Introspection is key on the path to self-realization. Without awareness, how will we know what changes we need to make on our transformational journeys?

Self-study before falling asleep is very beneficial (much more than Netflix!, which is my bad habit). Take a few moments in bed to review your day. Were your thoughts and actions in alignment with your Higher Self?

Sometimes, a longer session out of your ordinary environment, especially in nature, can be such a gift.

A change of scenery can help you to retreat, reassess, and re-engage in what truly matters to you.

You might choose a weekend group retreat with workshops, like the one I taught at this past weekend.

Or you may prefer a self-guided personal retreat at a cabin in the woods for a week, like the one I’m leaving for on Thursday?

How about a 2-month intensive one like my March & April karma yoga experience at Ananda Village in California (where I shot the video above)?

Whether nightly, at the end/start of your week, or for a longer period of time, regular self-study can bring you back to your Self. And oh! how that feels good.

How many wellness or spirituality workshops have you attended, techniques you’ve learned, or books you’ve read that you believed you’d implement into your life but didn’t? Or not to the extent you felt would benefit you at the time?

Maybe you did integrate them …but only for a while or until the next workshop or book.

Why?

In these modern times, it’s so easy to let good things slip.

Life is busy. Practices take time.

Distractions abound. Our attention and energy is drawn in every direction.

Money is necessary. Earning a living can so quickly take precedent over living a life.

Will power can be weak. Self-discipline can easily turn into giving up, beating ourselves up for not implementing something, or becoming so rigid that nothing we do will be good for us, leaving us forever feeling like we’re not good enough. So why bother…?

So even if you resonated with a philosophy or were passionate about the practices, it’s not easy to create and keep new habits.

As Paramhansa Yogananda ,author of “Autobiography of a Yogi” and guru to those at Ananda Village, says:

“Environment is stronger than will power.”

While I was at Ananda Village, I thrived on the sacred routines and practices.

My intentions as I left ashram life on May 1st were good. But I’d get to them later, as I had a 1-week stop in Calgary for heart-warming visits with family and friends.

I could’ve fit in a shorter routine than our 4 hours of yoga & meditation, but chose not to. Instead, in my free time before, after, or in between social visits, I enjoyed reading one of the many books I brought back from Ananda Village. That too was great!

Once home in Newfoundland, I got busy settling back in and catching up on running my soulpreneur business – being a full time artist and lightworker.

After a slow start, I’m now doing my 1 hour 45-minute energization/yoga/meditation routine most days of the week. My goal is still to do it once a day, but sometimes something else “gets in the way”… including myself.

I’m enjoying my books, nature walks with friends/ my camera/ the neighbour’s dog, and focusing on healthy eating.

On Sundays, when at home, I continue to attend the Ananda Village Sunday Service online or the one from Ananda Assisi, where I was last summer. But if I missed it Live, I haven’t gone back to the recording at the end of the day, choosing a movie instead.

Yup! I’ve way too easily slipped back into my Netflix habit. I love movies! When my energy crashes after a long day, it’s so easy to lie down to enjoy a good film … (or a bad one if I can’t find a good one.) The problem is that it can too easily turn into 2 or 3 or more…. There’s a difference between enjoying a good flick and binge-watching in what I call cocoon-mode.

I’ve always done everything intensively – painting marathons, long focused concentrated projects, blog-writing, movie days, etc. That’s why I loved having a solid 2-month karma yoga experience. All in and fully present.

After a few weeks back home, I felt the energy shifting. My daily introspection revealed a lot that I’m doing right. But it’s also revealed that:

• My physical energy levels aren’t as high, and although I know what would lift them, I often choose otherwise.
• When a big art-acquisition project fell through, I dipped into disbelief, disillusionment, and financial fear (for a day), even if on some level I knew that if it didn’t happen, it was obviously not meant to be. What a great opportunity to see I need a lot more practice in becoming even-minded and cheerful no matter what. Yogananda says even-mindedness the most important condition for happiness.
• My thoughts and words in those times didn’t reflect the deeper truths I’m often so connected to – listening to myself talk to my Papa on the phone about it didn’t feel right. I was just perpetuating the little-self pity party.

Basically, I’m not consistently making the healthy choices that I loved making at the ashram…

So, it’s time to retreat, reassess, and re-engage.

Know thyself! I do. That’s why, 1.5 months after my return from a 2-month California ashram experience, I’m going on another retreat. This time, it’s self-directed and for a week.

Some may say that as a single solopreneur who’s been away from income-earning for months, that doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do.

But could anything be smarter than taking a week to step back from what’s happening to reconnect to God/Nature, recalibrate the inner compass, practice the habits I want to integrate more fully into my lifestyle and seek Guidance for the journey ahead?

If the same old same old doesn’t work, a change of scenery for more intensive introspection and to raise my vibration yet again can help reset life.

It was amazing being a part of the Body Mind Spirit retreat on the weekend, leading and witnessing 35 beautiful souls as they did this for themselves. I always come home with my cup full. In between my workshops and meditations, I did participate in 3 other leaders’ workshops. Fantastic. But I’m hungry for more.

