Blessings & Reflections on the End of the Year...

The end of a year feels like a big balloon filled with all kinds of things. This time of year -between Christmas and New Years seems like a great opportunity to empty the air out and reflect. I tend to rush through, worry / look forward to all that is coming next so I wanted to take a moment to share some amazing things that happened at the studio (where I am blessed to teach alongside over 20 other teachers) and here at Aligned Flow® - the hub for my own offerings. 

 Blessings (a good place to start): 

• This was an incredible year for the continued practice of living more in alignment with my Human Design. So many amazing things opened up  from applying my Strategy & Authority. I continue to be mesmorized by this method and practice. The more I practice, the more ease I feel and less confusion and obstacles. It's feels like a magical key to accepting myself more while appreciating others and their gifts fully. Working with others has given me so many opportunities to cheer them on which is such a joy! (more about HD below with a discount code for a session)
• Bali Retreat - I had always wanted to go and was trying to go to Janet Stone's retreat there, but the time conflicted with the 200 YTT I was leading so I decided to let it go. The next day, Roxanna reached out to me to ask if I would co-lead with her in Bali! Spoiler alert: We are going back! (info is below)
• Visited Costa Rica and found a new retreat center. In March Brock, Shannon and I went back to Costa Rica to look for a new place for retreats after our beloved Pranamar closed down. We visited 7 amazing places and found one where I will be leading this year's retreats! (also below) 
• 200 Hour YTT Graduated - I was blessed to lead another 200 hour YTT with an incredible group of new teachers! Many of them are actively teaching and have created a really strong bond. 
• Human Design workshops - I taught 3 group workshops at Prana on HD and really loved every second of sharing this brilliant work in a group setting. It is amazing how it opens up everyones perspective to see not only themselves more clearly, but to also understand the people around them. 
• Foam Rolling Course-  I taught this workshop 3 times in person at Prana and Brock filmed an incredible (if I do say so myself) on-demand course for my website while we were in Costa Rica. (there is a code below for a discount until the end of the year)
• Bought a house with my boyfriend, David - this is something we have been searching for for years. One day I prayed and truly let it go (I also started doing TBM work again -for another post!) and within 6 days, my friend Kate from the studio walked in and told me they were selling their house. We looked at it and were blessed to buy it. Every single day I am grateful to Kate & Mitch, their incredible care and love for this house, and fabulous renovations and design style. We scored. (read my blog - shared below- for more on the overwhelming  Bittersweetness I feel everyday living here).
• I was blessed to travel to Esalen, Telluride Yoga Festival, and Omega to study with my Yoga teacher, Janet Stone. DREAM!

Challenges:

There were very hard things alongside all of this.  My loved ones and I have lost a lot, friends and family are ill, have had terrible accidents, have gotten terrible news, have had struggles that have brought up so many questions about meaning, life, relationships, purpose, growth... I have some deep family issues that break my heart and  remind me to practice every single day. 

Many of these are personal to others and so I will not share them in detail here, but alongside my incredible list of blessings there are things unspeakably hard and these often overshadow the list above. The studio had many days of building issues (which were addressed and fixed) which affected our operations, classes, and teachers for months. Sometimes there is so much happening that April and I can't keep up with basic things at Prana and drop important balls. I have experienced the pain of strained relationships, misunderstandings, and hurt people hurting more people.  

It fills me wonder that these blessings, challenges, heart buoyancy and heart break can all exist at once and yet they do. I really enjoy listening to the Kabbalah teacher, David Ghyam and he says that everything (blessings and challenges) is happening FOR our transformation. Remembering this provides such a helpful perspective. 

I am sure that you have a list of blessings and challenges too. If you are like me and tend to already be in the future, maybe take up this practice during this balloon week and write down your blessings and challenges from the past year- as many as you can remember. How would it feel to view them as if they ALL were happening for your transformation and growth? It's something I am going to sit with this week. I'd love to hear what you think about this too. Please feel free to comment below and we can start a conversation in this community about it.