Feeling drained? Stuck in a funk? Maybe you’re feeling it right at this moment. Maybe you’ve been feeling it for a while. Or, maybe this is not you at all right now but you’ve been there. But we’ve ALL been there, feeling down in the dumps, in a state of fear, or dragged down by that dreaded sense of unworthiness. Your energy feels zapped, as if someone turned out your light. You feel dim, dull, not shiny, and filled with self-doubt. The good news is, you have the power to change this. I’m not talking about shopping with credit cards. I’m talking about charging up your energy– the power source for your light! Think: “When my light feels low, charge it up!” 💡💡💡 So how do you do that? By activating the power of your energy field. Let me explain. Let's start with a visual You know when you’re with someone who is a curmudgeon, a debbie-downer, an angry grump? They darken the space they enter, like they just brought in a dense, gray cloud into the room— and it feels heavy. On the other end of the spectrum, someone who is alive, dynamic and energized can change the mood of the room, brightening and uplifting everyone they encounter. Expanding the light! This is your "energy field" (also known as your aura) at work. Imagine it as a field of energy that surrounds you. This energy is influenced by your thoughts and emotions. When you're feeling down, this energy gets depleted. The dimming or brightening of your energy field happens unconsciously in the course of your day. Fortunately, you can learn to consciously expand your energy field, which can have a powerful impact on your mood and well-being. In the practice of kundalini yoga, there are breathing exercises, postures, movements, and meditations that specifically work on expanding your energy field. Some practices are long, and some are super short. I want to introduce you to a super short one that takes just 1 minute of your time. The Aura Charger (aka the ego eradicator) This is a simple breath meditation to charge your aura and cast away the heaviness so you can feel lighter, brighter and clearer. Practice this for 1 minute, 3 minutes, or more as needed— and charge yourself up to shine bright. Click the image below for this life-changing practice. And this is how you turn on your aura light switch. This one key alone will turn you around when you are down. It will put you in a better mood to change the trajectory on how you feel, how you perceive life, and how you choose to support your best Self. Like I said, life changing.
With gratitude+grace, Anna P.S. Do you have a go-to that quickly turns you around when you are down or have low energy? Reply back and let me know what it is. Or, if you don't already have one, let me know how The Aura Charger feels for you.
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Image by Moshe Harosh from Pixabay Do you feel overwhelmed?
If so, stop for a moment. Close your eyes and take a moment to check in. Where in your body do you feel the overwhelm? Do your nerves feel agitated? Does your head feel heavy and full, like a bobblehead, top-heavy, about ready to teeter head-first to the earth? How is your energy when overwhelm hits? Do you feel dull, exhausted, discouraged? What else? Give yourself a minute or so to check in with your body from head to toe. Notice what you feel where. Awareness is the first step towards resolution. What do you WANT to feel instead? Imagine how your body feels in this scenario. Visualize and feel your posture. Breathe into this renewed sense of Self. Now what? Consider these 4 essential tools and kundalini yoga-based remedies to conquer overwhelm and feel lighter, clearer and back on track.
Each of these practices offer a vital shift in energy, clarity and alignment, even when you’re not experiencing overwhelm. The best way to make these work for you is to practice when you don’t need it, so they’re available for you when you do. While breath, yoga, mantra, and presence isn’t exclusive to Kundalini Yoga, or to solving the seeming epidemic of overwhelm, they work on multiple levels at once to transform you at the physiological level, so you aren’t white knuckling your way through a state of overwhelm. It helps you stay in a more powerful state of mind to mitigate overwhelm in the future. It’s like setting the radio station to one you prefer to experience– one that promotes equanimity amidst all that is thrown at you. The purpose of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation is to help you tune into that radio frequency, allowing you to live in a material world as a more aligned and spiritual being. With grit and grace, Anna SachKiret P.S. - if you would like some meditations and kriyas to deal with overwhelm, email me for suggestions. Books were scattered all over the ground. Shelves tilted over, some fallen completely. Papers torn. Files strewn across the space. I could see my path on the other side of this mess. Not fully but clearly there. A light glowing in the direction it's headed. And me. On the path, yes. But the chaos of research, references, inspirations, coursework, experiences......NOISE! I've laid my path, I see it but.....Must. Clear. The. Blocks.
