Stepping in requires stepping out.

Like all Shivanautical epiphanies – rather stoopid on the surface.

In my processing of the 40 day Shiva Nata Expedition (1 more day! I’ve hit a 90% daily practice rate – and a 100% daily thinking-about-practicing rate!), I was noticing that in order to step into the life we want, we are most certainly stepping OUT of the pieces of life that don’t serve us, that won’t and can’t and shouldn’t follow us into the new life we have planned.

Except of course we can’t just discard pieces of ourselves – we created, we have been these people on purpose.

One of my favorite parts of being a yoga and shiva nata teacher is the chance to create an invocation – whether short or long, an opening and way to leave the non-practice world behind. I’m not as eloquent in personal practice, often forgetting to set the buffer between life and space. “Lala back in with the trash new trash bag unroll yoga mat yay child’s pose” is efficient, but not terribly intention-ful.

So I recorded this invocation. It works perfectly for any activity you are doing to involve your body, mind, and spirit in a safe space – meditation, yoga, shiva nata, creative times, journaling or writing. It is an opening and a closing, about 8 minutes total. I would make a playlist with these on either side of a track or tracks you enjoy using for practice – not interrupting practice with technology is nice.

The focus is stepping out – gently shedding layers of identity that block us from experiencing the depth of practice – and gently and mindfully re-acquiring those layers on the exit.

Feel free to download, if you like these please share, use, enjoy!