Existentially speaking, perhaps the purpose of this crazy thing we call life is to some how, in some way, return home. Each one of us in our own way.

There are many practices, approaches, tools and resources available these days in order to help us with this process of returning. Re-turning. Turning in again and again.

Admittedly, I am still working diligently on self-trust. Some times I don't trust myself to return to myself and my inner depths where silence and solitude reside. Where I feel safe and grounded, centered and secure. Sometimes I fear that I'll fall off the wagon and stay off the wagon forever and not be able to find my way back. I'll forget how to get back home or what home is. That I won't be able to land after traveling.

As an extra sensitive type, I am extra porous. Sometimes I'm afraid that when I merge with the energy of the group, or a relationship, I won't know how to get back to myself.

These concerns of self-trust and returning to ourselves also become extra important during times of chaos, trauma and crisis. Fragility lingers and often we don't trust our lives, let alone ourselves, to find a sense of stability, support and self-reliance.

I need reminders regularly that I have tools that will get me home. That I know how to return. That I can trust myself to return. I have my favorite tools. My go-to trusty, no-fail resources that never seem to let me down. No matter the type of return I need.

Here are the 13 steps I use for returning Home:

1. Pause. Taking moments of pause throughout my day.
2. Breathe. Being present to my breath and its wisdom.
3. Touch. A hand to my heart or belly reminds me I am here.
4. Embodiment. Dancing, moving and stretching. Getting in my body and feeling it enliven.
5. 3 Level Check-in. I feel checked in!
6. Sea salt bath + oil massage. Sea salt baths clear energy and abhyanga calms. Essential oils are, well,       essential.
7. A cup of tea. In my favorite bone china.
8. Cooking. A simple meal of kitchari, greens and a good chipati gets me nourished.
9. Meditation and sleeping in. I need rest and time in my bed hiding under the sheets.
10. Walking in the woods with the trees. Only the trees will do.
11. Creativity. Painting and drawing. Getting color on my hands and getting messy.
12. Time. The sacredness of time and her wisdom never fails.
13. Trust. That I can, and I will, return.

This list continues to grow, but many of these resources I have used for years without realizing their inherent value and their ability to help me land, ground and return to my sacred Self again and again. The more I resource, self care and fill my inner cup, the more stability and self trust is created. Each time I land and ground, I remind myself, "Ah yes, here I am again. Yes, I did it again!" And I can, and will, do it again.

Acknowledging my steps, I gain trust in knowing that I can return home. That I know how to return and that it is possible. Over and over again.

Creative Ritual:

What is on your list? What steps do you use for returning home- to stability, self-trust, safety and security? How do you get back home- to your sacred center? As we move into the full Moon, notice what is alive and providing support for you, what is feeling nourishing and supportive, and what are the resources you have been relying on for greater nourishment.

The intention of this creative ritual is to spark something within. To solidify your resources and ground you in the sensation of greater self trust.

Part I. Coming Home Embodiment Dance.

1. Start your "Coming Home" embodiment dance from standing or lying down. Begin by bringing presence to a body part within you that feels like a resource. Is there a part of your body that provides you with a sense of stability, comfort and nourishment? Can you sense this feeling in your body somewhere? Let this be your primary body part resource for your dance. Then begin to move from this body part. Let it activate and inspire your Coming Home dance.

2. As you continue to move with your primary body part, note how the rest of your body responds. How does it connect to the rest of your body? How does it respond and move with the rest of your body? How does the rest of your body respond to it? Let your dance develop as the rest of your body moves with your primary body part resource. Return to the body part in the close of your dance and note the sensations present by doing a 3 level check in. Take at minimum 10 minutes for this portion of the Creative Ritual.

Part II. Creative Harvesting.

1. Use paint, craypas, water color or any other medium that inspires you. On a large piece of paper, draw a small circle in the center of your paper and label it "Home" or any other word/phrase that identifies your return to center.

2. From your inner circle draw a spiral out to the edge of your paper. Identify your first step and create a symbol of this step. Label it. Continue to draw your steps and label them as you move inward towards the center of your spiral. Don't get caught up in the sequence of your steps, just make sure they are all present. You may choose to rely on different steps in different sequences in your life, so let that option be enlivened in your Coming Home image. Take 20 minutes for this portion of the Creative Ritual.


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New Moon Wisdom

Theme for the coming waxing cycle: Be bold in your actions and let your ancestral legacy remind you of what is important for your actions and intentions.

New Moon is on Monday, August 25th at 09:12 am CDT in Leo and Magha nakshatra. Moon is conjunct Sun (also in Magha) and Mercury, also in Leo.

