The Forgotten Worship: The Altar of You

Hello Hedge Schoolers, <br/><br/>The wintery edge greets me every morning as I step outside. The cold cutting to the bone, a sign of nature's deep inner work. Such a deep retreat is a reset. A time to slow down. A time to trim back the branches of life. A time to stoke the inner fire. Personally, I find myself coming back to the little things. The micro-practices that have always provided the oxygen mask when a life of doing threatens to strangle me with overwhelm. These daily tending practices are fractals. Deliberately small in nature, but when amplified over time covers much distance. Daily steps. Daily reverence whilst sitting at the altar of you.<br/><br/>The Altar of You<br/><br/>I've been reflecting on my journey in this space deeply as of late. Two edits into a book manuscript have raised the overwhelm. And it is to my daily practices I have turned. To anchor myself in the truth that a threshold beckons. I must prepare energetically through doing and non-doing. Harmony is the name of the game. <br/><br/>Am I getting enough rest? <br/><br/>Am I allowing myself to be trapped in the grooves of story? <br/><br/>Can I transmute this energy? <br/><br/>My practices are broad. Simple. Sustainable. It is not a list of things to do but a suite of reverent rituals that I use to pray at my own altar. <br/><br/>Movement <br/><br/>This is my anchor practice. When thoughts and emotions cloud my inner landscape, I get into my body. Thoughts and emotions are energy and so I use the crucible of movement to move any stagnant energy. At the end of a run or workout, the energy of these thoughts and emotions has been transmuted. I've lit them up. Kindling for diving deeper into the heart of the matter. What is the essence of the energy behind them? Are they true? Are they serving me? I've always found movement to be the fire I need to burn off the dross of old narratives. Everything is energy, so why not move with it instead of against it. <br/><br/>Meditation <br/><br/>To counterbalance this, I always meditate after exercise