Ep 14 Blooming and Brightening: How Five Months of Inner Work Are Finally Coming Into Flower

You planted the seeds. You nurtured and tended them. And now, in May, it is time to bloom.

In this deeply integrative episode of The Magic in the Middle, Sarah brings together everything she has been teaching since February, 2026, weaving the wisdom of Penny Makris' intuitive calendar into one beautiful, cohesive tapestry. If you have been following along, this episode is your reward. If you are brand new, it is the perfect place to begin.

From visioning in January to loving and connecting in February, sowing and planting in March, nurturing and tending in April, and now blooming and brightening in May, each month has been building on the last. And this episode shows you exactly how and why.

Sarah also shares her free Fire Horse Journey, a five week practice rooted in the five elements of Qigong, designed to help you ride the most powerful energetic portal in 60 years without burning out.

In this episode you will discover:

• How the Reticular Activation System works as the foundation of every month's practice and why setting your morning intention before you touch your phone is the single most important thing you can do
• What blooming and brightening actually feels like in the body and how to access that light in your heart center right now
• How to work with your nervous system lovingly as you expand beyond your set point, so it becomes your ally instead of your alarm bell
• The Earth element breathing practice from the Fire Horse Journey, a vagus nerve technique using a four count inhale and six count exhale that regulates the nervous system and invites deep peace
• Why the Fire Horse year of 2026 is accelerating growth, inspiration, and even spontaneous healing for so many people right now and how to balance that fire so it does not burn you out
• How to use grounding, nature, rest, and the simple act of writing your ideas down to sustain your energy all year long
• Why we are not separate from the divine, have never been separate, and how every practice on this podcast is simply an invitation to remember that

And yes, Sarah's own opportunity reminder went off mid-recording. Because she walks this walk every single day. And that moment is everything this podcast is about.

You are the seed that became the flower. You are the light, burn brightly dear one.

Bloom, beautiful one. It is your time.

Get Penny Makris intuitive calendar and sign up for the free Fire Horse Journey, with or without AI support see all links below:

Penny Makris Intuitive Calendar https://www.zazzle.com/2026_seasonal_monthly_calendar-256392882718449413

Fire Horse Free 5 Week Journey NO AI - https://marrvelouslife.com/fire-horse-integration-qigong

Fire Horse Free 5 Week Journey With AI support - https://marrvelouslife.com/fire-horse-integration-ai

