 The Last Full Moon of 2024: A Full Moon Practice
This weekend is our last full moon for 2024. It is said that the effect of all spiritual practices multiply a thousandfold during the full moon. A great time to honor spiritual practice and harness the impactful energy of the moon. I will be leading a full moon meditation this Saturday morning at my 90-minute monthly beginners class, along with a Kundalini yoga movement practice specifically to harness our inner light as the days grow dark. You are invited (register here) - open to both beginners and experienced practitioners. The Shortest Day: A Winter Solstice Check-In The following weekend is the Winter Solstice— our shortest day. The solstices are potent energetic gateways. You can feel that shift in your mood and energy, the impulse to close one season and prepare to begin anew. In the Winter, this is a great time to pause and reflect— and access our own inner fire and warmth, inviting a purification within. Like starting the fire in the hearth. Cozy, yet open-hearted, creating space for reflection, connection, gratitude and generosity. A space to come together to pause and celebrate. Savitree Kaur and Anna SachKiret invite you to join our free community check-in for this Winter Solstice (register here). We will share practices and reflections to honor this day and deepen our connection with this cycle of life. Harnessing the Sun’s Energy to combat the winter. For 11 days leading up to the Winter Solstice, I’m teaching and practicing a kundalini set to tap into our inner fire for warmth, energy, extrovertedness, and enthusiasm. It’s called Surya Kriya– a powerful and beloved practice to tap into our inner light and shine like the sun from within. Some of you have started this practice with me and, if you’ve missed my Day 1, it’s not too late to start at any time. (11 is a spiritually significant number but any number of days you commit to yourself is a positive! And you can take this practice with you to the end of the year or throughout the cold season if you wish). Message me for a video to get started OR join in this Saturday’s beginners class (or any of my live classes until Winter Solstice) to practice live online with me (see links in the P.S.). In alignment with nature’s cycles and our own inner resources, our conscious practices serve to strengthen our inner and outer relationships, and keep us deeply connected with divine wisdom and source. If you are seeking some of that connection and/or opportunity to practice together, you are invited to join me and other amazing people in this community to elevate your life experience and know thyself better. Drop-in, commit to your practice, and I hope to see you soon! Blessings, Anna SachKiret PS. Here are the above links for quick reference (all times are shown in CT)– would love to meet you! Monthly Beginners Class (90 min) - Saturday 12/14 at 9am Winter Solstice Community Check-In (60-75 min) - Saturday 12/21 at 10am - free! Live zoom kundalini classes with Anna SachKiret - Tuesdays (10am), Wednesdays (6:30am), and Thursdays (10am)
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 Often people will ask me how kundalini yoga differs from other types of yoga. I feel ill-equipped to offer a comparison as I never truly got into other kinds of yoga. I even wrote a post about it here. But it is a fair question, so this is my attempt to answer it in a fair way. A Door to Replace the Self-Help Section Early on for me, this practice of kundalini yoga and meditation was exactly as it was/is professed to be: “the yoga of awareness”. The brain fog cleared, my perspectives shifted, and a deeper understanding of myself felt possible. The best way I could describe it was: imagine if the entire self-help section at the bookstore could be replaced with simply a door which opened into a kundalini class. Yeah, that’s it in a nutshell. 5 Main Differences, In Other Words (Jill Enticknap’s words) I recently discovered this well-written account by Jill Enticknap, yoga teacher, entrepreneur and creator of Yogi Institute, online yoga studio and teacher training. She highlights the five main differences that set Kundalini Yoga apart from other yogas as:
