Author: Amber_Young

Amber first stepped foot on a yoga mat in 1997, and in that moment truly felt her first breath. Her dedication to her path has grown over the years as she's engaged in community work and education to broaden her understanding of how people and communities heal. In 2020, as a response to global changes, Amber transitioned her work and now offers yoga (online and in person), movement, massage, sound therapy and breast health education. Amber also offers specialized care through focused classes and hands on work for people with cancer, as well as folks navigating mental and physical health challenges. She looks forward to offering you support as a part of your circle of care on your own unique path.
Honouring This Turn Of The Wheel

Honouring This Turn Of The Wheel

Amber_Young

This week I’ve been sitting with mystery and magic, and how it is woven through our lives. Setting clear intentions and perhaps shifting our perspective, we all have the potential to open to a deepening – and perhaps to something new and unexpected – in our ordinary day to day rhythms.  

The deer in the fields that you looked to the right exactly in that moment while driving your car, the sun on the morning dew and how it sparkles, the last petals falling to the ground before their winters rest, the rays of the suns light through the trees, the incredible tapestry of images in the clouds, the phone call or email received from that person you were literally just thinking about, a sale at the grocery store on your favorite food.

The magic of our day to day lives.

Honouring where we are in cycle as I reflect on the energies of the past few weeks, this time of year acknowledged across traditions as Samhain, Día de los Muertos, Hallowe’en – all a little different AND all holding in our hearts as a time of mystery and magic as many of us feel the veil between us and the spirit world as a little thinner this time of year. Feeling into our ancestors, honouring those we love and have lost, and for many of us our guides who are with us in the most ordinary of moments.

Reflecting on my ancestors, the love and determination of so many that have made it possible for me to be here today.  My roots travel deep to Sweden, England and Prussia, a country that was dissolved around the time of WWII.  I feel that in my bones as a feeling of being displaced – reconciling that home is exactly where I am, my home is the Earth. This time of year reminds me to sit with the lineage I carry forward, breathing into the places that are fractured and need healing, and honouring the traditions I hold in my blood, breath and bones – longing to know more.

Honouring and remembering our ancestors also opens us beyond our blood lines – you may honour those who have supported you through your life – either as an anchor or during a chapter of your lived experience, those who have guided you through this life, in seen and unseen ways. It’s important to widen our circle of reverence to include animals, trees, stones and rivers – these too are our ancestors – and part of us, we are part of them. 

We are all deeply connected, I think when we can truly feel this in our hearts the vast ocean of compassion available to us deepens.

This poem has been drifting through my awareness lately, by Mary Oliver, I feel inspired to share this gift of her words with you here:

When Death Comes

When death comes, like the hungry bear in autumn;

When death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut; when death comes like the measle pox;

When death comes

like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity wondering:

What is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,

and I look upon time as no more than an idea,

and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth tending as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

Mary Oliver

We can hold it all as sacred. This is how we continue to take the fullness of the world into our arms.

Honouring this wild and precious life – YOUR life. Remembering those we’ve lost, those who have walked before us, honouring the spirits of the land, and saying our silent prayers of gratitude for the guidance they offer us when we’re quiet enough to listen.

Sending you so much love on your journey

Amber

In case you missed my Autumn newsletter, you can get caught up on all my latest news here

Monthly Tending Sessions begin November 26th and December 6th! This is an offering that is very dear to my heart, born through my healing with Cancer and the love and support of community. This year these will be offered as monthly sessions – with a day and an evening option. To find out more you can click here.

Consider upgrading to a paid subscription and you’ll receive bonus practices, guided meditations and movement classes, as well as weekly check ins. Memberships range from $6 – $38. You can find out more here Extra Support

gray owl perched on a tree stamp

Gentle Spaces For Self Exploration

Gentle Spaces For Self Exploration

Amber_Young

I love this sacred window of time, as I close my eyes and imagine all of us, sitting together in circle, honouring the evolution and unfurling of who you are, who we are – moment to moment.  

Thank you for inviting me into your inbox, you give me inspiration to keep doing this work, and I am grateful.  

Earlier this month I celebrated 20 years as a Registered Massage Therapist, I can’t believe it’s been over 20 years since I started doing this work. My first experience was a training at the Mueller College of Holistic Studies in San Diego in 1999, later becoming Registered in British Colombia in 2004. That feels like a lifetime ago. I guess in many ways it was, thinking about how much I’ve changed over the years, and also how much we are continually learning about how we heal.

As I reflect on all of the care, the trust and the stories I’ve been honoured to hold for people, I am in awe. It is an honour and a privilege to do this work in the world, spiraling deeper and exploring different ways to hold healing space for folks.

