Manifest the Perfect Bath

I appreciate auspicious moments and want to believe there's a little bit of magic in the air say, for a little manifestation around a new moon or reflection and completion around a full one.  (Although really, anytime is a good time).  Oftentimes when I realize a lunar event is about to occur I declare I will spend the evening doing something intensive with sage (but never again one with palo santo after the infamous New Years fire of 2016 that took the life of my entry table) and indulging in self-care rituals like an essential oil bath, reading from my favorite yoga books (I'm really into listening to audiobooks, they're the best ever - Get Two Free Audiobooks to try here!), journaling and manifesting.  Manifesting is so sexy, just like full moons.  However, I almost always lose interest when a quick search online reminds me that manifesting accompanies the much harder to get excited about new moon and the full moon of my dreams is an ideal time for completion and letting go.  Ideally, you would deal with some cosmic loose ends from whatever you manifested two weeks prior at the new moon.  That is, if you had even acknowledged the existence of a new moon two weeks prior which I, for one, had not.

My experience with yoga has taught me the benefit in finding authentic ways to give in to the universe and to sometimes try the crazy sounding one; like that one time I finally made a vision board that would then be hid under my couch whenever company came over and still somehow eerily began to shape my life into what I wanted it to be.  Friends often see a correlation between my astrological sign (Cancer!) and full moons.  So after a pretty intense weekend - the good news I got accepted into the degree program of my dreams; the bad, my husband was involved in a crash that wrecked my car, but thankfully no one was hurt - I have decided that this is the full moon where I finally do some full moon sh*t!  Now what to do...

Full Moon (Anytime) Manifestation Ritual

Cleanse, Create and Meditate

Cleanse:  Many spiritual gurus recommend cleansing your body before engaging in a manifestation ritual.  This is about getting your head in the game to manifest your hearts desires which is the ultimate in self-care.  Personally, nothing feels more spiritually indulgent than drawing a warm bath and mixing in some of my favorite essential oils, placing some of my favorite crystals around the tub and pouring myself a glass of red wine.  (This is an example of creating a ritual that resonates with you, though.  For me, nothing means self-care like a warm bath and a glass of preferably, organic and sulfate-free red wine.  Find what feels authentic to you and don't worry if using shampoo as bubble bath or blasting metal is what does it for you). 

Create:  Find a spot in your home that allows you to feel centered and is away from any distractions.  In my case, this means any room that I can lock my three pets out of.  I happen to be in love with my bed, but it could be the floor of your office, in front of the fireplace or outside on a patio or even in nature.  (Sometimes when I am near the ocean I can really feel the tides and if you're lucky enough to be near a beach this would be absolutely delightful to experience).  If you have sage then this is the time to do a smudging ritual of your space.  The whole thing won't be ruined though if you, like me, don't just keep a stash of the stuff lying around for when the mood to smudge strikes.  I turn on my himalayan salt rock lamp, drop some essential oils in my diffuser and light a few more candles just because I love them.  I also like to light some incense in the main room of my home to create a seamless experience when the ritual is over.

Meditate:  For the longest time I would instantly tune out when I saw the word meditate.  It just wasn't my marmalade.  Throw in a single "AUM" and I'd be running for the hills.  I tried to brush off the pervasiveness of meditation on my yogi conscience by explaining that I believed in movement as a form of meditation.  Practicing asana was my meditation, don't you see?  Then I discovered Headspace.  This app promises to get you going on the path with a reasonable time commitment for a meditation-phobe of just 10 minutes per day.  I love the meditations and they make them so accessible.  I have found that pulling up a one-off meditation form their extensive library and popping in some headphones works best for me (and I was oh-so-wrong about my yoga practice being complete without it).

Manifest:  Chanting, writing down mantras and lighting them on fire and don't even get me started on Kirtan... these are all things that fall solidly into the pile that is not for me.  What does resonate is journaling.  The full moon is all about letting go and release.  I realized when I opened up my journal and thought about what I wanted to manifest in terms of what I needed to let go that I didn't need to come up with anything original on the fly.  I already knew.  Journaling about it was a way to strengthen my commitment and explore my feelings about what I was letting go.  Examining what was and was not serving me right now in my life also opened up space to confidently pursue more of what does.

I hope sharing my ritual for a full moon manifestation helps you to come up with some of your own!  Share with me what resonates with you and what you come up with!