Ashley Ludman

https://conta.cc/43ChxUl

An Hour of Conscious Breathing Tonight Join us for a free hour of conscious breathing. It's our gift to you.     Join us tonight for an hour of conscious breathing and some starting points to adapt your breath into a personal practice. It'

Have you been curious about Breathwork, but have yet to experience it? We are hosting an intro series for our community. We begin tomorrow, Wednesday March 27 at 7pm ET. Each session in our Wednesday series are an hour in length and it's our gift to YOU and the world around you. If you would like to join, there will be a link to fill out a quick registration/intake and you will receive the zoom link from there.

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If you know of someone who may be interested in this, share this and we will look forward to breathing with you through the ethers!

These days, my life seems to be a process of putting out one fire 🔥👨‍🚒🚒 at a time. So much so, that when I saw the picture on the right (thank you Hayat Hakim!) it made so much sense in my life.

Some of you know that I made the quick step pivot to make a very unexpected move to LA on my winter "tour" of the southeastern US.

It was a decision that had been stewing in the fire for some time. As a matter of fact, since 2022. I woke up the other morning to receive 2 messages that were a fascinating reminder of what is up for me right now.

🐶 Message #1 was a response to a message that I sent in 2022 to an OT who trains service dogs for therapeutic purposes. I sent the message when I was considering a move back to the US in 2022, and just received a response. Interesting timing as I am recreating the "what's next" of my life.

❤️‍🔥 Message #2 came, informing me that ICE (the power company in CR) mistakenly cut our fibre optic line when they were doing work yesterday. So there is NO internet at my house, and who knows when it will be repared. If I had been living there at this point, my work life would have been turned upside down by this outside force.

So, affirmation #2 that the decision of removing myself from the situation was an important one.

Between all of this 👆 somehow finding the perfect person 💪😎to rent the house in my absence, I started a new program today and am starting a new women's circle tomorrow.

It has been my intention to make my work accessible to as many as possible (thus, another impetus of the move back to the states 🇺🇸.)

And...behind the scenes with the women who join me in the Circle of Women, they get to laugh 🤣 and cry 😭 and regulate ⚖️ and ponder 🤔 all of life's mysteries and share together in their life circles as we enter into a new season 🌷🐣🪻ahead.

In this, we learn ways to manage all of the unexpected twists and turns of life and manage our emotional states (toward ✨💫🌟stellar regulation) and maintain a sacred circle of sacred conversation as life moves and changes.

💻 We meet 3X per week (optional live...all are recorded and housed in a new app behind the scenes.) This is really more like a group coaching experience, all for less than the cost of a massage a month (although I highly recommend massages!)

🌚 We also meet on the new moons with Jane Fryer and dive into the Wisdom practices of Yoga Nidra and much more.

🌕 We also meet on the full moons for a more stimulating practice to feel into what has evolved since the new moon.

🧘‍♀️ Thursdays, we move and strengthen our core and backbone.

📱 And there is always inspiration shared in the ongoing WhatsApp group where women from all over have become a support to one another.

If you are interested in hearing more about what is happening behind the scenes and would like to be a part of the women's circle, there is a friends and family discount 💲 code! Message me.

Join us! You may even hear the behind the scenes soundtrack from Ash Land from time to time! 🎤

New moon wisdom, breathwork and Yoga Nidra with one of my soul sisters. More to come, and Jane and I will be doing a little tune in later live about what to expect.

In an alternate reality, I felt like I shared a bit about the brilliance of the time we spent together in Atlanta. It was so deep that I settled into a very different vibration coming out of our time together and here we are a week and a half later!

The work that we do together, both in the distance and in the live and in person experiences can have such an effect: it heals the past and changes the future. And, sometimes as a space holder/facilitator, that can be a bit dizzying.

Months ago, I had a vision of coming to Atlanta to find a spot that could be used for future Breathwork Facilitator Training modules. I reached out to some of the facilitators who have been studying The Body of Breath Method and they said yes and booked their tickets!

We were welcomed in so sweetly by the owner of the Rosefinch Spa and Loft that it felt like home by the time we left.

Four facilitators who have been studying with me (some for over a decade between Yoga and Breathwork Studies) converged together in Atlanta, braving the Plane Train (that even has its own page on Wikipedia) to be transported through time and space to land together for a weekend of continued study and collaboration.

I'm in such awe and gratitude for these amazing facilitators who are gifted healers, teachers, intuitives and guides in their own gifted ways. Each time I join with seekers and students, I am also one in the circle and my understanding of the depth and need of this work grows exponentially.

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to all who show up and want to understand the MORE of life and the power of this thread that connects us all.

And, there is always more...
To be continued.

One thing that I have missed about living full time 9 degrees north of the equator is the change of season. Contrast brings a level of awareness that charges the system. Perhaps this is why so many people are jumping in ice baths these days?

In the winter "hibernation" that I am gifting myself with, I am in the creative cocoon. It takes planning. So, I am starting to land some dates for Costa Rica adventures this year.

