Indigenous Wisdom of The Pleaides & Lessons of Their Light

Indigenous Wisdom of The Pleaides & Lessons of Their Light

Dec 2, 2024 | Sedona Yoga

by Rani Chaves

In The Islands of Tahiti, we are welcoming Matari’ i Ni’a, our season of abundance, of renewal. In ancient times, our ancestors, or tupuna, guided by their supreme knowledge and understanding of Nature, had determined two main seasons: Matari’i i Ni’a, the season of abundance, from November to May, and Matari’ i Raro, the season of scarcity, from May to November.

Marari’i i Ni’a was marked by the arrival of the Pleaides in the night sky. It also coincided with the turtles coming to lay their eggs on the shores, and seasonal flowers blooming after a time of dormancy. All these natural occurrences indicated a great shift, and the dawn of a new year, or Matahiti. Sacred rituals, incantations, dances and offerings were performed by the local communities to celebrate the natural rhythms of Life, honor all the gifts and thank the ancestors and gods. 

There was no religion in that time. These meaningful ceremonies were their way to nurture the profound connection to the visible and invisible worlds, from Te P?  (the dark night, or the world below) to Te Papa (the layered rock, or foundation) to Te Ra’i (the sky and the heavens).
Oral traditions tell us that the Pleaides represented the original home of the gods and the ancestors. Our lineages are woven into the fabric of the stars, unfolding like a song from the infinite expanse of the celestial realms to our earthly existence.  

Our lineages are woven into the fabric of the stars.

Significance in Other Wisdom Traditions

In many ancient civilizations, the Pleiades held a vital role in the dynamics of life and death. In the Vedic tradition, they are portrayed as the wives of the Sapta Rishis, the seven sages and earliest disciples of Lord Shiva. The six visible sisters of the Pleiades symbolize the five senses and the mind, while the mysterious seventh sister represents pure consciousness. Associated with Krittika Nakshatra, the Pleiades are considered the womb of Agni, the fire god, embodying the power to create, birth, and manifest.

In Greek mythology, one version reveals that the Pleiades were the seven nymph-daughters of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione. Pleione, protectress of sailing, gave the name Pleaides. Titan Atlas was condemned to hold up the sky for eternity, leaving him powerless to protect his daughters. To shield the sisters from the hunter Orion’s advances, Zeus transformed them into stars. However, legend says that one sister fell in love with a mortal and went into hiding, which is why only six stars are visible.

The Australian Aboriginal’s tales often depicts seven sisters being chased by the morning star, Jukurra-Jukurra. The pursuit continues across the deserts of Australia, and the sisters take refuge in the sky. The Orion constellation is often depicted as chasing the sisters across the night sky.

For the people of the Native American Navajo nation, the Diné, the Pleaides are the most highly ordered constellation, with its form and shape representing the harmony of the heavens. They refer to it as Dilyéhé, a term loosely translated as “Sparkling Figure” or “Sparkling Particles.” It is said to be associated to the Black God, responsible for magnifying the dark skies. In Japan, the Pleaides are called subaru, meaning “to unite” or “to gather,” symbolizing unity and connection; and in Egypt, the Pleaides were the manifestation of the goddess — the divine mother, the light of love.

Divine Bounty

In the end, these stories all carry a similar message, reminding us that everything is connected and that we all are part of this divine theatre of Life. From the depths of darkness, light emerges, much like the Pleiades shining in the night sky. Over time, they fade from view, symbolizing a period of rest and dormancy, known as Matari’i i Raro in Polynesian tradition. Conversely, Matari’i i Ni’a celebrates Nature’s magnetic radiance, her nourishing vitality and bountiful gifts.

During Matari’i i Ni’a, fruits reach their juiciest ripeness, flowers burst into a mesmerizing display of vibrant colors, and the lagoon and ocean overflow with abundance. Nature is at her peak, and we bask in her luminous embrace, making this time deeply connected to strong feminine energy and heightened creativity.

