I love seeing connections, I love exploring connections and I love connecting with others. This is what makes my YHC journey tremendously special and inspiring.

Teaching Yoga for close to 20 years has led me to explore different aspects of the art, but I keep coming back to my favourite. Teaching Yoga in combination with Ayurvedic principles to ensure my vinyasa krama (sequencing) is practical, aligned and supportive to those showing up to class. Over the years I realised that my love of the elements and spiralling through them with the chakras is one of my all time favourite places to teach from.

I’ve endeavoured to explore the connection of the chakras to the habits. These are my interpretations for now.

Habit 1: Earlier, Lighter Dinner (ELD) and Root Chakra

Muladhara chakra, the base is all about nourishment, stability, groundedness and balance. I find when I am grounded I am able to nourish myself well. When I nourish myself well I am grounded. Sometimes it’s the energy that needs to shift the physical, and sometimes it’s the physical that helps shift and settle the energetic.

I invite you to observe, test and play with it.

Habit 2: Early to Bed (ETB) and Your Feet Chakras

Habit 1 and 2 work hand in hand. If we have an ELD then ETB is easy. If ELD doesn’t happen, my bedtime takes strain. I relate ETB with the star chakras in my feet. The energy of our feet is directly related to our root centre. On evenings when I do my foot massage I sleep deeply.

I invite you to experiment with massaging your feet this week as you refine your evening routine.

Habit 3: Start the Day Right (STDR) and Sacral Chakra

I relate STDR to the sacral chakra. Physically because it’s got to do with deep hydration, and energetically, because it’s the softer, more gentle feminine energy of creativity and flow. I find when I awaken with the sounds of the birds (not an alarm) I start my day with ease, softness and flow.

I invite you to explore your sacral centre and starting your day well.

Habit 4: Breath Body Practises (BBP) and Solar Plexus Chakra

When I breathe, I ignite the flame within me. I create heat, I create strength, I create power. When I move regularly I feel more toned, more alive, more energised. I have more clarity, purpose and drive. On the days I go into a slump, the mornings I feel like I want to curl back into bed (and trust me there have been plenty of those), I feel heavy and dull. I know that if I move, I can shift the energy and that feeling. Sometimes it’s as simple as a walk, a yoga practice or just dancing.

I invite you to explore, experiment and ignite your manipura chakra as you build on your BBP this week.

Habit 5: Plant-Based Diet (PBD) and Heart Chakra

To have Connection, Compassion and Love for all that is around us, within us and within what we eat is what builds us physically and energetically. When we buy, grow, harvest, prepare and cook food with love, operating directly from our heart centre, it brings forth depth and integrity. It makes us feel whole, content and deeply nourished. When we’re in this space we feel less likely to crave sweet things, snack or feel disconnected from our food, from our community and our relationships/family.

I invite you to explore that feeling of deep love while you nourish yourself this week.

Habit 6: Self Massage (SM) and the Chakras in our Hands

Energetically our heart centre runs the line down to our hands. This is why when we bring forth into the world we should do it with love and when we receive, it should be with gratitude and love. For me, the hands are such a powerful tool, and using them on ourselves in SM brings forth that deep nourishing self love.

I invite you to vigorously rub your palm together to awaken your energy before giving yourself your daily SM.

Habit 7: Meditation and Crown Chakra

Sitting in Silence connects me to my crown chakra, Sahasrara. When I take the time to connect with that which is beyond me, beyond my understanding and beyond that which I think is possible I am often pleasantly surprised by the insights gained, my intuitive words in writing and the advice that arises in coaching sessions.

The more I sit in silence and open up to that which is beyond my understanding the more I feel like I’m doing my dharma. It makes me feel fulfilled, whole and deeply aligned.

I invite you to connect with the subtleness of your crown centre in your meditation this week

Habit 8: Healthier Eating Guidelines and Throat Chakra

Our throat centre of communication is linked to the ether/ space element. To me it’s all about creating space. Key, creating space in our eating schedule to allow for rhythm so that digestion can happen easefully.

When there is rhythmic eating, I find I’m able to communicate with more clarity, purpose and honesty. When I’m cluttered, this centre takes strain and I override my inner voice and knowing. It’s always such a fine balancing act between the two scales.

