Jill Sand Consulting

Yesterday I attended my first intuitive massage, and that was quite the experience! The massage therapist, Jo, is VERY talented and gifted. I would have to say that she is the most talented healer I have ever gone to. As…

Yesterday was a “good energy” day with a New Moon, but today the energy seems a bit more erratic. Perhaps its because Mercury is still retrograde. So what do we do when we feel just a bit “off?” First of…

On Sunday I had an awesome experience spending time with maybe a hundred other yogis participating in two yoga classes. It was so much fun, and the energy was amazing! It’s always fun for me to attend someone else’s class,…

It’s been an interesting journey for Jeff’s dad, Joe. In the past two weeks, he has been in the hospital three different times, unable to breathe because of the intense pressure of water around the heart, congestive heart disease. He…

In order to change, one must challenge herself. I have been knocking these words around in my head a lot these days, and you’ve probably heard me say them in yoga classes as well. I have many clients that have…

Today is the day for thoughts of LOVE. Of course, we scramble to offer a gift of love to our partners. We buy gifts for our kids. We send out cards to those near and dear to us. But what…

Music therapy… a friend of mine went to college for it back in the 80s. Unfortunately, she could only get a job in nonprofits, in a part time position and the pay was terrible. She didn’t last long. In my…

Yesterday I spoke of the seasonal affective disorder that affects so many Minnesotans and Northern Hemisphere residents. At my classes yesterday, I checked in with a couple classes and Facebook friends about this energy, and there was agreement that many…

This weekend I was thinking about mental illness. Not the chronic cases, but seasonal mental illnesses and stress-induced mental illnesses. For me, I get obsessive when I am stressed. My brain plays the same message over and over again. I…

Oh, the weather outside is frightful… Hello January in Minnesota. We’ve hardly known you for the past few years. Today is the second day in a row that we have begun the day with below zero temperatures and windchills in…

BLISS! The retreat was a day filled with BLISS! From the moment the first women arrived, I could feel the energy of the group, and it was a marvelous collection of Souls mingling around the kitchen, as all women do.…

The end of January is filled with exciting activities for me, and I gotta admit, sometimes the energy is too busy and wakes me up before I am ready to get up. This weekend is our January retreat: It’s All…

Our family is settling into 2013 quite well, and I hope your family is as well. Today I am thankful for a quiet morning. I realize that, when my family is around during the weekends and holidays, I am unable…

bliss (bls) n. 1. Extreme happiness; ecstasy. 2. The ecstasy of salvation; spiritual joy. Bliss is an emotional state that is characterized by perfect happiness (feelings of enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction). With a new year, there is a new beginning,…

I have moved through the past 36 hours in a rollercoaster of emotions. They range from feeling “normal,” which is my natural happy self, and then all of a sudden great waves of sadness overcome me. I am not suffering…

I’ve always been told I have a good imagination. As a child, I could hear everything talk to me. I carried on lengthy conversations with our family dogs. I could hear the trees telling me their history. I shared these…

Last night I attended a Circle to hear the message of the significance of 12-12-12 and 12-21-12. I had forgotten to bring my journal, and so I will just note what I remember or how my brain assimilated the information…

“As humans, we take turns letting go and being hit. Love softens this process, and peace slows it down, until in the moments that are blessed, we seem to play catch with what we need.” Mark Nepo, The Book of…

“Take a pitcher full of water and set it down in the water – now it has water inside and water outside. We musn’t give it a name, lest silly people start talking again about the body and the soul.”…

This week in yoga, we are working on opening our Heart chakras. On Tuesday, during one of my classes, I had a revelation. Putting my revelation to paper seems simple enough, but when I said it in class, it was…

Today I am in my “Mom-worry” mode. The youngest son has had a bad cold since last Friday, and it has caused him to miss work yesterday and now today as well. He has spells during the day when he…

Breathe in love. Breathe out love. Just keeping that reminder out there today. Yesterday, tensions were very high, and I woke up this morning feeling that today will be even worse. We are reminded to diffuse the situations we find…

Breathe in love. Breathe out love. Last night in America, we held our presidential elections. The American people decided to re-elect President Obama. Being a Progressive, the moderate Democrat Obama is not my perfect candidate, but Mitt Romney displayed so…

We all know that person, or maybe we are that person: involved in many community projects, always stepping forward to chair an event or be the boots on the ground. We admire that person for the community activism, for their…

I try to stay away from political topics on Facebook. I treat that place as a place to have fun, re-connect, and be inspired, for the most part. I do have another website that I visit to discuss politics. It…

I was awakened by the energy of the full moon last night. Well, actually, I was awakened by a full bladder, but the energy of the moon kept me awake for a couple hours. My friend, Laurie Wondra, posted this…

There are many people struggling right now. Sickness. Death. Loneliness. Fear. Separation. The list goes on. There are many voices crying out the eternal question, “Why?” Today I share my perspective. From my perspective, and for you to understand my…

Today we ask for healing for ourselves, our family and friends, our community, our country, and the world. Let it be. You need Adobe Flash Player to view this content.

