I'd love for you just to begin to kind of settle in, and let's talk about today: August 8th, 8:08 a.m. The 8:08 a.m. didn't really have any significance other than we were just totally channeling the number eight, because I really liked it. And today eight is a very important and auspicious and powerful number for us to connect to. So today, on August 8th, the eighth day of the eighth month, in the eighth hour, at least where I am, it's a time that we can really begin to manifest, because what's going on in the sky around us is what is affectionately referred to as the Lion's Gate portal.

And the Lion's Gate portal is whenever our sun in Leo comes into alignment with the brightest star in our sky, actually the star Sirius, and it's called the dog star. And the dog star is well known not only in Egyptian mythology but also in Egyptian history culturally. This was the beginning of the new year, this time right now that we're in, so this is a new year of sorts. It also corresponds in Vedic understandings, in Jyotish astrology; there's a connection to the dog star as well. So today we have an alignment of our sun, Sirius, Orion's Belt and the earth, and we're just coming into alignment.

It's very mystical in the sense, too, [that] the pyramids in Giza are actually constructed in such a way that they mimic this alignment. So every time that this formation happens in the sky, we actually see it imitated below on the earth. As above, so below, and in the pyramids, of all things.

To me it's a very cool time of year, because the energy becomes very palpable, right? We've got all these celestial things that are happening, coming into an alignment, and we are coming into alignment with that. Another part of why 8/8 is so auspicious: because really this alignment is going on between the end of July, July 25th, I think it was this year, or the 28th, forgive me, and August 12th. So we're kind of sitting towards the end of it, in the middle of it. But again, now our sun being in Leo, we're strengthening that very feline, royal, majestic, proud energy. You know, sometimes we think of pride as being a bad thing, but it never really is, whenever it's in balance and in check.

The eight is important also from a numerological standpoint, because the number eight, my favorite number actually, if you turn it on its side, it's also the sign of infinity. So if you think about eight, it represents abundance, prosperity. It also represents karma. And karma's a tricky word, because people will often associate karma as, oh, I did good, I get good; oh, I did bad, I get bad. The reality is that you did, so you receive. Karma in its truest form, if you break it down and descend from the Sanskrit origin, it actually just means action. Karma is action.

And there are many people who understand that ebb and flow; there's also many people who look to transcend that ebb and flow. So wherever you are on the spectrum, it's all good, because we're all kind of moving towards the same direction, right? Which is the point of expansion.

And today is all about manifesting expansion, manifesting your miracles. What is it that you want to bring into this world? What is it that you want to connect to on a more powerful, real, tangible, physical level, that maybe had just been floating inside, or was a desire of your heart, or something that you've been calling to, but yet hasn't yet manifest for whatever reason?

Perhaps it's not the right time. Just like you put a cake in the oven, you have to allow it to bake, and if you pull it out too early, it's a little sludgy mess. You know, it's still cake batter, but it's not a cake. So it could be that. It could also be [that] we have resistance: that just because we're saying something, we may be vibrating in our spaces something else. That sounds very woo-woo, right? But it's very true.

Do you know, if you break down every element of creation, all creation at its very core starts with what? With sound, vibration. Before we see, before we can touch, taste, smell, before we have any of these other physical senses, there is a vibration that must occur.

So for as woo-woo as it sounds, as, oh well, we may have a blockage in our space, that is actually very much how the quantum world works.

So I invite you today to kind of take stock as to where you are, right? That's what these times are for. It's time for us to reconnect, and we do that with these beautiful singing bowls that are in front of us. If it's your first time here, let me kind of share with you what you'll be able to experience today. So these are 13 chromatically tuned singing bowls, just like the black and white notes on a piano, in one octave, from middle C to a high C.