This is "the thing" that had historically stopped me from progress, from feeling motivated and energized. Clutter. MIND CLUTTER. OVERWHELM. Too much jumbled together in a mish-mosh of lessons, experiences, and past achievements & failures alike-- and plans for the future. Getting motivated wasn't even the problem (yet). I was too busy beating myself up for not doing that project and distracting myself with....anything. For days, weeks, months. Standing in a mosh pit, it's hard to think clearly. Especially when you didn't notice you were in it. These days, I notice and I notice quickly. When it's literal, it's easier to notice the source of overwhelm and its impact on your ability to motivate. It's a dead weight. When it's happening in your mind, your body feels and responds to the weight whether you are aware of it or not. And when you're not aware, your intellect will make choices that are not usually aligned with who you are/what you want and your body will resist or shut down. Awareness lightens the load which shows up as stress (physically, physiologically, and/or mentally). Allowing yourself to see what the matter is is the first step to making the conscious choices you need to clear the heaviness and feel more light and free. This imagery I shared above is a glimpse of my quick "snap out of it" process that is the first step to nip the lack-of-motivation-drag in the bud. It brought me to the AWARENESS of what's happening to me and, most importantly, to the next step to break free from a downward spiral of avoidance and status quo (aka 'no progress, no growth, no motivation'). THE 4-STEP PROCESS TO DROP THE WEIGHT & MOTIVATE When you're unmotivated and need to kick into gear, it can be challenging to even take these steps. How do you motivate yourself to get motivated? In the next section, I'll offer you some tips/hacks to do just this. If you've gotten this far in reading this, you may be ready to jump right in -- so let's go: STEP 1: (Be) Aware
My thoughts are coming at me in an avalanche. I can't get to my path with this mosh pit before me, around me. Mosh pit.....it's like a mosh pit- rumbling, jumpy, enthusiastic AND suffocating. I feel overwhelmed! It feels heavy and suppressing in my body. I don't really want to look at it-- I can do something else, something easier. 'Oh I see....Overwhelm. So: how are you overwhelming yourself?' Right, I just need to take one step, not all the steps at once. I see what's happening now, I feel it in my body, and I have tools for this. STEP 2: Align
STEP 3: Act
STEP 4: (Be) Agile
MOTIVATE TO MOTIVATE. How? It's truly in the action that creates the progress. Imperfect, conscientious actions are better than no actions or waiting for a perfect action (which usually means no action). As long as you are ready to accept and shift or pivot based on the outcome, you are ready to act. If you're not ready for this-- not even to go to that space of awareness (--it could feel scary TO SEE yourself truly) -- there are ways to prepare and elevate your readiness. Here are some of my go-to hacks:
This is just my short list and there are many more options. What are some of your go-to's to prepare yourself to motivate in your best interest?
I am a neurotransformational life coach, focused on the foundational art and wisdom of self-healing, embodied for a sustainable, elevated life experience. In other words, I help people tap into and experience their everyday joy from the inside-out. This is how I am meant to serve. I know this because I feel a deep sense of alignment and drive in this work. I geek-out on it. It's my "workjoy". And I walk the talk every day.....so many opportunities in daily living to connect more deeply with who we are. (Hint: notice your triggers). Sounds pretty good as I write this....and yet.....sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm making enough impact, reaching enough people, sharing what needs to be shared, living this (my) dream life in full. Hold up. PAUSE. Yeah, I hear it. This is the moment where the downward spiral may begin to pick up speed. This is the moment where I stop myself. Question my question of "enoughness". Breathe. Connect. Balance. Reset.
Part of our journey in life is to create intentional supports and connections -- to have people we count on, to have 'coaches' who can see/hear us more deeply and guide/encourage us with care, to surround ourselves with elevating energy, and to be held to mutual and reciprocal giving of ourselves. We self-regulate and co-create this life experience with the intentional energy we surround ourselves with. Our moments of entering the downward spiral need this support.
