Challenge your Self in Spring

Hi there,

Michelle here. Spring has arrived in Australia and this means it's TIME to put into action the plans and dreams we made through winter!

A lot of people talk about getting on purpose and living their dreams, but how many people do something about that?

Are you one of those people who keep putting it off and never feel satisfied with your life?

Many people ask me how I manage to run my Wu Tao company, take care of my special needs daughter and stay happy and focused. Well, I have a process I follow and it's been working extremely well for me for the past 15 years. I have created a life that reflects my deepest soul purpose and it's a real joy to be living an authentic, creative and fulfilling life.

Do you feel on purpose in your life?

Are you ready to put your thoughts into action, stop procrastinating and find out exactly what YOUR sacred purpose is?

Here's a Spring Challenge!

Put your dreams into action and make your sacred purpose real. No more excuses! Being on purpose makes everything else in your life, so much more effortless. So, if you are tired of waiting, I want to support you in getting there.

This is my gift to you, as part of Wu Tao's 10th Anniversary Celebrations.

Please join me in my very first free WEBINAR course "Living your Sacred Purpose" to be held on 11th October 2010 where you will learn exactly what YOUR sacred life purpose is AND how to live it in your life now. Mark it in your calendar now.

In this webinar, you will:
Find out exactly what you are meant to be doing in your life NOW.
Learn how to access your Qi energy so you can use it to create what you want.
Discover what your deepest soul purpose is for this lifetime.
Learn a simple formula that will help you to restore balance quickly and easily

I will be in touch again soon with more details of how to register. Remember, this is a free gift as part of our anniversary celebrations, and there are only limited places. After that, the course will still be available, but at our regular price of $27.00. So make sure you look out for the next email, and register early!

I hope to be meeting you in cyberspace soon!

Warmest regards

Michelle Locke
Wu Tao Dance

PS. When you are on purpose, doors of opportunity open everywhere. What you learn at this seminar will benefit you for years to come.

PPS. If this is your first webinar, let me say from my own experience its easy to sign on and lots of fun to participate! All you have to do is follow the instructions and you will end up at in the right place. I promise!

Follow your Inner Dancer - Quote of the Day!

Three Ways to stay Inspired and on Purpose

I was inspired to write this after a number of my students wrote in or called me to share their gratitude for what they were receiving from Wu Tao. I will share their expressions with you later, but it made me think about what it takes for me to stay inspired and on track in my life. Its easy to get discouraged when things don’t seem to be going my way, or at least the way I think they should be going! I definitely need to stay inspired to keep on track with my work. So after sitting with this question I came up with these 3 ways that I find useful in keeping me focused and inspired!


Spend time in nature. Make time as often as possible (I try to sit in the garden every day) to be in nature. That might mean your garden, a park or the beach. Make a conscious intention to open and receive. Maybe you want to sit with your eyes closed, or perhaps walking and breathing works better for you. Whatever way, be open and allow nature to speak to you. No effort is required, in fact, no effort is the way! It really is a matter of simply being open, appreciating the beauty of nature and receiving her blessings. I often receive great inspiration from sitting in the garden. I even ask questions and the answers come, sometimes as words, sometimes in the message of a creature or a plant. The tree below is one I visit whenever I need her inspiration!

Appreciate people. Take a good look at all the amazing people you have in your life. Reflect on what they bring to your world. Then expand your view further and look into the world to see how many incredible people are out there doing great things! I am inspired daily by other people! Close to home, my daughters are my greatest inspiration. My youngest Isabelle who has Rett Syndrome is the perfect example of how to live even with great adversity. She embodies patience, joy, tolerance and peace. My oldest Dakota, shows me just how perfect life can evolve when given space to grow. She is graceful, compassionate, strong and knows the meaning of service. She gives generously of her time and energy to her sister and all who need her. This past week Isabelle has been in hospital with severe pneumonia. Dakota has spent all her free time with her, bringing home made food, doing her hair and in total service to her sister. What teachers these girls are for me!

