In Season 3 of Present Moments, we use a variety of oracle card decks as prompts for self-discovery. Each episode takes an affirmation, intention and/or message from the card to assist with exploration and evaluation. Oracle cards have been used to reveal blind spots and/or to bring awareness to thoughts, experiences, relationships, and behaviors that may or may not serve us. Additionally, they can be a powerful tool to remind us of what is truly important and activating energetic motion in the direction that supports our divine purpose.

Today's moment is about Vision and having purpose, goals and a heading. When we can see from a birds-eye view, we elevate ourselves out of the minutia and can see clearly the various paths ahead. The Falcon is the oracle card that represents vision and in this episode we reveal the message this majestic bird has for you.

For more episodes of Present Moments and to access the entire library of great content from 4 seasons-worth of reflections and mindfulness practices, subscribe for $5.99/month. Start your free 3-day trial at ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.ascendingspiritwp.com/present-moments⁠. Subscribers also have access to 2 bonus seasons (Plant Medicine & Food as Medicine) and early access to Season 7, Bite-sized Ayurveda.

Today we explore intentions and how to use them to create a life by design. If you're stuck in a rut or going through the motions, this episode will help you break up the monotony and support your desires for a different outcome. Becoming aware and mindful of your behaviors, patterns, thoughts, actions, emotions, etc are prerequisites for intention setting. Once you are conscious of where your energy is going, you can interrupt the cycle by setting a different intention and becoming mindful of your alignment to that goal.

For more episodes of Present Moments and to access the entire library of great content from 4 seasons-worth of reflections and mindfulness practices, subscribe for $5.99/month. Start your free 3-day trial at ⁠⁠⁠www.ascendingspiritwp.com/present-moments. Subscribers also have access to 2 bonus seasons (Plant Medicine & Food as Medicine) and early access to Season 7, Bite-sized Ayurveda.

Season 4 of Present Moments uses excerpts from the book, The Eight Limbs of Yoga: A Handbook for Living Yoga Philosophy, by Stuart Ray Sarbacker and Kevin Kimple to dissect yoga beyond the mat. In each episode, I read a short selection from the book and offer an interpretation followed by some practical ways in which you can incorporate the concept in your daily life. Yoga is a spiritual practice that offers a framework for people who have the desire to walk the path of enlightenment.

This episode takes a break from reading the book and offers a little glimpse into my personal experience with yoga. We'll travel back to my 20s and 30s to see what yoga meant to me back then, and we'll explore the concept of competition. If you are someone who finds yourself pushing hard during a yoga class, may this be an invitation for you to do the opposite. You'll achieve better results by allowing and relaxing vs. pushing, pulling or overexerting. Who are you competing with and why?

If you'd like access to all the content for Season 4, Bite-sized Yoga, head over to the website and become a subscriber to the full podcast with access to a complete library of content and unpublished seasons at ⁠www.ascendingspiritwp.com/present-moments

Grab your journal and drop into a moment of reflection and self-discovery. In Season 2 of Present Moments, we're using the 'What Really Matters' deck of cards created by MetaFox to explore a variety of core values. Each episode is a 5-7 minute guided process that reviews the card and it's meaning, before mindfully evaluating what the value means to you and how it is represented. You'll also be given examples of how you can create opportunities to embrace the value in your daily practices and routine.

Today we explore the core value honesty. How many times do we withhold information, tell a little white lie, refuse to acknowledge a hard truth or flat out lie to avoid confrontation, failure, shame, guilt, pain or another lower vibration feeling? Whether we are choosing to avoid pain for ourselves or to spare another, honesty asks us to be comfortable in the discomfort of truthfulness. When you feel secure and your 3 lower chakras (root, sacral & solar plexus) are in alignment, speaking and acting from your heart with the intention to do no harm becomes the most honorable, honest thing you can do. You do a great kindness to others when you can hold your frequency with integrity and can be truthful about your feelings, needs, dreams, hopes, desires, fears, frustrations, pains, etc.

Truthfulness, or satya, is one of the five yamas (restraints) in yoga philosophy. We cover this topic in detail over several episodes in Season 4. If you'd like to take a deeper dive, you can head over to the website and become a subscriber to the full podcast with access to a complete library of content and unpublished seasons at www.ascendingspiritwp.com/present-moments

In Season 3 of Present Moments, we use a variety of oracle card decks as prompts for self-discovery. Each episode takes an affirmation, intention and/or message from the card to assist with exploration and evaluation. Oracle cards have been used to reveal blind spots and/or to bring awareness to thoughts, experiences, relationships, and behaviors that may or may not serve us. Additionally, they can be a powerful tool to remind us of what is truly important and activating energetic motion in the direction that supports our divine purpose.

