Becoming A HEART WARRIOR: How To Live Your Dharma

Joan of Arc was 13 years old when she first heard the “voice of angels” telling her to lead the French army to defeat the British. Whether you believe she was truly communicating with angels or not, it is certain that she was connected to a higher guidance or calling with which she could communicate. 

How many of us, during our lives, have felt, sensed or even heard messages or guidance showing us the way forward in our life? 

How many times, during those crucial moments, did you ignore these messages because of doubt or fear that it was impossible or what other people might think?

Because Joan of Arc followed and believed her connection to this higher power, she succeeded. Even when she was betrayed by the French church and burned alive at the age of 19, she did not revoke or back down from her calling.

Answering the call of our heart is BIG. When we answer the call of our heart, everything begins to change and transform in our life. 

We become aligned with our dharma, the path or destiny in this life which is only meant for us. 

I believe that destiny is not prewritten, but we do come into this life with samskaras, (karma’s, traits and psychological patterns) which both challenge us and endlessly repeat throughout our life. These are the the thought patterns, tendencies and attributes which make your psyche uniquely different from somebody else. We are both born with samskaras, and we also learn them through conditioned behavior from our families.

Most people spend their lives absorbed in the surface level engagement of their samskaras and never fully achieve deeper happiness or self-realization beyond the fluctuations of the mind.

We transcend our samskaras and step into Dharma when we respond to life from the wisdom of our heart, instead of reacting to life from the patterns of the mind.

This doesn’t mean that life becomes full of light and peace and that all our problems disappear,  It means that we are no longer wasting our energy on problems which are not relevant to our destiny.

When we are living from our heart, the challenges that show up in our life are the tests designed to show us how to grow and learn to become more of who we really are. And when we understand and integrate these challenges we become more whole.

So what is stopping us from living this powerful aligned life?

Our reactions. We react to life rather than respond, because we are taught that happiness and success are fleeting and something to be won, worked for or stolen form outside of ourselves. Everything in our society, from our social media to our education systems to our political systems are geared towards keeping us in the reactive cycle of samskara. 

If we as change-makers and empowered individuals want to create positive impact in our world right now, then it’s time for us to take the deep dive into our own hearts, deconstruct the wounds which are keeping us in a fear-based-reaction loop and wake up the voice of our higher wisdom, so we can live our Dharma.

In my own life, and in my work helping people to transform their own life, I’ve identified five steps to this process:

1. Healing the physical, mental, emotional programming which prevents us from listening to our higher wisdom

2. Being open to be completely real and honest with ourselves

3. Fully receiving the wisdom of the heart

4. Taking consistent action

5. Allowing the hearts wisdom to continue to guide you no matter what.

Greta Thunberg started her weekly school strike outside the parliament building in Stockholm, Sweden, not because she was reacting to stimulus, or because she wanted approval, recognition or personal gain. Like Joan of Arc, she did it because she was responding to a problem in the way that her heart told her she should. 

Think of that thing again— you know, that time when you heard a great calling and conviction to act, rest, create, transform something in your life. 

Now imagine the impact on your life, your family, your community, your clients, your customers when you start consistently showing up, following that heart-voice.

That is how we become the change we wish to see in the world. Not by mentally constructing a preconceived idea of what positive change looks like, but by following the sacred impulse of the heart.

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Are you feeling this call right now in your life? 

Do you feel the pressure of transformation in your life, and the knowing that you must follow the dharma voice of your heart?

Not living your dharma is costing you your happiness, true success and harmony in your life.

Most of all, its preventing you from living and receiving what is yours in this lifetime.

Join me for HEART WARRIOR: A 90 Day Up-level For Earth Conscious Healers and Leaders to heal through the blocks preventing you from deeply living your dharma so you can create a more powerful impact and experience greater success, vitality and growth.

The autumn cohort of HEART WARRIOR begins October 5th 2019.

Do you feel the call? Join us.

http://www.anjasofiachurchill.com/heart-warrior-uplevel-intensive

The Medicine Of Sacred Rage

Image by Heather Heininge

Rage becomes sacred when we treat with it respect, when we acknowledge the powerful medicine it carries into our lives.

When rage shows its face within us, we know we are being given a gift of great power: an emotional medicine which can sweep through our lives like a forest fire, giving us the opportunity to burn down everything that is no longer supporting life and our highest integrity.

