by Brianna | Jul 18, 2012 | Affirmations, silence, Transformation, Yoga
This past year I feel like I have been seated in a sea of discomfort in many of the facets that make up my life. Nothing is horrible but it is uncomfortable. I feel wiggly inside and often I want to run away. If you start to feel uncomfortable or hurt, sad, tired, depressed, or angst ridden, where do you go? Are you able to allow yourself your feeling? Or do you cover it over, metaphorically burying the sharp object in the sand, and try to pretend it isn’t there. Choose your poison, the list of ways to escape is endless. I believe that a powerful tool that rolls off of the yoga mat into our daily life is the requirement that we actively practice presence while remaining in discomfort. Recently I was flipping through Teaching Yoga and stumbled on this simple yet encapsulating statement: In [practice], stay in non-painful discomfort – breathe and transform. Relate the discomfort in [practice] to the discomfort in life…stay with the difficult feelings as a way to explore breakthroughs, cultivating balance and strength in the [practice] and applying this to the healing process. ~ Teaching Yoga by Mark...
by Brianna | Jun 21, 2012 | Healing, practice, silence
Because the majority of my work is voice based my voice is often tired. I talk and talk and talk and talk – I tell stories, I boss students about how to move their bodies, and I hold my clients hands when I tell them the honest and hard truth. Sometimes, I will literally speak for eight hours straight. Those days I am so tired of hearing myself that when I have the luxury I stay quiet. I don’t call my friends or family, I don’t seek out dinner companions, instead I sit still and in silence, usually in the bathtub, probably with the lights out. Like a singer, this last week I injured my voice. My big powerful beautiful strong voice is currently muted. I can speak but it is not suppose to be above a whisper and in truth it is not suppose to be at all. As soon as my doctor told me that I had to shut-up I realized that I had so much I wanted to say pretty much to everyone – especially those I love. Yet this time silence is not a luxury. Silence is not a gift to myself. Silence is now both my practice and my healer. Freaking silence. So I am practicing remembering to remember to be silent. To say the least it is hard, it requires effort, it makes me uncomfortable – if I were in front of a yoga room right now I would say that this serves a purpose. That this discomfort will agitate me to grow. Maybe it will but right now when I am out...
by Brianna | Jun 3, 2012 | Healing, Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy
In many ways each of our experiences become our personal story. Certain stories have more weight then others. Most are fleeting but some are fingered like a touchstone and stroked into a belief. For the mind, repetition is only healing if what you are repeating to yourself is based in love, respect and joy. It is our beliefs that form our patterns. They push us forward or cause us to be immobile. They interconnect us to others or keep us distant and separate. We hold beliefs about so many things. What’s fascinating is that most of the time we do not realize that those underpinnings are even there. The groove has worn so deep that it dips below conscious awareness. Conscious becoming subconscious, the thought shifts to underlying belief and joins the web that churns out our words, deeds and actions. Plaque made by Anne Stringer I work with this notion a lot as a hypnotist. Clients come in and we begin to peel back the layers of story in order to root out the causative belief. Simply put, kill the root and the pattern dies. By working with your subconscious you can untangle yourself from all manner of limiting and harmful beliefs. Change the belief and your thoughts, words, deeds and actions will shift. Part of my work as a hypnotist, is to create stories that utilize metaphor. These stories help the subconscious release what is harmful and bolster what is healing. My intention with this crafting is to help each of my clients foster a hum of self-love, respect, and compassionate understanding. Like Louise Hay says: “Love...
by Brianna | May 2, 2012 | Attunement, Reiki, Reiki Master, Reiki Teacher, Reiki Training
Katrina, Stephanie and KC – Reiki I Attunement When I first heard about Reiki I was struggling with Chronic Fatigue (CFS). Before my illness I would have been hard pressed to even participate in a conversation about energy work and its healing abilities. In fact I am positive I would have closed my ears entirely. However, the version of me with Chronic Fatigue was open to anything that could possibly bring me back to myself. At that point I was more than a year into my battle with CFS (which is far, far more than simply being tired). I felt betrayed by my body and because of my illness I had no choice but to transform my power yoga practice to one of a restorative nature. Over the course of my illness I utilized numerous styles of doctors, nurses, chiropractors, acupuncturists, therapists, and nutritionists in an effort to heal myself. I also rested. Rested. Rested. Rested. The second winter of my illness I relocated from Maine to Arizona in order to have sunlight and warmth through the darkest months. It was there that someone recommended Reiki and it was then that I had unknowingly moved myself directly across the street from a metaphysical college that offered training. Mike and Kelly – Reiki I Attunement I never had a treatment session. I just signed-up for a Reiki I Attunement and was over the course of the weekend changed forever. Reiki (and just to be clear no one actually knows what it “really” is – is defined as Universal Life Force Energy, which is similar in concept to Prana and Chi.)...
by Brianna | Apr 19, 2012 | Affirmations, Breathing, Change, Kundalini Yoga, Yoga
When I first started with Yoga I was so uncomfortable with myself that being present was a very difficult thing. For that reason I hated to hold stillness and observe my breath. Even when guided to by a teacher I didn’t do it and sometimes to be entirely honest I just left. The breaking of my resistance to breath-work took time and didn’t occur until I encountered an entirely different style of yoga then I was practicing. In 2001, a friend invited me to yoga (which at that time I defined as Vinyasa) and drove me to a Kundalini Yoga class. Almost five years into the practice and the turbaned woman in white who greeted me made me distinctly uncomfortable. If I could have, I would have immediately run away. A traditional Kundalini Yoga practice is made up of Kriyas, repetitive movements that utilizes both powerful breath-work and chanting. Everything about Kundalini made me uncomfortable but as the class started that day I made up my mind to do it anyway. So I breathed, chanted, stomped my feet, and jumped around like a crazy person long after I wanted to stop. As the class progressed I moved through a litany of emotions but at the end I was calm, I was still, I was aware of my breathing and at peace. I was changed. In fact that one class altered my whole perception of Yoga. It shifted me forever. One of the most remarkable and lovely parts of being a teacher is having the opportunity to observe the transformation that the practice inspires in others. Sometimes those shifts are...
