Contraction and Expansion

Happy Spring! For those of us in the northern hemisphere, spring has officially arrived with today’s Spring Equinox -- the day where there’s equal balance of daytime and nighttime. We also have a full moon tonight and with the new sound of spring birds singing, I’m feeling all kinds of possibilities and hopeful.

With the arrival of spring, there is an emphasis on new beginnings. Of fresh starts.

However, in order to start something new, there often needs to be some sort of an ending. Closing a chapter can be a relief or it might bring up a lot of grief (or both!). Neither one is good or bad - you just might need to tend to your heart, nervous system, body in a slightly different way as you sit with and travel through the transition.

I call this portrait series “A Study In Contrast: Contraction vs Expansion” - haha!

One day post-dog park as I was working from home, I found Moon curled up contently in his tight little donut shape. A short while later, I found him stretched out long. Snapping pictures of both states of being, I marveled at the contrast: of how he could make himself so small and in the next moment embrace his length and size. (I’m sure he was not concerned with this philosophical reflection, but instead was concentrating on the squirrel he was chasing in his sleep!)

Before we expand, we often have a moment of contraction.

To prepare for the jumping off point. Before we spread our wings, unfurl our leaves, burst forth our blossoms. It might get uncomfortable before it feels better! You might feel resistance and tightness and tension and self-doubt or fear or a plethora of other difficult emotions. But on the other side of that is the relief, the respite, the clarity, the growth, the freedom, the thrill, the joy.

What ways can you care for yourself during this time of transition? How can you tend to your body, mind, and heart during this period of death and rebirth? As you can see above, Moonie here likes to take lots of naps, play, and eat lots of treats!

If you’re in the Twin Cities, I’ll be holding breathwork THIS Friday (3/22) to help support us through the endings and beginnings of spring (helenburon.com/events), which is MY favorite way to deal with change.

Breathwork also works long distance, so book yourself a session from the comfort of your own home (no special tech needed!) if you feel like you need to exhale the old and inhale the new.

Sending you lots of love and hope and strength and space for your Spring Equinox Full Moon Feels. xo!

Message From My Plants

I was about to toss these plants out.

The top one didn’t have any growth for some time now and I actually questioned myself as to why I was even still watering it. I was just lazy about putting them in the compost I guess and maybe still feeling just a still attached to hope.

And then this week, as I was walking past the end table these have lived on, I stopped in my tracks as I saw out of the corner of my eye the perfect little shamrocky leaves of the bottom pot sitting there gleefully. Oh hello! You ARE alive! AND THEN!! The next day, I saw the little shoot coming up from the top pot which I was SURE was a goner! I exclaimed to my man with disbelief and pure joy!

And I was reminded that life and growth are happening underneath the surface.

That we go through periods of time that feel stagnant or still or like we are hibernating or in the fertile void of nothingness.

That sometimes we can’t see the seeds that are beginning to burst forth or where our next steps are taking us, but the seeds are there and we can continue to tend to them. We can continue to take the next best step knowing that the path will unfold or we’ll look back eventually and see just how far we’ve come.

And just like these little plant babies, we can grow and bloom. We can wilt. Parts of ourselves can die, be released, recycled, dry up. We can rest and wait and percolate. And we can begin again, start fresh, grow, and push through the darkness towards the sun.

So that is my plant medicine musings for you.

Spring is coming. The cycles of life are always turning.

What can you do for yourself right now today to nourish the sweetness of your being?

Year Four :: Keep Going

Happy Polar Vortex!

It’s a frigid 16 below (and dropping) day here in Minnesnowta, so I’m gratefully taking the cue from Mother Nature to stay indoors where the blankets are warm and the coffee is hot. I love this time when the weather conditions force places to close early and the neighborhood street is super quiet. Also, huge shout out to those people who still have to be out an about on a day like today, like our rescue responders, furnace repair people, cashiers, support staff, and the UPS driver who just dropped off my package!

