(Source: leilockheart)

Going on Retreat
Making Time for Reflection

Going on retreat can be a powerful way to process what is happening in your life.

Giving ourselves time to reflect and heal can be a powerful way to process the things that are happening in our lives, and one of the best approaches to do this is by going on a retreat. Going on a retreat means that we have set the intention to heal and learn more about our spirit, and doing this is a decision that we make for ourselves.

Since everyone sees and experiences the world differently, it is important to choose a type of retreat that works best for us. Even though a friend or loved one may recommend something, we have to trust our intuition and select a path that really connects with what our soul needs most at the time. The most essential thing is to be willing to respect our unique stage of development and to be patient with ourselves since any thoughts or issues that arise are simply part of the process of healing. Just remembering that a retreat is an intense period of time where serious soul searching takes place can help us allow whatever may happen to us to fully unfold. Going on retreat may sound like a vacation, but most retreat experiences ask you to look deep inside of yourself, and sometimes this can be uncomfortable or stir the pot of our soul.

Putting our trust in the retreat process will make space for the necessary work we have to do, making it easier for our hearts and minds to explore wholly the innermost reaches of our soul. By paying attention to these messages, we pave the way for greater healing and transformation, since spending time in contemplation at a retreat will give us the gift of insight and understanding that we can use in all aspects of our daily lives.

Touch
Healing Our Bodies

Incorporating human touch in to our everyday lives is vital to the healing of our emotional and physical selves.

Sometimes we might concentrate so much on our spiritual lives that we overlook the wonders of being present in our physical form. When we are more aware of the fact that our bodies are also important in terms of our personal growth, we may find it easier to nurture them. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through human touch, for a loving, comforting touch allows us to access the part of ourselves that yearns for a sense of oneness with the world around us. Even simple forms of touch connect us not just to our bodies but also to the energetic presence of other people.

There are so many ways to incorporate touch in our daily lives, one of the easiest being a heartfelt embrace. Just making a point to hug someone on a daily basis and really feel our energy pass between each other can strengthen the bonds that keep us together. Hugs help us heal any hurt or upset we may have recently experienced by letting us release into the moment of the embrace and realize that no matter what happens to us, we have someone in our lives who supports and cares for us.

Another nourishing form of touch is massage. While we may think of massage as a luxury, it is actually an ancient form of healing that enables us to open up our energetic pathways in order to receive unlimited energy from the universe. It doesn’t matter whether a simple massage comes from a loved one or a massage therapist, but by giving ourselves the gift of massage every once in a while, we are doing something healthy and beneficial for our bodies. Massage helps our bodies activate their own restorative powers, creating a wonderful way to engage fully in our own healing.

Letting ourselves take advantage of the healing nature of touch creates space where we can truly live in and experience the world through our bodies, allowing us to completely immerse ourselves in the loving sense of joy and wonder that is our life.

Credit: dailyom.com

Photo credit: pinksherbet.com

Our Aloha Yoga Summer Retreat 2012 is starting to fill up but we still have a few places left.  Why not join us for yoga, massage, yummy home cooked food, meditation, relaxation, tranquility, stunning rural location and hopefully some lovely English sunshine! 

Email info@juliebladon.com or see www.juliebladon.com for more info.

Aloha ~ Namaste

lovelyogi:

WILLINGNESS

In the willingness to feel,
there is healing. In the 
choice not to closet, cast
aside or deny experience,
energy is freed, and I 
dive deeper into life.

There may be maturity in 
choosing not to act, but
there are no rewards for 
suppression and denial.

To be fully alive is saying
yes to the wide array of 
human feelings. When I 
soften, release and breathe,
I discover I am more than
what I think, feel, reason,
or believe.

By Danna Faulds

lovelyogi:

Hello lovelyogis!

Really excited about my new yoga course “Spring Cleansing Through Yoga”.  Book your space now! 

Dartmoor National Park has been in the news recently as a film location for “War Horse”.  Dartmoor covers an area of 368 square miles and is the largest and wildest area of open country in Southern England.  The landscapes and open space are truly breathtaking.

Why not discover for yourself?  I’m co-hosting a yoga retreat on Dartmoor in June 2012 and there will be ample opportunity to walk onto Dartmoor National Park during the weekend.  In fact the retreat centre has a gate at the bottom of the garden that leads directly onto Dartmoor… 

The retreat centre, Bala Brook (www.balabrook.org.uk), is situated in a truly magical setting on the banks of the River Avon and the river flows adjacent to the property with waterfalls alongside the garden.

So if you wish to immerse yourself in our weekend yoga and massage retreat check out the website for full details and bookings.  The weekend includes daily Hatha & Raja yoga, meditation, treatments, walks and time to “just be” in this stunning location.

Here’s what Steven Spielberg had to say about Dartmoor.

“I have never before, in my long and eclectic career, been gifted with such an abundance of natural beauty as I experienced filming War Horse on Dartmoor .. And, with two-and-a-half-weeks of extensive coverage of landscapes and skies, I hardly scratched the surface of the visual opportunities that were offered to me”.

Film Director, Steven Spielberg

For full details go to www.juliebladon.com/page3.htm

www.juliebladon.com / www.swanseayoga.co.uk

Thoughts
The Creation Ground of Experience

During the day we can monitor our thoughts to see if we are investing our energy where it isn’t useful.

Our thoughts are powerful forces in the creation of our experience of life. You may be able to recall a time when frustration that was based on a misunderstanding completely evaporated when your understanding changed. This is because our interpretation defines our experience, and it can change in an instant. Our only true reality is the present moment, so rather than merely accepting that life is happening to us, we can harness the power of our thoughts to actively create a positive reality. For example, we can choose to appreciate beauty around us rather than focusing on traffic or look for admirable qualities in the people we deal with rather than focusing on the negative. By choosing how to interpret and define each moment with your thoughts, you truly create your reality.

Throughout the day, we can monitor our thoughts to catch ourselves in the middle of investing our energy elsewhere—such as into belief in limitations—and instead pull our focus back to the infinite possibilities of the present. Taking a deep breath will help us center our thoughts on being in our bodies right now. Regular meditation allows us to gain mastery over our minds so that we can still our thoughts to focus on the pureness of being. If we mentally dwell on the past or the future, we may miss the experience of living in the present moment. Setting and visualizing goals is wonderful, but we can bring our thoughts into our current experience by taking steps to create them now.

Our minds are powerful tools that we can harness to create our reality. Through them we move the unformed energy of the universe into form, which gives us direction for our words and actions. Each thought is like a stone dropped into a lake, sending ripples out into our world to affect all they touch. We can choose our focus and how we invest our energy, which gives us the power to design our lives to be whatever we choose in each and every moment.

Courtesy of Dailyom.com

Photo credit: pinksherbet.com