Transitioning into the Darker Half of the Year with Yoga, Oils & Crystals

Since you started going to school at age 3 or 4, fall has always been a time of transition.

The transitions have changed over the years as you’ve changed. You’re no longer starting a new year of school, but the transitions have gotten bigger and, oftentimes, scarier.

A new apartment, a new job, a new partner, a new city, a plane ticket.

These tools and grounding yoga poses will remind you that no matter what’s going on in your life as we transition into the darker half of the year, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. You have roots. You are safe. You can withstand any storm.

Grounding

Grounding has two purposes. The first is to heal trauma, both physical and emotional, to allow you to release fear. The second purpose is to bring earthy energy into the system. For signs that you’re not grounded and how to fix that, check out this past blog post here.

These herbs, teas, oils, and yoga practice will serve both purposes. They will work to balance and cleanse the root chakra, which keeps us grounded and linked to the earth. When we lack sufficient root chakra energy we may feel ungrounded, question our value, feel scattered, or feel disconnected with ourselves and the Earth.

You can dive right into these poses, or you can incorporate grounding crystals, herbs, and oils into your practice. If you’re really feeling flighty, anxious, afraid, or scattered, I recommend taking extra time for yourself here for a full grounding practice.

Drink an Herbal Tea

Valerian, Lotus root, Hibiscus, and Hawthorn are all grounding roots. Besides their healing physical benefits, these herbs are known to release stress and calm anxiety. Try a tea blend with a few of these herbs or keep it simple with just one. Here are 3 healing DIY herbal tea blend recipes for you to try.

Incorporate Oils

Scent is a powerful way to introduce more grounding energy to the system. Lavender, rose, and chamomile are soothing oils that will help you heal trauma to release fear.  Sandalwood and patchouli will increase the flow of earthy energy.

There are many different ways to use your oils. For your yoga practice, you’ll want to either dilute the oils with water and create a mist or dilute them with a carrier oil (such as olive oil or coconut oil) and massage the oil into your skin. Massaging the feet as part of your yoga can be incredibly powerful, especially with these grounding oils. Here are a few essential oil blends I love to use in rollerballs.

Set Out or Wear Your Crystals

Hematite, smoky quartz, shungite, jasper, snowflake obsidian, and prasiolite all create grounding energy.

Hematite is a highly protective stone. It helps to open your root chakra, eliminate negative energy, and create a more balanced and centered mind.

Smoky quartz is a good choice for those who find hematite to be too intense or heavy. Smoky quartz grounds and stabilizes while balancing the root chakra, but in a much more subtle and uplifting way than hematite.

Shungite is another powerful stone for balancing the root chakra, helping to bring all your negative energy and toxic thoughts to the surface to release that which does not serve you.

Jasper brings a strong Earthy energy to your practice, deepening your connection with Mother Earth.

Prasiolite is another powerful healing stone that helps you ground yourself to the energy of the Earth, remove negative energy, and replace it with positive energy.

Snowflake obsidian is a grounding and protective stone. It brings balance in the midst of chaos and helps remove negative energy as it draws emotions and toxic thought patterns to the surface. It is also conducive to entering a deep meditative state. For extra grounding, try wearing snowflake obsidian jewelry during your practice.

Roll Out Your Mat

Ancient yogis divided the life force energy, prana, into 5 energetic components known as Vayus. The apana vayu is the energy of elimination that flows downward and out. When you bring awareness and focus to this energy, it will help ground you.

We often direct too much energy upwards, spending too much time thinking and creating imbalance, stress, and lack of emotional stability and mental clarity. These yoga poses will all refocus your energy downward, back to the body and our connection to our home: Mother Earth.

Sukasana, Easy Pose

Begin your practice comfortably seated in sukasana, easy pose. Become conscious of your sit bones pressing into the mat.

Start by meditating on the root chakra bija, or seed, mantra: LAM. As you meditate, visualize the breath beginning at the base of the spine. As you inhale, the breath travels up the spine to the crown of the head, the crown chakra. As you exhale, the breath travels down to the base of the spine, grounding you and growing roots into the Earth.

You can say the mantra out loud, or simply repeat it to yourself quietly.

Virabhadrasana II, Warrior 2

Warrior 2 is an incarnation of Shiva, the destroyer. This pose will remind you of your strength and stability.

Create a firm foundation for this pose by visualizing the feet connecting to the earth. Feel the mat or ground underneath you and strengthen through the legs to send your roots into the earth. Continue to focus your energy downward with the root chakra breath, imagining now that the exhale sends the breath all the way down through the legs into the Earth.

