Tag: Tending Your Inner Garden

Haliburton Highlands Challenge in Support of Brooksong

Haliburton Highlands Challenge in Support of Brooksong

Amber_Young

I wanted to touch in to let you know about an amazing initiative in support of Brooksong Retreat and Cancer Support Centre, based out of Haliburton, Ontario.

This piece asks for a personal reflection as an entry point. In 2022, as many of you are aware, I was diagnosed with a rare presentation of Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and was first introduced to Brooksong through a friend during my own healing journey with cancer.  Through Brooksong I was held, offered space to explore movement, found comfort and understanding in community, dove into creative practices and experienced deep support through their virtual programming.  

Brooksong is incredibly special, and has become very dear to my heart.  I am in awe of what they have created and continue to nurture in support of ensuring no one walks alone through a lived experience of cancer – that includes folks diagnosed and those who offer care and support.

The Centre is located on a beautiful expanse of land surrounded by ponds and forests. It is truly healing just arriving there.  

 I feel honoured to now be a part of their facilitation team offering massage therapy and support at some of their in person retreats.  

These weekends are held with love and compassion by an incredible team, nourishing foods, safe spaces to share or sit quietly, hands on care, gentle yoga and movement, creative practices, time for rest and soothing time in nature.  

Cancer hits you hard; physically, emotionally and financially.  This I understand.

The ability to go on a retreat focused 100% on your healing isn’t often accessible financially, especially during times of illness.

I am in awe at how everything Brooksong offers is free of charge to participants.  All programs and retreats are funded through generous donations by amazing people and organizations who are able to comfortably offer this type of support.  There is a waitlist of over 200 people hoping to be able to spend time at Brooksong from all over Ontario as they navigate cancer.  This hurts my heart, thinking about so many diagnosed daily.

This year I decided to join the Haliburton Highlands Challenge (HHC). The HHC is a unique fundraising event that runs from July 1 – August 31 annually and celebrates the important health benefits of moving our bodies in whatever ways we are able as well as taking part in creative practices, while aligning with and nurturing the vision and mission of Brooksong Retreat & Cancer Support Centre. I believe so strongly in what Brooksong has created and am excited to join this community challenge as an act of support and to engage in daily tending practices.

I thought it would be fun to record 30 days of my community challenge sharing short tending practices with you. I hope you’ll join me through yoga, song, meditation, creativity, journaling, breath and other practices to help us tend to our inner gardens so we can support ourselves to thrive, and in turn help keep this important support alive and available to more people.

The practices I’ll be recording are inspired from my tending your inner garden offerings (you can learn more through this link) which is a program I teach that was born through my own cancer journey in 2023 – this feels important to share in this way. 

I took this photo during my last trip to Haliburton (May 2025) offering massage at a Brooksong retreat. This beautiful sculpture is from the Haliburton Sculpture forest, another incredible place. It’s named the Sleep of the Huntress and was birthed by Doug Stephens . She is very special and offers me a deep reflection on how I tend to my own inner garden, honouring our need for rest and renewal.

 Here is the link to view my fundraising page to make a donation directly to Brooksong.

Donation Link

My fundraising goal reflects the amount it costs to support one person to go on retreat, plus a little extra. 

If you’d like to join me for the daily practices, I’ll post many of the shorter offerings on my fundraising page, and/or you can register to receive the full 30 days in your inbox through

This Link

Registering for the practice videos is free, and it also ensures you receive all the details for a few live virtual classes dedicated to my commitment to Brooksong. This is available for everyone.

By registering to join me, you’ll receive direct links in your inbox, as well as have access to a special video library with all the tending practices (ranging from 5 to 60 minutes) in honour of Brooksong, which will be uploaded daily, for 30 days, starting July 1st.

We’ll explore themes such as: Grounding and Presence, Community, Joy and Play, Healing, and Integration.

I’m going to kick this challenge off with a free virtual sharing cup and gentle movement session on July 1st at 12:00. Login details will be mailed to all registrants and dates for all the live classes will be sent to you once the challenge officially begins July 1st.

* The recordings will be available until September 30th and you can join anytime between July 1st and August 31st.

 I am deeply grateful for your support and hope you’ll join me in any way you’re able for this fun and nurturing initiative. 

This is my first time doing this so we’ll be learning with eachother and definitly leaning into joy along the way. Don’t hesitate to reach out at any time.

Together we can create a huge impact through simple acts of kindness, this kindness has to start with how we tend to ourselves.  

Here we go!