So the bowls will begin to resonate aspects of what it is that we're looking to release, manifest, create in these moments. So every session's different, because you're different, I'm different. The bowls are the same; they're just the perfect reflection of this moment in time. So none of this is pre-planned. It's all completely based on you and what's going on around us. My job is just to step back and interpret. So please release any expectations you have, because that's the best that we can do, I find, to get the best out of the bowls, because, you know, magic happens whenever we can let go.

So those are the bowls, and typically how we proceed in this session — how we kind of divide these sessions — are into three main parts. We begin just by retuning, and then we release, so that we have room to receive. So that's a basic gist of how it's going to generally flow, and the bowls will also kind of tell me too as to where we need to tune in.

So I'll invite you now, however you want to experience your practice today, just go ahead and find that physical position. It could be however you need it to be. You could be sitting comfortably, you could be in a meditative position, you could begin to lie down. What is it that you feel like you need today? Perhaps you just need to experience the vibration from afar and just have this going on in the background as you continue with other activity. That's okay too.

If you want to go deep, I might encourage you to put on a pair of headphones, not just earbuds — phones that actually cover your entire ear. And what that'll do is it'll actually help you connect on a more deeper level to the tuning of what's happening. A lot of times the bowls will bounce sounds, things that I can't control. Sometimes the bowls are very easy; sometimes they are very lively, even if they're very soft under my hands. So what you'll find is that those vibrations are emanating for specific reasons, and if you're really tuning into this, that might be an opportunity for you to go a little deeper, even for yourself, to allow the bowls to speak to you a little differently. So that's a possibility too.

But however you are, wherever you are, whenever you are, let's just begin to bring your attention to the here and now. Just begin to notice your breath. It's always a good place to start. Then I'd like for you to begin to move your attention to the center point of your chest, into your heart. Our sun rules the sign of Leo, in which we are in, and our sun is in Leo right now. The sun directly connects to the heart: a place of life, a place of gratitude, a place of connection.

How does your heart feel today? That feeling could be a physical sensation; it could be an emotional perception. Honestly ask yourself, how does my heart feel today? And breathe. Breathe. Now, whatever that experience is, offer a gentle hello to your heart and that experience, whether it's a pleasant experience you're having or a painful experience. Offer a gentle hello, and witness what happens. Now, to that same experience that you're having in your heart, can you offer a gentle thank you, a feeling of gratitude for the pain or the pleasure? And notice what happens. And breathe.

Now I invite you to begin to slow your breath, just by a few paces. Sometimes we can accomplish this well just by taking a conscious inhale and holding it for a few seconds longer before we release the exhale. Inhale, hold, then release. Inhale, hold, then release. Beautiful. Breathe.

I invite you now to put a hand over your heart. You could put one hand or two hands, whichever is accessible to you, and begin to gently just rotate your hand over your heart space in a clockwise position, so moving towards the left, and then up the right, down the left, up the right, down the left. And as you do that, I'd like for you to begin to say to yourself, either in your head or aloud: I am loved, I am safe. I am loved, I am safe. There you go. I am loved and I am safe. I am loved and I am safe.

Sometimes when we begin to turn within, we see all the reasons that we should go outward. The truth is that the outside is just a reflection of what's going on inside. So just as the lion has courage, let's take heart today as we begin to release and allow for the purest expression of your miracle, of your manifestation, of your magic. That courage is in the air right now, surrounding you. It's also deep within you.

When we have courage, all is possible, because courage is the cornerstone of transformation. Transformation comes when we can boldly move forward. The Lion's Gate portal is a time of forward motion. It's a time of new beginnings. It's a time of transformation. The ancient Egyptians knew; they would watch as the Nile would flood through her riverbeds, bringing forth sustaining life into their fields, into their lives, so that they could prepare and celebrate a harvest. But they needed to let go. They needed to have that courage to know they could get through these dry spells, these deserts, because there's always a promise of your Nile flooding over, teeming with life.