I invite you to explore your connection with your throat centre, speaking your truth.

Habit 9: Sense Organ Self Care and 3rd Eye Chakra

I love Angela’s article on Aligning Intuition with Intelligence, where she shares that inner knowing needs to be aligned with intelligence. Intelligence comes from learnt experiences, these we gather from the stimuli we take in (yip, you guessed it, stimuli from our senses). When our senses are healthy, vibrant and functioning optimally, the stimuli we take in are pure, honest and not distorted. We see clearly, we hear properly, we taste, smell and feel with satya (truthfulness). When this happens we are able to relate from a more authentic, intuitive space.

I invite you to take extra care in your senses this week and notice what happens when you go into the world with well oiled organs.

Habit 10: Easeful Living (EL) and the Chakras

This is the culmination of all our chakras being in balance, open and aligned so that the energy can flow freely through our Sushumna Nadi (central energy channel). When our chakras are vibrating at their optimal frequencies, all that we do feels perfectly aligned with our dharma and our goals.

In life there are always challenges that tend to throw us off course. When we physically use our habits to bring us back on course, we orientate towards EL. To me, EL is seeing and understanding which chakra is needing attention in the present moment. If I’m craving love, self massage gets upped a notch. If my digestion is feeling sluggish, I address my eating times. If I need inspiration and guidance, I sit in silence. When I need more creativity, I hydrate… It’s really simple. I see where I’m stuck and I use a physical trigger to see if I can move things energetically. It’s an easy, tangible way for me to operate from. I invite you to explore, experience and see which of your chakras and thus habits are needing attention in any given moment so that you too can continue orienting towards thrive.

Intro:

Yoga Health Coach, Debbie Grover-Slavin is also a Chef and Ayurvedic Health Counselor who has served as Managing director for big companies.  While she has much success guiding clients through the stages of transformation, she is finding some hiccups guiding potential members through the stages of the Enrollment Process.

Listen in as Cate guides Debbie to get specific in the different stages of Sales, Marketing, and Enrollment and how to create a process for the different needs of potential members.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to create a sales process. 
• How to optimize the marketing funnel. 
• How to take the seat as the leader on an enrollment call.

Links/CTA:

• Upcoming Workshops:
  • Yoga Health Coaching – May 4
  • Master of You Workshop – May 12 – 13
  • Body Thrive – May 5
  • Living Ayurveda Course – June 9
• Join Cate’s LIVE Workshops:
  • Lisbon Live Event (Lisbon, Portugal) – June 3 – 5
  • Alta Live Event (Alta, WY) – July 28 – 30
• Debbie’s website: https://www.ayurvedaholisticlife.com/
• Recommended reading: The Introverts Edge by Matthew Pollard

Highlights:

• Cate talks about the Yogahealer Marketing testing process.
• Cate tells a story about interfacing with chronic inflammation.
• Debbie talks about a pilot member getting off medication.

Topics:

• The stages in sales. 
• Building a process built from the result.
• Breaking down beliefs.
• Breaking down symptoms.
• Creating content from beliefs and symptoms.
• Associate with the brand.
• Networking with other doctors as a strategy.
• Defining what they need to believe next.
• Taking the seat of the leader.
• Lead tracking spreadsheet with stages.
• Changing beliefs as different stages in the funnel.
• Intuiting through your own process.
• Getting testimonials for marketing.

Quotes:

• “If you have chronic pain now and you’re 60, let’s fast forward to when you are 75…”
• “The only way we know the process is through testing.”
• “Don’t underestimate care in the day and age that everything is a commodity.”
• “What happens when people go too fast through a sales process is that there is buyer’s remorse.”
• “There is no way you are going to get people across the finish line unless you have a system for it.”

Guest Bio: Debbie Grover-Slavin

Ayurveda Counselor, chef, Life Habits Coach guiding clients through the stages of transformation incorporating Holistic Habits managing director- multi-million-dollar company, board-certified

Ayurveda Health Counselor, Chef, Wholistic Wellness LLC

Why am I stuck on seemingly tiny details? 

Because they’re tiny!

Why do l bother? 

Because l recognize their inherent purpose!

Then why am l stuck?

