Finding Sacred Essence this holiday

I'm so loving that our women's circle is up and running again for 2011. We have a new website too which helps keep us all connected throughout the month until we meet again in May. You might like to see what we've been up to here.

Our first circle has taken us on the journey inward to reconnect with our Higher Selves.

We have done so through story, sharing/discussion, meditation, song, sacred ceremony and through creating our own crown - a lovely beaded wire head piece.

Our journey began with a wonderful story called Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady. Though our focus was on the theme of sovereignty - and specifically connecting to the Higher Self within, each of us took from the story what was just right for us. I'm a huge believer in the beautiful synchronicities that weave their way through our experiences and if we listen carefully enough and take enough notice, there is so much to be gained!

Over at Sacred Essence, I posted here and here about my experience after the circle of how I have learnt that it is through our relationships that we tap into a well of opportunity for connecting to our Higher Self voice if we just learn to tune into it. For me as always, it seems, this requires a slowing down and a process of mindfulness on what is happening in the moment, as it unfolds. It's getting easier with practice, but it's definitely something I have to keep plugging away at. In fact, it's literally a matter of plugging into a Greater Source of Divine LOVE (my...OUR Sacred Essence) in order to reconnect/refresh/reframe and re-act in a more harmonious way.

I've been practising it these past weeks of school holidays. We've been renovating the laundry, trying to keep up with child-centred activities to keep the boredom at bay and having my mother-in-law stay at the same time. It has certainly been an on-the-go, all emergent exercise in the art of mindfulness! Sometimes I have succeeded in keeping connected to my Higher Self (and my preferred way of Being) and at other times I've felt myself lose touch quite suddenly! I am really finding that what is working most for me is choosing JOY. As I choose the emotional high road for myself, everyone around me seems to benefit. I suppose it's living in that higher vibration that joy brings, which is certainly vastly different to the dull, clanging throb that frustration and a frayed temper brews if given half the chance.

So with that in mind, here are a few JOYOUS moments I have savoured these past few weeks...

I hope your Easter holidays has brought with it some Sacred Essence too!!

Plans and schedules

Today I received a very well intentioned email from my sister about all the upcoming events our "big" family has on the agenda.... all the way into October!

I'm sorry, but I am so disgruntled I had to write a post in protest!

What is it with PLANS?!!

When I was a school teacher the one single thing I really didn't like was being pushed around by the BELL! My day was fragmented and boxed up into gridlines on a page telling me what I had to do and where I had to be at every moment.

When I became a mum, I threw all this out the window and seized my new life of spontaneous present moment living and demand feeding with both ...hands... and well...all of myself really.

I have to admit, I do look back on those early couple of years and wonder if more routine wasn't called for, particularly with regards to my little one's eating, waking and sleeping rhythm.

But rhythm is a separate issue entirely to filling one's calendar. Are you surrounded by people who fill their days, weeks and months? I can't keep up.

I know it's nice to have things to look forward to and to know when big events are coming up, but GEE, I like my spontaneity.... I love blank spaces on my calendar, just LOVE them!

In fact, I have a blank space on my calendar for this afternoon (until pick-up time), so I'm off to do whatever I fancy! Might go rest in the hammock and listen.

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Essence

Last night we held another of our sacred women's circles.

It was a chance for us to explore a lovely story by Jane Ray called The Apple Pip Princess (Orchard Books). It is a story about three princesses in their pursuit to become the next monarch of an ailing kingdom by doing something special to please their father, the old king. One princess chooses to build a grand tower, from which she can almost reach the moon.... the second tries to better her sister's efforts by building a more beautiful tower from all the shining metal in the kingdom. The third princess, Serenity in all her feelings of inadequacy plants a tiny apple pip. Using contents from a magical box which she inherited from her queen mother, she day by day, took a special essence or elemental, earthy ingredient to add to her budding garden. In her quest to plant, dig and nourish the barren land, she is joined by all the folk from their tumbledown cottages and by the end of the seventh day, her father chooses her to rule the kingdom, for her tiny buds had magically been transformed into a blossoming sanctuary filled with trees and birdsong for the whole kingdom to share in and enjoy.

After our story we tuned in to ourselves and moved and stretched in some gentle yoga. With our focus on the life energy coursing through our bodies, we were able to visualise through meditation, an essence which fills and nourishes ourselves personally. For one it was the lightness of a feather, for another, the calm energy of the forest, another participant chose the nightingale's song, another the sunlit ocean with wind in her sails, and another, pink love-filled light.

