Tag: Self Love

Soul Seeds

Soul Seeds

Amber_Young

What does 2023 have in store for each of us? For some folks we look at the New Year starting at the end of October/early November – with Samhain, offering us the transition of autumn into winter; to let go, compost and rest in the season of hibernation – when our dreams start to take form. For others following the solar calendar, January 1st beckons us to a new chapter with greater clarity, a fresh canvas, welcoming in the energy of a New Year.

I’m not one of these people that’s going to ask you your new years resolutions, but I am a person that will ask you what pulls you forward, and how can you listen to the urgings of your soul.

The last day I worked, before my life took a bit of an unexpected turn, was ironically a day retreat about self love and self care – I think a wee bit of an omen for my own journey. An important and beautiful day, a day held in love.

Can you honestly say you love yourself? Your whole self?

Can you honestly acknowledge that you ensure your own needs are met first before looking outside of yourself? When you move in this way, you actually have so much more to offer the world and the potential to enjoy the journey more fully.

How often do you do things you love, just for the sake of doing something that feels good?

A very special group of souls gathered that day, on the land at Carp Ridge. We moved through the forest, walking mindfully and honouring the sun, we respectfully explored the way our breath and bodies flow and move, we journaled, welcomed in healing foods, held safe space nourished by sound and relaxation practices, and we planted some seeds of our own that afternoon.

I wonder, wherever you are in cycle, what feeds your soul? This isn’t just something we should consider once a year, at the threshold, but it’s something to anchor you on a daily basis. We planted 9 seeds that day and imbued them into a mala, holding the energy of our commitment to offer ourselves experiences on a daily basis that feed our souls.

What makes your life worth living??

What rituals or practices do you do on a daily basis that help you to remember that you belong, that help you to feel at home in your body, that connect you to what matters in your life?

For some these questions may be really hard to answer, hold that with gentleness. I urge you to give yourself space and patience to explore and understand what it is you need.

What experiences make your life worth living??

I wear my mala everyday, and hold my own seeds in my hand knowing that I have the power to hold them as simply great ideas, or to take action to welcome them into my life. To live with passion and wonder.

When did we get so busy in our lives? So distracted?

When did we stop having enough time for ourselves?

Since being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer this past October, I’ve learnt alot – and yes, that learning will never stop. It shouldn’t take getting stopped in your tracks to TRULY start listening to the longings of your soul and to honour what brings you joy. Often it’s the most simple acts that feed us the deepest – as simple as your morning coffee or tea.

Now when I unroll my mat I do that with an increased awareness of every sensation in my own body, and every single sacred breath – it is one of my soul seeds, my daily yoga. That time everyday is teaching me to love my body and all the layers of my being, it is undistracted time to simply listen deeper within – and to practice the act of listening within first. My yoga practice has changed considerably since my surgery, and I think the most important change is the gentleness and tenderness I now tend to myself with – not for my students or planning my next class – but for myself. We are constantly evolving, and with that evolution the seeds that feed our souls, and the way we approach those seeds will also out of necessity change, remember that.

Blessings to each and every one of you during this season of introspection and hibernation, so grateful to be on this wild human journey, filled with mystery and opportunities for growth. Thanks for sharing my thoughts.

‘Till next time

Love Amber

Photo by Pixabay

Just a note to remind you that all community classes and healing sessions are temporarily on hold while I navigate my own healing journey. Stay tuned for updates, I look forward to holding healing space for you in the not to far away future.

Harmonizing With The Elements

Harmonizing With The Elements

Amber_Young

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.

A Slow Return

A Slow Return

Amber_Young

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.

Much love,

Amber

If you’d like to practice with me on zoom, my virtual classes start back up this month, you can see the schedule and register here.

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.

Registration for my Spring Virtual Breast Health Program is now open, click here for more details.

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.

pink lutos flower

International Nurses Week

Amber_Young

I just want to say a huge thank you to all of our nurses, in our community and beyond – all working the front lines during the outbreak of COVID – 19.  I can only imagine what this time has been like for each of you, and continues to be.  Our nurses working in hospitals, health clinics, palliative care units, in our extended care nursing homes, birthing units, in all capacities, our thoughts and strength are with all of you.

Please  know we are holding you in our hearts with so much love and support as we navigate this time in our lives, and look ahead to the time when we are able to reemerge on the other side of this.

A dear friend, who happens to be a warrior nurse, asked me if I would consider making a video for the nurses to celebrate each of you and help to restore your reserves for all the ways you give.   Such an honour for me,

To view the practice click here

Please make sure to honour the wisdom of your body, and be really gentle with yourself as you move through this 60 minute practice.  A yoga set to help restore your reserves and to remind you to take time for your own self care, especially during this time.

Much love

Amber

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