If you want to be the first to commit with me for some radically life affirming events, message me to get more info on how to be the anchor students for these events.

July we will be traveling to the Osa Peninsula at a favorite spot of mine. My two great friends and graduates of a 2017 Breathwork Facilitator training own a 100 hectare eco lodge at the edge of Corcovado National Park. In front of their spot is one of my favorite QUIET beaches. I stayed here for some days on my February vaca in 2020 just before the world turned upside down. The memories of that time are now popping up on my feed and just seeing the pictures reminded me of how deeply nourishing that trip was.

The intention for July's excursion is FUN.. FUN and Creativity. Of course, we will be breathing and moving and lots of laughter is on the schedule.

September is low season and I have a spot at a super quiet part of Playa Guiones in Nosara. It is a place I have been eyeing for some time. My friend renovated the spot and it is PERFECT for a deep dive. There is space for 7 participants, so it will be a very intimate container and I am offering a super good rate to hold your space now.

Message me personally to see if these adventures are what you are looking for!

And... if you don't already know this about me, one of my super powers is to bring AMAZING groups together for a common purpose. I hear it all the time that the participants are blown away by how divinely orchestrated it all seems by the end of the time together. These two experiences will be no different.

Let's rock it out.

Water has been my muse lately. When I feel overwhelmed, I seek the water. Floating, surrendering, releasing.

This is my last day in Nosara before returning to the US for a month.

This trip was prompted by an inner nudge to step out of a comfort zone that has been uncomfortable lately.

The discomfort is nothing I am scared of. It feels necessary.

But, it does seem that the systems that we have created to "reside" in humanity teaches us to turn away from discomfort...to numb it and drown out the aches and pains of being human.

I call BS on that. To be human is to feel it all.

Can we embrace the pain and transmute it to greater strength?

"This is the "work" of being human," many of my teachers have reminded me through the decades.

So I can only prepare and become present.

I will begin my month-long US tour with a first stop in to see my mom and reconnect with my step father, who has made strides in embracing his own discomfort of aging while recognizing big changes that need to be made on his part. After a month+ silence, we have agreed to reconnect and make a plan for greater ease in spite of our mutual pain.

I'm landing in New Port Richey, FL first...my home away from home here is only a short walk from an aquatics center, where I am already prepped to do a little self care in their community pools.

Second leg of the trip will be a woman's retreat experience on the beach in Murrells Inlet, SC. The weather is looking optimal for water based breathing in the heated pool at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

Then, to St. Augustine, FL to a community who has just lost one of their members yesterday. She was one who I had been communicating with for years but never met in person. I felt like I knew her, and prayed with her friends as she floated into the next place.

Many who have died and returned talk about the peaceful quality of what they experienced on the other side. Those who died and returned express that it was a difficult journey to choose to come back to this realm and choose to remain here with their own purposes to complete. Many speak of the immense ease of floating into the afterlife.

I agree that it is not the easiest of choices to be here in embodied human form. The ways that we learn compassion are multifaceted. The biggest of challenges can be our growth spurts to greatness.

To all of you out there who are hurting, grieving and feeling deeply the losses and depth of pain of being human...I am with you. I feel you, and have also navigated such grooves. All that I can offer in my experience and recognition in these days is that the pulse of life brings it all.

May you float in the waters of ease when there is space to do such a thing. May you find the strength to push against the resistance that the waters of life bring, and remember to breathe in when your head is above the water. Breathe out when you submerge under the surface.

Holding in and holding out are sometimes necessary to swim in the current of life.

"The only pain is to feel nothing at all." from A Man and a Woman, U2.
📸Constanze Flamme

We still have a few spots available for those of you Women who need a reset on a warm, deserted-ish beach in a week and a half.

Breath, good food, good vibes, and if the weather Gods bestow their blessings on our group, good weather!

And, many of the people who join me for experiences such as this always comment on my super power of bringing amazing company together.

I’m excited to be dropping in to Murrells Inlet, SC soon.

And PS…there are nonstop flights from NYC to MYR!

The after photo says it all.

I met this beautiful soul when we both escaped from Pachamama before the Christmas holiday in 2010. It was the first year we were "celebrating" the holidays after the Costa Rica Yoga Spa opened, but my original plans were to drop into the silent meditation retreat at the spiritual commune 20 kms north of us.

Thirty minutes before I was set to go into the 10 days of silence, I checked my email one last time. I found an obscure message in my FB inbox from a neighbor of my mom, informing me that she had fallen, broken her hip and was awaiting surgery.

I didn't know what to do, other than get out of my plans to be secluded in the meditation retreat. I escaped the silence and landed in my home away from home, with my mother's insistence that I remain in Costa Rica.

Liane and her husband, James, originally planned time at Pachamama over the holiday, but didn't realize that it meant silence. After our subsequent escapes, we all found ourselves in a menagerie of eclectic holiday stragglers the first year of tenure in the retreat center on the mountaintop.

Liane and I stayed in contact over the years, and every time she and James and their family would return to Costa Rica, we reconnected and worked and played together.

