Turn Your Magic On
(Photo by Church of the King on Unsplash)
Recently I had a client say to me: “I just don’t feel like myself lately”. She’d been getting most things done on her to-do list and was enjoying her relationships. But, she felt bland as she went through her life.
Then she told me she knew she’d feel better when... the job changed, the kids changed, her weight changed.... etc. At some vague point in the future, when life was ‘perfect’ she believed she would feel like herself again.
Does this remind you of anyone... yourself maybe?
A lot of us think this way. We lose touch with ourselves, and think the problem is coming from the outside world. Then we think that if we can fix the outside world, we’ll feel more like ourselves on the inside.
But through yoga, coaching, and meditation, I’ve learned that not feeling like yourself has less to do with what’s going on outside, and everything to do with what’s going on inside.
If you don’t feel like yourself right now, my hunch is that you’ve lost connection with your magic
WHAT’S YOUR MAGIC?
All of us have a deeply natural and expansive self. This is the self that we embody when we are safe, comfortable, feeling loved, and not pretending to be anyone other than who we are.
When this self is leading, you feel relaxed, at ease, and comfortable in your skin. You feel free and you act with confidence. When you’re in this most YOU mode, you’re quicker to smile and lend a hand. You’re in tune with the world around you. And you take whatever’s in front of you- whether it’s a school lunch or a social justice rally - and make it better.
It’s you at your most true. And, it’s something more than you.
It’s your Magic.
Your magic isn’t something you DO. It’s something you embody. It’s that naturally expanded version of you that makes the world better without even trying. And it’s always with you. But you have the choice, you can embody it fully or you can turn away from it.
Think of your magic working like a dimmer switch. You can turn it up to let more magic flow, or turn it down and slow the magic.
The magical version of you is not separate from the you that is reading these words. But you probably don’t feel all that magical right now.
A GLIMPSE OF MAGIC
If you’re lucky you’ve caught glimpses of the magic version of you. After a yoga class your body, heart, and mind felt so open that you were completely at ease in yourself. When you were deep in the creative process and came back out to the real world the magical version of you was there; clear seeing, decisive, lighthearted and free.
But for most of us, glimpses are all we ever catch because the world intervenes and tells us that our magic has no place here.
WHY WOMEN TURN OFF THEIR MAGIC
Women have been silenced for hundreds of years for talk of anything that sounds like magic (hello witches burned and drowned for centuries in Europe). And we are still not culturally supported to be in our magic.
Today women still struggle for a lot of reasons. In part we’ve been so indoctrinated to the pushing, striving, achieving culture that we believe our magic, which feels so effortless, doesn’t have value. We spend much of our lives trying to fit in in our families, schools, and careers and that often means diminishing our magic. And few of us have role models for how to embody magic.
Sadly, there are times when women consciously choose to put their magic aside out of a false belief that it serves the greater good. Women stop painting until the children are grown. They step back so that others can shine. And they pour magical energy into growing other people’s visions.
If you’ve ever been with a woman when she’s embodying her magic, you know that when women turn off their magic we all lose out.
TURN YOUR MAGIC UP
One of the things I do via coaching and yoga is help women turn their magic back up. The dimmer gets turned down low because of contractions in the body, mind or heart. When we open up the contracted parts, magic naturally start to flow again.
Remember my client from the beginning? After doing some work together she emailed to tell me that she’d recently been on a Zoom call and barely recognized herself. She said she felt so natural connecting with her colleagues that she almost didn’t recognize herself. She was in her magic.
I know we’re doing magic work when a coaching client tells me: “I feel like myself again” Or when a yoga student leaves class with a smile and emails later to tell me how they just repaired a relationship. That’s magic!
Getting back in touch with your magic is simpler than you might think. But, beware of your brain. It will tell you it’s impossible. Brains like to feed you BS because they’re almost always scared of what will happen if you get all magical and empowered.
REBUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR MAGIC
Set aside a time when you won’t be interrupted for 5 - 10 minutes
Get in a comfortable position and ground your body by feeling the seat or the Earth beneath you
Close your eyes and receive a few breaths
Imagine a time when you felt the most natural and at ease in yourself. You were you, but you were more than you. You were Magical You. As you imagine, fill in as many details of the memory as you can (smells, sounds, sights...etc)
Savor the memory and pay very close attention to what your body feels like. Where do you feel magic in your body
Stay for several minutes remembering and feeling the magic in your body. Then open your eyes and move back into your day.
It seems super simple, and it IS super simple. Thing is, it works. Remember, your magic works like a dimmer and your dimmer has probably been low for a while. FEELING your magic in your body starts to turn the dimmer back up. Do this several times and you’ll notice some changes in yourself. You’ll start to feel more like you.
IN ADDITION
After doing the exercise above, remember the feeling state of embodying your magic.
Choose a SONG that feels like your magic.
Put the song on your device and LET IT PLAY. A LOT.
Listen and dance to your song and let the magic seep back into you.
The more you can FEEL the sensation of being in your magic, the more your magic will spontaneously rise up in you, and the more natural you’ll feel in your life.
LOVE YOUR MAGIC
Your magic is YOU! It is yours and it’s always with you.
Unfortunately, it gets turned off for lots of reasons. Your family might not support it, the world might not support it, heck your brain might not even support it. But your magic IS there. And it is needed. This world needs more women who are contributing their unique magic to it.
Loving your way through to your true self includes being brave enough to go beyond what your family, the world, and your past conditioning think so that you can step into who you are meant to be. It’s possible to turn your magic back on. Your hand is on the switch. It’s time to turn it up, and let your magic flow.