AWAKEN TO BEAUTY AND EARTH ENERGY

Namaste! Welcome to Yoga Ayurveda Love with Dayna Holli.

 

During the summer of 2015 I took the photo above at my family's home in Connecticut. Placed neatly on white sand are collected shells from various destinations that our family has travelled, many are local to New England. My dad was a carpenter and custom built a coffee table one year when I was growing up and we placed shells inside the table and then laid a piece of glass on top. It's still a beautiful piece of furniture that we cherish. Pictured is a decorative antique peony and Chinese bird dish with deep orange Ayurvedic herbal body oil called mahanarayana, famous for it's ability to help heal joint and muscle pain due to arthritic conditions and degeneration. 'Maha' means great and 'narayana' is the enlightened supreme being or sometimes the god Vishnu or Krishna. This traditional medicinal formula is used widely and well-respected due to it's anti-aging properties containing over 50 herbs with a base of sesame oil, or tila. It's sweet aroma makes me smile.

 

I grew up wearing a bathing suit, running barefoot on rocks and green seaweed, swimming in salt and chlorinated water and along the way, received rays of sunshine as my toes merged into the sand co-mingling with seashells. My love for the ocean, for water or aap as it is called in Sanskrit, runs deep into my soul. Where you find the ocean, you often find birds nesting that speak melodious songs placing fragrant vibrations of energy in the air that travels upon the shoreline. I have a personal passion for birds of all kind, especially the heron, the red-tailed hawk, the cardinal, the tufted tit-mouse, the black-capped chickadee, the bald eagle and the goldfinch.

 

Fond of the outdoors and being with the elements, I often find time to walk, hike or sit amongst the natural world in peaceful observation.

John Muir, one of my favorite writers, captures the essence of earth: “This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

As nature is forever cyclical, humans also follow the same path of being in rhythms. Part of Ayurvedic teaching is to lean into nature's rhythms and synchronize your practices to provide more stability and balance. Maintaining daily practices that support us will help increase the quality of life and extend the number of years we live in maximum vitality. In Sanskrit, daily practices or teachings is called 'dinacharya'.

All animals and creatures big and small, plants, insects, fungi, microorganisms, fish, amphibians, reptiles contain the same flow of pranic energy like you. We are all made up of the same energetic forces created by 'source' or the universe. As we begin to recognize this, it opens our eyes to our oneness with nature and all beings despite the thought that humans are on top of the food chain.

The practices of yoga and Ayurveda over the past 12 years have allowed for substantial perspective shifts in my life that have truly helped me evolve as a person to find peace, develop trust, experience deep love and connection to nature and others. Both yoga and Ayurveda wisdom and practices have helped me facilitate transformation in my life and I wish to help and lead others searching for ultimate health and wellness!

I look forward to supporting your wellness journey!