This feels quite right to me as the keys to the practice-- and good to know these are differentiators of kundalini yoga. I encourage you to read her blog for a bit more on each of these. The only addition I may add is the prevalence of nervous and digestive system work, however that could be captured within energy/chakras, breathing techniques and essentially all of the five. While we work at flexibility, stretching, and strengthening our physical body, the focus is more from the inside-out. Moving energy to heal you from the inside through the conscious movement, breath and inner connection with your body’s divine wisdom. What matters most to me about this practice is its powerful impact, which for me and many others I know, was experienced soon after starting a regular practice. Life Before: What’s Wrong With Me? Prior to finding kundalini yoga, I worried incessantly about gloom and doom scenarios, especially for my family. I set my life’s priorities around making other people’s lives and dreams shine over my own. And that was a great place to focus because I didn’t know what I wanted or who I was anyway. Me? I didn’t quite fit in anywhere. At least that’s how I felt inside, though my friends didn’t see it. Except for momentous shifts like becoming a mother, I often wondered what’s wrong with me. Why couldn’t I figure it out? Self-help books tell you to “know thyself” - thanks, easier said than done! It was easier to lean on others’ lives and focus my attention there. I’m sure that wasn’t overbearing on anyone. 🙄  Life After: I am the sparkly, happy unicorn
The worrying about things I can’t control, the fixation on doomed possibilities….poof, suddenly gone. To have the strength, nerve and focus to finally see myself and still love and accept that person changed me. Self-awareness is no joke…how many of us walk around oblivious? My life’s direction started to unfold and I felt trust and support around my gifts and the lessons I needed to learn. I felt more open and steady when social triggers overwhelmed me. Unknowns and discomfort became an accepted part of an amazing life. Decisions for myself came easier. I could support others while staying true to my own needs and wants. I felt true self-love which translated into more empathy, compassion, and understanding for others. Energy and peace/relaxation happened at the same time. And I felt a deep connection with the Infinite. With God. I learned to Trust. This is me. A sparkly, happy unicorn. After kundalini yoga. THE WHISPER OF TRUTH….and Freedom! Inner work, spiritual connection, a balanced mind, and aligned energy IS physical-mental-spiritual health. An elevating and calming sensation experienced “on the mat” that stays with me through the turbulent and challenging episodes of each day “off the mat”. An equalizer that reminds me with its powerful whisper: you are divine spirit and “God’s gift”, loved and supported always. I feel grateful. It’s liberating to feel unstuck and nourished, loved for exactly who and how you are regardless of –or because of– your “failures” and willingness to show up fearlessly. It’s a lifestyle practice: taking out the garbage daily and self-care all day. A sweet whisper of love that surrounds you with empowerment and radiance. This is my practice. Is this yoga different? What say you? Have you experienced different yogas? What do you love about it? Does my experience ring true for you with your practice? I hope this was helpful to you. Share your thoughts in the comments! WIth grit and grace, Anna SachKiret P.S. Try a kundalini class with me this Saturday 10/19 at 9AM CT via Zoom - register here for this beginner’s class. Or join me for a monthly membership that would include the Saturday class –DM me for details. The Stress of Decision Fatigue When it comes to making decisions, big or small, have you ever felt overwhelmed by the number of choices you face daily? Right or left, yes or no, stay or go, act or not. Constantly deciding which path to take can exhaust you without you even realizing it. No wonder you feel depleted at the end of the day! Wouldn’t it be nice to release the weight of deciding for ourselves…. but also still decide for ourselves? Here’s a story that highlights decision-fatigue: I recall my immigrant dad telling me of the day he first walked into a supermarket in America. The sheer volume of cereal options was too much. And then in the next aisle, the numerous choices for a can of beans…..oy! He left without getting his groceries. While it might’ve been less stressful to have one cereal and one can of beans, we do gratefully have and want the options– but this illustrates how overwhelming it can be trying to pick the right ketchup, much less the rest of your day! Moral of the story: we want options, just not the stress of decision-making.  