This time of year supports us to awaken, as we witness the signs of life all around us.
I love the transitional seasons, I find they are a welcome pause for integration, they help me find my footing and allow a gentle and reflective return to my centre.
Spring embraces the earth waking from months of hibernation, her long winter slumber. Spring is a time of planting new seeds and weaving new threads as we move towards the fullness of summer. In the depth of winter, we’re given the opportunity to look inwards and to honour the healing months of cocooning – and if we choose, to build our inner resources. When we live with the cycles around us, we begin to learn, deep in our cells, how important the winter rest is.
For many however, the pace doesn’t stop, which can feel really depleting and the spring may emerge as a wish for a little more time to rest. Honour your process, whatever it feels like.
Sending you lots of support and love filled wishes for your wellness as we welcome in the warmer weather, and witness the beauty of springs unfurling all around us. I am so grateful for good health as my own body heals from covid, perhaps a little more needed rest time before my own reemergence.
I love the feeling of the Earth waking, and the feel of the soft breeze on my skin enlivening my senses. Closing my eyes and hearing the bubbling of streams, the peeper frogs, the gentle fluttering of butterfly wings, and birdsong. Spring truly is a magical time of year.
Amidst so much pain and turmoil in the world, we need to pause and remember this miracle of life. Sometimes that’s hard to do.
In this moment, I notice my own breath begin to deepen. In this moment I am choosing to feel into the natural world and all of life emerging once again, just for this moment, cherishing this breath – even amidst all of it, with hope in my heart for our future. Life is precious, I wonder, can you hold yourself and one another with kindness and love in these changing times.
Let yourself emerge anew, honouring the past few years and the ways you’ve grown – or perhaps the ways it is asking you to care for yourself NOW.
Sometimes we come to yoga simply for the physical benefits, let’s be honest the physical potential within our practice is amazing. We flush our organs, stretch our muscles, lubricate our joints, increase our thoracic capacity, support our full body oxygenation, we strengthen and lengthen, support our hormone health and our lymphatic system – this is only a small list of the potentiality of your practice.
Over time we may get to know our bodies better, by listening to the sensations our bodies send us as we move through our practice. When we really tune in, we realize our practice also has the potential to positively affect our mental and emotional health. We may start to feel more at home inside of ourselves, and more responsive to life rather than reactionary. Yoga, and mindful movement, can offer us another way to experience ourselves in the context of our lives.
As we come to our mats, part of what we may begin to seek is this beautiful invitation for transformation, as we notice the limiting memories and stories we often tend to carry and the ability to learn from them, honour them, perhaps put some down, and create new imprints that instead serve our inner growth.
Our lives consist of a constant series of integrating, taking in, letting go, learning and evolution – well, if we give ourselves permission.
With greater awareness and practice, we are able to begin to recognize and discern past associations that we hold in our bodies as constriction, but we also begin to notice the stories our bodies hold that are in fact expansive and empowering. When we feel safe and supported, our bodies hold such potential as we learn to follow our inherent wisdom and the guidance we’re offered through our physical knowing.
This reflection brings to mind the work of; Candace Pert and her pivotal work in Molecules of Emotion, Peter Levine and his groundbreaking work with Trauma and the Body, Jon Kabat-Zin who changed my life with his work with mindfulness and the body, and Bessel Van Der Kolk in his incredible gift to us The Body Keeps The Score. I am grateful for these works, and countless others, the list is endless.
In yoga, mindful movement, and hands on therapy, we understand that memory isn’t only in the mind. Our bodies, like our minds, hold the imprints of past physical, emotional and psychological experiences – both positive and negative, joyful and traumatic.
The body, when guided with compassion and kindness, also has the intelligence and wisdom to free us from the stories and the experiences we don’t need to carry anymore. Through gentle asana, movement, and compassionate hands on healing work, we have the potential to create space inside of ourselves and welcome in new imprints that support us, rather than hold us back.
Take some time this week to come to your mat, or find a quiet place outside. Perhaps move a little slower, breathe a little deeper, and listen a little more closely to what the wisdom of your body has to offer you. You may want to take some time to write in your journal.
I offer you this reflection with the hopes that you will become more aware of the parts of you that perhaps need some extra compassion and love. I also hope you’re able to become more aware of those places inside of you where you do feel expansive, where your breath flows easefully unobstructed, and where you carry the sacred seeds of potentiality within.
