August 2026 Week 4

I Choose Softness Over Striving
Last week during the cleanse, we used our time and journaling to move through four simple steps:
Release — What is weighing me down?
Receive — With that new space, what do I want to invite in?
Soften — Can I settle into this space without forcing, trusting and allowing?
Choose — From that softer place, can I make choices that feel aligned with who I truly am?
Our yoga practice this week has been an opportunity to practice the same thing.
Rather than pushing for depth, we used breath and ease as the measure of our practice. We noticed where we were holding effort and asked ourselves:
Can I soften here without needing to change anything else?
As we opened the heart, we held the intention:
“I soften into my heart. I release what I no longer need to hold.”
And this connected beautifully with last week’s Pisces lunar eclipse.
This eclipse marks the ending of a cycle that began in September 2024.
So I want you to think back to September 2024.
Melissa reminded me to look back at the dharma I was writing then. My intention was:
“I am kindness.”
At that time, I was exploring how to be kinder to myself—to soften my self-judgment and find a deeper level of self-love.
And now, almost two years later, I can honestly say that something has shifted.
I am in a much more accepting and loving place with myself.
That chapter feels complete.
So perhaps this eclipse is an invitation to look back at where you were in September 2024 and notice:
What has changed?
What have you outgrown?
What are you ready to leave behind?
At the end of this summer, ask yourself:
What am I ready to release?
What am I still carrying that was never mine to carry?
What did I want in fall 2024 that I no longer want?
What old story am I ready to stop rehearsing?
What becomes possible when I finally set this down?
Pisces invites us into surrender, compassion, intuition, forgiveness and trust.
Perhaps the invitation of this eclipse is to soften our grip—not because we don't care, but because we trust that we don't have to hold everything so tightly.
We don't have to force clarity.
We can soften.
We can release.
We can trust.
And from that place, we can choose.
I choose softness over striving.
I choose trust over control.
I allow what is ready to leave to leave.
And I make space for what is quietly becoming.