Align the Hara for Serenity Now

April 10, 2025

How are you doing? It’s a trick question! Or really, just complicated to answer in such tumultuous times.

Last month I wrote about breaking up with my phone and setting daily intentions as a way of staying healthy, purposeful, and connected amid the chaos of current events. If you have given those practices a spin I would love to hear how it’s going!

To add to your anti-anxiety, serenity-now toolkit I want to recommend the short meditative practice that I lead at the beginning of group healing sessions to get deeply plugged in and connected. A slightly condensed version, Hara Alignment, can be accessed here with password chakragift. It’s about 12 minutes long — perfect for a mid-afternoon reset. Below I also share a few more restorative practices to try. 

Ujayi (Ocean Sounding) Breath
A form of yogic breathing with mouth closed and a slightly restricted throat, so the breath sounds like the ocean, or kind of like a sleepy Darth Vader. If you have worked with me you’ve heard me do it. It is said to diminish distractions, release tension, and strengthen the nervous and digestive systems — a great meditative breath. Here is a brief demonstration. Try doing it for two minutes before taking on a difficult task.

Smooth your Edges
Rub your palms together to generate some charge and then while breathing slowly and deeply, smooth your flat palms over your whole body like you’re smoothing out wrinkles — over your forehead, skull, neck, shoulders down your arms, across your chest and belly, down your lower back and hips, down your legs and off your toes. Keep breathing and repeat. Use good, firm pressure. Finish by sweeping your palms a few inches off the body, front to back, top to bottom, then place your hands over your heart with a small smile on your lips.

Schedule an Artist Date
Defined by Julia Cameron in her influential book The Artist’s Way, an artist date is “a block of time especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist.” Your date could involve taking in capital “A” Art by going to a museum or performance, or maybe something else that sparks your curiosity and imagination — a sensory walk in the woods or a garden, listening to a favorite album without distraction, or exploring quirky treasures at a flea market. Your creative, imaginative self, your deep humanity, needs to be nourished. Spending even just 30 minutes immersed in art that inspires you might fill an inner bucket you didn’t realize was empty.

“Art is not a plaything, but a necessity, and its essence, form, is not a decorative adjustment, but a cup into which life can be poured and lifted to the lips and be tasted.” - Rebecca West