The Earth Element & Deep Nourishment

Our Earth Element inspired alchemical yoga series starts this coming Monday.

Aligning with the transition into the autumn season with the Autumnal Equinox  on Saturday September 23rd brings with it longer nights and the beginning of an inward turning, more introspective and nurturing energy that is about connecting with our own centre through grounding practices.  

In the body,  the Earth Element is represented as a horizon line where spirit and matter meet in the body at the level of our belly button - the site of the umbilical cord which once connected us to a constant source of nourishment when we lived in the womb space.  That type of deep nurturing and nourishment that we received in the womb, gets at the type of space I would like us to cultivate together in our weekly meetings. 

Autumn is the season of the Earth element and is related to the Harvest, to bounty and abundance.   It is related to the Spleen and Stomach organs and Meridians in the body and the Manipura Chakra. Together we will explore these energetic pathways through meridian stretching, visualization, acupoints and essential oils to discover their role in digestion, and the integration of nature's harvest into our beings.  In this sense,  the earth element is about connecting to the source of our food, as well as our interconnectedness with the earth as our Mother, and discovering ways to lean into those connections.  

On the mental emotional level, the earth element is often associated with the mind, and the relationship between nourishment, digestion and mental processes.  Worry, rumination, ungroundedness, lack of focus, lack of confidence,  overwhelm, obsessiveness, lack of sympathy and empathy, poor personal boundaries, these are all shadow aspects of the Earth Element.  

The Alchemical virtue of working with the earth Element is to connect with the quality of Intentionality,  and the magical ability to transform food matter through our digestive processes into energy, paired with clarity of purpose, intention and the nurturing care of a gardener tending daily and lovingly to their garden,  so as to express our true nature amd manifest our inspirations in the physical realm.  

My intention in holding space with these weekly circles is to provide a still place in our week where we can connect with our hearts and bodys,  process our emotions and experiences in a safe container.  The practice is meant to be nourishing and supportive.  Each week I will share prompts for inner reflection and suggestions for explorations in nature.  Feel free to integrate these practices into your week to deepen your experience,  but I never want you to feel pressured or guilty so if all you're able to do is to show up each week to practice,  that is the most important piece.  Even if you just show up and rest for an hour,  the intention, repetition and commitment are the most important parts of our work together. 

Sharing is Caring  Do you know someone who you think would enjoy joining the Healing Circle? Our community has grown largely through word of mouth and we always welcome new friends. 

The Healing Circle | Alchemical Yoga EARTH SERIES starts this coming Monday Sept. 18th

A Brief History

About five years ago, I made a difficult decision and my whole life changed. I decided to give up the space I was running in the Annex called Gallery 555. This was a space that served as a yoga studio, acupuncture clinic and art gallery with exhibitions focusing on nature, magic, spirituality and healing. This was an amazing space full of artists and art openings, community gatherings, healers, full moon gatherings, wellness circles, personal healing sessions and so much more, so it was a really difficult decision to give it up, and along with it my personal acupuncture practice that I had built up over the previous five years. But I had to follow my intuition.

I was looking for more simplicity in my life, and I knew I need to work on healing myself and my nervous system as well as coming to understand my growing empathic and intuitive abilities. I realized I was burned out from wearing too many hats and that I was finding less and less time for my own art practice. After much deliberation, I decided to take a sabbatical from everything. I closed my acupuncture practice, transferred the space to my beautiful colleague Nada, and took a year to try and find my centre again and to see what life had in store for more when I created a bit of space. Of course life always has surprise plans.

Fast forward two year’s later: I give birth to my beautiful daughter Skye Rose. 3 months later the first lockdown began and I find myself at home with a 3 month old, a partner going through some significant health struggles of his own and of course no community and no family support. Like everyone else, suddenly thrust into this new reality of COVID lockdowns, and a climate of fear, confusion and isolation.

It was during this surreal time that I felt called to start offering yoga classes on line. For those of you who joined me during those first few weeks, you may remember that the classes involved my baby Skye. Sometimes she cried in the middle of the class, but often she just rolled around making gurgling sounds and singing. Her light and joy and the casual imperfection of the classes were what we all needed at that time. For me, the decision to be to be present and vulnerable with my own reality of being a mom, reflected my own meditation practice at the time. I remember thinking that Monks should have to practice meditation in a room full of screaming babies to get to the advanced level.

For the first month, I showed up online to teach classes everyday at the same time, whether or not anyone else showed up. For me it was grounding, and a way to give shape to what were otherwise very ephemeral days, one bleeding into the next. Even though I had never offered yoga classes online before, the format allowed me to connect with so many people from all over. Many of my students from my days teaching yoga in Montreal were joining in, and community from across the country: Saskatchewan, British Colombia, and then into United States, and eventually as far as Europe and Australia. The classes spread through word of mouth and eventually, I shifted my structure back to a weekly format.

Fast forward to today. The online yoga class, has been an unexpected gift. So many of you have reached out to let me know that you appreciate being able to practice in your own space, and to be able to go deep into your process. We do deep work together.