We are a complex interconnection woven from our anatomy, the DNA we carry, our families history, our ancestral lineage lines, the experiences we carry in our hearts, our energetic bodies, the health of the Earth and the elements, spirit, the ways we are affected by the collective, our individual beliefs – and so much more. I’m curious how people are able to focus their attention on a presenting lesion or pathology, becoming trapped within a diagnosis and forgetting to consider all the factors that contribute to our wholeness.

In my heart I feel how much we need gentle and accepting places to explore ourselves, now more than ever.

I was having a conversation the other day about pain cycles, specifically the cycles of anxiety and stress many are presently living with. These states bring our body into a sympathetic state – which is indicative of energy expenditure; rapid breathing, increased heart rate, muscular contraction – often referred to as the “fight or flight” response. We can become overwhelmed by our thoughts which can manifest as physical tension and disharmony in our bodies and our minds. Thanks to the work of Stephen Porges, Deb Dana and many others, we are also learning more about our nervous system’s survival response of freeze, a dorsal vagal response, where we can feel stopped and shut down out of a visceral reaction where our bodies are in actuality trying to keep us safe – our bodies are always trying to keep us safe. This response is like pushing a pause button and is our nervous system’s attempt to conserve energy. These reactions, both a result of stress, live in our bodies and require somatic explorations to support our unique pathways to healing, releasing, and integrating. We need to cultivate and nourish our bodies and our minds with experiences and practices that help us to feel safe, daily.

It’s important to take time to move the heaviness we’re carrying through us, not needing to cognitively understand or be required to explain ourselves, but rather to have the space to feel – to be quietly witnessed.

May we all have places and people where we can put down our defenses, allow tears to flow, honour our cracks, and explore who we are under all the layers we often carry.

In service to the sacred threads of life

Love Amber

As I celebrate my 20 year massage anniversary, I have welcomed in some supportive spaces to offer care:

Monday’s: at the Centre For Health Innovation located in the city of Ottawa at 429 MacLaren Street. To see me at this location you can book directly through the Centre.

Tuesdays, Thursday and Friday’s I practice massage therapy and sound therapy in my private forest studio, nestled amongst the white pines, cedar and birch trees.

Send me an email if you’d like to book in my private forest location. Booking is directly through me. amber@suryadaya.ca

I teach weekly online zoom yoga classes Thursday mornings from 11:00 – 12:00 am EST, you can join from anywhere (live or with the recording).

Consider upgrading to a paid membership, created with the intention to offer guidance whenever you need a little extra support. Enjoy a weekly email, free access to my monthly bedtime yoga class and special practice recordings. Memberships range from $6 to $38.

Let me know if you’d like more information amber@suryadaya.ca

The Ways We Care For Ourselves

The Ways We Care For Ourselves

Amber_Young

During my chemotherapy, the book Between Two Kingdoms written by Suleika Jaoud was recommended to me (by Lisa Patterson during one of her healing yoga classes). This was the first time I truly felt like someone understood.  Reading her words was like reading my own thoughts in a way I couldn’t articulate. I find myself now living between two kingdoms, inhabiting my body and the space I exist in the world in a very different way. Through this process I was introduced to the 100 day project, a creative dive for 100 days, which has been and continues to be, paramount in my healing and my daily life.  

The ways we care for ourselves matter immensely, starting with the small things; offering ourselves rest when we’re tired, hydrating our bodies, eating nourishing foods, being gentle with the messages we send ourselves.  

 I realize for so much of my career as a massage therapist and yoga teacher,  I have focused on how I can best care for others. Over the past few years I have grown into a more truthful realization of what that actually means.   The answer is found in how I care for myself, in the small simple ways of ensuring I’m okay first, only then can I start to look outside of myself. 

Last week I was privileged to sit in circle with a group of incredible women, it was my first in person Tending Your Inner Garden session.  9 of us gathered to hold space for eachother exploring what the act of tending to ourselves feels like, being held quietly in community as we moved through gentle practices.

In my own personal tending, I started painting bees and flowers to tap into that well of energy and joy that lives inside of me, with the intention to support my healing.  Through this process I have become connected with all the parts of me, parts of me that I didn’t even realize I contained, parts of me that have been numb for most of my life – or that I kept very small out of fear of judgement.


These are created from my heart, for my heart.

I had never painted before and now it’s a non-negotiable part of my life.  Many things have become non-negotiable for me; unrolling my mat for my body and my spirit, picking up a paintbrush with no expectations or judgement of what comes through on the canvas, dancing and singing, picking up my guitar or playing my drum as my boys play piano and their guitars.  This is therapy for me, part of the tapestry of my wholeness.  

I wonder what’s one small thing you can do today to offer yourself gentle care, tending to your own inner garden?

 
I offer you this with deep respect and gratitude.

