the essence - all you need is love & art
What does real unconditional love mean to you and how can you tap in with openness?
Question of the week
When was the last time you were overcome by love for yourself? If nothing comes to mind, head to the mirror and gaze into your eyes. What do you feel? ❤️
A quote that inspired me this week
“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.”
BENJAMIN SPOCK
Imagine this: connecting to that deep love through dance 🩰
This week I went for a walk in the woods and wrote a poem about forever dancing with your true self.
Forever Dancing
There’s a woman in the woods,
her space, her arena.
She smiles up at the sky as she stomps her feet,
to the rhythm of the beat.
A big release.
Moving hips from left to right,
as her arms paint the night sky.
What a gift it is to be alive…
to cry, to shout, to dance, to sing,
to love and to feel everything.
The trees sway in agreement,
and so she remains.
Alone in the woods,
connected to the pulse of life,
as she stomps her feet
to the rhythm of the beat.
Forever dancing…
Mindful moment
I recently enjoyed attending a yoga workshop by Sarah Platt-Finger, where I learned that 80% of your energy / mental attention is stimulated by sight. That solidified the idea that closing your eyes will allow much more capacity to return home: to that peaceful presence that you innately are. This can be through meditation, movement, playing an instrument, singing, or simply sitting still and listening to sounds around you.
Paradoxically, intentionally closing your eyes will make you see. 🤓
All about love
I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot lately, since having an epic energy session with my spiritual mentor, Lynne (podcast on this coming next week!). I’m not talking about the romantic kind of love, but rather a universal love frequency that you can tap into at every moment.
If you close your eyes and feel that soft tingling of the inner body, as Eckhart Tolle calls it, you are feeling that love. In presence we find love.
The session with Lynne reminded me that despite experiences I’ve had, which have wrongly shown me that love is painful and with conditions, the truth is this: love is calm. It is warm, real, gentle, and peaceful. It’s real, it exists. And we all have access to it, always.
I encourage you, as I encourage myself, to tune in. For me, it’s easiest to dance into this love frequency or give myself a big warm cuddle.
Music
My favorite song this week while driving through the Black Forest. :)
Podcast episode | Breaking Free: Life as a Sunflower
Constance van Berckel and I sat down together to talk about her artist residency, SOPRA SOTTO, life, community, and relationships.
We dove into personal reflection and development, the subtle shift in society to more community-based living, and the big role that artists play in shaping culture. 🌻
Events, classes & workshops
Workshops
Yoga, Movement, and Embodied Sound Journey
Date: Saturday, July 13
Time: 10-11:45 am
Where: Deine Weise Yoga
This multidimensional yang-to-yin workshop will allow you to reconnect with your body through an invigorating yoga & movement practice, followed by a guided meditation with sound. Be ready to shake it off, deeply feel the body, and let whatever’s meant to be released wash away through sound and meditation. A clearing self-care ritual to clean off the week and start fresh into the weekend.
I look forward to welcoming you!
Classes
I will be guest teaching 2 classes at Deine Weise Yoga on the 23. and 30. of July. For more information, you can head here.
Feel loved,
Anna 🦋