While I’ve been updating my website and social media channels with the upcoming events I’m holding over the course of the next couple months, I realized that I’ve started my 4th year of leading monthly breathwork circles at River Garden Yoga Center in St. Paul. Wow how time flies! That studio has been such a beautiful little nest for all the groups that have come into the space to breathe and through that offering I’ve met so many amazing and wonderful people.

Flashback to a couple of years ago: my last circle in a healing center in New York (Maha Rose) before I moved back to MN was filled with powerful, creative women who were eager to continue the work with me. Afterward, when I let them know I was relocating, I questioned whether I was making a huge mistake in picking myself up from where I’d done most of my training, growing, changing and coming back to my hometown where I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested in what I had to offer! I knew I had family and some friends in MN who loved me, but after being gone for 5ish years, I worried if I’d be able to find my people and if I’d be able to rekindle relationships.

On one of my visits to MN after I had been trained in breathwork, I had found River Garden to hold my first circle, so I had a space to bring my groups to once I had officially moved. My first group after I was back had a total of three people: my mom, my man, and a new friend I had recently met (and is still a dear friend to this day!).

Slowly but surely, month after month, and circle after circle, I’ve made it to year four and there’s such a lovely community of breathers that show up for the work (and themselves). It’s been the process of being present and holding space each month for a group of two, of five, of 17, of ten, of three, and the varying number in between. Some breathers come every month and some just come once. Some classes are small and some are filled to the brim. It’s been a magical ride of showing up and trusting in the work and relying on that word of mouth buzz that I couldn’t be more grateful for.

And the moral of the story here is: keep showing up. Know that some things take time to build and if you take it one day at a time you’ll soon look back and see how far you’ve come and just how much you’ve created.

This lesson is actually quite hard for me to be honest. I’m a big picture, big vision kind of gal and I can see 50 steps ahead of myself to where I want to be and how it will look, but the slow, day to day progress part gets me feeling impatient at times. Maybe that’s part of my Sagittarius nature coming through… :)

So as we continue our way through this new year, show up for yourself. One step at a time. Celebrate those successes. Find the fun along the way. Enjoy the process and the progress. Keep going. Trust your intuition. Change course when you need to. Rest when you need to. And then keep going. One day at a time. One aligned action step at a time.

Also, a big ol’ THANK YOU from the bottom of my tender heart for those of you who have shown up for any of my offerings. You being here allows me to do what I love and I am so grateful. Blaze on beauties!

My Favorite Day of the Year

It’s my birthday!

Today is my favorite day of the year. There’s something about feeling alive and grateful for how far I’ve traveled that makes birthdays just feel so special to me. I’m more acutely aware of my body, the world around me, my breath, my joyful heart, and being in a celebratory and magical state of mind on this day. What a gift it is to be alive on this beautiful planet!

In honor of my birthday, I’m having my annual birthday sale on healing sessions! I’m turning 33 today, so to celebrate I’m offering 33% off single sessions, my package of 3 sessions*, and couples breathwork.

All of these sessions are already discounted on my website from now until Sunday, so you can purchase and schedule at a later date or give the sessions as a gift certificate for the holidays (which I can mail to you or email a PDF version). And of course you can book your session right away if it’s a gift for yourself and you want to get in before the end of the year!

To purchase for a later date or as a gift for someone else: helenburon.com/shop

To purchase and schedule right away (use coupon code: BDAYSALE): https://helenburon.as.me/

I love the opportunity to offer this around my birthday, because the healing arts have changed my life for the better and it’s important to me to make this work approachable to as many people as possible. Thank you for supporting me and my healing practice this past year and for sharing my work with your loved ones. It’s one of my favorite things in this life. 💖

I’m looking forward to doing a whole lot more creating, healing, feeling, breathing, celebrating in the next year of my life. And I’m excited to have you along for the journey!

*The package of 3 sessions can be split up and used by 3 different people or all 3 for yourself!