Happy Full Moon! My intention for this moon phase is waves. I welcome these cooler days with excitement, this season that offers a soft space to get cozy, comfy, and quiet. I can also feel the heaviness of my own grief alongside the chaos, devastation, and division present in the state of the world right now. Feeling into all the hard stuff is not easy, but I don’t like the other choice. So I choose to ride the waves.
In my daily breathwork practice for the last couple weeks, we have been connecting with whale medicine and our roots through whale qi gong and contraction and softening of mula bandha. Whales are the record keepers, swimming libraries, and the awakeners of the inner depths. They help us remember our roots, our oh so tender roots, often tied up in a lot of layers.
As I sense into my own wisdom in the beauty and complexity of my root and the sweet songs of the whales, I’m hearing the lessons of remembering to be with the waves. I can’t stop the waves of war, the wild mood of the weather, and the sickening distrust in our systems and structures. I can be with it all. I can listen to the stories from the hearts of the people who this is happening to first hand. I can look in the eyes of people who are feeling like they don’t belong, feel isolated, and alone. I can listen to the stories of the communities and neighbors coming together for rescue and support efforts. I can listen to the songs of celebration and the songs of sadness. I can listen to my own stories, my struggles, my celebrations - those of my family and my friends. I can see and feel all the beauty and all the pain outside myself because it is also inside myself.
I can’t stop the waves. I can’t ignore the waves. I can ride them. One wave at a time, one breath at a time, one gathering at a time, one ritual at a time. I can find my inner grounding and let the waves move around me. I can root into my community and we can ride the waves together. I can take my awareness in and out of the pain and I can orient towards the beauty too.
What if we listened less to the news, the TikToks, and the reels and listened to wisdom in our own roots? What if we softened our eyes away from the screen and looked out the window at the land that holds us? What if we moved our bodies with the waves instead of pushing them to the point of burnout? Trust me, I struggle to move my phone away from my face too. And I struggle to not burn out too.
A Practice For You:: Whale Qi Gong & Mula Bandha (Root Lock)
Ride the waves of whale qi gong with me and breathe with your root. Embody the waves and explore the root. Let’s move and meditate!
Self-Care & Svādhyāya (Self-Study)
Consider how you are right now. Are you caught in blaming, fixing, and controlling spirals? Are you allowing others to help you hold what feels heavy? Can you lean into where you’re feeling restricted and let your emotions be expressed? Are you moving through your day with exhaustion, confusion, and pain? Let’s chat! I don’t have a cure for you, but I have a container. If you need a soft space to land and be cared for that feels safe and comforting or you need some tools, please reach out. Part of the work I do in Calm & Connected 1:1 Self-Care Coaching is use somatic experiencing, breathwork, and rest to build your self-care tool box.
“The whales do not sing because they have an answer -
they sing because they have a song.”-Gregory Colbert