Wolf Willow Yoga Retreat
A drive out from the city’s lights lead me amidst 250 acres of open land, where I found myself lying my mat down along the wood floor of the upper level of a barn. Below were empty stables. For the only horses, were ones left to roam wild, freely expressing their authenticity in the open fields that surrounded us during our practice. Perhaps the horses didn’t notice or mind, that their open field of home was now filled with pitched tents — for yogis, to sleep beneath the dark blue sky at night.
Occasionally, we would see a tent or two that night, as we celebrated The New Moon in Leo. The New Moon of expressive Leo helps us find our authentic self by allowing for the release of anything that held us back from moving forward in the past.
The rain would begin to drizzle as we entered the night. Through the pitch black night, we would hike closely after one another, following the light shone from our flashlights. We hiked down to the river. I watched as it’s waters flowed over and in regardless of many heavy rocks. The river kept moving forward no matter what stood along it’s path. And was a reminder of the many heavy circumstances that stand along our own paths. Just how a river wouldn’t be a river if it kept from moving forward due to the heavy rocks that lied in it’s path. In the same way, we are not who we really are when we keep from moving forward due to the heavy circumstances that stand along our own paths. We are not our true authentic selves — the one of limitless possibilities, but are our limited self.
This ceremony of the New Moon in Leo was a symbolic release of all the things that held us back in our past that kept us from moving forward, so we could then freely be an expression of our own authentic selves.
And while heavy circumstances may still continue to stand along our paths, this ceremony would serve as a reminder that we can move forward, over and in regardless of all the many heavy circumstances.
And so, one by one, we each stepped into the river’s flowing waters and everything that it symbolized, before making our way back to surround a blazing bonfire, where we would put into all the things of our past that kept us from moving forward and being our authentic selves, to burn and release into the night…
The next morning, I would once again settle in front of a burning fire — a symbol of transformation — as yogis lied their mats side by side in a room overlooking the same river. Before saying goodbye, I would say the words needed to guide them all through one last practice.
And before setting out to leave these grounds, I got to have a glimpse of the horses that roamed wild, freely expressing their authenticity. A glimpse of what was to come in our own lives. For we too now would no longer allow ourselves to get locked up in our own stables of heavy circumstances. No longer left behind a gate of limitations that would hold us back from freely expressing our own authentic selves. We too could now roam wild once again, expressing our own authenticity.
What heavy circumstances stand along your path? In what ways has it held you from moving forward? In what ways can you change your perception about it, so that you can continue to move forward over the hardness of it all? What would your life be like, if you were no longer held back?
Deep Love,