Nurture yourself with good nutrition and exercise. Our physical condition affects our emotional and mental state. If your body is not healthy and energised, you will be more prone to imbalances in all areas, so make sure you are looking after yourself with good food and pure water. What works for me are fresh vegetables from the garden, prepared with love and creative flair! If you can’t grow your own, choose organic when you can. And of course we need to move the body to keep it strong and flexible and the energy moving. Wu Tao is my answer for the perfect way to exercise (you already know that!), but whatever feels right for YOU is the best way to exercise.

So that’s my three ways. Here are a couple of the emails I received last week. Thanks to the women who sent them to me. Very inspiring!

Have a great month,

Michelle

PS.  If you haven't yet incorporated Wu Tao into your life but are ready for some serious inspiration and focus, get started with our Ultimate Beginners Course, check out our home study packages or find a teacher close to you

Dear Michelle,
Today I was pleasantly surprised to find myself happy. I’m not normally happy and calm at work but today I was laughing and taking time out to joke with colleagues. And I attribute much of the cause to be Wu Tao. On Tuesday I applied for a new job. My mind started racing, trying to guess how it will turn out and analysing all of the possible scenarios. I learn more about the position and then have to decide if I really want to go for it or not. They want an immediate start which I don’t want to do as it is unfair to my current employer and besides, I had unfinished work. So I struggle wondering if I have done the right thing applying for the job at all but my usual support friends and family are unavailable so I have to work it out myself. I have a little cry, feeling sorry for myself then decide I have to be responsible for myself and how my life turns out. And then I turn to Wu Tao. With the inspiration of your story Michelle, and that of other students and teachers, I decided to trust Wu Tao. I danced every day for the next 3 days, sometimes twice a day and in amidst of my stress and uncertainty, I feel happy. I feel like I’m in a calm centre with chaos ensuing all around. What a miracle! Thank you Michelle for Wu Tao. 

Erica Fletcher (Melbourne Victoria)

Hi Michelle,

My name is Toni Madigan and I purchased a kit of Book CD and Dance DVD. I have had it now for about 4 weeks and I love the feelings I get from each dance.
I love feeling the music within me and the light peaceful place of joyful balance when I am finished. I give thanks every time to you and all involved in bringing this beautiful form of cleansing, grounding and revitalisiing to our entire beings. Thankyou!

I read your book (or parts of) most days....do the stretches every morning as part of my daily routine and find the whole thing just fits perfectly with where I am now and my continued plan of spiritual growth.

I would love to become a teacher at some stage in the future so I can share this with others. I look forward to every newsletter that sheds a little more light on the different aspects of Wu Tao.

On Tuesday when I did the dance video it came to me that I should visualise the brushing away of all that no longer serves me when brushing down the arms. It felt very natural and the obvious thing to do and here you are telling us that’s what it is intended to be....amazing how things work out isnt it?

Thankyou again for sharing your creative gifts

Toni Madigan (Western Australia)

Wu Tao Nourishes Body and Soul in Winter!

Hi there, 

Today I am in awe as I watch a new world flowering!   I can feel it and I can see it all around me.  In the people I meet and especially through the internet which has become a point of connection and community for so many.  It is like a flower blossoming. There are still a few parts of the pod that need to fall away, so the bud can fully open, but what is amazing is that nothing can stop this process because this is LIFE!  And Life is upgrading us to a new level of being.  How wonderful to be on planet Earth at this time.  What a gift!  I am humbled to be here to witness and grateful for the opportunity to serve Life.

So, on one hand I am totally involved in my ‘little’ life. Doing what I do in the way that I do it.  And on the other hand, I am the observer, watching our awakening world.  It is happening to me and I am also the witness.  It really is quite beautiful.

The life I choose to live is in answer to the question:  How can I best serve Life right now?  I realise its not just about what I do or create in my work with Wu Tao, family, lifestyle etc.   Its about how I choose to be when I do my life.  What I think, exude and say.  When I move with the energy of Life, I am an expression of love, gratitude, appreciation and compassion.  Being anything else is to deny reality.  This is where Life is at!  She is moving so powerfully now, taking us with her.  It is so much easier to go with her flow than hold on to the old ways.  To resist is futile.  We are so blessed.  We are transforming into the divine beings we have always been.  We are remembering the truth of who we are and the limitations and illusions we have placed on the world are falling away. 

