by admin | May 22, 2018 | Healing Meditation, Life Musings, Nutrition News, Uncategorized, Whole Being Nourishment
The subtle creates the gross.
Challenges we experience in our physical existence (our bodies, health, lives, relationships) are simply mirroring an imbalance, dysfunction, or state of dis-ease in our subtler bodies (the emotional, mental, and spiritual layers).
Struggles with the adrenal glands and the hormones responsible for proper energy and circadian rhythms have their roots in stress – physiologically impacting the delicate hormonal dance between our brain and adrenals and energetically impacting our root chakra and all it metaphorically encompasses.
How does this happen? Unprocessed trauma that makes us more susceptible to the ill-effects of daily stress. Stress and trauma are compounding. Undigested blockages stack on top of each other and the system’s vital energetic flow goes towards trying to manage the mountain of “foreign invaders” (the energetic and physiological residue of the compounding stress).
This means that daily maintenance required by the system on all levels is maintained only halfheartedly, or depending upon the stage of the undigested blockage, completely neglected. Additionally, the traumas in question don’t necessarily have to happen to you in your lifetime; they can also be ancestral and handed down through the lineage.
This is how dis-ease manifests on the physical body.
The subtle bodies send their messages and warnings and we fail to pay attention, identify and honor the needs. The subtle creates the gross, remember? The subtle, and now dysfunctional, building blocks of our system on all levels create an undesired gross experience.
The most interesting part of the dis-ease process is how it manifests and in which area of our physical experience and how our physical body produces its signs and symptoms of dis-ease.
In cases of adrenal insufficiency (or “adrenal fatigue” as it’s more commonly known), there’s a chronic state of nervous system activation – hyper-vigilance, fear, survival-based operating, and doing anything to remain “safe.” This is why many sufferers are also perfectionists with type-A personalities and relentless inner critics. They may also be in the habit of engaging in “victim mode” and viewing the world as unsafe and predatory.
While dietary, lifestyle (proper exercise and stress management resources, for example), herbal and nutrient interventions can work wonders, they aren’t the panacea.
True healing must begin within and on the subtle levels so they can then create the desired gross experience.
You can’t heal anything while continuing to operate from the same paradigm that bred the current dysfunction.
Flower Essences and other energetic interventions used in conjunction with practices like Personal Alchemy, yield lasting and profound results. For addressing issues in the root chakra (the space at the base of our spine and perineum that includes all basic human needs and survival and safety), tree medicine is typically the most potent.
a very brief guide to essences for healing the adrenal challenges:
- Finding Stability & Safety: Red Cedar, Pecan, Magnolia, St. John’s Wort, Angelica, Potato
- Issues with Perfectionism: Skullcap, Blue Vervain, Blue Spruce, Pine
- Enhancing Self-Trust & Divine Connection: Prickly Pear, Passionflower, Magnolia
- Releasing General Anger & Resentment: Thistles, Nettles
This is a very, very brief introduction into the many flower essences available to peel the layers of subtle wounds and create a more balanced physical experience. It is always best to turn to an experienced, compassionate Flower Essence Therapist to guide your healing journey.
Additional Considerations:
- Herbs & Botanicals. Mother Earth has provided all the medicine we need and while flower essences support the subtle bodies in creating the desired gross experience, herbs and botanicals offer more direct support to the physical while it is “catching up” and the subtle blocks are rebuilding it.
- Adaptogens and nervines soothe a fried nervous system and support hormonal balance
- Ashwagandha, licorice, reishi, holy basil, rhodiola, astralagus, chamomile, skullcap, lavender
- Root Chakra Clearing & Healing practices. Practices such as Kundalini yoga, breath work, expressive arts therapy, somatic movement, journey and shadow work, and more can be very beneficial in healing and identifying the core story that is creating the physical imbalance.
- Release what no longer serves you – but like, for real this time.
- What outdated grudges or beliefs are you holding onto that no longer serve?
- How do you view yourself?
- Does your life, for the most part, bring you joy, contentment, and a sense of purpose?
- Do you fully love and accept yourself, just as you are right now?
