Unlimited spots available at full price. 5 spots available at a 10% discount. 5 spots available at a 20% discount.  The 40% discount spots have been claimed.. See my SLIDNG SCALE FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE page for details and discount codes. Payment plans ( 4 bi-weekly installments) available to all at check out.

Why cycles?

We suffer because we have refused, forced and misunderstood the natural cycles of our internal and external lives. We feign happiness when we are grieving, we loop in perpetual beginnings instead of following all the way through,, we grasp for all manner of artificial life support and resuscitation in the face of endings, we stay silent when we are in fact on fire, we stay falsely small when we are bursting at the seams, we hang on tight when life is asking us to let go. There are so many ways to resist a cycle, to stay blind to life’s nudges. When we do, we lose energy, skip ahead, get stuck, resist, deny, bypass, overstay, leave too early, and orphan ourselves at critical moments of transformation, maturation and initiation. Our lives, health, and harmony depend on our reckoning and understanding of cycles.

To begin hearing and heeding the signals of natural rhythms and cycles is a radical act of wildness and coherence, which is to say a radical act of resistance to the social, historical, familial, political and religious systems and spells that seek to keep us in a very narrow range of “acceptable” timelines and expressions, thereby reducing our humanity, power, and sense of agency and belonging.

We are not just “like nature”. We are nature. The same energetic patterns and flows of life that create seasons, weather systems and cycles (including cycles of decline and death) flow through our bodies and our lives.

The transitions between the elements and seasons of the year are nature-supported and profoundly potent thresholds, carrying wise and potent maps, medicine and mirrors for all phases of human and natural life, inside and out.

From Spring to Summer, from Wood to Fire

In the Northern Hemisphere we are moving from Spring (The Wood Element and Liver Energy) into Summer (The Fire Element and Heart Energy), which are two entirely distinct seasons of energy and expression. We are moving from the trembling of fresh green sprouts, birth and new beginnings into a phase of full blossoming, shining, fruition, courage, follow-through, connection and celebration- Fire is not the phase of beginning and growth-, it is the phase of zenith and apex. Spring brings innocence and hope, Fire brings risk and courage.

How many of us get stuck in perpetual beginnings without following all the way through? Have trouble moving from innocence and tender beginnings to unapologetic shining and the absolute risk of loving and gifting beauty to the world?

When the Heart becomes scared, exhausted, protected or without connection, tenderness and love for too long, we lose our faith in life, and the courage to give love and receive love. We lack the courage to meet the moment with resilience and integrity. We forget the power of the warm sun at the center of our chests.

If we skip this phase in our lives, if we never come to shine, joy (verb), celebrate or blossom…and when the letting go and turning inward of Autumn comes, we are filled with a bereft kind of sadness as there is nothing true to relinquish or let go if we have not fully expressed our heart’s capacity and our Fire….and therefore, the decline of energy comes too soon and falsely. When we take care of one cycle, we are taking care of all cycles.

If our Fire Element is weak, we can stop short of our desires, shy away from healthy risks, feel a lack of courage, a lack of compassion, “fire”, generosity and love, an inability to express one’s destiny. If our Fire element is overactive, we can be impulsive, ungrounded, erratic, prone to burn out and “flying away” or “too close to the sun”,, overexpressed to the point of exhaustion, thus exhausting and depleting ourselves in a multitude of ways.

How is your heart? What is the health of your Fire Element?

THE STAND ALONE WORKSHOP ON MAY 18 with Sarah Byrden and Liz Koch : We will lay a foundation for an illuminating understanding of our passage into HEART ENERGY, where and how we can get stuck or resist this change of heart, as well as offer both archetypal qigong forms and primal movements that embody and storytell this particular elemental transition. This workshop will be informative and deeply medicinal. The confluence of our two bodies of work creates a unique alchemy and synergy. You will leave this workshop with greater coherence, resilience, and sustenance.

TAKE HEART- A 6 WEEK SERIES with Sarah is a depth-immersion and will be a steady touchstone of nourishment and community in this bloom toward Summer. What risks do you need to take in order to keep your heart alive? What beauty and gifts are you holding back? Where are you grieving because you haven’t fully let yourself shine? Do you have difficulty in the Fall with turning inward because you haven’t fully turned outward toward the big bright sun? What do gestures of decisiveness and courage feel like?

This weekly mini-home-retreat is a deeper tonic of support , exploration and medicinal practice spanning many weeks of this seasonal passage. Each week we will explore different aspects of this transition, have time for journaling by prompt, reflection, sharing in community, and a deeper physical practice of primal movement and archetypal qigong that will harmonize your energy and help you make this shift into your personal Summer more fully, truly and gracefully.

Please note : Sarah Byrden no longer endorses the MogaDao Institute or study with Zhenzan/Zhenevere Dao in any capacity, no longer teaches or studies in association with the MogaDao Institute, operates under the designation of “MogaDao Teacher”, nor represents or endorses MogaDao as a tradition or entity in any way.