Decision-making, even for mundane matters, can accumulate and cause anxiety and stress. While some choices are easy and instinctive, others will cause minor agony or demand mental effort. Thankfully, there are those moments when you feel confident and content with your decisions. It’s this experience we are striving for to empower confidence and satisfy the soul. So how do we get there? THE YOGA ANSWER We all know that yoga serves to increase flexibility and balance, reduce anxieties, and induce calm. It may seem obvious that deciding from a less anxious, more calm space will help you. But, it’s more than that….. Did you know that yoga can strengthen your mental-emotional health, particularly your decision-making skills? As a lifelong, self-help junkie, yoga was not on my radar as a way to reduce the stress of uncertainty and self-animosity, until way into my adulthood. I discovered this benefit quite by accident – or perhaps it was divine intervention. A few weeks into the practice of kundalini yoga, I was surprised to experience a clarity and lightness that allowed previously-persistent worries and woes to dissipate seemingly overnight. Worrying about all the things that can go wrong makes it really hard to make sensible decisions. Indeed, you heed the fears and decide protectively….often leaving you with a feeling of loss, misalignment, dissatisfaction, and sadness sensing opportunities were missed. Do you know this feeling? So what was this kundalini yoga? How did it make such dramatic changes for me? The Power of Kundalini Energy. Kundalini yoga is known as ‘the yoga of awareness’. The kundalini refers to a latent energy that sits at the base of your spine and represents your unmanifested potential. Through the practice of kundalini yoga, you awaken this energy to coil up your spinal channel, stimulating your body’s main energy centers along the way. These are known as your chakras. Imagine. Your lowly, dormant potential…..suddenly awake with expansive possibility! Like having been imprisoned in a small area, not even realizing there was more out there. Waiting. For you. I believe that we know deep down when we’re being stifled. We have an inner sense that we’re deciding from incomplete information. We hesitate to decide because there’s an inner resistance. Often this happens because we are inadvertently going against the natural rhythms of life and of our own alignment; the modern world doesn’t really support this. We humans are great at disrupting natural rhythms with our mental clutter – manipulations, distortions, and justifications. Technological inventions play a role in this (--and this is not to say we should deny electricity or computers!). We are intelligent and capable of enjoying ‘advancements’ AND being conscious of the impact it has on the natural order…and on us. It’s about balance. This is where tapping into and aligning our energy helps us. It’s the power of our expanded awareness and connection to a divine source.  Your Divine Intuition. Picture the sun, the moon, the stars, the rotation of the planets, nature….a seamless, harmonious flow. It knows what to do, when. And it acts on it. This divine wisdom resides within each of us as well. Raising our kundalini energy and maintaining the practice balances, nourishes, guides and supports our highly-intuitive sense of Self. With this elevated energy, we begin to know what is aligned for us and to trust it. Energy in Thought & Being. We are all energy, even our thoughts. Negative thoughts, toxic stress and paralyzing uncertainty manifest as blocked energy. When we practice yoga, we practice controlling our breath through pranayam (breathing exercises). This practice helps us to be with our thoughts consciously, both on and off the mat. Here’s another image: picture a boulder in a river. A bit of “normal”, stressful thoughts around decisions is like smaller rocks that the water finds its way around and smooths the rocks’ edges as it does. It adds attention, dimension and beauty. This is healthy stress. When the stone is huge and blocks much of the flow, it creates a back-up and effectively stops movement. The energy is pressurized, uncomfortable and overwhelming. This type of stress around decision-making will create blockage and impact your overall health, much less leave you undecided.  Credit Unknown Mindful movement and breathwork creates more room for flow and breaks down what’s no longer serving us.
