Wild Woman Daily Blog

Journey to Inner Space

Tapping into the Vision
by Sihnuu Hetep
3 min read

The third eye Chakra governs our sixth sense. The sense we can tap into when our others aren't quite doing the trick. The third eye, connected to our intuition, tells us that our divine wisdom can guide us and support us in activating our reality.

I started noticing shifts at this energy center in my late 20's. I had been teaching yoga in the DC community for about seven years and was happy to share the practice, but I felt in my heart that something was off. Being the first Black woman (and most of the time Black person) at almost every studio I taught came with a lot of trial and error. More often than not, I was tested by things like microaggressions related to my abilities as an instructor, my home life, and the overall inequity that came with being a part of an optically white industry. There were plenty of moments where I wanted to tap out, but the vision within wouldn't let me fold.

Years before pursuing yoga as my career choice, I joined an African-centered spiritual community that emphasized that life's sole purpose is to live truth. I learned that in doing so, we connect to our authenticity and actualize our truest potential based on the divinity of our existence. Every time I felt myself slip, I came back to the knowledge. I reminded myself that my purpose was more significant than any challenges I faced. If I wanted to continue, I had to trust in my path and, more importantly, myself. I had to trust that hurdles would fortify my walk along the journey. I also had to learn how to decide which hurdles would benefit me and which ones I needed to walk around and leave behind.

By staying the course, I not only strengthened my wisdom, but I also became more clear on what an equitable and healing wellness community would look like for women who looked like me or shared a similar story. I meditated to gain more insight and used ritual to ask for support from my guides. As I got deeper in my practice off of the mat, my purpose became more clear and, as a result, continued to actualize. I am growing into a magnet to my own vision, attracting connections that elevate my purpose, learning from people and experiences that connect me to my Dharma, and being provided the tools to carry me forward.

The power of the mind's eye is greater than any force. It is the gateway between subliminal thought and matter. When we have clarity and intention, we can drive our dreams forward and become the vision inside ourselves despite any obstacles we cross. We can access our subconscious mind with a sharper focus, trust our inner knowing, and use the power of internal sight to manifest our reality.

Yours in truth and wellness,

Sihnuu Hetep

Journey To Inner Space:

This is my Voice

In the quiet of my mind, I've heard the loudest voice.

Growing up, I didn't talk much. But it wasn't because I didn't have anything to say. I grew up watching a lot go on with little knowledge of how to articulate my thoughts and feelings. The fullness of my silence, coupled with being raised as a child that was to be more seen than heard out of respect, groomed me to be a deep reflector.

The Throat Chakra or Vishudda is our 5th energy center and seat of communication/self-expression. Life requires us to listen and respond for it to move in harmony with our inner landscape. Our internal resonance creates an aura or etheric field around us, which links the physical body with other people's subtle bodies. This exchange reminds us that while the voice compliments the many forms of communication between beings, it is not the only way. When we feel repressed in our ability to speak up, our spirits tend to find the most accessible way to communicate. Sometimes it's through art; other times through acts of rage or sadness. My way was through pen and paper.

I remember getting my first journal from my grandparents when I was in the sixth grade. Every year after that, they would gift me with elaborately made journals inspired by art of the diaspora. It all led to a growing curiosity around who I was, where I was from, where I wanted to go, and how to navigate all four. In my first few journals, I wrote poetry. It was like the stepping stone for me while exploring ways to express myself. Soon my poems became more personal; eventually, I found myself pouring into the pages. My writing grew into a mirror reflection of my inner world. Writing became the way I communicated to connect to the world outside of myself.

In the quiet of myself, I experience my most in-depth insight.

As years went on, I grew more curious, more articulate, and found myself filling pages with more ease. My writing was now a gateway to my own liberation and where I felt my most assured in my authenticity. When I was at war with myself, my pen was the weapon I used to fight against the demons of my mind. Writing consistently over the years not only helped me develop an accepting relationship with myself, but it also helped me to cultivate the confidence needed to express myself to others effectively.

When we are receptive, and our life force is flowing freely, our etheric fields can align with people and experiences that validate our individuality and live outside of the pockets of our mind. Whether through energy exchange, writing, healing sound, chanting, or speaking aloud, communication is vital in all things connectivity and serves as the bridge between internal and external.

Throat Chakra Reflections:

Where do I feel my safest to communicate? Where do I tend to hold back or trip over my words? Is it with a person, or in a certain setting? When I compare, what do I find that I need the most in order to communicate safely and effectively? Are there any fears I can overcome?