May you move with a gentle heart, and kindness, not only on your mat – but also as you travel through your days.
Love Amber
xo
Do you want to practice together? You can see my schedule (and find our more details) here.
Learn more about Because You Matter, a beautiful 6 week journey into your breast health and whole body wellness. Click here for more information. My next offering starts in October, 2022.
I like to think that the feminization of yoga starts with the premise that we are all perfect just the way we are. The transformation comes not in our hips and bellies, but in our attitudes about them as we learn to let go of (and thus be liberated from) society’s dictates. We start on our yoga mats, but we take these concepts off the mat and into our daily lives – we learn to see ourselves as we really are, without judgement, and embrace the power we have to enact change through kindness and compassion.
Linda Sparrows
I’m just working on the handouts for my Because You Matter 6 week program, and I came across this quote – this is why I love yoga, and why it is an anchor for me. It’s true, if we’re able to come to ourselves with acceptance and kindness, we start to support change in the world around us simply by coming into coherence with this energy. It’s not about the physical changes or the “appearances”, it’s about how we feel inside – it’s about how deep we allow our breath to travel and how kind and gentle we can be with ourselves. It’s about being okay with making mistakes and softening our expectations, especially around ourselves.
I’m learning alot about the human condition these days, and feeling, often overwhelming waves of compassion and sometimes deep sadness. I’m choosing to allow those emotions to fuel my actions in the world. I’ve been reflecting a little more on what I can do to support myself to thrive and understanding that this is where the ripples for the greater collective start.
I offer you a short and very sweet breath practice to join me in today, only if it resonates. A little video to help to support the release of blockages inside of you, and to bring you into a place of calm, peace, compassion, and love. This practice can also potentially help to relieve anger and stress, and can be very calming for your nervous system. This pranayama (or breath practice) is called Bumblebee breath, you may be familiar with it by it’s traditional Sanskrit name, Brahmari breath. The sustained exhale that happens naturally in this practice supports the relaxation response for our whole body wellness. The toning we bring in, attunes us to the vibration of the heart.
Making your self care a top priority is important, as we’re all – yes, that includes you, processing alot right now. I sense that if your actions are grounded in kindness – that you are in alignment with what the world needs more of right now……..
Sending you love as you journey through your days,
Amber
Do you want to practice together? You can see my schedule (and find our more details) here.
Learn more about Because You Matter, a beautiful 6 week journey into your breast health and whole body wellness. Click here for more information. My next offering starts in March of this year.
Remove the obstacle of what you think you know about yourself and give yourself permission to discover who you really are, now, in this breath, in this chapter of your life.
I feel these last weeks of winter are urging us to embrace the quiet moments of reflection before we transition into Spring. Slowly, well for us here in Ontario, winters ice will begin to break up – the week we’re moving through is definitely requiring a slower rhythm with ice covered roads and snow once again falling outside my window.
As we prepare for this transitional time, I wonder if you’re able to consider where your energy may be blocked, what patterns keep coming up and what can and will you do about them.
You see the good thing about blockages, stress and stagnation is that they have the ability and potential to move through us – the hard part – is the responsibility to invoke change lays in your hands – noone can do that for you.
Did you know that by simply taking a big deep breath you’re already moving things through you, encouraging inner nourishment, space and movement – by a simple full deep breath.
Think about the ways YOU move YOUR energy. Now, go one step further – write them down, and even one step further – pick one and do it – right now ! You are capable of so much more than you think, and your body is here to help you find equilibrium and if properly supported bring you to homeostasis.
Sometimes it may not feel that way, but if we give ourselves opportunities to thrive we actually do. The opportunities I’m talking about here start with the simple ones really, but often the first we neglect – you know daily doses of enough hydration, proper oxygenation (through supportive breath rhythms), sunshine, walking through supportive doors, and the most important – love.
So what are you going to do today? The choice is up to you.
With so much love, and support on your journey
Amber
xo
Do you want to practice together? You can see my schedule (and find our more details) here.
Learn more about Because You Matter, a beautiful 6 week journey into your breast health and whole body wellness. Click here for more information. My next offering starts in March of this year.
“The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others. Being among the sisters provides a visible manifestation of what a community can become when its members understand and share their gifts. In reciprocity, we fill our spirits as well as our bellies.”