- A thriving spiritual life and daily practice strengthens your connection to the divine within. It is our divinity that sustains us and sparks our ability and desire to successfully heal our bodies and our lives.
- How do you connect to the divine within?
- Do you have a daily practice for feeding your spiritual body?
- Your vessel is a sacred temple
- Is your current lifestyle conducive to feelings of safety and stability?
- Are you properly feeding your physical body? “Properly” is different for everyone and fluctuates in any given season and life stage.
- How do you deeply honor and care for yourself?
The physical body is a mirror. What is yours telling you? What needs to be addressed on the subtle level? The physical body is slower than your subtle bodies as it’s created by these tiny, energetic building blocks over time. Compassion, patience, and disciplined self-love are crucial during any healing process.
Working with an experienced plant medicine practitioner and intuitive mentor who can also guide in nutrition and appropriate lifestyle and supplementation will have your subtle and gross experiences regenerating in your desired frequency.
Curious about learning more on healing with the chakra system, plant medicines, herbal elixirs, and Personal Alchemy? Click here to receive my complimentary guide.
I’m Devon Battaglia, MS, NC, RYT and I am a Holistic Life, Relationship, & Wellness Mentor + Earth Medicine Intuitive + Alchemist + Spiritual Guide helping people to heal their four bodies and create sustainable lifestyle and health transformation through plant spirit medicine and gem elixirs, holistic nutrition counsel, lifestyle coaching, vibrational healing, virtual workshops and courses, and other mystical goodness. Through my unique approach, my clients fall madly in love with themselves and their bodies, awaken their inner healers, recognize self-care as a sacred duty, and enjoy more ease through identifying the roots of their perceived challenges and transmuting them into gold! I blend the best of both worlds with Western science and ancient metaphysical wisdom for the ultimate experience. Sign up for 5 Days to Ignite Your Metamorphosis to experience shifts right away. If you feel called to work together, please schedule a complimentary, magical Discovery Session.
by admin | May 16, 2018 | Life Musings, Uncategorized
Relationships are the most powerful vehicle for awakening and transformation we have available to us. Every single relationship, interaction, and person in our life can be a teacher. Why? Because literally every single person acts as your mirror.
In this article, I’m focusing on the concepts of more “romantic love” or “Conscious Relationships” and “Divine Union.” This refers to the duo that has come together to create a third – the relationship, the union.
This duo is comprised of two individuals. And in order for the duo to be a conscious vehicle for divine expression, each of the individuals must be doing their own work. Without that vital component, the third energy that’s birthed when these two people come together – aka the relationship or union – is weakened and not serving its highest potential.
That third energy is a direct indication and reflection of the degree of consciousness of each party involved. It takes two. It takes two people fiercely dedicated to their own energetic up-leveling. It’s not all up to you and it’s not all up to them.
The third energy is a barometer for the energetic vibration of the two individuals. I always say the union is an alchemical cauldron of becoming and awakening when and if the individuals are dedicated to their own process. Deepening into your own processes creates unwavering trust, passion, joy, excitement, and the relationship is new every single day.
When someone says they’re bored in their relationship, what I’m actually hearing is that the inner work for one or both parties has stalled and therefore, so have the discoveries. We are limitless beings, after all. Boredom is a bypassing mechanism and a way of ignoring and copping out.
A divine, conscious partnership is meant to be a vehicle for immense transformation and awakening for both parties. It’s a way for you to have a greater experience of yourself, your authentic Self, the one without the BS stories and wounds. But, in order for this to be the case, both people must be working daily to heal and elevate themselves.
Your partner is a mirror. The way you are triggered by them is a sacred invitation and message from within that there is work to do for you. Mirrors show us ourselves, they show us everything – especially things we don’t necessarily want to see, right?
Let’s do a little practice together.
Think of past or current partners and think of ways in which they triggered you. Get something super specific – the pettier, the better.
I can use an example from my own marriage. My husband is very patient, grounded, introspective, and thoughtful. In our earliest stages, this triggered me. I know, right?! This is what we say we all want and yet, I was super triggered and annoyed at times.
