Do you find yourself at a time in life when moving forward is causing feelings of fear – perhaps due to a lack of clarity or simply because the next step has yet to reveal itself?

It seems of late that an increasing number of my friends are finding themselves at a crossroads, ready to shed their present skin and morph into new ‘clothing.’ I find it interesting that it seems to be such a common scenario and must admit, this in itself is a bit reassuring because I count myself among the ‘adventurers.’

I recently had a vision of myself standing under a signpost that had numerous directional arrows pointing every which way, but the wording was all in gibberish. Hmmmm. The translation, it appears, will reveal itself when the heart is ready and the god/goddesses within us emerge with confidence and passion.

We explored a similar topic this week in yoga class as we honored the solar plexus chakra, discerning the distinction between caution and fear: one is a healthy barometer on your path forward, the other keeps you frozen in place.

One of my favorite ‘courage stimulants’ is a heart rhythm meditation I learned when taking a course of the same name from Puran and Susanna Bair in Tucson, Arizona. After becoming aware of your heartbeat, you entrain the breath and the heart by inhaling and exhaling to the same number of beats. In this particular fire breath meditation, it actually becomes a three-part breath: inhaling through the mouth (sipping cool air), holding the breath (allowing light to expand within the heart space) and exhaling through the nose (picturing doors opening onto the path before you.) To access an audio file of this beautiful practice in more detail, please click here.

In the meantime, my counsel (or at least the advice I give myself) is keep moving. Maybe just a step at a time, but movement nonetheless. And it’s my guess that the step will at some point become a leap and this vault will transport you with the grace of an albatross taking flight. Not looking down, but forward. (And your heart will somehow magically have decoded the most brilliant course to travel.)

Now what?

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