2021 Reflections January - August

 A profound experience with Angel Love – Yoga, Singing Bowls and Cacao Ceremony.

A collaboration wtih two wonderful woman.
During the first part of the morning, Kristan Turner shared her knowledge of Bush Flower Essences. We used cards to gain a deeper perspective, allowing our intuiton to guide us. We made our own essence mixture. What a powerful gift!!
After Yoga, Jennifer Bar explained Astrology to us. Some of us had preordered Natal Charts. Jennifer explained what was happening with the planets. It gave us a better understanding of the bigger picture and about how planets effect what is happening in our Lives, our Moods and our Stories. It was super-interesting and also very helpful!!

A Sound Healing like no other!!
Racheal has a collection of beautiful Singing Bowls!! After a wonderful Yoga session and morning tea, Racheal took us on a journey using her Singing Bowls, Drums, Tuning Forks and Voice.
Lets just say it was an out-of-this-world experience!!

What an Extraordinary Day!!
Everything about Michelle is of the Earth, including her business Earth Fibre.
We all knew it was going to be fun but the childlike excitement that was created as we foraged in the backyard for leaves and sticks and flowers was something indescribable. The process of preparing our own beautiful, handmade, ethically sourced Australian-made Marino wool and silk scarves for the dying process was definitely on a time schedule. We had to get our leaves picked, placed and wrapped and into the pot so they scarves had time for the steaming process to work its magic. This ended up being a great blessing. No one had time to consider whose was better, if theirs wasn’t perfect enough – it was all about the process!!
Michelle informed us about tannins in leaves, colours and dyes that nature gives off that we had no idea about. It was mind blowing to see Michelle’s beautiful gallery pieces that she created by something we disregard and even think of as waste.  
Our Yoga practice was underneath the Buddha tree whose leaves we had foraged for the scarves. The practice was about connecting with nature and grounding. The best part of the day was the anticipation and excitement!! Everyone was so excited to unwrap their scarves. Michelle made us wait as we individually unwrapped them. This was awesome!! Everyone was so excited to see and discover how unique and how beautiful each scarf turned out!!The absolute best bit of the day was the pure gratitude and awesomeness of the creation process – of no one judging themselves or each other’s works – just seeing each piece as an extraordinary and remarkable piece of art that we created. Together.
The Vibe for the day was Excitement and Creativity!!

 2021 marks the 21st Anniversary of the World Peace Flame and it has been a few years since I was lucky enough to receive the Peace Flame myself. I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to bring it into our New Moon Yoga Retreat as a symbolic direction towards Peace. Karen Cornish shared her story and taught us the process of making candles. We meditated on Peace and our intention was to pour that energy into the creation of our individual candles. This was also emphasised in our Yoga practice – it was slower, deeper and all about clearing any emotions or feelings that weren’t peaceful.
We made the candles first thing in the morning so that they would have time to set. After our Yoga Practice they were set enough for us to be the bearer of the Peace Flame. We discussed what it is to create a ceremony and as a community we created our own alter or sacred space. Everyone contributed from whatever we had available to us in the moment. The Peace Flame was passed on to the candles that we had just made. It is my hope that the Peace Flame will be continued to be passed on and celebrated.
The vibe of the day was Super-Chilled!!

 Noah Harris came and shared his passion for singing bowls with us. It was a really interactive and fun workshop where we got to try out all the different types of singing bowls.  The handmade Tibetan singing bowls were made out of different metals and produced different tones. Noah displayed a deep passion for the people of Tibet after he had spent time living amongst them while studying.
One of the best parts of the day was a totally unique experience of standing in the biggest singing bowl and feeling it vibrate up your legs while Noah placed another bowl on your head so you could feel the vibrations moving down your head and torso. We did a lot of experimenting with the placement of the bowls on our partner’s body. I loved it when Noah placed a signing on my back. It was a profound experience. Another cool thing was a bit of science was when Noah placed a bowl of water near the biggest singing bowl. When he played it and we were able to see how much it made the water vibrate. As we’re made up of about 70% water, it was cool to see with your own eyes what’s happening in your body.
Our Yoga practice was hands on – literally – Partner Yoga. We learnt some new communication skills – how to listen and talk to our partners. We got to feel how nice it was to have support and connection. It was really fun and we developed deeper trust and sense community. We were able to achieve some moves we probably thought we wouldn’t be able to achieve.
The Vibe of the day was one of fun, connection, and playing!!