Love, Amber

If you’d like to practice yoga and movement classes with me I teach weekly online zoom classes Thursday mornings from 11:00 – 12:00 am EST, you can join from anywhere (live or with the recording).

Once a month I also hold yoga and sound therapy at the Cedar Hill School House, Pakenham. These classes will run through to October.

If you’d like extra support you can find different video membership options , created with the intention to help you whenever you need a little extra guided support through a diverse collection of offerings ranging from 5 minute wellness capsule, mindful minutes practices, to 60 minute yoga and movement practices. Memberships range from $6 to $38.

Let me know if you’d like more information amber@suryadaya.ca

I’m dreaming about our next Tending Your Inner Garden offering, starting in the fall of 2024, stay tuned for dates and more information.

Practice Updates

Practice Updates

Amber_Young

Hello Dear Ones, this is a practical piece, just updating folks in the area about my massage therapy practice as I’ve had quite a few people reaching out.

After my personal healing sabbatical, I’m so excited to be moving forward in my work. It’s been wild returning to hands on work, after receiving so much care myself. I definitly feel a new appreciation for the healing potential when we’re held with compassionate care and clear healing intentions.

The last few weeks I have noticed an expanded capacity and renewed strength inside, feeling into the shift into summer. I am still taking it slowly, and sense this is the way forward for me, a pace I much prefer.

I can’t believe this August I’ll be celebrating my 20 year anniversary as a Registered Massage Therapist, and yet I feel like this is just a beginning, I think in many ways it is.

I’m excited to be welcoming in some supportive spaces for me to offer my care, and I feel so lucky to practice alongside some incredible and gifted humans. This July I’ll be joining The Centre for Health Innovation (formerly Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre), located in the city of Ottawa. For 20 years I have focused much of my care (and training) on individuals through their cancer journey; diagnosis, treatment and beyond. Life handed me my own personal education in the school of real world cancer, which has better equipped me to understand the effects of treatment, the emotional effects, the toll on one’s energy and how the experience changes you.

I’m looking forward to holding this space once again, but with a new perspective, an empathic heart and a deeper understanding.

The outstanding care I received at the CHI, during my own cancer treatment, is a big inspiration for me joining their team. I will be practicing there on Mondays, starting July 15th. Please reach out to them directly to find out more details and to find a space in my schedule, as they handle all bookings within their centre directly.

CHI booking page

I’m also so excited to be joining another space in the fall, which you’ll receive more details as things are clearer.

For those of you who see me in my private space, I will continue to offer healing sessions out here in my forest studio, on this sacred land, nestled amongst the trees. I offer Massage Therapy as well as sessions infused with Sound Therapy and Energy Modalities. If you’d like to see me in my private space, located near Almonte, Ontario, please send me an email directly to book. amber@suryadaya.ca

Honouring the chapter I’m in now, and feeling how important it is to continue my work, in service to life.

If you’re new to me, and are curious about my work and experience, you can explore my website, or check out my bio on the CHI site.

It is a privilege and an honour to do this work in such a supported way. Holding the vision of a world where we all have the support we need to thrive in my heart.

Much love,

Amber

If you’d like to practice yoga and movement classes with me I teach weekly online zoom classes Thursday mornings, and a new monthly in person offering of yoga and sound therapy at the Cedar Hill School House, Pakenham, On (this next offering is scheduled for July 18th)

I also have several different membership options with an ever expanding on demand video library offering you supportive practices whenever you need them through a diverse collection of offerings. Depending on the support you need, memberships range from $6 to $38.

On another note, I’m so excited and dreaming about our next Tending Your Inner Garden offering, starting in the fall of 2024, stay tuned for dates.

Solstice Blessings

Solstice Blessings

Amber_Young

A time we celebrate the light, our inner fire, the obstacles we’ve overcome, our community, our power, our gardens as they grow, all the animals emerging, and we commit to nourishing ourselves and one another. 

Summer Solstice is a time we also honour the tilting of the earth wrapping us in the longest day of sunlight.  We move through the cycles of seasons and witness our own rhythms as they ebb and flow. 

I hope you’re able to take some time to move your body, and to also sit in stillness – honouring the dance. This little reprieve of movement and breath, even for a few minutes, brings you more deeply into the presence and reality of your life in this moment and an awareness of what’s actually important to YOU. We need to commit to our self care to have the space to hear that guidance. 

I invite you to light a candle today, and honour your connection to the light.  Move your beautiful body, and breathe a little deeper. Get your hands and feet in the dirt, and honour your connection to the earth. Honour YOUR strength. Honour the goodness inside of you, and the impact you bring forward with your actions – especially the seemingly small acts of kindness. 

