Altitude of Gratitude

How high can you fly?

When we are grateful, our spirit soars!… our heart expands….. and our mind is open.

When we are grateful the Wellspring flows unimpeded through our physical being and through our lives.  The feeling of it rising is palpable.

Today I had my first ocean swim for the season.  What a feeling!  Talk about the altitude of gratitude!  Amidst perfect weather, my favourite blend of sand and aquas, BIG skies and deep indigo blues, I was SO struck with gratitude I actually felt it rising up inside of me.  The water was delicious.  Actually at one point I caught myself tasting the salt on my lips, thinking mmmmm!!!

It. Was. So. Good.

All of the tension of the past few weeks; the tight shoulders, the rushing about, the grumbly hormonal headaches that have been ‘a thing’, have now left me.  I feel free and energised by a force so great and so beautiful and so amazing that I could burst(!) my heart is so swollen with love.  Life on earth is such a blessing!

Last night I hosted the annual Find Your Voice Singing Soiree.  This is an evening where I invite all of my singing students and their families along to my home for a special evening of song, swimming and sizzling great food.  This year our little community of families has grown and we filled the entire back yard.  It was such a gorgeous evening, filled with goodness on so many levels.  I am so proud of all of my incredibly talented students!  And so privileged to be apart of something so uplifting.

It really feels like, the more we can be grateful for all of the great things in our lives, large and small, the higher you may be able to go and the greater the altitude you may reach!

This week at MYSHA, we are CELEBRATING the year we have had together.  We have reached the final week in our Wellspring Process and it’s time to reflect and review and explore the altitude of our gratitude!

If you would like to join me for this beautiful practice, please be in touch.

Thursday afternoon 3.45-5.15pm for MYSHA Girls

Friday morning 9.30am for MYSHA Women

Friday afternoon 3.45-5.15pm, MYSHA for Kids.

Please stay tuned for some singing and sound therapy events over the summer holidays, as well as a creative workshop in the new year!

Much love and gratitude,

Melissa ♡

Opening up to clearly SEE

What would it mean to you to have…

• clearer vision of your path ahead,
• greater insight into life’s experiences and the meaning of it all and
• a voice within that you can trust to guide you in the right direction for your highest good?

These are the benefits of heightened intuition – or inner tuition; our central guidance system, inner compass and higher voice.

In times past, long before technology changed our lives, we relied upon our intuition on a daily basis, over and over. We would listen out for sounds in the environment, watch for light increasing or fading, tune into our primal, felt sense to make decisions, and weigh up the signals toward survival.  We still do this to some extent, although our ability to use and more importantly, to trust in our intuition has largely been lost in modern day life.

At MYSHA this week, we will be exploring the gift of intuition.  We have come far in our WellSPRING process, from the seed courageously emerging from the darkness out into the light, right up to the blossoming flower.  With our petals unfurled, now out in full bloom, we reveal our centre.  When we centre ourselves deep in this place, we gain fuller, clearer vision and a new perspective of how we are in the world.  Once we have this awareness, we can decide how/where we want to be and navigate our way forward. Our new seeds are already forming and this part of the MYSHA Wellspring Process prepares us for the path ahead.

If you would like to join us in our multimodal exploration of the gift of intuition, the third eye – Ajna chakra and how it can work for you, through the MYSHA practice, please be in touch.  We have groups for women, girls and for the children, as well as personal sessions.

May your way forward be clear,

Melissa ♡

MYSHA Wellbeing Circle for Women Friday from 9.30am

MYSHA for Girls Thursday 3.45-5.15pm

MYSHA for Kids Friday 3.45-5.15pm

 

Empowering Practice

How does our practice empower us?

Human beings are truly magnificent creations.  When we make a decision to master something new – if we practice that new skill correctly and with enough frequency, our brains develop stronger and faster neural connections.  This means that over time, mastery is achieved and practice really can make “perfect”.  (For a nice, easy neurobiology lesson on how it works on a cellular level, you can read more here.)

This week, our wellspring process takes us further along the journey of the growing seed to the tiny sprout’s first production of leaves.  Here, the life (and wellspring) of the plant bursts forth a ladder-like formation of leaves in a repeating pattern up the stem – which strengthens as it develops.  Soon enough, the tiny leaves develop into larger leaves and onward and upwards the plant climbs, no more just a tiny seed in the ground!

