​With most of us social distancing at home in the midst of the spread of Covid-19, I want to remind you to get outside each and every day.  Just remember to have a good amount of distance between you and others. 
 
We feel better when we can get outside breathing fresh air, the breeze blowing on our face, and the sunlight warming our bodies.  Now’s the time to enjoy “forest bathing” (walking through a forest) or taking your shoes off and placing your bare feet in the grass of Mother Earth. 

Being outside in nature will help you stay calm and grounded, supporting you to center yourself in this unusual time. The relaxation and negative ions will positively affect your brain and body and improve your immune system, especially after exposure to the positive ions emitted from the electronics we are often needing to use at home these days. 
 
I encourage you to go spend some time in nature, engaging all of your senses! Feel the warm sunlight on your skin.  Smell the aromatic pines and junipers or the first blossoms of spring. Touch the bark of a tree or the edges of a pinecone.  Enjoy the view of the mountains, the streams or trees wherever you may walk. Listen to the sweet songs of the birds. Observe your surroundings in this way, in gratitude for all that you experience. Your body will naturally relax and you will begin to feel a sense of calm and peace. 

  Not convinced yet?  Here are 7 reasons to open that door and head outside. Being outside in nature…..

1. Decreases stress – Studies now show that going out in nature reduces blood pressure and stress hormone levels. 
2. Improves your mood – You’ll be happier!  You’ll experience less anxiety, fear and depression.  You’ll put down your phone and focus less on negativity, resulting in a more positive mood. 
3. Improves your brain function – Studies show that time in nature helps to improve your memory, focus, and work productivity. 
4. Helps you to stay healthy – Exposure to nature improves your immune system and helps you to fight illness. It may even reduce your experience of any pain.
5. Helps you get more from your exercise – Supporting your health, the exercise will not only help your physical body, it will give you a sense of rejuvenation, energy and enjoyment of life. 
6. Connects you with Nature’s Rhythms – Connecting with these rhythms helps you to regulate your sleep, mood, and stress levels. 

     7. Gives you practice in mindfulness – You’ll stay in the present moment as you observe all that is around you in
         nature, with appreciation. The sunlight in the trees, the squirrels chasing each other, the clouds passing by. 

Years ago, St. Hildegard shared with us her idea of Viriditas, translated as “greening power.”  This is the divine life force that lives and breathes within all living beings. This potent force is full of vitality, able to bring healthy abundance into the world. 
It makes all things grow, expand, and thrive.  And it’s the force that returns, after being absent, when healing occurs after an illness.  We experience it in the dynamic growth of plants in nature as well as our own sense of health. ​

“The soul is a breath of living spirit, that with excellent sensitivity, permeates the entire body to give it life.  Just so, the breath of the air makes the earth fruitful.  Thus the air is the soul of the earth, moistening it, greening it.”
 - St. Hildegard of Bingen
For St. Hildegard, the Divine permeated all of life – every plant, every animal, every stone, every human being.  Each was a small part or microcosm of the whole of God that was macrocosm. 
As we head outside to enjoy nature in a time of shelter in place at home, let’s all experience the fiery power of life of which St. Hildegard speaks. Let’s have the possibility to embody this radiant flame in our own balance of health and healing in our lives, aligned with nature. 
Can’t get outside right now for some reason? Open the curtains and look outside.  Bring plants into the room where you are the most.  Even this makes a difference! 
 
Check out my FREE Healing Library for practices that will support you in this time of crisis.

​In this time of crisis and self quarantine as the coronavirus spreads across our country, it’s very easy to go into a place of anxiety and fear. Take a deep breath and remember, we can access a state of peace and healing within ourselves even while we’re at home, socially isolated.

Think back to a moment when you’ve created something, anything at all.  Something where you were fully immersed in the moment in time, away from all other distractions.  
 
How did it make you feel? What seemed to want to express itself through you? 
 
When you are a creator, an artist, a vibrant flow of energy flows through your whole body. You remember that you are part of something greater. 
 
Meister Eckhart says it beautifully, “Whatever I want to express in its truest meaning must emerge from within me and pass through an inner form. It cannot come from outside to the inside, but must emerge from within.”
​

​Creating art can help us to access a healing state, tapping into a deeper and more peaceful part of ourselves. A place of inner stillness without the busyness of the mind that happens in a crisis like the one we currently find ourselves in. 
 
In this creative space, we can enter a feeling of flow and freedom, free of separation and physical boundaries. A space without limits. A space for self-healing and personal expression in this unusual time.  
 
Human beings are naturally creative.  It’s part of our nature. 
 
And being creative brings us back to this state – our true nature. 
 
Our true nature that brings us to a place of balance and a place of health. 

