Welcome to your embodiment chamber earthlings! (also known as self isolation).

In times of isolation it is important to have practices which allow you to go deep within. How we were living our lives before this global lockdown began was filled with distractions. There were myriad ways for the human to entertain itself. Movement was outwardly focused. Now we are stuck inside, cleaning out our houses, redefining relationship with self and other. Who is with you? Who is your community?

Yesterday two tarots cards dropped out of the deck: the four of swords and death. The first is the image of being quiet, resolved, stoic, centered within perceived danger/fear. If this meditator moves, she will surely get stabbed. We must go inside now, recreate the very fabrics of self so we can recreate these fabrics within a new society. What do you want to create? Is it what your heart wants to do? How do you spend your time? Can you get so clear and so excited for a future that you want to birth? This will enable you to navigate the challenges to come.

The other card, the death card is all about transformation. Things must die to then rebirth. This card can bring feelings of fear. Our society does not teach us to die. It teaches us to fear death at all costs and preserve the material. But it is the mastering of death, of dissolving illusions, of practicing non attachment to the material, to form, that death becomes a liberation. We have the opportunity to let go of so many ways of being. We couldn’t come together to counteract the effects our modern day life was having on our home,  the earth. Then all of a sudden it all stopped. The movement, the external focus, the overconsumption, the desire for cheap disposable goods. The feeling now is that things are precious, our air is already so much cleaner, our communities stronger, though isolated. How do we re-use, recycle, and then use our dollars to keep an inner economy strong of people that offer goods with integrity. We are being called to create our own inner communities of abundance.  

All these things will be so important when we rebirth this new world. But until then we need practices to get us through these times cause they will no doubt be challenging. Make a routine, set a time to wake up, do a practice such as pranayama or yoga. Tune out social media, news, or any other medium that is increasing fear in your body (which will manifest as shortness of breath or an increased heart rate). We need to create the world, not perpetuate the world currently being projected. 

On this note, I wanted to focus on pranayama and offer some guidance in the weeks that follow. This global virus is respiratory, it attacks the lungs, our taste and our sense of smell. Let’s get our lungs strong, so even if we do get sick, we have the health to get over it. You must know that the more embodied you are, the more the cells inside of your body will want to perpetuate the whole organism. This is not the time to escape self. It is the time to go so deep inside. 

Your work today is to write out a schedule for the day that you can slowly move towards. Put pranayama in for a time that you can be quiet, a time of the day that you are naturally more introspective. Make times for meals, blocks for media, time for other/community and most importantly time for self.  

All the pranayama practices have been added to my site in Pranayama under the Practices header.

Sending love and prayers ❤

Kat