It’s such a great metaphor for how repetitive, organised practice helps us to develop and become our bigger, better selves.  If the goal we set ourselves can be likened to the plant flowering and blossoming into its full beauty and magnificence, then this stage of growth is critical.  Only once the plant has matured through steady growth of leaves and stem can it begin to blossom.

So this week is all about rolling up our sleeves, doing the work, putting the time in and persevering with our practice knowing that we are on our way to achieving our ultimate goals.

Each leaf, large or small, is a step towards the flower at the top.  So in what way, can we use this metaphor in our lives?  What is it that you need to practice to reach your goal?

Besides practising for the big targets we set ourselves through life, like studying for a qualification, giving a speech, learning a musical instrument, training for a sporting event, or going for that big job, here are some less obvious but perhaps just as meaningful ideas to practice up which help us to become our bigger, better soul selves….

• learning to smile and say thank you each time someone pays us a compliment
• learning how to say ‘no’ when someone oversteps a personal boundary
• mindfully setting the intention to ‘drink in’ a ‘big moment’ as it is happening
• taking five minutes every night to reflect upon our day and to be grateful
• stopping to look in the mirror and tell ourselves “I love you”
• listening to our body whenever it hurts or is hungry or tired and responding with self loving kindness
• choosing our battles wisely
• taking the time out and going for that beach walk or swim
• journalling about our significant moments
• sharing our hopes and dreams, struggles and disappointments with a good listener
• meditating and connecting to the divine every day
• learning something new each day/week/month/year
• uncovering and following a new passion

….the list is endless.

The message is the same…..

In order to flourish and to blossom, we need to practice!  Add to that a little perseverance and patience and we are well on our way.

If you would like some creative support to EMPOWER yourself with practice, please join us this week at the MYSHA heARTSpace!

With love and blessings,

Melissa ♡

 

Natural Self Healers

There’s a chill in the air isn’t there!  This time of year is a wonderful time to cuddle up and enjoy our children, to sit together with a warm drink, play a game, watch a movie, or go for a bush walk.  It’s also that time of the year when we need to give ourselves a bit of extra love and attention, to boost our immune systems and keep ourselves healthy amidst the seasonal colds and viruses that can take hold if we don’t!

The great news is that we humans are amazingly clever at healing ourselves.

At MYSHA, we believe that we are all natural self-healers and that given the right information, guidance and opportunities to practice, we can access some truly awesome outcomes for health and wellbeing, in body, mind, heart and spirit!

So this term, we have put together a very special program for children to increase awareness and to build upon their innate skills as natural self healers!

We will be exploring a variety of holistic arts based modalities, including visual arts (painting, drawing, sculpting etc.), singing, dancing, yoga, meditation and mindfulness techniques, along with making our own Australian Bush flower essences, affirmation cards and crystal grids.

I am also very excited to be taking on some further training this term in the area of sound therapy!  So later in the term, I am excited to be able to offer the children access to sound baths with musical instruments such as crystal singing bowls, Himalayan bowls, percussion and more.

This all makes for a wonderful term of healthy goodness and wellbeing for your young ones at MYSHA for Kids.

If you would like to book a place, please contact me via the tab in the top menu bar as soon as possible, as places will fill quickly.

 

The full term beginning Friday, 21st July at 3.45pm (til 5.15pm) will be 6 weeks in total (21/7, 28/7, 11/8, 18/8, 25/8 and 8/9) and the cost is $110.  Casual attendance can be accommodated where there are places available at a cost of $20 per class.  Fees are all inclusive of materials.  

Please share this opportunity with yourlike minded friends and family who may be interested in high quality after school activities for their children.

Many thanks and healing blessings to you all this winter,

Melissa 🙂

A sense of belonging…

Do you have a sense of belonging?  Do you know where you fit?

Often I think where we belong is where we feel most comfortable.  For me, it’s that gorgeously welcome feeling of my own home and even deeper, my creative arts studio and further into sanctuary, my own bedroom.  But what about outside our own homes?  Do you have a sense of belonging at your workplace or place of study?  Are there groups that you gather with where you feel a sense of belonging?  How does this impact your wellbeing?What if you don’t feel as though you belong?  What if there aren’t opportunities to belong?  What happens when we keep getting the idea that we simply don’t fit in?  What happens then?