5 WAYS YOGA MAKES SURE YOU GOT IT RIGHT Circling back to decision-fatigue and my father’s grocery store experience, when I occasionally fall back into that sort of dizzying decision vector, I know to go to my practice. Find a meditation or a kriya that clears the confusion and tames the overwhelm. Here are 5 ways that my yoga practice serves me in making confident, energized decisions:
Yoga opens, nurtures and empowers this elevated level of mental strength, fortitude, and trust to fearlessly decide and know it’s right. I hope this offers you some measure of greater confidence. Decide heartily and wholly and live in your truth– it won’t tire you out! What are you deciding on today? Does your answer come with ease and flow –and from the heart? Divinely yours, Anna SachKiret PS. Is decision-fatigue a thing for you? How do you combat it, if so? If not, what supports your process? Hit "reply" or "comment" below the post-- I'd love to hear from you! “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift... that is why it is called Present” Master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda We are all blessed with the present, however many of us leave this ongoing gift unopened, missing out on valuable moments in our lives because we don't realize its impact.  Image by Spencer Wing from Pixabay The Presence Present
I admit, I often find myself mired in thought about: projects I’m working on, issues to resolve, how to coordinate my family’s schedules, my to-do list, how to do this or that better, a relationship challenge, and on and on. This is rather normal, of course– who isn’t dealing with these sorts of daily life situations? What isn’t ideal however is when these thoughts cause me to miss out on:
When we live in the present, it simply means we’re not dwelling in the past or living for the future. We are not distracted or sitting in paralysis by past pains and future fears nor dwelling in grief or longing for what was or what could be. We are fully feeling (good or bad) and living IN this very moment. Fully present for our lives. This is the gift. While it’s vital to make space for processing past situations and planning for the future, the balance between these activities and living in presence is often way off-kilter. We rush through our days, either constantly chasing the next thing or paralyzed by indecision. This is because we're not anchored in the present moment. You know that person who constantly checks their phone (-maybe there’s something more interesting calling or happening elsewhere?) and meanwhile misses the sunset, or checks work emails while on vacation and loses the purpose and enjoyment of the trip? How about those times driving from point A to point B and not recalling exactly how you got there? Do you experience this imbalance in your life? If so, how does it manifest, and how can we find the right balance? The Gift of Presence (and its two power partners) To be present, we must feel grounded. When we are grounded, our lives progress with more ease because we can be more aligned and self-aware from this space. When we are not grounded, life becomes complicated, stuck, discouraging as we are preoccupied with the past or future. We become disconnected, scattered, lost in thought, confused, and indecisive. This can lead to overwhelm and a downward spiral of emotions. Our consciousness retreats from the present moment and we go into autopilot. We are no longer rooted in our physical bodies nor aligned with our inner truth, our highest Self. We are out-of-balance and have lost sight of our gift of Presence. We can elevate our ability to Be Present with the help of two power partners. Our Presence serves these partners as well offering us a three-point team to truly live into our gifts. Power Partner #1: Our Practice Our Practice helps us develop our capacity to be more present. How do we get grounded? Strengthening our first chakra, or root chakra (the energy center for safety, security and belonging). How do we clear our negative thought patterns and blocks? Mantras (specific chants or sounds) and breathwork (focused breathing exercises) can be powerful tools. How do we find the energy to help ourselves move through the complications we create? Expand our aura, strengthen circulatory and nervous systems, boost the immune system. When our Practice is established, we give ourselves the support we need to be grounded, in Presence, and in alignment with our true selves. Kundalini yoga offers these supports and is my practice of choice, along with teaching it for mastery. What does your Practice consist of? Power Partner #2: Our Path Our Path clears the way for more Presence. Gaining clarity on your path can help you live a healthy balance between thinking about the future, worrying about the past, and staying present. One of the most effective ways I have found to illuminate my path is tuning-in to my emotions to uncover my blocks and acknowledge my true desires. Especially if you have a tendency for perfectionism, it can feel uplifting to spend a lot of time planning and healing without ever going into action. With the help of Power Partner #1, you can more readily access your emotional guides to release what paralyzes you and heal at the same time. The clearer your Path becomes, the easier it gets to stay Present. Tuning-in to my emotions is a powerful part of my practice to gain clarity and presence. How clear is your Path? Building Your Presence Muscle Take a moment now to reflect on your own Presence:
Your PRESENCE is something that builds like a muscle; your Practice is the gym (or mat), your Path is your goals and motivation . Finding your right balance is supported by this trifecta of powerful partners. How is your Presence? May you accept and open this gift often and receive your many blessings. With grace and gratitude, Anna SachKiret PS. a quick tip for you– include in your practice a midday alarm to check-in on your presence daily. When the alarm rings, take up to 5 minutes to notice your 5 senses, one-by-one. What do you see right at that moment? What do you hear? Smell? Feel by touch? Taste? Take your time with it and savor each sensation. PSS. hit reply and let me know how this landed for you! Do you feel your Presence is working for you?  Photo credit: unknown from Pixabay Remember that spark you had as a young child? The one that made you light up with joy and excitement? The way you expressed yourself so freely? Many of us, myself included, lose that spark somewhere along life’s journey, having replaced it repeatedly with what we deem to be a more socially-accepted way of being. As John Bradshaw, author of "Healing the Shame That Binds You," says: “Something happened…. so that we lost that spontaneity, verve and enthusiasm. Nothing more tragic than to see a child who’s had the life beat out of them…..withdrawn, depressed,…… “.
