Tending the Heart Fire

The time has come to turn your heart into a temple of fire. Your essence is gold hidden in dust. To reveal its splendor you must tend the sacred fire and burn in the flame of love. -Mevlana Rumi

This is the opening letter from my teacher, Shiva Rea, that I would like to share with you. Read this for deeper understanding into the idea of "Heart Fire" or "Heart Fire Tending" that we have been exploring in class.

Tending the fire is one of the world's oldest meditations as a source of light, warmth, transformation, healing carbon-dated now to over 900,000 year ago. As a universal spiritual practice and practical metaphor, "tending the sacred fire" is a way of centering one's life-energy within the core essence (fire) of one's heart which like our sun is a source of life-giving energy and self-organizing guidance. "Tending the Sacred Fire" is how we live from our heart as we "tend" our life-energy in the ebb and flow of the world so that our passion and enthusiasm for life stays strong as internal and external forces,  winds of change, or diminishing fuel in all forms - resources, energy, inspiriration - challenge our fire-keeping skills.

Fire-keeping is a metaphor for the infinite ways we stay connected to our core truth - our inner light of our heart reflected in our actual our biologicial attunement to the extraordinary light that is emitted from our sun. The sun, each second, transforms four millions tons of itself and then emites the energy that we receive some 10 million miles away.

In our bodies, our heart is the seat of our inner sun-fire circulating the sun's energy through nutrients in our bloodstream as well as a vibrational information from the pulse of the heart to every cell in our bodies. Like the sun, our heart organ emits 5,000 times more electromagnetic energy tthan our brain, communicates with other syncopating hearts over 10 feet away and in heart transplant patients the brain and the heart communicate slowly via energy and not via the nervous system. All indegenou cultures recognize the power of the heart intelligence as a guiding force, an emissary of the divine spark of knowing.

Tending the fire is an intimate journey that brings us in alignment with what holds our attention, with natural love and devotion. It is not a chore or a duty but a life-devotion. Firekeeping is primal and raw in presence. It requires discipline, honesty, personal integrity, humilty, authenticity, stamina, and compassion for when the fire goes out there is a price to be paid. As life change with us organically, like the fire, we have to shift and adjust.

Tending the Sacred Fire is a call back:

• to our heart-knowing
• our deeper navigational instincts
• the pulse of who we are

Please join me this week for class - Mon, Tues, Thurs for Lunch Hour Flow in our new Solar Studio and Wed 6:30pm for Lunar Flow in our Lunar Studio.

Deepest Heart Centered Love Kat

I'm currently deepening my yoga practice via conference call course with my teacher Shiva Rea - ah! got to love technology! We are exploring the Living Yoga practices for Winter, specifically for this darkest time of the year - this transition time, sahndya, right before the Winter Solstice. This course is reminding me how important it is for us to attune our yoga practice & life practice with Nature. She is so wise and gives so much ... it's a beautiful and supportive practice - being connected to our Mother Earth, honoring her as we honor ourselves. I would like to share with you just a little bit to ponder regarding Winter Practices Rtucharya. The official start of Winter as celebrated all over the Northern Hemisphere and is known as the Winter Solstice. This year the Solstice brings the full moon and a lunar eclipse to initiate the season with power and strength. This time of the year is marked by longer nights, darker/cloudy days and colder weather. It is during this time that the moon’s energy is said to be strongest and most influential on the planet offering her nurturing, moist, and receptive qualities to all beings. From the cosmos to the plants, animals and humans, we all feel the same inward, introspective pull that is inherent of this time of year. The natural rhythm is to go within, rest and settle ourselves from all the activities and actions experienced in the Summer and Fall. Although the hectic pace of life, coupled with the looming holiday season may not have you feeling this way, on some level we are all feeling an inner desire to slow down and relax!

Learning to navigate and honor this inherent and powerful planetary, cosmic rhythm is vital to not just maintaining health and vitality but it also affect our overall happiness and spiritual well-being. The best way to make balanced decisions is to follow the principle of “like increases like” to harmonize the body and mind accordingly.

Attributes of Winter -The nights are longer nights and days shorter. -This is year's peak darkness which will reach its apex on Dec 21. -The Moon's energy is at its strongest. -Agni (our body's fire) moves from our extremities to our inner organs and our digestive fire is strong and our appetites increases. -Energy slows and we need more rest. -Now is the time for our asana practice to be fortifying and rejuvenating.

So, eat a lot of deeply nourishing food, take good care of yourself, stay warm, wear at hat and enjoy your natural strength!

With Deep Nourishing Love, Kat

Sadhanas

Our Yoga practice, our Sadhana, is so much more that the physical practice of asana. The asanas are only a microcosm for the macrocosm, a slice of the biggest picture of life - of the universe. My teacher, Shiva Rea describes the following Sadhanas, each representing a different aspect of our lives - each one infusing the others - so that they all become one great big Sadhana - a Maha Sadhana.

Lokhadhara (life balance) taking care of world business Deha (personal embodiment care) cultivating health, vitality, longevity Surya (solar activation) practice that ignite, purify, expand Soma (lunar rejuvenation) practices that replenish and coil inward Sva dharma/Seva (life offering) channeling your life purpose in service of the world Srsti-Shakti (creative flow) becoming an instrument of creative energy Shiva-Shakti (relationship integration) cultivating inner & outer connection Samrasa (energy alchemy) cultivating nectar in all forms.

I encourage you cultivate each of these sadhanas together and remember that the practice of Yoga is in all things.

With Deep Blessings of Love and Peace, Kat

Samadhi

So we spend .. a lot .. of time .. doing asana and we access pranyama and mediation through our asana practice .. and we try to live good, ethical lives by practicing the yamas & niyamas. Today, let's focus on some of the other 8 limbs - sense with drawl, concentration, meditation & samadhi. Let's allow ourselves .. give ourselves the opportunity to experience the 'transcendental' bliss of being fully embodied. I would also like to invite you to join me along with Matt Bade, Lucius Wheeler, Tim Moore & Jenni Peskin for tonight's Restorative Vasudeva Session at 6pm. Sign up in advance by clicking here.

In Deep Love, Kat

I think modern western medicine, surgery in particular is super cool. They put you to sleep and four hours later they wake you up and everything that they did in there goes well .. but then there's recovery - which is the state I've found myself in right now. It feel woosie and dizzy and I haven't left my bed for more than a few minutes in almost 48 hours. My nose is clear which is incredible - I'm very excited to dive more deeply into pranayama!, but its also full of dried blood. I have also been watching the CW tv network online and visiting sites like westelm.com and restorative hardware. I have also managed to do some tweeting, email blast/website updates and blogging. Trying to live my practice from my bed and online ... is amusing me. I look forward to being back on the mat soon, but for now, I'm here .. resting. BTW Thank you Dr. Gallavan and everyone who treating me so well at St. Charles and VIM .. and Nate, my sweetheart, thank you, and everyone who has sent their prayers, love and support - I am so grateful. Love, Kat