Lots of love,

Amber

Photo of me, Spring 2023

Re – Emerging

Re – Emerging

Amber_Young

I have taken the last while off from all distractions to focus on my family and my own inner need for rest, it has been bliss.

I didn’t realize how depleted and exhausted I was from this past year, it has held a lot ~ personally and as you, dear reader know, for the collective as well.

I feel grateful as I sit down to write these words, slowly re-emerging, to have this time with you. I haven’t been writing as much this past year, honouring the spaces in between and giving myself more time to just sit, usually at the trunk of my favorite tree. I have been experiencing more freedom to just be, not needing to produce or share my personal musings but instead honouring what’s alive in my own tender heart and holding this as sacred.

I wonder how you’re doing, underneath all the layers.

If you’re having a hard time, you’re not alone. It helps me sometimes to remember that we are constantly in flux – learning, growing and evolving and it’s not always going to feel easeful, I don’t think it’s meant to. The wheel, remember, continues to turn.

If you’re doing amazing, you’re also not alone, please don’t dim yourself. Your wholeness is felt, as are the ways you may have been broken over the years, it’s all part of this human experience. We feel eachother in our ebb and flow.

Before I was diagnosed with cancer I realize I didn’t actually give myself complete permission to stop periodically, to put everything I’m carrying down and take a real break.

I also didn’t honour all my cracks.

The past few weeks have reminded me that this is non negotiable for me now, time to deeply rest. Without it I’m not able to process the joys, the ups, the downs, the cracks, the necessary mending and the holy mess.

Many of you who know me, know that I work very intimately with people, and ride the waves of not only my own experience but also navigate the waves of everyone in my circle of care. Breaks and boundaries are NEEDED, this allows for the deep composting and integration to actually ever happen, which is necessary for our constant unfurling, tending and evolution.

No matter what you do in the world, I think sometimes we all get stuck riding the waves of our shared existence that never stops, unless we consciously decide to jump off for a while and return to our own unique holdfast and move from this place.

A while ago in one of my classes, we talked about this concept of our holdfast, looking at what holds us steady as the waves of life keep moving. Taking time everyday to feel where your roots are grounded, looking at how you show yourself compassion and softness. Maybe take a moment to reflect on how your boundaries are around your own self care time?

Alternatively, if we don’t take this time, we can unconsciously get pulled under or thrown against a rock – forcing us to stop in often very uncomfortable ways. This I understand.

Many humans have a tendency to keep going, no matter what, and we put a strong emphasis on the ways we’re resilient, and the ways we’re strong, the ways we can handle so much. I too have put a lot of emphasis on these qualities, but I find I’m moving differently through the world now. I wonder if we can continue to build our inner resources, celebrate our strength, but maybe make space to experience our strength through a different lens – one that honours the pause, the fragility, the breaking and the stopping that’s necessary to grow and heal.

I wonder if we can learn to be comfortable in mess, because let’s face it there is a whole lot of mess going on at the moment. Accepting and being realistic about mess doesn’t make us less, I think it actually helps us to fill in some gaps and gives us space to not always have to have the answers or to make sense of everything.

I grew up in a home where people didn’t expect a lot of me, which translated to me expecting ALOT from me, trying to prove my worth. A year and a half ago I put that story down, I offered it to the chemo as it burned through me. In the spaces that were created, I decided to invite something different, to instead show up exactly as I am without unrealistic expectations or being so worried about others opinions. I decided for the first time in my life to be truthful in who I ACTUALLY am, with honesty and compassion – mess and all.

As we transition into the new year, can we collectively consider a slow return, offering us discernment and renewed purpose.

What is your holdfast and can you find ways to return to it daily.

Have you taken some time to reflect on the pivotal moments of this past year, perhaps letting go of what doesn’t need to travel with you into the year ahead, honouring necessary endings.

Can you acknowledge any areas of your life that might feel a little messy right now? Maybe considering out of the chaos comes lessons, clarity, an awareness of what’s actually important to you. Mess also has the potential to lead us to true beauty.

As I look ahead, I find myself curious about how the days will unfold in all of their mystery and wonder.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate you being here.

Much love,

Amber

You may want to consider upgrading to a paid subscription and enjoy a weekly email with some short practices and reflections. My Birch memberships starts at $6 CAN, created for folks who believe in what I’m offering, intended to offer inspiration and gentle guidance in the spirit of supporting eachother.

Birch Paid Membership

Memberships range from $6 – $55 with varied access.

I also teach weekly virtual gentle yoga classes, and monthly tending your inner garden sessions. Send me an email if you’d like more information

amber@suryadaya.ca

You can find out more information about additional support on my website

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.

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.