Reflect the Light to Make Space for Rejuvenation

Here in the northern hemisphere as I write this, it is in the light of autumn that I am basking. I love seeing the leaves changing colors, witnessing the trees gracefully transition. Just as they shed their leaves, this season invites us to let go and allow the leaves of the past to drift away; to journey within our inner universe and reconnect with our land of wisdom and the melody of our heart, and to celebrate our inner Thanksgiving. This is a time to let the golden cloak of autumn wrap us, with the gentleness of a mother: “You are loved. You are love. You are light,” she whispers softly.

November is one of my favorite months here, with the celebration of Thanksgiving, the delicious and comforting scent of pumpkin spice lingering in the air, and the Christmas songs playing on the radio. There is some kind of softness and peace, that gently nudges us to slow down, recharge and prepare for rejuvenation. As we reflect on the past months, we contemplate what we have accomplished, learnt and created. And just as the leaves of the past gently fall to the earth, forming a soft mantle over her, we too are called to release what is no longer part of who we are.

And no matter where we are, the shift in seasons invites us to reflect on our inner landscape. What do we need to let go of? What do we need to make room for? How can we mirror the magic and beauty of nature’s delicate balance? How can we align ourselves with the natural rhythms of life rather than a disrupted connection which leads to stress, disease and suffering?

Living our humanity and spirituality is a journey. In a world where we tend to rush everything, this one is not one we want to run through. We want to savour every bite. Is it perfect? Absolutely not! Is it easy? Not always. Is it worth it? Yes, and a million times yes. 

There is comfort in the synchronicity that as my home Islands of Tahiti celebrate the new dawn and the new year, in the Northern Hemisphere, we honor autumn and our harvest. Wherever we are, we turn to our inner lands and give thanks for the breath of life that sustains and moves us, for every gift and lesson that make us stronger and wiser, for the guidance always available to us when we create silence and make space to receive.

From the Pleaides to the constellation within, may we embrace the light that we are. May we celebrate our journey and that of our ancestors and may we serve in ways that recognize the majestic theatre of life we are all part of. As above so below, as within so without.

Yoga is Union. Like the Pleiades creating a harmonious order in the night sky, we come together to foster a deeper sense of community, cultivate self-care and self-love and tend to our inner peace and healing. It is a journey and we don’t have to walk it alone. And if you find yourself at a crossroads, if you find that it is time to give your journey a new direction and a fresh impulse, join us in Sedona next year for the Sedona Yoga Festival! Passes are on sale… OR, drum roll please, maybe Tahiti is calling? Mark your calendars for October 3 to 6, 2025, when we will gather in Tahiti for Tahiti Yoga Fest, a sister event to the Sedona Yoga Festival. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

Lead image by Lisette Cheresson

All Together Now: The Power of Intentional Community

All Together Now: The Power of Intentional Community

Oct 4, 2023 | Sedona Yoga

The biggest question of our time just might be “What does Unity look like?” Spanning in-person connection, video connection, text connection, and phone connection, there are plenty of ways for us to come together and explore what it means to be in a shared or unified space. And yet while technology has brought us closer together across the globe, we are still facing so much division internationally, intra-nationally, and societally. The theme for SYF2024, All Together Now, asks us to ruminate on this: Despite being more “connected” than ever, our world is still largely defined by what separates us. How does Yoga help?

Yoga, of course, is a practice of unity, an exploration of what it means to link body and breath, thoughts and movements, stillness and evolution. It can be a deeply personal and private endeavor, but is one most effectively explored with the support and guidance of experienced teachers and community. So what happens when we come together in intention and consciousness?

There’s no shortage of studies on the power of togetherness, and as we all continue to emerge into a post-pandemic lockdown reality, there are no shortage of personal anecdotes on the importance of face-to-face togetherness, either. As writer Gretchen Kelly eloquently puts it for The Good Men Project:

There’s something special that happens when people come together. There’s a humanity in showing up to share an experience. There’s connection with people who are otherwise strangers. It gives me hope every time I go to a show. Hope because there is power in people. There is energy and strength in being united and finding a common purpose. Hope because for all of our differences, there are times when we can come together and make something incredible happen. Hope because we are all broken, flawed, beautiful people just trying to make it in this world.

