Written by JAQUANDA

The Yamas & Niyamas Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice by Deborah Adele was a read that got me thinking deeply on my show up as a Womyn, Mother, Artist, Educator, Community Member, and Healer.  I've rocked most of those roles for the past 25 years of my life.  Every day is a new day of understanding and acting on how I show up in each facet.  I've learned and keep on learning many things about the ways my upbringing and environment has influenced  my social, economical, emotional, physical, and spiritual journey.  I am a black womyn born to the mid 70’s in South Carolina one generations away from Slavery’s grandchild and transplanted in Chicago’s Melting pot of a neighborhood, Uptown,  “up North”.  These foundational polar environments have shaped my thinking and movement. It is evident to me now during this era of my life, living in the middle of a pandemic, cyclic racism, parents passing, epiphanies around my   best way of moving and showing up is by listening to the guidance of my heart center.

Yoga is a systematic look into ecstasy, connecting to Spirit, and experiencing blissfulness. Prana( Breath)= energetic flow. It moves throughout the body and through our Chakras. The 7 primary chakra  that are associated with the vertical access in our torso, along the vertebrae and spine are the ones we are centering. They are the ones we may recognize from most yoga posters that have the body with the glowing rainbow balls.  We have energy spheres in us that are rotating and vibrating.They allow energy or life force to flow upward through the body. If energy flows downward the body may be out of harmony.   We were taught in Yoga training that when in harmony the energy flow creates a sound that is composed of 7 tones from the lowest to the highest chakra and they were given to us upon birth, with our first cry; that is why every voice is unique and specifically tuned at birth by Spirit. Starting at our base and going up they are Root chakra (Muladhara), Navel chakra (Swadhisthana), Solar plexus chakra (Manipura), Heart chakra (Anahata), Throat chakra (Vishuddha), Third eye chakra (Ajna), Crown chakra (Sahasrara). Balancing and Opening Chakra is a lifelong lesson.

As a Shamonic Reiki Master, I can never learn enough about the wisdom around the Heart Chakra. It goes deeper than the understanding of it’s mechanics with and around our knowledge of Love. The Heart Chakra is said to be the bridge of true spiritual balance; the greatest Love of All is Divine Love. The heart Chakra  is represented through the element of air; a great force of change. I am also astrologically blessed by being born on the Magic Cusp of the Zodiac right between Gemini and Cancer. Knowing more and more about my astrological and ancestral roots is a driving force behind my continued exploration of what has escorted me into who I am to this world. If you have an understanding that we are all energy, and the ways we react to the world around us works through energy within ourselves, and then flows outside of us, that is when you can tap into an intelligence that has no separation. It sounds all metaphysical and sorta like BS but that is fear showing up as doubt. That is an unpacking we are not going to explore here. Instead I hope that you can be open to the possibility of experiencing energy as a miracle given to us all and recognizing your genius is a part of mine. 

Check out Yamas and Niyamas, it provided me with some concrete observances that I was attracted to explore deeper.  Again I found similarity in that of Christian or Kemetic practices as all have established guidelines of living your best self and fulfilling your truest mission; which is to become closer to your Creator as the fullest expression of LOVE. Learning these connections motivated my desire to expand my knowledge around Ancient Radical Healing. I gained some jewels in this read. I definitely will recommend it to soultribe. 

The Jewel of Satya Truthfulness “ The power to right wrongs and end sorrows” I like how this chapter lead with an example of lying to your mother as a young child about taking a cookie is foundational actions towards lying for no reason at all.  The lie/ half truths have always seemed subjective to me and understanding truthfulness as more than just not telling a lie but being real about whether or not I am choosing self-indulgence, or needing to belong, or rigidity over self expression, growth, and fluidity that’s when I’m looking at truth in a way that is introspective. That is the work. Speaking of work, the concept of  “Nice versus Real” was an edge snatcher for me, it had me thinking hard about who I am. I can remember so many times when I would lie to make others feel comfortable. We all do it. How many times has someone asked you “ How are you?'' and regurgitate a quick, “I’m good”. LIE, but now the questioner is comfortable.  That is how we show up nice. After reading this I investigated more choices of being nice and wearing a cloak of lies. I gained some confidence around being bold and real and moving from that space non- attachment to the outcome. “Real asks us to Live from a place where there is nothing to defend or manage” just saying that releases tension. I gained a new mantra. 

