SEASONAL SELF-CARE BLOG
Stay centered this Fall with Rudra Mudra
Posted on September 18th, 2018
I have been feeling very fragmented and distracted the past few weeks from the political craziness on top of the Seasonal change from Summer to Fall. To help me stay grounded, I’ve been focusing more on meditation and other internal practices.
This morning I woke up early and meditated using Rudra Mudra to invite centering and balance into my being. I’ve been finding this mudra, sacred hand position, very helpful and it’s so easy to do! Rudra Mudra rules the solar plexus chakra (third chakra). It helps strengthen the earth element and the digestive organs associated with it. According to Chinese medicine, Late Summer and Early Fall, is the time to nourish and stimulate the Earth element.
RUDRA MUDRA
Sit comfortably with as much support as you need.
With each hand, place the tips of your index finger, ring finger and thumbs together.
Breathe deeply into the belly and relax any tension that you are noticing in your body and mind.
Stay in the position for 5 minutes or for as long as you like. You can do it a few times a day.
VISUALIZATION
As you hold Rudra Mudra , visualize a wheel with a square hub with a yellow point in the center. As you inhale, imagine that the yellow point expands and moves towards you. As you exhale, the yellow point recedes back to the hub. Keep your focus on the center.
I’ve been doing Rudra mudra regularly for the past month and sharing it with my students in class. It has been very grounding, which is especially important in these rocky times!
I am excited to offer many beautiful opportunities for sound healing and yoga this Fall. Join me for an exquisitely relaxing mid-week Restorative Sound Bath on Wednesday nights! Starting tomorrow night, this 4 week series will help you reset your being at Narayana Yoga Project! You can drop in for one juicy session, or sign up for the whole deeply nourishing series! This Sunday I’m offering my first monthly Kirtan – Sept 23 at Sacred Sounds. It is donation based with each month going to a different organization. Our first Kirtan donations will go to SwingLeft to help the blue wave in the mid term elections! Keep the high vibes going and join me the following weekend with my monthly Restorative Sound Bath @ Sacred Sounds, Sat Sept 29!
Nourish yourself with sacred self-care with my signature Private Sound Healing session. Sign up right now for this extraordinary rejuvenating and transformative healing experience. You will be floating in a sea of blissful sound in no time at all!
I’m offering an incredible retreat in Thailand this winter – Awakened Heart Retreat – Thailand, Feb 5-12. The buddy special is just around the corner, so invite a friend to join you on your Winter yoga Adventure to Southern Thailand! It is a spectacular location: remote, quiet, peaceful, and perfect to practice yoga and meditation!
joyous heart!
Leigh
Return to Essence this Fall
Posted on October 11th, 2015
Autumn invites us to let go, lighten up, and distill our beings to their essence. Tune up the metal element this Fall with practices that help you clear out the clutter in you mind and define your intention with clarity.
Uttarabodhi Mudra (Mudra of the highest enlightenment)
Crystal clear light, vast blue skies, and crisp, cold, clear air—ahhh Fall, my favorite season is here! According to Chinese Medicine, Fall is the Season of the metal element. The stage in our yearly cycle, when all of nature is in a process of contraction, decay, and decomposition-returning all matter to source to fertilize the seeds of Spring’s rebirth.
Through a process of releasing and refining, the metal element transforms matter to pure essence. The Autumn leaves, brilliantly ablaze, offer their last bursts of vitality before drying up and dropping back to the earth. In the end, the essence of the tree remains, a sculpture carving a line drawing in the vast sky and the unseen roots below, stabilizing, grounding and nourishing. The sap of the tree draws into the interior of the tree and sinks back to the roots. In Fall, we also pull inwards, slow down, and become more internal to refine our being as we move towards the stillness and rest of Winter.
Fall is the time to cleanse and organize the clutter in your home, release the agitation in your mind, and clear out the chaos in your life. It’s time to shed the non-essential, resolve and release unhelpful habitual thoughts and emotions, and let go of unhealthy relationships and patterns. By releasing the non-beneficial, we create space for recognizing the essence of who we are and clarity for our intentions.
But letting go is not easy, we resist it. Often we don’t want to change. We want to hang onto Summer, our youthful yang energy, the fullness of the day. We get fearful of the dark, the time and space needed to nourish the new. The stillness and quietness is unsettling and a sort of anxiety sets in as we head towards the fallow Yin time of Winter. We are used to constant stimulus, distraction, and busyness. But this nonstop activity and productivity with little rest, leaves us depleted, stressed out, and burnt out. In the Fall we often need supportive practices to help us as we undergo these elemental processes of letting go, releasing, and surrender. Seasonal yoga, food, and lifestyle practices can help us attune our internal rhythm more with the natural cycles and deepen our connection to ourselves and our environment.
Fall is a good time to nourish the internal practices of meditation, mantra, and mudra to quiet the agitation in the mind, deepen concentration and open insight. Try practicing Uttarabodhi Mudra this Fall to nourish the metal element and the lungs and large intestines, our Fall organs. Place your index fingers together facing upwards and thumbs together facing downwards. Interlace the rest of your fingers together. Breathe and enjoy! This mudra helps open the lungs to expand the inhalation as well as stimulates elimination through the large intenstines. As conductor of electrical and energetic impulses, the metal element enhances our ability to draw in prana (vital energy) from our environment, connect with cosmic energy, as well as recharge our inner source of wellbeing.
Joyous heart!
Leigh
Bhudi Mudra
Posted on October 8th, 2015
Try Bhudi Mudra (fluid mudra) to help nourish the water element, balance your second chakra, and restore fluidity and easeful emotional flow in your being.
According to Ayurveda, Vata dosha, the air element, gets aggravated in the Fall. As the winds start to pick up, we begin to dry out. Our lips get chapped, our skin feels dry and we reach more often for the lotion. As the leaves start to turn their beautiful colors, dry up, and fall off, we also start to feel parched and depleted. We experience the same effects as nature because we are made up of the same elements. Ayurveda suggests nourishing the water element inside us to bring vata dosha back into balance. The grounding, stabilizing, water element offers fluidity and lubrication for the internal dryness.
Bhudi Mudra can help revitalize and maintain fluid balance in our bodies which are 50-70% water. This simple sacred gesture, helps when you have dry and burning eyes, or dryness in the mouth, kidney and bladder issues. It is said to improve the sense of taste, which is the sense organ for the second chakra.
enjoy!
Leigh