A short Scandinavian Mythological Story & talk inspired by Tara Brach

“The King & Queen had fallen unto hard times, some sort of dicey financial trouble and they needed to raise some money from the Dragon’s hoard. So, they went to visit the dragon and ask for some money. 

The dragon agreed to assist them for a small favor in return: their daughter’s hand in marriage.

As the story goes, the parents went to the daughter and said something like, “Honey, it’s time for you to be betrothed and well, we have decided to betroth you to the dragon.” And they explained why this was necessary.

Although the princess was afraid of the dragon, she was a resourceful princess so she went to the village where she knew of a wise old woman who lived there and shared her story.

The wise old woman asked her if she wanted to be married to the dragon and the princess replied, “Absolutely not!” So, the wise old woman told her that she had a way for her to handle the situation where she would be safe.

So, the old wise woman whispered a little something in the princess’s ear, telling her that she had to get 10 wedding gowns for her wedding and sent her on her way.

So the day came for the wedding, and everything went as planned but then it was time for the dragon and the princess to retire to their chamber.

Once inside their chamber, the dragon says to the princess, “Well dear, isn’t it time that we consummate our wedding?”

And the princess replied, “Yes, my dear husband but for me to do so I must remove my wedding gown, is it not so?”

“Absolutely my dear!”, replied the dragon.

“I have a small favor from you in return”, asks the princess. “Would you not remove a layer of your own so as to be more pleasing to me?”

So, she took off one wedding gown and the dragon took some decorative attires that he had worn on his dragon body. 

To his surprise, he noticed that she had another wedding gown underneath the first one.

So, she took that one off and as dragons are used to taking off their scales, you know like reptiles they have to shed here and there, he peeled off another thin layer but then oops….she had another dress on! 

So as she peeled off her wedding dresses, one by one, he had to peel off his dragon skins, where he had to dig deeper and deeper into his own flesh, into his own skin.

At the 8th wedding dress removal, the dragon had taken off parts of himself that were stuck and his form began to change.

And on the 9th, it changed more remarkably and by the 10th gown, the dragon had taken off so much dragoness that, as happens to be so much the way with these types of myths and fables, the dragon turned out to be a handsome prince, of course!

And so they spent a night of wedding bliss ;-)”

I use this story to illustrate the wisdom and courage it takes for us to show up as our vulnerable selves and face our fears with patience and kindness.

In Art of Alignment Academy programs, we learn to let go, and let go, to open — an opening that can sometimes leave us feeling fragile or the sensation of a vulnerability hangover.

What we are letting go of can sometimes feel like those scales that have been stuck to us and not always easy to release especially if we have been identifying with the scales for a long time, the peeling off leaves us with a fresh and delicate new skin.

When we look at what it really means to be together in an intimate way, what it really means to heal or wake up, it does have to do with disarming ourselves and choosing to trust. 

We are learning to recognize and shed our defensive strategies, the judgments and the preoccupations and pretenses that we have. 

When we cover up our real feelings, we create distance. 

And it can be challenging because pretty much all of us have the same core fear that we’ll be rejected for who we are. And at the same time, we intuitively know that the growth is in the letting go, the trusting of self-expression and the choice to be seen.

The author Madeleine Engel expresses it this way:

“Over the years I’ve worked out a philosophy of failure which I find extraordinarily liberating. If I’m not free to fail, I’m not free to take risks, and everything in life that’s worth doing involves a willingness to risk failure. Although I have had 30 books published, there are at least six unpublished books which have failed, but which have been necessary for the book that then gets published. The same thing is true in all human relationships. Unless I’m willing to open myself up to risk and to being hurt, then I’m closing myself off to love and friendship.”

Instead of pulling away and fighting, we are choosing to show up, take a stand for one another and allow ourselves to be fully seen in a space of love and compassion.

When we open up to the present moment, we can process emotions or whatever shows up with a tender heart and open arms. 

At Art of Alignment Academy, the teachings are a little bit different, a little bit more unorthodox because the style of teaching is experiential. And that means that we practice in real time by developing a mindful awareness to what shows up in the space and responding to it with focused attention and a loving intention.

It is also based on “unscaling” ourselves, letting go of what no longer serves us and being willing to do the deep work, with a compassionate approach.