As you explore what All Together Now means personally for you, we invite you to consider the following:

  • How do we hold each other in community as we walk our unique paths?
  • What tools and practices and networks support us in evolution of the collective consciousness as well as our own?
  • How do the two interplay and are in fact one and the same?
  • How do we together build the future and how do our collective and individual actions in the now serve to co-create that future?
  • What does yoga have to offer us to support the will and energy required to build a just and abundant world joyfully while navigating the many crises we face together as one human family in the company and respect of our plant and animal neighbors?

Never has it been more compelling for us to proactively create — in our unique way — toward the collective goal of peace, equanimity, and compassion. The Sedona Yoga Festival is an opportunity to co-create the future you want to see, and that begins with togetherness. We can’t wait to be together with you in March!

The 11th Annual Sedona Yoga Festival is March 14–17, 2024, in Sedona. Tickets on sale now!

Lead image by Ty Dobbs.

Desiree Rumbaugh — Moving Through the Ages with Yoga

Desiree Rumbaugh — Moving Through the Ages with Yoga

Mar 14, 2022 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Yoga Interviews

Desiree Rumbaugh — Moving Through the Ages with Yoga

When we tend to think of yoga that’s accessible for all ages and for aging bodies, we trend toward restorative and gentle yoga, as if our aging bodies across the board lose the will for a physical challenge. It doesn’t have to be that way, according to international teacher, author, and PBS contributor Desiree Rumbaugh. “When I was younger, I’d always hear older people saying, ‘I used to do this or that,’” she says. As a very athletic and disciplined practitioner, this wasn’t how Desiree envisioned her own practice changing through the years. She figured that there had to be a way to continue to age well, without giving up the difficult physical practice. 

As she herself crossed the threshold of 50 and beyond, that’s what her teaching began to showcase. “How do we keep the party going? How do we keep the fun going? How do we keep our wrists and our back and our knees and our neck able to withstand these poses without injury? So that’s what my teaching is like,” she says, “answering those questions and giving people a lot of ideas.”

Creating a Community 

Desiree isn’t alone in this pursuit. She has what she calls a pit crew of physical therapists, weight trainers, and different people to advise her and keep her — and her students — safe as she explores what it means to embrace physicality for older bodies. As the Western yoga world continues to move toward accessibility, Desiree says that she inhabits an important space. “I think that’s kind of interesting to go learn from the lady who’s 63,” she says, “the lady who has been doing this for 35 years, and does everything like handstands and backbends.” 

It’s not only an inspiration because of her age, but because of what that kind of flexibility — both physical and of the boundaries we consider in our own minds about the physical — represents. “It’s not because I’m lucky,” says Desiree. “I’ve had to work to change habits and figure out why these pains were there. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs just like everybody,” she says. “How have I gone into it instead of around it or avoiding it?” 

This doesn’t mean just haphazardly experimenting with advanced poses. In her thirties, Desiree recalls just being able to go the park, for example, and kicking up into a handstand. This isn’t a possibility at 63, when the stakes are much higher if she falls. This “makes me more aware and conscious,” she says, “so there’s the mind aspect. I think as we age, we need to have stimulation of new thoughts and new ideas and new experiences.” That’s what Desiree’s teaching is really all about. 

What Students Can Expect in Her Class

Desiree recognizes that her approach may not be for everybody — but she’s not trying to be. She wants her students to explore their own boundaries, and learn something about themselves that they may not have thought was possible. Her classes inspire students to understand that hard work and dedication results in progress; that you have the power to change your body and your mindset for the better. She also wants to “stress the fun of playing in a yoga class with your friends, even though it can be solitary practice. That’s a big one for me,” she says, “the joy of connecting with others in a playful way where we encourage each other and the support of the community.”