We started the morning off by taking it right down the back to keep vibing up that space. Because we needed chairs for the drumming., I decided to embrace that with something we hadn't done before. As Westerners, we are mostly sitting all the time, we don't squat like Easterners do, so sitting is our norm and can have a drastic effect on the body. I wanted to show that chair yoga is not just for the elderly or injured. It can be a tool to get deeper into our asana's. Doing chair yoga enables people to concentrate on their alignments and possibly go deeper into the pose. I also wanted to give people tools so if they’re sitting to long and their body is talking to them that they have some knowledge to respond and make adjustments to find more space. Towards the end of the Yoga session, we had a go at practicing community yoga, where we come out of being an individual and moved together as a whole. We tried doing the Mexican wave and moving collectively – let’s just say that was harder than it should have been, maybe the wind was to blame.
Morning tea had the desired effect of bringing us together. It never ceases to surprise me of how important this point of the day is, people reflecting and connecting naturally and authentically. Morning tea makes you feel safe and supported and growing a community we want to be in. It’s putting yourself with like-minded people who support you lifts you up. I think that is one of the reasons people feel so good when they leave the New Moon Yoga Retreat.
Bec came from Rhythm Culture with her van loaded full of drums. The whole engagement of working with Bec was next level with how professional she was. The first part of the Yoga Rhythms workshop was learning three different drumming techniques – everyone got to have their own drum, we sat outdoors in circle with heaps of space. Being free to make as most noise as we wanted was liberating. Bec started with a simple pattern that quickly became more challenging. Everyone commented on how in the moment they were!! Remembering the sequence and the rhythm and the timing was a mental workout. At times it was challenging and at the same time, it was incredible because collectively we were making these beautiful sounds. It was surprising to all of us at how we could do it with no pre-ability. Bec is an extraordinary teacher and was able to teach us layers of sounds and rhythms. As a Yoga teacher, this was profound for me as it was a perfect example of individual expression coming to together as a collaboration to make an orchestra of sound. We learnt a song then we danced to the song. African dancing is flowing and vibrant and expressive. As with the drumming, we learnt a simple pattern, then it quickly added on to become a very layered dance. The time went so quickly, and we were exhausted – mentally and physically – but elated and surprised at what we had just learnt.
The Vibe of the day was Connection and Community!!

The Sunshine Coast and a lot of Queensland had just come out of another round of Lockdown due to Covid. And being able to hold the New Moon Yoga Retreat was a great gift, and personally, a relief in itself.
Michelle has a natural talent for drawing out purity. Of seeing such beauty and potential in life and everyday objects. Her work says it all. Michelle had come to teach us a little more about “Eco Dyeing”. We had a go at dyeing Australian Silk Bandanna's and Michelle’s high ethics are integrated into EVERYTHING she does. We did two different types of Dying: Red Onion Peel and Avocado Seeds.
As if that wasn’t enough, she also introduced us to a Japanese technique called Shibori. Simply explained, it’s a way of folding and blocking out to produce unique and individual patterns, similar to tie dying. It's easy as – there were no rules and we used whatever was at hand. Stones, Marbles, Paddle Pop Sticks, Ruber Bands, Money-anything really.
As with many other Natural Processes, time is a factor. We live in an incredibly fast-paced society and have learned tricks/products to speed up processes.
Michelle NEVER  uses chemicals and the process of dying with the Avocado seeds (which usually takes 3 days) was only tweaked by intense periods of boiling and cooling. Our colour was beautiful (I absolutely adore mine-it’s a rose gold colour) but not as rich and deep as it could have been if we’d had the time to the do the full process.
I really do love the concept of the NMYR.  They are quite often just a sample or an introduction into something new so that students know what and how to do it and if they're into it they can try again at home.
The worksheets were really handy, it was really great seeing people super interested and taking notes. We set out intentions and then went a little deeper. Being a Leo New Moon right off the back of the Lions Gate Portal there was much to discuss. I think we all found a deeper personal connection taking the time to listen to one another. For me it was a heart-swelling moment. The Yoga part of the day was similar to the cooking process. We turned up the energy then backed it off- repeatedly. Towards the end the clouds disappeared and the sun got hot (a perfect Queensland winter day).
The day finished like a Christmas Morning. Everyone eager to unravel their creations. It was so amazing just how different and So So Beautiful they all were, and that everyone was super proud and elated over their hand made creations.