Happy Solstice, from my heart to yours,

Love Amber

selective focus photo of white petaled flowers
Photo by PhotoMIX Company on Pexels.com
What You Do Matters

What You Do Matters

Amber_Young

Last month I attended a “write in” with the Almonte readers and writers group.   My husband and I went together, a creative “date”, as he dove into ReNature; his creation of a dystopian Eco-crises novel (I’m so excited for this to be born), and I went with a desire to move through a writers block I’ve been rubbing up against for a while.

While I travel through my journey with cancer, a lot of people in my circle of support have urged me to not share so much of myself – to be more discerning. I closed myself into a cocoon and created very strong boundaries around myself, I know this has been important in my healing.

Over the past year and a half I have spent countless hours doing personal healing work, reflecting on boundaries for myself, reassessing my life, and yes, cocooning. I’m very slowly finding my way integrating this huge pivot point in my life, and being back in the world. This time has taught me that yes, I lead with my heart, AND that this is how I choose to walk through this life. This is also where I write from.

When we love and lead with healthy boundaries, and when the seeds of love start within ourselves, I believe we can never love to much. This is not something I will ever dampen.

It’s taken me a while to be able to write again, to get under all the outside voices thinking they know how I’m supposed to do things differently now that I live with cancer. I feel like I have been given so many opportunities through all the “outside” advice that did not resonate, that I’ve been able to find my way to myself. I feel grateful.

I realize that for the first time in my life I trust myself.

I notice people have an interesting way of telling others what they think they need and seldom stopping to ask what that person thinks. I’m making a conscious effort to listen more, and to ask people what they inherently think they need. And to surround myself with people who trust me to make good decisions for myself.

I wonder, do people tell you what you need, or do they ask you what you need?

I encourage you to take some time to reflect on your own sense of boundaries, and ability to be discerning in what is actually true for you.

When I decided to go to this evening of writing, I went with no expectations and no clear idea of what I was going to write, I just knew I needed to be in a room filled with creative, supportive, generative energy and to stay open to the process. It was wild the desire that I felt to just go, to trust my process through a medium that helps me feel alive, a medium that went to sleep out of fear, in my cocoon of boundaries.

What I found, was PURE unexpected magic.

When I sat down I was instantly guided into a body of work that has great meaning to me. To be accurate, a workbook that began about 20 years ago and has been evolving as a file on my computer for many moons.  I offer these pages as efiles when I facilitate breast health workshops and support folks in deepening their understanding and relationship with their breasts, and truthfully with their whole selves. It needs ALOT of work and is definitly a living and evolving project, but it makes me feel excited to give it the love, respect and energy it deserves. 

When you go through a dark time where the end of that tunnel could lead you through 2 doors; one where your time in this human body could come to an end, and one where you stay inhabiting this body with the heightened awareness that that other door could open for you at any time, there is a question that  lingers. 

A simple question really;  where is my energy best spent while I’m here?

Let me repeat that for you:

  Where is your energy best spent while you are here.

 I have been thinking about my unfinished projects (oh my goodness, there are many), the seeds I have been carrying for one day. 

I realize that day is here now, there may not be another day, and what I do with my time matters.  

What you do with your time matters

What we do with our time matters. 

I’m writing this post for you, and for me – affirming my commitment to this body of work, and to the seeds I am carrying. I have a lot of work and play to engage in, and will share this process with you along the way. My life may not be long in this body, so what I do now matters. And what you do matters…………

With so much love, and gratitude

Amber

I want to give an extra note of gratitude to Jessie Carson, and the Almonte Readers and Writers group, I’m so grateful you are in our community – such a gift for all of us who love to weave a tapestry of words. I’m excited to deepen this connection over the years to come!

grayscale photography of person at the end of tunnel

Click here if you’d like to find out more about upgrading to a paid supporter for $6/month, helping me to continue to do this work. This will also give you access to weekly recordings of wellness capsules and mindful minutes.

If you’d like to practice with me I teach weekly online zoom classes , plus I have several different membership options with an ever expanding on demand video library offering you supportive practices whenever you need them through a diverse collection of offerings. Depending on the support you need, memberships range from $6 to $38.

I’m so excited to be back offering Healing Massage Therapy sessions and sound therapy. If you’d like more information I would love to hear from you, send me an email at amber@suryadaya.ca.

Our next Tending Your Inner Garden offering will be starting in the fall of 2024, stay tuned for dates.

Tending To Your Inner Garden

Tending To Your Inner Garden

Amber_Young

The place that lives inside of you, hoping you’ll visit often.  The place that needs to be nourished with all the things that feed your soul, on a daily basis.  The place that longs for your truth and needs to be held with love, care and compassion.

Join me on a 6 month journey, created for you. A place to tend to your inner garden; nothing to prove, no expectations, simply a space to show up exactly as you are. 

