Day 9 ~ It flows...

"Chakra Wheel" ~ Colored Pencil Spring 2005 ~ Laurie Elizabeth

Today I chose to follow the natural flow of my body as I moved through sun salutations and standing poses...allowing my body to take over so that my mind could rest and my spirit could rejuvenate. This is a very fulfilling way to deepen my yoga practice...to trust that I have the knowing within. Ahhhhhh......

There are certainly times in my life when I feel I am moving in an effortless, blissful, flow....everything is lining up in a divine way...synchronicity after sychronicity...and I am in a constant state of Love. Then there are the times when I am fighting the river...swimming upstream because I want something so badly that I refuse to notice that the waves just keep pushing me back to where I started. What is funny to me is that I had an arts therapist recently tell me my animal totems for my "yin" and "yang" energies. My "yin"....(my feminine energy) animal is the otter....then there is my "yang" (masculine energy) animal totem...the salmon! Here are the keywords for both....

Salmon: Creative, Passionate, Loyal, Courageous, Prideful..."Just as the Salmon is driven home to spawn, the individual who has Salmon as his/her Birth Totem, is most fulfilled when exploring the depths of his/her own soul (home) so that a true work of art may be given birth in the form of poetry, paintings, or the less tangible creation of ideas."

Otter: Inventive, Friendly, Curious, Independent, Tactless..."Otter individuals have a deep-seated curiosity that leaves them hungry for all of the "oysters" of information that exist in a Universal Sea of knowledge. Yet the challenge for them is to not become so weighted down by the variety that is available to them that they are constantly picking up, then dropping each idea in favor for a new and more tantalizing one.

These totems are very much aligned with my gifts and challenges...In my active, masculine "salmon" self, I am most fulfilled when I am pursuing my spiritual path through my artwork...and though the journey feels like a struggle at times as I work through and heal my emotional, mental, and physical blocks that keep me from reaching my "destination"...it is an inward journey to the home that dwells deep inside of me. When I am in my feminine "otter" self, I am just following the fun...I'm going where I want to go...I'm exploring and adventuring...I'm giggling and being silly...I'm super social...I'm excited to learn a new skill...and YES..I tend to just nibble until I get it so that I can move on to the next best thing. It's one of my talents..to be able to learn and adapt so quickly..but I have yet to feel that I have mastered one art. I go back and forth as to whether I will ever be great at one thing...I can tap dance, hula hoop, play ukuele, guitar, flute, drum, paint, draw, sculpt....and I could be content in any of these areas....but where will I end up? A psychic told me that my abstract sculpture work would be a big part of my contribution to the world...that a complete and happy me will always do many things...I may be performing, working with children, and sculpting...or maybe something will be put off to the side for a while. This was comforting for me to hear...I had been pulling my self apart...into little pieces...I would ask myself..what do I like the most? dance? art? music?....well look out world...Laurie Elizabeth might end up being one flaired out, colorful, powerful woman....her heart set on bringing love and healing in any way possible.....whether its art therapy, flowers, songs, or hula hoops...I'm a comin!

Namaste ~ SAT NAMMMMMMM........xo