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Be the Lighthouse

Sacred Art and Yoga Teacher Training

9/8/2018

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This summer I signed up for the Sacred Art & Yoga Teacher training with Hari Kirin at Soul Yoga in New Hampshire. 

For years I have been following Hari Kirin and wished I could go to one of her trainings, and this year, with the generous help of Gwaii Trust Society, I was able to finally go and immerse myself in a sacred practice of art making, yoga, being in community with fellow teachers, artists and art therapists.
Sacred Kolam demonstration with Krupa Devi
Sacred Kolam practice
Meditation at the Lake, photo by Mia
Hari Kirin has a beautiful, gentle way of delivering Kundalini Yoga, which after watching a video of her on Facebook, convinced me she was the right mentor for me at this time of my life. Throughout the year she has helped me find a new way to practice Kundalini Yoga. She has also helped me reconnect with my art in new ways, encouraging the development of a daily art practice: 

Community and Alchemy

To come together as artists, teachers, like minded people in community is such a gift and propels our art making and spiritual practice into a whole new dimension.

As Hari Kirin writes, "The combination of yoga and the arts invites an experience of wholeness and healing that brings.... to be whole.... even for one breath is healing. It leads to being fully human, to heal and become a source of healing. Clearly more than ever before, today we need a sense of interconnectedness of our world. Whatever happens to any of us human, animal, plant or ecosystem is happening to all of us." 

My experience within this community was indeed deeply healing, alchemy happened and transformations took place.
​

Daily Practice

A little taste of our rich schedule in this training: we gathered from 6am to 5pm each day for a morning Kundalini Yoga sequence, followed by a 35 minute meditation, accompanied with live chanting and music by Siri Gopal. Each early morning session included Sacred practice of Kolam, a form of drawing with rice flour and rock powder, sometimes using naturally coloured powders. 
Kolam colours
Kola forms and shapes
Kolam expressions outside the studio
After breakfast we would dive deeper into day long training sessions and presentations by the different teachers. We were introduced to Sacred Dance & Movement, the healing practice of Sat Nam Rasayan, Henna practice,  Sacred Mandala practice, Brush & Ink work and Paper Bead Mala making. 
Henna practice, photo by Hari Kirin
Sacred Mandala Practice

Practicum

Each day one a group of 4 or 5 students were required to present a practicum. Each group was asked to put together a class with a different audience or art project in mind.

Our group turned out to be thrown in the deep end, as we had to present our practicum on the second day of the training! We were asked to come up with an art project incorporating 
Affirmation Dolls, brought from India by Krupa Devi. I had the honour to teach with Navneet Khalsa, yoga teacher and art therapy counsellor, Prema Dev Inderjeet, a trauma informed Art Therapist, and Sahaj Kaur, yoga teacher and established artist.

​It was fun and challenging in a team of 4 experienced teachers and artists to come up with a theme for our class, division of who teaches what and giving each part enough time: yoga, meditation, art, relaxation/closure. Deep listening, being able to alter/adjust on the spot, limit of time, letting go of expectations and the need to be perfect, trusting each other, and recognizing when participants are in their own (sometimes difficult) process, were all part of the lessons I came away with from this practicum. I'm so grateful for this enriching opportunity!  
Affirmation Dolls in progress
Closing ritual with Affirmation Dolls around the Group Mandala

Teachers:

Sacred Art & Yoga Training is offered by Hari Kirin Kaur Khalsa, accomplished Artist, Kundalini Yoga Teacher and writer of the book 'Art and Yoga, Kundalini Awakening in Everyday Life'. 

​
Krupa Devi, International Art Therapist and founder of Sankalpa Journeys in India, and Siri Gopal (Kristi Williamson), a a dynamic, embodied movement facilitator, assisted Hari Kirin during this training:
Hari Kirin and Krupa
Siri Gopal (Kristi Williamson)
Krupa Devi

The Mountain that Stands Alone

As part of our training, we were invited to Hari Kirin's personal land for a sacred art journey and were honoured with a lecture about 'Soul' by author and psychotherapist Thomas Moore.

Thomas encouraging us to embrace the eccentricity of being an artist, an image maker, allowing our soul to speak from this place of solitude and eccentricity while bridging existence in the outer world.