Join Sarah's free Qigong practice group, Monday through Friday, 7 to 7:35am Pacific on Zoom here is the link https://marrvelouslife.com/spring-forest-qigong-practice-group-page.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Today we're going to talk about our intuitive calendar by um our intuitive artist um Penny Mikras and this calendar is so beautiful so far since this podcast has started. We've talked about, I mean, I can't believe it's already been three months for this podcast, but we talked about March, which is sowing and planting, April, nurturing and tending, and now we're in May blooming and brightening. So Penny is our beautiful artist. She's absolutely extraordinary. Um, she was a teacher, she taught art, and now she's enjoying just being an artist, you know. She was a teacher and an artist, but now she's just enjoying her studio, being an artist, being inspired by the divine. She's so connected to the divine, it's so beautiful. So she does this intuitive calendar every year, and I tell you, it just changes the energy in my space, this calendar. Um, but I just want to go back a little bit. So January was visioning and beginning. How perfect is that? And she doesn't, it's not like this every year, it's different every year. Um, last year had flowers for each month, and the flowers guided our direction. So, what we do is we use this calendar in Chi Circle or whoever you know purchases it, you can purchase it. I'll put the link. So you'll have the link. We I use it in Qigong with my Qigong folks to guide our mind, to guide our vision, to remind us, right? So, like January, we were visioning and beginning, and that's so perfect for the beginning of the year, right? The beginning of our calendar, February, loving and connecting, and just notice how this builds, how each one builds on the other, and not only that, I want to point out as well. In this episode, we're gonna talk about so the things that we've talked about so far on the magic in the middle, we're gonna bring it all together, but I notice how this calendar is already bringing it all together. I just think it's really, really powerful. So, you know, we're visioning and beginning, right? In the in the new year, loving and connecting. And so March is sowing and planting. So, you know how we talk about the reticular activation system, the very first thing in the morning, before you get up, even get out of bed, before you open your eyes, you're just realizing it's morning, it's just starting. And instead of the thoughts taking you, those old thoughts taking you and pushing you through your day and controlling you, and just you are in control. So you're telling your mind and your body and the reticular activation system is you know, from psychology, it's science, it's in our brain, and it's a part of our brain that's used to guide and focus us. So that especially when we're just waking up, we're we're not judging or anything, everything's really open, and so we can say, whatever it is for us, but maybe we can say I am looking how I am supported today, or I am looking for the beauty that is hidden in ordinary things. I created, so I created um a beautiful journey called the Fire Horse Journey, and so it's a six-week free, you can contact me, six-week free journey to take you through the fire horse year, and so I use what I'm talking about here for this recourse. It's five weeks using the five elements of Qigong, and every day we use the reticular activation system to guide, to guide our day. So, like this morning, because I'm doing it again. Um, so we're on the earth element, this is week two, the morning practice, and this is before you you pick up your phone. This is before, like like I said, you're just waking up. So today I look for the quiet within me that has been here all along, waiting to be remembered. So, your reticular activation system, the direction here today, it receives guidance from the quietest and most grounded part of you. So, this is allowing you to bring your yin part in. Another one was today, I look for beauty in the slow, quiet, ordinary growth happening all around me. And so when we do this, our mind, the way it works, it's gonna be looking for these things. So, sowing and planting in March was really practicing working with the reticular activation system and really practicing if you do this one thing in the morning, it will begin to remap your brain, it will begin to remap how you look at life and see life, and you will start to feel differently. So, sewing and planting, so that's reticular activation system. So remember, we're bringing this all together. It's what I've been talking about through the last three months. So, April is nurturing and tending. So, all through March, we're we're sowing and planting ideas of how we want to feel, how we want to move in our life, how we want to be, right? Then we're gonna nurture and tend these things, and so this is what you do throughout the day. You say, I will see beauty, and you know who talked about this a lot is Louise Hay. Oh my gosh, she was doing this, I think, in the 80s or 90s, already talking about that very first glimpse of morning. You be the one that's in control and that decides who you are. So then we do that, and then we nurture and we tend that throughout the day, we remind ourselves throughout the day. So, like today in the fire horse journey, and I'm using all these things, like I said, and we can come. What I do is I come back to that morning, what I choose. I usually choose it the night before, and sometimes it'll be the same thing morning after morning after morning for a little while, um, until I feel like it's really integrated. So, for the