I drew a card from the Mushroom Spirit Oracle deck by Nicola McIntosh for today's episode. The Blue Leratiomyces invites us to explore the unknown and hold space for the unfolding of events without a complete picture of what will be. Join me in this exploration of trust and lean into the process of child-like wonder and discovery.

For more episodes of Present Moments and to access the entire library of great content from 4 seasons-worth of reflections and mindfulness practices, subscribe for $5.99/month. Start your free 3-day trial at ⁠⁠www.ascendingspiritwp.com/present-moments

Grab your journal and drop into a moment of reflection and self-discovery. In Season 2 of Present Moments, we're using the 'What Really Matters' deck of cards created by MetaFox to explore a variety of core values. Each episode is a 5-7 minute guided process that reviews the card and it's meaning, before mindfully evaluating what the value means to you and how it is represented. You'll also be given examples of how you can create opportunities to embrace the value in your daily practices and routine.

Self-discipline is our value exploration today. Boy is this is good one! There are definitely places in my life where I need more discipline and areas where I could stand to be more flexible and less rigid. As we go through the practice today, I encourage you to bring in the yoga yama satya, or truthfulness, to your exploration so you can be honest about your relationship with self-discipline.

Some questions to explore:

• When do you overindulge?
• How do you feel about structure and routine? Do you have one?
• Do you have a set of priorities that guide where you spend your time and energy each day?
• Are there areas of your life that overly prescriptive?
• Which relationships are supportive of the discipline you are trying to cultivate and which ones are potentially destructive? (work, family, friends, pets, exercise, money, sex, diet, substances, etc.)
• What do you value about those relationships and why do they reinforce or derail your ability to practice discipline?

For more episodes of Present Moments and to access the entire library of great content from 4 seasons-worth of reflections and mindfulness practices, subscribe for $5.99/month. Start your free 3-day trial at ⁠www.ascendingspiritwp.com/present-moments

Mindfulness can be as easy as drinking a delicious beverage and noticing everything you can about the experience. Join me in this episode with your icy or hot beverage and let's drop into this Present Moment.

Some tips for using this particular practice beyond the Podcast:

• For kiddos and teens that are dysregulated... take them to a smoothie, coffee or juice shop. On the way there, tell them that their job is to see how many things they can notice in silence about the experience. From walking in the door to taking their first sip. This is a terrific strategy to employ when talking them through a problem or big emotion isn't optimal. Sometimes changing the scenery and focus can stimulate a calming effect and move the energy away from fixation and into creativity for problem-solving.

• If you are at the office and have been in non-stop meetings, grab a beverage and head outside for 15 minutes. Leave your phone and smart devices behind so you can truly unwind for a moment. See if you can simply focus on the act of drinking and enjoying the beverage. Each time you notice the mind wandering, take a sip and bring yourself back to the experience.

• Preparing for an exam? It's said the brain can only handle 90-minutes of intense focus before the mind begins to wander and you experience diminishing returns. Study hard for 90 minutes. Step away, and make yourself a beverage or head out to your favorite local watering hole for a non-alcoholic drink. Do the Beverage Present Moment practice for 15-20 minutes breathing deeply and releasing the facts and figures. When you return to your studying, you'll notice you're able to focus again and retain the information.

To enjoy the entire library and for access to unpublished seasons, begin your monthly subscription to Present Moments for $5.99/mo. New content is added weekly! You can begin a free 3-day trial at ⁠www.ascendingspiritwp.com/present-moments

Season 4 of Present Moments uses excerpts from the book, The Eight Limbs of Yoga: A Handbook for Living Yoga Philosophy, by Stuart Ray Sarbacker and Kevin Kimple to dissect yoga beyond the mat. In each episode, I read a short selection from the book and offer an interpretation followed by some practical ways in which you can incorporate the concept in your daily life. Yoga is a spiritual practice that offers a framework for people who have the desire to walk the path of enlightenment.

In this episode, we further dissect the 8 limbs and discuss how you can approach the framework. We offer ideas on various ways in which you can incorporate or study the concepts, and challenge the notion of it being prescriptive. The beauty of the 8 limbs is that they each complement one another and there truly is no right or wrong way to explore.

For more episodes of Present Moments and to access the entire library of great content from 4 seasons-worth of reflections and mindfulness practices, subscribe for $5.99/month. Start your free 3-day trial at www.ascendingspiritwp.com/present-moments