As a parent and coach, I often find helpful parallels from child-raising to the raising of our own child within. As children, we have ideally our loved ones/caretakers set-up automatically for us as our support and connection to the world-at-large. As adults, we can find understanding through the analogies-- comparing our current struggles with struggles from a childhood time in our lives, i.e., toddler stage, teenager, etc. From a childhood mentality. Often our struggles are things we were meant to learn and, just because we are adults, doesn't mean we are supposed to "get it" faster or more easily. In some ways, it may take us longer and with more difficulty due to the blocks, barriers, stuck beliefs we've built up so solidly in our years. On the question of SIGNIFICANCE, I am keenly aware that significance is about living your Truth, Purpose, and Passion, and that living your Truth, Purpose and Passion can be SCARY. Your inner child wants to keep you safe from the unknowns, the potential failures, the feeling-bad-about-yourself if you make mistakes (which you will), the criticisms you'll face from the outside world.....and, truth be told, the harshest criticisms from your own insecure and protective inner-coach. Maybe there are messages flooding your mind like: "THIS isn't something you can do-- you'll be humiliated" or "No one cares about your message" or "See? There's already someone doing this better-- give it up". Our dear protective mind really wants us to just stay safe. Why not heed the protective advice? Why strive for something "hard"? You CAN choose to play it safe and still be significant-- we all are. The question is-- do you believe it? If you do, then stay golden and enjoy your beautiful life!! If you don't-- if your body tells you otherwise --then you ARE seeking to elevate your experience despite the fears. Your mind (--rather 'your body') is made up! AND it will still feel "hard" but we can do hard things. Truth is, our life journey is all about the experiences and, if you're looking to live your "best life", decide it to be so AND elevate those experiences as you go. An elevated life is one that is true to your purpose and passion--- your significance. It's not about the "getting there" (like you can't be significant until you do xyz) so much as it is about the path of "experiencing in the present moments". [Note: you are in fact able to live your best life (to be significant) just as you are today....AND your experience of life will remind you more clearly each time you show up for yourself in a conscious way]. So how do you bust through the fears to feel significant? How do you do the hard things? The parallel to being a teenager. In her book Untangled: guiding teenage girls through the seven transitions into adulthood, author and psychotherapist Lisa Damour, PhD writes about one of the aspects of development in the teenage years being that the child is in-between asserting her independence away from her parents AND also needing the safety net of her family or home base reliably, on a regular basis. She shares the analogy of a swimming pool where the teenager is the swimmer and you (the guardian) are the pool. The teen ventures out into the world, effectively pushing away from you (or pushing you away!) to go swim towards the deep end but then, when she needs to catch her breath and/or when a new/difficult/uncomfortable experience happens she needs to return to the safety of the edge of the pool where she knows you'll be. Then, as soon as she got her "breath" back, she pushes away again. Venturing out into the world with our new ventures or stretching ourselves further than we've gone before in our business, in our roles, in our development, etc. is like pushing away into the deep end in the pool. What have we set up for ourselves as our "guardian" or "edge of the pool"? Where or what is our safety net or home base? This could be our actual home/home base; it could be our go-to meditation/breath; or calling on a reliable friend or coach to ground you; or getting out in nature. Maybe it's taking a rejuvenating nap or getting a massage. Ideally something we can count on. YOUR 'EDGE OF THE POOL' SAFETY NET. For me, breathwork and mantra meditations are my go-to. And I love to chant loudly! Singing, especially mantra music, shifts my energy effectively. I find my connection with a deeply rooted Truth, draw its energy, and I'm both comforted and inspired. Balance and clarity replaces the fear and anxiety. I am free to venture out again. I can trust in my home base. What's your go-to? Do you need help discovering this? I can help. Seeking a trusted coach or ally can help you see things you are blocked to see and guide you back to your true self. And connection outside of your own silo of thoughts is a godsend. Connection makes more connection. Trust in this. Friend, we share this Earth. We create and move about, alongside one another, merging in places, not even knowing of each other in many cases, running in parallel lines or lines that will cross somewhere down the road. Far far ahead of us. Or never. Yet..... we co-exist. And I love you. We are in this together.
