by Brianna | May 28, 2024 | daily practice, Healing Yoga Practice, personal growth, Postpartum, practice
Retreat offers us a time to ourselves for ourselves. If created with intention a retreat opens a beautiful feeling of spaciousness and bolsters our ability to practice presence in our daily life. Traveling for retreat costs a bomb. Worth it. Absofuckinglutely. Accessible. No. Because of that I began to craft myself personal mini-retreats. Here is how: Wake Early.Speak little.Practice a lot.Eat simply. If you have the available finances add in a special treat like a massage or a sauna. That’s it. That is the recipe of pretty much any retreat I have attended. Now, I try for a mini retreat once a week. I take three hours sans Addy and I practice. Sometimes its restorative and I just roll between the poses. Other times I take an online movement workshop – post covid there are so many good platforms to choose from. Lately I have been ending my practice with a sauna because there is a beautiful one down the street from me. I am approaching thirty years of daily practice, more than half my life committed to this path. Adding these beautiful extended intentional practices enables me to parent in a way that I would not be capable of otherwise. Motherhood without the balm of yoga and meditation is not something I am willing to...
by Brianna | Nov 21, 2023 | Healing, practice, Transformation
For years I have taught the need to shake and rock. The power of tremor to move the body back from a place of contraction to a place of ease. But the movement has always been consciously created not activated. Recently I discovered TRE and the power of the unconscious tremble.Dr. David Berceli has figured out a simple system of movements to trigger the bodies natural (NATURAL) autonomic ability to tremor and release stress. It is simple. It is powerful. It is effective. Do it. Organization:TRE and Dr. BerceliFurther Reading:Shake it Out by David Berceli and Dr. Robert ScaerVideos:TRE, Trauma Releasing ExercisesKalinda and Bonnie do a wonderful job breaking down and demoing the power of...
by Brianna | Feb 7, 2020 | Breathing, Change, Healing Yoga Practice, practice, Transformation, Yoga
I love a good 40 day practice. I find that the challenge of maintaining pushes me to stay focused and affords a depth of understanding that I can’t achieve without repetitive commitment. 40 days allows me to really experience the impact of the “work” and investigate how it makes me feel in a myriad of moods and states. Here are a few examples that I have committed to over the years: Kriya Yoga Set (Current 40 Day practice – read more below) Journaling Chanting a specific mantra Seated meditation Abhyanga (Dry Brushing and Oil Massage) Sun Salutations (2, 4, 6 – what number is right for you?) 5 Minutes of Breath work Currently I am 7 days into a 40 day practice of a Kundalini Yoga Kriya called: Kriya to Make You Enchantingly Beautiful(KTMYEB). The name irks me. So dumb. The Kriya however is a favorite. One thing I always liked about KTMYE is that it is a perfect 20 minutes – the first 14 minutes are real intense – I am modifying three of the five postures – then you rest. Over the next 40 days I will get stronger. Modify less. Meditate More. There will be days I hate it. Days I love it. Days I don’t want to do it. Days I do it twice. There will be insight and boredom, excitement and drudgery. Times it will feel like three seconds and others that I swear were hours. What I find is that there is a lot of power in the experience of simply showing up and doing the practice. What type of 40...
by Brianna | Sep 1, 2017 | Breathing, daily practice, Healing, practice, smudging, Transformation
Geez-Louise what a week. I have had personal things go wrong. I have had personal things go real right. I have had professional things go wrong. Then right. Then wrong. All in a week – up and down, down and up. You spin me right round, baby Right round like a record, baby Right round round round ~ Dead or Alive I have been having a difficult time not blaming this roller coaster on Mercury in Retrograde – Ryan (my super cute husband) teases me about this – but between you and me, I am pretty sure that this week’s turbulence is its fault. What to do? What to do? First, I practice (yoga, chanting, Reiki, breathwork, meditation – every damn day) and then I smudge a lot, often multiple times a day. I started the practice as a way to clear my living space, than it moved into my office. I have even been known to do it outside under the watchful gaze of the sun and the moon. I believe that by bringing the smoke of sacred herbs, resins and woods around me I am able to clear my energy field. And so I do. It is a simple ritual that anyone can employ. Many cultures have used the burning of sacred herbs or wood in some form for millennia. Anthropologists believe that the practice of using sacred smoke for medicinal and spiritual practices dates back to prehistoric times. The Native Peoples are known for their use of white sage in medicinal and spiritual practices. At Catholic Church the priest enter the sacristy with Pontifical Incense (a...
by Brianna | Jul 24, 2017 | Affirmations, Breathing, Change, Chanting, Healing, healing footstep to footstep, Healing Yoga Practice, Maine, practice
I have loved the word bittersweet since I first encountered it. I find that it describes the ebb and flow of life – also known as the flipping roller coaster of life – perfectly. So bitter that it bites. So sweet that it is like the first taste of nectar on the tip of your tongue. Life is more often than not a balance of opposites. Laughter through tears is something that I have experienced more times than I can count. So many feelings. Like a friend said to me once: “Brianna, you have feelings about your feelings.” July started with a beautiful bang. A book tour the length of the Maine Coast with workshops, readings and signings. My husband and I having downtime in between. My beautiful dog in her favorite place. My parents. My healing house. All good things. Delicious things really. But then life tilted and my ground shifted. In the very midst of all this beauty, joy and gratitude I had to put my beloved Shanti-dog down. One minute soaring, the next on my knees. I will write more about my Shanti-girl at a later point. She deserves her very own post but, I know you hear me when I say: its all too close right now. My grief is too heavy on me to really do her powerful being justice. This post is about the choice I had to make about my own behavior. It is always a choice and it is mine alone to make. Two options were clearly in front of me when this drama/trauma started. I could have either gone kicking...
by Brianna | Jun 10, 2017 | Breathing, chakra yoga, Kundalini Yoga, practice, Yoga, Yoga Davidson, Yoga Retreat
Going on a retreat can do wonders for your spirit. There is something powerful about all that space and time dedicated to one’s practice that creates a depth to the work. When I think of retreating, I think of turning inwards, time for silence, simple food, flowing through postures, my breath moving in and out, sunlight, salt water, and lavender scented sheets. Retreat isn’t just one thing – it is a layering of many small things to create an environment infused with healing. Sadly, retreats are not cheap and while I understand the reason for it, it makes it awfully cost prohibitive for the typical yogi to experience. Although I have been lucky enough to go on several extended retreats – they are far and few between. About ten years ago I started creating retreat days for myself and now I do them monthly, usually over a weekend. On those days, I retreat from my typical activities of hustle and bustle and choose to immerse myself in my practice. I eat simply, I rest and I create an environment of healing in my own home. These days have become a touchstone and an important anchor to my practice. To prepare: Clear your calendar for the day/weekend/week that you choose to retreat. Clean Your House. Clean sheets. Clean Tub. Dishes done. Groceries (stock-up on simple and nutritious food) Create a schedule of several classes or workshops – building yourself a full day immersion (sometimes all at one studio, sometimes at several studios) Arrange flowers and create a space of healing for your beautiful self – even if it is just...