This time, I would meet Liane with a hug like no time had passed since our last connection a year or two earlier. This time, she knew that she was ready to go deeper and make some major shifts that got us to the point of the after photo.

On day #1 of her time in Nosara, she sent me the before photo. She wanted to remember the contrast, and I can attest it is remarkable.

Upon our exit, we shared an amazing lunch at Sunrise Coffee in Pelada (one of my new favs) and I handed her a chapter of my book. I didn't even read it or edit it, but had searched through my drawer to find the only hard copy I had and pulled out the Pachamama chapter.

I had almost forgotten that the chapter I handed her was from the time that we first met. No coincidences.

I received a text from her last night with her feedback. It meant so much coming from her, as she has spent her professional life as an award winning journalist. But even more important is the joy I see in her and the sparkle in her smile as we captured this moment together.

Sometimes, life is what happens when we are planning for something else. She and I spoke of this phenomenon throughout our time before she went on to to the next part of her re-envisioning tour of 24.

She and I are both planners, and are also embracing holding the intention while sometimes letting go of the "plans" that get in the way. It's work.

I'm excited to see where these days lead us, but we are already in the talks for a Breath Tour in Toronto in the spring, so stay tuned.

Liane, I am cheering you on and I'm nothing but excited for our next chapters. May they continue to converge.

Often, I ask my students if they can let go of the story and see the lessons of what has "happened for them."

As I sit in the reflection today of the year past, I recognize the bigness of it all.

A student in my Women's Circle messaged our group with the numerology messages. We are exiting a year of 7...which has possibly been uncomfortable due to growth and laying groundwork for future.

This seems fairly accurate for me.

The beginning of my year, I spent nestled in LA by the Christmas tree that I asked my friend to keep up to keep me company while I was house and dog sitting. That same friend came home after the new year and we sat in the water of her backyard hot tub and took a little magic journey and reflected on life and home and family and then danced our asses off in our bikinis while we beat the s**t out of the sofa's dust bunnies and cleared the space of the past and welcomed in the new.

That same friend joined me here in Nosara, and yesterday we again (with the help of the spirit medicines,) floated in the tide pools under the Costa Rican sun, laughed our asses off, found solace in just being and floated each other as the tides changed the view as they always do.

The water has been my muse this year. I began and ended with it. I have been practicing floating and breathing. After all, we came from the waters of the womb. The water holds the body in support and protection.

Through the deaths, the estrangements, the need to step up for those who cannot speak or care for themselves, I have learned so much this year.

Through the changing tides of my own body as a woman and navigating the stifling inner and outer heat coursing through my system and the geography around me this year, I have learned patience and deeper levels of self care.

2023 was not an easy one by any means, but it taught me to become more present and stand in a space of power.

The friend who sent the message of the numbers also shared that 2024 may be one of abundance for many. I am calling in that.

As I was composing letters and connecting with people who have been on my list, a woman who I met in LA at the beginning of the year contacted me.

She leads writing retreats and I have her card on my altar since I met her at the book signing at the new book store on my last day solo in Cali at the beginning of the year. I was invited to join with her group of writing alumni at a post book signing event that evening, and I accepted.

I felt an immediate yes of working with this woman, and I know that this is a final stage of bringing my 20+ year project to life.

She shared that she would do what it took to support me to be in this final stage of birthing my book to the world.

It's time. I feel the struggles, but within this resides the strength, the resilience and fortitude to carry on for future humans, animals and life on this crazy globe.

I'm with you in the gratitude and celebration of what is to come. May we recognize the places of growth are our steps towards the future evolution of our collective reality.

It's time.

What are YOU doing to ring in the New Year? We are starting early here in , Costa Rica, with a day of wellness, supporting a cause near and dear to my heart, Nosara Animal Care.

Months ago, I realized that something that was lacking in my life was my area of service for less fortunate, and immediately, I received a message from a local friend asking if I could join the board of NAC (Nosara Animal Care.)

I originally thought I was agreeing to support NCA (Nosara Civic Association,) another amazing organization who helps Nosara run as smoothly as possible.

When I realized it was for the animals, I exhaled and laughed!

And now...we are launching our first event of the season at Bodhi Tree Yoga Resort, where I teach a weekly community class.

For those friends and Nosara "locals" from the distance, I will be reaching out and reminding you of the support you can offer from the distance. So, stay tuned!

Nosara Animal Care is an organization who offers community support and education, vaccination and neuter clinics and adoption and fostering support from the greater Nosara community, from Barco Quebrado to Ostional.

Helping the animals who are most vulnerable also supports the local community and tourism industry. It takes a community to make a difference.

And, as you create your and for the year ahead, consider the area of service to others in your desire mapping and let me know what you are committing to in your local community. It's time to uplift the world. Turn off the news and create your own reality in REAL TIME!

It's time to create! What are you stirring up these days? Check out what is in the creative cauldron with The Body of Breath (ps...it's a lot!)

You can send a message directly to Ashley Ludman.

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