Apply the medicine of your sacred rage as follows:

1. Use our fiery brand to burn way the external toxic relationships, patterns and situations which have oppressed, wounded and anesthetized us. It doesn’t matter what needs burning— whether it’s a situation that is only hours old, or the systemic oppression of a people, culture and way of life which has lasted centuries. What matters is that it shows us who and where we really are in relation to the world. 

2. As you burn the old and unhealthy down to the ground observe the pain, confusion, strength, beauty, grace and innate goodness within yourself, too. What is revealed to to you about yourself in the glow cast by your inner fire? See and sense, like an animal smelling the sulphur of a burning forest, what is not just out of integrity in the world but also within yourself

3. Feel sacred rage initiating you to the power of our voice. She shows you the strength of your word to speak out, to say the words which have been strangled to silence out of fear. What do you need to say, and to whom? If you can’t speak to the people or person directly, write a letter, then burn it. Do whatever you need to do to express your anger and release it in a safe way. When the time for sacred rage comes, she protects us with her power, and we are no longer afraid, we are no longer afraid to be and express who we are.

4. When you have allowed yourself to be consumed by the fire, travel within yourself to the point of stillness in the center of the flames. Feel this stillness of your heart. The center point from which this yearning for balance and integrity comes. Feel this place, the part of you which will never be oppressed, never be asleep. Allow your rage to move you awake.
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Rage becomes violent when it is not tempered with love.

Rage becomes abusive when we do not understand its origins, when we blindly disconnect from our hearts and use our fiery brand to hurt others as we have been burnt.

Rage becomes a force which eats away at the soul when we don’t give it the proper time, space and breath to move and express itself within us in a healthy way. Rage becomes illness within us when we ignore the transformation it is trying to invoke.

So today I pray that you, my reader, may know the power and medicine of your inner fire. That depression is often the symptom of the fire of rage going out, when we have been told or felt for too long that our fire has no power to change our lives and the world. This is a lie. 

Be brave, your sacred rage will change you, bring you closer to the God in yourself. if you let it.

And when the fire has burned its course, and you are left vulnerable in the ashes, keep your heart open. Honor the power of transformation and turn your face to the moon, to the light which will help you build a new life.

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How did these words inspire you? Where can you shift the suppressed anger in your life into sacred rage which transforms and heals?

I’d love to hear from you, leave me a comment here on the blog of send me a message.

In light,

Anja

Living Authentically During Transitions-- A Glimpse of My Life in Rebirth

I am acutely aware that it is impossible to run from our pain, from what we fear and from what is unresolved within us; I’ve made it my way of life to examine inner resistance.

And for the past two months I have been spending time in Europe, intentionally choosing to be 5,000 miles away from where my marriage began to fall apart six months ago. Part fleeing from pain, part choosing to put myself in new and uncomfortable situations through which to face it. 

As I spend the end of the summer in the Scandinavian woods and fields, I am awaiting the final email from my lawyer telling me that my divorce is final with equal dread and excitement.  I find myself living my days in the quiet rhythm of reflection and self nourishment born from years of healing from chronic illness. And while this is a slow, liminal space, it is in no way stagnant. 

There is death and rebirth within me. The dark goddess Kali, Indian deity and patron saint of destruction and rebirth is walking with me, helping me to see and delineate the illusion in my life from the truth. 

Its always good to have help clearing away the old seeds that have no life left in them in order to focus your energy on the ones ripe for sprouting.

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I walk outside at the farm where I am staying, notebook, phone, cup of tea in my hand. I take a slow walk across the courtyard, past the barn, looking for a suitable spot for my meditation. A meditation traditionally done at 4:00 am, I think mildly to myself as I looked up at the 11 o’clock sunshine streaming across the grass. Well, we do what we can when we can. 

I find a spot up on a small hill, tucked into a grove of trees. Large boulders rest in the woods, growing and claiming space like the trees. These boulders have been here since the stone age and many of them have cultural significance, marking important places and community gathering points for people who lived 10,000 years ago. I settle myself next to a stone which reaches the height of my shoulder. As I my eyes close the shape of the stone disappears and instead I feel its presence, like a person sitting beside me.

I begin my chanting meditation. The feelings of anxiety and disconnect that have been prickling within me rise to the surface. I always get uneasy when I touch on unfamiliar soil and meet people who don’t know me well, These feelings arise and saying hello to them, I allow myself to feel a deeper fear and sadness that I have been repressing for a few days. Unworthiness. Fear of not belonging. It washes over me and I gently place my attention on each of my chakras as I begin my chanting meditation. 