That’s what being at SYF is all about for Desiree — that connection of being with others of likemind, “supported by the breathing and the chanting and the working together mindfully in the present moment.” It’s why we’re so excited to be back together after two years apart, and why we hope you’ll join us in June. 

Tickets are on sale now! Come experience the transformation of SYF with us. We can’t wait to see you soon.

Why SYF Is Different This Year — And Why You Can’t Miss June’s Event

Why SYF Is Different This Year — And Why You Can’t Miss June’s Event

Feb 15, 2022 | Programming Spotlights, SYF2022

Why SYF Is Different This Year — And Why You Can’t Miss June’s Event

The world isn’t the same as it was the last time we were able to come together in mindful community, and the programming team at SYF, led by Director Reggie Hubbard, is determined for this year’s conference experience to mirror that. “We’re ??seeking to diversify programming not just in terms of the presenter,” says Reggie, “but also in creating opportunities for cross pollination and formalizing that. Rather than simply giving presenters and practitioners an opportunity to come together and be consumers of a product, be co-creators as we emerge from whatever we’ve been through to wherever we’re going.”

This looks and feels different than your typical yoga festival with all familiar faces in the lineup. The theme for SYF 2022 is Give It Up For Grace, and Reggie says that weaving in the idea of grace is integral to what he’s aiming to create. That looks like “giving space to collaborate and connect,” he says. “It looks like giving space to get your CEUs, of course, but also giving you the space to lay outside in the sun, to dance.” This, he says, more embodies the totality of the practice of yoga. It’s not just about running from one class to the next and checking off boxes of experience. It’s about creating a feeling of expansiveness, a space for healing. 

How 2022 Will Be Different — And Different From Other Yoga Festivals

One way that this is built into the SYF experience this year is in the place itself. Because the event is being held entirely outdoors in the majesty of Posse Grounds Park, there will be more time between class sessions to relax and integrate. With 360 red rock vistas and the openness of blue skies overhead, the container itself is a player in the experience of SYF this year. “Holding space in wide open space — in these times that have been so congested and constricted — there’s an opportunity for spaciousness; an opportunity to acknowledge the grief we’ve been through,” says Reggie. “This is the space for people to come together in a way that serves our collective regeneration.” 

Another way that this healing will be made possible is by the diversity of the presenters — in all senses of the word. Not only is SYF working to prioritize underrepresented voices in the yoga event space, “part of it is bringing people who have never been to Sedona to Sedona and having that mash up with the locals,” says Reggie. “I’m imagining what a meditator from Brooklyn who works in prisons can share and create with a person from Utah who does mindful yoga in prisons,” he says. 

One of SYF’s signature offerings is the Yoga for PTSD Training. While the festival will continue this unique signature offering, it will be slightly different this year — a trauma-informed training led by people of color. “Viewing trauma from a more holistic sense, as it pertains to all of us and rendered by people coming through the lens of compassion and service is super powerful,” says Reggie. It’s another way that grace is taking center stage at SYF, as well as the recognition of shifts that have occurred in the wake of 2020. Details are still being finalized, so stay tuned for more information coming soon!

Why This is Important Now

The time to embrace the changes that we’ve collectively experienced is now. “If we haven’t noticed,” says Reggie, “the ways in which we’ve done things in the past are no longer working. The only reason we think they work is because we’re addicted to them. As systems fade away, it’s incumbent upon people to create new norms.” 

As leaders in the mindfulness community, SYF is stepping up to do just that. It’s not just about holding space — but about fostering creativity. In the creative flow, we learn not only other ways of doing, but of being. “The playbook is finding community, finding our latent connectivity — and then using community and connectivity to foster creativity.” 

Come co-create with us this June, and be a part of the paradigm shift. Tickets on sale now!

6 Local Organizations to Consider During the Holiday Season

6 Local Organizations to Consider During the Holiday Season

Nov 30, 2021 | Sedona Yoga

6 Local Organizations to Consider this Holiday Season

Yoga asks us not only to grow and evolve toward our best selves, but also how we may be of service to others. As we move into the holiday season, the sacred practice of seva (selfless service) may look not only like time spent, but donations made. We believe in giving back to the local landscape where we are lucky enough to host our event. Here’s our roundup of spots to consider as you spread the love this giving season.

