Wanna Let Your Soul Shine Baby?

"YES!"

These are the first words that came out of my mouth one morning last week at exactly 6:20am. After the initial release from my throat, I sprung right onto my feet. This was new, to say the least. It took a few minutes for the sleep-fog to leave my head but shortly thereafter that I remembered what I was saying, "yes" to. I was deep inside a powerful dream. This was the scene:

I'm walking through the brushes in Bali

Up ahead I see rice fields and the sun is rising up and moving toward me at the same time

I look down at my feet; curious about the way they move

Grateful for their capacity to connect me with the earth.


Then, all of the sudden I'm stopped in my tracks

My little toes touch ten BIG toes and then I see the 2 feet

These are clearly the feet of a man, an older man, worn yet wise

I look up to see more and I'm met with the sweetest face, bearded and smiling


I smile too.

We stay like that for a while, tossing smiles back and forth

Then I look down again

This time my eyes meet his hands, wrinkled and strong


He is holding three ladles

From large to small, they are stacked atop one another

All are made of wood

I hold them to my nose and they smell delicious

The smallest of the 3 is blue and its handle is curly,

Not straight like the others


He hands them to me and says,

"Wanna to let your SOUL SHINE baby?"


"YES!"


What I love most about this dream is that I was somehow able to answer the question in my physical reality. Two feet on the ground, groggy-headed and messy-haired, I got to say yes inside my conscious world. These made it feel all the more real.

In my experience, there have been plenty of times when I felt afraid to shine. I didn't always feel safe enough to be myself, to express myself fully and honestly. I often wondered what other people would think, how it would make them feel. In truth, this was really just my own ego, holding my "soul" back with false fears and self-restricting judgment. After all if my soul is shining, my ego is dying. Ego doesn't like that too much.

For me studying, practicing and sharing body-centered healing work has been like dusting off years, maybe even lifetimes of dirt that has build up around my heart. If my soul lives anywhere in my body, I suspect it’s abiding quietly inside my heart and now its ready to shine. It’s waited long enough.

I'm not really sure what this means and I'm not too concerned with figuring it out. I have a yearning to dip my metaphorical ladles into the well of life, to drink it all up. That's the one thing I can say for sure.

I also know that I want to continue to share this work, to share the healing power of touch, presence, non-judgmental listening and witnessing. I will continue to invite my community into these experiences and welcome those who say "yes" and I'll wait for those who say "no thanks."

We all walk along our own paths and this is beautiful. At times we meet toe-to-toe, other times we keep our heads down the whole way or the beauty of the sun’s ability to shine without apology distracts us. I love and appreciate the many paths available, the many ways to say "yes."

How do you let your self, your soul, and your heart shine? What inspires you to say "yes?" I'd love to hear about your dreams and the way you process your truths.


Much love,

Sarah

www.insightyogatherapy.com

Who I Am, What I Love, How I Got Here

I’m nourished and inspired by the process of facilitating body/mind integration.

I love yoga, movement, massage, hula-hoops…pretty much anything that engages my body.

I also love to travel. Early on, travel got me really excited about exploring the unknown. I used to think I would have to journey off to far away lands to “discover myself" more fully and  experience deep connection with others. Now I feel blessed to know I can travel inside my body anytime and explore that same "connective tissue."

I enjoy working with people who are willing to dive in deep and explore the relationship between what’s happening in their body and what’s happening in their life. I believe this takes courage and courageous people inspire me to keep unfolding the depth of my own experience.

You know the saying, “the more I learn the less I know” …for me it feels like: “the more I learn, the less I want to know.” Some things just feel unknowable and I like that.

I’m not here to fix or change you. I don’t want to tell you who to be or how to go about transforming your world. I trust that you have a sense of what’s best for you somewhere inside and it is my intention to help you illuminate your wisdom, your truth and when necessary, your remedies.

I came to Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy in 2007, after nearly a decade of practicing yoga asana. A friend suggested I try a session, she sensed I would like it although I had absolutely not idea what “it” was. Like most people, I went to yoga to stretch and relieve stress, it was an anchor in my world but I had no idea how or why it worked for me, I just went to yoga class because it felt good!
 
What I experienced in my first PRYT session catapulted me into an entirely new way of being, in body, mind and spirit. That’s the best way I can describe it. It transformed me and allowed me to connect to the root of who I am and I how I want to be. It reconnected me with my body and taught me an entirely new language (which I felt like I already knew but had somehow lost along the way).

