Lighting a Candle - Yoga
Turning On the Light
We are in the last few weeks of summer, and I’m excited to see many of your faces back in town soon!
I just finished lighting my morning candle, holding all of you close to my heart in sacred prayer and love.
Every morning for the last few months, I’ve lit my candle to honor my life and all of the lives here and in the afterlife. It invites me to sip my half-decaffeinated coffee slowly and be intentional with my day.
When I light the candle, it feels like turning the key to start my car—except instead of starting an engine, I’m turning on the magic for my soul and higher self.
The candle reminds me to move through my day with purposeful action, to honor and love myself and others, and to remain accountable for my continual transformation with clarity.
Today, after I lit my candle, I read this in my daily devotional:
“Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes.”—Isaiah 5:18
Of course, my mind got curious.
I immediately connected this passage to the modern spiritual practice of cutting cords.
Cutting energetic cords is a symbolic practice of releasing an unhealthy attachment to a person, situation, belief, or old pattern that still has a hold on us. I think it’s important to understand that this isn’t about violently cutting someone out of your life. It can be done gently and lovingly. And it doesn’t have to be permanent. Sometimes we simply need to create enough space to remember who we are beneath the attachment.
I learned this lesson in a very personal way.
I once had an energetic healing session where the healer told me to cut the cords from my children. My immediate response was, “No. I’m uncomfortable doing that.”
It sounded emotionally wrong to me. How could I cut a cord to my children?
She assured me that the practice was temporary. It wasn’t about cutting the love or the relationship. It was about releasing the heaviness and the entanglement so I could feel myself as myself again.
I understand it differently now:
Release the entanglement, but preserve the love.
So as I read that passage from Isaiah this morning, I thought about my candle.
What if, every time I light it, I am turning on the light within me—and every time I blow it out, I am also consciously releasing the unhealthy attachments I may have accumulated since the last candle lighting?
The attachment might be to a person, but it could also be to control, conditioning, judgment, fear, an old story, or even a mistaken perception of myself or someone else.
So today, and going forward, when I blow out my candle, I’m going to imagine gently cutting the energetic cords that no longer serve me.
Not cutting the person.
Not cutting the love.
Just releasing the bind.
This brings me back to yoga.
In yoga philosophy, avidya is often described as misperception or ignorance—the inability to see clearly what is true. And granthis are described as symbolic knots or energetic bindings that obstruct us.
I love the parallel.
Perhaps our practices are all pointing us toward the same thing.
When we practice yoga, we turn toward awareness.
When we light a candle, we turn on the light.
When we read a devotional, we turn toward wisdom.
And when we consciously release what binds us, we create space to see more clearly.
We turn on the light.We notice what binds us.We gently release it.And we return to ourselves.
So the next time yoga has you tied up like a pretzel, imagine the beatuiful release to follow.
Faithfully, Lo
Vanderbilt Beach has had an upgrade. We now have a permanent lifeguard tower operated by the North Collier Fire Control & Rescue District here 7 days a week 9am-5pm. The Ritz Carlton Residence Tower is almost complete and they are finishing up their landscape. I'm excited to have a few more yogi's recruited from there!
I spent a few hours friday looking for our next retreat location as I am getting excited to hold a great season of yoga for everyone! I'm planning to have at least 1 yoga retreats between January - April for all of you, with an additional one schduled at Grey Oaks November 28th. The completly public retreat location will be finalized in the weeks to come.
I am hosting a Candle Light 2 hour special Winter Solstice yoga class, December 21 to be held at ShangriLa from 6pm-8pm. It will be a reflective, grounding practice to slow down despite the pressure to speed up during that time of year. Tickets are available on my website. This will be in the octagon room and limited to 20 people.
Also this Tuesday I've been invited to be on Kristen Weardon's 239 Podcast so I hope you'll tune it.
Yoga Class Schedule
Monday: Gentle Yoga with Sheila - 9am to 10am
Wednesday: Vinyasa Flow with Lo - 9am to 10am
Friday: Vinyasa Flow with the New Moon
with Lo - 9am to 10am
Sunday: Reset and Renew with Alex - 9am to 10am
Pricing
Drop-in fee: $15
5-class package: $60
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