into the beyond that is just beyond the beyond…

My life is far from structured, but is free to fly in the moment of whatever God herself whispers in my ear.  She is like a kid painting my life a lot outside the lines and I’m okay with that.

Let go, and don’t worry so much.. let the shiny things distract you.  Read a thousand books that you’ll never finish.  Start a yoga class and finish it doing Pilates.

 

 

Ha, as I’m writing this.. I forgot where I was going, but its okay.. because we all made it here… to this moment.. together… right now…

and that..

is all…

that matters..

🙂

Mahayogi Das

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelbrazell

 

Grounding Through Gardening: My Unfolding Journey

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So, I have never been one to garden.  It’s not that I have a black thumb, but for me time seems to move so quickly that I barely have time to breathe much less connect to nature.  In one of my recent meditations I was asking what I could do to ground more, and the answer came in very clearly “Ground though touching sacred earth”.   I love nature and being outside, and it makes sense that connecting to the earth in a very tactile way would be fundamental in grounding down all this new energy that is coming in.  I’m lucky in that I have some wonderful friends that are avid gardeners and I can pull from their wealth of knowledge.

It will be a new way for me to engage my spirituality as well.   For me tactile spiritual experiences are important.  It lets me see spirituality in action.  I’m planning a little indoor garden and a small outdoor box garden.  I am having fun choosing my herbs and many of them I plan on using in my Deviant Yogi hoodoo mixes.  I’m also looking forward to the depth of discovery that I know will come from connecting to the souls of these plants.  The essence of life and spirituality in action moving through them as they breathe into this world.  I am going to work in specific meditations, utilize focused healing, and music.  I’ll also document my entire process so that you can all share in my joys (and struggles) as I move into this new and fascinating direction.

It is also important to have plant life inside.  It brings life and love into a home. I know this will be a great addition to my yoga room.  Plants are one of the most tactile ways we can connect to the divine.  There is a scent, touch, life, death, silence, and breathing– and they are all manifest at the same time.

What are your favorite plants?  What are your most memorable encounters in a garden/while gardening?  Share any spiritual experiences you’ve had in nature!

 

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

http://www.michaelbrazell.com

http://www.deviantyogi.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Finding Your Flow: Finding Your Yoga Through Surrender

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For the past few weeks I have been able to re-center myself in my practice. For many of us yoga itself is an act of surrender, for those of us that teach, it becomes an even greater struggle at times to let go of the reigns and allow someone else to steer the car. To be a great teacher you also have to be a great student, we never truly stop learning. I’ve had the joy to be able to workout with some amazing yogis through my life journey, and as of recent I have found some great teachers at my local gym. Many here in the city feel the only way to get a great yoga workout is to join a high price studio, to purchase the fanciest equipment, and to have the coolest pair of yoga pants in class, or to do a hybrid of yoga and power movements. Stepping into unfamiliar territory is the what I love most about yoga. Hearing the powerful Sanskrit names, moving into pretzel like postures, holding each one until if feels like the world itself is going to end, then relaxing deeper into the internal space of our mind. Many of us view the world only through the external. Yoga (whether you want it or not) is designed to also connect you into that internal part of being. Each asana is an action of meditation, and when we connect this way we are surrendering to yoga itself.

One of the worst things we can do as instructors and practitioners is to become complacent in our practice. I am guilty of this from time to time. We can sometimes feel like we are just going through the motions, or we skip out on our practice all together. This was part of the drive that got me back into the gym, and back into class as a student. It has been amazing surrendering to someone else. To let them guide me deeper into my own practice. If you ar finding that you are growing tired of your practice to not be afraid to step out of the bounds of comfort. Try something new! Take a hot yoga class, try acro- yoga, if you are a fast flow yogi–try slower restorative classes, try power yoga, the idea is to dip your toes in new waters. Each time we attempt something new the ripples echo out into ever aspect of our being, our practice and our connection to our paths.  Yoga is an action of surrender. Surrender can be a foreign word for many of us, let yoga be your guide. If by chance yoga is not your thing, the same rules apply. Shake up your life a bit, get up, get out, and move–find your flow, and breath in all this life has to offer. Each moment a is a gift, don’t waste it.
Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT
http://www.michaelbrazell.com
soulinteraction@gmail.com
757-839-3531