Together we’ll be tending to ourselves in cycle and in resonance with the rhythms of the earth.  Remember we’re not alone on this wild human journey, and there is a special magic that happens when we come together in like hearted community and engage in healing practices.  

Our time together begins this fall, as the leaves drop away dancing in the wind and we practice putting down what no longer serves us. In this letting go, we create fertile compost for the earth, and for ourselves – this letting go is a gift. The autumn is also a potent time to set intentions and to nurture your foundation to prepare for the coming months of deep nourishment and darkness. 

We honour the cocooning of the winter months, a time to rest, restore and look within for renewal, our seeds resting in the earth. 

Together we’ll create a warm, inclusive, and powerful – yet gentle container, with the invitation to reclaim the parts of ourselves that often get lost in the day to day of our human lives. The parts of us that thrive on grounded practices that connect us to beauty, wonder and peace in our own inner being.

As the wheel turns, savoring a slow  emergence with the spring, feeling into your own unique process.  The spring heralds a time of new beginnings if we allow it, the bubbling of energy and the stirrings of new movement – in the world within our inner garden and within the world around us.

Through each month we’ll explore different aspects of ourselves and our process:

November – Grounding and Creating our safe container

December – Softening and Letting Go

January – Visioning and Receiving

February – Healing and Being Held

March – Integration

April – Joy, play and wonder

In each of our sessions together we’ll explore:

Grounding Practices, Breathwork, Gentle Movement, Poetry, Song, Journaling and Meditation.

Each gather will also include a guided relaxation and healing sound practice.

I offer you this as an invitation to come home to yourself

You belong here.

  I invite you now to take a few breaths, notice what arises. Give yourself a moment to simply pause. 

If you’re feeling the call from deep within you to say yes to this invitation, simply click on the link below (with the option that suits you best) to register for this nourishing exploration together. Please note these sessions will be offered online through the zoom platform.

I look forward to spending these windows of self care time with you.

Choosing the payment option you are able to manage in the spirit of reciprocity:

Cost:  $300 plus HST (this works out to $25 +HST /session for 12 sessions)

Reduced Rate (Tiered Pricing) $180 plus HST (this works out to $15 +HST/session for 12 sessions)

This includes 12 live 90-120 minute virtual sessions, downloadable recordings of each session so you have lifetime access, poems, songs, journal prompts, plus other bonus’s and access to special classes.

If these payment options are not accessible to you at this time but you hear the call, please send me an email at amber@suryadaya.ca and we can discuss options.

Sliding scale and limited full scholarships are available as no one will be turned away due to finances.

Please note: Your camera can be on or off for our live sessions, there will never be any expectation to share, this is intended as time for you to go within.

If you can’t make a scheduled gather, no worries, Each session is recorded and sent out to all registrants within 48 hours of the live session. You’ll receive a video link to revisit our time together as often as you’d like, with the option to download for unlimited lifetime acce

Start date: My November 2023 offering is full and registration is now closed

Upcoming dates: New session starting November 2024, let me know if you’d like to be notified when dates are posted.

I also teach a weekly online gentle movement and relaxation class Thursday mornings from 11:00 – 12:00. You can check out my schedule here

Click here to learn more about my rates

To register, Simply click on the dates you’d like to join me and fill out your name and email, or you can send me an email with any questions at amber@suryadaya.ca

“A reminder: You are not a Before and After story. You don’t need to turn every experience of your life into wisdom, or prove to anyone how far you’ve come, or rush your way toward some other version of yourself. You don’t need to dissect yourself endlessly in order to extract your life for the consumption of others. You don’t need to be a beacon of hope or an example of overcoming. You don’t need to minimize your struggles OR your joy for the comfort of someone else’s story of you. You don’t need to bypass what’s true and real by performing what you think you’re supposed to be. You don’t need to be beyond what you teach or what you share, what you offer or what you give. You don’t need to deny when things are hard OR when things are easy, or when things feel right in the middle. You can let yourself be human, no matter what roles you play or what identities others hold you to, no matter what others expect of you or anticipate from you. You get to be human. You get to be human. You get to be human.”

Lisa Olivera

Integration and Alignment

Integration and Alignment

Amber_Young

This past month in my tending your inner garden classes we’ve been exploring the energy and practices to support us in our process of Integration and Alignment. I love the picture of the fern in this phase, in a cocoon of growth before it’s emergence with new life – every year going through this life cycle, mirroring back to us what’s necessary during periods of integration.

Through our life journey, we not only gather in all the pivotal moments of our life experience, but we also need to practice discernment and surrender into healthy support to release trauma, doubt, entanglements with others that we’ve accumulated through our experiences that take us away from our sense of wholeness. This is all part of the process.

