From the Head to the Heart
Making New Year’s resolutions is easy, you put pen to paper and write down things you want to change in the next year. I want to lose weight, eat better, run three times a week, etc. It’s rather easy to list all the things that we think will make us a better person, all these things that come from our heads, but what about what's in our hearts, our souls? Can you be still, can you be silent so you can hear the whispers of your heart? Sitting in ceremony or meditating will help you listen to your desires, your soul’s calling. Try the OMDream Fire Ceremony below and set your intentions, your goals, your dreams from your heart, your essence!
A Fire Ceremony
Fire allows for transformation, and ceremony helps us to step out of the mundane, step out of our monkey minds, and into our hearts. A Fire Ceremony helps us to let go of old stories and patterns, and allows us to transform, renew, and be reborn from the place of the soul! In the Shamanic tradition you come to the fire to let go of the old and step into your becoming!
OMDream Fire Ceremony
What you’ll need: a candle(s), lighter, pen, dream journal (empty notebook!), toothpicks (yes really!), a small non-flammable container (e.g. ashtray, small plate, seashell). Optional: Ambient or meditative music.
You can do this alone or with a friend(s), significant other, or family.
1. Find a quite space in your home.
2. Optional: Turn on your ambient or meditative music (preferably without words) play this softly in the background.
3. Light as many candles as you choose (set them in a circle for you to sit in the middle of if you can!), place one that you can sit next to, and turn off the lights.
4. Find a comfortable seat on the floor next to one candle (this will be your fire!)
5. Close your eyes and inhale and exhale deeply. Keeping doing this until you feel calm and settled.
6. Bring your hands to meet at heart center and start chanting OM. Don’t stop at three OMs, just keep going for however long you need to. Be playful and have fun; make them longer, higher, lower, faster, slower! This will get you out of your head and into your heart space! (You can also chant/sing any mantra that calls you.)
7. Bring your hands to meet at heart center and begin to inhale and exhale deeply. Allow your Self to be silent and completely still (no fidgeting Vata types!).
8. Ask your Self (aloud or silently) what your heart, your soul, desires? And listen. Listen until you can really feel the essence of your Self speaking to you. This may bring up tears, a huge knowing smile, or you may feel something different than what you normally feel when you are listening to all the thoughts crashing through your head—you’ll know!
9. When you are ready, slowly open you eyes, and write down your dreams, your heart’s desires, and sit with them. Allow then to flow through you, allow them to breathe you.
10. Grab one toothpick and close your eyes again.
11. Now think of what it is in your life that you truly wish to shift, or change or let go of. (e.g. fear, the ‘hows,’ negative though patterns). Blow into the toothpick whatever is there for you. Let it all out of your body and into the toothpick! And then give gratitude for all that you are releasing.
12. Hold the toothpick over the candle until it catches fire and hold it in your hand for as long as you can without burning yourself! Place it on your candle holder, plate or whatever!
13. Grab another toothpick and close your eyes. Now blow your dreams, your heart’s desires into the toothpick. (Yes, you may need to gently open your eyes open to see what you wrote down!)
14. Repeat step 12.
15. Grab a third toothpick and blow into it your wishes for this planet, the earth.
16. Repeat step 12.
17. If you feel you need to do anything else, like grab another toothpick and blow something else into it and release it into the fire do so. This is your ceremony, these are only guidelines to help you, do whatever you feel called to do!
18. Close your eyes, bring your hands to heart center, chant three OMs and bow your head to your heart.
19. Open your eyes and sit with your Self in this beautiful sacred space you created and know you can come back to it any time you please!
Attitude, Alignment, Action
In Anusara® Yoga there are what is know as the three A’s: Attitude, Alignment, Action. This New Year’s OMDream Fire Ceremony embodies all of these but is really only the first step to actualizing your dreams. You can't just do one ceremony and expect your life to change, but you can do something everyday; you stay on the path with attitude, alignment and action, everyday. Sit with your Self, in ceremony, for at least 5 minutes daily and keep building on this each day. Read your dreams, say them aloud, feel them in your body, and then write out steps, a call to action, for making your dreams a reality. And then start taking action, baby steps, Hanaman leaps, it doesn’t matter, as long as you are doing something towards your dreams!