During our Circle on Monday, many emotions were brought to the surface for all of us. For myself, the emotions attached to an issue I had thought I had dealt with pretty well, and so I was surprised, when it…

From Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening: “We are in moments pure and ageless as light, and with the very next breath, we drop things or bruise the treasures of a lifetime. We need to soothe ourselves, not blame ourselves.…

Forgiveness is a theme that continues to come up, for those of us who like to examine our lives so we can live them to their fullest. I have dealt with most my issues that needed forgiveness throughout the years.…

This week I have been reminded that there is much healing to be done in the world. As our bodies prepare for the next transition of our evolution, many people are having chronic and acute illnesses that are requiring prayer…

I don’t want to be that person… the one that took the easy road because of its convenience, though lacking joy. I don’t want to be that person… the one that wasted so much of her life on drugs and…

Tomorrow, September 21, is World Peace Day. What would you do for peace in the world? In 2011, my goal was to gather women to figure out a way to bring peace into the world. We determined that protests wouldn’t…

Every time we reach beyond what is familiar, there is that necessary acclimation to what is new. It is the doorway to all learning. We needn’t be afraid of it or give it too much power. We simply need to…

Are you a child of nature, or are you a child of culture? I was reading The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo, and this is the question he asks. A child of nature is one who does something and…

Sometimes it is easy to forget that we make our own way in this life. Though we are influenced by others, either directly or indirectly, we walk the path of our life on our own. We CREATE the path. This…

Many of us are familiar with positive affirmations. We use them as we set upon the course of self-improvement. We use them to set goals for ourselves. We use them to take ourselves out of our current situation and into…

Fear is a powerful emotion, and it keeps us from moving forward. We deal with fear in our lives on a regular basis. We are fearful of not finding love. We are fearful of not finding the right job, the…

I cannot stop reminding people to watch their thoughts carefully, because we are manifesting our thoughts very rapidly now. What does this mean – manifesting our thoughts? It means that the thoughts we are having are coming true. So if…

Not to feel is to stop the heart from breathing. ~ Mark Nepo Sometimes we get into a funk. Things don’t go our way, and we face disappointment and sadness that life doesn’t resolve itself as we’d like. We wish…

For us to grow in any way, we must die little deaths. We have to release the old so that new growth can spring forward. I love my flower gardens, and I spend some time in them each week, clearing…

Greetings! There is much excitement these days about the Mars Rover that you have sent into space. You exploration of other planets is extraordinary. However we are here to caution the people of your planet. Mars cannot be “owned.” There…

Today I am going to work on my channeled writing. Let’s see how this goes… You are beautiful. You ALL are beautiful. Why put so much worth into what others might think of your looks? Because you are BEAUTIFUL! You…

Today I am extremely grateful! Yesterday morning, we realized our kitties were both gone. After calling and searching for them for quite a while, I had to leave, with no kitties in sight. Upon my return a couple hours later,…

Tonight is the Full Moon. That means Moon Salutations in tomorrow’s yoga classes! What is the energy of the Full Moon? Are people truly affected by the Full Moon? The short answer is, yes. As I mentioned in a previous…

The Tibetan Buddhist tradition has a meditation practice called tong-len that asks us to breathe in the suffering of the world, to hold it in with compassion, and then to breathe out light. This speaks to the amazing power of…

This has been a difficult spring and summer for many people. Migraines are more active. Our body is really feeling the aches and pains from our youth. We are reliving some of our old issues that we thought we had…

Last night, I returned home from a long weekend of sailing the Apostle Islands in Bayfield, Wisconsin. While sailing the islands, we spent about an hour at Manitou Island, where there is a fishing camp. The camp has a ranger…

Last night I attended an energy circle, and the discussion was about the energy of the planets at this time. Though I truly know nothing about the planets, except that during a Mercury Retrograde, we need to slow down and…

