Essence of the Seasons ~ Summer Ponderings in Full!

Hey there lovely one,

I last wrote to you as summer was upon us and the anticipation of Christmas on the horizon. Now Autumn rolls in but it feels like the heat, physically and metaphorically, hasn’t mellowed. Summer definitely had some spice for me. It also had stillness. It reminded me that grief is only love, boundaries are to be honoured and that my stress response isn’t always an evil nemesis.

I had a very quiet Christmas in the rainforest.Jake was working so I took time to soften into my own natural flow, and whilst I missed my family, I enjoyed the solitude as well. Christmas seems to bring up some grief for me. Amongst the festive joy, I find myself very sentimental of my childhood and my heart often yearns for those not here anymore. It’s a truth I have only just felt comfortable sharing.

So when I arrived in New Zealand to holiday with some of my dearest Soul tribe, it felt like a homecoming when I not only cried my eyes out with tears of laughter but also cried with tenderness as we shared the highs and lows of our present selves. During this time I was shown a powerful song called “Grief is only Love” and also stumbled across a gorgeous new album my Ajeet called “Heartbeat” (I recommend looking them up!).

January also offered me a lot of practice in honouring my boundaries. I feel this is particularly important to mention within the spiritual realm. In my instance, a sound “healer” took it upon himself to directly message me, inferring that there was something wrong with my relationship because he needed to “heal” me more during a session of his I’d attended and apparently there was too much protective energy between my partner and I (Jake attended this with me and we were lying side by side). It’s in these instances that the mind-body connection we cultivate in practice is so important. My body was tense and I felt very violated so I knew a boundary had been crossed. The old me would have avoided but my heart knew I needed to speak into this not just for me but for other women that go into this man’s sessions. I simply let him know that he had crossed a boundary with his message, didn’t invalidate his experience, but drew the line with clarity. His response, “I am just the messenger”.

As a trauma-informed facilitator, I find it very concerning when someone insinuates they are connected to a Devine power thus know your experience better than you do and bypass any accountability of breaching your trust. It’s a red flag 🚩 And I want to remind you that YOU are the expert in your own experience and you are allowed to have boundaries. I never take it lightly just how much trust people, such as yourself, are bestowing in me when they come to a class, workshop, mini retreat or work 1:1 with me. It’s a big reason why I applied to attend Level 2 trauma-informed teacher training with one of the leaders in this field, Sarah Ball. And guess what, I got in! I’m very excited to be heading to Bali in September for an immersive training in trauma-informed yoga for depression, anxiety and body image.

Speaking of travel, we are just about to head to Vietnam (although when you read this I may already be there!). I have never been before and I am starting to get very excited! Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you. I have a few little grounding gifts for you if you need them. I am currently trialing pre-recorded online yoga classes. They are no more than 40 minutes long so that you may easily integrate them into your days. These are free as I trial them so I’d love for you to take advantage of this and give me feedback pretty please! A very big thank you to those who came to the free online My Grounded Pause session. You all loved the yoga nidra so I am making it a monthly thing 😊 I’m also reaching out to studios across Queensland, including FNQ & Brisbane, about a potential mini-retreat/workshop. More info as you scroll down the newsletter.

That’s probably enough from me for now I think! I was attempting to keep it short but we all know how that goes 😅 Try not to get too caught up in the Year of the Horse either, whilst we need to embrace our inner fire it’s important to stoke the coals too.

From my heart to yours always,

Gem xx

P.S in a world ruled my AI (which I admit to using when needed) it feels very lovely to keep writing my newsletters to you authentically and from my heart. Thank you for reading if you have got this far. I deeply appreciate you 💜