In order to cultivate personal, interpersonal and planetary wellbeing, (that’s health on all levels – physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and creative) it is imperative that we have a sense of belonging.  Dr Daniel Siegel, interpersonal neurobiologist and (long time, personal favourite) author, writes extensively about this need to connect to each other, and for a sense of belonging for wellbeing.  He relays a story of sitting with a tribe in Namibia where poverty, famine, drought and disease are rife, yet the people beamed smiles, they laughed and seemed to possess a great deal of happiness.  When he asked them why despite their obvious difficulties they seemed so happy, one villager replied via the translator, “because we belong”.  To belong, it would seem, meets a need that perhaps surpasses even a hungry belly.  This wonderful sense of connection to the whole, their community and to the place they called their home was their sustenance, their nourishment and the fuel they needed to be well…. to be happy.

When we feel a sense of belonging, we know we are at least to some degree accepted and valued for who we are.  If others accept us and value us, then we must be ok.  It’s wonderfully assuring stuff and when we are self assured and feeling quite secure and safe, we can move through life with purpose and confidence.  Without a sense that we belong; if instead we feel rejected, outcast, not accepted and devalued, it’s extremely difficult to get motivated, to surge ahead and much easier to withdraw from the outside world altogether.

What happens in the brain when we don’t feel safe and securely attached is a kind of looping that goes on between the emotional and reactionary centres.  In a nutshell, we get the feedback that we aren’t, or must not be ok because we don’t actually belong and our sympathetic nervous systems are literally triggered into action (fight or flight mode) because we feel alone, separate and unsupported – unsafe.  When this happens, we suffer a range of physiological responses: elevated levels of anxiety, the stress hormone cortisol floods our systems, our heart races, we are unable to think clearly, and so on.  It’s much more difficult to be calm and make intelligent decisions because all our energies are primed and ready to protect ourselves from danger.  What this all means is that on our own, life is so much harder.  In a loving and supportive group such as a family or wider community, we can relax a bit and share the load.  We can be less vigilant, less triggered.  A sense of belonging goes a long way to mental, emotional and even physical wellbeing.

At MYSHA, the experience of being in and belonging to a loving and supportive group is one of the great benefits of this practice.  It’s a truly awe-inspiring thing to witness a group of children or women connecting with each other and encouraging each other creatively, spiritually and emotionally.  These relationships that we are building are integral in developing our shared sense of belonging which is so important in wellbeing.

This Friday at MYSHA, in both our groups for children and for women, we will mindfully explore through the arts, what it is to belong, how it feels and what it means to us.  If you would like to be a part of this creative exploration and benefit from the wellbeing group experience, you are very warmly welcome!

For bookings please contact us.

 

Creative Connections

MYSHA for Kids is soon to recommence for 2017 on Friday, 10th February.

This term, we are focusing on our connections….

Connecting to ourselves,

Connecting to one another in community,

And connecting to nature.

Many of us as parents, have felt (especially during the school holidays), the heaviness of having our children attached to screens and devices.  Or if not actually attached to them, they WANT to be.  Never before has technology been so pervasive in our daily lives.  We parents, who are attempting to live a more awakened life are feeling the weight of this on our shoulders.  It feels to me as though no one is immune to what can only be now referred to as technology addiction.

Without going on and on about how deleterious this may or will be on our people, for all its  problems and all its benefits (which we all enjoy), technology is leading us away from ourselves, away from each other and away from nature.  Which is what has spurred me to develop a series of beautiful face to face, Naturally Inspired Sacred Play Circles for real children in the real world to enjoy, each and every Friday afternoon, after school.

During our hour and a half together, with a backdrop of native bushland, soft green grass and wide open skies, this beautiful group of children will experience the simple pleasures of singing, breathing, meditating, dancing, moving, creating, painting, drawing, reflecting, sharing, listening, expressing……and connecting.  The multimodal nature of MYSHA offers the perfect opportunity for children to express themselves and connect to themselves and each other in meaningful ways.

After a full and busy week at school, this is the most beautiful way for your child to take some time to check in with themselves in the now moment and to ask, “What’s happening for me right now?  Am I ok?  What’s working?  How do I want to be?  What do I need to do differently to make that happen?”  These kinds of questions support a child to mindfully connect to themselves and to become more self aware.  It is through the deepening of self awareness that we awaken.  When we are awake, we can live life more intentionally…. being who we want to be and achieving our goals.

All without a device.

Blessings & Peace,

Melissa

If you would like to book your child in to our regular Friday afternoon group, please contact us via the contact tab in the menu with your enquiries.  EARLY BIRD TERM PASSES ARE AVAILABLE until the 10th Feb, 2017!