The Jennifer Kries Blog

‎”Accomplish what is in your heart!”

Happy, Prosperous New Year of The Water Dragon~ May this year be one of Great Blessings, Awakenings & Miracles~

Powerful energies are swirling around in the universe now- can you feel it? Change is happening, like water rushing over river rocks, fluid and inevitable.

Believe in yourself. Believe that anything is possible. Say YES to yourself. Say YES to your intentions, say YES and welcome it all!

May it be so~!

This morning I had a dream that I was sledding down the side of a snow-covered hill on my black Tumi backpack, and suddenly, a red-tailed hawk flew down from the sky, and came to light on my left arm. It was so unbelievable. I was so amazed. I can still feel my lips parted in awe that such a magical, spirit, such a wild, solitary, elusive bird had chosen to come to me in such a bold act of intimacy.

It was as if freedom itself had decided to come to me. And not only did it just float there on my arm, but it softly sank his beautiful talons into my flesh, gently holding on, knowing exactly how hard to press, accepting my warm breath on his beak. To see if it was real, I gently went to stroke his head, and he let me and spread his gorgeous wings of white and red in appreciation that I had chosen to reciprocate his intimate gesture with one of my own.

Even now, the feeling of lightness and warmth as big as the sky above, spreads across my chest, from deep within my heart center to his, this magnificent hawk; we were connected, united, and FREE!  What a joy, what a gift that dream was! I am still celebrating it … A message from above. I am still aglow from that moment when my eyes caught him and tracked his trajectory, incredulous that he was coming toward me –when I saw his wings beating in an upward draw, slowing his descent, as he floated down from the ethers, and chose me as his landing pad, a confidant to whom he could silently transmit the message: “Believe it. You are FREE.”

Trial by fire. Oh, and it is.

When I first found this image, I wanted to kiss the earth that I had located a visual depiction that managed to encapsulate the very feeling I have had over the past month. I feel like a stuntwoman walking away from a well-played crash scene, except the “scene” isn’t staged. It’s real. Never before has this conscious awareness of contrast between incarceration and liberty been as stark, as naked as it has been for me of late. And when I say this contrast- I am referring to the battle of black vs. white, shadow vs. sun that comes to dominate the grand stage of the mind. The duel to the death that happens when we entrap ourselves in the stories that we ourselves author, when we imprison ourselves in the cells we construct, when we fashion the very shackles that keep our feet well-fettered.

Rumi said it so well,  “You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?”

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“To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance”
~Oscar Wilde

When was the last time you actually interrupted the relentless flow of tasks, emails, texts, calls … and took a real moment for yourself, BY YOURSELF and stood in front of the mirror and had a conversation with yourself? And what if you actually made yourself turn off the bad radio inside your head, the one that is ceaselessly self-critical? And what if you stood there basking in the wonderment of who you are as a perfect, loving, whole being on this earth?

Maybe today’s the day you need to do it. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I say you do it … And this is how the conversation should go:

“Hello there, stranger. How have you been? How are you today? Right this minute? Right here, right now?  Did you know that I love you and I appreciate you? All of the little things you do for me, body and mind, to keep all of my finely-tuned involuntary systems humming along … keeping me alive so that I can stop and smell the roses and share a smile with that lovely child holding his Mother’s hand? Here I am, self, here I am spirit, saying hello and giving you some much deserved, overdue love.