In many ways, l am a visionary, an ideas person, the grand plan designer, the communicator.  I have thrived on mind designing all kinds of fabulous plans, ideas, and dreams. Many have had some momentum, generated interest and enthusiasm amongst others, inspired spreadsheets and post-it notes and then just as quickly these grand ideas have fizzled out – faded into my cemetery of ideas and visions, buried and often forgotten.

But never fear – not too far away is another brilliant idea! The visions are not without substance, they really are outcomes of my evolving consciousness, my deepening knowledge, and my tapestry of life experiences which gives them some merit. They are wonderful, but at the same time, the continual loop of visioning, creating, planning, and fizzling has become exhausting and wasteful.

Why can’t or don’t I stick with just one project and dive into that – give it a chance to blossom and grow – explore both my potential and my vision’s power? I have asked these questions many times… but have never really been able to pick up on an answer…. And so the cycle goes on and the groove gets deeper. One day, l finally realized that some serious steps needed to be taken and l needed to seek help.

This is where  BT and YHC come to fruition. I saw that this is where the loop can become an arrow of trajectory, an orienting symbol of direction for action instead. I was certain that this was what l needed in order to create some order out of my chaos!! 

Into a Week 1 or Week 2 Body Thrive video, there it was: Self Sabotage. As soon as l had started watching “Self Sabotage – The Three Malas” with Cate, a light switched on and hasn’t switched off since.  First came the Anava Mala and yup, that was me.  Great, l had finally got some insight into my continual fizzles. But wait! Then came the Mayiya Mala – that too was speaking directly to me – so now l had two complementary insights to my fizzles. It felt great to see it in writing and to hear it spoken.  As my insight was deepening, Cate mentioned Karma Mala. Surely, l thought, there can’t be any more Malas. If nothing else, l was pretty sure l was the queen of ‘Self- sabotage’. 

Together they created a picture, framework, and a get out of ‘stuck’ opportunity – if l was willing to take it of course. The Mala’s were not just about habits and Body Thrive but were applicable to my never-ending avoidance of committing to embracing the small details as a necessary and important part of business building. My visioning was not going to cut it …. l needed structure and support – exactly what the details would provide.

This brings me to my point. The finer detail or the ‘nuts’ and ‘bolts’ is not in itself by any means the most difficult aspect of building a business, but they are the building blocks and foundational supports and they are a concrete expression of trajectory. Calendars, timing, creating templates, BT habits, scheduling and even bookmarking tabs and folders can take time, motivation, and persistence but they are also the easiest to forgo when the going gets a bit tough, when the ‘great vision’ starts to fade, when a new shiny object makes its way into your consciousness and when you just become overwhelmed.

In fact, any or all of the small details can be perceived as ‘bothersome’, small, and definitely not important in the grand scheme of things. However, it at this point when l notice l start to drift more often, when l start to dream a new dream or when l start to ignore the small things that l go back to Cate’s video on the Malas and check in with what self-sabotage technique my unconscious mind has decided to employ to avoid the vision becoming closer to realization. Together with the Malas, I am continually refining my awareness of my own habitual practices of self-sabotage and then taking the time to explore the root causes and in this process weakening the looping habit and strengthening the bow holding the arrow. 

As a result of this practice, l am more able to remain committed to my initial vision and make it happen with conviction and confidence alongside my strengthening capacity to acknowledge my traits of self-sabotage.Of course, this doesn’t happen overnight but the foundations are there. It remains an important and constructive ongoing conversation between me and my Malas to continue together. Writing this has reminded me to embrace the ‘nuts and bolts’ as a symbol of moving forward and living my future.

Faye Blake is this month’s Yoga Health Coaching Coach of the Month. Faye’s YHC journey started at a Yogahealer live event in Berlin. She was a Body Thrive and Living Ayurveda course member, but meeting some of the ladies in Berlin finally gave her the confidence to go ahead and join the YHC program.

Struggling with perfectionism and with a tendency to compare herself to others, Faye started to shed her limiting beliefs and has now successfully completed her course pilot.