Don’t believe the doom and gloom you see on the tv.  Look deeper, and see what is really going on.  People are changing and mobilising themselves for the good of others and their communities. Its powerful and its happening in every walk of life. The littlest positive change can have a large ripple effect.  We can do it by changing the words we use daily from negative self talk to positive.  Giving encouragement and support to friends and family.  Sharing resources with our neighbours.  Making time to celebrate, connect and renew relationships.  We honour our existence when we are present and flowing with Life as it is.

I wish for all of us that our hearts continue to flower and bless this beautiful earth of ours.

The photo above of people doing the Tao Dance is from Aniko Scarabello, a Wu Tao Instructor who teaches at the Wu Shin Monastery in Tambourine Mountain Queensland.  I adore this picture! 

Have a lovely winter

Warmest regards

Michelle

Wu Tao rejuvenates body and spirit in Winter!

The Water Dance in Wu Tao builds the energy in your Kidney and Bladder organs.  Try these movements from the Water dance to stimulate your Kidney and Bladder Qi.  Lie on your back with knees bent.  Rock your knees gently to each side and then roll over into the foetal position and back again.  You can learn more of the Wu Tao dances  at www.wutaotransformation.com,  or best of all attending a Wu Tao class!  Classes are held across Australia and New Zealand and all our teachers details can be found at the website www.wutaodance.com

Makko Ho Stretches for the Kidney and Bladder

“The Tao does nothing, yet everything gets done”

“The three months of winter are called the period of closing and storing…. People should retire early at night and rise late in the morning and they should wait for the rising of the sun.  They should contain their wishes as though they had no internal purpose, as though they had been fulfilled.” (Yellow Emperor’s Classic)

Lets look at what this means for us.  Firstly, closing and storing. My interpretation is to close the spaces where we lose energy.  Turn the focus within and retain the energy.  Ways we can do this include: less talking, less action and less work.  Ask the question, Through what gate(ways) am I losing energy?  Then, stop doing them for a couple of months.  Ie If you lose energy through talking, don’t talk for a while. 

‘People should retire early at night and rise late in the morning and they should wait for the  for the rising of the sun’.  Winter is the time of the deepest Yin, which corresponds to the Kidney and Bladder organs.  Kidneys store Qi.  The best way to restore Kidney Qi is to rest.  So sleeping, specifically in winter time is one of the best ways to build up Kidney Qi. 

‘They should contain their wishes as though they had no internal purpose, as though they had been fulfilled.’  Winter is the time to dream and imagine.  To be completely free of expectation, yet to feel deeply what you really desire and want for yourself and your life.  Imagination is a powerful tool of creation!  Let your mind go wild with imagining what you really want!  Keep it focussed on these things.  (ie dont let it wander around imagining what you don’t want!).  Most importantly, keep these imaginings to yourself.  If you talk about them you disperse the energy before it is ready.  Build the energy in your imagination and contain your wishes until springtime. Then the seeds you have sown (in your mind) will be ready to be birthed.

A recipe to build your Kidney Qi and sustain you over the winter months

Miso and Kidney Beans

4 cups kidney beans / 6 cups water / 1 tspn fresh grated ginger / 3 tbspns rice miso / 1 sweet potato / 3 carrots / 2 onions / 230g tomato paste / sea salt / 3 cloves diced garlic / 1 tspn each of cumin and coriander /dark sesame oil to taste.

Soak beans overnight, drain, add fresh water and cook until tender.  Saute garlic, onion and ginger in sesame oil.  In a separate bowl mix miso, tomato paste and water to thin.  Put all ingredients into a pot and simmer for 45-60 minutes.

Thicken with kuzu if needed.  Garnish with fresh coriander or parsley and serve over noodles or rice.  

(Recipe from the book ‘Take this Pebble from my Hand” by Geoffrey D. Wilson)

Upcoming Events

Wu Tao Couples Retreat Bali

December 3 - 9 2010

If you have a partner and need time out to reconnect then please join us for a very special retreat in beautiful Bali.  Numbers are very limited so register now and start dreaming of the blissful time you are going to share with your beloved in December.  