So let's begin to release places in our physical or our energy bodies, wherever you want to perceive today. Let's begin to release specifically things which block energies, vibrations, feelings, emotions, thoughts, actions that block our connection to our courage. Now, some of you, setting the intention of releasing is enough. Some of you may want to take a more active approach. Do with it as you may, as the bowls speak.

When you hit blockages, great. You found a new gem, something to let go, to allow to flow in a different way. Allow the release to gently continue. You are safe. You are strong. You are never alone. Take courage. Allow the transformation and the tears to flow.

Some of you may feel more stable whenever you can release into a grounded state. So I invite you, if you have a grounding practice, just check in. If not, think, imagine or feel a golden cord of light connecting from the base of your spine, your first chakra, all the way into the center of the earth. Just allow that cord to gently entwine itself around this central part of our Mother Earth. You are safe. You are connected.

And just allow anything to release down that cord. Give this energy back to Mother Earth, so that she can recondition it, reuse it. It's very much like we take in oxygen, we give off carbon dioxide. Allow that excess energy, whatever that is that you're releasing, to bless something else. Just release it with that intention. There's no obligation in that sense, because your intention is for wholeness, for all. There you go. Beautiful. And breathe.

If courage fuels transformation, what fuels courage? I invite you now to gently begin to shift your attention to the center part of your core, around your belly button, your second chakra. I invite you now to chant the sound vam, V-A-M. Feel it in your core. Again. If it feels good, keep vibrating that sound in your space, or just hear it in your head, or just listen to these bowls.

The second chakra is where we hold the seed of creation, creativity, manifestation into the world, aspects of our dreams or desires, things that we want to bring forth. It's basically, in the physical body, where our sexual organs are. It's what allows us — whenever we are connected to its flow, it helps us bring forth that which is within, without. Just allow this tone to wash over your core, invigorating, enlivening.

There's flow, and courage. Courage facilitates flow. How would you feel if you knew you had the courage, the ferocity, the fortitude of a lion? What would you do? What would your life look like? Would it be any different? What feelings would you have about life, about yourself?

If just for a second, suspend any disbelief. Connect to that lion or that lioness that's inside you right now, for you're sitting in a portal of possibility, not only today, on August 8th, 8/8 Lion's Gate, but every moment of life. How do we use those moments? How do you want to use this moment?

Let's ground into a specific manifestation that you are looking to bring forth into your life. I invite you to bring to mind: what is it that your heart most desires in this moment? It could be a new relationship. It could be a new professional opportunity. It could be simply getting your body out of pain. It could be a reboot of your life, a major overhaul. What is it for you? Put your attention on that miracle. Not the stuff in between — I don't know how to do it, it would never happen, oh, if it did then — none of that. Straight on the miracle.

Focus on it. Breathe into permission. You have the courage, you have this fortitude, you have the permission. So just look at it. What does your miracle look like? What does it feel like in your body? How do you feel when you look at your miracle? It's good, huh? All miracles are, no matter how big or how small.

Then I'd like for you to take a deep inhale, as deep as you can. Fill your lungs from the bottom to the top of your lungs, and hold this breath while you're focusing on your miracle. Hold at the top of that breath. Keep holding. Hold, hold, hold. Release. Blow it out. Good, good. Let's take another deep breath in. Hold it as much as you can at the top, knowing that for each length of time that you're holding, you're intensifying your connection to your miracle. Hold it, hold it. Hold it a little bit more. Good. Then exhale, and allow. Good. Beautiful.

We have to allow in order to receive. Let's do that one more time. Focus on that miracle. Just focus. Good. Breathe. Are you ready? Here we go. Inhale. Take in as much as you can. See that miracle in front of you, knowing it's right here, it's right now. You're holding that. Hold it, hold it, hold, one more. Good, and release.

You are aligned with that which your heart most desires. You have the power to transform your life for the better. It's up to you, always. You are supported. You're in a community, in a pride, that sees you for exactly who you are, where you are, and praises you for the life that you have manifested thus far. What an incredible journey that you've been on, that you continue to go on. And breathe. And breathe.