​As you dive into your own creative endeavor, your artistic process may be smooth and flow easily at times. It may be bumpy and chaotic at other times. It may move quickly. Or slowly. 
 
But, it’s not a time for judgment or critique.  Nor for thinking. This is the time for presence in the moment.  Surrendering to the process and that which moves you from within. Surrendering to what your being needs to express in this time of crisis in order for your own healing and inner peace. And for the world’s.   
 
And when your creative moment is done for that time, you’ll probably feel a sense of completion for that day. You may even experience a sense of gratitude for what came into being in the process. You can rest and relax some, filled with a greater sense of peace.
 
The sweet nectar of the Divine has been brought to Earth through you. 

In my artistic endeavors, I always remember that at age 42, when St. Hildegard felt God commanded her to write down and share what she’d experienced, she did not act on this call to create immediately. 
She felt insecure and inadequate.  Unable to write. 
Soon, after that she became sick and she interpreted her illness as a consequence of her lack of action in what she felt the Divine was calling her to do.
After some time, she gathered her courage and strength and began to write. She was able to move through her resistance, and she felt her own strength grow, as Divine inspiration moved through her. 
But maybe you don’t think of yourself as an artist?  The good news is you don’t have to!  You are a creator – one who creates out of the materials that long to be used for creation. 
 
As human beings, we’re naturally creative. You may be pleasantly surprised to discover how much art you have inside of you. Yearning to be explored and come out in the world in this time of crisis. 
 
Which artistic endeavor calls to you today to access your own healing and inner peace? 
·       Music
·       Dance
·       Painting
·       Drawing
·       Clay/Pottery
·       Weaving
·       Writing
·       Gardening
·       Cooking
·       Using objects – beads, glass, jewelry
·       Something else?
 
As you engage in art, in creating, energy begins to flow. For energy flows toward creativity. 
 
And where energy flows, a powerful healing force can arise.  For yourself. And for the world.
 
Creativity is not a solitary movement. This is its power. Whatever is touched by it, whoever hears it, sees it, senses it, knows it, is fed. That is why beholding someone else’s creative word, images, idea, fills us up, and inspires us to our own creative work. A single creative act has the potential to feed a continent. One creative act can cause a torrent to break through stone. -Clarissa Pinkola Estes
 
In this time of crisis and social isolation, discover how art can support you and begin the flow of a powerful healing force.
 
Check out my FREE Healing Library for more practices that will support you in this time of crisis.
 
 
 
 

In the Hindu tradition, the Divine is a perfect balance of masculine and feminine energies. The gods and goddesses emanate particular energies that can support us to bring balance to these energies on our path of spiritual development.  If you missed it, you can read more about Balancing the Feminine and Masculine Energies within You here. 
 
In our modern world, there’s an emphasis on the masculine with less attention to our feminine side. We tend to rely mostly on our visual sense, a masculine energy, in our day-to-day lives, with less focus on our sense of hearing. In ancient cultures, the ear, the center of our hearing, was associated with the feminine with its more receptive, deeper, and mysterious qualities. 

​This is why sound and the quality of what we hear is so important! What healing and nourishment for our soul from hearing sound, quality sound. 
 
The ancient Hindu text, the Vedas, shares the importance of sound, “In the beginning was sound…” and Shakti was this sound, the feminine, dynamic energy of the Divine or Brahman.
 
Shakti is the most important energetic force in the Hindu tradition and can take many forms and names. Shakti manifests as divine cosmic energy that dynamically moves through the universe. We see this feminine energetic force expressed in a trinity of the Great Mother Goddess in 3 distinct forms: Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom, Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, and Durga (or Kali), the goddess of power and judgment. 

​The first, the goddess Saraswati, reigns over creativity, wisdom and knowledge, music and the arts.  She also governs our speech – where we share our creativity and wisdom through words. 
 
The second goddess, Lakshmi, is the goddess of prosperity, beauty, and abundance. She helps us to embrace and appreciate the abundant blessings that exist in our lives and brings to us prosperity and possibility in our life’s journey.  She bestows upon us wealth – both spiritually and materially – which is our birthright.
 
Durga, the third goddess in the trinity, manifests as the goddess of strength and power in many forms, defending what is good and right in the world. She’s invincible! She’s considered divine feminine energy, Shakti herself. She can empower us to find our own strength to manifest what’s needed in the world. 
 

Shakti, who moves through these 3 goddesses and is responsible for dynamic and energetic force within the universe, can be seen as an agent of change, creating the new, destroying evil forces, and restoring balance in the world. 
 
When we turn to the chanting of mantras, we can remember that sound, a feminine energy, is the creation of the entire universe. Within this universal sound, chanting OM (A-U-M), a seed comes to birth as form, a masculine energy.  So, in sounding OM at the beginning of a mantra, we bring the masculine and feminine energies into balance within the sound. 
 