fire horse journey, let's say, for today, I look for the quiet within me that has been here all along, waiting to be remembered. So the earth element in Qigong is peace, and so that's what this whole week is about, week two, and the fire horse journey is connecting with the earth, being grounded, enjoying peace, being peace. So, midday practice. We sit with the spine straight, we bring hands to our belly, inhale slowly for four counts, imagining golden warm light entering through our navel, filling the entire torso. We exhale for six counts, feeling that warmth radiating outward in all directions like sunlight. And we repeat this night time on the final exhale, release any anxiety or overthinking from this week into the earth beneath you, like just let it go into the earth beneath you. This is another way that we're bringing in the quiet within that we said we were going to bring in, um, that's been there all along. We're actually feeling it in our body. So this is somatic. We're using a vagus nerve technique by taking those four breaths in and six breaths out. We're doing this nine times. This regulates the body, this regulates the nervous system because when we're doing things that are stretching and changing or different for us, our nervous system is like, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Nope. We this isn't who we are. This is not normally what we do, and so I it's very important that we connect with that and we're doing things so that our nervous system feels safe. And I understood this when I created the fire horse journey, and so throughout this journey, there are practices like this that help to keep the nervous system calm. So we're nurturing and tending this peace, and then we're embodying this peace. So bring it, bringing it into the body is really, really important as part of the nurturing tending process. So it's like nurturing and tending a garden. And I'm a huge gardener, and I love nurturing and tending my garden. I oh my god, I love all parts of it. I love sowing the seeds, the nurturing, the tending, and now in May, we're in blooming and brightening, which is just so perfect because we're in springtime, everything is opening and growing, and this is a really powerful, powerful, potent time of year. You might even be feeling this energy in your body expanding out wanting to go outside more, maybe even feeling a little bit restless because springtime is our liver energy, and so even though we're blooming and brightening, there might be some restlessness as well within us. Um, so the blooming and the brightening, I want I want to focus on that now because we are in May. So, what does that mean to me? And you can think about what does it mean to you? To me, blooming and brightening is that bright light that was is within us, that's shining even brighter now, after we sowed the seeds, after we tended those seeds in February, that loving, that connecting in with ourselves, that self-love, the visioning and the beginning. So now, through all of this, all of these great practices and things we've been doing, now we're remembering more who we are, the greatest vision and version and beings that we already are, and how beautiful that is. And so we're we're brighter, we're blooming, we're opening, we continue to walk in this next greatest vision version of ourselves, and I don't think anything is wrong with any of us, but as humans, we're meant to grow, we're meant to expand, we're not meant to stay the same, and I don't care how old you are, we're not meant to stay the same. We're meant to remember who we are. Like when we come in as babes, we're pure and we're open, we know who we are, we know that we are the center of the universe, we shine our lights bright brightly, right? Look at kids, they're smiling and they're so bright, and we just want to scoop them up and be around them, and they're playful, and they always ask for what they want and need, they don't mince their words, they're just the purest, purest light. And now I feel like for me, that's that's our great work is that we can continue to appreciate this brilliance that already lives within us and allow it to break through and break open, breaking open to being the next greatest version of ourselves. I feel like we come here, we choose to come here first of all. Our soul does to grow and expand for ascension, and we choose to come here, we are creators, we choose to come here to be great creators. That is who the human being is. We are creative beings, so this blooming and brightening to me. This living, and there's you know, there's really not a lot we have to do here other than remember we're blooming and brightening, and what I feel within me is in my heart center, a bright, bright light expanding and opening and coming forth. A flow, peace, confidence, certainty, creativity, fun, joy, connection. I feel this great blooming and brightening, this great expansion, and it's all from doing the work. It's all from doing the work. So I am doing this beautiful monthly episode following Penny's amazing calendar, and I invite you to go get one. It's so beautiful, and it will change the energy in your space. But I wanted to use this episode to show you how all the things that we're doing or that I'm talking about are coming together, are working together. We haven't talked about visioning a lot. We will talk more about visioning. So, visioning, as we know, you know, many athletes do it. Visioning is really helpful for helping our nervous system and our body to understand and feel what it's like to bring in something new. So you you have a goal, or you have something you want to achieve in your life, or some kind of expansion