Magha nakshatra is ruled by Ketu, the southern lunar node responsible for restructuring and cutting attachments. The deity that presides over Magha is Pitr, who is connected to the ancestors, lineage and karma. There is authority here and sometimes ego and arrogance can arise if not checked with awareness. We are effected by seven generations before us, and we effect the seven generations to come. It is an important part of Magha, to be conscious and aware of these effects, how our ancestors and lineage play into our own life experience and what the fate of our lineage will be as a result of our own actions. Magha and Pitr are reminders to create powerful and effective karmas that leave lasting, positive results for generations to come. We may ask ourselves during Magha what our legacy is and what actions we need to take in order to create a strong legacy.

This new Moon gets sparks of imagination and can fuel our desires for future actions. Let intention be a strong guiding force in the coming weeks and listen intently to your solar power, your gut instincts and your inner light. Get creative, get bold, and take strong action steps towards your desires. What are the big goals you are moving towards and what actions need to happen in order to make this happen? With Sun in its own Sign right now, we can all make some hay while the Sun shines and get some lasting results because of it. Get ambitious, think big and shine your light. Your efforts will pay off- especially if they please the ancestors.

Use the coming weeks of the waxing Moon to take action (karma) and align more intentionally with your ancestral legacy. Ask the ancestors to help you affirm your path and offer their insights and wisdom to you. Pay attention for clues, omens and metaphors that arrive. Acknowledge the gifts they may offer you. Give gratitude and blessings for their assistance and the awareness they bring.

New Moon Creative Ritual for the Waxing Moon Cycle

We start with an empty cup, the Moon completely empty of the Sun’s light. This time of inward introspection can offer gentle insights and intuitive guidance, so be still in order to catch the subtle wisdom coming to you. As the Moon slowly gains light and expands, so does the swelling of our hearts, minds and actions.

For this Creative Ritual, we will use the prompting of Pitr to inspire us.

Draw three circles on a large piece of paper. Label each one of your circles as past, present and future. Within each circle create an image using color, texture, shape and images that express your experience of past, present and future.

Give each circle a title to capture the felt sense of the image. Then answer these baseline statements:

I am____
I want____
I need____

Harvesting Questions:

What is one part of your lineage that you can honor, respect and give gratitude for? How has your ancestral line influenced your life experience? What am I doing the same as my family system? What am I doing differently? What do I wish to create for my self and my life as I move forward?

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The full Moon is upon us!

In order to harvest the richness of this full Moon, I've created a Creative Ritual for you to check in with your emotional body and cultivate presence with your sensitivity.

This full Moon helps us turn up the shine in our lives and gain more jyoti (light) as Moon will be in Dhanishta nakshatra. Shine your light on the parts of your self and your life that need some extra illumination. Let this full Moon Creative Ritual be a flash light that targets what you are experiencing within. Read more about the full Moon, this Sunday August 10th- in Capricorn and Dhanishta nakshatra.

Full Moon Creative Ritual :::

1) Start with a 3 level check in and write down your findings in three short phrases.

2) We will be focusing on the Emotional Body for this creative ritual. What words, images, experiences came to you in your three level check in? Find a space that you can move, where you feel safe to express your self and quiet enough that you are able to listen to your body's messages. Read the phrase you wrote for the emotional body and let the body assume a "statue shape" that expresses the felt sense of your words. Hold the shape for several minutes. Notice how you feel in this body shape. What images arrive? What messages? What body parts are being used?

3) Begin to move your emotional body statue. Take ten to twenty minutes to explore, move, and develop your statue into an emotional body dance. Let the dance evolve naturally.

4) Come to your drawing pad. Draw an image of your emotional body, based on your emotional body dance. Let colors, shapes, textures and images arrive on the page. Take ten to fifteen minutes for your emotional body drawing.

5) Give your drawing a title. Then answer these baseline questions:

I am____
I want____
I need____

6) Answer these harvesting questions: What am I feeling full of right now? What am I releasing from this waxing Moon cycle? What am I opening to? What am I closing to? What am Inviting in? What am I letting go of?

7) Harvesting Poem. Circle ten to twelve words from your harvesting answers. Create a five to seven line poem with your words.

Reflect on the images, words, needs and discoveries you and your creative process have offered through insights. Let these themes carry you through this waning Moon cycle as our cups empty and the light of the Moon slowly fades.

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Many of you have written to me, sharing that the "3 level check in" has been a powerful go-to resource for you daily, weekly and during tough times. It warms my heart to know that this valuable body-centered expressive art therapy tool is becoming an essential resource in your tool box! Keep up the good work.

With Guru Purnima happening this week (the fullest full Moon of the year), it is a perfect time to work with mandalas and use them as a way to harvest our most essential feelings. In this video, I walk you through the steps of creating a 3 Level Check and then using this to create a Mini Mandala Creative Ritual.

Here are the basics:

Step #1: Do a three level check in for mental body, emotional body, physical body.

Step #2: Draw three circles on a piece of paper and label each one as mental, emotional and physical. Then create your mini mandalas for each of these three bodies. What is the "felt sense" that arrives for each of these? Don't over think this, just create. Remember, it's process, not product right now.