Now, it makes sense that, in ancient cultures, when physical illness was seen as a lack of harmony in the body, they used sound and music to restore health and balance in the body.  A “sound” and healthy body produces harmonious music. 
 
Discover more about using mantras to connect with the energy of a Hindu deity in my guidebook and audio recordings , How to Bring Life to Your Chakras: 7 Healing Mantras.  Join me in chanting a mantra invoking Durga to embrace your own power and strength. 
 
 
 

In the Hindu tradition, the gods and goddesses emanate particular energies that can support us on our path of spiritual development.  The trinity that captures the masculine energy forms includes Brahma, the creative force, Vishnu, the sustaining force, and Shiva, the destructive force.
 
These 3 encompass the life process from creation to destruction. Each male god also has a specific female counterpart, bringing a feminine energy that balances and empowers the masculine energy of this trinity.
 
Within the Hindu tradition, the Divine is a perfect balance of masculine and feminine energies.  It’s only through the merging of the two that enlightenment can be obtained on our spiritual journeys. 

​This dance between the masculine and feminine can empower us to embrace and embody both sides of our being. We search and long for union, oneness, wholeness.  To be one with the Divine.
 
Brahma, who is the energetic force of creation, is paired with the Goddess Saraswati who reigns over creativity, wisdom and knowledge, music and the arts.  She also governs our speech – where we share our creativity and wisdom through words. 
 
To embrace the energy of creation in our lives in order to manifest our work in the world, we can call upon the god Brahma, and to ensoul our creations with the beauty of the arts and wisdom, sharing them with others, we can connect with the energetic force of Saraswati.  An embodied and magnificent union!
 
Vishnu is the second male energy of the Hindu Trinity that maintains the harmony and balance of the universe. The female counterpart that brings wholeness is Lakshmi who is the goddess of prosperity, beauty, and abundance. She helps us to embrace and appreciate the abundant blessings that exist in our lives and brings to us prosperity and possibility in our life’s journey.  She bestows upon us wealth – both spiritually and materially – which is our birthright, while Vishnu, in his many forms, helps us to sustain this energy. 

​The third male energy is Shiva, the destroyer which creates a space for renewal.  His partner is Parvati who manifests as the goddess of strength and power in many forms, defending what is good and right in the world.  She’s considered divine feminine energy, Shakti herself.  While Shiva can help us to realize that releasing the old must occur for us to create the new, Parvati, in her many forms, can empower us to embrace our own strength to manifest what is needed in the world. 

Discover more about using mantras to connect with the energy of a Hindu deity in my guidebook with accompanying audio recordings, How to Bring Life to Your Chakras: 7 Healing Mantras.  Join me in chanting a mantra invoking Lakshmi to embrace the abundance that is yours. 

​The world’s an uncertain place at the moment. Every hour seems to bring us new surprises.  In just a couple days, our world has been turned upside down, and I think most of us are still trying to find our footing in our new landscape of staying at home and distancing ourselves from our coworkers, friends and neighbors here in the US. 

​It’s clear in these moments, that we’re called to find our inner stillness, our inner strength to navigate our way forward. One step at a time.
 
Quiet I bear within me,
I bear within myself
Forces to make me strong.
Now will I be imbued with their glowing warmth.
Now will I fill myself
With my own will's resolve.
And I will feel the quiet
Pouring through all my being
When by my steadfast striving
I become strong
To find within myself the source of strength
The strength of inner quiet.
R. Steiner
 
Do you wonder, from where does this strength arise? How do we find it when we need it? 
In a quiet moment, come to your center and find that place that is still and quiet within the whirlwind of turmoil. There we can connect with the Divine. We find our inner strength and power to carry us forward on our life’s journey, knowing that we’ll be held and supported by the spiritual world. 
One of the guides in my life who helps me find my strength and courage is Archangel Michael. He can be one to assist you in overcoming the fear and anxiety that may be rising in these uncertain times. Call upon him to help you find this inner quiet and strength at this time. 

3.  Nurture yourself.  Go outside and put your feet upon the earth.  Take a walk. Sing or draw. Cook a delicious meal.  Have a cup of tea. Do yoga or qigong.  Listen to an inspiring podcast or take a free class online.  Read a book. 
 
4. Foster resilience.  Strive to bounce back from challenging times instead of feeling defeated or a victim.  Endeavor to return to a place of balance and strength, again and again. This is our daily practice. 
 
Many blessings to you at this unusual time!  Stay healthy and use this time at home to discover your true inner power. 
 
 Why not bring healing music into your life while you are at home?  Check out my Free Healing Library with recordings of healing mantras and songs.