Listen to the episode to learn more about how to stop doubting your abilities, the benefits of coaching a group, and aligning with your purpose.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to overcome limiting beliefs
• How to coach through resistance
• How to grow by showing up

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• More about the Find the Money Course
• Watch the Masterclass
• Get to know Faye

Show Highlights:

• Keeping people away because you don’t feel ready
• Remembering your why and being a lifelong learner
• Aligning with dharma instead of self-sabotage

Timestamps:

• 1:15 Communicating directly with your ideal client
• 5:16 Sales and developing relationships with clients
• 10:40 Understanding different communication styles
• 16:18 Utilizing your unique skillset

Guest Bio:

Faye’s journey with Yogahealer has been one of deep self-healing. 4 years ago she had an unwavering passion to help contribute to the awakening of planetary consciousness, and a true knowing that she has a purpose in this life, but really wasn’t clear on what that looked like until Body Thrive helped her to strip back mental and bodily Ama and connect with her inner voice.

She now works with her students that are all inspiring individuals working towards living out their own dharma. She helps them to align with nature’s rhythms, to deeply trust their own intuition, and pass down this wonderful wisdom map of Ayurveda.

When I dry brush, my body tingles and feels vibrant and alive. The dead cells are sloughed off to make room for new dynamic skin cells to take over. My skin glows and reflects how I am feeling inside and out. The oil I use helps me mold and massage my skin while deeply nourishing the cells that are being rejuvenated.

I am beginning to appreciate and love my body with all its imperfections and flaws. Sometimes I tell my body things like, “thank you for nourishing and taking care of me for so long, but I now give you permission to release this cellulite/bump/scar because it no longer serves me”.

I have learned that self-massage and oiling have tremendously helped my mind, body, and soul. But oiling my body on the outside is not enough. Being a Vata/Pitta person, with a very dry constitution, I’ve learned that oiling from the inside is also crucial.

This dry constitution has presented a lifelong challenge, but things are starting to change. I no longer use commercially prepared lotions that use chemicals and artificial additives to moisturize. Instead, I seek out natural oils to keep my skin ecosystem find balance.

Self-massage and your immune system

Most people are unaware that, as your skin is nourished with self-massage and oiling, you are making your lymphatic system become more functional. This equates to an immune system that works for you…not against you. Who doesn’t want that? Self–massage also improves sleep, helps with joint mobility, improves your relationship with yourself, and just feels great!

As your practice of self-massage evolves, you become more in tune with your body, and the energy channels within your body also become more open. Confidence, stability, and body awareness take you to the next level. Sleeping better, feeling more confident, and having a bulletproof immune system are huge benefits, especially in these times.

How to self-massage

Start by dry brushing and oiling your body. If you don’t own a dry brush yet, use your hands. What better way to feel your skin and its contours than with your own hands. You will discover areas of tenderness, crunchiness, bumpiness; all these areas are stagnated channels. Know that your skin is there to protect you! Your skin wants you to take better care of it!

After you have dry brushed, get some oil out.  Experiment with what your skin prefers! A neutral oil like almond or sunflower oil is a good way to start. Sesame oil is warming and thick, and coconut and avocado oils are cooling. Buy organic cold-pressed, unrefined oils either at a natural foods store or online.

Start with a small amount, you can dry brush before you oil, or just start with dry brushing.

Rub some oil into your hand first to warm it up. Next, massage your legs—circling the joints and paying attention to any stagnated or stiff areas. Work your way up to your belly, chest and arms. I also massage oil into my lower back and buttocks.

Start Small

If you have never done this before, start with small steps to build the habit. Kaizen your way into this practice! Start with dry brushing every morning for 5 minutes. Once you have that habit dialed in, add a few minutes to oil either your whole body or start with one body part. Gradually increase the time you spend doing this until this is just part of starting your day right!

Your skin will thank you because you are supporting it the way it supports you.

Intermittent fasting is becoming increasingly popular, but for all the yogis and yoginis out there intermittent fasting is not a new trend. In Ayurveda, we call it space eating and it is one of the pillars for a healthy life. Recently science caught up with the 4 millennia wisdom behind space-eating, and several studies have supported the health benefits of this practice.

For the past month, Cate has been joined by several members on the Yogahealer Challenge, a fast track program, specially designed to help people overcome mediocrity to become an exceptional person and lead an exceptional life. How? By reviving the habits that make us smarter and more vital humans, such as Intermittent Fasting.