Learning to remove our scales can leave us in a state of rawness, kind of like the soft underbelly of a kitty cat or puppy.

For me, this is a beautiful and tender place to be. I have learned that the best way for me to experience my own “vulnerability hangover” sensations is to practice more loving-kindness towards myself, more self-forgiveness, more self-compassion.

I wish you tender moments of self-compassion today. 

May you be at peace. May you feel safe. May you know that you are loved.

Always Higher With You,

Anne-Marie xo

You are here because you want to transform something in your life. Deep within, you have an unshakeable desire to be better, grow stronger, face your demons and fears, you want to live a life of the fully expressed you. 

We are all searching for the main experience of life, even when we don’t always know what that is. 

A lot of the time, when we do not have control over our external world, we feel helpless and do not know how to move forward. Helplessness can make us feel as if we do not have options. That we are alone and that we must react to our environment because, after all, “there’s nothing that I alone can do about it.“

For three decades now, I have been consciously focusing on how to become the best version of me. I have attended more workshops and events that I’d like to share. I have invested more money in my education than anyone else I know and today, I am truly grateful for the benefits that this education has afforded me because I do not believe that I am helpless. In fact, I believe that my voice, when properly directed, is the strongest tool in my kit.

I guess that one way to call this journey is “the path to the science of achievement“. But not achievement just to do, but guided, directed, focused and purposeful action. For me, achieving new heights and reaching higher levels of consciousness equals to the amount of contribution that I can offer my community. 

Going for achievements, without proper guidance, can result in as much unhappiness as succeeding at achieving something just to achieve it. 

How do you take what you envision and make it real? How do you, not only achieve but also grow your internal garden of love, nurture yourself in a sustainable manner where every day begets more appreciation for your breath and life?

I want to invite you to consider how to envision yourself and your dreams through “the art of fulfillment“. 

To focus on what fulfills you, makes you feel good, grounded, solid yet flexible like a bamboo tree. To focus on growing the beauty from the inside regardless of what is outside. 

Your internal world, your inner relationship with yourself is what will bring this sense of fulfillment and deep accomplishment. The outside world is simply the stage that we have created in order to perform our “Dharma“, or our work in life.

With love,

Anne-Marie xo

“The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.”
Maya Angelou

This quote is the opening to Shonda Rhimes’ book, Year of Yes.

My invitation to you is to spend as much time honoring yourself as you do anything else.

Are you still in the throws of your habitual patterns, confronted with your negative talk, your FOMO, taking on too much, too little, struggling with when to say “yes” and/or “no”? If you are answering “yes” to any of these questions, you’re right on track! 

Perhaps that you are figuring out how to manage your time better,confronted with certain aspects of yourself, recognizing your ego identity, discovering your relationship to your heart of compassion, learning to expand your listening ear, and beginning to identify what you have committed to and what it means to engage as the Creative Leader of your life.

Today, you are invited to show up 100%, exactly as you are, no excuses, no expectation to the outcome and yet, fully present and naked, so to speak: just as you are. 

You are trusting the process and yet, sometimes struggle with the unknown. 

Know that you are wholeheartedly supported on your journey. When we put our best foot forward, a reward for our work is always right around the corner even though it might not feel like it. Just stay the course. Change is upon you.

We cannot experience extraordinary change without some level of struggle. It’s work to raise our consciousnesses, it’s work to be compassionate, to have to hold true to our commitments, to mean what we say and say what we mean, to recognize those parts of ourselves that we might not like so much but still determined to explore with an open heart and mind.

What I know is this: IF you do show up, take a stand for yourself AND your “tribe”, your community and if you begin to honestly merge within your community as one amoeba, as one beating heart, as a tensegrity structure, holding each one of them together by the delicious tension of expansion, contraction, rotation, and suspended by the space between the structure, then, all will be wildly victorious. Just stay the course.

If one falters along the way, everyone in your group/tribe/community has to be able to regroup and support the weakest link in the group.That’s how a tribe works.

Below, the first track of the Dalai Lama’s first-ever-to-be-produced album on mantras and prayers.

Info on mantra: “Om mani padme hum” 
https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/om-mani-padme-hum-dalai-lama/

The Dalai Lama: Compassion

Lakota Peyote Prayer

Always flying higher with you…..