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Thanks to your generous contributions, I am THRILLED to announce that we met our goal to make ends meet, and let me tell you...that's a huge relief! We've got some big, beautiful things coming together to create an ever-growing resource for the community for healing, fun, and creativity. So, keep reading your emails to stay in tune! THANK YOU again for your support!
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Going In and Going Big: Revealing your closet self.
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Going Big involves, maybe more than anything else, TRUST. Most importantly, learning to trust ourselves. So that if we get big and get real with ourselves, we're not going to turn our backs and run away. Trust allows us to go IN, and go deeper.
So, let's talk about the little voice in our heads. Yes, the one that has been with you for decades now. It's so nice and cute, and has all these bold and fascinating ideas that are just so radical that we can't imagine following through with them. But let's touch on that. If you weren't capable of bringing those ideas to life, you wouldn't have been capable of imagining them! Those wild ideas are YOURS, and yours alone. Your little voice is real and it's you.
The little voice in our heads is actually BIG stuffed behind 15 thick pillows. That little voice is our highest purpose yelling at us from behind all the nice, polite plans that we have placed between us and our wild capabilities. It's convenient and safe to ignore it. But somehow it doesn't go away.
Some people will never allow their inner BIG voice to be heard, realized, and I can only image what that does to our soul.
But some...will bump up against a glimpse of that wild knowing and connect with it, as a lost calling. This is both scary and thrilling at the same time! What do you do with this insight? Do you trust yourself to invite your BIG out to walk around and be seen by others?? What if it doesn't match our outward personality or our course of life at all? Will people judge us? Are we able to not judge ourselves? What's the risk of NOT acting on BIG once we've caught a glimpse of it? Well...things get really uncomfortable. We start to see ourselves living one reality, but breathing in another. And then if we do act on it...
Scary and thrilling!
I'd like to share a couple of beautiful examples of people coming out of their own closets.
The first is of one of your peers from The Shift (can I just say THIS is what The Shift is all about??!). Ms. N regularly attends classes, and one day I asked the group what other culture they would enjoy living in for a day or more (what sparked me to ask this question is the topic of a whole other entry---call it divine intervention). Ms. N sat with a torn look on her face and eventually said that she had always wanted to work as a missionary in Haiti. And then she added a question directed at herself, "So why haven't I done that?". That was a Friday. The next Monday, I followed up with her and she blew me out of the water. "I'm going to Haiti," she said. "I filled out the application to do missionary work and am waiting to hear back." I was floored! And thrilled! And so was she! She had said "yes!" to her BIG.
Ms. N felt the glimpse of wild knowing in my simple question, and that feeling she had kept stuffing away, finally became clear.
If I haven't lost you yet, I'd like to share one more example. This one from this great documentary that I watched last night called Gotta Dance. It's about a group of senior citizens that audition to be a part of a hip hop dance crew to perform for NBA basketball games. (What?!) It's absolutely fantastic. Case study #2: Betsy.
Betsy is a self-proclaimed "total introvert". A 61 yr old kindergarten teacher who auditioned for the crew and decided to give the name "Betty" to the judges, instead. Betty was the free, wild woman that was hidden inside quiet Betsy. Betty was BIG. In her words, "I heard the music, and it spoke to me, and it was genuine...but that was Betty, because Betty was getting out there. Betsy would never let anybody know. Betsy just keeps things to herself." Through this journey, Betsy realized that she was more Betty than she had given herself credit for. Maybe just seeing the opportunity to audition was the glimpse of wild knowing, so she followed the lead and found herself.
My friends, I struggle with this just as much as you do. I hear the tiny voice getting louder and louder. What about you? What might living your BIG look like? Please feel free to share this discussion and insights. We're in this together, to inspire and support (starting with ourselves!). |
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Spring Labyrinth Walk
Monday 5-7pm Open Studio, Free
Labyrinths have graced the earth for thousands of years as a tool for finding center and peace. We celebrate the renewal of spring with an open walk time at the studio. Come and go as you want. Guidance will be offered in the lobby for those who want it. Please enter and exit the main studio floor in silence.
Here's an excerpt from the book, The Sand Labyrinth: "Labyrinths have the exact opposite purpose [from mazes]: they are designed to help us find our way. They have only one path--from the outer edge into the center and back out again. Through the act of trusting the path, of giving up conscious control of how things should go and being receptive to our inner state, we can be opened up to a whole new world."
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NO SOUND HEALING
Paul Schiro who leads our beautiful Sound Healing classes broke his right ankle last weekend, and will be having surgery later this month. He will not be able to return to the studio for a while. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
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Monday April 11 Free Sharing and Meditation Circle 3:00pm
Spring Break April 14-18
Studio Closed
I'll post at least one video for you while we are apart. Keep moving! Classes resume Tuesday April 19
Class Schedule
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Deserving Love and Happiness workshop April 17
Info and register here
Sumi-e Japanese brush painting workshop April 22
Info and register here
Abiding in Calm, True Self workshop April 24
Info and register here
Balance and Stability workshop April 28th and 29th
Info and register here
Trauma Releasing Exercises/Tremoring talk with Celeste Ametrine &
Healing Touch talk with Ruthann Hoffman Tuesday May 10th
Tibetan Singing Bowl workshop May 17th
Info and register here
More coming! So keep your eyes peeled and share the good word!
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Final thought:
"Do not think of yourself as a small, compressed, suffering thing. Think of yourself as graceful and expanding, no matter how unlikely it may seem at the time."
-B.K.S. Iyengar
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