While meeting last weekend to plan the upcoming retreat, we were discussing the chakras. We talked about the number 7, but then Laurie got the number 11 as being significant. I told her about our changing DNA, and how our…

This weekend I met with a couple women to plan a retreat for this November in Playa del Carmen. I am so excited! The retreat plans are unfolding right now, but it promises to be a wonderfully life changing event.…

So I mentioned over the past couple days that I am working through releasing expectations. My anxiousness is finally settling down, as the dust begins to settle and I discover love underneath that anxiety. In the outdoor yoga classes, with…

Today I was reminded, once again, that my expectations may not match others’ expectations, nor should I expect them to match up. This has been a huge part of my life lesson. As a young child, I placed expectations on…

How many times do we refer to our loved ones as “mine?” “My” boys, “my” husband, “my” mom… All of these references, as though we actually own them! Buddhism teaches us that it is poisonous to try to own another…

We are going through some interesting energy these last few weeks, and it looks like it will be staying with us for awhile. In this energy, we are now being pushed to release any old issues that we have. For…

Yesterday’s energy was very intense. The storms had been leading up to it for the past few days, and it finally came to its resolution last night. We are currently working through old energy. Any old issues that haven’t been…

Last night, we awoke around 4:00AM to a very powerful storm. The lightning continued on, one strike after another, with no breaks. It was amazing and yet scary at the same time. Our plants love lightning. It offers the ground…

This weekend was a wonderful gathering of extended family, with much reminiscing and laughter and some tears as well. We stayed near some of the family homesteads and so we got to see them all these years later. Our aunt…

Today starts the new summer session of yoga! It is always so fun to take our yoga practice outdoors. To be in the Earth elements is very calming. Listening to the birds chirp, feeling a breeze on our bodies, smelling…

I have fallen into a trap of overthinking these days. It has affected both my sleep as well as my hot flashes. It has been triggered by a simple change in my daily schedule and exacerbated by another discovery which…

So often we are reminded, while practicing yoga, to listen to our bodies and pay attention to what is going on within and adjust our poses to meet our needs for that day. That is good advice for off the…

Over the weekend, I was with a group of some very good friends whom I have cherished for 25 years now. In the group of 11 women, only one of them has practiced yoga, and she has made some changes…

This is my favorite time of the year! (Well, to be honest, I say that in the fall as well, but I really do enjoy this time of the year, a lot!) This is the time of year when I…

This past week, I have spent a lot of time thinking about change and transformation on the mat. I want to keep challenging my clients to take their practice to the next level. To try “just this.” This morning, I…

The dream is awakened when thinking I love you, and life begins when saying I love you, and joy moves like blood when embracing someone with love. Mark Nepo This year, I adopted a theme for my business: JOY! I…

Last night’s Women’s Circle was at the Glendale Methodist Church in Savage. They have an outdoor labyrinth that is available for public use. (I was told this by the church secretary, so it is confirmed that anyone can use it.)…

Every once in awhile, I come across a picture, film, or video that inspires me to tears. Last night a friend asked me to watch a video she had posted on her Facebook page. It moved me to tears. Sometimes…

When I was growing up with a twin brother, we kept tabs on fairness. Whose piece of dessert was bigger? Who got to stay out later? Who went to more sleepovers? And so on… we kept track. This was enforced…

I’m ready for this Super Moon energy to be gone. I don’t really understand HOW it works, but I can feel the pull of the Moon energy when I am trying to sleep. The Moon is the closest it can…

When I was teaching elementary school, I lived by the clock. I still vividly remember my schedule. Up at 6:15 and showered. Kids up and ready for school. Breakfast. Out the door we all went. Spend the next 9-10 hours…

Last night, I introduced a new pose in my advanced yoga class. I knew the ladies had all the prelimnary skills to achieve this pose. Their arms were strong from many sun salutations. We had spent a quite a bit…

*I apologize for no blog yesterday. The website was very slow and did not allow me access at the time I had set aside for blogging. At one time or another, we all have to take a leap of faith.…

In yoga the past three weeks, we have been working with our lower three chakras. Each week, we move up the chakra channel, and so we have 4 more weeks of chakra work ahead of us, and a week of…

Last night I went to an energy circle. There is a lot of energy movement going on right now, and many of us are feeling pulled into negative energy. Our thoughts have a hard time staying in the positive. We…

“Memories are not images of loved ones returning to us. They are the spirits of loved ones visiting us.” The Book of Awakening I once had someone close to me share an experience so personal and so intense, he had…