So I’m heading to the Tree of Life Retreat Sustainability Project and Retreat Centre, not far from the city of St. John’s, where I live. This is where I was inspired to create my first documentary – a project that naturally emerged from a weekend at the Airbnb on location.

Before I left for California, I worked on several testimonial videos for their upcoming fundraising campaign. Part of my payment was to spend a week in the cabin there.

I’ll be a few days off-grid on my own and a few days with two close friends to also offer them the opportunity to retreat and regroup.

Daily yoga and meditation. Daily nature walks & contemplations. Reading. Journaling. Simple living and vegetarian cooking. Asking for Guidance and opening to intuition.

To attune my will with the will of God/Source, I have to tune in. And for me, nature is one of the best places to do that. It’s great in little bits and pieces, but a good dose is even better.

As always, I share my process with you as I can only inspire through what inspires me.

Perhaps my story will help you realize you need time away from your routines to make different choices in your lifestyle. It could stimulate creative ideas through bartering or karma yoga opportunities if finances don’t presently allow it.

Is it time to retreat, reassess and re-engage? Know that if you’ve read all the way to the end, it’s for a reason. Enjoy discovering what that is, through your own introspective process.

Namaste.

Dominique

 

P.S. The video “Sacred Stillness” (top of page) is one of the ones I created at Ananda Village to share my experience there. The Expanding Light Retreat across from the Temple of Light is where I lived & volunteered for 2 months. At the end, you get a glimpse at their weekly purification ceremony, which precedes their Sunday Service.

“The fire ceremony is but a symbol of the true fire ritual which takes place within each of us through our spiritual practices. In this ceremony, we offer up all of our desires, attachments, and past karma to be transmuted and purified. 

The fire ceremony includes the chanting of two ancient mantras: the Gayatri Mantra which is for enlightenment and the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra which is for liberation.

During the Gayatri Mantra, the ghee is offered into the fire, representing our devotion and longing to know God. During the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, rice is dropped into the fire, representing our past karma, which will be transformed and offered up to the Divine.”

 

You’ve heard me say all this before:

• Follow your bliss.
• Tune into your intuition by paying attention with childlike curiosity and wonder to what awakens your spirit.
• Ask and you shall receive.
• Take one inspired action at a time to see where it takes you.

I’m so glad I did!

The first thing I noticed as my taxi from Sacramento turned into Ananda Village in the Sierra foothills of California were the donkeys and goats. I craned my neck as we climbed the road past them.

The grin on my face told me it wouldn’t take long to come back to that spot to commune with them. I didn’t even have to do that!

It turns out that the Mowing Team’s fenced-in territory extended right below my bedroom window, where I could see them making their way to and from their various chomping grounds.

Soon after, I met Virani Ramsden, aka the goat lady, and Ian Allen, one of her WWOOFers (an international volunteer program separate from my karma yoga one – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms).

Needless to say, I asked if I could come to the milking barn for a visit. 

Next thing I knew, I had sore smile muscles and over a hundred clips for what became the video above.

What fun! The 12 hours I spent on the video were more than I’d spent at the milking barn, but I got as much fun creating the video.

On an aside, I do believe that I’ve had such a hard time appealing my “under age” ban on my video editing app because Divine Mother wanted me to do more yoga and meditation instead of spending all my free time … and sleep time … creating videos.  But that’s another story.

The point is, if you’re curious about something, follow through!

For me, asking to come to the milking barn after feeling such joy at just spotting the goats and donkeys on my way in led to some beautiful opportunities and connections. It helped me become a part of the village. For that, I am so grateful.

So many villagers told me after watching the video that they didn’t know what the inside of the barn looked like. They weren’t aware that Virani had acquired equipment to help her do the milking. They got an education and a few chuckles too.

I remember when I worked at the National Capital Commission and later taught English as a Second Language at the University of Ottawa. I organized so many activities that had me discovering my hometown in many new ways.

It’s so easy for locals to take things for granted or simply be unimpressed by what tourists travel the world to see.

Don’t you find that you get to know places you visit much better than your own hometown? Maybe that’s why I’ve been inspired to move so many times in my life. I love discovering new places.

It’s kept my childlike curiosity and wonder alive.

But now that I’ve lived 13 years in the same city, I’ll admit, I don’t nearly do as much tourism and culture as I used to. It’s true, my attention is often more on my inner world than the outer world, but again, that’s another story.

The challenge is not to become blasé about where we’re at – inwardly or outwardly. Challenge yourself to see the world with new eyes… including the people around you.

After all, nothing in life is constant but change itself.

No one wakes up in the morning exactly as they were the day before. This is just as true with nature, cultural programming, or relationships.

So why not wake up like children do – open, curious and in the flow of the evolving mystery of every day. Let’s not get blasé about life.

If you’re curious about something, follow that impulse. Take inspired action. And see where it takes you. Remember to wear the right boots!