EMILY PERRY:: ELEMENTAL

more on mandala mapping

at the heart of the mandala mapping technique^TM, is nourishing.  nourishing ourselves & our path is an important part of the unfolding of the energetic journey.  but what does it mean to nourish?

i think will mean different things to different people, but i see it as aiding, supporting, and providing for our growth at not only the gross physical level, but also on energetic and spiritual levels.  if we can find a way to deeply nourish ourselves, we will be able to discover and fulfill our biggest dreams, pursue our wildest passions.  we will be able to hear the call to what we need to be doing with our lives.

and yet to get to this point, we need to be able to hear what it is that we are called to do.  we need have access to our internal voices, and have the physical and emotional strength to act on them.

how do you nourish yourself everyday?

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happy thanksgiving

thank you for visiting me and this little space i created on the web...

i hope you, too, have a lot to be thankful for right now.

have a wonderful holiday if you celebrate Thanksgiving, where ever you are.

xo

 

 

energy & matter

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if you remember the formula, e=mc², you might remember that matter is really just a dense form of energy.

so that makes us dense forms of energy:

remember that we are energetic beings.

:: inspiration and finishing::

like so many people out there, i find that i have little time to actually finish all the things I want to work on.  so some questions come up: am I doing too much? (well, yes...), am i making the best use of my time? (i probably could do better), am i maintaining focus? (not really...).  

since i am spending less time outside with the change in season, i am finding that i want to get some studio time in now, and so i need a bit of a game plan.  i am going to use ical to create a schedule for finishing photo and painting pieces i have on the table.  i am also going to schedule out book proposal sections, so i can actually complete some sections.

and i am going to continue to try to fill the well: i find that because i have been so busy, i am needing a new round of inspiration.  so, here are my greatest hits i wanted to share with you- places i know I can go and come away excited about something, or filled with new ideas.

the id project: their dharma podcasts continually have me pulling over to write things down, and are full of ah-ha moments for me.  this has become my sangha.

jen lee: her posts and podcasts also fill the well, give me permission to do what i need to do, and also remind me that other people hit the same walls when trying to balance life with children and being creative.

gypsy girl's guide: alex's site is full of inspiring imagery, and her writing always seems to bring it home for me.

today is pretty: because let's face it: who doesn't need a little pretty?

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i am also planning a little jaunt to san francisco to soak in more inspiration.  what do you do to fill your well?

into the fall and winter

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well, here in my piece of California the fall is transitioning into winter: we are having chilly days and cold nights, i am having to break out all the warm clothes and hats, and i am feeling the need to nest.  scrub the house, get to work, make things.  in chinese medicine energetics, winter is the time for us to become more internal... a little less social, more reflective.  this is a great time for planning and visioning.  a great time for dreaming and planning:: what are you dreaming of for yourself?

 

quieting the mind

Just as impressions left by the constant stream of thoughts and sensations tend to propel more of the same, the impressions left through participation with the silent substrate of consciousness generates a flow itself.

-Donna Farhi, Bringing Yoga To Life

I really love this quote from Donna Farhi's wonderful book, because it really describes the process of the mind.  In essence, what we spend our time thinking about trains our mind's pathways to do more of the same.  So if you are constantly in a negative state of mind, it is as if those pathways in your mind get rutted and grooved, and it is easier for the mind to take those roads.

We can change our minds by changing our thoughts.  

Spending more time in yoga, in meditation, where we become aware of the silence behind the constant stream of thinking the mind generates, will lead our mind to spending more time there on it's own.

back to roost

somehow the week got away from me, but i finally made it to post.  i have recovered from halloween, but now our family is attempting to adjust to the time change, without too much success.  i am officially sleep-deprived.  

perhaps you may have seen that I now a sponsor over at wishstudio:: go check out their lovely site if you haven't already! 

roosting vultures, Salt Point, 2008

i found this old shot i took of vultures together early in the morning, and it got me to thinking about the whole idea of roosting. much has been written through the ages about the concept of coming home, finding home, looking for home, so i won't write about that today, but instead i wanted to talk about the idea of coming home to ourselves.  and by that i mean, really coming into our bodies and being present in them.  

physical embodiment is sorely lacking in our culture:: our society pushes us to live most of our lives in our head, not connected to our bodies.  so much sensory input can lead us to shutting down.  we do and take so many things that keep us from feeling our body signals, our hormonal signals, our instincts and internal voices.  as a result we are disconnected from the core of ourselves.

this is one of the true gifts of yoga and meditation:: it can teach us how to reconnect with the body in a visceral way.  they take us on a journey to our interior- and by reconnecting us with our breath- they allows us to re-engage.  

so let's take that deep breath right now, release the stress and tension.  follow your natural breathing for a while.  get to know it: where does your breath land in your lungs?  where are you tight and constricted?  is your belly involved, or just your chest?

perhaps, like me, you might notice how just sitting with your breath brings you back home to yourself, back home to roost.

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