We can’t wait to meet you there! Its going to be a divine time!

Click here for details

Express your Self!

Wu Tao Instructor Training Perth

May 2010

Hi there,

Last week I had the privilege of teaching a group of Wu Tao trainee instructors. The training was held at the beautiful Kookaburra Creek Yoga Centre in Perth. It is a sacred space surrounded by images of gurus and saints. We shared, learned, collaborated and created a magical learning experience that will be treasured by all of us. As always I am grateful to be able to share Wu Tao and to witness the powerful effects that it has in bringing people home to themselves. Dancing everyday brings balance and energy to the physical body and peace to the mind. It worked for me! Bliss! Congratulations to all the participants who will now be taking Wu Tao into their communities and sharing the joy of the dance!

Last night my partner said that our reason for being alive was to create. I love this! I am in full agreement with this thought! How would your life look if it was a painting? A work of art? Would you be happy with what you had created? What powerful beings we are that we can create! We are creating our own experience and world with our thoughts, feelings and actions. Our landscape is constantly changing depending on what we are thinking and doing.

Take a moment and reflect on what you are creating in your life. Is it what you want?

The tapestry contains not just the finished products but 'how' you got there. What are the quality of your thoughts and feelings? Your 'creation' can be like a flower or tree, blossoming in waves of energetic beauty. Is it this? Is your 'creation' healthy and alive?

I am thinking that a life lived like this would have a powerful effect on the whole! Just imagine if every person on our planet was consciously creating beauty with everything they thought and did! I know that I am inspired by the simplest acts of kindness and the greatest displays as well. It doesn't matter what it is or who did it, it matters that its happening!

I love it when I make eye contact with a stranger in the street and we connect in a smile about nothing. I love it when I read someone's story online that reminds me of love. I am inspired when I hear of someone's success in business, relationship or overcoming some challenge. I recently read that we - thats all of us humans- are giving each other darshan (spiritual nourishment) via the internet now. I agree! Not only can we connect with each other in person, we can join with via the worldwide web in sharing and growing into our highest expressions.

My latest creation is a new website where everyone can experience the benefits of Wu Tao. I hope it will help you to create a life of beauty and unique expression. The world needs YOU in your fullest manifestation doing what you do best. Check it out here. http://www.wutaotransformation.com

Here's a video from the training showing some of the beautiful women who participated. Enjoy!

Blessings and love

Michelle

The Highest Vibe on the Planet - Herakhan Ashram India

Dear friends,

I have recently returned from another amazing trip to India and Babaji's ashram at Herakhan in the foothills of the Himalayas. My feeling on returning (and often when I was there) was I would like to share this experience with as many people as possible. This place has got the highest vibration I have ever come across on the planet. Its like how I would imagine heaven to be in terms of energy, love and bliss. People come from all over the world and it has a true sense of unity with all humanity. Herakhan feels like home, but what I realised is that the place simply resonates deeply with my inner Self which of course is my true home, the Divine within. It was the ultimate blessing to be able to drink in this energy for 10 whole days. To be fully with my Self and not pulled around by the ramblings of my mind and ego. Divine Presence is so strong at Herakhan that is simply blows away anything unlike itself, and all that is left is truth and love.

I went with my partner Steve for the third year in a row. I also met up with Ardyn Masterman, a Wu Tao Instructor from Qld! What a coincidence! This year the energy was even higher and more intense than before. We were there for Navaratri, which is the Divine Mother festival. Everyday there are many ceremonies (pujas) to her various manifestations including a massive fire ceremony called Havan. The days started at 4am with a morning bathe in the river and ended around 10pm with Aarti (devotional songs) and pranam to Sri Muniraj, the guru who holds Babajis energy like a saint. Every day was filled with happiness, joy, meditation and prayer and the air is literally filled with atoms of high frequency energy.

The place itself is beautiful, with the river bed full of white stones, flowing crystal clear water, mountains, blue skies and nature everywhere.