– Robin Wall Kimmerer from Braiding Sweetgrass
These wise words from Robin Kimmerer reach inside of me and make me want to shine this light on everyone – each of us has to be strong in who we are – the wholeness of who we are, so we can carry our gifts, and live them, with conviction. She is referring to the three sisters in our gardens; corn, squash and beans – all needed strong in their authenticity for eachother to thrive. For the first time in my life, I actually understand this – not from ego, but from a deep well of compassion and dedication to being in service.
This is not a time in our lives to shrink or avoid our responsibilities, that’s for sure. Why are you here, and what do you care about? I have been asking myself this question since the beginning of all this shifting, settling a little more everyday in to the answers that arise for me.
It feels good to be back committed to my massage practice, offering treatments in peoples homes, in my private clinic/teaching space, and back with the incredible support at Carp Ridge. The years I ran the yoga studio were magic, but I realize where I’m most needed now with our present reality is in clinic – doing healing hands on work. People are feeling such a wide spectrum of emotions these days, I know I’m not needed to share that thought, but there is a deep awareness of how much support we all need right now – I feel that in my bones.
Being on my mat, practicing and teaching yoga, has evolved so much over the past few years. The yoga community I’m a part of also faced some raw truths during this time, and forced each of us to really answer the question – who am I, what is this path for me, tracing the roots for all of our teachings, and feeling fiercely about intentions and care in approaching these practices not only for ourselves, but also in the ways we hold safe space for others.
How do I bring forth the truth of these ancient teachings fueled by compassion and love, honouring all of my teachers (past and present), our ancestors and integrating the teachings from our natural world into the scientific and anatomical understanding of the movements in our body – weaving the science, the magic, the art, and the wisdom in our cells – truly embodying our yoga.
I’ve been teaching breast health workshops now for almost 20 years, born out of my massage practice, and inspired in so many ways from various trainings and teachers, and the intimate therapeutic and emotional work that has happened on my table. During this time, inspired by Sat Dharam Kaur’s work, I have put my energy back into these offerings and have threaded together an integrative approach within the container of my background; exploring our breast health, but also our whole body, mind and spirit wellness. This has taken (and continues to be in the creation state) time to craft, and I’m excited to hold this space. I am also so excited to be able to offer day long in person retreats starting again this spring.
Jessica and I launched our Soul Wisdom cards in June, that was a birthing process, and such a beautiful project, one very dear to our hearts. We have been spending some time pondering and visioning for our journal together, our next project to support you with personal and soulful reflective practices.
Through the last few years, spending more time on my own, I am acutely aware of what I love in the work I do in this life; writing, teaching, learning, exploring, and healing hands on work. I am hopeful over time that through these offerings I can help to support you to find your way into your own answers –
Why are you here? Start with the simple heart centered answers – to nourish your garden, to feel joy in your body, to be a support to those dear in your life, honouring self amidst your roles in this lifetime, to explore a creative endeavour that feeds your soul, to write, to serve food to hungry bellies, to dance, to be in service to the earth. The simplest and clearest answer here is the most profound and impactful – we have to begin with the simplest steps – remember that.
How can you best support yourself to thrive during this precious lifetime?
What do you care about?
What’s important to you? ,
Thanks for sharing these thoughts, I felt an update on my practice was due, as it’s been a while.
Please know my support is here – and there are many avenues we can work together through this wild human experience. I bow down to all of the amazing wellness guardians in our communities, supporting the whole to flourish.
You are magic unfolding, never forget that.
With so much love,
Amber
Do you want to practice together? You can see my schedule (and find our more details) here.
Learn more about Because You Matter, a beautiful 6 week journey into your breast health and whole body wellness. Click here for more information. My next offering starts in March of this year.
Lighting the fire that warms my hearth and my home, I give thanks. In the silence of the morning I hear the call to head out to the forest, again I give gratitude, this time for my willingness to surrender to that call. Honouring each footfall, being mindful of the contact points, hearing the crunching of snow underfoot.
Walking amongst my elders; the white pine, the birch and the fir trees, I bring my attention inwards, reflecting on how we are composed of the same energy and are enlivened by the same cycles as our mother earth. This is an important realization in supporting our responsability, but also infusing that responsability with joy, as we nurture our reciprocal relationship with our natural world.
The movement of life force through us is also what nourishes the grass as it grows, the stars as they shine, the roots to grow deep into the earth, and the waters to flow.
On a yogic path we call this life force prana, it infuses your body with health and vitality everytime you move through the flow of every breath. Your breath is a gift, remember that, and give yourself permission to feel this sacred rythm moving inside of you, and moving all around you.
