EMOTION OF THE OCEAN

Boat on Boat

We approach an emotional Full Moon in moody Cancer on July 2^nd. Full Moons always highlight our relationship between the masculine, external, out in the world self and the feminine, internal, emotional self. The Sun is currently in maternal and moody Cancer while the Full Moon is in all-business, task-master Capricorn. All work and no play. Finding balance between home and career, personal and public are the themes during this Full Moon. Cancer is a water sign, so being near bodies of water can heal you at this time. Capricorn is the Mountain.  A good full moon ritual may integrate these opposing elements by taking a walk on a bluff. Or take a hike through a trail that has a waterfall destination. Honor your feelings, and stay the course.

As Summer flows, the ocean and more at-home time connects us with the ebb and flow of being social and coming back to the self. We are made of 80 percent water, and water in all forms is incredibly soothing. Here in Los Angeles, water has become an obvious commodity and its value is even controversial. Are you entitled to water? Water represents the emotions. Are you entitled to your emotions? It is your birthright. (So far they haven’t found a way to bottle and sell that back to us.)



Water resets me from nearly any mood: When I’m angry, I drink a glass of water and literally feel myself cool down. When I feel low, a shower or bath can lift my spirits and energize me. Water cleanses me of others people’s energies. Water can be a playmate for surfers, or an intense force to be reckoned with as in a tsunami. Be sure to take your lessons from the water. Be fluid. Go with the flow, allow things to be as they are…move around them. Practice surrender and let go of forcing. Water is the strongest element as it can change the shape of the hardest rock with its current.

Play in the water! Find a lake, river or ocean.

Cleanse yourself with salt water baths, the ocean, or a walk in a Summer storm.

Be like water, humble, seeking the lowest level. Go with the flow....

WHAT YOU THINK, YOU BECOME

I recently read that humans have between 12,000 and 50,000 thoughts per day. Many of them the same. When you think the same thought again and again it begins to etch into the neuro-pathways of your brain and becomes easier to slip into habitual thinking.

The famous quote that many yogis use:

points to how our thinking forms our circumstances. This gives me pause to consider the meanderings of my mind, and how many of them are based on past experience, expectation and habitual thinking. How many of my thoughts are conscious, enabling me to create new pathways toward a future me? Something that is more in alignment with my maturity and the eternally changing "Self" that I am expressing is needed in order to represent my true character and to my next destination.

I have been sharing recently, and rarely, that I am going through a personal transition and transformation. Leaving behind old habitual ways of seeing myself and others, allowing what is outdated to dissolve in order to make room for the new. My thinking is more noticeable when I take the time to slow down, think before speaking, and listen to what I am hearing with a beginner's mind. This type of attention and focus is way easier without the multitude of distractions that surround me. Social media, connecting with friends, and the general business of living can send me right into automatic mode. My thoughts are on shuffle, but like my iPod, the old familiar tunes just keep coming up.

Conscious awareness is a muscle like any other. It must be trained and retrained on a consistent basis before transformation appears. Both meditation and mindfulness of the words we speak (both to ourselves in our head and to others) is well worth the attention it takes. Not only that, behind every word that is thought or spoken is a motive. Ask yourself: "When I say this, what do I mean?" "Am I trying to get something from speaking these words?" Considering these things can bring to light even older feelings and emotions that have not been dealt with. Uncovering and shedding light on these dusty old mental artifacts  can allow the release that is required in order to move forward in a fresh new way.

There is much up ahead. As we let go and see the underlying patterns, not only do we make room for new possibilities, but we can understand ourselves better and take the right action to fulfill our own true needs.

As you think right thoughts you can deeply connect to the true self and take right actions, then you become right with yourself and the world, and the world becomes right with you.

Mind Over Matter: If You Don't Mind, It Doesn't Matter!

 The transition from Spring to Summer is abuzz with the busy-ness of life. Graduations, vacation planning, and the general day to day errands and local outings begins to emerge along with the sprays of flowers abloom and the sun’s warmth radiating towards us. Lets throw in a Mercury retrograde in the sign of Gemini and we’ve got some major communication going, albeit mis-communication as well! 

The aim of yoga is to loosen our grip from the trappings of the mind. The mind loves to future trip, plan, think, make connections and stay busy. The mind is a wonderful slave but an awful master. Or as they say, my mind is like a bad neighborhood, I shouldn't to go there alone. So here’s the thing: you are not going to be able to stop your monkey mind, but you can understand that you are not your mind. Once you are able to observe your mind, you will be able to move in and reframe your thoughts, and eventually settle into the seat of the witness. “Who is the one meditating?"

 The observation muscle is strengthened through meditation and concentration. We then have choices (Note the picture of me above, trying to choose between these two sets of mala beads).

With the Gemini energy in full effect (Mercury retrograde in Gemini and the sun shining in the sign of the twins) multiplicity abounds! Get ready for communication glitches, a media onslaught, neighborhood exchanges, televisions, computers and phones on. Chatter. The mind. Gemini energy wants it all, all at once. Today’s full moon (June 2nd) is in Sagittarius and seeks adventure, expansion, to go farther, faster, longer…more more more! The Gemini/Sag polarity wants to cover a lot of territory, but there is a Neptunian energy squaring off on these two and it is requiring us to let that space be filled with spirit. We need spaciousness for our information exploration. The best possible version of this brings us back to meditation.

 Sit and allow the trappings of the mind to dissolve and embark on an inner journey deeper into the self for the supreme expression of these divergent energies. Have fun along the way! (Moon in Sag.) Make jokes! (Sun in Gemini). See all the colors of your mind and paint them out, dance them out, and be active in the physical body. As you do this, watch your mind mellow. Neighborhood workout classes or day long retreats would serve you well. Remember, it all comes down to mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.