Step #3: Give a name or title to each mandala. Capture the essence in words.

Extra credit: Answer these baseline statements once you've completed your mini mandala process.

I am____
I want____
I need____

I will be continuing to explore the 3 level check in, and how to use it within the creative process, more in the coming weeks.

My new Moon virtual workshop happening in July will utilize the 3 levels of awareness directly, using somatics, movement, drawing and greater harvesting through both creative processes and jyotish applications. I hope you can join me!


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Here's what many people don't understand about art and creativity.

We need it. We need it like breath. Like water. Like sleep. It gives us life.

Art is a life saving tool that can provide us with the ability to move forward with our lives in a more conscious, life affirming way; a life that has more possibilities and more awareness.

Before you disregard these grandiose ideas about art, I invite you to meet Expressive Art Therapy, particularly the type of Art Therapy that I work with, which is a body-centered approach. These tools have been life saving for me; above and beyond my meditation and yoga and healthy eating, the arts have allowed me to move with my darkness and misery, and this work has helped me create something different for my Self. Again and again and again. Life changing and life saving, indeed.

Art therapists understand the power of art and our innate creative abilities as humans. It's also understood in the Art Therapy realms that art has the potential to heal, to re-create us, to allow ourselves to be open to re-creating ourselves. We understand innately that art helps us work with the unseen, hidden parts of ourselves, and to develop a different relationship with our personal mythologies.

Let me take these realities a few steps further.

We, as humans, are in a body. This is a tool. A tool of perception, of felt sense, of growth and awareness- if used as such. I say, let's use it! We as humans, are each unique, vast and complex, just as the cosmos are. We are each essentially a microcosmic imprint of the macroscopic universe. The planets and their movements effect us, influence our experiences, and can provide us with a map for our lives. Incredibly useful and very helpful for our journey! This is why I use Jyotish, or Vedic Astrology in conjunction with the arts; these are both fabulous tools of guidance and can provoke self-inquiry and personal growth.

This powerful trio of art, body and astrology is a unique combination I've been working with and growing with personally and using with my clients. All three growth tools together, art, the body, and Vedic Astrology (Jyotish) offer an exciting experience of body-centered Expressive Art Therapy or Jyoti Art Therapy as I am calling it. It offers a unique blend of awareness enhancing tools that provide profound results.

But here's the catch.

Art for arts sake doesn't inherently heal us. It's intention that guarantees a shift; a possible transformation. Art is a by-product of our innate creativity (as humans the creation process is literally how we came into being, why we are here, and how we continue to exist). Artists have "open channels" that allow them to tap into this flow of creativity that courses within each one of us. And the channels that are open for each artist are unique and vary. But these channels aren't just a part of an Artist's existence, we all have creative channels. Most people have closed channels, dry channels, small channels, rigid and brittle channels of creativity. Cultural, familial and personal paradigms keep the creative channels from opening, flowing and thriving. These creative channels are like rivers and provide us with the life giving nourishment that flowing water gives us. Water brings forth life, wealth, purification, abundance and joy. Art and water are very much the same. Not surprisingly, the planet Venus is linked to both these life giving tools; art and water.

We need more flow in our lives.

We need the channels of our creativity to stay open and fluid. Art (in all its forms) helps us do that, but in order to reap the vast rewards that art has to offer us, we must harvest the richness, the fruits of our labor. We must listen to the hidden messages that our art is offering us. The medium we use will have a direct effect on the benefits we receive, the parts of ourselves that are effected, and the healing properties that can be attained (for this reason an intermodal art process is recommended).

When we create a piece of art, a harvesting process can bring a sense of meaning and purpose to our work and help us go beyond the surface, excavate the deeper meanings of our work, the "why" behind it. Art is a messenger from our depths, from the most hidden parts of ourselves. It never ceases to astonish me, fill me with awe, and renew my trust in the magic of creativity.

Here's a simple "harvesting" process to use with your next art creation, using the Tamalpa Life Art Process (TLAP) Baseline Statements. These simple questions can help you uncover the hidden messages wrapped up in your artwork. Explore and unravel.

Step 1. Move your body, open the channels, get the breath involved, and pay attention to the body's subtle messages. Get embodied.

Step 2. Paint, draw, use craypas or pencil. Move and explore, open your senses through an artistic medium. Surrender to the creative process. Don't hold back.

Step 3. Answer these Baseline Statements after finishing your art piece:

I am___
I want___
I need___
I feel___

Return to this process regularly. Commit to it. Let it help you create more fluidity and listening in your life. Look for themes and symbols, messages and stories that continue to arrive. These patterns are vital messengers.

Sometimes, the support and outer influence of a trained witness is necessary and can be profound for your process. When you get to that point, when you feel stuck or at a crossroads, confused or uncertain, it is time to ask for support.

I am happy to support you or give you further references for your journey.

Contact me for a session.

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