Verde Valley Sanctuary

The Sanctuary offers a safe haven for victims of family violence and sexual assault, providing shelter, community outreach, legal advocacy and education and prevention. Their Confidential Outreach Center provides confidential assistance to victims of crime who may not need emergency shelter, offering personalized case management, counseling, safety planning, and day and evening support groups. This season, the Verde Valley Sanctuary Board of Directors presents a $50,000 holiday gift match opportunity. For every dollar you give, the Board doubles your impact. Learn more and make a donation here.

Sedona Arts Center

Longtime participants will know that SYF showcases more than the practic and power of yoga. Art, and the eternal apperciation of beauty is an integral part of our mission and goal. Our 2022 festival theme, Give It Up For Grace, encourages us to seek and support the creation of art and beatuy. Sedona Arts Center is a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to nurturing creative discovery, learning and sharing through arts education and artistic development. They offer free and low-cost events, classes, workshops, and exhibitions, showcasing local talent. They also offer virtual classes and workshops, as well as an online gallery. Learn more and donate here.

Apache-Stronghold

Apache-Stronghold is a nonprofit community organization dedicated to battling ongoing and continued colonization, the defense of holy sites and freedom of religion, and the building of stronger community through neighborhood programs and civic engagement. Their work is a spiritual journey of healing to confront the deception of the birth of America. Working from San Carlos, Arizona, Apache-Stronghold connects Apaches and other Native and non-Native allies from all over the world. Their work has been particularly poignant at Chi’chil Bi?dagoteel (also known as Oak Flat), a sacred site for our Apache people and many other Native Americans; the most recent hearing on the future of this sacred site was in October, 2021. Watch a film about their work, and then make a donation here.

Amitabha Stupa & Peace Park

Amitabha Stupa & Peace Park is an outdoor venue for prayer, meditation, and the experience of peace, and has hosted some of SYF’s most memorable experiences. Welcome and open to people of all faiths, in addition to the Amitabha Stupa, you’ll also find another Buddhist stupa, a Native American medicine wheel, and a beautiful mahogany statue of Shakyamuni Buddha along with walking trails and numerous quiet spots for meditation and quiet contemplation. The Park is supported by visitor donations — learn more about this sacred place and make a donation here. 

Free Soul

Long a friend of SYF, Free Soul is an educational nonprofit that shares skills and educational materials that help people be their own best spiritual teachers. With special programs for veterans and survivors of PTSD, Free Soul helps seekers connect with their inner wisdom with programs, tours, and vision quests in the Sedona area. Founder Pete A. Sanders, Jr. offers virtual retreats and programming to fit many budgets, and has been a proven starting point for many to being deep personal healing. Donate directly through their website here.

Sedona Recycles

Since 1989, Sedona Recycles has been providing a place for community members to drop off hard-to-recycle items like Styrofoam, batteries, packing materials, printer ink cartridges, and egg cartons. They also offer custom tours, lesson plans, classes, and presentations for schools and other educational facilities, by sending a Sedona Recycles rep straight from the source. This helps to ensure that the work they do is not only affecting the immediate present, but creating an impact for years to come. Their A-Z Reuse & Disposal Guide provides useful information for all, even outside of the Sedona area. Help keep Sedona green by making a year-end donation here.

* Please note: This is not a sponsored piece, and SYF does not, as of publication, have formal relationships with any of the listed organizations. We just truly believe in supporting local nonprofits and sharing the SYF love!

Support SYF by signing up for our newsletter at the end of this page!

Close the CTA

Complimentary Sound Bath Meditation

Sign up for our newsletter and confirm your address to receive a FREE 3-minute gong and bowl sound bath from SYF legacy presenter, trainer, and programming team member Reggie Hubbard.

Pin It on Pinterest