The Base Chakra Connects Sex and Safety

This morning I did a sunrise Kundalini Yoga class with "I AM YOGA". As our teacher Nicole Daboul describes, "Kundalini Yoga, the Yoga of Awareness, was brought to the West by Yogi Bhajan in 1969. Yogi Bhajan taught that, through the practice of Kundalini Yoga and meditation, your glandular and nervous systems are stimulated, and your capacity for creative potential is heightened. You gain inner vitality to compensate for the adverse effects of stress so you can excel in life. Kundalini yoga classes are a dynamic blend of postures, pranayam, mantra, music and meditation, which teach you the art of relaxation, self-healing and elevation. Balancing body and mind enables you to experience the clarity and beauty of your soul." I love that the focus of it is all about cleansing and activating the chakras, which I believe to be the most potent seeds of power and potentiality in all of us. This course is an 8 week journey through the Chakras, every Monday in a cozy, gorgeous studio in Bondi at 6am! I loved waking up at 5am and it has set the tone for me to continue doing so and proceeding with the 6.30 pilates or Hatha class that is all to easy to miss at the gym. Today begun with kriyas (exercises) for the base chakra. It's funny as I was only talking about it's importance yesterday with a beloved... how it not only grounds us to our sex, but also the rest of life and our feeling of safety in the world. This is such an important element in anyone's psyche and so many of our subconscious blocks arise from feeling threatened, unsafe and insecure in our place in life. So, here are some simple exercises for you to try this week that will strengthen your base, and this very important chakra: - Repeat the mantra "I am connected. I am safe. I belong." - Hug a tree - Wear red underwear :) - Feel the ground under your feet - Organise your home and your space - Do 24 - 108 'frogs' (see vid below) Learn more about the base chakra here...

Sat nam ;) Alina xxx

How to Master Discipline

Everything worth having is born from some inner sacrifice. We worship at the temple of celebrity, yet those with true talent treasure and conserve their life-force like a charm. They seldom drink and work draconian hours. That dedication is oft forgotten in the lights of fame. I know that my best journey is one of my own choosing. When my will chooses, the ego doesn't scream as loud. If my heart makes a commitment to eat raw or abstain from coffee, then those cravings and tremors become easier to ignore. It's all about the WHY, and what you are sustaining through your newfound choices. Self-love is the biggest beacon of good habit. It fills your cell to every pore and you forget your old ways. Keep it up. My cells are so full of green juice that I forgot my coffee. My heart is so full of song and prayer that complaints slip my mind. I hit a wall, a moment when the 'old self' wants attention. And this is where strength in stillness is to be found. It would be so easy to dash to the kitchen and make myself a coffee. Fuelled with countless excuses such as 'the menial one won't count'. And yet that backward action is so much bigger than it's triteness. It is a feeding of the old, a slip back into the ambiguity of complacent thought. My newfound habits and their sustenance have given me profound blessings. Yet such acuity is unusual to uphold. To function at this new level requires recalibration. To suddenly write where I used to watch TV. To dance when I would long me lying down. And to simply breathe and smile and be when my head screams for another chocolate bar. But yet, a voice awakens in me that is new and yet familiar. "Keep choosing the TRUE YOU", it firmly says. And nothing can be sweeter than this experience, a self I'm willing to share with the world that is content and free. And so, I breathe and smile and take another sip of water. I write my words, I tune inside and live. The bliss within me is so acute and profound that everything, all sacrifice is worth it. The true gifts of connection, joy and abundance are so worth me staying on my path. And so my friends, what are some new ways forward you're committing to? How can you redefine your habits, practices, rituals and routines in a way that serves you? I can't wait to hear from your comments below. With love, Alina xx

What Does It Mean to You to Slow Down?

