Bringing Harmony to your Life

Harmony: (noun) 1. an interweaving of different accounts into a single narrative 2. A pleasing arrangement of parts.

Oftentimes we are not aware of the harmony in our lives until we fall somehow into the chords of dissonance. Life is like that – made of the contrast; the light and the dark, peaks and valleys, yin and yang. What causes us to have the experience of a life out of tune? And, is there a way where we can subtly and gently turn the pegs on the string to make everything right and tight again? When I was ten years old I made my foray into learning the Suzuki method of violin. In this approach, young children are required to play ‘by ear’ and to rely heavily on their memorization and intonation skills. Later on, while participating in several Youth Orchestras, our young ears were further trained by gathering fifty or so of us in one room and somehow creating harmonious music. We were trained to listen for the telltale sound of a note not quite right. Its cause could be one of many things – a misplaced finger, a misaligned bow, sloppy posture, eye fatigue, not keeping our eye on the conductor, moving ahead or behind the tempo, or a particularly difficult section of a piece. Either way, the ear was trained to hear it – to detect it – and to correct it. I can appreciate now that skill of being ‘tuned in’. For me, listening and playing music has always been an emotional experience, and I can draw parallels from being an eleven year old with a violin to now being a naturopath dealing with people’s emotions. It doesn’t take a trained musician to understand when one feels ‘bad’ – but the *awareness* of what the ‘off’ emotion is and more importantly, where it’s coming from, can make all the difference. In life, there are many things that can cause us to experience dissonance. The stress of relationships, children, careers, aging parents, health, finances – the list is endless. Sometimes a life out of tune can be less obvious – maybe it’s choosing to ignore a calling towards a particular vocation; losing oneself under the weight of motherhood; being unaware that a glass of wine in the evening has become a dependency; fear of showing up in the world authentically, and putting on a happy face out of duty so others feel comfortable. Regardless of the cause - I encourage anyone who is ready to sit in the silence. To invite in a new awareness, a new intention. To let the clashing parts of our lives be illuminated by breathing an intention in and out. You can create an intention by simply asking yourself, “What does my heart desire to feel?”, and put that into an “I Am” statement. I Am Loved. I Am Whole. I Am Harmony. Create a new awareness of the places inside of you that need tuning. Pay attention to the emotions you feel as you breathe – is it anxiety? Anger? Guilt? Regret? Allow those feelings to be there and breathe your intention into them, surrounding them with the love that you are. Make this a daily practice. The power of this new awareness is that it anchors us into our conscious minds – the 2% to 10% of our brains where we can choose. We can only choose something else when we are made aware of what IS. When we invite what IS into our experience , we can surrender to it, and let it flow through us instead of resisting the things we do not want. With this consistent practice of self-discovery we can create lasting changes in our minds. We can lead with our hearts, our I Am intentions – what we desire to feel – and our subconscious minds will follow. All of the delicate and miraculous parts of you and your experience can flow together and create the harmonious masterpiece that is your life.

Join us this week:

If you would like to experience a deeper dive into this topic, join Leah Knippel and Mary Alexander this Friday, September 14th at 7pm at The Sacred Space in Frisco. This class consists of Restorative Yoga with integrated aromatherapy and wellness education. This month we will focus on building HARMONY in our relationships as we reach out towards ourselves, towards each other and towards God. Click here to learn more