Through breath, as well as movement based practices, we can harmonize this energy within ourselves. Offering ourselves this time can bring us naturally into greater alignment with the land, the waters, the winds; our natural world around us. Likewise, the more time we spend in nature, the more we bring balance, nourishment and a sense of equanimity into ourselves – in body, mind and spirit.
As we attune to the rhythms of the earth we also naturally start to feel more stable in ourselves, more supported, and we begin to feel a greater sense of trust – this also leads to feeling more at peace deep inside as we invoke our inherent ability to heal.
Carve out some time to quietly sit by the water, or at the roots of a tree. Walk through the forest and be mindful of your steps. Take some time and journal your reflections, notice how you feel, and know you are very supported.
Much love
Amber
If you’d like to join Amber for her virtual movement and yoga classes you can find out more here
Supporting eachother on this human journey, our Soul Wisdom cards were created with the intention to help you find your way to wholeness.
I have taken the last week and a half off from most of technology, being offline, and it has been bliss.
I didn’t realize how depleted and exhausted I was from this past year.
I feel so grateful as I sit down to write in these early morning hours, slowly re-emerging, to have this time with you. I wonder how you’re doing. I would love for you to truthfully answer that question, how are you actually doing?
If you’re having a hard time, you’re not alone, take your time right now if you can, and remember we are constantly in flux – learning, growing and evolving and it’s not always going to feel easeful, the wheel remember continues to spin.
If you’re doing amazing – celebrate that – please don’t dim yourself as the world needs you whole, especially right now. It’s good to feel good – and desirable – enjoy this transitory journey and try to embrace wherever you find yourself fully and completely.
I don’t often give myself complete permission to stop, put everything I’m carrying down and take a real break. I strongly recommend you bring this invitation into your own precious life, as this gift of space allowed me to actually feel the mess of this past year, and to put alot of it down so I can move forward honouring myself in the midst of it all.
I work very intimately with people, and ride the waves of not only my own experience, but within a safe container also navigate the waves of everyone in my circle of care. Without taking a break, I think we never allow the deep composting and integration to actually ever happen. No matter what you do in the world, I think sometimes we all get stuck riding the wave of our shared existence that never stops, unless we consciously decide to jump off for a while and return to our own unique holdfast.
A few weeks ago in one of my classes, we talked about this concept, looking at what holds us steady as the waves of life keep moving. Taking time everyday to feel where your roots are grounded, looking at how you show yourself compassion and softness, how are your boundaries around your own self care time? If not on a daily basis, this self reflective time is crucial at least on a monthly basis – alternatively, if we don’t take this time, we can unconsciously get pulled under or thrown against a rock – forcing us to stop in often very uncomfortable ways.
As humans we have a tendency to keep going, no matter what, and we put a strong emphasis on the way’s we’re resilient, and the ways we’re strong – I too have put alot of emphasis on these qualities, especially over the past few years. Perhaps it’s what has kept me going, seeking ways to build my own reserves and my own resources and supporting others to do the same. As we emerge in 2022 I wonder if we can continue to build our inner resources but through a lens of gentle compassion.
My amazing massage therapist (which I strongly recommend we ALL have one in our circle of care), asked me if perhaps I could learn to be comfortable in mess. She told me I could show up mess and all – and it would still be more than enough, that it wouldn’t make me less. Growing up in a home where people didn’t expect alot of me, I grew up expecting ALOT from me. I have decided to put that story down, and to show up exactly as I am without expectations, but instead with compassion – mess and all.
I definitely don’t know all the answers, but I am honest as I extend my hand out to you offering to help you find the answers – and to perhaps remember we don’t actually need to always know the answers but rather allow the journey to simply unfold.
My anchor word for this year is “Gentle”, starting with myself. I am learning the true strength and power found in the well of gentleness. In so many ways we’re all redefining ourselves right now, this is an evolution of a lifetime, but right now it is being presented clearly as a directive to all of us.
As we transition into the year ahead, can we allow a slow return.
What is your holdfast and can you return to it throughout the year ahead.
Is there a quality that resonates in your heart as an anchor word for this chapter of your life?
Have you taken some time to celebrate the pivotal moments of this past year, and to let go of what doesn’t need to travel with you into the year ahead.