I found myself getting upset with him for not being fierier, or a “go-getter,” or for not knowing how to do everything. Clearly these are superhuman expectations. I’d subtly think things like, “Read my mind, read the situation, be on all the time, damn it!” While I never outright said any of these things to him, he could certainly feel my energy and sense that something was amiss. It was creating a weird sense of lack of safety in the union because he wasn’t showing up the way I thought I needed. That in turn made him feel insecure and less confident in his own abilities, which made his quiet side take over even more. See the cycle? Many couples go on like this until one gets fed up and the union dismantles or until… forever.
I don’t like settling for mediocrity (and I invite you to simply take the word out of your vocabulary). So, I did the necessary internal work to identify the roots of these stories about myself and thank him for triggering them in me.
The truth is, I love him the way he is.
I am the one who is super fiery, a “go-getter,” and feel like I have to know how to do everything and always be “on” and on alert in order to stay “safe.” This is an old story from my childhood where it didn’t feel safe to be sensitive, grounded, still, and naïve at times. But, in actuality, I AM that. My core essence is one of a sensitive old fairy soul and because my early life wasn’t supportive of that, I have these old armors I wear. Seeing him just embody this beautiful patience and grace, made me feel unsafe and also maybe jealous.
The point is, the trigger was ALL ABOUT ME. All triggers are about us.
I always teach my clients that the subtle creates the gross. ANY dis-ease or dysfunction we experience on the 3D, physical level (in our bodies and health, our lives, and relationships), is the result of imbalances and blockages on our subtle levels (our emotional, mental, and spiritual levels). I teach the 4-body level approach with PEMS.
So, this subtle level imbalance, always manifests in our gross experience. Always. The gross is simply made up of the subtle. Rearrange the subtle, create a new gross. Period. This is why it’s IMPERATIVE to do our own inner, energetic work when we desire change. Our physical experience is simply an arrangement of our subtle imprints.
Whether you’re partnered up or not, RIGHT NOW is a profound opportunity for us to practice radical-self responsibility and radical self-love and radical self-acceptance. This is the opportunity to clear the space and BS of old wounds and traumas to set the stage for the partnership to come – or to improve the one in which we’re already engaged.
I’m Devon Battaglia, MS, NC, RYT and I am a Holistic Life, Relationship, & Wellness Mentor + Earth Medicine Intuitive + Alchemist + Spiritual Guide helping people to heal their four bodies and create sustainable lifestyle and health transformation through plant spirit medicine and gem elixirs, holistic nutrition counsel, lifestyle coaching, vibrational healing, virtual workshops and courses, and other mystical goodness. Through my unique approach, my clients fall madly in love with themselves and their bodies, awaken their inner healers, recognize self-care as a sacred duty, and enjoy more ease through identifying the roots of their perceived challenges and transmuting them into gold! I blend the best of both worlds with Western science and ancient metaphysical wisdom for the ultimate experience. Sign up for 5 Days to Ignite Your Metamorphosis to experience shifts right away. If you feel called to work together, please schedule a complimentary, magical Discovery Session.
by admin | May 6, 2018 | Healing Meditation, Life Musings, Whole Being Nourishment, Yoga & Meditation
Last week was really busy for me and my partner. We’ve been working hard to improve our offerings through InnerSpark (like our new podcast; please subscribe here). There were extra things around the house that have needed to be planned and researched, going to and from appointments, and worst of all was an injury suffered by our canine companion, Winslow (who’s probably had the hardest time of all, though he’s getting better now). It’s been a hell of a week and it has highlighted the importance of something that gets ignored or forgotten far too often these days: staying connected to Self.
I’m using Self with a capital S but that doesn’t mean that you have to think of this in any esoteric sense. When you are in right relationship with yourself, you will naturally come into right relationship with your Higher Power. The two are inseparable, so it really doesn’t matter if you want to reconnect with self or with Self, because they are always hand in hand.
