Tag: yoga

Nature as a teacher of divine perfection.

by admin

Whenever I am feeling out of sorts, lost, ungrounded, anxious or looking to shift perspectives I tend to seek out the natural world as my teacher.

Nature teaches us many wisdoms. For one, it shows us how small and insignificant our perceived problems are. The vastness of a mountain or expansiveness of the ocean is a reminder that all is as it should be, it’s our concept or ideal around an “issue” that is causing suffering. 

“We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.”-unknown 

Tuning into the change of seasons, watching the ever expansive sky; sunrises, sunsets and the billions of stars illuminating the night teaches us that there are cycles to the self and life. That nothing stays the same, that part of our purpose is to embrace these cycles, as each transition is a step forward to the awakening of our divine purpose and gifts.

One day, a while back I was struggling with a perceived issue that seemed so big and insurmountable to me at the time. We took a day trip into the Sierra Nevadas in Northern California. We stopped at a lake; brought some food and drinks and stayed for the afternoon. I was mesmerized by the sunlight reflecting off the lake creating thousands of baby diamond light flickers off the water. My mind became still, as I embraced the moment.

A insight rolled in, as they usually do once I allow my mind to quiet down. 

“Everything is perfect, in divine time as it is. It’s your perception of reality that is causing you great discomfort and suffering.”

The insight was exactly right! Isn’t it our war with reality that makes us suffer? In that moment, ha! It was just a moment, I was able to let go and feel peace as I allowed and aligned with a open hearted trust, “things are in their divine place and as they should be.”

But of course the ego chimed in, my mind chatter revved up and I began having an internal debate with my soul, basically. Isn’t this so human of us to fight our true nature and divine truths? 

As at times I embody that same wisdom, it’s like having daily amnesia, I forget that all is on time and on purpose. Nothing happens in Gods world by mistake. I also realized if we don’t like the reality we have created for ourselves, we have the power to change it. However whatever reality or story we find ourselves in, there will always be lessons and challenges.   

There are blessings in each circumstance. Seems like a paradox, well because it is; often the things that bring us to our knees in life are nothing but doorways connecting us to the freedom within. 

Trusting the unfoldment of our lives. While doing our best to not resist or fight life’s circumstances or ourselves.. Rather, quiet the mind, takes some space and step into nature; if only to marvel at the magnificence of the natural world, while embracing the divine being that you are. 

All is as it should be. You are safe, you are loved.

Love, B.

Risk; the road to growth and joy

by admin

What is it about taking risks that is absolutely liberating and a bit scary at the same time? 

That sense of aliveness that comes from stepping into unknown territories and new frontiers. Risks are dreams waiting to be realized and consciously created. The willingness to take a risk, or chance is the ability to trust that whatever happens is guiding you more near to inner growth and joy no matter what the outcome. 

Everything begins as a dream, from our deeper self. We are the dreamer dreaming our own dream. A risk is a intentional action that acknowledges future uncertainty about deviation from an expected outcome. Risk measures the uncertainty one is willing to take to realize a possible future gain. Taking a chance on changing careers, moving somewhere new, investing in ones education, starting a new business all begin as a dream, a vision from ones heart and being.

I don’t believe our life dreams are random, they are leading us to our divine purpose and gifts.

Without risk there would be little growth for forward momentum, as nothing is certain or stays the same. To have choice to stay the same, or move beyond is a gift to our souls purpose. I believe within each human lives a dream that is asking to be known, seen and worked towards. That thing inside that feels “oh so right”- a true alignment with our mission is what moves us forward beyond current realities.

3 levels of taking risks:

Level 1: Dip your big toe in:

How do we know what and when is a good time to take a risk? Dip your toe in the water. Start by taking small risks. Play with the edges, get just a smidge uncomfortable. Learn to trust your instincts. Get curious about the outcomes, studying risk is a great way to begin. Be playful, explore and see how each time you take small steps, that can help you build more confidence in yourself and the universe in which you are co-creating with. 