Utkata Konasana, Goddess Pose

Goddess Pose, as the name suggests, is another pose of fierce strength. The pose represents the feminine force that birthed the Universe. The same energy inside you is the energy that created the Universe, and it is the energy that will carry you through this transition into the darker half of the year.

Allow the strength of the pose and the feminine energy it cultivates to bring you back to your center. What are your fears in this time of change? This is the time to reflect on them, and then release them.

Vrikshasana, Tree Pose

This pose improves both physical and mental balance, increases your ability to concentrate, and reminds you that you can bring peace and focus to all situations.

As you enter the pose, firmly ground down with your left foot. Press into each individual toe and through the four corners of the foot. Firm through the left leg, and feel the support of every muscle as you bend and lift the right leg to enter into the pose.

Imagine that you are a tree. You have survived rain, fire, and storms of all kinds, yet still, you stand. Picture the roots that grow from deep within the earth and wrap around your legs.

Malasana, Yogi Squat

This pose helps create strength and calms the body, mind, and spirit. As you inhale, lengthen through the spine. As you exhale, feel the energy of the breath flow down the spine from the crown of the head to the tailbone.

The apana energy this pose cultivates helps you release fear as you root down close to the Earth.

Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog

How much time do we spend mindlessly in a downward facing dog, letting our minds wander? This pose is often repeated during yoga classes, which makes it easy to space out and spend the pose waiting for the “next thing.”

In this sequence, I encourage you not to do this. Spread through each finger and press firmly into the palms of the hands. Straighten and strengthen through the legs to push the heels closer to the mat.

My yoga teacher actually refers to downward facing dog as a standing pose. That’s how strong your legs should be! On each inhale, visualize the roots of the earth pulling the heels closer to the ground. On each exhale, picture the white-hot energy of the breath flowing down the spine.

As you end your practice, return to sukhasana. Feel the support of the earth beneath you, closing with this mantra:

“All is well. Everything is working out for your highest good. Out of this situation, only good will come, and you are safe.” -Louise Hay

In this season, we move from light to dark together, with the support of the Earth and the support of our yoga practice.

Namaste.

8 Simple Ways to ‘Be Here Now’

The present moment; that time in space where the magic happens. Life stops and everything seems perfect just as it is. All of it makes sense, if only for a moment. We’ve all felt this fleeting feeling, but how can we be here more often?

I want to help you find freedom from the inner chatter of your brain and reach a new level of consciousness in the present moment. I’ve got 8 quick tips for you that will help you ‘be here now’ more often.

...Which is a BIG deal. These 8 tips can help turn your worry-filled moments at a stoplight into zen filled moments. I think we all need more of that!

1) 5-4-3-2-1 Technique

This one is my favorite go-to for when you are having an internal freak-out!! Let's put those anxiety attacks to rest! By recognizing your senses, you can gain control of your thoughts. Catch your breath and ground yourself in reality by way of your five senses!

1. Acknowledge 5 things you can SEE around you

2. Acknowledge 4 items you can TOUCH around you.

3. Acknowledge 3 things you can HEAR

4. Acknowledge 2 things you can SMELL

5. Acknowledge 1 thing you can TASTE

2) Yin Yoga

Turn it down a notch with this slow-paced form of yoga. Switch out one of your faster-paced yoga classes for a Yin class!

By incorporating this style of yoga into your routine, you will begin to find the beauty in your pause. Trust me, all the feels come to the surface when your body melts into pigeon pose for two minutes! When you move so quickly in all other areas of your life, yin allows you to just be still. Bonus, you’ll eventually start to notice this slowness creep into other areas of your life.

3) Walking Meditation

Are you so busy some days that you don’t even have a chance to sit down? This one is for you! It also means that means you have lots of opportunities to practice it too!

Thich Nhat Hanh suggests not focusing so much on where you are walking, but rather how you are walking. Walk with reverence. Try matching your inhales and exhales with your steps. Focus intently on how the ground feels under your feet and how your feet feel coming in contact with the ground. Imagine each of your steps as a nod to our Mother Earth.

4) Power of the Pause

There's power in the pause. Heated moments of anger, frustration, jealousy, and fear are some of the hardest times to live in the present moment. Acting on your first thought isn’t the best option and can leave you in a pit of resentment or regret. But, when you buy yourself this space, you create options.