In our tending sessions we’ve been exploring a tree of life meditation and related practices, these offerings have the potential to give us a grounded place to integrate from, and to welcome in supportive energy. If we choose to make the time there are so many things we can do to support this ongoing process; journaling, dancing, guided imagery and free movement, closing your eyes and honouring the movement that wants to unfurl from inside of you, breathing in intention and seeing how this moves you.  We can also turn to the wisdom of wild animals, who shake and shudder after traumatic events – releasing the imprint of stress so they can move forward.

We had a very small and intimate circle these past two weeks, allowing the opportunity for some deep work. This was a special class, creating gratitude bundles and dropping into the practices. Our Monday group met under the solar eclipse, it was so powerful as we moved through this portal together.

I think the world needs more moments of intentional silence, I find often folks feel the need to fill the spaces of silence but I think this is where the healing and the deeper understanding of eachother happens. I find as the noise in our world gets louder I need more time in quiet just to survive.

I’m really feeling the ebb and the flow of fluctuating energy levels this year, honouring the balance of rest and movement, emergence and introspection, it is definitly a dance.  

After our tending gathers these past 2 weeks,  I felt filled with this remembrance of the sacredness of the earth and the interconnectedness of all life. Sometimes when I come to my drum and open myself, I feel the pain of our greater collective, the sorrows of the earth and of all of life, allowing this the space to move through.

 This time of year – in the early days of Spring, and again in the turn of the wheel to Autumn,  I often find myself reflecting on the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth that binds us all together in the intricate web of existence, none of us are immune to these cycles.

Our time here in these bodies is limited, I wonder, are you living in alignment with your core values, is your outer reality reflecting your inner reality?  It’s important to surround yourself with people who can support you to step into the truth of who you are, and slowly you won’t care who you’re with – you will simply be living your truth if you’re not already – it is my wish we could all get to this place in ourselves.

Are you able to take some time to integrate the experiences of your life in ways that will support you to grow from the experiences on your path, and to learn from what you have moved through.  

While we’re here, How we choose to live our lives matters, I know this can feel hard for some people but we do always have a choice – even simply the choice of where we put our attention and our energy. 

Before I close for today I’m feeling called to share with you a ritual of gratitude we moved through during our tending sessions, I am honoured to offer you this here, it is inspired by Richard Wagamese from his book, One Drum. The wisdom of this book is such a sacred gift he left for us, and incredibly important for these times we find ourselves in. It is with deep respect and love I share this with you.

This ceremony reminds us of our place within the web of life; offering gratitude to the elements, to the 4 directions, to our ancestors, to the spirits of place, and to all of our supports and spiritual allies, gratitude to the earth and to the sky, and to the portal within our hearts. 

Supplies needed:  string / yarn   , cloth – cut into 9 – 12 (or more) small circles or squares, an open heart.

You willl also need to collect an offering for inside each bundle.  Notice what you’re called to collect – dried leaves, rose petals, pine cones, pine needles, dried herbs, sand, soil, small crystals or stones, dried legumes, etc……

Once you’ve gathered your supplies, you may want to find a place in nature to create, or light a candle to honour this time. I encourage you to take some deep breaths to center yourself into the space around your heart.

Once you feel ready, taking a length of string about the length of both of your arms and cutting it from the ball of yarn/twine. 

Placing one of your pieces of cloth in front of you, tuning into your heart and seeing what arises – what are you grateful for, as this comes into your awareness gathering your offering for inside the bundle and perhaps breathing into the herbs (or contents), sending what you’re grateful for into your offering and placing it in the centre of your cloth.  Gathering the edges together and  leaving enough string at the one end to connect the two ends, tie your first bundle. Continue this process, tying each bundle alongside the one before it, along the length of the string. Once nothing is coming to mind and / or you feel like you’re at a place of completion (this may be based on the number of cloth pieces you have), tying the ends together (cutting off any excess string), creating a circle with your bundles, like a wreath. A circle with no beginning and never ending – a circle of gratitude.

Sitting with your offering, perhaps laying it on your belly or over your heart, breathing this into yourself.

Over the next week finding a place in nature, ideally somewhere you visit often, and hanging your wreath on a tree, or a rock, or you may feel called to bury it.  Bringing intention, as a gift for the earth, honouring our reciprocal relationship.  You may want to whisper a prayer from your heart.  Your gratitude bundles can be a reminder for you when things feel off kilter.  They may blow away or fall at some point, when this happens, we honour the release, burying , making a new wreath, or burning the bundles as an offering, feeling into what would be the most resonant thing for you to do. 

I make one of these every year, and my old ones I either bury in the ground or burn in a fire. 

Thank you for your openness of creating these with me, and for sharing my thoughts.