I see this progression in my clients a lot: between working or running a business and running a household, it can feel like taking care of ourselves is a “luxury” and not a necessity. After each task, the question becomes, “What’s next so I can be ‘productive’?” and there’s a very narrow definition of what it means to be productive. We look for things with measurable results and dedicate ourselves to those things in every moment, giving them our precious time and energy.
Moments become days and days become weeks, and at the end of it there’s just exhaustion.
Work that was once loved is now dreaded and everything just feels too heavy to lift. Our own bodies can seem like cumbersome things to be dragged through the day. Our minds become unfocused while even our eyelids start to feel like steel doors that we struggle to keep from closing. The tragedy is that while we’re operating in this mode of “productivity,” we’re actually delivering less and less quality where we need it most.
When we push ourselves to work harder than we should, we are making a choice to ignore our own voice and that is the very act of turning away from our Self.
Our connection to Self is the source of our creativity and all authentic expression. How can we be connected when we’re turning away?
I cannot over emphasize how important it is to keep coming back to Self. When you take the time to reconnect with your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels, you are bringing those four bodies into harmony and the resulting energy and potential can be incredible.
Re-establish Your Integrative Connection
The way we achieve this harmony is going to be different for each of us and can change over time. One important thing to remember is that self-care doesn’t just mean that you break your back all week and then go to a spa on the weekend. Self-care is a constant process that has to happen every single day.
Treat yourself with enough kindness to check in with your body and do some stretching. Notice where there is tension or looseness. Don’t try to change it, just move with it and acknowledge it. If you can lie down on your back with your legs and feet up a wall for a few minutes you’ll find that such a dramatic shift in perspective can cause immediate changes in your circulation and thought patterns.
(If you’re having a hard time slowing down and settling in then try the mindfulness meditations here. You could also try this guided meditation or this guided video for some hands on self-healing.)
Your Physical Body
Whether lying, sitting, or standing, take a few deep breaths and observe your physical body. Bring your focus from the bottoms of your feet all the way up to the top of your head, slowly, thanking each part for its existence and thinking about how each part has served you. Think also about how you want to use them in the future. Do your hands want to craft something, do your legs want to run? If you can have a conversation with your body and appreciate the wants and needs of your various interconnected parts, then you’re sure to have a strong, healthy, and loving connection.
(Learn more about the Four Bodies and Whole Being Nourishment approach to the physical body here.)
Your Emotional Body
Check in with your feelings and respect them as parts of your emotional anatomy. How is your anxiety doing? How is your joy doing? Do not judge or dismiss your emotions any more than you would a part of your physical body. The analogy to the physical body is very simple, there are parts we show off and parts that we keep to ourselves, both physically and emotionally, but that doesn’t mean that any part is less worthy of our love. Again, get the conversation going and the connection will be there.
(Learn more about the emotional body here.)
Your Mental Body
Are your creative and analytical sides being under-used or over-stimulated? Are you allowing distractions to derail or put extra miles on your trains of thought? Are you learning and growing, engaging your mind in challenges? Discover, discuss, and connect.
(Learn more about the mental body here.)
Your Spiritual Body
The way you approach spiritual matters is going to determine how you connect with your spiritual body. If “spiritual” isn’t resonating, think of this subtle realm of your existence as your “energetic body” or even “subtle body.” You may just ask yourself how you feel spiritually/energetically and then see what answers come up, or you may have a more systematic approach. Some people understand the spiritual or energetic body as layers of aura, while others may rely more heavily on the chakra system. Whichever feels resonant, do not neglect this most important layer of your being as the subtle dictates the creation of the gross in every way imaginable.
(Learn more about the spiritual body here, and if you want to take a more in depth look at the chakras and how we use them then click here to sign up for our free eBook: Your Guide To Personal Alchemy!)
- As you have these conversations, it’s important to ask each part what they need. Maybe your mental body could benefit from picking up an old hobby like playing a musical instrument from time to time. Maybe for you it’s puzzles or poetry or scripture.
- Also, you may notice that whatever is being held in one area will be echoed in others. A spiritual concern can weigh on us mentally and make us emotionally raw. Mental and emotional dis-harmony will manifest itself as physical dis-ease.