Listen to the podcast to learn more about the Yogahealer Challenge, the benefits of intermittent fasting, and what foods you should be eating when breaking your fast.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to communicate clearly online
• How to develop a relationship with clients
• How to make the most of your skillset

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• More about the Find the Money Course
• Watch the free Masterclass
• Find out more about Jessica’s program

Show Highlights:

• The loneliness of leadership
• Overcoming money trauma
• Evolution and easeful living

Timestamps:

• 1:15 Communicating directly with your ideal client
• 5:16 Sales and developing relationships with clients
• 10:40 Understanding different communication styles
• 16:18 Utilizing your unique skillset

Guest Bio:

Jessica’s journey started in 2009 with an attempt to nurture a rock-climbing injury. While taking yoga classes, she experienced an endless adventure towards self-awareness aligned with nature’s rhythms. Having suffered and recovered from various sports injuries, Jessica has an understanding of how to offer what the body needs to recuperate.

In the last decade, she has completed workshops certifying for Physical Therapy Aide, Massage Therapy Aide, Certified Nursing Assistant, Yoga Heath Coaching, and over 200 hours of yoga teacher training. Coupling her love of habit evolution and body mechanics, she is passionate about coaching others through Ayurvedic principles towards their unique pursuit of an active and balanced lifestyle.

Outside of coaching, Jessica either spends family time in nature with her loving partner and son, creates wildcrafted art, tends to her plants, or dances.

As YHC/Body Thrive members, and coaches in training, we are part of a dynamic group of our peers. And what are we learning to do? To evolve our own identities and habits. And to form and lead a dynamic group of our own.

This feature of YHC called to me so strongly because it resonates powerfully with the experiences I have had with a local men’s group here in Vancouver, BC. Joining the Samurai Brotherhood more than four years ago changed my life immensely, and for the good.

To thrive, Men need their Brothers: older, younger and of similar age.

Research suggests that, by their thirties, far too many modern men rely on their spouse or romantic partner to be their confidante and emotional support. Whereas women are arguably much better at opening up to each other rapidly and maintaining friend connections over a lifetime, we men can take an ice age to create new bonds in adulthood and we all too easily let our friends drift out of touch after school or college years.

I have seen this play out in my own life. At the time of joining the Brotherhood, my best friend had recently moved out of the city; and as a yoga teacher running a daily early-morning program, I was already pretty isolated. And I sucked at opening up to my girlfriend, even though I wasn’t happy in the relationship and deep down knew I needed to express myself more.

These symptoms are also evident in my family system, where I’ve barely met my two paternal uncles, due to the three siblings growing apart over the decades; and there’s the ever-present prospect of this happening between myself and my own brother, for no good reason other than the physical distance between us.

The reasons for these tendencies in men are beyond the scope of this post, so let’s just say this: Most men actually thrive in packs, where we get to figure out our place in the order of things. That order could be based on age, income, experience, family status, physical ability, etc.; it doesn’t matter which, since all of them – and more – can be at play in a dynamic group at all times. The local “pack” that our ancestors grew up into and evolved with as men rarely exists in a holistic, multi-generational state in modern society, so we have to recreate it as best we can.

Identity evolution flounders in isolation. In the same way that it’s nearly impossible to establish new health habits without steady support, the Lone Wolf man doesn’t survive well in the wild and will struggle to develop healthy masculinity. This runs counter to  mainstream messaging men have received: that we should be rugged individualists, who can do it all ourselves, and that asking for help is a sign of weakness. These beliefs cause men to “go it alone, compete with one another unnecessarily and erodes trust between us: if it’s every man for himself, then every other man is potentially your foe.

The Samurai Brotherhood, and more organizations like it, provides at least two powerful antidotes to the above: a solid container in which a group of men can come together, and a code to guide their action in life.

Whereas in YHC we have our Live Calls, Peer Groups, the Ground Rules for Dynamic Groups and the 10 Habits; in the Samurai Brotherhood we have our weekly Squad Meeting (with its own attendance commitments) and The Code of The Conscious Warrior.

