September Personal Practice

Archetype: Heroine
Sacred Geometry (How): Miracle
Messages from the Mat (Action): Child's Pose - Balasana
​Mudra: Mani Ratna Mudra - Gesture of the Precious Jewel

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Development

I feel like this month may be a parallel practice. The above cards are applicable to my personal journey as well as the journey of the characters in my imagination. So, I will be practicing the writing habits I developed for August's blog as well as a practice for my health.

The Heroine has a "passion for a journey of personal empowerment." She "confronts increasingly difficult obstacles to awaken an inner spiritual power and achieve a heroic vision that ultimately serves the tribe."

The Miracle card invites me to "trust in the unlimited possibilities the Universe can provide" and to recognize the miracles in my life and all around me. 

Child's pose affirms, "I let go, surrender and trust. I accept all as it is in this present moment."

And the mudra's core quality is global healing. "Bathed in the crystal light of healing, I experience the sacred wholeness of my being."

For my writing practice, this seems fairly obvious. I will continue to develop my habits of writing and I need to surrender and trust the process. My heroine will experience her journey and the miracle will be that I will have been an instrument of creation.

For my physical practice, I am reading The Medical Medium and will adhere to the 28 day program. I'm walking each morning to the store to pick up celery for juicing. I'll eat fruit when I'm feeling the need for more brain food. And I'm doing the rehab exercises for my frozen shoulder.

Reflection

Personal growth doesn't always fit neatly into 30 days. Perhaps that is what I needed to surrender to. Life is messy and we often need to be torn apart in order to grow; the phoenix burns before it rises. 

I haven't written. I have started and interrupted my medical medium cleanse at least 3 times. And I have allowed myself to wallow in the grief of the travesty of the supreme court confirmation hearings. I've surrendered to trains of thought such as, "If Atwood's Gilead turns out to be prophetic, who would I want to be?" I've asked myself this question a lot during difficult situations in my life - situations with no clear right or wrong answer. "Who do I want to be in this situation?" While identifying with the main character is almost always my first reaction, the truth is I am much too old to be a handmaiden. By the time they broke my spirit, I'd be approaching menopause. Would I be a Martha? Would I live out in the woods on the border between Canada and Gilead? Could I be a part of the resistance, a member of MayDay?

One of the fears I have about writing fiction is the downward spiral into madness. What if I immerse myself in an imaginary world and I never come back out? What if I am powerful beyond measure? If I am, I could write myself back out whenever I chose. Even in my dreams, I have this power. For as long as I can remember, I've had the ability to "change the channel" on my dreams - rolling over to rework the ending or choose another story. What if becoming lost in a world of my own creation is much more empowering than being lost in despair within reality. 

p.s. this mudra was a big help whenever I felt overwhelmed by grief