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: 

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.
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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. 

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.

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!

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

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.

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.
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Blessings to all,
Kiki

Sun Studio was honoured to host Tibetan Lama Geshe YongDong, founder of Sherab Chamma Ling Buddhist Centre in Courtenay, for a workshop experiencing Tibetan Bon Healing Practices for Body, Mind and Spirit during the Summer Solstice weekend. We are grateful for his generous sharing of his personal story and of these ancient practices and teachings.

​For anyone who missed it, or would like a refresher, please find an instructional YouTube video below. 

All human beings have a natural desire for balance in their lives and according to ancient Tibetan Bön texts, treatment for unbalance or disturbances is based on healing the spiritual, emotional and physical portions of our lives.  In Tibetan culture, the way to heal them is using healing and purification methods that have been passed down for over six thousand years.
 
"Our life would be much easier, healthier, and happier if we could free ourselves from ignorance, anger, and desire-attachment.  This is true both with regard to our mind, and with regard to our body and feelings. When we take care of the mind, our body and feelings will experience healing also."

​Bon healing practice works on the body, mind and spirit. It can help us clear physical illness as well as disturbances in our mind and our feelings. On the physical level, once we master a healing practice, we have the power to heal a variety of illnesses and pain.
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"Tsa Lung Trul Khor is the Tibetan name for special exercises that promote health and healing by purifying and balancing the five root lungs. Each exercise is a blend of breathing and body movements that are performed while visualizing energy movement. Tsa refers tp energy channels within the body; Lung refers to energy and breath; Trul means magic; and Khor refers to a moving wheel (chakra)." 
~ From 'Calm Breath, Calm Mind, A Guide to the Healing Power of Breath' by Geshe YongDong Losar, available at Sun Studio