I muse what slowing down means to me... At first, I seethe with judgement at all those whom I assume to 'lazily lag behind'. Words like 'unproductive' and 'docile' jolt shockingly from my subconscious. My stuff, I know. And so I keep exploring. The understanding persists more and moulds to something mystical. To be slow is to be other-worldy, unattainable by the likes of me. It is the domain of Goddesses, deities and seductresses. It reeks of leisured times. Immediately, I see billionaires basking in Portofino, post-polo sipping Pelegrino, their greying bouffants blowing in the wind. It seems unproductive, yet so empowered. I note the ineffectual scurry with which I get things done. And then, it strikes me. To be slow is to command the ultimate control. It feels so obvious to state it out loud, yet so deceptively unmarked in daily living. It elevates the power of any human. Commanding the world to keep pace with us, to join us in the meeting of our essence. To eat, to make love and to travel slowly, is to inhale the sights and sounds before the obvious consumption. It is a sadhana, first and foremost energetically. It's so sustaining and profound that ingestion becomes an afterthought. And so, I am blessed to have explored my curious relationship with this essence. We so often hold old prejudices unchecked. To think, I felt that scurrying was somewhat superior, when in fact a slower pace is the seductive spot for kings. So what can you do? Simply ask... What does slowing down mean to me? Keep asking and strip away your layers. Then please, do post below. Perhaps we'll keep uncovering new and compelling ways of being still. With love, Alina xx

The Honesty of Cleansing

Alas, I've had it. After a morose few weeks of low morale and waffling through my endeavours, I know it's time to cleanse myself of sin. A heavy, funny word, yet one that simply states a lack of my alignment, replaced by indulgent choices that have crumpled my otherwise buoyant soul. Compounded, even too much dairy and coffee sends me to a portal that is 'normal', yet unenlightened. I know that when I keep it simple and I cleanse, life takes on a whole new acuity. In fact, it is all so obvious and blissful, I wonder whether that is actually my true way of being; the true normality. I noticed in these last few weeks my inability to really get excited about things or connect with people. It's like this wall has been over my heart, preventing an authentic exchange of care. I feign interest and enthusiasm, but at the core, I felt indifferent. And that scares me. And so, the fasting and juice cleansing comes in through the comfortable surrounds of my home. There is something very honest about hunger. It strips away the impulses and distortions that our usual diet can play on our energy field. After all, food medicates, elevates and dulls. For so long it has been my saviour, my friend, my security blanket. An immediate crutch when I felt bored, tranced out or emotional. However now, I was ready for my true light to shine. The clarity, ideas and life that so effortlessly come through me in the absence of those stodgy barriers. The day begins with a slow, low energy. I welcome it as I know stillness holds its gifts. It's a relief to no longer rush and scurry and let my soul authentically inform me of her plans. I laze, I lie... and wait for inspiration. It quickly comes in the perusal of a sensuous book. How long I've waited to drink Dita's dancing dominance. It's all the more rich when absorbed fully and allowed the space. There is no guilt, just calmness through the peace that clarity affords me. I chug my waters and my teas... and float some more. The slowness of my day is most entrancing. The smells are rich, the colours are arresting. It's like I'm gliding through an altered dream yet this is just reality, more deeply felt, in all it's divine starkness. I'm meditative as I hang washing on the line. I muse at how captivating even this activity appears. For the first time in years, I choose to drink my green juice outside, in the garden - not ensconced at the kitchen table with books and magazines. I chew and swallow and experience it's textures fully. This like being in a new dimension, the old ways forgotten. "This is so easy! Should this be not the experience of all!?" The phone rings, it's a friend - I answer. A newfound, even chirpiness channels through my tone. My heart is open to her, my speech warm and steady. I am as joyed to hear from her as sit in stillness. One deliciously mundane dream unravels into others. I am not sure about tonight, whether I want to stay or go. Arrangements to be broken for the solitude, or invitations celebrated for connection? I can't decide - I'll take it our by hour. All I know is that suddenly I want to write and share ... and that's exquisite. Perhaps this blissfulness may soon be met with ego-death and hunger. Yet I know what I need now to stay strong. My body so craves the nutrients and the healing. And my mind feels so at ease it'll hurry it along. With love, Alina XoX