Yours in truth and wellness,

Sihnuu Hetep

One of the best guides to self-loving is to give ourselves the love we are often dreaming about receiving from others. - Bell Hooks

And if we don’t love ourselves will the dreams of love struggle to actualize?

This week we explore the Heart Chakra, our seat of love, kindness, compassion, and connection. This energy center serves as an internal bridge, representing the integration of spirit and mind with body and soul. After spending time at the Solar Plexus Chakra shamelessly defining self, we can now take time forging a relationship with our entirety.

Love, by definition, is a deep abiding liking for something. In our childhood, we see romantic images in fairytales. From birth and as we develop, we have the chance to experience storge, or familial love from our parents/caregivers, relatives, and dear friends. Yet the most crucial type of love, self-love, we often don't grasp until we are well into adulthood. I've felt an affinity for love in theory for most of my life while struggling with it in action. I spent most of my twenties with my mind full of fantasies around intimacy, yet there was a longing inside that my outer world did not fulfill. Even while surrounded by friends and family, I wanted more.

Becoming a mother opened my heart in ways I couldn't imagine. My children activated a devotion in me I never knew could exist. My love for them ran deep. I would go to the edge of the world to ensure that they were cared for on all levels. I felt love beyond words, and after experiencing child loss, I found that the void keeping me from occupying the fullness of love was my inability to sit with grief.

I remember the days that followed KhemRa's burial. On the outside, I was a pillar of strength and grace. My mind held things together for the sake of keeping Yazi and I afloat, but deep in my soul, I was losing it. In all the heartbreak I had experienced in my 24 years of life, nothing compared to this...

Sadness.

Even with all of the trauma I faced as a child, I never sat and accepted grief as a significant part of my journey. The intensity of loss didn't hit me until more trauma piled itself on as an adult. I moved as if things didn't matter. I dissociated myself. None of my pain existed.

I didn't exist fully.

Grief is the demon of the Heart Chakra. It can cause weakness at the heart; however, grieving is necessary as it allows us to legitimize and move through the pain we experience. The aim is to release and free up blockage in the heart center. To heal, we have to feel. The heart Chakra is where we are invited to accept all parts of ourselves. When we do, we cultivate compassion, the primary component of true love.

The biggest lesson I've learned when it comes to the matters of my heart is that love can extend itself beyond the fantasy of romance. With proper nourishment, we can experience it as genuine care, kindness, acceptance, and empathy. We can take the time to offer it to ourselves by finding peace in all that we are, all that we've been through, and devote and nurture our multidimensional self. Our relationships can then mirror the work we've done and serve as a soft landing for our strengths and shortcomings.

Sometime today, go over your fairytale romance characteristics and take some time to notice if the source of the love you seek begins with you. Are you offering yourself the care you look for from others? Are you giving yourself time, encouragement, and intimacy? If not, what can you do to begin the journey to love?

Tonight’s affirmation: I promise to provide myself with the love and care I seek from others.

May you always know love.

Yours in truth and wellness,

Sihnuu Hetep

When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” – Audre Lorde

I remember single motherhood in my early twenties bringing me the most savagely terrifying and revealing years of my life. After burying my son at age 24, I moved through a period where everything felt like it was spiraling down. I hadn’t worked a 9 to 5 job in over two years, I had left school to be a full-time family woman, and although I had strength in spirituality, my self-esteem was inconsistent. Feelings of incapability crept in after losing what I thought would be a lasting family unit, and more importantly, myself. My outer world reflected the turmoil I felt inside. Things were falling apart. It became hard for me to keep up with my responsibilities outside of mothering and even that was compromised by the instability that came with having to create new resources for myself and baby girl on my own. Everything seemed to be crumbling down, and questions around my Dharma plagued my mind. I wanted to know what I was here to do now that life had challenged me in the way that it did. I was being cultivated spiritually, without knowing this period in time would catalyze an expansion that would reroute the course of my existence. While I didn’t have the privilege to sit and pull the answers, I still managed to pick up the pieces and move through the rubble. Sh*t had to get done. I had a two-year-old to take care of, my bills didn’t let up, and in the midst of it all, I had a longing to occupy my fullest potential in a way that contradicted the way I was presently living.

