ChaChaChat 28 October 2018 – Death & Change

Hiya dear you!

I hope you are doing well and are okay. I understand and feel that life can be very intense at this time and full of surprises (and not all of them happy ones). All of this chaos can distract us from looking deeper as we tend to tune out and distance ourselves when the going gets tough. We numb out with all kinds of distractions and addictions such as Netflix, alcohol, food, work, games, mobile phones, sex, etc. Anything not to feel the chaos. But numbing out the world also means numbing out our deeper self, our higher self, that quiet voice within us, whatever you may call it.

So my escape is always being busy, doing, not having to sit down, alone and be silent. That is my addiction, doing. Now I have been over-doing the doing and my eye has a nervous twitch, I have a headache I can’t shake and my sleep pattern is erratic. Also I am somewhat overstimulated by London and work, I just seriously need some time off.

This pattern of putting too much on my plate needs to stop, something needs to change, something needs to die. Yes death, this is a time of dying. Fall…

Death = change

So I created a day of silence, a day to connect to those who have gone before us – our ancestors – to hear them speak. This is a time of year when death is tangible, nature is dying, the smell of rotting leaves and moist soil is intoxicating, the veil to the other side is thin, the air is crisp and electric. I do love this time of year, but wow do I feel over stimulated, my senses are so heightened. I need silence, rest and shedding of a lot of skin, another layer of the onion. Like a snake I let go of my Summer flesh in order to let something new grow.

“There is an intensity of connection between the living and the dying so powerful, that it makes all that has gone before insignificant. The ancients called this gnosis – knowledge – a single moment of enlightenment, dazzling.For an instant all things are clear, the perfect, ineffable pattern revealed in the time between the sighs of a beating heart. Truth and the spirit, the connection between this world and the next.” – Kate Mosse “Citadel”

What in you needs to die now? What habits do you need to kill? What suppresses you? What can you cut out of your life? Death is needed, it is part of the cycle of life, we shouldn’t fight it or be afraid of it.

Tarot guidance

Tarot is a wonderful tool to help connect with the Other Side. Tarot helps us listen and take notice of message coming through. It helps us connect visually and helps us see patterns and guides us in our craft. Before you connect to any spirit, ghost or ancestor please make sure you are protected and that you cast a circle. This is serious business and not something to play with or take lightly. Energetic hygiene is also very important, so please do not underestimate this or be sloppy. Be wise.

“If we do not remember those who have gone before us, we are destined to repeat the same mistakes. We walk blind through time.”
― Kate Mosse, Citadel

Now is a perfect time to tune in to inspiration and advice from our ancestors! You know our ancestors live inside of us, quite literally as they are part of our DNA and this way we carry on memories in our lineage. We carry their knowledge but also there not so positive habits and beliefs. So it wise to use your discernment and see this as an opportunity to recognize these patterns in your life and to finally release them. Free yourself and your lineage.

In the video I ask for us:

What can help us kill that what is holding us back, in other words what needs to die in order to evolve?

In the video I mention the exhibitions I visited today, if you are interested, here are the links: Buddha’s Life, Path to the Present and Classic Beauties

And a link to my pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHskH27nZg

It’s healing to make offerings to spirits and ancestors throughout the year, like they still do in many cultures. Connect with the wisdom of those who have come before us. Honor them, thank them and listen to them. No better time to start this practice than in Fall.

Kundalini Yoga for inner grit

And before I leave you this week I want to point you to a practice that also supports me so much in my daily life and that is Kundalini Yoga. It has made a great difference in my life, it has taught me patience, perseverance and really helped me build my inner grit. It has also cured pain in my shoulder and neck and my breathing has improved immensely. In order to shift from one state to another yoga is so much more healthy than that bottle of wine or a piece of chocolate and more long lasting as well. A daily routine of yoga is also very soothing and a great way to learn how to stay committed and build stamina.

Facing your demons is essential for breaking bad habits and patterns, but many methods and treatments focus on fixing symptoms, rather than helping you discover why you’re reaching for distractions. The key is to look inward and that’s where yoga and meditation can help. Yoga helps you get in touch with the self-awareness, self-control, and self-realization necessary to go through a deeper detoxification, a deeper release. Kundalini Yoga, specifically, is designed to strengthen intuition and willpower. By committing to each movement despite your mind’s desire to stop, you are training your nervous system to resist temptation, just as you might train your muscles at the gym. It may not sound fun, but it comes with some pretty incredible benefits And you gain the awareness and power you need to resist the temptation to fall back into those bad habits you’re resolving to break for good.

So here is a posture to help you build that grit you need to let go and move on.

Sit down on the floor, with your legs stretched in front of you and lift both your arms paralel to the floor, palms facing down. Lean back until you connect to your core, lift your left leg and do the breathe of fire and keep this up for two minutes. After two minutes breathe in deeply and hold and release and switch to the other leg and do the same for another two minutes. Now if you don’t know how to do the breathe of fire, this alone is worth learning and pages and pages can be written about the benefits of this breathing technique. Please find a teacher to teach you how to do this breathe properly or ask a yogi friend (or me 😉 ).

I wish you a blessed Samhain – or a very scary Halloween party if that’s more your thing – and see you on the other side.

“The dead leave their shadows, an echo of the space within which once they lived. They haunt us, never fading or growing older as we do. The loss we grieve is not just their futures but our own.”