Alchemical Yoga creates spaces for us to slow down and really concentrate on our present reality. It’s like shining a light into all of our dark, hidden places, bringing our emotional truth into the light, into our awareness. We process all of the parts of our days that get swept under the rug. We do this through the body, through turning towards our experiences, through learning to listen and see with the ears and eyes of the heart.

The last few years have been some of the most transformative years of my life. I have been deeply blessed with the birth of my daughter and the healing of my partner. This year we got married and had a beautiful wedding with all of our dearest friends and family after being in relationship for 13 years. During this period I graduated with my Masters in Fine Arts and have undertaken extensive research into my ancestral line, while also studying ancestral trauma healing with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone author of Wounds into Wisdom. At the centre of healing ancestral lines of trauma, is the healing of the nervous system.

I have come to realize that these practices that centre healing the nervous system are paramount for all of us living in these uncertain and often overwhelming times. I know for myself, my own healing practice has come to include, mindfulness around my reliance on external information, and an increasing awareness that I need to strengthen and trust my own intuition around what feels safe and what is right. During the pandemic, my reliance on obsessively checking COVID numbers, and more recently, during a summer of unprecedented wildfires in Canada, obsessively checking the Air Quality Index on my weather app became problematic. That process begins by putting down the phone and connecting to my breath and my body.

I am so fortunate that I have been introduced to powerful yoga techniques from the time I was 19 years old. I studied at the Chakra Yoga Centre with a master teacher named David Goulet in 2001, where I learned guided visualizations, breathing techniques and asana practice that I have been able to turn to throughout my life, and that are relevant and connected to the techniques I’m learning through my ancestral healing work that is linked with the lates research in epigenetics.

All of the wisdom I have learned from my other teachers along the way including (but not limited to) my years of studying Traditional Chinese Medicine and later mentorship in the spiritual and psychological aspects of acupoints, essential oils, inner sensing and dreamwork with Lorie Dechar (author of Five Spirits) and membership in the Alchemical Healing community “ A New Possibility”. More recently I have been connecting with the spiritual practices of my ancestors, and learning about the Tree of Life which is the Jewish Chakra system, the Shekinah, the divine feminine, and the practice of Rosh Hodesh; the honouring of the New Moon as a day of rest.

A lot of people ask me how I was able to complete my masters degree with a new born baby during a pandemic, and the answer is by turning to daily practices that connect me to myself, my intuition my connection to nature, the Universe and the Creative force. By learning to work cyclically, to honour my body’s innate need for rest, and fallow periods in which I allow time to digest my experiences, not forcing productivity, I have realized that I can be far more creative and in flow, than if I push myself beyond my limits.

This year as the world is starting to face the realities of the climate crisis through emergencies and disasters, and we are bombarded on all sides by conflicting messages, I believe it is essential that we find the space to unplug from the reactivity cycle, find our centre, our inner strength and our internal compass. Let’s heal our nervous systems together, so that we can learn to be embodied even in the face of fear, especially in the face of fear, so that we can find our agency, our courage and our intentions for how to live with grace, innovation and resilience during these heightened and overwhelming times of change.

The Healing Circle is a space where we meet weekly to practice Alchemical Yoga.

Our next circle will begin on September 18th and run for 6-weeks. You can learn more and register by clicking on the link below. If you have participated in Alchemical Yoga online classes over the past few years, I want to thank you so deeply for being a part of my community and for helping to deepen my own healing work. I would love to hear from you if you have any memories or experiences from your participation.

Sending you love wherever you are.

XO

Julie

THE HEALING CIRCLE | ALCHEMICAL YOGA

EARTH ELEMENT 6-WEEK SERIES: September 18th - October 23, 2023

The healing circle is more than just a yoga class, it is a space where we can begin to heal our nervous systems, metabolize emotions, listen to the voice of our hearts, tune into the rhythms of nature and develop trust in our own bodies and the guiding star of our intuition. Doing so in community is powerful. Each class is a healing journey using yin yoga, essential oils, acu-points, hatha yoga, pranayama, chakra yoga, inner sensing, guided meditations and healing rituals. This is a practice guided by the waxing and waning of the moon; that honours the natural ebbs and flows of the our energy, creative process and our body’s innate wisdom and ability to heal. By carving out healing space on a weekly basis, we can empower ourselves and live aligned and inspired lives.

Our first back to school Healing Circle will focus on the Earth Element; healing, strengthening and balancing all of the ways in which we digest and integrate food, ideas and emotions into our being. We will focus on themes of Harvest, gratitude and embodiment.

All offerings are on a sliding scale basis and can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home via zoom or by video recordings.

SLIDING SCALE

This six week series is offered on a sliding scale basis. The idea is that no one should feel dissuaded from practice due to financial constraints. Some sessions you may be able to comfortably afford a higher rate, and other times, it may be more nurturing to receive the teachings at a lower rate. Each class is designed to be a form of deep self care and we all deserve that. Using the honour system, the sliding scale balances out in the end.

The recommended range is $66 - $198 - (At the low end, this adds up to $11 per class, at the high end it is $33 a class)

Registration grants you unlimited access to online video resources for 1 year.

I will be honoured to share healing space with you.

XO Julie