I love and care about you deeply, and I wish for you the highest expression of You to be manifest in the world. This place is THE PLACE to connect with your deepest truth and SELF. If your desire is for liberation of your soul and self realisation this lifetime AND you want to manifest your fullest potential and be of service to humanity, I sincerely encourage you to make time to journey to Herakhan soon.

This world needs clear, strong people, dedicated to truth and love. Herakhan will give you the strength to fulfill your divine mission and reach your highest potential. Your limited self can drop away in Herakhan. These trips for me have been the most significant spiritual experiences of my life.

The highlight of the trip for me was having my first mundun. Mundun is the ritual of having your head shaved. I have been thinking about it since my first visit 3 years ago, but I have had a lot of resistance to it. As a woman, I have a lot invested in my hair! My identity as a woman and my idea of feminine beauty and attraction, also I have had a strong attachment to what people think of me especially those closest to me ie my family! After much soul searching I made the decision that it would be a good thing to have it done and surrender.

When the time came to sit in front of the 95 year old barber on the bank of the beautiful Ganga river, my mind finally found peace. As soon as he started cutting away my long hair, I felt peaceful. The group around me sang Om Namah Shivai and my beautiful Steve stayed close by supporting me. It was a very blissful experience and after I truly felt liberated from my past and closer to God.

I plan to keep it for 9 months and use the regular shaving as my spiritual practice to remind me to continue surrendering daily to what is important; the divine presence and love within me.

Now more than ever, we need to align ourselves with the fantastic energy available to us on the planet. Wu Tao will help you to reconnect with this energy and is the perfect way to integrate spirit and body and dance ourselves back into balance, joy and full aliveness! It makes it easy then to get on with what you here to do, your purpose and divine mission.

My philosophy is that Life gives you all the opportunities and challenges you need to grow and evolve and in return we are meant to offer something back to the whole. You have a unique gift for the world and it is meant to be shared. So come and join us for a class soon and we will help you clear the way so you can share your Self fully.

Since returning to Australia my daughter Belle has been in hospital with pneumonia so my Wu Tao work has been on hold. She made an amazing recovery and I am now back at my desk and dancing again. I am so glad to have Wu Tao in my life and so happy to be able to serve you with this work. I hope to dance with you soon.

Blessings and love

Michelle x x

Summer Holidays were good!

Hi there!

I am back at my desk now after 3 weeks of very pleasant holiday time off. Holidays as far as I am concerned are a necessity and a priority to be balanced and stress free through the year. Doing needs to be balanced with Being, and summer is the ideal time to do this. Summer relates to the element of Fire, which in Chinese Medicine is about connecting, sharing from the heart, opening to joy, and and emanating your True Self to the world. Not surprising that holiday time with family especially celebrations like Christmas can bring up unresolved issues for many of us. It often means re-aquainting ourselves with who we truly are, shedding some of the masks we wear and returning to our natural state of being, clear of issues and judgements.

I live in Perth Western Australia where the weather has been very hot. A week at Rottnest Island with my extended family was heavenly. I had both my daughters with me for this one. My youngest Belle had an absolute ball, getting to the beach in a beach wheelchair. It looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland after she'd eaten the mushroom! Enormous! It took 2 guys a lot of muscle and sweat to get her through the sand to Pinkies Beach everyday but it was well worth the effort to see the absolute pleasure on her face. My oldest daughter Dakota, back from London was a joy to be with again. We have a very close and loving family and it was truly wonderful to be all together.

A short burst back in Perth's heat for New Years and then my partner Steve and I took a break down south at the beautiful Wychinicup National Park near Albany and camped. It was divine to be in nature, surrounded by ocean, sky and trees. We swam, fished, slept in, cooked up a storm and enjoyed being with each other without having to do anything else.

We came back to find our garden sunburnt but we managed to harvest a lot of pumpkins!

I am now back at my desk, energised, inspired and ready to share more Wu Tao with you! We have classes all over Australia, and many programs that can help you to bring more balance and peace into your life! If you can't start a class this month, why not purchase a DVD package and practice at home or start one of the home study courses we offer that will assist you in creating a life of beauty, energy, peace and flow. You can find all our details at our website at www.wutaodance.com

I look forward to dancing with you soon!

love Michelle x x

Creator of Wu Tao Dance