Level 2: Turn within: 

Ask yourself what you really want for your life. Life map, what would it take to get there? What are your biggest fears and possible obstacles, and what would happen if you stayed the same, or grew into this new dream? Straight up journal and meditate on this, begin to listen to your soul and trust your inner compass, your true north. 

Level 3: The leap of faith: 

You have done the work to lead up to this moment. You have taken smaller, intentional risks, explored your edges of comfort and learned to be open to different outcomes. 

You are ready for the leap of faith! The bigger step towards your dreams aka: souls calling. 

Maybe you want to invest in your future with additional schooling, a new home, relationship or career. You are happy and comfortable where you are, you also feel there is something bigger waiting for you. 

Jump into the abyss of the unknown! Yup, it will be a wild adventure, you will fall and pick yourself back up; becoming stronger and more resilient. You will meet people along the way that will help you realize your dream. Even the perceived “obstacles” are opportunities for you to grow, and awaken your potential. You will question your decision at times, and remember the days you were comfortable and content. Through this all, you will also feel alive, excited and learn things about yourself you had no idea existed. 

You will create your dream, and it will look different that you imagined- most of the time “better”. You will arrive at your new reality a bit scuffed up, polished and even brighter than before. Like a coal under pressure that becomes a diamond.

It hasn’t been easy, but looking back you have grown so much as a person. You have made new friends, and built more confidence in yourself. You may, or may not have “arrived”.

At this point you realize that the dream you dream is a story inside you waiting to lived, not achieved. That each risk, large or small; bring your closer to living your life more fully, with presence and deep intention. With each risk, your heart opens to more grace and possibility. You learn that whether you take a risk intentionally or not, life itself is a risk as well waiting for you to play with it, exploring and learning great lessons along the way.

Risk; is the ability to tune in, listen and create our lives consciously with mad faith, moving from the place of desire to grow and create expanded joy in our lives, fearlessly.

Be still to heal: You are your own resource.

by admin

For most of my life I have ran from my feelings and my own sensitivities. what I mean by running isn’t necessarily a physical manifestation, it can show up in the form of distracting oneself. Distracting oneself with addictions, over working, busy work, exercise, perfectionism, social media, and other outside things to avoid or numb out uncomfortable sensations and experiences. What I have also learned that this is a coping tool for traumas small and large, a way to emotionally be ok. And honestly, it works well, until it doesn’t any longer. Eventually this pain or suffering is asking us to look at it, and love it.

I share this because I know I am not alone in this wanting to distract oneself from self defeating inner dialogue, stressors, disappointments in life, and patterns of pain. This does not make us bad or broken, these experiences makes us human learning to navigate the human condition. Being human is a art and science, and a lifetime of inner work, practice and remembering who we are. 

It has taken a lifetime to learn about myself (still learning, always) my patterns and tendencies of wanting to distract from life. For years I used alcohol to numb my inner sufferings. Seeking outside resources to fill that God sized whole within. Getting sober in 2012 was my first step in this wild adventure of awakening and healing. I believe the path of awakening evokes a clearer vision of the things that hold us back from our greatness and potential.

Walking through the things that trouble us, or hold us hostage in our own minds and hearts can feel like a hindrance, however they often are gifts in hindsight. Obstacles are often perceived as annoyances, however they are put on our path to strengthen our resolve and return us to our power within. Things are being revealed to be healed, within that knowing we can find freedom, and come back to our healing through authenticity. 

Along my journey of personal and spiritual development I have learned some key lessons that have guided me in becoming “unstuck” and helped me to move forward into healing and happiness. 