Next time you have a flash of one of those powerful emotions try pausing before you react. Perhaps in the quiet moment of a pause, a new option for a reaction (or lack of reaction) will enter your mind? It’s certainly easier said than done, but practice truly does make perfect. Try turning the pause into one of your habits and see what happens!

5) Mindfulness Apps

Being in the present takes practice, especially in our fast-paced lifestyles. Mindfulness apps are perfect for building reminders into your fast-paced day.

I could easily write a full blog post about the magic of modern mindfulness apps! I’ve tried many and am happy to share some of my findings. Though many of these do have paid options or upgrade they’re all absolutely free to start out with!

My top 4 mindfulness app finds:

1. Lotus Bud: This simple app will offer gongs or buzzes at random times as reminders to focus on the present moment.

2. Calm: This app is more robust and has lots of great paid offerings. My favorite thing about it is the free “breathe” function it has on it that has a timer for inhaling, holding the breath, and exhaling.

3. Tibetan Bowls Meditation: The app is great for the more seasoned mindfulness practitioner. It offers a variety of singing bowl sounds that are great for on the spot self-guided meditations.

4. Headspace: This app is great if you’re new to meditation. It has short and helpful videos before each mediation that walk you through all the mindfulness know-how you’ll need to know and has a great 10-day free trial.

6) Tapping

Past traumas and losses can play a huge role in your ability to be present and can seem difficult to overcome. Practicing tapping can help you get out of “lizard brain” mode (the fear, fight or flight, part of your brain) and into the prefrontal cortex (the conscious decision-maker part of the brain).

I know this one might seem a bit odd, but I can tell you firsthand, it works! This is one of my favorite methods for calming down when I’m consumed by panic or anxiety.

My preferred method is to cross my arms and lightly tap opposite shoulders. This might not always be a good option, like if you’re in a busy meeting. If tapping your shoulders won’t work you can try lightly tapping back and forth on opposite thighs.

If you have a specific traumatic event you’re trying to work through try out the following steps for a simple tapping exercise:

• Begin by tapping your left hand on your left thigh and then your right hand on your right thigh or by tapping opposite shoulders with your arms crossed.

• Lightly tap left to right, left to right.

• See the event. Acknowledge what you see, smell, hear, taste...as you relive that event.

• Continue tapping left to right left to right.

• Now replace the trauma with your “happy place” or a “circle of love.”

• Use your five senses as you dive into your happy place.

• Continue tapping left to right until you feel free from the bad memory and grounded in the present.

Pair this technique along with some breathing for a presence powerhouse!

7) Conscious Observation

This is a great tool for redirecting overactive mental energy. I can't tell you how many ceiling tiles I've counted in waiting rooms! Sometimes when we feel nervous about a situation we project all of the possible future outcomes, the good, the bad, and the ugly! Try taking your mind off of the unknown by observing something in your surroundings.

• Find an object near you, it can be anything.

• Observe the item, take in every inch of it.

• Mentally note the color, size, and texture of every aspect of it (i.e. the pillow is brown, it looks soft to the touch, it has light vertical lines in it etc.).

• Repeat with as many objects as you’d like.

8) Count Your Breaths

When you are overwhelmed, you sometimes forget to breathe! Instead of holding your breaths, count them! Depriving your body of oxygen can actually create anxiety. Take deep breaths to bring yourself back to the moment.

• Inhale for 5 counts through your nose

• Hold for 3 counts

• Exhale for 5 counts through your mouth

I like counting on my fingers by touching the top of my thumb to the top of each finger for each count. Add in your favorite calming essential oil for added benefits!

I hope you’re able to snag a few of these for your tool chest. Now you’ve got a mindfulness tip for every day of the week, and an extra for good measure! There are more tips for staying the moment than there is room on this blog, if you have a favorite I’d love to hear about it, send me a message on Instagram.

Healing Sounds: Tibetan Singing Bowls

Can you really receive healing energy from singing bowls?

I’m sure you’ve seen them in your yoga class, or maybe you’ve even got your own singing bowl. They’re becoming more and more mainstream in Western culture, but what’s all the fuss? Can these pleasant sounds really help heal us from the inside out?I’ve done the research for you and have learned that singing bowls can in fact help you heal. (More on this and where to start your collection later.) I also learned about an unexpected communication link between singing bowls and the Buddha, but here’s a little history first.

Where Do They Come From?

Tibetan Singing Bowls date back to 560-480 B.C. and knowledge of the singing bowls were only passed on by high-ranking lamas or spiritual masters. To complicate the passing down of this study, the teachings were traditionally spoken between teacher and student. There’s virtually no written text on the topic! I, however, came across an interview with a lama (spiritual leader) regarding the mystical singing bowls!