In author and activist Valarie Kaur's book "See No Stranger" she invites us to see those we consider strangers-- particularly those who have ideological differences from us-- as a relative. As I sit in my car at a traffic light, sometimes I'll turn my head to the car next to me and wonder what it is like to live that person's life. That person. My "sister". My "uncle". My "cousin". The simple act of calling them in as someone familiar or known to me, however distant, and wondering about them.... it shifts your perspective to one of connection or a desire to be curious and inviting a level of understanding that there's something about them that is like you. Yes, they are human. They are fellow souls, here on the planet, experiencing a life. We are in this together. Open your heart and mind and invite curiosity. Connection makes us stronger and we ARE connected....if only we can make the space to stand back, pause, wonder, and see clearly. To listen. Even someone who seems to have no ideals or values in line with yours, or maybe seemingly no ideals or values AT ALL-- they went through something to get there. They're the lost "aunt" who suffered something and needs healing.....or maybe you're the one who needs the healing. Perspective. Be willing to imagine that everyone is doing the best they can with the tools they've been given-- not money or fame or supporters, but internal tools like knowing how to have a strong nervous system, intuition, self-love, etc. (See what it means to have true success, the tools you need inside). We balance each other out with what you have stronger than me and what I have stronger than you. We are in this together. Listen. Be curious. Be open, See no stranger. We are in this together.
- the people who have have caused you stress or pain--- how, you ask? Consider the opposite quality of what they brought you and notice how your understanding of that positive quality has expanded based on what they gave you instead. Breathe and give this a chance-- there's a level of wisdom there that you may not have understood without that experience; - consider looking back at your calendar to recall the events and experiences you'd had this year and the people/discoveries/growth you encountered there; and - look around your space and notice the gifts or other memories that come up from the things you see around you. However you decide to spend this day, give yourself some moments of reflection and find a way to be grateful for this day; for the season; for this year; for your life experiences. With love, sat nam! Anna Every year as the Winter Solstice approaches, I begin to reflect on what that means to me. It's the shortest day of the year, meaning the least amount of daylight, and it introduces the first day of winter-- at least on the calendar. Inevitably, I am reminded of the cycle of life and this stage where I see nature dying. I think about life....and death. It is at this time of year when we enter the darkness of the coming winter solstice, our energy can feel depleted or sad. Thoughts of death leave us feeling solemn. Or fearful. Or depressed. Or reverent. As Rumi says-- "Don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It's quiet. But the roots are down there riotous". So while we see the cycle of life "out there" at its death stage, we can consider what's happening under the Earth.....and inside our own bodies-- it's riotous! It's regenerating, preparing for new life, feeling ALIVE!