1.) Be still, slow down and get quiet. This is a tough one! It took me many, many years of inner suffering to learn that the the only way out is through. To this day, I still try the old outdated coping skill of distraction, only to find myself swirling and spiraling in my own self demise. When I choose stillness practices such as meditation, breathing, yoga nidra, journaling, self inquiry or simply lying on the floor- I feel myself begin to heal on a heart and visceral level. I feel myself beginning to integrate and return to my intrinsic wholeness. The shift within feels like balance, peace and serenity. Nothing outside of me fills me up more than these simple, yet profound practices. 

2.) Compassion and unconditional love for oneself. This is a practice that I believe is one of the most important and potent ones. Learning to cultivate a loving, kind compassionate relationship with one self, can change the trajectory of our life and the experiences we have with others. Being gentle with ourselves along the way is huge for cultivating compassion, and loving kindness towards oneself and those we hold dearly. Thích Nhất Hạnh quotes: “When the baby is crying, the mother picks up the baby and she holds the baby tenderly in her arms. Your pain, your anxiety is your baby. You have to take care of it. You have to go back to yourself, to recognise the suffering in you, embrace the suffering, and you get a relief.” 

3.) Surrender. Resistance to reality is futile! One of my favorites spiritual teachers Stephen Cope quotes, “Through practice, I’ve come to see that the deepest source of my misery is not wanting things to be the way they are. Not wanting myself to be the way I am. Not wanting the world to be the way it is. Not wanting others to be the way they are. Whenever I’m suffering, I find this war with reality to be at the heart of the problem.”

Being true to ourselves, aligning with “what is”, can transform the way we interact with our world. By not embracing what is, we are fighting, resisting and communicating to the universal intelligence that we don’t trust life and we know better.

I try to remind myself during times of anxiety and self doubt, “I do not know the big picture.” But if I believe, like I believe that all works out is for the greater good for all involved, I can relax deeper and find peace and trust in the mystery.

Surrendering to a power greater than ourselves is not giving up, In fact it is the strongest thing we can do. By surrendering, we are trusting in this power to help guide and care for us. 

By surrendering, we are getting out of our own way in which expands our perspectives and encourages peaceful solutions to our problems.

Learning to acknowledge when we are distracting ourselves from our pain and uncomfortable emotions is a practice. To hold ourselves with care, patience and kindness as we move through challenging situations within ourselves is a life long practice of mindfulness and loving acceptance to what is. We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are. Ghandi most famously quotes, “be the change you wish to see.”
Our growth and expansion as beings is one of the greatest services we can do for humanity. 

We all have the power within, to heal, grow and thrive. Be still, take a deep breath and know that no matter what, you are loved, and are right where you are supposed to be. 💜

The journey to wholeness through the path of Yoga.

by admin
Big Sur, Ca.

My first Yoga experience was back in 1998, Chandler Arizona. I was about 17 years old. In some ways I am the same as I was then, but very different from who I am now.

At the time I was athletic, but also a bit of a troublemaker and an artist. I’ve always lived between these two worlds of health and fitness but having a bit of a rebellious streak. Exploring alternatives, living outside the box and challenging the norms.

Which is probably why the Yoga practice resonated with me so deeply right away. Yoga is strength building internally and externally. Also, I feel like to be a Yogi or a Yogini, in a the way, you gotta rebel against old ways of thinking and being in order to grow into your true nature.

My first class was at the YMCA at 17 years old. There is something special that I felt about the practice of yoga. At the time I was studying astrology and metaphysics as I always have! it has been a great interest to me. I love the balance of science and spirituality that Yoga brought to the table even back then through my perception of it.

10 years later, at 27 years old I stepped into my first 200 hour yoga teacher training in Tempe Arizona. Alongside that, I studied therapeutic massage therapy. It was quite a unique program. Within a year I had a 200 hour yoga teaching certificate and also credentials to work as a massage therapist. I did this work in combination for close to a decade.

I wasn’t always in my practice. There were gaps of time even years where I didn’t practice at all, especially in my 20s. However there was something about the practice that kept calling me back; time and time again.  I would land on my yoga mat and meet myself at different ages, stages and forms of self. 