Can you acknowledge any areas of your life that might feel a little messy right now, and smile upon them for the lessons they contain, allowing them to shine some light on maybe what needs your attention, rather than shoving them deeper into the shadows.
Have you clearly identified the dreams you’d like to welcome into your reality? Planting soul seeds for this next year.
As I slowly re-emerge after a restful and very needed break, know I wrap you in a blanket of gentle compassion, as we allow the year ahead to unfold in all of it’s mystery and wonder.
If the class times don’t suit your schedule – you can still register and I’ll send you a recording of the class so you can practice when it easefully fits into your day.
If you’d like a gentle companion on your path you may find our Soul Wisdom cards supportive. As we move into 2022, Jessica and I have decided to donate a percentage of our sales every month to Lanark County Interval House, a support in our community that is very dear to our hearts. It is our prayer all people have a safe place to go, and the support they need to remember their own worth and to thrive.
Winter is a time of reflection and introspection, a time to honor our natural urge to slow down and drop out of the external stimuli and distractions our lives present us with. Many equate winter as a harsh and hard time of year, but what if we embraced the darkness and gave ourselves permission to rest, reflect and renew. Rather than resisting the tiredness that may be arising and the urge to spend time in stillness, can we accept the whispers winter sends us and dive into perhaps a quieter rhythm.
I wonder if you can accept the invitation winter offers, to be gentler to yourself?
Solstice is a time to celebrate the gifts of renewal, and to honor the light that shines in each of us and carries us through the winter months ahead.
I ask you to please light a candle on this winters eve as a way of honouring the journey that has brought you exactly where you are today. Look to the fire to honour your strength, and keep the light burning as a reminder of the goodness in your heart in these colder months as the light in our natural world slowly emerges more each day.
Let yourself stop, breathe, and reflect on this past year. Please honor your challenges and all the growth they have brought, celebrate the ways you have risen, cherish all the moments that have brought joy to your heart, and please remember to give thanks to your beautiful body and your spirit for carrying you through all that life has presented.
As we release this past year with gratitude (yes even the uncomfortable bits), and prepare for what lays ahead, light a candle and rest in the stillness.
For the past 3 years, since I started Surya Daya, we’ve held a karma class for Interval House the week leading up to the holidays. I can’t imagine this year going by without holding that safe container to help support a very needed resource in our community – as well to offer you a peaceful practice of self care to nurture YOU during the holiday season.
I know this year continues to be a different year in so many ways, and I sense we all need a little extra support. The strength within our community has only grown, and the realization of how important it is to reach out when help is needed.
This year I’ll be offering 2 special classes for Interval House.
The first class is an in-person gentle yoga class planned for Monday, December 20th from 6:30 – 7:30 pm at the Old Town Hall, in Almonte. This special class will also draw on the energy of solstice to support us for this nurturing hour of intentional time on our mats.
I’ll be offering a second class this year as a gift in honour of Interval House which will arrive as a virtual recording. You’ll have access to the video through to January 5th. All registrants will receive an email with a link for the video on Friday, December 24th at 12:00pm, a practice you can access anytime between the 24th and January 5th, to help support you over the holidays, in the comfort of your own home. I hope you’ll join me as we’ll move through a nourishing restorative flow of movements and breathwork.
The cost to register is free, but I encourage you to take some time to reflect on the importance of Interval House in our community. In years past we have collected items for Interval House, but this year we’ll be holding this sacred space inviting you to hold the women and children, and all the supports and services at Interval House in your heart. These special classes will also give you the space to compassionately take some time in silence, to hold in your heart, all the people in your own circle of care that perhaps need a little extra support this year (that may include you).
If you’re able I encourage you to consider making a donation, suggested amount is $10. How can you do that? You can bring cash to the live class on December 20th, you can donate directly to Interval House, or you can send an e-transfer to info@suryadaya.ca with Interval House in the message. Once all donations are in we’ll get it to them to help support their work and the people they offer respite to.
Sadly, this year domestic violence numbers have increased and funding for these needed resources in our community have decreased. After rent is accounted for, 100% of all proceeds will go directly to Interval House. We hope you’ll carve out this time to receive the nourishment of our practice together, taking time to be still and connect with the peace within your heart.
To register for the Monday night in person class, December 20th, at the Old Town Hall in Almonte, click here (preregistration is required, and COVID protocols based on current regulations will be in place) .
To register to receive the link for the recorded class on Friday afternoon, December 24th, click here.
