This past weekend I had the incredible pleasure of heading out to the desert with an incredible group of women for a kundalini yoga retreat with my teacher, Guru Jagat. The weekend was titled, “Immense Grace Vision Quest: Desert Activation” and not only did we do tons of yoga, meditation and ceremonies but we also embarked on a mini ayurvedic cleanse and learned about cooking for different doshas. The women that came together were everywhere from famous recording artists to functional medicine doctors, to householders and mothers, hair stylists, actresses, you name it. We all joined together for strength, clarity and grace. We were all ready for a next level of being and I think we all went home with more than we bargained for.
Many things came up for me over the weekend but the few that I want to highlight for you are the big take-aways that me and the incredible woman who embarked on the retreat with me really grounded ourselves in after the four days.
First, have more fun! Joy raises our vibration, it connects us with our higher self and is the super highway to true realization. On the ride up, five of us were crammed into a car for hours sitting in traffic and having the best time singing everything from the Beatles to Biggie. At one moment, I literally caught myself buzzing out of such pure joyfulness. No agenda, just pure silliness, complete release. These little treasure chests of joy and bliss are all over our lives and we simply have to be more conscious of opening up the chest and allowing ourself to receive the gold inside. I knew the lesson in that moment was to conscious incorporate more moments of fun in my life, to seek out those treasure chests of bliss on a daily basis.
Later on in the weekend the entire group of us women sat in a circle and shared what we were working on in our life right now or how we had first come to kundalini yoga and it was one of the most divine experiences. We each saw every other woman in a very different, vulnerable light. Collectively we realized that we were all there for the same thing – to love ourselves and accept ourself deeper. Some of us were millionaires and others living with their parents trying to get back on their feet, some were married with babies, other’s single, young, old, but we all came for the same medicine. Anything that we could have thought we wanted was reflected to us by another woman in the circle, she had the baby or the career or the husband, but it still wasn’t enough, it would never be enough until we all had a deeper experience of the truth of who we really are.
The words that repeatedly came to me through the weekend were: discipline, devotion, conviction, and grace.
DISCIPLINE: relying on our strong daily practice and alkalizing foods to set the foundation for us to have the highest experience of ourselves every day.
DEVOTION: the deep rooted self-love that fuels your disciplined rituals.
CONVICTION: the clarity of mind and intention around what we are here to do and who we truly are. Standing in our truth unapologetically and not letting any outside circumstances dim or light or push us into playing small.
GRACE: simple elegance in the way we navigate our lives.
As part of all these beautiful discoveries and remembrances, I heard loud and clear that it was time to unleash another round of the LightMaker Lifestyle Mentorship. It was through the deep devotion and clarity I have around what I’m here to teach and who I’m here to guide that I realized it was not yet time to close shop on this intimate one on one intensive experience. I have known for a while but it became even more crystal clear this past weekend, I’m meant to teach woman how to create a strong foundation using the technologies of food, meditation and self-care to live out their biggest, most fulfilling lives. This mentorship is not just about being your coach for a few months, it’s about elevating your level of being so that you are an untethered force of light in the world and can go brightly shine on your own community. Another massive and aligned project came to the surface for greater clarity as well but you will have to wait a couple months for me to unveil that.
In summary, you don’t have to go on an amazing desert retreat to receive any of these insights but you DO have to allocate some time for yourself away from your computer, your phone and any other regular distractions so you can become still, quiet and go deep within to hear what your soul is trying to tell you.
For those of you curious about the LightMaker Lifestyle Mentorship program, you can read all about it here. Be sure to let me know immediately if you’re interested. I max out at 10 mentees and slots are on a first come (and a good fit for the work!), first served basis. Looking forward to these next chapter in 2016 and everything that lies ahead!