THE CHAKRA SYSTEM

INTRODUCING THE CHAKRAS!

Everything in our universe is made up of energy- including us. It is widely accepted that our bodies have seven main energy centers called chakras that move like wheels and are responsible for certain functions on a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level. When these chakras are in balance, you feel good, healthy, calm and happy. For various reasons, our chakras can become overactive, under active, or blocked. When this happens, a myriad of physical, mental/emotional symptoms can result. REIKI energy clears and balances energy flow, YOGA uses movement and breath to keep energy flow healthy, and BREATH WORK improves energy flow. These are all extremely effective ways to help get your chakras back into balance. I’ll also describe other ways you can keep each chakra in balance. I will briefly cover one chakra per week for the next seven weeks which will be the themes of our affirmations! 

June 24, 2021 - Strawberry Moon

The first full moon of the summer! 

The Strawberry Moon got its name because this is the time of year when strawberries are in abundance and ready to be picked! 

Check out your local farmer's markets for their picking schedule, or grab a few quarts of freshly-picked strawberries, and enjoy some of nature's bounty and the beautiful full moon! 

WEEKLY MALA MEDITATION: The Four Agreements (IV)

This is week IV and the last week of our theme using the book, “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. This week, we’re focusing on the fourth agreement, “Always Do Your Best.” Here is his summary of this agreement: “Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstances, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.”

This fourth agreement ties in all the other agreements. The author explains, “The first three agreements will only work if you do your best. Don’t expect that you will always be able to be impeccable with your word. Your routine habits are too strong and firmly rooted in your mind. But you can do your best. Don’t expect that you will never take anything personally; just do your best. Don’t expect that you will never make another assumption, but you can certainly do your best. By doing your best, the habits of misusing your word, taking things personally, and making assumptions will become weaker and less frequent with time. You don’t need to judge yourself, feel guilty, or punish yourself if you cannot keep these agreements. If you are doing your best, you will feel good about yourself even if you still make assumptions, still take things personally, and still are not impeccable with your word. If you do your best always, over and over again, you will become a master of transformation.”

Awareness is key. When you begin to out these things into practice, you begin to be more consciously aware of the moments in your life when they are relevant. For example, you’ll begin to catch yourself making an assumption or taking things personally. It’s only in the awareness of these things that we can begin to make a conscious decision to adjust our thoughts. Give yourself grace when putting these things into practice, and just simply do your best- whatever that looks like in the moment.

HOW TO USE YOUR MALA: 

Starting next to the guru bead, move your fingers from one counting bead to the next as you say the affirmations in the photo. Once you've returned to the guru bead, you have completed a full meditation!

Fatherhood- the movie

When my husband Matt and I got engaged, I made a bunch of friends on the internet when planning our wedding through TheKnot. They found Matt Logelin’s blog when his wife died 27 hours after giving birth to their baby and had been reading it ever since. When my Matt died not long after his Liz, my friends reached out to him in hopes he would reach out to me to somehow help me.
He did reach out, and did help me. He is the one that introduced me to Michele Neff Hernandez and Soaring Spirits- a whole wonderful community of widowed people that saves each other (www.soaringspirits.org). 

This Father’s Day, check out the movie about my friend Matt and his daughter Maddy, and a little bit about their life… 

https://www.facebook.com/Fatherhood-Netflix-2021-100300035618111/

Father's Day

Feeling extremely fortunate I get to finally go see my 84 year old dad in Syracuse today after a year and a half!!

Happy Father’s Day in Heaven to my sweet husband, and sending Father’s Day love to all the dads, the kids without dads, and the moms playing the part of both parents.

This is what love without conditions looks like...

WEEKLY MALA MEDITATION: The Four Agreements (III)

This is week III of our theme using the book, “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. Last week, we used the second agreement, “Don’t Take Anything Personally” and this week we’re focusing on the third agreement, “Don’t Make Assumptions.” 

His summary of this agreement states, “Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.” And it’s true! This man really knows what he’s talking about. 

HOW TO USE YOUR MALA:
Starting next to the guru bead, move your fingers from one counting bead to the next as you say the affirmations in the photo. Once you’ve returned to the guru bead, you have completed a full meditation!

True healing...

WEEKLY MALA MEDITATION: The Four Agreements (II)

This is week II of IV of our theme using the book, “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. Last week, we used the first agreement, “Be Impeccable With Your Word” and this week we’re focusing on the second agreement, “Don’t Take Anything Personally.” His summary of this agreement states, “Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.” 

This one can be tricky to really understand because it’s hard to imagine that the way people respond to us isn’t because of us at all. I’ve learned to understand it this way: Everyone’s perceptions are vastly different. Our perceptions are influenced by many factors that include things like our previous experiences, mood, health, exhaustion, and hunger. You could have ten people hear one person tell a story, then upon asking those ten people to repeat the story, you will hear ten different versions. The same concept applies to children raises in the same household- each child has a very different perspective of the same upbringing. 

To put it more simply, if someone perceives things negatively, they will have a negative response, and if someone perceives things in a positive light, they will have a more positive response. Ultimately, everyone is responsible for their own behavior, happiness, decisions, responses, etc. and most of it is determined by their own perception. Don Miguel Ruiz explains it much more thoroughly in his book.

HOW TO USE YOUR MALA:
Starting next to the guru bead, move your fingers from one counting bead to the next as you say the affirmations in the photo. Once you’ve returned to the guru bead, you have completed a full meditation!

June 3, 2021 - New Mala!

This is the first Mala I’ve made for myself! I wanted a Mala I could feel comfortable wearing on my wrist while incorporating the semi-precious chakra stones. The sandalwood is comfortable and lightweight, the tones are neutral, and it’s right up my alley! I’ll be making more similar to this for the Mala Shop!

https://www.bridgetobalancellc.com/malas-for-purchase