I invite you now to begin to come back into your space, your physical space. What a beautiful time of release that you just shared. Thank you for allowing me to witness that with you. This is your time. This is a time of transformation. You can transform into anything, anyone that you want to be. There is no limitation. You are your only limitation.

[The] human mind is a powerful tool, and tools can be helpful and not so helpful. Your body is constantly responding to the universe around you. Every cell in your body is in constant flow with the universe. It has to be; that's how it maintains, it's how it moves, it's how it was designed. You know, the only thing that gets us out of our flow with all that is, that silly billy mind. And yet the mind, when in alignment, pushes us into places never thought possible, because it allows an aspect of us to begin to perceive beyond. Ah, that tricky tool, the mind.

One of the best ways to balance the mind is to actually return to the point of your heart. That's what the bowls are asking you to do right now.

We're connecting with F major. F is the resonance, the vibration most closely connected to our heart, to our fourth chakra.

In the esoteric understanding, the energy body, the fourth chakra sits between the lower third and the upper third of our seven main chakras. It almost acts as a clearinghouse of sorts, an interpreter between the physical and the spiritual, just very loosely. It helps us find that balance between what we think and what we long [for].

So it may just feel good for you for a few moments just to breathe into the space of your heart. Just allow the heart to vibrate as purely, as perfectly as it was created to do. Offer gratitude, offer thanks to your heart, to the organ itself, for sending life force, vitality, coursing through your very veins, even without you ever asking. Send gratitude to your energetic heart, that interpreter, that communicator, that interfacing element of how we connect with the world.

Think, imagine or feel a beautiful emerald green color emanating from the center part of your chest. You can emanate it out as far as you'd like for it to go. It could cover your entire room, your home, your street, the globe. It could also turn and come deep within you, to offer love and a vibration that's something that you need on a very deep level. One path is not preferable to the other; both are equally important. The trick is the balance between the two. So find your balance here, in your heart space. And breathe.

Welcome back. How was that for you today, friends? How are you feeling? So beautiful. It's fascinating to watch the bowls speak. Let me kind of share what I witnessed with the bowls today. It was very interesting. So the Lion's Gate portal is all about that, right? It's about portals, about opening and expansion. I noticed where we spent a great deal of time was the preparation to get to the portal. So there was a lot of resonance around this guy.

This is a D, and D most closely connects with our sacral chakra — sorry, I'm still in bowl land — it connects to our second chakra, which we talked about.

And we really needed to find that, refine that courage, that power.

You know, it's interesting: in the energy bodies, this chakra works a little differently in a female body than it does in a male body. Obviously [physically], but the energy bodies work that way too. There's actually a creative triangle that sits on the outside of the female's body, in this particular area, right outside of her womb, because she is the creative point of life, bringing life into this world. So of course the apparati are different.

But I noticed there was a lot of activation around this, needing to find courage, release, permission, and in that there was freedom, right? And then we were able to really connect into this portal, this place of manifestation. I also found it really interesting — I don't think we'd ever really dove into this in a live before — but one of the things that happened is, remember towards the end, we were thinking about the manifestation, we were thinking about, okay, you know, what is it that I am looking to manifest? And this bowl, this beautiful G, was just chiming and ringing so perfectly.

G connecting to the throat, speaking forth something into the world.

I'd asked you if you would speak it forth, whether it was in your mind or however you chose to envision it, and then boom, a perfect fifth surrounding this G. This G grounded this portal. It's very, very trippy if you know much about music theory. I'm probably not doing a great job right now explaining it, because it was just so touching. But you have a perfect fifth, which is a perfect portal around this grounded tone. High five to you guys. That was really, really fantastic today.

[A listener asked how she does it.] I don't know. It's a good question, isn't it? You know, so at the very beginning we got to talk about how the bowls actually reflect back the energy that's happening, not only in the air around us, but that you are bringing. So the bowls are singing a song for you. I just get to interpret, and I get to stay on my toes and listen to where they want to sing or not.