I left my first session with a strong intention to share this work. I wanted to learn how to facilitate that deep sense of connection for other people. This lead to several years of training including 300 hours of yoga teacher certification and 650 hours of immersion in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. I believe this is an ever-evolving journey and continue to immerse myself in various teachings and trainings. Most recently, I've embarked on the study and practice of Thai Yoga Massage.

My private practice is in Central Austin. Born and raised in Colorado, I never thought I would call Texas home but I feel blessed to be here and grateful share this work within a beauitful community.

If you are curious to learn more about me or the services I offer, please contact me. I look forward to hearing from you!

With Love,

Sarah

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

 "What's your lineage?"

 This is the question I was asked by a student a couple of weeks ago. It's not the first time I've been asked this same question. Most often, I've experienced other yoga teachers wanting to know just where my yoga roots originate. In the past, I've answered that question varying ways, fumbling to find the "right" answer, the one that felt the most noteworthy and impressive of course. This time, without thinking I said, "my heart." Its amazing how uttering truth can make my whole body feel both stronger and lighter at the same time.

I'm so grateful for this question as it brought me back to considering the essence of this practice, the essence of what I give so much energy to. It reminded me that it was my heart that called me to the mat for the first time, my heart that encouraged me to return again and again, my heart that invited me to explore teaching yoga, sharing yoga therapy and all the expansions they have to offer. At the root of the root of the root, is my heart or as one of my teachers, Elissa Cobb would say, "the part of me that knows without thinking." This part of me has always been my guide, my first and last teacher. It took some dabbling here and there, a whole lot of work and also some great teachers, friends and mentors to help me remember this truth for myself.  Now, when I invite a student to move into a posture, I'm not so much thinking about a specific type of yoga I should teach or kind of way the students should be holding their own body. How could I actually know what way is best for their body, their heart, their experience in that moment? What my heart tells me goes something like this, "I trust you know what's best for you, I hope to be here to hold the space for you to explore and discover what that might look and/or feel like."

There are countless different types of yoga and I'm certainly inspired by many of them, especially the sources of my training and education. That said, I'm increasingly intrigued and also often times irritated by the rise of brand-name, trademark protected yoga in the West. As one of my friends put it, "how can you trademark self-realization?"

It is said that the intention of yoga is union. In this reality, the parts are in the whole and the whole is in the parts, everything is ONE and all that we need is already there within us...all the stuff that gets in the way just illusion. If all yogic lineages are leading in the same direction (back to union, wholeness and oneness) then I really wonder, "what's in a name?" How much does naming, defining, branding and protecting varying types of yoga really serve this journey and how much more separation and illusion does it actually create?

For all practical purposes, I understand that naming one's business is helpful. Recently, I've changed my own logo/name from INSIGHT YOGA + THERAPY to INSIGHT BODY + MIND THERAPY. I made this change for a number of reasons, including this one: for as much as possible, I want the name of my offerings to feel open and spacious. That place in me I call "heart" often asks for lots of room to grow and play! This is what I hope to welcome with a slight shift in a name. In truth, I have no attachment to the name of my business or its logo. It feels easy and effortless to change it, all things change all the time and for me the there's no sense in clinging to one word or a set of words in hopes of encapsulating something that is simply beyond definition.

It is my hope that what offer inside this little operation I now call INSIGHT BODY + MIND THERAPY speaks to your own inner compass and if it doesn't feel like the right fit for you, I wish you all the best along your journey, be it with a specific lineage or otherwise.

Love,
Sarah

Being Love

"Imagine feeling more love from someone than you have ever known. You're being loved more than your mother loved you when you were an infant, more than you were ever loved by your father , your child, or your most intimate lover--anyone. This lover doesn't need anything from you, isn't looking for personal gratification and only wants your complete fulfillment.

You are being loved just for being who you are, just for existing. You don't have to do anything to earn it. Your shortcomings, your lack of self-esteem, physical perfection, or social and economic success--none of that matters. No one can take this love away from you, it will ALWAYS be here.

Imagine that being  in this love is like relaxing endlessly into a warm bath that surrounds and supports your every moment so that every thought and feeling is permeated by it. You feel as though you are dissolving into love.

This love is actually a part of you; it is always flowing through you. It's like the subatomic texture of the universe, the dark matter that connects everything. When you tune into that flow, you will feel it in your own heart--not your physical or emotional heart, but your spiritual heart, the place you point to in your chest when you say, "I am."

This is your deeper heart, your intuitive heart. It is the place where the higher mind, pure awareness, the subtler emotions and your soul identity all come together and you connect to the universe, where presence and love are.