There's a mantra that we use all the time in kundalini yoga: SAT NAM. This means truth is our name, or truth is who we are at our core. An expanded version of this mantra is SA TA NA MA, which also refers to the cycle of life: infinity-life-death-rebirth. In these mantras are the wisdom and vibrations of TRUTH. A truth that illuminates the darkness and helps us to see more clearly. The wisdom that as events wind down, situations run their course, parts of us are lost or undergo change, and/or we feel the stress of challenging emotions, on the other side there's light and understanding and growth. We become something different; we are not the same. With conscious awareness and the wisdom to allow our emotions, to feel them, to reconcile with them......we receive their gifts. The love and reverence on the other side of Grief, for instance. That truth helps us to be grateful for what's happening on the inside, despite what we see on the outside. I like to imagine the health and aliveness of my inner garden-- the elements of my microbiome riotous! Like an expert gardener, I use my practice in breath, mantra, movement and rest, as well as healthy foods, clean water, nature/air, and connection to nourish and cleanse and support my living. I find PEACE in the wisdom of the inner party celebrating and replenishing life, knowing I'll benefit from every part of the cycle. I surrender to the ecstasy. To the quiet riot. To the wisdom of winter in the cycle of life. Peace. How do you embrace (or not) this time in the cycle of life? How does the longer darkness impact you? What is your winter solstice ritual? I would love to hear from you! There you are, minding your own business, striving to be the best you know yourself to be or that you see yourself becoming. When suddenly, THIS happens:
You are strong and resilient and can move beyond much of these hurts and attacks, if only stuffing them down inside you and adding a brick of armor around you for future protection. One brick is heavy. Many bricks can damage your wings and shelter you to the point of being hidden completely. That tickle of hurt and unjust actions against you don’t go away on its own. It works to protect you, often without alert. More instinctual. You come out “sideways” in your projections and you wonder why. It’s embarrassing or “unlike you” and not in your control…..until you are conscious about it. Even then, it could be buried so deep that the resolution is blurry at best. That little tickle becomes inflamed after too much. It could look like this:
These are not excuses for any of these actions that brought harm upon Self, others or this land. Beyond childhood, the responsibility falls on each of us for our own actions. Yet, it helps to gain an understanding of someone who was “damaged” or traumatized and not able to move beyond an early developmental stage for certain aspects of their lives. One can get stuck there and, as responsibility becomes this thing we know is expected by a certain stage, the dis-ease and pain builds like bricks. More and more bricks added and one aches to be free. One rebels to be free. One flat out loses it. Again, not an excuse.
As a foundation, conscious care and support for our children and our own inner child as “stewards” of healthy roots and patient development, with a deep trust in "who they/we are" at our core is key to building a present and future that nourishes and thrives. As we do this, our children are well-guided to become good stewards for themselves as they grow. In our world, through policy, action, follow-through and pure love — through feminine energy — we are responsible for our own part of being and/or developing into good stewards for this great land of ours and all its inhabitants. And most importantly, to be devoted stewards for our Soul; imagine if we all tended to our souls and stayed true to ourselves. It’s a bit like driving on a crowded highway making sure to stay in your own lane at the right speed, trusting everyone around you to do the same. How smooth it could be.
Can we get there? I think we can. At least for our children….. What will be our Legacy? If you want some help to find your inner clarity as a "steward" for yourself and others, book a discovery session with me, and let me help you help yourself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are two meditations I like to do to remind me of who I am, deep in my Soul:
Meditation #1: Negating False Identity
Meditation #2: I Am, I Am
I sense a beauty in this world, underneath all the noise, the damage, the fear. I sense a rich, deep earth nourishing and holding us, while our toxins try to hurt. I sense a bold fearlessness within each of us, begging to take the lead and break us out of the holds on our hearts. I sense love in the dark. I sense light finding its way through the cracks. I sense hope and freedom...... Our future is built on the gifts of each one of us. Not the unconscious gifts of forced "should be's" and false goals that do not truly align with us. The gifts that come from the very core of our being, that birthed us. Empowered gifts that hold no inner conflicts. A way of being that knows its path, its Truth. What are you doing to connect with that gift, those gifts, on a regular basis? Is that not the purpose and habit trajectory of our lives? Every day we connect with these gifts and, when we think we got it, keep going. For 40 days, 90, 120, 1000.....and gain mastery. Mastery over our subconscious minds, mastery over the noise, mastery over our external environments prodding, pushing, forcing its way upon you...no. Pause. Create pause. Create spaces. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe slow, deep, long.....claim your space.
