by Deborah Keene | Feb 17, 2023 | Practice, Vibrant Living
“Your self love is a medicine for the earth” ~Yung Pueblo
My teachers often speak about the importance of connecting to our own deep center and the divine essence within. Unconditional self-love and self-compassion are the first steps to becoming free of suffering.
What does that mean to love yourself? Pure and simple, if we want to love someone, we must love ourselves unconditionally first.
Believing in our hearts, knowing in our bones that we are enough just as we are is key for being able to live a happier healthier more love filled life.
I know this to be true.
There were a whole lot of years I didn’t feel good about who I was.
I struggled with anxiety, insecurity, and depression among other things. Looking back, I suffered a lot.
It’s not that way for me anymore. I accept who I am, the way I am, and love me for it.
“The love and attention you always thought you wanted from someone else, is the love and attention you first need to give to yourself.” – Bryant McGill
When struggles do arise, as they will given the human nature that I am, I don’t get gripped by fear or insecurity or feelings of less than. I don’t beat myself up anymore.
I protect me and the spirit of Debbie Keene.
“Guard the doors of your temple, do not let anyone pollute it with their mess.”― Patricio Telman Chincocolo
A morning practice has been the most significant factor in this transformation. Begin with the gift of a daily practice, a morning sadhana. If you’d like easy, on-demand access to yoga practices, consider subscribing to my Radiant Living Membership. Click HERE to learn more.
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With love and gratitude,
Deb
by Deborah Keene | May 14, 2022 | Seasonal Events, Women
Right now, you may be experiencing a different energy and strong emotions. It isn’t just you. We are coming up on a rare lunar eclipse this Sunday night/Monday morning. It is a Blood Moon and Supermoon, and “the first of two of most ‘balanced’ lunar eclipses for four centuries.”
The energy of this eclipse event will be felt for two days before and for two days after. It is a potent, yet perfect, time to release negativity and past emotions. We have a unique opportunity right now to create significant change in our lives and move forward in our spiritual journeys.
So let’s celebrate this moment!
In honor of the lunar eclipse, please join me on Monday, May 16 for a FREE Breath Practice and Meditation from the Kundalini Yoga tradition. We will set the stage with the space and time for you to release stress and tune in to your feelings and intuition.
Lunar eclipses are feminine in nature and affect women more at this time. During this time, the emotional body can dominate our sense of self.
With a “rare and balanced” lunar eclipse, then, it is especially important for us to nurture calm and clarity for our inner selves.
In preparation for a mindful practice:
- Distance yourself from distractions.
- Have a quiet space.
- Light a candle.
- Have a journal or notebook handy.
- Bring a shawl.
- Make your self comfortable and allow for inspiration and insight to shine.
You may even be surprised at the wisdom that seems to “come out of the blue” during a lunar eclipse!
If you are looking to remain steady and calm during this emotional time, please make use of the recorded breath and meditation practice. Click the button below to access the recording!
Monday, May 16th
Recorded LIVE
Together, we will harness the energy of this divine and celestial event!
by Deborah Keene | Aug 21, 2019 | Summer, Women, Yoga
Connect to the source of your personal power
I have a weeklong Women’s Camp starting this coming Monday, August 26 and one spot just opened up.
This program is based upon the Women’s teachings of Kundalini Yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda.
I have been guided to develop this program because of the profound impact these teachings and practices have had on me, my life, and my service in the world.
“Woman has the power to beam out energy in any way and send a message in any form. She can totally fix things the way she wants.”
Yogi Bhajan
A woman’s basic problem arises from not knowing her essence as a woman and from not having a strong connection to her Soul.
Women haven’t been taught about what it means to be a woman. We are often not connected to the “power of a woman’s radiance”.
We fill ourselves up with outside forces that pull us away from our own center and our deep feminine strength: our Shakti.
We compete with and compare ourselves to other women, forgetting that we each have our own special gifts and unique creative powers. We become disempowered and weakened by our insecurities and fears. We become needy and develop self-defeating habits and behaviors.
“Women are either fueling their duality or feeding their divinity.”
A woman needs to be awakened to the truth of who she is.
We need to understand at a very deep level that the divine feminine nature of a woman and the inherent powers we hold have the capacity to change our own lives and the lives of others. We need to understand that we are highly intuitive beings by nature and train ourselves in developing this deep inner knowing so that we can be guided by our own highest authority on a daily basis.
A woman must have her security come from within herself.
We cannot do this by thinking our way through things and self-analyzing.