that you want. So the nervous system, when things change, so the nervous system wants to keep us the same, and that's good, it's doing its job. A lot of people want to push it away and resist it, but it's really important to know that the nervous system that is its job as a protective mechanism, and so that's from the reptilian mind where we were Neanderthals, we were out in the wild, and so our nervous system says there's a change, there's a change in the environment, a sound, a smell, right? Alarm, alarm, alarm, hide. But our nervous system hasn't realized that we don't need to do that as much anymore. I mean, it does protect us from stepping out in front of a car or a bus, something like that, putting our hand on a hot stove. So it's very necessary. So it's necessary to work together with the nervous system in harmony. When we resist it, it gets louder, it panics, and it presses harder. And the nervous system does things like panic, fear, fight or flight. Um, it can also be that monkey mind that says, Why are you doing this? This is really stupid. You haven't done this before. This doesn't work. Oh, you've tried to do this a million times. Who do these people think they are? That's also your nervous system, wanting to talk you off and keep you small, wanting to keep you small. And for me, I I want to shine. I choose to shine my bright light. I I feel blessed to shine my bright light, to be the greatest, most amazing being I can possibly be. So for me, I've been learning how to work with my nervous system so it doesn't go bonkers. For me, it comes through as fear or anxiety. Um very loud alarm bells. So um, so visioning, and when you're visioning with feeling it in your body is really important. So visioning and feeling it in your body. So remember, this was from January, helps the nervous system to feel safer because it's going, it's it's like, oh, I'm familiar with this. Okay, I understand this. So then February is loving and connecting. So, like I said, working and walking alongside with the nervous system. So even though we might be visioning and helping our nervous system to little by little get used to something changing, it still may go into a panic and say, nope, nope, nope, this isn't this isn't who I am. No way, I'm not doing this. You know, it's like whoa, whoa, whoa. That's what mine does. Oh my gosh, it can get so loud sometimes. Um, so loving and appreciating the nervous system, connecting. So February was loving and connecting, so loving and connecting with the nervous system and saying, Hello, I see you. And we've talked about all these things on previous episodes, and I just again I'm bringing them together here of how this all works together now. So February, loving and connecting, loving the nervous system, loving every part of you, connecting with the nervous system and saying hello. You can even say your name and say hello. I'll use my name. Hello, Sarah. Okay, I see you. I see I'm going up against edges, and you're not feeling safe because that's when the nervous system panics, is when you start expanding and going beyond your set point. We all have set points that we learn. So we start going and expanding beyond our set point. So you can say, Okay, we are going beyond our set point, and I like to acknowledge yay, the work I'm doing is working. And I I like to get excited about it and say, listen. I see you, and you're feeling unsafe. And so there's a few things we can do. We can do the breathing in that I had just talked about with the fire horse journey a few minutes ago. So we can inhale four times, pause for a moment and exhale six. I like to exhale out my mouth and sigh because when you sigh, that tells your nervous system and your body you're safe. You can even smile while you're doing this because that tells your body it's safe. So we inhale four and let's just do this. And I just like to pause for a moment. Exhale and feel your shoulders and your body relax. Let's do it again. Six times counting out. So inhaling four. Hold for a moment if it's comfortable. Exhale six times. And when you exhale, if you want to, you can send that excess to the earth, and she will take it. You might even feel the earth sucking it out of you from the bottom of your feet, just putting your feet down flat and feel the earth just sucking that out. And then you can say, Sarah, or your name would be better. I see you. And name it. We talked about this earlier too. Name it. I see you. I see. You're feeling panicked. Because we are changing and growing and expanding. And I want you to know I appreciate and love you for protecting me. Your job is very important and you do it very well. And it's okay because I got this now. I got this. And then count up again. With your inhale, one, two, three, four, hold. Exhale, six, five, four, three, two, one. With that. And smile. And even if you're not in a panic or stress right now, you might feel in your body how it's more relaxed and connected. And another thing you might do is if you have a safe area, go with bare feet and put your feet onto the soil. Feel that soil beneath your feet. Okay, so the next thing, so that's loving and connecting. That was February, March, sowing and planting. So that's where the reticular activation system. We are practicing that in the morning, and hopefully everyone's been taking that and continuing that on. It's important to do it forever now, forever. Um, to set up our day and to walk and then to check in with ourselves. I like to text it to me or put it on my notes on my phone so I can just open it and go, Yeah, what was that thing that I said this morning? Oh, yeah, I'm gonna look for the beauty in ordinary things, or I'm