the roles that I've adopted....mom, friend, sister, spouse, auntie, teacher, coach, my age, my race, my look. I am none of those things and all of those things. I am, I am. The meditation "I am, I am" is a wonderful reminder that I am. Period. Just as the tree just is, the worm just is, the fruit IS. As part of a whole...no. As the whole in one part. It is my favorite Rumi quote: "You are not a drop in the ocean but the entire ocean in one drop". Identifying as something isn't the depth of who you are. It's a container. As "mom", this container gives me anchors for my life journey: live as an example, nourish my children with love, wisdom, strength, food, water, clothing, shelter, care when they are ill and when they are not, support for their ups and downs, etc. Lest we flit around in the wind like a kite whose lost its holder, its tie-down, an anchor provides a temporary positioning whereby I can live and grow with presence, in the present. Like a biodegradable pot for my starter plant--it holds her and offers a simple guidance. She begins to extend her roots down and reach up towards the sun as a beginner of something....what IS this world? And what is this present moment? She grounds and she reaches, expands, breathes. And as she grows, grateful for the path and
"Untangled" by Lisa D'Amour, PhD, I expand to define our experiences as adults. Some of us may not have even mastered some of those teenage strands. Regardless, we are each on a journey of evolving strands. I may be further evolved on one strand but less so on another. And someone who I think is somehow "better" may be more and less evolved on opposing strands. It matters not. There is no judgment or comparison. There is only our experience. And, with awareness, we begin to appreciate our evolution of experiences.
Our American culture comes with a drive for competition. I'll focus on the one that calls for each of us to aim for our personal best. We compete against our own experiences to improve each time, to learn from our mistakes and failures, to lift ourselves back up with courage and compassion, to allow rest and reprieve as an active habit. There's a motivating force when seeking our personal best. I believe you can live in complete satisfaction and love with who you are and what you've achieved in this moment, today, this minute, WHILE ALSO seeking your personal best over time. There is no misalignment here to seek to evolve your experiences and become more elevated in consciousness through these evolutions, while also feeling "successful" in your present. When you seek to compete against others, your happiness is tied to an external presence outside your control. What is in your control is to develop and strengthen your habits, your physical and mental stamina, the edges of your own personal container-- where's the discomfort? how much will you push it today? Which strand are we evolving? Which needs attention today? I sense there's an understanding, a shift, a loving pull to connect with our inner wisdoms. I sense there's an openness to see it, feel it, embrace it. I sense there's change happening and, for those of us who connect deeply within with curiosity and awareness, bold and beautiful things await. And Are. Here. Now. I sense we are breathing more deeply, grounding with our nourishing roots and expanding from that place of connection. I sense love is winning. I trust. I breathe. I feel. I am. When I think about the decisions I've made in my life, there are some that bring me joy and pride and others that make me think 'what on earth was I thinking'?!? I can now reflect on those latter ones and realize I WAS, in fact, THINKING --and not feeling. How often do we know deep down what we are meant to do yet we ignore those inner messages for our brain's more logical-seeming demands? We don't want to be looked upon as irrational or --gasp-- emotional! No, do what people expect and can make sense of. Right. That's what your ego keeps saying. To be clear, I wouldn't change a thing about these past decisions because I know they were the lessons I needed at the time.....AND at present. To be able to reflect back on those experiences and how my decisions shaped my life, I can honor those lessons today. Today I'm in a space where I can listen self-compassionately and understand the message, know how it has shaped my values and beliefs--- and make better decisions going-forward that support and develop a more elevated experience, a more true-to-me experience, an evolved experience, a purposeful, life-fulfilling experience. In other words: Joy. Peace. Freedom. To get to where I am today, I had to look deeply at those feelings I ignored or stuffed down or escaped from through whatever self-sabotaging means I could. It's scary to start such an endeavor-- but it's so worth it! Clearing old feelings by meeting them stops them from haunting you further. It frees you from the subconscious reactions, responses, and personality malfunctions that make you wonder, 'why did I do or say that?'. Instead you stand tall, get clear, and feel assured in your ability to meet all challenges (even emotional ones) and are able to create a life you were born to love. Nowadays, I'm looking for: More fun. More openness. More healing energies in everyday life. More gratitude. A shift out of 'the way things have always been done' into a more free and loving world. I can choose this life that I desire, making new decisions that inspire and uplift and hold me in my Truth. I can listen to and talk with my emotions safely because I now know clearly that they are the voice of my soul, guiding me and crying out to protect me. I need only pause, breathe, and quiet the noise to hear.......and then decide. I am queen of my sovereignty. I decide. |
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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