Being exhausted and dis-jointed is like having four people trying to push a stalled car when they’re all pushing in different directions. Bringing these bodies into harmony is like getting those four people to work together.
Keep checking in with yourself several times each day and try to turn these many conversations into one flowing relationship where the connections between physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellness are solid and supported.
Our four bodies have served us well and it’s only right to serve them in return.
I’m Devon Battaglia, MS, NC, RYT and I am a Holistic Life, Relationship, & Wellness Mentor + Earth Medicine Intuitive + Alchemist + Spiritual Guide helping people to heal their four bodies and create sustainable lifestyle and health transformation through plant spirit medicine and gem elixirs, holistic nutrition counsel, lifestyle coaching, vibrational healing, virtual workshops and courses, and other mystical goodness. Through my unique approach, my clients fall madly in love with themselves and their bodies, awaken their inner healers, recognize self-care as a sacred duty, and enjoy more ease through identifying the roots of their perceived challenges and transmuting them into gold! I blend the best of both worlds with Western science and ancient metaphysical wisdom for the ultimate experience. Sign up for 5 Days to Ignite Your Metamorphosis to experience shifts right away. If you feel called to work together, please schedule a complimentary, magical Discovery Session.
by admin | Apr 20, 2018 | Life Musings, Plant Spirit Medicine, Uncategorized, Whole Being Nourishment
The subtle creates the gross.
Challenges we experience in our physical existence (our bodies, health, lives, relationships) are simply mirroring an imbalance, dysfunction, or state of dis-ease in our subtler bodies (the emotional, mental, and spiritual layers).
Struggles with fertility and hormonal balance more often than not have their roots in stress – physiologically impacting the adrenal glands and their delicate dance with the rest of our endocrine glands and energetically impacting our root chakra and all it encompasses.
How does this happen? Unprocessed trauma that makes us more susceptible to the ill-effects of daily stress. Stress and trauma are compounding. Undigested blockages stack on top of each other and the system’s vital energetic flow goes towards trying to manage the mountain of “foreign invaders” (the energetic and physiological residue of the compounding stress).
This means that daily maintenance required by the system on all levels is maintained only halfheartedly, or depending upon the stage of the undigested blockage, completely neglected. Additionally, the traumas in question don’t necessarily have to happen to you in your lifetime; they can also be ancestral and handed down through the lineage.
This is how dis-ease manifests on the physical body.
The subtle body sends its messages and warnings and we fail to pay attention, identify and honor the need. The subtle creates the gross, remember? The subtle, and now dysfunctional, building blocks of our system on all levels create an undesired gross experience.
The most interesting part of the dis-ease process is how it manifests and in which area of our physical experience and how our physical body produces its signs and symptoms of dis-ease.
In cases of fertility and hormonal balance challenges, more often not I’ve seen them linked to unprocessed issues around sexuality, femininity, and/or sexual abuse. Shame, guilt, unworthiness, feeling dependent upon others, “creative constipation,” having a “mother wound,” and more are also tied up in these links, too. While dietary, lifestyle (proper exercise and stress management resources, for example), herbal and nutrient interventions can work wonders, they aren’t the panacea.
True healing must begin within and on the subtle levels so they can then create the desired gross experience.
You can’t heal anything while continuing to operate from the same paradigm that bred the current dysfunction.
Flower Essences and other energetic interventions used in conjunction with practices like Personal Alchemy, yield lasting and profound results. For addressing issues in the sacral chakra (the space in our pelvic bowl that includes all things creative and feminine), hibiscuses and lilies are the best!
a very brief guide to essences and healing feminine reproductive challenges:
- Healing sexual trauma: Star of Bethlehem, Blackberry Lily, Pink Crepe Myrtle, Orange Hibiscus
- Issues with our own inner child: Orange Hibiscus, Pink Lady Slipper, Lily of the Valley
- Issues with our own parents or parental figures: Tigrida Lily, Mariposa Lily, Motherwort, Baby Blue Eyes, Rose of Sharon
- Issues With Our Femininity: Squash Blossom, Red Hibiscus, White Rose, Queen of the Meadow, Lily of the Valley
- Feel safe in your body, root chakra healing: tree essences such as Red Cedar and Maple
This is a very, very brief introduction into the many flower essences available to peel the layers of subtle woundings and create a more balanced physical experience. It is always best to turn to an experienced, compassionate Flower Essence Therapist to guide your healing journey.