The Squad Meeting is a closed circle, with agreed protocols. It serves three main purposes: it provides a secure space in which men can tell the truth and speak freely about their lives, be witnessed and receive support; it’s a place where we learn to listen deeply to our brothers’ truth (and sniff out when a man is holding back his truth); and it teaches us the commitment and discipline required to hold the structure in which this truth-telling and deep listening can take place. Only a strong crucible can hold a transformative fire. Simple, but not easy.

When I first read the YHC Ground Rules for Dynamic Groups, it immediately resonated with the tone we set and maintain in our squad meetings. “Communicate with Care and Candor”, “Listen Deeply,” “Give To Receive” and “Reach In When You Tweak Out” had me smiling and nodding at my screen as I read them for the first time. Even the process of sharing our “What” and our “Why” in Body Thrive had me thinking about how I’ve asked new men in my squad, “Why do you think you’re here?”

Furthermore, there’s no substitute for a multi-generational and diverse membership. Having a variety of perspectives around us to point out our blind spots, helping us to see what we can not, is crucial to our growth. Even better, perhaps, is being in a group with somebody who triggers us. We are all mirrors for each other; and with the knowledge that our minds project onto others that which we refuse to see in ourselves, we have a tremendous opportunity to take the brakes off our evolution when we encounter somebody who gets our hackles up. Under the right circumstances, we have the potential to turn our projections back on ourselves and question them deeply. In doing so, we get to harness the power of long-denied aspects ourselves for transformation. A solid dynamic group provides the space for such things to occur.

In summary, the journey of identity evolution, of becoming more of who we know we can be and less of who we want to leave behind, is a journey best taken with company; in fellowship with people who want to travel in the same direction, who will help us stay on track and stay the course. Our brothers and sisters see our potential and our blind spots; they offer us support and the opportunity to reciprocate that support. As a group we get to recreate the village, the tribe, the hundred-or-so people whom we are capable of knowing and who can know us. And therein we grow up to be an individual, yet in service to the whole.

Jules has been leading female-oriented workshops and retreats for years. But in January 2020, she decided she was ready to step it up and joined the YHC program.

This was huge for Jules and her family. She knew she wanted to join YHC, but struggled with the idea of investing such an amount in herself. Now, as Jules enrolls members in her program pilot, she reflects on how she overcame her impostor syndrome and how she is dealing with marketing herself.

Listen to the episode to learn about the step by step YHC program, how the community helps you evolve, and overcoming fear.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to invest in your future self
• How to overcome impostor syndrome
• How to approach people when enrolling

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• More about the Find the Money Course
• Watch the free Masterclass
• Turning Negative Self Talk into Identity Evolution

Show Highlights:

• Investing in yourself and how to explain it to your family
• Following the YHC steps and being open
• Having fun while making sales

Timestamps:

• 4:04 Believing your future self is worth the investment
• 14:28 Impostor syndrome and identity evolution
• 20:06 Strategy calls and approaching potential members

Guest Bio:

Jules is a priestess, Vedic philosopher, seeker of truth, and wellness warrior, in service of the divine empowerment of women. She has been running workshops and retreats for women and consulting on environmental projects, as well as being a wife a mother to her three teenage daughters.

A resident of Ballarat, a rural area of Victoria, Australia, Jules loves the great outdoors and enjoys hiking and camping in the bush. When she is not consulting, she is coaching her members in her Living Wisely program.

After a career in biology and public health, Lesley Pereira turned to wellness after battling anxiety and postpartum depression. An overachiever, Lesley felt she was living by someone else’s  rules and not being true to herself.

She decided to join the Yoga Health Coaching program in order to help women who are having trouble managing their day to day anxiety, develop healthy habits. Lesley focuses her program on her members nervous system, and helping them achieve the necessary groundeness to achieve their goals.

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how about how women can overcome stress by becoming better at time management and adjusting to the different cycles of life.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to listen to your body and be true to yourself
• How to overcome anxiety with the right habits
• How to set the right goals

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Find out more about Lesley’s program
• More about the Find the Money Course
• Watch the Masterclass

Show Highlights:

• Listening to your body instead of external sources
• The pandemic’s effect on women and the household
• The connection between your menstrual cycle and your energy

Timestamps:

• 1:17 From overachiever to your true self
• 8:09 Focusing on the nervous system and being grounded
• 19:58 The importance of time management for anxiety

Guest Bio:

Ever since Lesley was a little kid, she felt a deep personal connection to nature. It’s always been her spiritual home- the forest, the lake, the trees, the sky, the animals. The woods by her house were where she went to feel safe, connected, creative, peaceful.

