Got Shakti?
This past weekend I had the pleasure of “retreating.” To “retreat” is to temporarily shift from your usual environment to one that promotes rest, relaxation, introspection and/or immersion. I experienced each of these in the retreat led by two very beautiful and spiritual women, Jenn Wooten and Angie Knight. We immersed into Shakti, the inner knowing of our sacred empowerment through the feminine Divine.
Yoga, meditation, Thai massage, sharing, silence, Vegetarian food, giving, receiving, napping, chanting and the full moon bathed me in Shakti. I returned home feeling a deep, deep sense of rest and restoration that is not explainable by just sleep or the activities above.
It is the nourishment, the filling up of the soul that comes from multi-layered communion with myself. It is also from communion with other women who are practicing self-love in the form of giving themselves time off from their hectic and full lives to retreat, go inward to-gather with others. The practice of loving yourself is the practice of loving the Divine that you are also. And, it was this energy field, this palpable field of love extended both inward and to others that restored me, and that continues to evolve and ripple forth.
Renee Trudeau, my friend who is wise beyond her years, invited me to join her in this retreat. It was wonderful to be with her. And, you have an opportunity to also soak up Renee’s wisdom, as well as experience the essence of Shakti in a one day self-renewal retreat she is leading for women next weekend. You can find out more about it at http://www.reneetrudeau.com/who/OneDaySelfRenewalatHyattLostPines.html.
When was the last time you retreated from your life? If you’ve never had this experience, I encourage you to plan a retreat right now. See some ideas below for making retreats a regular part of your life. Namaste`
Integrative action steps around retreating:
- If you can afford a structured retreat, I highly encourage you take the opportunity for someone else to facilitate your movement deeper into yourself.
- Look for retreats that include structured introspection, personal and interactive communion time, physical movement, healthy foods and opportunities that support quality sleep.
- If you don’t attend a retreat, you can still create the benefits of one by carving out 4 – 8 hours (or a day, or a weekend!) dedicated to removing yourself from your normal activities and escaping into a space devoted solely to an exploration of what is going on inside of you. Include some form of relaxation like a massage, or a walk in nature. Follow up with introspective writing using a journaling guide
that speaks to you.
- Make this a regular part of your life, at least twice a year, quarterly is even better. You deserve to do this for yourself, to nourish your inner spirit and fill your cup.
Mo’ to Learn from Your MO
One way to experience ourselves as multidimensional is to notice the energy body we most use to interact with the world in our daily lives. We each have physical, mental, and emotional energy bodies, but usually one of these energy bodies acts as our modus operandi (MO), the energy state that feels the most natural to us.
You might guess that mine is the physical energy body. I use physicality to engage with the people, places and happenings in my life. If your MO is your mental energy body you might be drawn to think logically about whatever it is you are doing, be especially aware of your thoughts, patterns of information, and strive for understanding and knowledge. An emotionally directed person often experiences emotions/feelings first, and then uses words, labels or meanings to define the emotion to understand life. Emotion may be your MO if you have a keen sense of the way things “affect” you and others.
All of our energy bodies come into play with everything we do; however, one of them typically is your primary driver. This is the video celebration of a mountain biking experience with friends. Definitely the mental body kicked in to get me through this challenge of riding up a mountain, and the emotional body did a happy dance at the top, but it was the physical engagement that colored the totality of the experience.
This experience got me to thinking about the different responses I have when I’m using my natural MO, and when I’m not. Here are the questions I’ve been playing with for myself recently.
- If doing something challenging on a physical level feels so enlivening, then why does challenge in my business feel like overwhelm?
- What is the state of being, or perception filter, that makes physical challenges exciting and mental challenges draining?
- How might my physical MO teach/train/condition my mental/emotional energy bodies to experience business challenges as enlivening and exciting?
Love the support I get from The Universe (tut.com); just look at my note today!
Visualize, show up, happy dance. Celeste, you can do this.
Dip, The Universe
If you would like to help me visualize who my tribe is for How To Channel Your Higher Self, I am holding teleconference focus groups on Tuesday, Oct 19 at 4:00 CT and Wednesday, Oct. 20 at noon CT. Please email me at celeste@channelyourhigherself.com for further information.
Integrative Ideas for Discovering and Learning from your MO:
- What is your energy body MO? Ask yourself what energy feels the most natural. When you are thinking about stuff? Feeling emotionally connected? Using physical form to engage?
- What skills or capacities does your MO hold that you value and appreciate?
- If these skills/capacities integrated into your other energy bodies, how might your life change?
