This month at Soul Sanctuary, we’re celebrating Spring and the renewal this season brings with our AWAKEN 16-day yoga cleanse.
What is AWAKEN?
A 16-day yoga cleanse for the body and soul. This energising challenge will invite you to align with the awakening of springtime, as we start to embrace growth, change, rebirth and harness our own power. Through yoga, meditation, pranayama and embodied, somatic movement, you'll explore what it means to AWAKEN your body, far past the surface layer, committing to a daily practice of expression, release and bliss.
The practices will be led by Soul Sanctuary founder Cat Meffan, and will help you to harness the renewal that this month brings with a sense of energetic awakening for your mind, body, soul and breath.
Starting on 6th April we will embark on 16 daily practices that explore:
🤎 Yoga flows
🤎 Movement
🤎 Somatic movement
🤎 Pranayama
🤎 Sound
🤎 Meditation
🤎 Community
Your AWAKEN journey will begin and close LIVE with our founder, Cat. All live practices are recorded and uploaded to the Soul Sanctuary platform, so do not worry if you can't make it for the live time.
DAY 1: Live Intention Setting & Vinyasa Flow: Sat 6th April at 9am, UK time.
DAY 16: Live Flourish Flow: Sun 21st April at 9am, UK time.
The importance of Ostara - The Spring Equinox
The Spring Equinox is a time to celebrate the awakening and rebirth of nature - and of ourselves. Ostara is celebrated during the spring equinox, which fell on 21st March this year (Soul Sanctuary Spring Equinox Celebration). The exact date may have already passed but this whole month is a time to live in alignment to the Ostara energy.
It marks the change from Winter to Spring, the renewal of the Earth, all things natural and life. It’s an AWAKENING of nature after its long Winter resting period.
The word Ostara derives from the name of the West Germanic goddess of Spring, Eostre, responsible for the Spring season, new beginnings fertility. The origins of celebrating Ostara lie in different parts of Europe, including the Celts, Saxons, and Norse from around the 2nd century. Ostara was celebrated with bonfires and rituals to welcome the return of the sun and the renewal of life.
Ostara, Nature and Yoga
The day of the Spring Equinox heralds a time of balance with almost equal hours of daylight and darkness.
Spring is a time to celebrate renewal, the changing of the seasons and to honour nature's cycles. It serves as our symbol to transition in line with nature, from the season of slower living to the season of doing. Just like nature waves goodbye to the darker days of Winter, and harnesses the energy reserved during this time, we must do also - reminding us of the importance of balance.
Don’t forget, the changing from Winter to Spring is a celebratory time. It signifies possibility, change, light and all the benefits that living in our yang energy offers.
Why take part in AWAKEN?
🌼 Transition into the season of doing
🌼 Awaken your mind and body to align with nature
🌼 Create a sense of renewal
🌼 Fill your cup
🌼 Deepen your yoga practice
🌼 Connect your body, mind, soul and breath
🌼 Take a journey through different types of yoga, movement, breath work and tapping and begin this season with self-exploration
🌼 Celebrate yourself and your power
Spring is a time for new beginnings in flora and fauna and in human nature too. As the sun begins to provide us with more hours of light, this serves as our signal to enter the season of movement. The practice of rituals like spring cleaning is derived from this concept of 'yang' energy. This time in nature is a phase of channelling our energy to think, plan and start. These energies are mirrored throughout the animal kingdom. In spring we see the birds build nests, farm animals give birth to new life and the bees begin to buzz. By aligning with nature and embracing this time of renewal we are utilising the energy we saved during the winter months and aligning with the seasons as nature intended.
The benefits of a yoga cleanse
This AWAKEN challenge offers you the chance to step outside of your regular routine and embrace nature’s year with all an energetic shift, rebirth and renewal. We encourage you to see this journey as your opportunity to reinvigorate the mind, body, soul and breath.
Do I have to take part every day?
No! The AWAKEN journey will be uploaded daily but will be available for you to take part in for as long as you are a Soul Sanctuary member. Just like Yoganuary, many members take our challenges at their own pace. We encourage you to be guided by your own intuition.
Your AWAKEN Playlist
Please enjoy this beautiful music playlist, especially curated for AWAKEN journey.
Play it from start to end, pop it on shuffle or pick your favourite tracks to do some free movement to, you can flow along with this at any point during your AWAKEN journey.
Your AWAKEN schedule
See below for a your AWAKEN schedule and class descriptions.
Your April Calendar
See below for a downloadable and printable calendar. You can cross off each practice as you make your way through the month.
Ways you can take part in AWAKEN
🌼 Join us on the Soul Sanctuary website
🌼 Join us on the Soul Sanctuary app
🌼 Chat with the Soul Sanctuary community *exclusively on the Soul Sanctuary app
🌼 Email - updates, exclusives, extras and more
🌼 Instagram - updates, exclusives, extras and more.
As you know, at Soul Sanctuary we love seeing how your practice is going, so please do share your practice, thoughts, feelings and words in our beautiful in-app community and on Instagram.
Please tag us at @mysoulsanctuary so we can see and share as well.
See you on the mat!
Lots of love, Soul Sanctuary team xx