The Solar Plexus, located at the navel is the seat of personal power, self-esteem, courage, and purpose. It’s element, fire. In the years that followed KhemRa’s transition, I had to cultivate my inner flame to keep myself from spiraling down. It was self-efficacy that I leaned on to push me through and forward. Before I could connect to my purpose or my own resilience, I had to feel capable again. Yoga was the way I chose to explore my body, thoughts, and spirit all while cultivating mastery of the practice on my own. As I advanced, my confidence grew and in 2011 I started cleaning yoga studios in exchange for free classes at a local Washington, DC studio. After a few months, I applied for a teacher training scholarship and completed my 200hr teacher certification.

Receiving my certification set off the first of many pursuits that affirmed the direction I was headed. During the first few years of teaching yoga I experienced a lot of rejection, but also in the mix were many experiences that let me know I was in the right place. For one, yoga was a practice where I could explore myself while holding space for others. With every class I taught, I received a gem that I could apply to my own life for growth. This is what I needed at the time, to hold and be held. I became a better mother, a better friend, a better lover, and most of all better to myself. The questions in my mind started to stem from playful curiosity and self-reclamation rather than a space of insecurity. I grew fearless of my own depths, and closer to the flame. My students and I continue to grow together beautifully.

As goes on, my teaching grows stronger and my purpose becomes more clear. I started to see that my journey was less about what I did regarding occupation and more about how my actions align with the core of my being. My morals, values, and a balanced sense of self take the forefront despite any challenges I face. I learned that I have to be brave and committed to the things that made me feel passionate and empowered. I am fueled by a fire that burns away fear, transforms feelings of inadequacy, and ignites an inner knowing that everything in my life is contributing to a grand purpose. I honor my Solar Plexus Chakra by maintaining healthy boundaries, taking risks, and fearlessly walking my path. While the road has been rocky for me, I know that I’ve been guided by Source to opportunities that lead me back to my truth and healing. I am grateful to the steady blaze that guides me every day.

How will you honor your inner fire with your actions?

Yours in truth and wellness,

Sihnuu Hetep

I had to lose my mind to come to my senses. For a lot of my young adulthood I was wrapped up in the notion that having deeply expressive emotions was indicative of a lack of control I had over myself. Living in this truth was like being on an endless roller coaster that I stood in line for and did not want to be on in the first place. Every time I held back what I felt, I experienced a plummet. I created peaks in my mind where I’d finally save my self the trouble of staying quiet. Why did I care so much about what everyone else thought? How was I to break free of the imprisonment of my own mind’s fear? Going back to themes of the Root Chakra (see post below), I realized that I had a deep longing for connection, for a tribe where I belonged. So much so that I held my tongue, I hid, I shied away, I minimized my emotions. They were “no big deal.”

The Sacral Chakra, located at the reproductive organs, is governed by the water element and serves as our seat of creation, pleasure, sensuality, and the shadow work that leads us to our most authentic and expressive self. It is here that we feel. Throughout my early 20’s I explored various ways to activate this energy center. I took belly dancing, I practiced tantra with my partner, I birthed two babies back to back ( This was extra activated), I tapped into my creativity with a blog I shared with other sisters. All of these things were extremely healing in ways, yet still there was imbalance. While all of the aforementioned served to nurture my Sacral center there was still an unhealthy containment. The waters of my Sacral Chakra were stagnant. There was no flow. The waves of intense emotion that I felt inside were crashing and so was I. I had to allow the waters to purify any thoughts that led me to believe that my feelings, no matter the gravity, were invalid. I had to feel them. I had to honor my full and authentic self. I had to experience the full spectrum of emotion and not judge myself. In doing this, I also learn to honor my own ability to experience joy and pleasure in life .

Our emotions have the ability to serve as a bridge between the external and internal world. Pleasurable emotions call us to move toward and unpleasant emotions call us to step away. When we make room for pleasure we tell our spiritual selves that there are things in this world that spark a light inside of us, and that’s okay, in fact, it’s healthy. It is our birthright to experience fulfillment, and through personal fulfillment we can formulate personal values, standards for which we allow others to enter our space, and personal validation.

With that said, I invite and encourage you to get all up in ya feels, listen to the messages that your emotions are telling you, and nurture the most important intimate relationship you will ever know in life, the one with self.

Yours in wellness and truth,

Sihnuu Hetep

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Join our next IG Live Conversation with Sole on Sensuality and the Feminine Divine 9/23 @ 4pm EST.