Yesterday, I was driving down the road, and there was a dead bird on the side of the road. As always, I said a prayer for the bird. My prayer for dead animals goes something like this: “Bless you, [bird],…

In the movie, Jerry MacGuire, most of us (women) got all teary-eyed when Jerry says to his love interest, “You complete me.” What a beautiful sentiment, that another person is not whole without their lifelong companion. And I even used…

It happens. We’re on top of the world, everything is going our way, and then we wake up one day and feel a bit “off.” We can’t quite put our finger on it, but we are definitely not in our…

Reading today’s daily inspiration, I came across this: “But watching the winter water of a stream begin to flow and thaw, over and over, I finally saw that to make it through the pain, I had to be more like…

I’ve always been a bit of a thrill-seeker. I remember, vividly, jet skiing with my now-husband when I was 19 years old. It was perhaps my second time on a jet ski, and I was eager to show off and…

I am thinking about leading the next Women’s Circle on a walking meditation. There are three kinds of walking meditations that I have participated in. The first is just a general walking, usually in an inspiring location like a nature…

On Friday, during our retreat, we had Lyndale come and offer us the most exquisite deep muscle massages. I prefer a lighter massage with more smoothing motions, but I looked forward to a deep muscle massage as something different. Deep muscle…

Acceptance is a term that carries so many different interpretations. It is a powerful lesson for me. In our second women’s circle in Jamaica, we worked with our “shadow self.” Our shadow self is that personality part of ourselves that…

On Monday in Jamaica, we encountered a rain storm. And it was a storm! We had been at the beach, watching the storm roll in during the afternoon. We decided we should probably cut our time at the beach a…

I need to dedicate one entire blog to the wonderful food we ate in Jamaica! Most of our meals were vegetarian, but when Alex learned that none of us were vegans, she also prepared foods with chicken and fish. Our…

When I left Minnesota for Jamaica, I was healing my lower back. The healing process was at about 80% healed, but I could still feel tenderness when sitting for awhile, and my first forward folds always pulled in my lower…

The common thread that linked this group of women was yoga. Each of us had practiced yoga regularly, but most had a practice of once or twice a week. One was a lapsed yogini, with life situations that kept her…

So my first blog addressed the security of Jamaica. Prior to our trip, and even in my classes back today, I had several people ask me if we felt safe there. I needed to address that big elephant in the…

There is so much to digest from our week in Jamaica, some of it can be shared, some of it stays on the island. But I feel the need to write about our blessed Jamaican Retreat. This first blog is…

How can you follow the course of your life If you do not let it flow? Lao-Tzu If you’ve been around me lately, you know I have been dealing with an aggravated back pain. My brothers and sisters and I…

In our understanding about the need for our bodies to adjust to the new, higher dimensions, as painful as that can be, it is expected that there be much concern for the children and babies. What will happen to them?…

That’s a very good question, and it comes down to our belief system. If we believe that there is more to this life on Earth than just a cosmic coincidence, then we might also accept that we have a purpose…

I mentioned yesterday about the newer, higher vibrating energy of 2012. Let me explain this more. We are aware of our physical bodies, and we know they reside in the third dimension. But we are also aware of higher vibrating…

Yeah, it’s better, but it’s not healed. My back, that is. Sigh… Some interesting insights that I have observed but that need to be explored even more: My chiropractor said that this past week was his busiest with back injuries.…

Time for me to reflect on being humble. Two days ago, I re-injured my back which I had injured a couple weeks ago. Back injuries and I have a long history. My family claims it is a trait we inherited…

In yoga, we often move into poses and observe how, as one side of the body stretches in a pose, the other side of the body strengthens. So, while we sit in our one legged forward fold, we feel the…

Last night I did something that I often avoid because it is so painful: I went onto the Caring Bridge website to check up on the health of our friends who are suffering. It was a tearful 45 minutes, as…

I was reading my daily devotional this morning, and today’s subject is Spiritual Warriors. Spiritual warriors are those that have had their hearts broken: by break-ups, death, illness, disappointments, failures, expectations of others, and so on. Spiritual warriors have had…

Today is Valentine’s Day and the subject of love ties into this day. We fall in love. We grow into love. We experience love at first sight. We love our material objects. But the greatest love of all, is the…

I was reading my daily inspiration this morning, and came across this line: “The more we stuff between our heart and our daily experience, the more we have to work through to feel life directly.” The topic was to ex-press…

A few weeks ago, I was talking with a good friend of mine. She is currently in a career transition. The career she is transitioning from was a difficult one. Very stressful. For the past few years, there was no…

