365 Inspirations—223: Breakthrough

“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”—Thích Nhất Hạnh 

We just came back from a yoga/writing retreat we led at the Yoga Lodge on Whidbey Island and the word that comes to mind, for some reason, is breakthrough. 

Perhaps it's because my husband said, on numerous occasions, during our yoga practice, to "just move through it." I think what he was saying is not that we bring ourselves to pain or injury, but that we don't become fearful of what we are capable of and we don't run away when things 'look' difficult.

I believe each and every human being has incredible strength within. We are all warriors. We all have the ability to breakthrough any hardship and come out on the other side with an entirely different view.

This is exactly what happened on our yoga and writing retreat.

Yoga and writing (and we threw collaging into the mix) are such powerful tools to access what's inside.

Yoga helps one to go inward and feel every single part of the body. All tensions or past traumas one has endured are actually first felt in the body and stay there until one has worked through the body and allowed them to be released.

Writing and collaging help to take that energy that is inside and bring it out. Both of these activities use the right side of the brain. I teach intuitive writing. I believe that 'first thoughts' contain the most energy.  They can often lead us to clues about ourselves. When one does intuitive writing, the inner critic takes a back seat and the writer allows whatever is inside to form words on the page or images on a collage.

Collaging at The Yoga Lodge

I've used both collaging and writing for a good part of my life as a means to access what is inside. I use 'first thoughts' for this blog and much of the 'meat' of my book Lessons from the Monk I Married came from intuitive writing. Intuitive writing is the act of moving the pen across the page or your fingers over the keyboard without stopping. Later you can go back and read what you have written and I guarantee you will find more than you ever thought you'd find. There are lots of golden nuggets in intuitive writing, but it is a practice and to be fluent in it, you have to practice it.

I really believe that the combination of yoga, writing and collaging was what caused many breakthroughs on our retreat. People moved through things and arrived at higher ground. This was so beautiful and amazing to witness.

I was happy to be a part of the transformation of our entire group and can't wait to see how each person's life blossoms in the coming years!

Have you ever used yoga, writing or collaging as tools to breakthrough something that has been holding you back or keeping you in a place that no longer fits who you are?

365 Inspirations—126: Struggle

"Opportunity follows struggle. It follows effort. It follows hard work. It doesn't come before."—Shelby Steele 

 Can struggle be an inspiration? Can I learn anything from it? I think so. I'm struggling right now with something and I can't go into details. I'm at the end of something.

End of my rope, perhaps.

I'll get through it, but I don't want to struggle through it anymore.

I want to let go.

I will let go.

Struggle is my inspiration because it is struggle that brings us to that new level of awareness. Afterall, we are really just struggling with ourselves.

The signs are there that things will change.

Today I met a friend for coffee. I only met her once before. The first time was after she read my book and then recognized me on a walking path and said, "Are you Katherine Jenkins?"

I met that person in a coffee shop today for the second time. She had just quit her job and has no plans of what to do next, but she felt this strong pull to completely let go, despite all her fears about it.

Basically, she jumped.

And she met me for coffee after she jumped.

Perhaps I'm the first person she's talked to in-depth since she jumped.

And then a friend called out of the blue....

Something about synchronicity...about the fact that we all are here for a reason...that we all have a purpose. We had talked about it last weekend and the very same subject showed up in her life two more times in one week! She called me to tell me that. She called to tell me that it was important.

And then, in a DAZE driving home from a 5-hour late-night teaching stint tonight, I saw a sign that read:

Your New Home is Closer Than You Think....

I have no idea what that means. Isn't home where the heart is? If it's a new home, does that mean I've had a change of heart?

Not sure what is going on friends, but I'm not much of a struggler. I'd just as soon let go, but I'm facing some fears right now. I don't know how it's going to all work out, but these friends that showed up in my life today assured me that sometimes you have to leave the "how" out of it. You have to ask different questions. Here's my question for you:

Have you ever let go of something despite all your fears of what would happen to you?