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You Can Thrive.

October 12, 2017 // by Admin// Leave a Comment

There was a time in my life when I would have given anything to escape. You know what I mean. When you experience something so devastating that all you want to do is get out. You start to question things and numb out until one day you can’t do it anymore. You reach a breaking point and there are two choices.

1.You can thrive

2. You can wilt.

Choosing to thrive takes guts. To thrive is to be ALIVE and show up no matter what. You won’t make a wrong choice when you CHOOSE to face the truth in the right here and the right now. You can not lose here.

Living is FULL of emotion. Full of ups and downs, twists and turns. Don’t live in the why. Live in the how.

How can you do it?

How can you succeed?

How can you LOVE.

How.

Rest assured that this will take time. Your journey was meant to be long and full, dear ones. You are sitting on the precipice of something exquisite and no one can do it but you.

You are so full of potential. So ridiculously SMART. So wise in your animal skin. Awaken to that Truth.

Choose to help another by living fully in this lifetime. Express your unique paint brush and sound unlike anyone else who has come before you.

I dare you.

I dare you to step up and step IN to your POWER.

With love and so much light and respect for your incredibly journey on this Earth,

I thank you so much for being you.

Sincerely,

Alana Roach

Owner & Director of the Explorations of Self Travel Community

A Powerful Sadhana for the Spring Equinox

March 20, 2017 // by Admin// Leave a Comment

Namaste EOS Community!

Happy Spring Equinox!!! This is such an amazing day for this post! The solar plexus chakra is directly in alignment with the new energies we are arriving with in this new Spring season. This is a time to really own our destiny’s work and live out our dreams! It all begins with owning your power with GRACE.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.”

-Marianne Williamson

So, in lieu of planting our seeds of our deepest desires and hopes, this week’s practice will include “Cobra Pose,” aka “Bhujangasana,” (In Sanskrit, India’s sacred language of yoga) accompanied with the third of the 7 main energy centers in our body called the, “Solar Plexus Chakra,” or ,”Manipura,”in Sanskrit which translates to, “Jeweled City.”

This yellow, ten petaled lotus solar plexus chakra is located in your abdomen, right above the navel.

This energy center governs our self confidence, well-being and personal power. Are you ready to really go after what you desire? What is your destiny? This is the center that reminds us that all of these things and more are possible. When this center is out of balance, one can become angry, depressed, and suffer from an over all low self-esteem. On the other end of the spectrum. Maintaining a regular solar plexus chakra balancing practice is necessary to feel motivated in pursuing your passions

As we enter the Pisces/Virgo full moon on March 12th, we prepare to let go of that which no longer serves us, in order to planet new seeds for the Spring Equinox on March 20th. So, in order to get clear on what we WANT, and also to become ready to let go of what we do not, it is essential that we take the time to become centered through yoga and mindfulness practices

Cobra pose allows us to develop flexibility and strength in our lower back, while nurturing the lumbar spine.

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Let’s get started!

1. Come on to your mat with your belly facing down.

2. Place your forehead on the mat and draw your hands underneath of your shoulders, palms facing down, fingers wide.

3. Allow your pelvis to stay neutral. Guiding the bottom tip of your tailbone towards the earth, while lengthening the crown of your head towards the sky.

4. Breathe slowly (Think of breathing up and down the length of your spine) drawing the tops of your feet into the earth and slowly peel your chest up, guiding your shoulders down your back, while keeping your head and neck in alignment with your spine. Keep your elbows close to your side body (Not bowing out.) Only come up as much as the spine allows WITHOUT straining. Once you have found your edge, stay there and find the gentleness in your cobra pose while we hold…

5. Visualize your sacral chakra as a swirling 10 petaled yellow lotus flower. 3 inches below your naval. Every breath in you see your flower grow brighter and brighter, and with every exhale you see it spin faster and faster. As it spins, you may notice old energy leaving this energy center as dark and oily drainage. This is completely natural and to be expected during this meditation. Breathe slowly and rhythmically. Visualize what you would like to manifest for your life over the next year. Really see it in your minds eye & feel it in your body, as if it were your reality right now. Do this for at least 5 minutes. Inhale through the nose slowly, and exhaling through the mouth while creating an, “O,” shape with the mouth as you exhale slowly. Syncing your breath with your visualization will enhance this sadhana or spiritual practice.

6. Slowly release your chest, shoulders, neck & head back onto the mat.

7. Feeling grateful for this time that you have taken to connect with yourself, smile softly, and blink your eyes, slowly coming back into the room to continue on with your day, a little more centered, calm, and happy.

Stay tuned to our weekly emails over the next 4 weeks to journey through yoga asana and the remaining 4 chakras!So much love,

Alana

BIO : Alana Roach is a International Yogi currently based out of Annapolis, MD. Formerly adorned by the city lights and the busy streets of America, she was then whisked away by the illustrious path of yoga and took to traveling the world to share it with others. A few years back she started to write about the transformation she undertook by practicing conscious meditation. Her passions became her career and she now holds RYS Teacher Trainings & International Retreats, Health Coaches, and writes every opportunity she gets. In her spare time she loves cuddling with her daughter, surfing, being in nature, and living amongst her ever growing and global loving and conscious community. She is on Facebook , Instagram, Twitter, and can be reached by email explorationsofself@gmail.com & for health coaching at SelfHealwithAlana@gmail.com

A New Year to LIVE

December 31, 2016 // by Admin// Leave a Comment

I remember the first time I saw the picture that changed everything for me. It was of a man, somewhere on a seemingly deserted, white sandy beach, doing a one armed cart wheel. His legs were dancing in the brightly painted turquoise sky, and I knew in that moment that there was much, much more to life. There was more to life than the daily grind, and the striving for… what, exactly?