And sometimes, if I ever start to slip into my own mind, you'll notice I may hit a bowl and it doesn't really sound or resonate like — oh, it's actually this bowl that wanted to sing; I might have missed it. So it's quite imperative for me to try to stay as neutral on this side as I can, because these songs are specifically for you from the bowls, not just anything that I'm woo-wooing in my mind. So that's generally how it works.

So basically, the sound is created from a combination of the seen and the unseen: the seen, a strike, and the unseen, the intention. Could you hear a difference in the sound between that initial strike and then when you add intention? That's kind of a brief understanding of how the bowls work.

They're made out of quartz crystal, and the mallets are designed in such a way that you can connect with the bowls and either strike them or ring around them, basically, and it'll create a different sound. And I have different mallets, and some days we get into different mallets, and they all have different tones, different things that they do, kind of depending on what's happening in the air. So we just sort of are prepared for anything and everything, but generally the resonance comes from making contact with the crystal bowls.

[A listener shared a moment with birds during the session.] You know, I once heard that one of the closest ways to quickly connect with the divine is to feed the birds. I just thought that was so magical and wonderful, and it's one of our favorite things to do. Our family here, we love to go out and feed the ducks in our backyard. There's a lake behind the house, and every day we go out and we feed the little quackers, and there's something quite connecting. You know, a bird knows no limitation. It allows the wind to fly it. The bird does not fly; it is flown. We know that even on a physics level. That point of surrender helps us connect, I think, to a deeper part of grace, of divinity within, of divinity all around us.

[A listener said the experience was hard to put into words.] Sometimes it is hard to verbalize, though, isn't it? I think that's the best. I once read that instead of trying to define beauty, just allow it, because as soon as we put a label or a word on it, we've already limited it. And that really hit home to me. That's true: sometimes it's just better just to let it ring. We don't have to make it anything. It just is.

[A listener asked her to play a particular bowl.] Of course. So I won't hit it, but I will ring it. So this is F. Again, this is the pitch. There's so much packed into this.

This is a frequency that most directly corresponds to the area of our heart chakra. Now, I will encourage you, just because this is what traditionally connects to the heart chakra, that's not the only way to stimulate the heart chakra.

Generally we think of our bodies having seven chakras, seven main chakras that we connect to. We have chakras on the inside of our body; we have chakras that actually occur in our energy bodies, the etheric bodies. Vedic wisdom suggests that there's actually 114 chakras within our entire system, two of which you can't really do anything about; they are as they are. But 112 can be activated in different ways. But really the top four, 112 through 108, have their own resonance, and that's kind of a whole other topic. So really there's 108 — interesting number, right? Anybody who does mala or japa meditation — 108 chakras that we can directly connect, affect, utilize.

That's why whenever we say everything is possible, while that sounds wildly — to the mind it sounds wildly, maybe, untrue — it actually is a hundred percent true. Science is slowly catching up and showing us, in an epigenetic sense, how we can shift, modulate and redefine our physical body. Again, the thing that limits epigenetics, the thing that limits these turning on of all of these potential energy centers, is one thing, and we talked about that today, right? It's right in here.

We all have it. The discrimination of the world around us is what begins to cultivate and create more beauty in the world around us too. But again, these are whole other topics of conversation, and you just want to know about the bowls, but I'm just trying to tell you.

So, just because somebody says — you know, if you were to buy, for instance, a bowl on Amazon or whatever, which you can totally do — there are actually ways to connect with the bowls in such a way that actually can deepen the practice. Otherwise you're just striking a bowl. Even that is relatively okay, but, you know, this is my practice, so it's kind of hard to undo what you do. But there are ways to really connect on a much deeper level and to go into the sound.

[A listener shared a quotation.] "Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently." Yeah, Maya Angelou, she had some very insightful comments.