Additional Considerations:
- Herbs & Botanicals. Mother Earth has provided all the medicine we need and while flower essences support the sublte bodies in creating the desired gross experience, herbs and botanicals offer more direct support to the physical while it is “catching up” and the subtle blocks are rebuilding it.
- Adaptogens soothe a fried nervous system and support reproduction
- Liver and digestive supportive herbs can also benefit hormonal balance
- Sacral Chakra Clearing & Healing practices. Practices such as uttar basti, yoni steaming, expressive arts therapy, somatic movement, journey work, and more can be very beneficial.
- Recognize your creativity in ALL aspects of your life – quit focusing solely on the act of reproducing a human or getting your hormones “on track”
- Where do you feel the most creative?
- When are you most in “the flow?”
- A thriving spiritual life and daily practice strengthens your connection to the divine within. It is our divinity that sustains us and sparks our ability and desire to successfully create our lives.
- How do you connect to the divine within?
- Do you have a daily practice for feeding your spiritual body?
- Your vessel is a sacred temple
- Is your current lifestyle conducive to being in a state of creative and receptive grace?
- Are you properly feeding your physical body? “Properly” is different for everyone and fluctuates in any given season, phase of the cycle, and life stage.
- How do you deeply honor and care for yourself?
The physical body is a mirror. What is yours telling you? What needs to be addressed on the subtle level? The physical body is slower than your subtle bodies as it’s created by these tiny, energetic building blocks over time.
Compassion, patience, and disciplined self-love are crucial during any healing process. Working with an experienced plant medicine practitioner and intuitive mentor who can also guide in nutrition and appropriate lifestyle and supplementation will have your subtle and gross experiences regenerating in your desired frequency.
Recognize that you’re a conduit for the divine, a portal for life, a sacred being, and the great mystery itself.
Curious about learning more on healing with the chakra system, plant medicines, herbal elixirs, and Personal Alchemy? Click here to receive my complimentary guide.
I’m Devon Battaglia, MS, NC, RYT and I am a Holistic Life, Relationship, & Wellness Mentor + Earth Medicine Intuitive + Alchemist + Spiritual Guide helping people to heal their four bodies and create sustainable lifestyle and health transformation through plant spirit medicine and gem elixirs, holistic nutrition counsel, lifestyle coaching, vibrational healing, virtual workshops and courses, and other mystical goodness. Through my unique approach, my clients fall madly in love with themselves and their bodies, awaken their inner healers, recognize self-care as a sacred duty, and enjoy more ease through identifying the roots of their perceived challenges and transmuting them into gold! I blend the best of both worlds with Western science and ancient metaphysical wisdom for the ultimate experience. Sign up for 5 Days to Ignite Your Metamorphosis to experience shifts right away. If you feel called to work together, please schedule a complimentary, magical Discovery Session.
by admin | Apr 14, 2018 | Healing Meditation, Life Musings, Plant Spirit Medicine, Uncategorized, Whole Being Nourishment, Yoga & Meditation
I want to share with you something that is very sacred to me. You’ve probably heard of it before, “mindfulness”, and it saddens me that you’ve also probably heard it misused, so I beg you to have an open mind and receive this gift as if it were something totally new.
Mindfulness and meditation have become trendy lately and the essence has become trivialized and diluted by popular culture. I’d like to invite you back to the heart of this ancient practice.
It is a practice that has helped me to become who I am more fully. Without it, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have this beautiful partnership in my marriage. I wouldn’t be doing this meaningful and fulfilling work. I wouldn’t know myself. I hope that you will join me in a discussion on mindfulness with a hope as deep as my love for my life and everyone in it, because that’s what mindfulness has meant to me.
Mindfulness, put very simply, is the state of maintaining conscious awareness of your present experience.
