Through Yoga I Bid Farewell To Fear

 The moment my feet press into the mat I bestow thanks and honor to my body.  I take the time to connect to the divine and become aware of my heightened senses.  Focusing on my breath, my body, my intentions, I become intune with each asana I create.  I raise the vibration within through a rapid Kundalini breath and allow myself to sink even farther into warrior.  Feeling the energy race throughout my entire spine, I allow for concentration, dedication and openness to what lies in the next breath.  At this moment I am a student, a teacher, a novice, a warrior, a healer and pure love.   

Looking back on my life I remember a few years back occupying this world griped in fear.  It was an existence full of what if's, constant wanting and cowardly discord.  It was a life that not only limited me but kept me from being who I wanted to become.  Now, this is not to say that "fear" doesn't try to have its hold on me today.  It is only to imply, that my life path isn't driven by fear any longer.  Through my constant devotion to meditation and yoga throughout those years, I learned to conclude that I had a choice in how I wanted to live.  I could honor my heart and live out a life I truly yearned for.  Or I could listen to my thoughts with their constant demanding uncertainty and limiting beliefs.  A fabrication of truth railed by fear and what might happen next.  A year ago I fully devoted myself to My Beliefs and chose to live a life through my heart.  For the first time in my 30 something years alive I felt the desire for adventure.  I felt the need for uncertainty and the love for what could be around the corner.  I found myself saying yes to life!!!  I surrendered my need for perfection and I allowed the imperfection that entered to teach me a thing or two about myself.  I embraced the world with my arms wide open in the "Victory pose" and I arched my back in acceptance.  It was a true releasing of it's time.  I accredit so much of that release to my yoga practice.  Meeting my Guru last summer was the blessing of a life time.  I had been doing yoga for years but never truly finding the connection I was searching for.  I soon developed a mindset that my search would have to take me to India in order to find this divine understanding I craved.  But before a trip could be coordinated the universe blessed me with the impossible.....India came to me.  The connection was so powerful upon that first meeting that I bowed my head in the lap of my Guru and wept.  Stroking my hair with a loving hand I knew at that precise moment I came home.  My prayers had been answered and my life would never be the same again.  It was finally my time to move forward and move forward I did.  Soaking up as much knowledge as I could, I thirst for the wisdom this individual possessed.  Without selfishness but a deep love, my age old wounds begin to heal and what came with was a deeper understanding.  I came to understand I understood nothing, I knew nothing and I needed nothing.  Learning that melted the misconception for perfection.  I accepted my fate and stepped onto the mat for the first time this year as teacher.  Speaking the words of my Guru as well as some of my own I understand now that we are all teachers.  We are all learning, sharing, giving and receiving. If we constantly remind ourselves of this beauty then there is never a need to fear fore we are surrounded by generosity at all times.  What could ever be more beautiful then that?                

Upon Closing My Eyes I Allow Myself To Fully See That Within Me

I have been actively participating in meditation and yoga for years.  Although my teaching it is a fairly recent endeavor, it has taken me to levels I have only dreamed of arriving at.  One in particular has to do with the Ajna (third eye) located in ones forehead between the brows, positioned at the top of the spine in the madulla oblongata.  The third eye is linked with the pineal gland located near the center of the brain, between two hemispheres tucked in between a groove, where the two rounded thalamic bodies join.  Since its location is deep within the brain it symbolizes an intimate importance.  One which is believed to see beyond space and time.  Said to be activated by light, it works with the hypothalamus which dictates the bodies thirst, hunger, sexual desire and biological clock.  The third eye has always been associated with the origin of higher consciousness.  Also known as the sixth chakra (Anja) translates to the meaning "To Command".  It is represented by the color indigo, a dark bluish/purple hue.  In order to activate the third eye one must raise their frequency and move into a higher state of consciousness.  Meditation and yoga allows one to be able to see that which lies beyond the physical body.  The more one practices, the more frequent the information begins to flow.  Allowing one to decipher between random images and dream-time messages, negative self-talk and mindful interpretations.  Kundalini yoga is known to awaken the senses through the formulation of breath by first awakening the serpent who sleeps at the base of the spine (root chakra) and slowly drawing the energy upward.  Allowing this energy to ascend towards the head center after awakening via breath vibrations.  This technique provides light to the pineal gland which in return provides divine thought.  The sixth chakra (third eye) is also referred to as the "Guru Chakra" since its activation is known to connect one with their "Inner Guru".  Thus bringing one into a higher state of meditation and wisdom.  Each chakra is known to resonate with a different sound used to raise the vibration through activation, this is why "Om" (Aum) is chanted for the third eye.  Chanting consecutively three times is said to do the most good. 

"I close my eyes so I may see"......Referring to the third eye it is a phrase that is used as a gentle reminder to shift consciousness/focus to a level where one can experience life without struggle.  A hardship for most within itself.  Through this new state of consciousness one learns a state of being, instead of a state of doing.  Shifting oneself out of the mentality of outside stimuli and instead turning within in order to refocus oneself.  As this art is practiced more and more one learns to create balance within their own lives.  When this is practiced  in Pranayama yoga it enables one to go deep within themselves in order to get a true sense of energy and life.  As one seeks, feels and acknowledges from within.  One is then able to harness that energy and allow it to resonate outward.  May your third eye through practice take you where you wish to go and see what it is you crave to answer.
~Monique