Often I would seek refuge in the practice when I was going through something challenging or traumatic in my life. It often, with great grace, got me through the other side, a whole person. A more integrated human. 

My first Yoga community was in Portland Oregon. The studio was called Santosha Yoga and it was owned by these two lovely women that played an integral part of my growth, healing and teaching. I practiced at the studio for eight years and I taught there for six. Most of my friends came from that community, it was my family.

Living in Portland I had access to many amazing teachers, studios and even famous guest teachers that would often travel through the city and teach workshops. 

As each teacher (seasoned and green) had something unique to share in a different perspective to be known, I felt the same about the practice of Yoga. The practice brought me great peace, helping me to align with truth and coax me back home to my center.

Being a Yoga practitioner for almost 2 decades and teaching for nine years I have walked through many challenges and adversities on and off my Yoga mat.  I would have to say that the one thing that kept me whole, even in the perceived brokenness was the light of the Yoga practice.

Often we think that Yoga is just a physical manifestation in our body. The more I practiced and learned about myself, I found that the real practice is the one that cannot be seen physically within a Yoga pose. Rather; the radiance of ourselves, our light and aura, is the marker on the road to emerging and awakening within.

The practice becomes the heart of how we live our lives from a place of presence, alignment, true purpose and calling.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word that can translate roughly to wholeness, to unite or integrate. Ultimately this practice, I believe; is a healing practice that allows us to be who we are, as we are. Cultivating compassion, acceptance and humility along our trajectory of growth and expansion. 

Accepting ourselves fully, with great love even the dark things! Even the hard things! Especially those things! Brings us hOMe to the freedom within.

If we are constantly compartmentalizing or pushing all the dimensions of ourselves that we do not like, or “approve of” it is challenging to return to our intrinsic wholesness. 

Each lesson in life is but a great teacher that is meant to guide us back to our soul self, the atman. Through the unification of self, we then begin to expand the matrix of unification beyond the self.

The work takes great courage. The work starts on the inside, with desire and intention. Stepping into all the unknown spaces of our mind and hearts that maybe we have suppressed or been afraid to look at as a part of our wholeness.

The practice of Yoga or wholeness can then integrate through our whole being and beyond. The practice then overtime becomes less about doing and more about being. 

We already are the Yoga, and in the practice of remembrance we are assisting in peeling back the shrouds and the layers that get in the way of our light and truth.

We are already whole, complete and filled with great light and love. The Yoga practice helps us to navigate our humanness, samskaras, and tendencies with more awareness and compassion. And with practice, lots of practice! We then may find and experience all we are, and all that we are truly unified with as a whole in each moment, as it’s unfolding. 

Happy practicing! Keep going.

Love,

Brittany Adams

Welcome to your revolution

by admin


Welcome! My name is Brittany Adams and I have been fascinated with health, healing and transformation since I was a young teenager. As anything in life, my passion for self care health care has evolved into what it is today.
As an integrative wellness coach and Yoga teacher I find great joy and purpose in witnessing clients personal revolutions. This is why we are here as spiritual beings having human experience- to heal, grow and thrive!
Life is a soul journey full of ups, downs and spirals. It is our calling to remember who we are, and our choice in how we choose process and apply what we learn along the way.

Coaching and Yoga is that container for personal revolution and transformation.

My hope for this website content is to offer the resources to support you along your journey back hOMe to your true self. I will be sharing weekly wellness musings and frequent travel photography, inspiration, links to articles, books, stories, ted talks, you tubes and more!

If you need deeper support I offer integrative wellness and self care coaching, community Yoga classes and private Zoom Yoga sessions.

Self love and care is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and those we love. Self care is how we take our power back, and return to wholeness.

Taking great care of ourselves is how we fill our buckets. Giving us energy, vitality and the ability to share our gifts with the world in a powerful way!

It is my honor to offer this content, I hope you find great value in it.

Peace, Love + Health,

Brittany Adams CMT, RYT