Lesley has also ALWAYS been a seeker, wanting to understand the bigger picture, digging down into the deeper root cause of it all. She has always been a connector, an “old soul”, empath, sensitive to energies, seeker of deeper connections and meaning, the one who people turn to to confide in for advice, guidance and processing, asking the hard questions and holding space with empathy.

I call myself lucky to not have lost my natural clock over the many years I allowed disordering sleeping and waking hours as well as feeding hours to dominate. I believe that this natural clock is a given and everybody can find the way back to it if they care about one’s mental and physical health and just genuinely want to feel good. In the past, my mind would not give it a second thought. What would be so special about having a rhythm to be repeated over the weeks, months, seasons, and years? What would be the great difference in living circadian rhythm? And what is a circadian rhythm in the first place?

According to the sleep foundation: «Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock, running in the background to carry out essential functions and processes. One of the most important and well-known circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle ». Other cycles taken into account are according to Wikipedia: vigilance variations, body temperature, blood circulation, urines and stool production, hormones production, hair growth, cellular metabolism, cortisol level, level of potassium.

Factors that most influence circadian rhythm still according to knowledge assembled on Wikipedia: jet lag, artificial light, and fatty nutrition. I haven’t been traveling long distances lately. Covid19 frenzy has been positively contributing to this. I keep on working on my lights off strategy most of the evenings and mornings. Candlelight helps out most of the time. I have doubts about fat consumption as my ayurvedic diet favors the use of mainly vegetable fats but also a good amount of ghee. I will, nevertheless, check if lowering fat consumption over the coming week might influence the quality of my sleep positively.

What changed during the holiday period related to ELD, ETB, SDR? Well, I had to adapt as a matter of fact. I allowed for dinner to happen later, I of course went to bed later considering Christmas Eve (very important in my cultural setting) and New Year’s Eve. As a consequence, I woke up a little later too. This had the consequence to lose that magical early morning time where nobody rushes you, your life unfolds naturally and you are called to listen into body, mind, and spirit. Nevertheless, there was more to infringing the rule of keeping times right. There was a mix of not being called to work and not feeling called to celebrate.

Celebration being considered as the act of assembling to honor. This was somehow missing even more so this year than the past years to my SELF’s understanding. The winter solstice on the 21st of December was a celebration I shared with my children and we enjoyed it. Christmas didn’t feel the same. As usual, the preparations to make it beautiful in terms of food and gifts were important. But then the feeling of being close to each other, the warmth between people on these winter nights, got lost. Instead of making me feel good I felt quite alone and got into the bad habits again. On 25th, 28th, 29th, 30th of December I went to bed at the end of pitta time around 1:30-2 am, on 1st of January at the end of Vata time at 5:30 am which would roughly be the time for me to get up and on 3rd of January again at the end of pitta time around 2 am.

I could feel the pain in my lower abdomen for a few days, probably due to the effort of staying awake in an upright position whilst my body was feeding upon itself at pitta night time. What saved me? A well-anchored ELD practice enabling me to free up much time in the evening to be able to prepare my bedtime practice. Getting ETB again fast after the long evenings into night staying awake. I felt regenerated by waking up early again and making my morning body-breath and meditation practice to SDR. It came naturally and without effort. I felt relief and a deep connection. That connection makes you want to celebrate. In gratitude, these habits shall never leave me because they are so loyal and deeply rooted.

The alchemy of ELD, ETB, and SDR is making my body, mind, and spirit a work of art. Looking at what getting old can do to you, both seen and unseen, in matter, energy, and other more subtle manifestations… You may either have your beautiful castle decay in no time or stay busy molding it in a way that years become decades and decades become centuries without you feeling the strain. You can build a bright future without much effort but the capacity to use your five senses and build your sixth sense. Rest, nourish and treat yourself right in the evening and early in the morning. Let time open up for you!