Pilgrimage Studio

Tag: Intentions

  • New Moon Mudra

    New Moon Mudra

    by Thela 🦊 Foxgood

    I was looking today for a mudra that could capture, in some way, what the new moon represents:

    • A fresh start
    • Re-birth
    • Starting something new
    • Setting intentions

    I came across so many different ones that have been used for new moon meditations. So, as I tried out different mudras, I just picked the one that really stood out and resonated with me energetically.

    It is called Adhara Mudra.

    New Moon Meditation

    Define your intention, as a simple statement.

    You can cleanse your hands and activate energy by rubbing them together, and then by shaking them out.

    Find a comfortable sitting position, and hold the Adhara mudra in front of your navel, shoulders relaxed.

    Focus on your inhale and exhale, feeling your breath rise and fall in your body.

    Feel the energy of this mudra through your hands. What sensations do you notice?

    Consider the space you’ve created through the palms of your hands. Begin to focus on your intention and how you have created this sacred space within your hands as a gesture of your openness to receive.

    Hold this mudra, and your intention in your mind, for 10 minutes. Before releasing your hands, repeat your intention, like a mantra, three times.

  • Ritual Acts

    Ritual Acts

    by Thela Foxgood

    There’s something about starting and ending the day with a simple ritual that can bring us a peace and sense of well-being. Many of us create and attend to our own rituals every day.

    Rituals can be speaking specific words (mantras, prayers), going through the routine of certain actions, singing a song, journaling, working through some yoga poses, walking in the woods, meditating, or even dancing. These can transform states of mind, emotion, and our physical condition as well.

    Choosing a specific state of mind enables a shift from one state-of-being to another.

    For example, focusing my mind on an attitude of gratitude in the morning, instantly shifts my mind and emotions to a specific outlook for the day ahead. It is an intentional act and the more I do this, the more habitual it becomes.

    For me, ending the day with certain rituals determines how the sun sets on my internal world which then affects my external environment.

    Regardless of what has happened during the day, when I get home and hit the yoga mat for a reiki treatment, some quiet time, meditation, prayer and writing, it changes everything.

    Because it changes me.

    These rituals bring certain aspects of myself that have gotten frayed, bent out of shape, or out of balance throughout the day, back into alignment.

    When simple acts are repeated, especially when they are repeated with intention, they increase in meaning.

    A simple ritual I grew up with is bedtime prayers. Normally this involves speaking a blessing over family and friends, our sleep, our dreams, and our welfare for the next day.

    We got into the habit of taking turns, and on one particular night we didn’t realize that the person chosen for this evening ritual was completely exhausted. We joined hands and huddled up, waiting expectantly for our evening blessing. And, instead of our usual ritual, she stated simply:

    “Dear Lord, please pray for us.”

    In the space of time it took to blink after this unusual (for us) request, she would have passed out into the arms of deep slumber…

    If it had not been for the fact that the rest of us were rolling on the floor in laughter.