I did this very thing today, and was surprised and delighted to find that when I looked at myself, I felt a sudden sense of comfort, peace and quiet. It was some kind of unexpected magic. There I was floating inside this bubble of surreal amazement, this rare opportunity that I had chosen to create, suspended in time, holding the rest of the world at bay in order to have this very important conversation … with myself.  I was suddenly no longer just a person, but an entire world unto myself– yes, that’s right, bigger than my own reality outside- no longer merely a person, a person who interacts with the world and focuses most of her energy and attention out there, but pristinely alone in this stolen, dedicated moment in time.  I was the only one alive and ready to be lavished with the love that only I knew how to give. And I smiled at myself- I felt overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude to be alive, in this body, with this heart, silently pumping inside. And I gave thanks to myself, my body, my mind, my soul and I kissed myself on the forehead, the way I would tenderly kiss my child. And then, I smiled, a deep, broad smile that lit up my face- the face that was staring back at me, and inside, I could feel the new, life-giving energy that can only come from love zephyring up and down my spine and traveling to every part of my being, igniting me with inspiration and epiphany. It led me to put fingers to keyboard today and share this with all of you … that to love yourself is the only way to go. I highly recommend it, this loving of yourself, this smiling to yourself in the mirror, and I have vowed to myself, that even on my darkest days, I will perform this most sacred ritual of not just checking in with myself, but loving myself and giving myself a smile, which serves as a perfect segue to the “Inner Smile,” perhaps one of the most powerful ways to love thyself, not just on Valentine’s Day, but every day.
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Welcome, Resilient Rabbit!

“The year of the metal rabbit is about harmony and goodwill,” as well as a time to rest and recuperate from the wild ride we all had with the Tiger … and what better way to do this than with a Yin practice?! Join me, February 19-20th at YogaWorks NYC Soho for a rejuvenating, harmonizing weekend of Waking Energy and Yin Yoga …

And tonight, in honor of the delicate, elegant and peace-loving hare who brings great treasures of fortune and blessings, I am featuring this excerpt from Susan Levitt this evening … Enjoy!

THE YEAR OF THE HARE 2011

Hare year can be a nurturing time of peace, calm, leisure, and rest after the intensity of the previous Tiger year. During gentle Hare’s influence, good taste and refinement are valued, and comfort is desired. Money can be made easily, but spent easily. Dragon year 2012 will be a wild, exhausting time, so appreciate the small pleasures of Hare year as opportunities to heal, relax, and entertain. Make time for family gatherings and comfortable travel. Expect political compromise and diplomatic peacemaking on a global level. Discretion and persuasion are effective in a Hare year, whereas force does not work.

The year of the Hare begins on the new Moon of February 2, 2011 at 6:31 PM PST. This is also the date of Imbolc, or Candlemas, the cross quarter-point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Lovely Hare is a symbol of purity: fastidiously clean Hare washes its face with its front paws to look beautiful as polished jade. According to Chinese legend, a magical jade Hare lives in a palace on the Moon. The Chinese Moon Goddess Ch’ang-o allows this charming jade Hare to keep her company so she will not be lonely. The Hare is an herbalist and alchemist who peacefully mixes elixirs of immortality under a cassia tree on the Moon for the Great Mother of the West, a Chinese Goddess of death and rebirth. Hare’s Moon palace is delightful, and the company of the Moon Goddess so enjoyable, that Hare never leaves the Moon. Over time, Hare has become a yin Moon spirit.

For more from Susan Levitt: The Hare

This Winter Solstice is a special one, folks … it will not come again any time soon, and it is a magical window to fly through. It is a time of both letting go and ushering in- a time when the combination of the full moon, total eclipse and solstice is so powerful, that the energy of the three can literally catalyze instantaneous transformation in our beings- if we are willing to offer up what is old and say goodbye to it to make space for what is new, for what we wish for in our deepest hearts - what we ARE manifesting.

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This blog dedicated to the exceptional women who joined me on a wonderful weekend journey in the Berkshires October 1-3 and gifted me with their abundant positive energy, enthusiasm and open hearts.

Every time I teach, I receive the incredible gift of knowing that we are all on this path of life together, that we are all teaching and guiding one another, whether we are officially in the “teaching” or “learning” position … and I experience an expanded sense of consciousness and satisfaction each time I see the light of recognition go off in someone’s eyes, because of something I have shared or a sign of true body-mind integration after giving a specific cue. And each time this happens, I receive a gift.

And therein lies the secret joy of teaching for me … that the true gift of teaching, of giving is in witnessing others’ transformation, because as we see those around us harness the information and tools that we give, we grow and transform at the very same time. That’s how the phrase “Heal Yourself, Heal the World,” came to me when I was creating *Waking Energy- we are all one, and when we give to others, when we share the fruit of our life experience with others, it’s literally the same thing as giving to ourselves- when we give, we receive, and we receive ten-fold in return.

