yoga practice

Another Animal Message Came to Me While in Tree Pose.

Posted by Barbara Techel

owl_3It’s becoming utterly fascinating to me what I’ve been noticing around me lately. I have to say, I love being open and having more of the “unexplained” finding its way to me. The more it happens, the more I want!

First of all, just two days ago I began an e-course called The Sacred Alone. Each morning before I practice yoga I am incorporating this sacred alone time.  Five minutes of reading an essay, five minutes of a guided meditation, followed by ten minutes of writing in my journal from a prompt that is provided.

After The Sacred Alone, I randomly pick a Grace card. For the second day in a row I chose “Surprises” which says, “Keep an open mind. The influence of grace is often found in unexpected places.” As I read this again after writing this, it is hitting home even more for me  and my next experience I had while practicing yoga.

Half way through my yoga I do tree pose, which I just can’t get enough of. I could stand in it all day!  Today as I did, I put my focus on a tree outside my window. I’ve done this before and have often times seen the shape of a heart in the tree bark. Not today.

Today I saw the shape of an owl! After I was done with my practice, I immediately went to my deck of Animal Wisdom Tarot cards to look up owl’s message for me.

In part it says “owl is the keeper of the light representing solitude, introspection, enlightenment and wisdom. Owl’s appearance may indicate a need for solitude or retreat—perhaps a vision quest or quiet time alone in self-reflection. Owl urges us to abandon distraction and explore the depths of our being. Indeed, to know our true self, to uncover the brilliant, dark secrets we hide inside, requires patience, commitment, and tenacity.”

“Time to refresh and renew your inner self, so you may return to the world enlightened, shining as a beacon for others. Owl helps you to see the truth of the person you really are.”

This gave me goosebumps!  Then when I tied it in with picking the grace card, “Surprises” and being open to to grace in unexpected places, wow, my whole insides were a flutter with excitement.

So often I wish I had all these animals in “real” form to bring me a message when I need one. Never did I give thought to how they can come in different ways, like seeing the shape of an owl in the tree bark.

It is also a lesson on how we can sometimes look so hard for what it is we are to see or learn, when it is right there in front of us if we just open our heart and be open to what it is we need to hear in that moment.

As I’ve written earlier in the year, one of my intentions is to be more brave in what I write and share.  Sharing these moments that are happening to me feels scary to share in some ways for what “others might think.” But I can’t deny how good it feels for me to feel connected to something bigger in this world and to share that with others.

A New Ritual: Practicing Grace Each Day.

Posted by Barbara Techel

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I recently shared with you that I reorganized and threw out (or donated) much stuff in my writing cottage two weeks ago. I’m really enjoying what feels like a new space for me- but even better, a new energy. I feel so much lighter and free. It continues to amaze me how stuff can hold us back.

Part of my wanting to let go of stuff was to make room for new– whatever that is meant to be. I also wanted to practice my morning yoga in my writing cottage. John is often times home in the mornings on phone calls and with our house being small, I was finding it hard to concentrate.

Yoga seems like such a simple thing, but it adds so much value and depth to my days. Being in the quiet of the morning, the sun streaming through my long windows which surround me, I feel a connection to nature and the earth.

This week I decided to add a grace card to my yoga practice. What I do before I begin my practice is to sit and ask for what it is I need guidance with for the day. I either choose a number to count down the cards to, or what day it is (yesterday being 3, I counted to 3rd card in the deck), or I just slide my hands over the deck and stop when I feel it is right, or I go with what color card catches my eye.

Once I choose the card, I read it, and then hold it in my thoughts as I do my yoga practice.

Yesterday the grace card that presented itself to me was, LISTEN…When we feel overly attached to an outcome, it’s simply an indication that we need to reconnect with our Wise Self.

I wasn’t sure the message for me until later in the day. I realized this with someone I love dearly who is struggling with some challenges in her life. I really listened. And I also realized in the process, that as much as I wish I could make things better for her, these are life choices she has to make on her own.

For me, I had to let go of the outcome of what I think it should or shouldn’t be. It is also a reminder to myself that when my life feels out of balance this is an indication that I am not listening to my own Wise Self. This is a practice. One I feel that comes with being more aware, which I’ve been working on this year—more awareness.

Today I chose the card COMPASSION…Be gentle with yourself. You are a magnificent soul. A reminder to first practice compassion with ourselves, to love ourselves for who we are, so that we move out into the world being who we authentically are, giving back in the best way that speaks to who we are.

It will be interesting as I continue incorporating Grace card moments before my yoga and how that will play out in my life.

One of the best things about my yoga practice though?  After I roll up my mat and tuck under my desk,  I sit and just be with Gidget—my Buddha dog who sits in her own stillness and in turn shares her wise wisdom with me just by being her amazing little self.

Which by the way… she normally starts her ” dinner time dance”  around 4:00pm and is pretty insistent on me getting her dinner. But yesterday afternoon while I talked with my friend? She settled into her bed and held her Buddha self until almost 5:45pm, never once stirring.  She really is a Buddha dog, don’t you think?