Photo by Gerald Forster
In Conversation
  • Name
    Ally Bogard
  • Location
    New York City
  • Craft
    Meditation & Spiritual Teacher
  1. No matter what comes your way you always manage to see it as a lesson or a gift. How do you teach others to do the same?

    One of the best ways to expand your perception is to stay as individuated as possible. It’s important for our mental and physical chemistry to pause and look at our own lives before attempting to tackle everything that’s bothering us including global issues, and other people’s problems. If we take a good look at the storylines and narratives writing the screenplay of our lives, we gain insight into how we interpret what happens to us and why. Then we can become clear about where we can actually effect change. Ask yourself if there is fact-based evidence proving that the story you’re telling is true, because while we never refute things like gravity, we do make fictional correlations between things like having our hearts broken and whether or not that means we’re worthy of love.

    It’s important to remember that life isn’t trying to keep us down, it’s just showing us how we see. The more you practice sticking to the facts and noticing the stories you’re telling yourself, the more this incredible feedback loop will emerge that consists of our programming vs our perception. Over time this will lessen the importance we place on external validation while strengthening the most important relationship of all, the relationship to Self.

  2. How do you make mindful decisions and ensure that you remain on the right path?

    I run everything through my womb, but that doesn’t mean much to most people [laughs]. I’ve spent a good amount of time befriending my body and learning to love and trust that it’s here for me, so first I’ll run the question through my body. If it instantly shuts down or gets anxious I look more closely at whether or not the decision aligns with where I want to go and the women I want to become.

    I recommend having pillars or guidelines for living an inquired life by defining the ways that we can hold ourselves accountable to aligning with our choices vs our conditioning. Some of my pillars are: “Does it align with what I feel God is?,” “Does is it align with what I feel love is?,” and “Does it align with what I feel truth is?” If the answer is “yes” I know I’ll be closer to what is right for me and my soul. Whereas, everytime I act against my integrity, virtue, body, or what I believe God, love, and truth are—it always causes me pain. My relationships fall apart, I get into trouble, and run into my shadow.

  3. How do you define ‘God’ and ‘prayer’?

    I wasn’t raised religiously but still had a lot of conditioning around the word ‘God,’ so I reprogrammed it. If someone wants to call it ‘spirit, nature, love, the universe, or the eternal’—I’m okay with all of it, because what we call it doesn’t matter. I believe that God is all that is, an emanating field of intelligence and love, and what continues life in balance.

    I have a relationship with the creator where it feels like a parent or an extension of myself, and at times I need to ask for help. If I’m feeling lost and alone I pray. It’s a deep need for help for myself, for others, or the planet. Prayer is a language that is so helpful to reclaim because somewhere along the way the act of communicating to the highest, deepest knowing within each of us, was taken from our own mother tongue by the hands of religion and men. We needed others to teach us how to pray when really it’s about listening to a place inside of ourselves that’s already communicating. Sometimes the best prayer, as many of my teachers and grandmothers have taught me, is simply ‘thank you.’ There is no wrong way to pray and it’s okay to stumble your way through. It’s not about the words or even the act itself, but about the feeling of wanting and caring, accessing a deep knowing, and the level of intention that starts to build inside.

Photo by Chloe Crespi