This summer Antara Atelier will take you on a deep, transformational journey.
In our Elemental Medicine Retreats we will merge yoga and shamanism.
But, does that even go? How do you weave the Upanishads and the wisdom of the forest together? How do you distance yourself from the senses and yet celebrate mother earth for all her beauty and abundance? How do you sing mantras and medicine songs within the same breath?
Well, first of all I believe that all great spiritual teachings have wisdom within that comes from the same essence. Whether that's shamanism, yoga, astrology, buddhism or mysticism.
We are all deeply connected by a subtle layer of energy and it doesn't really matter if you practice asana or forest bathing, both practices will connect you to the 99.999999% of what this world is made of: the unseen // energy // brahman // great spirit
In my eyes it depends more on your unique situation whether you need to connect to the body, the mind, the emotions, the breath or to nature. And your needs change every day of your life.
Both Yoga, as well as Shamanism teaches us that we are all made of the elements.
In yoga philosophy prakriti is the material form of the divine, and it is composed of eight basic material elements, including earth, water, fire and air. The others are ether, intelligence, mind and false ego.
In shamanism the earth is our great mother and the sky our father. Everything in between came to be through the play of the elements. We are a seed in this material world. Planting a seed needs the wind that carries it into the soil, where it is held and nourished. The water and the fire (sun) help it grow and transform.
This is life. The sacred dance of existence. And it is also the way I have conducted my work throughout the last years. By weaving a strong and nourishing net through
yoga and shamanism I have learned to dive deep into my essence and open doors for others to feel the same.
To give you an example:
When I perform sacred ceremony I connect to the elements, my spirit guides and my ancestors. It helps me grow deep roots and anchor myself in my spiritual practice. When I then practice asana, I enjoy the expression of this depth and connectedness and allow myself to fill up my bodies with the energies I connected to in the ceremony.
Or when I go into the woods to sing medicine songs. It bounds me to mother earth and helps me show her respect, when I then go into pranayama and meditation I build a bridge between the earth and the heavens.
And this is what it is all about. Bridging below and above, earth and heaven, feeling and logic, female and male. Energetically, on a more microcosmic level, this bridge is the human heart. It is the portal between the lower and the higher chakras and by listening to it's unique song we will intuitively know which practices we need every day, every moment of our life.
So, come and enjoy the surplus of merging these two traditions.
This summer we will hold space for all shamanic seeker and yoga lovers in Andaluisa (Spain) and Carinthia (Austria) and we will welcome a special guest from Peru as well as a professional musician, to make this transformation sustainable and deep.
Find all the info HERE and make sure to follow your heart if it's calling for this Elemental Medicine.
Aho,
Carmen