gonna look for the peace within me that already lives there, and I'm gonna remember it. And then doing that, and then looking for it because your brain starts to look for it. So it's cool. I mean, it works, it works in such a great way, and then April nurturing and tending, and then we're nurturing and tending those things. So the nurturing and tending is looking for it, putting a text to yourself, putting it in your notes, writing it on a testenopad, and taking that with you, putting it on your mirror, someplace where you look throughout where you're gonna see it throughout the day, your refrigerator, cupboard, your car if you're in your car a lot. So we're nurturing and tending and remembering. And now we're in May, blooming and brightening, and so that light, all that we've been doing, has led us to blooming and brightening, and that's what we're doing. And feel your heart opening, put your hand on your heart for a minute and breathe into your heart. Breathe in, and now exhale and feel light in your heart expanding and opening, and it's like a flower blooming. And see yourself as that beautiful flower because you are, and that light that is within you, there's a light within you that is always wanting to shine brightly, and this is this is why I do this work. This is why I think it's so important because it's beautiful light. We came here to this earth, this earth plane, to rediscover this beautiful light. We know it as children until we're like seven, eight, or nine. And then lots of things get layered over, and that's too when our decision, like the brain is more developed, and so we can choose and make decisions more. We can we're before the brain, before seven or eight. The brain's completely open, we're completely connected to the divine, and it's not like we're not connected to the divine, we just aren't we don't hear it as clearly after the decision making starts coming in, and you know, this is why it's so important for our meditation and our qigong, and so we can clear that noise and that clutter from our mind that we can hear the divine coming in, so we can step into the blooming and the brightening that is within us that wants to happen. It's really a beautiful thing, and so allowing ourselves in May to focus on the blooming and the brightening, and there's really not much to do, just keep going with the visioning of January, loving and connecting with your nervous system, even loving and connecting with it before it starts to panic, because you can say, I'm aware of the change, and we're safe. I am safe, and it's okay to change and grow, and then sowing and planting those seeds in the morning before you touch your phone, before you sit up, be ready, have something ready the night before, and say, I am feeling the support that the divine and the universe have for me, or I am joy today, and I see joy in everything, whatever it is for you, and nurture and tend that throughout the day, and feel the blooming and the brightening within you. So every step of the way we continue with these our tools, our beautiful tools, and with the blooming and the brightening, we're further integrating into our body and our nervous system this great expansion, and we're expanding beyond our set points to this being that is within us that wants to be expressed, that wants to come forward. We are we have our greatness, every single one of us is greatness already, and there's a being within us, and our spirit, our soul wants that light to be bright and shining and certain and free and sovereign and loving and connected. It's a such a blessing. We are powerful beings, such powerful beings, and when we are connected, there's so much more flow. That blooming and that brightening, there is flow, and we're guided and we're pulled forward, and we're pulled, we're not pushing, we're not performing, we're not being something that we're told we have to be, to be accepted and loved. No, we are discovering through this and going deeper to understand that we are loved no matter what. That God, that our spiritual team, the angels, the guides, they love us no matter what, and that love lives within us. We are part of the great divine, we are part of the ocean. You take a drop from the ocean, it is still a drop from the ocean, and we are a drop from God, from the divine, from the universe that is inside of us, and we may be connected all the time. It's the monkey mind that wants us to feel like we're not connected, that we're not part of the oneness, but we all are, and the oneness is God or angels, guides, divinity, love, whatever you call it, we are that. And to me, all these things we talk about on this podcast on the magic in the middle is coming back and remembering our divinity, remembering how sacred we are, remembering that we are so loved. My spiritual team, come forward, pour upon me your love that I know you so love sharing and giving. I don't have to earn it. I don't have to perform for it. I know. We are all greatly loved, and it's as simple as that. Please come forward. Spiritual team, my gods, my guides. Love, divinity, pause, ask for it. All the things that we're talking about on the magic in the middle is bringing us back to that. To being the great healers that we already are, whether that's physical, spiritual, mental. To being the great magicians that we already are. To being the flow. To being the magic. That's what the magic is. We are the magic. Only we only time separation comes around is when our monkey mind tells us we're separate, but we're not. Saying today I feel the oneness. I am connected. And I will feel the connection in my body and see it all day long and feel it and notice it. So I wanted to