The Spiritual Path is like this. We get these glimpses into the very center of our SOUL and in an instant, we are changed forever. But we are not REALLY changed, we are just coming Home to, the inevitable and unshakeable Truth of our Existence, and who we REALLY ARE; who we were always meant to BE.

So how do we get so lost?

We wake up, brush our teeth, drink a cup or 2 of coffee, eat breakfast (If we are lucky) go to work or school or both, watch TV, distract, distract, more distraction. We spend money, consume, go into debt to make more money, and spend more money to get out of debt as debt consumes our lives. We end up angry, resentful, gaunt, and ultimately the lack of motivation to do anything is gone, and yet we keep going. We keep going as if we were somehow animated through wire and chord. We become caged in our thoughts, animated by our emotions, reactive, depressed, and spun out. We begin to think that THIS is the norm.

I remember the first time I saw the picture that changed everything for me, because it TOUCHED my Soul. Somewhere deep down in the core of my being, I felt like a tapestry that was just coming to life and woven by the Divine. Unlike the feeling of chord and plug, I felt powered by something far GREATER, far Superior to woman/man made (Though woman and man has made some really incredible things.) I can hardly describe it, as Spirit goes, It is ineffable. I do know that I couldn’t turn away or go back to sleep.

“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you

Don’t go back to sleep!

You must ask for what you really want.

Don’t go back to sleep!

People are going back and forth

across the doorsill where the two worlds touch,

The door is round and open

Don’t go back to sleep!”

― Jalaluddin Rumi

By the New Year of 2012 I had broken a lease, went on a leave of absence at work, finished a semester in college with notice that I would be taking at least one if not two semesters off. By February of 2012, I was living and back packing through my sacred heart’s home. India. Though my flesh isn’t from this INCREDIBLE land, my soul most definitely is.

By New Year’s of 2013 I became a full time yoga teacher & I started to fully allow my rainbow colored tapestry to become a muse and channel for other hearts’ songs. I woke up every morning asking how I could serve the Divine Energy that changed everything for me, that BREATHED Life back into me (As if it were lost somehow, lol.) Animated by this Divine Spirit, I came to step into my PURPOSE on this Earth. I was GUIDED to combine what inspired me and made me HAPPY in order to take it to the masses so that THEY could be HAPPY; while continuing DEEP inner work to shed the guiles of the ego so that I could be a CLEAR and unencumbered channel for God.

By New Year’s of 2014 I was looking at leading my 3rd yoga retreat in Costa Rica after living on the Nicoya Peninsula of that land for 6 months. I was leaving the man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with in order to marry the MAN/WOMAN that has never and will never leave my side. God/Goddess. In 2014 I began my courtship with Divine. Truly. Though I strayed (Or thought I strayed) from the ULTIMATE Truth of who and what I was, Divine always persisted that I was GREAT. Thank you, Divine, for always BELIEVING in ME! 😉

By New Year’s of 2015 I was incorporated as a full fledged wellness and yoga retreat business, and embarked on the most important business of all, motherhood. This was the year of fine tuning my skills. I registered for an Integrative Nutrition school that I had been wanting to go to for many years, but was too afraid to believe in myself enough to do it. This was the year of staying in touch with my dreams, whilst recognizing what didn’t serve me (Attachment to anything that was material and changeable.) It was surrendering selfishness in order to be able to serve my daughter and my Dharma.

By New Year’s of 2016 I was sitting alone in a hotel suite. I was taking time for myself, ringing in not only the New Year, but my 30th birthday, 7 months pregnant with my daughter, and fully open to learning more from Divine. “However can I serve YOU and this Planet,” was my daily morning prayer and invocation. I spent time mapping out my life on a Vision Board and hours meditating on what I was grateful for (Everything) and what I desired to CO-CREATE with the Universe and my daughter. This is a great practice for anyone on a New Year’s Day. I suggest you try it if you haven’t a ritual planned already!

The New Year of 2017 is upon us, with the Solar New Year already among us (Winter Solstice.) My beautiful, nearly 8 month old daughter is sitting in my lap as I finish writing this. I am now fully realizing my dreams, traveling the world and teaching what I believe will help AWAKEN individuals to their HIGHEST Potentials in this incarnation. I am so, SO grateful for what is to come, because in my experience, what the Universe DELIVERS is far Superior to what I can even imagine in my BIGGEST DREAMS!

What LIT you up and INSPIRED you in 2016? What were your happiest moments, and what challenges did you over come? What do you want to DREAM into being in the New Year of 2017? How can I help in praying for you to fulfill this? How can I help guide and support you? Leave comments below…

A New Year’s 30 Day Warrior Woman Course to LIVING YOUR DREAMS starts soon. Stay tuned to the, “Self Heal with Alana,” Facebook page or email SelfHealwithAlana@gmail.com for information. Come away with the Explorations of Self Tribe and me to fully be present with yourself and to unwind from the daily grind on one or more of these incredible Wellness Retreats, information at www.explorationsofself.com or email explorationsofself@gmail.com

In deep DEVOTION and AWE of this WILDLY ABUNDANT UNIVERSE,

I go in PEACE & JOY,

Alana

Namaste, soul family