We need to create the conditions inside ourselves so that we develop the pranic power necessary to clear the energetic blocks and outdated thought patterns and raise our vibrations to uplift ourselves and all those around us. Our vibration and consciousness determines the quality of our lives and what we attract into it.
“Women need to address external problems by addressing internal issues. Every woman has the power to change her own psyche. She is the only one that can do it.”
This is the only way to inner peace, true lasting happiness, and the ability to love deeply.
My teachers have taught me that women are needed more than ever. There is a call for us to claim our rightful place within ourselves and in the world. We need to claim our divine feminine creative power – our Shakti – so that we can sit deeply within ourselves and our inner knowing and live from that place.
“When women come into their power, the men will line up and the violence will stop.”
Yogi Bhajan
It is in this spirit that I offer Women’s Camp.
We will gather daily to study and practice together. A momentum builds with daily practice; there is nothing that can replace that.
For any deep, lasting, transformative change, a daily sadhana is required.
We will recalibrate and build a strong container through powerful yogic practices, meditations, and chanting.
We will:
- Awaken and connect to our deep inner strength – our Shakti – our divine feminine creative power
- Connect more deeply to our soul so that we are guided from within.
- Re-pattern behaviors and habits that are self-defeating
- Increase our inner and outer radiance
- Begin to develop a solid daily practice
This program has taken me a good long while to develop. It is born from my own life experiences, the teachings and practices that have been at the heart of my studies for many years now, and my deep love and commitment to helping other women connect to their own internal strength and intuitive powers. I am deeply passionate about sharing these Women’s teachings, this science and technology.
If you feel called to this offering, please e-mail to hold your spot ayuyoga@fairpoint.net. I will respond to let you know whether it’s been filled or not.
Women’s Camp
August 26th – 30th
6:30-8:30am
Monday thru Friday
$140. Please make check payable to: Deborah Keene
No prior experience necessary: for any level and any age.
Please see here for more info: https://ayurvedayogacenter.com/womens-programs/
My love to everyone, Deb
“Have you ever seen that there is nothing more Divine than you? You have become what a mirror tells you and you do not know where your soul is! You do not know where your grace is! You do not know where you are. You have to find it.”
Yogi Bhajan
by Deborah Keene | Sep 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
The seasons give way to one another. Each one beckons us to turn with them and make the gentle shift in our focus and intentions. September marks the turning towards “going in.”
September has been viewed by the elders from long ago as the beginning of a new year; differing in sentiment than January’s new year’s resolutions. I recently read a quote written by Katharine Elizabeth Fite that appeared in the 1949 Good Housekeeping,
“What we need in autumn is an emotional or spiritual shot in the arm.”
September offers us the opportunity to harvest all that we have sown during the rich growing season and now redirect our energies. Summer’s expansive, outward yang focus slowly yields to autumn’s more inward, quieter yin. Slow and gentle are key, especially this year as summer’s hold remains strong.
If we heed nature’s callings we can reflect quietly upon what needs our attentions, what it is we long for and what is our spirit’s call.
“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” -Buddha
Get to know yourself deeply…..
If we know what our life’s purpose, our Dharma, is and we are not honoring our spirit’s call then ask why not. What is getting in our way? Is it fear of failing or fear of change or limiting beliefs?
If we do not know what our higher purpose is then now is a great time to sit with that question.
We can ride on Mother Nature’s back to help draw our attention back into ourselves.
When we are truly connected to the center of ourselves we are able to tap into and trust our own deep wisdom and experience the ease and joy that is our birthright.
From that place we will be guided by our bright light and live our lives to the fullest.
So, Know thyself: the teachings of Yoga and Ayurveda show us the way…..
The month of September begins that call for us to “come back home”.
Let’s celebrate the journey!!!
Autumn Equinox ~September 23
Honor this day of equal light and dark
Balance your energies with stillness and movement; silence and sound
Rise before the sun comes up
Sit in the dim with a lighted candle
Burn a sage leaf or incense
Drop into your own sweet soul
Feel the physical body and what it is making contact with; your cushion, chair seat, couch, floor….
Feel a broad, heavy base and lengthen upward thru the spine from that grounding place
Breathe in and breathe out, quietly and gently; breathe into the low belly; that deep place of knowing
Rise up and move the body; sway gently, let the movement build
Say a prayer of gratitude while you watch the day come
And….remember….
“Always be aware that you have the power to create the naturally stress-free and tranquil life you deserve.” -Wayne Dyer
Namaste