There is a lot of talk about greed these days. Average people get turned off by individuals who own not one but TWO airplanes. Some people live on the street, while others own seven houses. Politicians toss around statements like,…

Over the years, I’ve come to realize something about myself. I am very sensitive to the thoughts, feelings, and even physical pains of others. This has been both a gift and a burden. It is a burden when you don’t…

It’s 7:00AM, and it’s light outside. I mean, I can see out the window. I can see over by the Geis farm: the three silos that hug the sky. I can see down by the pond: the camera stand that…

Upon first glance, I usually know more about a person than they will EVER tell me. I know what kind of day they are having by the look in their face, the set of their mouth. I can tell what…

When my mom was pregnant with my twin brother and me, the doctor insisted that she was having one child. Even though she had gained 60 pounds, he said she was just having one baby. After all, he could only…

I’ve always enjoyed watching ants. I love how they work together as a community to complete a project, which is most likely gathering and storing food or building an ant hole. Ants are constantly BUSY – doing, doing, doing. I…

Do you ever have a busy brain night? Of course, everyone does. For me, this occurred in the form of dreaming last night. I had a great adventure in my dreams last night. I can’t even remember the cause, but…

In yoga, we breathe in through our nose and out through the nose. This breath is intended to filter the air we take into our body and filter the air we release from the body. This breath is meant to…

In our yoga classes this week, we are practicing opening our hearts. Our breathing is focused on taking our breath to our back heart on the inhale and exhaling out the front of the heart. On the inhale, we feel…

Are you a people pleaser? I am a people pleaser. People ask me for a favor or to provide something for them, and I go out of my way to fill their need. I often give up something of my…

So a few weeks ago we worked with opening ourselves up to the new energy coming in while releasing any energy that no longer suits our needs. In our yoga classes, we worked with opening our hearts to this new,…

Today was the first official day of the Peace Garden Meditation. It was a party of one (me)! But I decided to do it anyhow. For anyone who is familiar with the path I’m on, this is how I roll.…

So frustrated! I just spent an hour on a blog, and when I went to post it, my internet timed out and the entire blog was lost! Deep breathing required! Okay, here is the short version! Jill Sand Consulting is…

On a walk with a friend yesterday, she shared with me a list of the 12 Laws of Karma that she had received from a mutual friend. And while teaching an intimate yoga class of two today, the subject came…

So I believe that the radio program will be along the same lines as the mission of jill Sand Consulting and the Women’s Circles (though expanding to both men and women, as my encounters with men show they are yearning…

So the other idea that I am strongly leaning toward is to take the mission statement of my website and make that my mission statement for a radio program. “My mission is to provide you with wellness opportunities for your…

As I write this, we are having a wonderful Minnesota summer storm! The lightening and thunder are alternating their powers in the sky, and there is “electricity” in the air! How sensitive are you to storms? I have a few…

I woke up at 3:40 this morning, having a hotflash, and then thought, happy birthday to me. LOL My biological clock just HAD to remind me that I am THAT age. Today my brother and I turn 46. 46!! In…

This has been an interesting week, energetically at least. All of my friends who align their intuitveness with the planets have been feeling a bit off kilter. My advice has been to “go with the flow” and just be an…

Just stopping by to wish each of you a wonderful, beautiful Earth Day! Go dig in the dirt on this sunny day. Or take a walk. Sit outside and allow yourself a few minutes of meditation. Namaste!

I heard this on the Today Show on Friday morning. This article was edited from 6 to 8 friends. I was happy to see that I have all 8 types of friends! Are there areas of friendship that you would…

It has been nearly two years since I began my teacher training as a yoga instructor. What joy these past years have brought me! I am being trained through YogaFit teacher training. I am working toward my 200 hours so I can be certified…

Note, this is a very controversial subject, and I do not want my own views to cause anyone mental anguish. I am just speaking from my heart. Years ago, I had been given information from my Spiritual Guides on abortion…

I woke up this morning with an unsettled feeling in my gut. Not sure why. Maybe it’s the economy. My financial advisor called to make an appointment last night. That is actually a good thing, as we were just talking…

Tonight after supper I decided to take a ride on my bicycle. My husband was leaving to shop for a new bow for hunting this fall, so I traveled alone. I typically ride my bike in the early morning hours,…

Today started out stormy. It blew my plans for not one but two walks with some girlfriends. However, it did allow me to stay in my jammies a bit longer and have that extra cup of coffee, so the turn…