Hearth and Soul NZ

Bean and Vanilla bear waiting for the crew to arrive to tarot night last night. Monty was, of course, warming up the altar.

Tarot nights meander through some pretty cool questions and we pulled apart the concept of growth last night. The idea that we have to grow in our spiritual path, or that it's a path at all, tends to get tangled up in capitalist ideas about what growth looks like - a course charted to the stars with measureables. Our spiritual lives are not a business model. They are seasons, a deciduous tree, a garden that has fallow moments and flowers and winters. The moment we link our lives to growth can be a moment that disconnects us, profoundly, from the messy gorgeous process of life.

Our next gathering is August 5th. Cacao, tarot wisdom, and meandering discussions. All you need is curiosity❤️🐾

It's tarot night week!
And today Monty celebrates 5 years since his first yoga class, curled at the back of my yoga mat like he'd always been there. It wasn't long before we all wondered what we'd done before Monty.

It's also the week where some people start blaming mercury for everything. He looks like he's going backwards for the next couple of weeks. I'm one of those people who loves these retrogrades. It's a time to go slow, turn inwards, and take care of our motivations and intentions. Yes, beware of misunderstandings and some people don't get the memo 'til it pulls out in front of them while they were distracted. Take your time, check your correspondence before pushing send and always stay hydrated. Mercury might make an appearance in our tarot explorations on Wednesday night too. 6-8pm Be Different Studio, Napier by Clare Babbage

Cacao, contemplations, funky tarot discussions, a reading pulled apart and put back together again, Monty cuddles and laughter.
$25 for the night
$50 if you'd like a personal reading dropped in your inbox later in the week as well.

Monty learning that you cannot out stare a cat (nonchalantly resting under the rosemary bush)

I had a conversation yesterday about practice, the kind that is needed every now and again when someone says they haven't been practicing:
Āsana is one tiny part of yoga.
Teeny tiny.
It gets all the attention.
But it's only āsana.
Yoga is in the everyday, in tending and caring, easing suffering, breathing, taking care of our body. It's noticing and being, it's appreciating and slowing down.
This is a reminder to be kinder to yourself about how often you step onto your yoga mat.

Rest
Maybe you save it for the weekends
Or for when no one is watching
Do you jump up to do something if you're interrupted?
Do you collapse at weekends or holidays, too exhausted to do anything?

Rest is so undervalued and so essential. In yoga we understand that you can't meditate if you haven't had sufficient rest. Your brain can't make the transition from go to slow without adequate amounts. If you're exhausted you'll fall asleep, or the thoughts will be at full volume. Rest turns the volume k**b down, not off, just down.

Rest isn't sleep. It's a patch of sun and a cup of tea. It's a good book snuggled under a blanket with a dog on your feet, or with your knee as their pillow. Rest is an album on headphones in your favourite armchair. Rest is a driftwood log on the beach watching the waves. Rest is no-thing.

Rest is walking out of the office at lunch time to sit under a tree. Rest is reclaiming your evenings from work.

Rest doesn't have to be earned.
I'm going to say that one again so your brain doesn't skip it.
Rest doesn't have to be earned.

Rest can be a radical rebalancer.

The image: There are frequently cushions pushed off chairs around the house. This is what happens when the cushion doesn't end up in the right spot. In this image, after much cafuffle with back leg scrabbles and front paw pushes, a hearty sigh, and a grumble, the cushion was in place, not on the floor.

Thursday is my recording day, for my amazing Taking Yoga Deeper crew, and my beautiful subscribers. Not long ago - weeks - getting all this done was what the day felt like. Even though I love what I do, I struggled and then struggled some more. Each thing felt good on its own, but all of it together created this exhausting tension. If I spread it through the week, I stessed even more (!?!?). Enter all the new realizations and Thursday is slowly becoming a delight.

What is different?

Here I am, writing this on the porch in the sun with Monty asleep on my leg warmer. I'm drinking coffee and thinking through the TYD video. I've taken away the need to finish at 5 like a normal work day. It's crazy that after 20+ years of self employment part of my brain still holds that wiring. Instead, I don't mind if I'm recording one of the meditations by candlelight tonight, that sounds kind of delicious. And if the inspiration isn't quite there for the subscription crew's email, I'll do my afternoon coffee on the back porch in the sun and scroll some cool creators for inspiration.

I'll relisten and take notes on last week's TYD podcast to give myself points to jump off from this week. I'll have crayons and pretty pens to make this more fun.

I have lunch decided.
Snacks.
A Playlist.
And silly little jobs that I can do while the coffee brews that up the dopamine enough to start the next thing.