It sounds so simple that one has to wonder why it’s even worth mentioning, but an appreciation of mindfulness can be felt as soon as we admit that we spend most of our lives unmindfully. The truth and importance of this is like a thread as thin as a spider’s silk, it can be missed in the space between breaths.
Why is it so important to maintain present awareness?
At our core we are good people, but our inherent goodness gets distracted by impulsive and unmindful behavior. These episodes of unmindfullness can manifest as one-off mistakes or bad habits. All of these mistakes and bad habits add up to poor health, neglected emotional bodies, failed relationships, bypassing our Soul’s calling, and wasted years.
One example that goes from the subtle to the gross in a very quick and obvious way is mindful consumption. Mindfully selecting our food means that we are more likely to make dietary decisions that benefit us in the long run instead of giving in to impulses that we regret later. When we eat mindfully we notice how the food makes us feel, and we also notice when we’ve had enough. If we’re not mindful we can over eat, and we all know what a habit of over eating can do to the physical body’s vitality.
Mindful consumption doesn’t stop with just our bodies. With mindfulness we can see where the parts of our meal came from. If my meal contains animal products, where did those come from? What conditions did the animal live and die under? How does that affect me? How does it affect the world, and is it something that I want to support?
Where did my vegetables come from? (Growing our own is not only healing, but incredibly sustainable.) Were the farmer’s methods kind and sustainable and co-creative with Mother Earth? How does this affect me? How does it affect the world, and is it something that I want to support?
Keep in mind that consumption is not just what we eat or drink. It’s everything that we take in with our senses. This includes entertainment and even simple conversations. Mindfully observing our sources of entertainment, we might find that some of these things are harmfully exploitative. Conversations about people who are not present, words meant to divide people, words sharpened to hurt people, gossip, these things all have their negative effects on us and the people around us. All of this is consumption for our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies, so what is this doing to our health as individuals and as a collective society?
I cannot list here all the ways that mindfulness can be applied in our daily lives, in the way we communicate with people, how we take care of ourselves, the list is endless, but I can share with you some mindfulness practices that have helped me along the way. And yes, it is a practice.
Being mindful is a skill that we can use to regain control of our lives and live up to our highest values, so please, practice with me.
Mindful Breathing
I recommend this as a daily practice of at least 10 minutes. You can break that up into smaller blocks throughout the day, if you wish. Increase your time or the number of smaller blocks as you grow more comfortable with the practice. Personally, I like to practice for 15 minutes, take a mindful walk outside (more on Walking Meditation in a moment), then sit for another 15 minutes. It’s wise to do this as a regular practice because your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies will develop the ability to come into mindfulness more easily throughout the day. It’s a good habit that will follow you wherever you go.
To start, pick a comfortable place where you can sit for a few minutes without distraction. I have a meditation cushion and I find that a good seated posture helps me to get a deeper meditation for longer periods of time, but the really important thing in the beginning is to be comfortable and free from distraction. You can even do this lying down if you’d prefer.
Once you have a place picked out you might want to set some sort of timer. A traditional way to time meditation is by burning short sticks of incense. You can also use a timer, but I find the alerting sound is too jarring. You could also play a recording of chanting or music that has a duration which fits your meditation goals. The point is that you should be able to decide that you’re going to sit for a certain amount of time and not worry about it. Mindfulness is about presence, and if you’re fretting over a wrist watch or a clock on the wall then you’re not being present.
To start, having already set your timer, go ahead and get really comfortable. Ancient texts have described the best meditation posture as being “like a harp string, not too tight and not too loose.” You will be comfortable longer if your head is supported by your spine, your spine is supported by your hips, and your hips are supported by a good cushion. As one teacher put it, imagine the sky is balanced upon your head like a stack of books.
For the sake of brevity, I’ll let you know that there’s nothing special that you need to do with your hands, but if you want to learn more about how to engage your hands in meditation then feel free to look up “mudras.” For now, just do whatever is comfortable, which may just mean your hands are resting in your lap, palms up like you’re carrying a bowl, right hand under left.