bring that all together in this May episode of Penny's beautiful, beautiful calendar. So we're blooming and brightening, and just no matter what you're doing in your day, maybe when you wake up first thing in the morning, you feel that light in your heart and touch your heart and feel the light in your heart. I am blooming and brightening today, and I feel that in my body all day long, and then feel yourself walking around all day long like this beautiful, bright light, and this beautiful flower that's showing off. What is your favorite flower? Showing off. Show off your bright, brilliant light, the flower that you are, bloom. Maybe your brilliant tree. Thank you for joining me. I love being here with you, and I love connecting with you. I have a link to Penny's calendar in this podcast. I also have a link to the firehorse journey. There's a fire horse journey where there's an AI component for supporting, and it's just for support. If you don't like AI, there's another one that's only that's without AI, and and you didn't you don't have to use the AI, it's just a support and a reflection. But then there's another link where there's no AI. Um, and please contact me if you have questions about this journey. Uh, once you sign up, you'll receive a welcome email that tells you all about the fire horse year, how 2026 it comes every 60 years. So this is a huge portal that we're in, and already I've seen spontaneous healings, I've seen spontaneous growth, like physical healings in the body, but also mental, emotional, and spiritual. And because during this time, is a great time to release unsupportive karma and let it go. And so I created this five-week journey based on the five elements of Qigong, and it's to support you because even though this accelerated, powerful, amazing energy, there's amazing things happening, and the fire, like the horse, is so powerful how we want to jump on and ride it, but we have to make sure that the fire is contained and doesn't get out of control. Because if it does, that's when we can burn out. You know, fire can be very unpredictable. So taking this fire horse journey helps to to ground, to ground the body, take us even deeper spiritually, help us to connect more with ourselves. It takes all the things that I've talked about here, and you can implement them. And there's three things each day, seven days a week for five days. You have the morning, the midday, and the evening. You don't have to do all three. In fact, I suggest that the most important one is the morning one. But if you can do as much as possible, it's really gonna support you, it's gonna bring you peace, clarity, it's gonna ground you, expand you, and it's gonna support you in this powerful healing energy. Like you're gonna get to ride this big wave, but then you're gonna rest too, because it's important. This year is all about action. I don't know if you felt it, but like you just want to take action. So many idea. Oh, that's funny. Um, that's my alarm, my reminder. I to make sure I'm checking in with myself and being the person I want to be. So walking the walk and um it interrupted this my podcast. It interrupted my recording, but it was my reminder that went off and it stopped the recording. My reminder to check in with me with my reticular activation system of what I woke up this morning saying that I want to look for. So it's just me walking the walk, but also interrupting the podcast. So no to self, make sure when I'm recording that the alarm is not set to go off at that time. But what I was saying is that this fire horse here is so powerful, you may have felt it inside where you want to take action. Also, there's lots of ideas and inspiration happening. I mean, I'm just buzzing with it, but it's really, really important because what can happen is the fire can burn really, really hot, and the horse is running, running, running, but then gets tired and there's burnout. So it's very important to balance and to make sure that yes, you're taking that action because you're gonna be supported this year by the fire and the horse, but also to allow yourself time to pause, to ground, to meditate, to connect with nature, to rest, you know, and if there's all these things that you want to do, write them down because when you write things down, it helps your brain feel like it's being emptied out. I mean, come back to that list and look at it later, but just write the list down and then just leave it and walk away and allow yourself to rest. So this could be a meditation, this could be qigong, this could just be sitting on the patio or going to the beach or taking a bath, um, just allowing yourself to have downtime. It's really, really important in the fire horse journey. Saturday and Sunday are days for resting, connecting with nature, um, so that you have that balance and you will you'll be able to sustain longer. So I invite you. If you like, go ahead and click one of the links. One is without AI support, one is with AI, and Penny's calendar. It's just so beautiful. The energy will change. And I love you so much. Thank you for being here. And if you're enjoying the magic in the middle and you're feeling supported and loved, and you want more, I invite you to give thumbs up or five stars and share it with your friends and family. It's such a important time. We're in a portal, a 20 to 30 year portal of great change and expansion. This is a really, really exciting time. And it's really important for us to stay connected with love and joy and peace and our loving community and to take care of ourselves and each other and ensure that the lights are turning on more and more and more. Thank you for being here. I love you.