It's weirdly simple, and a lot and yet, the day stretches out far more gently.

Whether you feel like a yoga soak - cacao, intention setting, deep relaxation with the crystal singing bowls, yin into slow flow and back to rest.
Or you are tarot curious, wondering what the cards are all about, needing to dust off a set in a drawer somewhere, or bring your trusted pack along, Sunday has the events for you.

The gorgeous Hello Sunshine Studio will be warm and toasty. Monty will be there to greet you and then to demonstrate savāsana. And I'll be there with two pots of beautiful cacao.

Winter Solstice feels like a reset for me. The long nights, warming foods and chilly mornings are kicking in, but there is the turning point, the solar flicking back towards longer days. What do you vision for yourself for the coming season? What rest does Winter bring?

The Yoga soak runs from 3-5.30pm and costs $45

The Solstice Tarot celebration starts at 6 and finishes around 8.30. It also costs $45.

You can do both for $80 - Amy is taking the bookings for the double. Otherwise pop over to MindBody to book in.

New Moon energy
One that feels to me like a massive reset, a chance to explore being myself without old constraints. It's a bit exciting over here in neuromagical land.

It's also time to sit with the cards and New Moon Readings. It might seem strange that I can do these without the person present, sometimes without having met the person, and this is all about trusting the cards. They tell their stories and weave conversations that I just need to sit and notice. Increasingly I'm leaning into what the new moon itself is doing - researching what the gifted astrology crew are saying. It helps interpret the cards stories as they dance with the moon and the person I'm reading for.

This week leads into Winter Solstice here in the Southern Hemisphere. It's a special time for welcoming renewal and celebrating the long nights, slow warming foods, and rest as Winter settles in. This adds its own energy to the cards so if yours are gathering dust in a drawer it might be time to bring them out, or book in for a reading. The little 20ish minute readings aren't just available with the New and Full moon so you could book one to look at the Solstice. They arrive in your inbox of choice as audio recordings.

As for Monty. This is morning sleepy face, having borrowed my yummy woolen wrap. This is also, 'is it a second coffee morning, or do I need to get up?' face.

It's Sunday.
A deep day off - the one with zero plans, long coffee snuggles with Monty and simply letting the day unfold.
That doesn't mean nothing.
Sometimes it does.
Other times the side quest nudges, and then the adventure, and gently pushing past comfortable.
That can be at the sewing table with no one else to witness the moment my feet don't touch the bottom.
Or it might be going out to drink coffee in the sun with my journal when maybe it's a bit uncomfortable.
It can be standing looking at my (fabulous) wardrobe and wondering if today I can wear that...glorious but perhaps challenging.
I've often made the mistake of thinking I have to dive way past my depth, to the really scary, when just the moment past comfortable is where the growth is, the wow is, the 'I did a thing' is. Often no one else notices and that's fine because it's not about that, it's about the inner process, the conversation with myself in the mirror, the way it feels to sit in that Cafe, the oooh as the scissors hit the fabric. There's the something exciting.
Happy Sunday 🩷🐾

A tricky question...

I've had some incredible experiences working with men, in Soul Chats and on the massage table. Creating a space for anyone is an honour and I acknowledge it can be a longer path to the door for our tane.

At the same time, I work from my home. To enter the front gate, walk up the path and through the front door is different to walking into a spa, or wellness clinic. For that reason I only take men for massage appointments who have been referred by a partner or friend who I trust. If you've found your way here without that referral, book a Soul Chat first.

It would be amazing to live in a world that didn't make this a tricky question. We don't though, and I've yet to work alongside a man who didn't understand why I'm so cautious.

15-29 June, Hearth and Soul will be filled with the energy of the return of the solar energy, the slow lengthening of days, while celebrating the deep, long nights of contemplation and renewal.

If you feel like you need a reset, here's some solstice special combinations you can mix and match over the next two weeks

Cacao, intention setting and tarot review: $95 for an hour of luscious insights.

Add cacao and a 20 minute tarot reading to your hour of massage resetting: $130 (a 90 minute session altogether)

Take the long road home with a 90 minute massage $130

And online crew, book a video Soul Chat for $80

I'm also doing a delicious event on Sunday 21 June. There's a 3-5.30pm cacao and yoga soak $45. Then from 6-8.30pm there's Solstice tarot soak (with cacao, of course) $45. There's a few people booked for the double $80 so our cacao levels are going to be high! These events are part of Hello Sunshine so if you want to book in, pop over to MindBody or, if you're keen on the double let me know as that's booked through the studio (3 spots left for the double)

Tomorrow I'm going to pop up some ideas for celebrating at home 🩷🐾