Later we had an opportunity to talk about our chosen essence while we sculpted some clay into a vessel..... It was enlightening to explore through conversation with eachother, what was unfolding for us in the clay and in our attunement to ourselves and to eachother. This is what companioning through creative arts therapy is all about. It is the chance to grow our ability to be present in a way which we don't always ask of ourselves...... to learn more about ourselves..... through our creative expression and through the responses and experiences we share with eachother.

I'd like to share with you the song which came to me for this circle which we sang at our circle's closing last night.... enjoy.

Essence

There's a place inside my heart

Where glows a sacred light

Through my lens of love

It grows and fills my sight

Here understanding blossoms

Wisdom pools and overflows

My knowingness is openness

My struggle fades and goes

Essence of my nurture

My prayer is to be steeped

Infuse me with all that I need

To walk the path of Peace.

By Melissa Joss 9/1/10

Retreating in the Glasshouse Mountains

I have just returned from an absolutely beautiful yoga retreat in the Glasshouse Mountains.
Once again I feel so blessed to have been in the presence of like minded and inspiring women and in such a gorgeous natural setting!
In the MYSHA session I ran, we meditated on our roles in life
Self at work, Self at home, Self at leisure or Self in Spirit
We created action self portraits and later wrote our own Ode to Self.
It was a creative unfolding journey inward.... and a process coloured with flow and some obstacles too.... and in all of our experiencing we cultivated mindful awareness and gentleness with our Selves.

We honoured our Selves in sacred ceremony, sharing our inner work and play, we sang our hearts wide open and we basked in the collective glow of auras building their brilliance.
And best of all, we grew the living flame of the sacred feminine for all women, everywhere!

Here are some photos for you...

Ego and Soul

After our last women's circle, I am left in awe once again of the experience and of the company I am blessed with ..........the beautiful watery theme of our evening, the impeccably told story, the accompaniment of soulful songs and candlelight, creative exploration through silk painting and the shared sacredness of brave, beautiful women bearing their Inner Truths....together.

Without going into detail of the night's events, I would just like to honour one moment, one experience which stays with me still. It resonates with me. It holds significance to me. Gratitude fills my soul as I allow one of our beloved women's sharing to penetrate my human Being. I'd like to share with you my reflection...

The ego depicted...

striking painted lines of direction

like driven arrows,

ascending way up,

as high as a mountain.

Reminding me

of all my little struggles.

How tired I am !

of climbing

the ladder towards perfection.

Can I for a moment

find a new perspective?

Allow the warmth,

the sun of my soul

to shine on me

....wherever I am?

A New Circle

The next MYSHA Women's Circle will be held monthly in Nerang.

Commencing Monday 12th October.

Leading this new circle with me, from Lavendilly House is

Jennifer McCormack.

Jen is an extremely gifted mama, teacher, artist, and celebrant! Jen will bring her passion for storytelling, sacred ceremony and ritual pampering expertise which will meld with our Meditation Yoga and Self Healing Arts magnificently!

At her new blog http://www.lavendilly.wordpress.com/ Jennifer writes:

I am very excited about our circle – there will be singing, ritual pampering, storytelling and an exploration of a variety of artistic modes through which we will process our experience of the story.
There will be peace, healing, shared wisdoms and creativity to take back home with us into our daily lives until the next circle.

If you'd like one of the candles in the circle to be yours this time, email us to reserve your spot!

MYSHA Women's Circle

For the past nine weeks now we have been leaving behind our busy lives, just for one blissful night in the week..... to join together in circle, celebrating our very nature, our sacred feminine, our lives, ....and each other.

Around our cermonial circle of muslin white and silky blue, adorned in blossoms, we have lit our candles and brought light to the sacred within ourselves and between ourselves. We arranged our yoga mats around the circle so that our energy balled like a sphere of feminine light and shade... and we have gently woven a scaffold together... working toward balance. We warmed, soothed and stretched our spirits and our bodies with the beautiful art of Yoga, enriched and nurtured our hearts and souls with creative expression through clay, pastels, charcoal, paint, movement, collage, body sculpture and more.... And we shared.

We have shared with eachother some of our deep feelings and sensings as we described our experience with the artful materials. We have dipped our toes into this multimodal world of creative possibilities and been invited to go deeper through our Inner Wisdom...

....to flesh out and to make sense of our daily lives through the arts, while massaging our ability to be present to the emergent tellings from within and between ourselves.

I only wish I had taken more photos of the beautiful and inspiring work of these beautiful MYSHA women!

And soon it will be time to close our circle and put out invitation to those who will form the next.

Om Shanti