Now take a full, deep breath and hold it for a couple heartbeats then let it out slowly, pausing for a couple beats at the bottom of the exhale. You can do this with your eyes closed or open, but if they are open then you must do one of two things: either pick something to be your focus, like spot on a wall, carpet, or a picture, or let your focus go soft and relaxed, focusing on nothing at all. I recommend closed for beginners so that blinking does not become a distraction.
This is where the discipline starts. You are either focused on something intentionally, or you are intentionally focused on nothing at all, either way you have control of your eyes and are making a mindful choice about what to do with them, not just letting them wander aimlessly.
After you’ve established your posture and taken a few deep breaths you can allow yourself to breath normally. Just watch the breath as it comes and goes, observing the body doing its work. When you have thoughts come up in your mind in the form of words or figures, don’t fight them back or anything, just return your attention to the present, to your breath. If your breath is long, be aware of its length. If your breath is short, be aware of its shortness. That’s it.
You may have the urge to fidget, to itch your nose or something like that. Just observe the sensation and return to your breath. It’s okay; you don’t have to respond to every itch, rise to every provocation, or indulge in every impulse, because you have a choice.
Now if you feel like you really must scratch that itch, or move your leg because it’s fallen asleep, or fix your posture, then do so mindfully. Make the conscious choice to do so and observe your movements as you do it. Make the distraction part of the practice. Every movement is a choice, just like every word you speak is a choice. If you can’t manage to do something as simple as mindfully sitting still and breathing, then how can you mindfully navigate the complexities of love and life?
Just keep coming back to the breath.
Walking Meditation
If you have a nice quiet area to walk, then you might try Walking Meditation. You could do this in a park or in your back yard. I like walking around the outside of my house. Either way, if you have an area that allows you to walk for about 10 minutes or so without being interrupted then you’re good.
Start off standing comfortably, balanced on your feet and taking a few deep breaths just like in seated meditation. Feel your connection with Earth and know that She is supporting you.
When you’re ready, lift your left heel off the ground, breathing in slowly as you do so. Notice the shift in your balance as you feel your left foot separate from the ground, heel to toe. Lifting the left foot, take a step forward, keeping the right foot planted the whole time. Feel the left heel touch the ground and roll your foot down to Earth as you finish your inhale.
Only once the inhale is complete and the left foot is firmly planted should you then lift the right foot and begin your exhale. Lifting and placing it just like you did before. It’s very important to keep the step and the breath in time with each other. Move one foot as you’re breathing in. Move the other foot as you’re breathing out.
Just like with seated meditation, your gaze should be deliberate, watching the path in front of you and not flitting around at every impulse. If you need to look around, then come to a stop and do so with intention. It’s even okay to stop and look at a pretty flower so long as you do it mindfully and intentionally, always coming back to the breath.
Now you have two simple practices to help you develop the mindfulness required for authentic and embodied living and hopefully a firmer understanding of its importance and overall implications in your life. Remember that every step you take is a choice: every step on this path, every step in your journey, it’s all the same. This is a sacred part of my practice and I offer it to you as freely as it was given to me, a gift that I pray serves you well and enables you to keep your dedication to your Highest Self intact and as easy as breathing.
I’m Devon Battaglia, MS, NC, RYT and I am a Holistic Life, Relationship, & Wellness Mentor + Earth Medicine Intuitive + Alchemist + Spiritual Guide helping people to heal their four bodies and create sustainable lifestyle and health transformation through plant spirit medicine and gem elixirs, holistic nutrition counsel, lifestyle coaching, vibrational healing, virtual workshops and courses, and other mystical goodness. Through my unique approach, my clients fall madly in love with themselves and their bodies, awaken their inner healers, recognize self-care as a sacred duty, and enjoy more ease through identifying the roots of their perceived challenges and transmuting them into gold! I blend the best of both worlds with Western science and ancient metaphysical wisdom for the ultimate experience. Sign up for 5 Days to Ignite Your Metamorphosis to experience shifts right away. If you feel called to work together, please schedule a complimentary, magical Discovery Session.