But what if the spark of that Little You isn't actually gone? What if that part of you is simply stuck under layers of self-preservation, self-doubt and years of practice donning a persona of societal expectations? This is where the journey of self-love begins. Why self-love? Explaining the benefit of self-love is like describing the color blue to a blind person; they won't truly understand until they experience it themselves. Even though I had a good childhood, I struggled with self-esteem, depression and anxiety as a young adult. Through my commitment to my kundalini yoga and meditation practice and emotional healing work, I've experienced a strength and joy within that I never knew existed. A love of Self that can only be experienced. It's time to discover this in you! The Mask of Shame: Why We Dim Our Light Think of the "life beat out of [the child]" metaphor as the separating from your authentic self, or your soul. As a child, your entire expression came from your soul— carefree, alive and in full alignment with yourself. External influences, however well-intentioned, began to chip away at that confidence. You began to change your mind; your emotions alerted you but most of us did not have the wise guidance to understand the whispers of our own emotions. Are you wearing a mask? Here are some signs:
Healthy Shame vs. Toxic Shame: Understanding the Difference It's important to distinguish between healthy shame and toxic shame. Healthy shame is a useful signal telling you you’ve deviated from your best self, prompting you to learn and do better. Toxic shame is the internalization of these messages, essentially convincing us that we are fundamentally flawed for having made mistakes. Instead of course-correction, as healthy shame helps us do, we fall to self-criticism and seek a constant need for validation (people-pleasing). Unmasking and Reconnecting with Your Spark If you recognize yourself here, you’re likely wondering how to get back to your true self. How do I separate what is truly me and what is not? The reality is the lines and truth can get blurred. It’s like the proverbial layers of the onion. The ‘real you’ gets unveiled, one thin layer at a time. The good news is: each layer of healing feels like a mountain of relief. And once you experience this, you will be less afraid and more willing to risk peeling off another layer more often. It empowers you to keep going. Your Authentic Self: Practical Steps
Tools for Self-Love: Here are ways to build your self-love muscle:
This is just the beginning of your journey. A coach or therapist can be a valuable guide, but you have the power to start uncovering your authentic self and shedding the mask of toxic shame. Find your soul’s voice and live from that space. You are worthy of living this life ignited with your true spark! With love and gratitude, Anna SachKiret P.S. Comment "UNMASK" if you recognize you have one. Can you sense that inner spark that's been waiting to be free? Let me know! |
AuthorI am the Essential Soul Mama. I am a mama, a soulful-spiritual teacher, an intentional storyteller, and a lover of stories of all kinds, in all forms. I write about emotions, parenting, natural health options, mind-body-soul connections, and anything that elevates our lives. Archives
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Every other week I post a blog of relevant topics including breathwork, healing, emotions, kundalini practices, and showing up for yourself. Monthly-ish I share events+updates you may be interested in. You can unsubscribe at any time. I'm happy to have you join my free Joymail!
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