I've received healing and lessons from the mountains, desert, plants and animals again and again. I've shed tears of despair on the earth and they were received without judgement. I've danced in joy on the earth. When backpacking in Death Valley last year, I was struggling with some stories coming from old, old stuff. There's no hiding in the desert - the desert has a way of bringing things to the surface fast. Each step was a struggle to stay present and finally I stopped walking, frustrated and emotionally exhausted, and asked for guidance. What do I do? How do I make this stop? This is what the desert shared with me:

"Start by going inside. Quiet. Listen to the whispers of the winds - therein lies your answer and follow that. Yes - follow what comes forward and always you will be guided to that which is to come next for you - in beauty and in love. Stop the questioning of self, the questioning of others and focus on what is in front of you, what wants to come forward through you.

This week I’ve come back to the question: why The Great Round? I write on the front page that “The Great Round is the quiet space that calls to us, the emptiness from which all things flow.” 

It is. And it’s so much more.

It’s the feminine, the dark, the nothing that births the everything, the creative source. It’s home. It’s where we go in meditation, in sleep, in death. It’s where we start and where we return. It’s the formless energy that births form and receives us back again when form falls away. It’s the mystery.

Several weeks ago, I noticed that every time I was out and about, I saw a hawk. Every. Single. Time. Cooper hawks, red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks. 

I commented on how strange it seemed to see so many hawks. I pointed them out to my partner when we were together, him glancing up seconds after we passed the bird(s) and rarely catching sight of them. 

It is truly magical to have them show up in my daily life. And I was curious.

Today, after what felt like my hundredth viewing, I decided to connect in and journey to understand why Hawk was showing up so often. 

With winter quickly approaching, I find myself in need of more quiet time, seeking pockets of stillness in my day wherever I can find it. As the days are getting shorter, it’s natural to want to go inward and spend time on self-reflection. This week’s yoga offerings reflected my pull to quiet and this transition from fall to winter. Rather than move through flow sequences, we built heat by holding the poses, sinking into them, and allowing the body to settle in, unwind and go deep. By the end of class, faces were bright and shining, and the energy was quiet, sweet and peaceful.

It is a powerful act to honor and align with the seasons in this way. When the leaves fall away from the tree’s branches and a plant’s energy begins to move to its roots, the power and medicine shifts from above ground to the underworld. Similarly, we can draw our own energy in and down to connect with our source of power during this time of year.

We’ve arrived: the final post about power loss and how to live from a powerful center. So far, we covered losing our power by: giving it away, negative self-talk and saying yes when we mean no (aka finding our big Yes).  We’ve also explored several easy, accessible ways to get our power back.

Here we cover the last two ways to lose power: allowing limiting beliefs to determine our choices & disconnecting from our essential self.