Sending you love for the days ahead,

till next time

Amber

Click here if you’d like to find out more about upgrading to a paid supporter for $6/month, helping me to continue to do this work. This will also give you access to weekly recordings of wellness capsules and mindful minutes.

If you’d like to practice with me I teach weekly online zoom classes , plus I have several different membership options with an ever expanding video library offering you supportive practices whenever you need them through a diverse collection of offerings.

I’m so excited to be back offering Healing Massage Therapy sessions and sound therapy. If you’d like more information I would love to hear from you, send me an email at amber@suryadaya.ca.

Our next Tending Your Inner Garden offering will be starting in the fall of 2024, stay tuned for dates.

Moment To Moment

Moment To Moment

Amber_Young

Hello Beautiful souls, I’ve been quiet for a while, spending more time on an inner journey than an outward exploration. 

When you’ve been through a big moment in your life, it changes you. I know we all know this, but do we remember this for others. People remember you as you were before, and there’s a popular perception that once the event, trauma, birth, illness, death, etc…..is over, it’s business as usual. You look strong, your hair grows back, your back in the community albeit in small ways – so you must be back to how you were before. 

The thing is, you never go back to how you were before. 

Life changes us, in small and big ways – daily. I’m feeling like we need to give eachother more space to grow and evolve, and relate to one another with this understanding. Try not to put people in a box that fits so tightly there’s no room for growth.

I find there’s often a tendency to compare life to how it was before an event, wanting things to go back to “normal”. What is normal anyways? I’ve always wondered that, what is normal, the term doesn’t even fit in my vocabulary anymore. 

I have needed to be on here less, as chemo and the surgery I had on my spine over a year ago has left me with some invisible physical and mental challenges. I’m not going to dive into explaining what those are, but I wanted to acknowledge that they exist. Yes, I survived this bout of cancer and the treatments cancer gave me the opportunity to experience to help me to heal – AND I find myself now learning to live with the ongoing effects of those treatments, a new awareness of my mortality, heightened gratitude, a very different experience of changing energy levels and the reality that I am now navigating life with a blood cancer. 

Honouring it all.

I am living a life of truth, satya – the truth of who and where I am. I wonder what your truth is. I know I’m not alone, and neither are you. 

I choose life, everyday, and somedays it’s really difficult. 

There is a poem I’m reminded of as I write these words. It came to me in the hospital from a dear friend when I was first diagnosed with cancer, and I proceeded to send it out to a circle of support in the hopes of shedding some light on how I was. Now, a year and a half later, I think I actually only now understand the words. I’m going to share this with you (I may have already), as it feels pretty resonant.

For When People Ask

I want a word that means

   okay and not okay,

     a word that means

devastated and stunned with joy.

   I want the word that says

     I feel it all, all at once.

The heart is not like a songbird

   singing only one note at a time,

     more like a Tuvan throat singer

able to sing both a drone

   and simultaneously

     two or three harmonics high above it—

a sound, the Tuvans say,

   that gives the impression

     of wind swirling among rocks.

The heart understands the swirl,

   how the churning of opposite feelings

     weaves through us like an insistent breeze,

leads us wordlessly deeper into ourselves,

   blesses us with paradox

     so we might walk more openly

into this world so rife with devastation,

   this world so ripe with joy.

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

This humaning journey definitly blesses us with paradox, everyday, and I think it’s not about making sense of it all, but instead taking care of yourself in the midst of it – regardless of anyone else’s idea of who they think you are or what you need. I encourage you to try different things to help you find your way to be able to step more deeply into yourself in whatever way that needs to be for you..

For almost 20 years I dedicated my massage and hands on healing practice to working with folks with cancer, trauma, and chronic illness. Maybe this was a crucial step in my training – moving through this experience so that I could truly understand, and honouring a new pace to open my life to a more meaningful moment to moment experience. I look forward to engaging in this work with a new perspective. 

I’m writing this piece as I’ve been blocked in my writing. I needed to acknowledge the truth of where I am before I could actually take steps forward for myself, this is part of my process. It’s not “business as usual”, but rather a new way forward. I’m taking my time easing back into my life’s work, AND continuing the dance with my own healing journey – a dance that will be joining me for as long as I am. 

Our community has been incredible, and I would not have survived this past year without all of you. I just needed to honour this gratitude again, and again and again! I’m so excited to see where this life takes me, and where we can go together.

I’m slowly starting back to work as you may have noticed in recent updates; classes I’m facilitating and sessions I’m slowly offering. It’s been amazing doing hands on massage therapy and sound healing work with folks again (with limited bookings), especially in this healing forest that has been holding me too. There’s a reason me and my family have landed here on this sacred land – not only to care for the earth, but to heal, and also help people to deepen that connection. 