On this day, the Great Monadnock Mountain, the 'Mountain that Stands Alone' cleared the clouds and showed itself to us in all its glory.
Thomas Moore
Great Mountain Monadnock
Krupa offering outdoor education on Kolam
I'm ever grateful for this pilgrimage and this opportunity to immerse myself in this beautiful, rich and wise community for six days. It's been a sacred journey; leaving Sleeping Beauty Mountain crossing the ocean in a canoe and ferry; flying across the continent to Montreal; crossing rivers and border crossings in a car to finally arrive at the Mountain That Stands Alone, finding the treasure I was looking for. I highly recommend reading this edition of 'The Conference of Birds', as it describes the pilgrimage in a more eloquent way. What a blessing!

​While diving deep into the waters of art, yoga and soul, I found a great treasure in the depths, patiently waiting for me for over 40 years. It's been a re-birth of a kind and now I'm in need of rest, solitude and quiet to process, to cocoon and to allow the creative process to unfold naturally. I can't wait to see what emerges next!
The Master (Yogi Bhajan) and two pupils
To the Moon and Back
Exploring Home Territory
Thank you Hari Kirin Kaur Khalsa for guiding the way, for being a soothing, inspiring and nurturing light house. Thank you Krupa for helping me recognize the importance of ritual and reverence. Thank you Siri Gopal for your gift of performance, bringing Rumi, Hafiz, Moon Goddess and many others come to life in such a soul stirring way and helping me recognize and experience 'the other is you'. Thank you Thomas Moore for your gift of time, sacred space and soul language. Thank you Tejbhan, Stephanie Budd, for creating such a sacred and welcoming space for us at Soul Yoga each day.  

Thank you to all the Sacred Soul Sisters and Brother who attended this training. It was a deep honour and pleasure to work with you, to share the sacred space with you, to learn, to grow, to transform. 

Thank you to the generosity of Gwaii Trust Society, for their Workshop & Mentorship Grant Program, to make my attendance to this training and journey possible! 

And last but not least, thank you to our family for supporting this time for training, for developing myself in order to be able to give back to our community. You know who you are. Love you all! 

Blessings, love and light to all. 
​Kiki
Picture
Kiki in training, a little tired yet so grateful for all the enriching experiences. 
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Holding On & Letting go

9/7/2018

4 Comments

 
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Summer in Haida Gwaii has come to an abrupt halt: the holiday is over! Children are back to school, rain, wind and storms have arrived.

We know this change is inevitable; seasons change and darkness comes. We know this is all needed to balance and nurture life on earth. Yet, why do we resist and balk when change comes? Why can it be so hard to surrender to what is needed, to what is called for in our lives? Why can it be so hard to nurture ourselves? 

In my case, I think I'm a slow learner. For a while now, 8 years to be fair, through Meniere's disease my body has been asking me to slow down, to come to stillness, to let go of the 'pushing, shoving and keep on running'. 

​Last summer I heard the call loud and clear. I stopped running and took a quiet retreat on Robertson and listened. I heard I had a choice. I could either keep running and be swallowed whole in the storm, or letting go and surrender to find a quiet space of healing.
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I listened and chose letting go. I made changes in my work and daily life; reducing the number of yoga classes I taught and trying to master the 'Art of Napping'.

I thought I was doing the right thing and waited for the break-through in symptoms to free me up to go back to my usual, habitual pattern and lifestyle. I thought giving myself a year would be enough. 


Well, life doesn't exactly gives us what we want, but it does give us what we need..... Right?
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To live with chronic disease can be a challenge, not only for our physical and mental body, but also for family, friends and colleagues.
​
I tried to keep living the way I was used to for as long as possible, to keep everyone, including my mind (or should I say ego) happy.

This was what I knew, this was familiar, this was my habitual pattern and I was happy holding on as moving into the unknown can be pretty scary. 


But when the moment came I understood and felt in my core that this illness is something I cannot control; that it comes and goes at random; taking it's toll on me, my family and friends; and when the symptoms came back in full force; something clicked.  
Picture
​I needed to surrender and let go; I needed to listen and drop pretty much everything in order to create a healing space for myself.

The body knows, but it needs time and space of deep relaxation in order to heal.

This past year I slowly but surely ventured into the unknown. This year I'm apparently asked to go further and deeper into this healing space, into the unknown.

It's forcing me to step back even further from the known routines, habits, patterns and schedules and enter the silence. 
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I'm asked to allow the day to unfold as it needs to, with or without vertigo, with or without a clear head, with or without tinnitus.  

I'm asked to take care of myself, to nurture myself.  

I'm asked to immerse myself in the sacred healing space that I experience through the Gong; through the deeply nurturing, comforting and healing practice of Restorative Yoga and through my art practice.

It seems this is what my soul is asking me to do.
I trust the rest will become clear when it needs to.
​
Blessings to all,
Kiki
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