As I have probably mentioned, I am a huge fan of Kassandra Reinhardt who is the person behind the Yoga with Kassandra brand. I thank her for introducing me to yoga and I just love her online yoga classes so much! Now, thanks to Rolf, I also have the membership to Yoga with Kassandra app :) Here's Yoga with Kassandra Youtube channel if you wanna check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX32D3gKXENrhOXdZjWWtMA
She also hosted a special Art of Abundance challenge during the last lunar cycle, and as a number one fan I of course joined :) Now the challenge has ended and I wanted to reflect a bit the whole process.
The challenge started on the new moon on the 17th of September. As a new moon represents the start of a new lunar cycle, it symbolizes new beginnings. People use the energy of a new moon to achieve their goals or start on a new project. The New Moon is a great time to set intentions, write down goals or begin new projects for the forthcoming cycle. The new moon is not visible to the Earth so in that darkness we can plant the seeds of our heartfelt desires on the New Moon, consciously focusing on the feeling of our desires. At the most simplistic level, we could say the moon is pulling on our emotional centers, and at the new and full moon, its pull is strongest.
For the first week of the Art of Abundance challenge we focused on setting the intentions for the lunar cycle. First we had to decide what kind of abundance we want to attract. To clarify our inner needs and desires, we did journaling exercises, yoga and meditation.
In the first few days we also came up with our personal abundance affirmation which we then used throughout the whole process. Affirmations are positive reminders or statements that can be used to encourage and motivate yourself or others and change your thought processes. For me personally, finding the exact thing what I wanted to attract was kind of difficult... So I went for both love&money. A perfect combo hahah.
I combined love and money into one positive affirmation "I am loved and money comes to me easily" and then I repeated this affirmation 108 times daily - during the morning routine. Additionally, I put it on my wall and phone background to enhance the focus of attracting these goodies.
With my newly formed affirmation we continued to the second week: the waxing moon. The waxing moon represents intention, hopes, and wishes. After recharging under the new moon, our intentions and desires were planted. This time we developed the intentions, wrote checks to the universe, and laid the mental groundwork for the next project. The planted seeds of the new moon were ready to start sprouting a bit that week. The morning routine during waxing moon was a bit different, including Pranayama (breathing) exercise instead of yoga. But I still did yoga daily because I love it. And we also did lots of journaling, meditation and casting protective circles.
We also focused on shadow work in order to identify the hidden resistance within us and be more receiving to the abundance we are calling for. The common theme was to recognize our personal shadows - like the hidden characteristics of ourselves which we are trying to suppress. Often these shadows are easily spotted when you get triggered by somebody else. It's often your own shadows which you see in somebody else and those characteristics which you do not like about yourself can be the ones which annoy you about the other person. Similarly jealousy is often caused by your shadows so it is important to study your own reactions in order to uncover your shadows. But yeah, Kassandra gave us tools to uncover the shadows and turn the negative energy in the positive - for example by actively complimenting the person who triggers the jealousy in you. This week personally was the hardest to me, I do not feel like I did the work properly to be honest... No excuses... Just did not really act on this one even though I definitely should have... Well, in the next lunar cycle then!!
Third week of the challenge was dedicated to the full moon. The full moon is round and completely illuminated. It's the pregnant moon and the archetype of mother. Time to birth the ideas into the world. Make the thoughts into manifestations. It represents completion, the height of power, the realization of your desires and the peak of clarity. It is a time to celebrate your growth, take note of what progress you have made and to reflect on how far you have come.
In the morning routine of affirmations, yoga and meditation we added giving three protective circles to somebody else, and gratitude journaling. I've been doing daily gratitude journaling for over four months now and I really love it :) During the full moon I definitely felt more loved and my money worries were gone. Very naish. It was easy to notice the energy boost full moon gave to me. Ok it also gave me a headache just like the new moon did... BUT I am still glad that I really felt more connected to the universe during this challenge. My menstrual cycle also synchronized with the moon which was very interesting.
The last week of the challenge was about waning moon. The waning moon refers to the phase in which Moon's visible surface area is getting smaller. A waning moon occurs between a full moon and a new moon. It's associated with the archetype of a wild woman, which is this suppressed soul within every woman. I purchased the book “women who run with the wolves” to study this more. Waning moon is also about opening to grace. Letting go of clutter and purging. Deciding what to leave for this month. Forgiveness is also an important part of letting go. Forgiving others and yourself, releasing the unnecessary baggage you might be carrying. We did extra Pranayama breathing practices and mirror work to enhance the act of letting go and purging. We were encouraged to physically purge too: clean the house and throw away stuff we do not need.
This week was the PMS phase in the menstrual cycle for me at least... A rollercoaster of emotions hahah. I battled with emotions such as guilt, insecurity and unworthiness but also felt lots of love, excitement and joy. Last night I did some extra work to really try to leave stuff behind. Leave the anger and leave the blame especially. And today at the new moon - I feel good!! I am ready for the new cycle with new intentions and new challenges :)
All in all I reallyreally loved this Art of Abundance challenge! I recommend everyone to sign up at https://www.yogawithkassandra.com/art-of-abundance/ which gives you a lifelong access to this amazing class.