Unconditional love really exists in each of us. It is a part of our deep inner being It's not so much an active emotion as a state of being. Its not "I love you" for this reason, not "I love you if you love me." Its love for no reason, love without an object. Its just sitting in love, a love that incorporates everything, a love that incorporates the chair and the room and permeates everything around. The thinking mind is extinguished in love.

If I go into that place in myself that is love and you go into that place in your self that is love, we are in love together. Then you and I are truly in love, the state of being love. That's the entrance to Oneness."

-Excerpt From "Be Love Now" by Ram Dass

Gratitude

If you've seen my website, then you've witnessed the beautiful work of two incredible artists.

I am so grateful to have had Alina Prax grace this project with her eye, her heart and her beautiful photography skills. When she came to my studio to snap some shots of the space and my work, it felt like a fresh breeze danced its way into the room. With an effortless ease, Alina picked up on the essence of this work and my intention to share it. Like many people, I'm quite camera shy. There is a sense of vulnerability in being "snapped" or "exposed" through the lens of what can sometimes feel like an impersonal machine. This was not at all the case with sweet Alina. Without being staged or diluted, each shot was gently coaxed to the surfaced and what emerged was the pure artistry of integrity in digital form. Thank you Alina for this wonderful gift! If you would like to find out more about Alina, her work and her gifts, visit her website: http://ladolcevitaphoto.com/

The second artist I would like to speak of is someone I find more difficult to describe with words. There is an intangible essence that defines the love I have for this particular artist and "gratitude" doesn't quite capture the scope of the feeling I would like to express. I could say that the website itself wouldn't have ever been possible without the person who designed it (which he did). But the truth is that Brent (my best-friend, my love, my partner) is nothing less than the foundation upon which everything in my life has and will continue to flourish. Brent breathes art in every breath and in that way, inspires me to create and share of my heART. If the light we see in others is truly a reflection of our own inner light, then I consider myself extremely blessed to live under the lamp of this man who shines so bright and reminds me to do the same. Thank you RBH for your all of your expressions of love.

Entering The Mystery of 2011

"We must assume our existence as broadly as we in any way can; everything, even the unheard of must be possible in it. This is at the bottom of the courage that is demanded of us: to have the courage for the most strange, the most inexplicable." -Rainer Maria Rilke

Beginnings ask us to be courageous, to be vulnerable, to open our hearts and dive into uncharted territory. To make space for the new, we must first be willing to shed some old way of being that no longer serves. At the root of a 'fresh start' or 'clean slate' is change and therein always lies the death of something.

Death...a very scary word. Or, maybe not. What if death is simply the precursor to new life?

Once the space is created for the beginning of a new year, friendship, passion or blog :) we give ourselves the chance to enter into the mystery and courageously explore a practice I've come to call "NOT NEEDING TO KNOW." When faced with an invitation to explore the infancy of an experience, we can create a sense of support for ourselves by cultivating openness and receptivity. As our palms begin to open, control is relinquished and what will ultimately die is the need to know.

In my life and yoga therapy practice, I've often found that my own need to know is driven by fear and also a limited perspective of what is, or what could be. And thus, each time I practice not needing to know, I've found something quite spectacular: limitless potential. This spacious state of being has quite literally "blown my mind" and in the aftershock, opened my heart into unknown directions.

Inside the confines of a mind that requires clear and definitive answers, there's not a lot of room for what Rilke calls "the most strange, the most inexplicable." In my own attempts to define the practice of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy to friends, family members and clients, I've often failed to find the perfect words or metaphors. More often than not this form of yoga therapy falls into the "unheard of" category, a place where experience trumps explanation. This is a road-less journey that invites those who receive it to define it for him/her self.

And so, as I embark of this new year and new beginning I've named "Insight Yoga + Therapy," I welcome you to my blog and invite you to learn more on my website. If your curiosity is sparked but you're unsure about what yoga therapy is or could be for you, consider asking yourself these questions:

-what would it be like to courageously open my heart to the unknown depths of my own experience?

-what would it be like to surrender into the mystery, listen to the wisdom of my body and the present moment?

- what if I could explore and/or expand the definition of who and how I am in the world?

Questions often breed more inquiry and thus if you're asking, "what next?" Consider releasing the need to know right now, perhaps curiosity and the willingness to listen and explore will guide you in the direction that's right for you.

If you know you are interested in beginning your own experience of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, please contact me at sarah@insightyogatherapy.com and I will be happy to facilitate this new beginning with you.

Happy New Year

All My Love,
Sarah

A bit more.....

click below to watch a beautiful lecture on TED about the power of vulnerability, courage, compassion and connection:

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability | Video on TED.com