I’m also excited to mention that I was approved for a scholarship (thank you universe) for an accessible yoga training, with Jivana Heyman and an amazing collective, which starts January 25th. It’s a 6 week online program that has serendipitously come to me at the perfect time as I navigate yoga and movement in a new way in my own body. This important work is where I’ll be focusing alot of my attention through to March. I’m excited to see where this takes me.

Thanks for sharing my thoughts,

With so much love

Amber

Introducing my new monthly memberships – these give you instant access with various different tiers to virtual classes, an ever expanding video library, as well as some special bonuses throughout the year. Let me know if you have any questions! 

Oak Membership

$38 / month click here to find out more

Willow  membership

$23 / month click here to find out more

Cedar Membership

$10/month  click here to learn more

Birch Membership (Supporter)

Thank you for supporting me to continue to do this work!

$6/month  click here to learn more

Membership rates include HST

I continue to teach online, and I also practice online, this got me through this past year during my cancer journey, when I couldn’t walk and couldn’t drive. Having the option of practicing online (thank you Lisa and Anne) both with live classes and recordings, was the only way that yoga was accessible for me. It has deepened my healing process in ways I can’t articulate.

As I slowly reemerge and hold intentional space once again for folks – I sit with creative ways in which I can best do that. 

All monthly memberships automatically renew every 30 days, with the option to cancel at any time.  Let me know if you have any questions or would like to find out more!

Stay tuned for my seasonal newsletter coming soon!

Autumn Equinox Blessings

Autumn Equinox Blessings

Amber_Young


The Autumn equinox is a time of transition, as we move through the next few months preparing us for a time of deep rest and nourishment in the cycle of the year.  A time of balance between the light and the dark and the contrasting energies in each of us. Accepting all these parts as integral to who we are, necessary in our growth and our becoming over our lifetime.  Resting in the ground of holy hereness, honouring where you find yourself right now – at this time in your life.  

We are also moving through a time of harvest, as we witness and celebrate the growth of the seeds we may have planted in the spring, witnessing this miracle of creation.  A time of gratitude for these miracles, for being here and also for the ways we are supported. 

The Autumn is also a time that we consider shifting our self care regime, honouring the changes in the season and allowing ourselves to live in resonance with our natural world.  Our self care routines are a way to build our own self trust.  When we show up for ourselves, it changes us.  We question ourselves less, we hear our own voice as important, and we thrive – so we can be who we truly are in the world.  If we can’t trust ourselves and listen to the wisdom within us, then what’s the point. This life is not a dress rehearsal.  Take time for yourself, everyday, honour yourself and show yourself the gentle care and love I sense you offer out so easily.  It has to start within. 

 Contemplative and introspective practices, including quiet time in nature, gentle movement, meditation and yoga, will allow us to work with sensations in our bodies and patterns we witness in our mental and emotional bodies through the changing seasons.  Through these practices we learn to trust ourselves, we learn what self love feels like, and we also start to understand what is necessary to put down and no longer carry forward.  


I have been quiet for the past year, out of necessity.  Honouring my own self care needs and offering myself love so I could heal.  This year I have traveled through the darkness cancer brought me, and also through the light.  I am so grateful for the ways I have been held in community, and for the ways I showed up for myself.  This is how we heal, and this looks differently for each of us – healing is not a cookie cutter recipe for everyone, it starts with listening within. 

I sense it has been an intense year for many, I feel that.  It’s important to mark transitions in a way that has meaning and makes sense for you. Autumn is a time in the cycle of the year that is so potent for marking these transitions in our lives.  We shed the layers we need to shed, we acknowledge who we are now, we give thanks for the growth and the healing, and we prepare for yet another cycle.  

During this chaotic time in in the world, we are all being reminded of how precious life is, can we hold ourselves and eachother with kindness and love in these changing and vulnerable times.  If perhaps you don’t feel that, then let me remind you how precious and fragile life is – and that you matter. 

I feel through my cancer journey I have been opened to a deeper calling of greater service to a world that desperately needs gentle places and healing hands.  Together we build our resilience, we can support one another to soothe and strengthen our nervous systems and to take time alone and together in community – honouring the need for balance. 

I no longer want to be resilient.  I don’t want to simply bounce back from things that hurt me or cause me pain. Bouncing back means returning to where I stood before.                                           

Instead, I want to go beyond the hurts and the darkness. The first step from genuine healing . . . when I came to trust and believe that there was a beyond.  

Now I reach for beyond every day, in every encounter, in every circumstance.  I seek to go where I have never travelled.  

I wake with the vision of a purposeful day, filled with adventures and teachings.  

Then I take the first step and try to make it beyond.

– Richard Wagamese

I look forward to meeting you in the beyond.


With So Much love
Amber 

faceless woman with basket of spilled apples
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