And it is these shared experiences, especially those that happen in the intimate and beautiful environment that a place like Kripalu offers that serve as catalysts for significant change and growth in our lives. It is these moments that inspire us to find ourselves again, to acknowledge and care for ourselves and reclaim our power, our lives, our selves.

So it is with great gratitude that I write this blog to all of you who filled my heart with fulfillment and joy and helped me to transform and empower from the inside-out the weekend of October 1-3, and I can’t wait to do it again and see you all next time!

And just to whet your appetite for next summer, I wanted to share a descriptive excerpt from the “New Body Pilates: Transform & Empower” Workshop I have written about here today … the preview for Summer, 2011’s Waking Energy Workshop will be featured in my next Blog.

Enjoy!

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This past week I was at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires. What a beautiful, gentle place, there in those motherly mountains of Massachusetts … I went for a walk yesterday on the grounds and found myself at a crossroads in front of a babbling brook. I was suddenly overcome with emotion, and the only way I can describe the feeling is by describing what happened in my stomach … I felt it rise and expand in an instant– it swelled with a kind of mini-explosion of joy that flooded my entire system, and then washed over me the way the water in the stream below me was washing over the river rocks. I was immersed in a sensory bath– the sun on my skin, and sparkling through the trees, dappling the forest floor, the pungent smell of winter becoming spring mud, coming alive again, birthing … the gorgeous, calming sound of the brook, playing its way down over the rocks into a larger source, its destiny someplace far away and of course, the breeze blowing through my hair and cooling the tears on my cheeks that were streaming down into my mouth– and then the taste of those salty tears. All such a cycle, all so connected, no separation between my tears and the water flowing through that brook. No separation between my skin and the air around me, the sun on my body, the rich smell of the earth I was standing on.

And my thoughts now go back to what happened inside me when I came to that place — that clearing where I was overwhelmed by the simple, powerful, healing beauty I was a part of … what flipped over in my stomach– what the ancients called “True Mind.”
Never mind what we know as “the mind.” I am smiling as I write this … your true, thinking self is your feeling self, your intuitive self and it resides in your stomach, in your very center.

I attended a talk on “Clearing Energy Blocks,” given by a Doctor of Chinese Medicine, and most of what he discussed was how much of our body systems are controlled by the stomach, or our “second brain.” Whatever we think and feel, manifests in our bodies, and very often, more specifically in our stomachs, of course showing up as digestive disorders of all manner and variety– so many of which would be easily healed alternatively– with mind-body practices, such as yoga, Pilates and my favorites: Yin yoga and Waking Energy.  What most of us don’t realize is that we are our thoughts and our feelings. We ARE physical manifestation of the energy of what we focus on, and very simply, when something hurts us in our bodies, when something causes us DIS-ease, it is our body’s way of communicating that it needs attention. And usually, the antidote to the pain or disease is so very, very simple and obvious: movement!

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Today is the Spring Equinox, the very special time during the year when day is literally equal to night and things are in an almost perfect balance. It is also the day to send out into the universe what you wish to birth. It is the day of new beginnings …

When I look at this awe-inspiring image of the stallion charging down the beach, my spirit soars and all I can think about are new beginnings, movement forward, and manifestation–through energy and intention and motion, what I want to see take flight in my life— what I want to charge ahead with and make into a reality.

And because today presents us with such a unique opening, this equal day and equal night, what comes to mind next is balance— the balance we all seek in our lives– that perfect combination of yin and yang we observe in nature –the very same we strive to create within our own selves.

I love this image of the sun and the moon and the energy that flows between them, the rays that are clearly reaching toward one another, and the harmony of that balance. I also love the fact that the moon, a yin energy is curling inward towards the sun, and appears to be receiving the rays that the sun is emitting … and in contrast, the sun faces away from the moon and projects outwardly, demonstrating yang energy, with its face open to the space around it. Yang and yin; sun and moon. Male and female. Day and night. Open and closed. Light and Dark. Opposites. And together, they create balance. Without one, the other could not exist. Read the rest of this entry »