Grounded + Expansive

Paging through a notebook, in which I had been working on a vision for Tree of Life Yoga’s growth, I came across the phrase Grounded + Expansive, written vertically along the margin. It was one of those instances where I heard my Self, my Genius, my Muse, that still small voice within (or whatever you want to call it!) speaking directly to me.

I don’t actually remember writing those two words down. And yet, groundedness and expansiveness are exactly the energies that are present when I am in the flow, I just hadn’t seen them in that simple equation before. Reading these seeming opposites—that so perfectly balance each other—juxtaposed like that on the page had such a zingy quality of “Yes!” On the flip side, groundedness and expansiveness are precisely the energies that are missing when I’m not in the flow of creativity. That word equation might read: spacy + contracted.

To amplify the affirmation of inner guidance that I felt in stumbling upon these words of wisdom, and to sear them into my consciousness so I will remember to call on these energies when I feel “off,” I’m going to write them, again, vertically, as I sit under Clio—the oak tree that gives grounding and expansion to the treetop yoga studio—and write a “poem.” In the Montessori classroom I worked in for the last two years, the 3^rd graders loved to do this practice.

Maybe you’d like to come up with a phrase or intention that resonates for you and try it yourself. Here’s my attempt (you can see that it doesn’t need to make perfect sense, but can be a bit evocative). And there’s room for “creative” spelling and syntax too. Even playfulness and silliness, if that’s your mood, though this one is a bit more ponderous.

G   r   o   w   i   n   g

R   o   o   t   s

O   u   r

U   n   d   e   r   s   t   a   n   d   i   n   g

N   i   c   e   l   y

D   e   e   p   e   n   s

E   v   e   r   y

D   a   y

+

E   a   c   h

X   t   r   a   o   r   d   i   n   a   r   y

P   a   t   h

A   l   l   o   w   s

N   e   v   e   r   e   n   d   I   n   g

S   o   u   l   f   u   l

I   n   f   i   n   i   t   u   d   e

V   i   v   i   f   y   i   n   g

E   x   p  e   r   i   e   n   c   e

I hope you have fun with this! Please share your attempts in the comments box.

Tagged as: grounding, intention, writing, yoga business