Communication from The Buddha

In the interview, the lama told all about how the singing bowls are a means of communication for Buddha, how cool! So, if you are listening to singing bowls, here are a few things you might learn directly from Buddha.

Emptiness: The sound of the singing bowl gives the teaching of broadness and emptiness. This is the essence of Buddha’s teaching. In emptiness, all things are possible. Having a bad day? Emptiness allows feelings and emotions to not linger for too long. It allows us to not take everything so seriously, which I really need a lesson in on a daily basis!

Healing with Singing Bowls

Ok, now here’s some awesomeness for ya! The medical director at the Deepak Chopra Center in California found that both chanting AND Tibetan Singing Bowls are chemically metabolized into internal healing agents and painkillers! Here’s the lowdown on how the singing bowls promote healing in our bodies:

Vibrations: All matter vibrates. When we have an ailment, it is a part of us that is vibrating out of tune. Singing bowls can literally change the matter within you by sending vibrations to your body that bring everything back into harmony. This can be done by having singing bowls played around your body, or even having them played while they rest on top of your body!

Emotional Response: Singing bowls heal us physically because they touch us on deep emotional planes. The sound creates a spiritual awakening that quiets negative self-talk and synchronizes our brainwaves to bring awareness of a mind/body connection.

Mind-blowing right?! Well, if you got as excited as I did about these you might want to start your collection now. I found an amazing shop on Etsy that sells small, very affordable, singing bowls that you can even coordinate with your chakras, check them out here.I’d love to hear any singing bowl experiences you have had, or if you have a favorite singing bowl, let me know! Send us an email.

2 Spring Equinox Rituals to Cleanse & Refresh

Have you ever been curious about how to celebrate the Spring Equinox, also called Ostara in the wheel of the year, or ever wondered what it is exactly? We’ve got explanations and two different ways that you can celebrate rituals for the Spring Equinox.The coming of Spring is marked by the Equinox - meaning “equal light.” The Spring Equinox, or the first day of Spring, occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator from South to North. This special event happens every year on March 19th, 20th, or 21st. This year it is happening on March 20th. During this time, daylight and night are equal and balanced, right before tipping over to the side of light. Flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and birds are chirping…it’s officially SPRING!!Around the world, many different cultures hold celebrations for the Spring Equinox, and I want to share with you some of my personal favorites.

Yoga Mala Sun Salutations

More than a beaded bracelet, a yoga Mala is completed by doing a set of 108 sun salutations. It’s a great way to cleanse the mind, body, and spirit. Completing this could take as long as two hours (expect a lot of jump backs into Chaturanga), but you can always rest in downward facing dog or child’s pose. Sweaty as you may be, it’s a great way to cleanse and detoxify the body for a new season.

How to Get Involved

If you’re an experienced yoga practitioner you can set a time special time and place to do this on your own or with friends. If you’ve got a favorite local studio it’s likely that they’ll be offering something for Spring.

What to Know Before You Go

• Sign up ahead of time for this special event at your local studio.

• Come to class with an intention. An encouraging message will help you to push through.

• Be prepared to sweat! The room will naturally heat from all of the movement and breathwork of you and your fellow yogis. Bring a towel to place over your mat, or a hand towel to wipe off any excess moisture that might cause you to slip.

• Wear an inspirational piece of jewelry. I wear a hamsa hand around my neck that inevitably dangles in my face while I’m resting in downward facing dog reminding me “you’ve got this!”

Forest Bathing

Forest bathing is a Japanese tradition called “Shinrin-yoku,” or “taking in the forest atmosphere.” Unlike the vigor of a Mala, forest bathing is meant to be a calm, low-speed experience. As leaves begin to bud, and flowers begin to bloom, a forest bath is a perfect way to honor the arrival of Spring. You could do this by meditating in a lush green area, taking a hike, or even having a picnic.Not only are these ideas relaxing from a spiritual perspective, but there are actually scientific advantages behind these inspiring practices, too. Many trees give off organic compounds that decrease stress hormones and boost your immune system.

Additional Benefits Include:

• Decrease in anxiety, depression, and anger

• Increased cognitive function

• Reduced blood pressure

• Accelerated healing

• Increased ability to focus

• More energy and better sleep

Let me know if you’ve tried any of these in the past or have plans to create a new ritual this year. Happy Spring Equinox! Find more rituals for Ostara here.