Sacred Movement Practice – Week 2 – Fire
© Le’ema Kathleen Graham — All rights reserved — do not copy or share — thanks!
Welcome to the second week of Shedding Your Old Skin.
This class we’re going to focus on FIRE and the HEART.
We start lying down. The first section is slow alignment of the shoulders, arms, rib cage and neck. For the second part of the practice you may sit on a cushion or on a chair if needed.
Make yourself comfortable and imagine that you are lifting and fluffing your heart.
See yourself gently igniting and stoking your heart flame as though it were a ruby red ember in the center of your chest. Watch it catch fire playfully delighting in the sparks coming through the hands and fingers.
Lead with the sternum, the heart, the shoulders, the hands. Use your “snake arms.”
Exhale with the “hah” sound. Push the old stuff out on the exhalation through the fingers, like you’re tossing something off. Bring the light into yourself with movements coming towards you.
Enjoy playing with the mudras — the lotus flower of the heart, and the breasts of the Goddess.
At the end you may want to replay some of the music and rest, or dance gently around leading from the heart, keeping it light! Have fun!
MUSIC CREDIT: Dik Darnell & Steven Halpern (Prophecies)
Meditation Tips – Heart Breath and Sound
1. Heart Sound
Visualize inhaling ruby colored light as you bring your fingers to touch your sternum. Exhale or sing a long, sighing, descending (from high to low tone) “Haaaaa” as you expand your arms outward and down. Open the fingers at the end of the movement and perform a pelvic tilt. You are releasing anxiety, heart tensions and hard-heartedness.
You are releasing Heart Qi in three simultaneous ways:
1. Opening the arms and fingers out to the sides as you lower them, allows dammed Heart Qi and emotions to travel out of the limbs. Often people tend to hold tension in the arms blocking the natural pathway of excess heart energy. Be sure to roll the fingers open at the end of the move to release the old Qi into the earth.
2. The sound vibrates excess and stuck energy and emotions in the Heart so you can release through the mouth with the toning.
3. Smoothly dropping into a pelvic tilt allows some of the excess Heart Qi to root into the lower abdominal energy center (the Lower Dantian).
The Heart represents and oversees the Fire Elemental Energies of the body. A smooth-functioning Heart results in more order in your life.
2. Heart Breath – Fast & Sweet
Sometimes it just takes a little to change a lot…
Restoring ease and connection just takes a minute and can be done anytime and anywhere. The basic Heart Breath exercise is a powerful emotion refocusing technique that releases stress, balances emotions, and helps you break out of habitual response patterns as you feel good fast!
- Focus – Gently focus your attention on and in the area of your heart.
- Breathe – Pretend your breath is flowing in and out through your heart. Inhale through your heart (to a count of five or six), and slowly and easily exhale out through your heart (to a count of five or six). Do this until your breathing feels smooth and flowing.
- Feel – As you continue to breathe through the area of your heart, generate gratitude, a heartfelt thank you. Let grace flood you with sweetness as you continue your heart focused breath.
© 2011 Oona McOuat
Beauty Tip – Roses
A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.
~ Gertrude Stein
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
~ William Shakespeare
Everything’s coming up roses!
~ Gypsy Rose Lee
Roses are connected to the heart and love. They are sacred to the Goddess and uplift our spirits.
They grow in the sunshine and therefore contain the fire element.
I highly recommend the use of rose oil products. Rose oil is harmonizing for all skin types. It is a cell regenerator and moisturizer for mature dry skin. It is very tonic and soothing. It’s good for babies and children as well.
My favorite line is Weleda Wild Rose. They have body oil, body lotion, skin care products and even creamy body wash for bath and shower.
I give them to myself as a loving reward when I’ve worked hard.
You might also want to check out Wild Rose Bach Flower Remedy to ease feelings of depression and hopelessness.
Diet Tip – Tomatoes
Tomatoes are good for the heart since they are rich in lycopene. My favorite way to eat tomatoes in season (best in summer) is Bruschetta.
My recipe for Bruschetta:
- 3 to 4 heirloom tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil
- 2 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
- Garlic – lots of it, chopped fine or squeezed
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for half an hour or longer. Serve on your favorite sliced and toasted sweet or sourdough baguette. If you are gluten-free, find an appropriate non-wheat bread that toasts well.
It makes a great appetizer before a barbecue.