I chant the mantra “Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam Siri Wa He Guru” in a hypnotic rhythm, looping and vibrating the sound through each of the eight energy centers starting at the root of my body.

I realize that I have both a fear of being seen, of fully stepping into my creative power and self expression, and a fear of not being seen, a fear of never stepping into that creative power and potential. These fears represent the age old process of transformation: we are already blooming into the light but we are afraid of the journey into the unknown and letting go of the places we were once so familiar with.

I finish my meditation, and with my heart and mind soft, silent waves of encouragement and guidance wash over me as I bring my palms together at my heart.

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So much of my journey these past few months has been about claiming my worthiness, claiming my power to choose what I want, what I know feels right in the face of noise, chaos and distraction in the world.

I have felt shame around not being a “perfect yogi” who rises with the sun, even though my psyche and entire life revolves and functions around the principles of yoga. I have felt sadness and disappointment in my self for not having brought certain dreams and creations to fruition yet, even though I am still diligently pursuing and birthing these dreams according to their own timing. I have felt the self blame as I continue to heal and live with health challenges even though I am doing everything in my power to be healthy and vital.

Learning to thrive during transition periods requires remembering that we are the only ones who can define truth and integrity for ourselves. As the ones in the midst of transformation, our own souls voice is the strongest voice of guidance no matter how many mentors, friends or allies we have cheering us on.

We are never going to fully meet the expectations and projections of others, and if we use meeting those expectations as a measurement of our worthiness, achievement and success we won’t fulfill the highest outcome of our transformation and instead live lives which are empty of our true purpose and which only echo with a longing of our authentic, un-lived life.

I want to instill in you my (friend, family, client, or fellow human), the conviction that you are worthy, that despite changing inner and outer landscapes and circumstances you are brilliant. Your capacity for creating the world, work, art, change and peace in the world that you envision is only limited by your belief that you are not enough. 

Lets be real, transition is often messy and strange. Most of the time the journey is not glamorous. But it is rich, and finding that sustenance amidst change is more rewarding than anything in the world. It’s where we learn who we are, deeply, and for that I am grateful.

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Did you find these words helpful or inspiring? If so, please share them with the ones you love. Everything is better when shared. And let me know if these words resonated with you. Where in your life are you transitioning and have the opportunity to keep rising towards the light? I’d love to hear your personal insights.

With love

Anja

The ultimate question: getting rid of social media or change the way we use it?

Over the coming weeks I will be removing my personal FB account, and transitioning my Instagram account solely for business purposes.

The reasons behind this are many. As a young person who has literally grown up with social media, I find it addictive, and distracting.

My social life has been connected to social media since I was 13 years old, and I would say my brain has been wired in all the ways which the creators of this platform have engineered. (Yes, they are created to specifically diffuse our ability to focus and enhance addictive behaviors, for more about this check out this video.) 

In the video, the speaker shares how one of the psychological side effects behind regular use is heightened levels of resting anxiety. When our brains are wired to receive small hits of dopamine throughout the day, we become restless and in a sympathetic nervous system mode consistently. 

I like many, many people, experience this. I pretend that I don't but I do. 

One of the other psychological effects of consistent time spent on social media is lowered self-esteem related to the comparison of self vs. others. Thankfully, I don't experience this very much, but I AM as addicted to mindlessly scrolling through social media feeds when my brain wont shut off as the next person.

Ultimately, I see us evolving with technology, and the current trends in social media lean towards even greater fusions of reality and virtual reality. As the information age expands, our awareness, sovereignty, and emotional intelligence has to evolve with it, so this is simply my way of trying to work things out for myself.

The internet as a whole is rewiring our brains, and I think it is false thinking to assume that social media is the only culprit in decreasing attention span, etc. But for me, removing or reducing social media is the first logical step in changing how I relate to the internet and ultimately use it for it's amazing, information sharing potential. 

Anyhow, I'll still be sharing my writings (my blog/website is where I share my more focused and heart felt thoughts) and info about upcoming classes, events, and other exciting offerings on my professional FB page Anja Sofia Churchill. The goal is to still be reachable, but for me to focus more on what matters, both personally, creatively and in service!

If you need to get in touch for any reason, send me an email, a text, or call me! (Yay! Real voices!) 

Love, Love and Love!

Anja