Health and Wellness with Allison

Full Moon & Gratitude My favorite Full Moon Ritual is a Gratitude Practice. I take a few deep breaths, light a candle, pause, and reflect on what am I grateful for. I say my gratitudes out loud to really feel the words in my body. I finish with a silent meditation.  I love this ritual because it is simple yet profound. I enjoy this gratitude practice because it gives me time – time “I don’t have” and time “I need” – to give thanks. I fill-up with gratitude by remembering all the people that I love and all the experiences that enrich my life. I envision myself shining brightly like the full moon in the night sky.  With this practice,  I can find gratitude for every experience. This Full Moon I am grateful for my meditation practice because it  helped me to stay calm and have faith during the most painful and terrifying experience of my life.  On a warm afternoon day, I was hiking in the desert mountains of East San Diego County, when suddenly, I had a gut feeling that I was n

Bound Lotus Kriya: A Personal Journey of Love, Forgiveness and Surrender Written for the Spirit Voyage Blog “Who has never seen the Bound Lotus posture?” Asked Mahan Kirn to the room of yogis. “Me,” I thought as I raised my hand. The only image I could think of was that of the classic yogi sitting in padhmasana (full lotus pose) meditating under a Bodhi Tree. I decided to attend the Maha Bound Lotus workshop at Sat Nam Fest on impulse like many things in life. I had no idea what would unfold from this practice, all I knew was that I had to show up! I was one of the few yogis who had never seen or practiced the Bound Lotus Kriya. “Well if you knew what you were getting into, you probably wouldn’t have come,” Mahan Kirn smiled knowingly. “Yes, very true,” I thought. Actually, if I had known how Sat Nam Fest would change the course of my life or of the pain and trauma that I would re-live in the Bound Lotus Kriya, I would have never arrived to the festival or the class

The Power of Mantra: Remembering How to Love Tuning - In at Sat Nam Fest West The first time I “tuned in” was with almost 1,000 people at Sat Nam Fest West in Joshua Tree, California. I arrived to Sat Nam Fest alone. I had no idea what Kundalini Yoga was and I didn’t know anyone at the festival. I signed up to volunteer & drove from San Francisco on a gut feeling. I didn’t think about what I was doing, I just knew I had to go.  On the first day of the festival, hundreds of people filed in to the main tent. Yogis, adorned in white, rolled out their yoga mats and place their sheep skins down. I had never seen anything like this before - hundreds of people gathered under one roof ready to practice kundalini yoga together - and was in complete awe of scene in front of me. Like a hive of bees, the yogis created a buzz of excited chatter. The teacher walked on stage and her presence cut through the air of anticipation like a hot knife through butter. Without any hesitation sh

Full Moon in Scorpio Moon Magic in Beltane May 3, 2015 A poem inspired from the gratitude I have for the women in my life.  May we always Remember who we truly are. Thank You for the love that you give, for your love brings new life on Earth.  As you share your love,  you light up this world like stars that illuminate the night sky. Your love is our greatest resource. It can travel farther than an Eagle can soar,  and beyond the depths to the Earth’s molten core, Your love is Infinite, Expansive, and Limitless. You are a Goddess in all her glory,  and a human with all her flaws, Perfectly imperfect. It is not easy being the greatest gift to the world,  but you were not born to live an ordinary life.  You are here to live a life that is extra-ordinary, a life to say “Yes!” to, and a life that you love to live and live to love! So in the times when you feel overwhelmed, when there are too many dishes to clean, and too many do

Mercury in Retrograde (October 4 - 25) Mercury is known as the Rule of Communication . It’s symbol is formed by the circle of Spirit resting between the crescent of Soul and the cross of Matter. Mercury's symbol shows that woman can creatively express herself by understanding how to unite and integrate Spirit, Soul and Matter in to her life. Her ability to express herself depends on her perception , which is also under Mercury's domain. Mercury is used to experience the Soul, express the Spirit, and fulfill one's body. Each person is different with his or her perception and creative expression. How do you see the world? With a Soulful lens, in which you see the Divine Essence in all things? From the Spirit, where you see shapes, colors, lights? Or from the body where you see the world as physical or material? Every individual is able to see the world from all of 3 of these perspectives, but many choose to view the world through one lens. There is no wron

Life Lessons from the Waxing Moon First Quarter to Full Moon are the Waxing phases of the Moon. Light covers more than have of the surface of the Moon and increases steadily during this time. Have you ever noticed that the moon seems to get full fast during this time? This phase of the moon represents the personality of the ego. During this phases of the Moon, you may feel like "blocked" or "stuck" because you are up against an obstacle(s) in life. The Moon represents the subconscious and gives us an opportunity to see what is hidden in our shadow. The experience of facing an obstacle is amplified right now by Pluto in Direct  (a time when our unseen desires surface) and with the recent change of seasons to Fall (the Autumn Equinox is known in esoteric circles as the Great Death a time when our fears are brought to light and we have to Let Go of old ways that no longer serve us). Both happenings dig up "stuff" from depths of our soul so we have a l