“Nice is an Illusion, a cloak hiding lies. It is an imposed image of what one thinks they should be. People who are “nice” hold truth inside until they reach a breaking point and then they become dangerously inappropriate”  Further investigation took me to a place of my child rearing. I have been raised very proper, respectful, unapologetic as long as it didn’t mess up a job opportunity. Being nice was how I was raised. I also know the exact sentiment because nice has masked a lot of ugly and mean things that have happened in my lifetime and breaking points have been met. This real truth work is ongoing. Self Expression has been my go to in this lifetime and is clearly intrical to my mission. Understanding my uniqueness in that and owning my power and magic is also ongoing but increasing with such confidence and beauty. I am so grateful for my growth and fluidity. This chapter was affirming.

Asteya: Non Stealing. I do not steal is what I thought before reading this chapter. However the piece about stealing from the future resonated with my life's journey. I can say I was settling in a place that was allowing me to steal from my fullest potential. I can’t get back the time I stole when I self-sabotaged my dreams, relationships, and economic wellness. I can't get the time back and now that I realize I have thieving tendencies, I have to put myself in rehab. I am always reminded of the work we do on this earth and how it is supported by the 7 generations before us and understanding that what I do impacts seven generations into the future. This is constant work because life can move so fast and I can recognize when I am not standing in my truth and make choices that absolutely sabotage and steal from my present moments and inevitably future generations. Understanding stealing from each other can look like stealing from time, future, and “when we are engaged in the joy and challenge of building ourselves, we automatically serve the world rather than steal from it”, I am learning and adjusting. This makes absolute sense because, If we are all connected the wellness of our individual selves is crucial to the wellness of the collective and our healthy connections.

Saucha:Purify 

I have always looked at purifying as a detoxifying action mostly physically.  This year I have thought of it more deeply around energy, clutter, and sacred space.  I have been diligently working on purifying self sabotaging thoughts and moving from a lack mindset. This has been a personal, home, and work space journey. “As we purify ourselves from the heaviness and clutter of toxins, distractions, and scatteredness, we gain clarity to meet each moment with integrity and freshness.” In 2020 I completed a third year of separation from my 19 year marriage.  A year into living separately and individually for the first time ever.  This leap of faith was completely about Saucha. When Saucha is relational and put into context of my life, I’m reminded of this recurring sentiment of showing up to the moment without expectation, with integrity and authenticity despite the outcome. Seeking purity in the moment is a way to address what needs to be purified in our daily walk moment by moment. This moment by moment part, the practice piece; a necessity to heart balancing. 

Santosha: “contentment by taking refuge in a calm center, opening our hearts in gratitude for what we do have and practicing the paradox of not seeking” “letting our contentment be managed by uncontrollable variables” “when it rains i let it” I originally wrote this as a certification paper. Going back to this has been transformational. I can see the growth. I have used many mantras to open my heart and allow space for letting go of outcomes. My favorite these days is “ I believe in miracles, and unexpected surprises'.  Santosha gets to the desire for greener grass, while looking at a pile of dirt, but having faith that the dirt will bring forth seedlings. It also nudges at what I tell my son all of the time. He is an excellent soul born exactly at 2:22 am, but took his sweet 22 hours to get here. He often seeks excellence and precision in all that he does. He achieves whatever he puts his heart to and moves through this Earth conscious of his footprint; learning that he is not exempt from life's surprises be them heavy or light. He often focuses on the “what’s next”  but then when the “next” is present it may feel like too much. The power of manifestation can yield exactly what you ask for and exactly what you left out; it's so important to be exact and then be ready to accept your blessings. It's affirming to what I've said to him and my daughter as they have grown into young adults ``God never gives us more than we can handle”.  This knowing and mantra has helped me stay in my gratitude through all the hard lessons and balancing. I try to instill this in both my children. It encompasses the totality of that sentiment. God offers challenges and rewards and if we stay in gratitude we shake loose the attachments. I embrace the notion of a “rooted tree” that can not be uprooted by the storm; instead must sit through the storm and rebloom. 

Storm, and rebloom. 

JAQUANDA