[A listener said that bowl felt best on the heart.] Yeah, it always feels good. I think it's because it's balancing, as above, so below. It's a really good centering point. Sometimes when we think we need to center and ground into the first chakra, it actually can be a little overwhelming. But if you notice, that grounding directly connects to the heart too. Pretty groovy.

[A listener asked which key that was.] So if you're talking about this, this is an F. So in the key of F, you basically would have all the white keys on the piano except for one black key, which is the B-flat. So if you want to look that up, you can.

[A listener asked which notes make the perfect fifth surrounding the G.] It's E-flat and B-flat. So again, remember when we were talking about everything's a little bit related: here's that B-flat again, that also connects with F, and here's our E-flat with that G. See?

So I recognize there is so much more to what pitch and relationships of intervals can do within the physical body than just a single note.

Single notes are amazing because they center us, but when you add [another], you get to sit in that space directly in between and have these waves overlap you in such a way that you have a different sort of experience, even if it's a centered point of pitch. So that's, again, pretty, pretty cool.

[A listener asked whether it is just the intention that activates the bowls, or more the way she strikes them.] It's both. So, intention: I believe intention fuels all of life. If we don't have a strong intent, we're passively experiencing, or living. Is that really living? We're just kind of here, right? We're just kind of floating. When we can live fully — you know, I was thinking about this the other day: whenever billions of people gather around television sets, once every, is it four years? The World Cup comes on. So I know nothing about soccer, obviously, but everybody gathers around the globe, and they all watch these dudes running up and down the field to do what? To kick the ball into these two nets.

And yes, there's elements of country, national pride, but really, what are we watching? We're watching the intensity at which these players are living in that moment. It's a conscious choice. That's what excites us. It's not about the ball getting in the net; it's the intensity of moving that ball into the net, of living that moment of getting the ball into the net. And as is true with everything that we do: how intensely, how purposefully, how consciously can we live our lives?

So whenever a bowl is struck, for instance, the same thing applies. Do I strike it just because it's there? Do I strike it because I can, because, oh, it sounds pretty? Or do I strike it because I would like for it to speak in a way that has purpose, that contributes to something greater, to the world around me, that contributes to my life, even for a split second?

And the bowls will tell me when to move and when not to move. The bowl told me when to release the sound, to allow it to continue resonating, because the sound waves were doing their own thing. So sometimes we take the first step. I think I said this last time, you know: all we have to do is take one step towards the divine, and God will run towards us ten paces. One step, that's it.

And so sometimes that's what happens with the bowls. You'll notice sometimes, too, I may switch directions, because a vibration's shifting or moving. So a lot of it is, it's not just a striking; it is actually speaking with, and becoming present, treating the bowls with the presence that they emanate, that they give off. So, again, a bit of a long answer to a question, but thank you for asking that. I appreciate that. It's always neat to be able to articulate.

[A listener asked whether listening to just one bowl, if that was all someone could afford, could do any harm.] No, absolutely not. If you want to have one bowl, I mean, it's a great place to start. You find something that resonates, and you can do that by intuition. The bowls can affect us in different ways, and interestingly enough, just because a bowl affects you in one way right now, today, it may not have the same effect for you as it will in six months or a year, because you're in a constant place of evolution and of growth, right?

So one pitch is wonderful. Think about it: at the very beginning we frequently tune in just to one pitch. When we were working on the manifestation, it was one pitch. Sometimes one pitch can be very centering. The journey comes in the relationships, just like life.

Well, thank you so much for being here today. I love connecting with you. Today is an extra special day for a lot of reasons. But as we go, may you always know how loved and appreciated you are. May today hold the essence of magic, the essence of the miracle and the essence of the manifestation that your heart most desires. May you have the courage to welcome transformation of all sorts. May you know that your path is guided; each step takes you to the exact moment of where you were supposed to be next. And until we meet again, be well, my friends. I'll see you soon. Bye.