The beloved hills of Boulder have been burning for the last 48 hours. Evacuations began on Monday as so many of us in the city of Boulder looked up to see plumes of heavy, gray smoke and ash hover in the sky, not more than 15 miles into the Foothills. As I have been hearing from clients and members of the BodyMantra community, I am struck by how many are speaking of the simultaneous feelings of devastation and surrender. As base needs and resources are challenged, our most primal responses are triggered, unable to be filtered or assuaged on the heart level. At the same time, there seems also to be such a deep knowing and acknowledgment that the Earth continues to speak – loudly – about the need for humans to continue on the path of radical change.

The Phoenix rising from the ashes comes to mind as a parallel to what is passing for us here, locally, but also what seems to be happening worldwide. As oil gushes from the ocean floor, the earth quakes at the foot of Asia, and fires rage in the center of the mountains, we are all being asked to allow the storms to rise and be seen, in order to affect radical, massive change. To step willingly into the fire so that we may rise from the ashes, reborn. This applies not only on the Earth level with all of the calamities of Nature happening, but also on the personal level. We are being asked to allow the fires within to rise up and burn away anything that does not serve, that gets in the way of us living a selfless and soul-directed life.

Though this may sound lofty and a bit out-of-reach, I am of the mind that this view is perfectly aligned with the quickening going on right now. Why the signs on the planet and in our personal lives are getting so loud that we cannot ignore them or drown them out through normal activities and channels. We absolutely must rise to these calls and open ourselves to the lessons and change that are coming through. Much like the buffalo run into the storm, rather than away from it, we are being invited to welcome extreme experience as opportunity for growth and change.

It is no coincidence that today is the day of a New Moon. The signal of new beginnings. An offering for us to embrace intentionally those things that we wish to change and build in our lives. As these fires burn around us and within us, consider opening to the clearing that inevitably appears when the smoke clears. Trusting that the tears of devastation are also a cleansing – a preparation for what is yet to come.