~golden flight
So much is trembling around us these days. Love is the anchor and the rope.
This present moment…
Tag Archives: mindfulness
As the foliage begins to turn to flames, the leaves like small prayer flags of light, Mary Oliver reminds us to shine, too.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”~Mary Oliver
(Excerpt from: When I Am Among the Trees)
facing fear
“Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.”
~ Judy Blume, Tiger Eyes
“So, how can you live in love rather than in fear? The first step, I’m sorry to say, is to love your fear. There’s a way in which you actually have to bow to the fear and say, ‘I know you. You too are part of this humanity.’” –
~Jack Kornfield
Healing is as natural…
as blooming.
hummingbird bee
Thich Nhat Hanh: Joy of Meditation As Nourishment
Pair your breath cycle with the meditative phrases/instructions and then drop to the individual word. You can choose how much time you stay with each instruction depending upon how long you wish to practice. You can also utilize this as a recitation, pairing each instruction and singular word with your breath cycle for one round.
Breathing in, I know I am breathing in
Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
(Inhale) In
(Exhale) Out
Breathing in, I see myself as a flower.
Breathing out, I feel fresh.
(Inhale) Flower
(Exhale) Fresh
Breathing in, I see myself as still water.
Breathing out, I feel clear.
(Inhale) Still water
(Exhale) Clear
Breathing in, I see myself as space.
Breathing out, I feel free.
(Inhale) Space
(Exhale) Free
~From the book: The Blooming of a Lotus, by Thich Nhat Hanh
progressive relaxation meditation
The mind flits; the body anchors; the breath bridges.
Yoga As A Mindfulness Practice: Embodied integrity
From where I sit, the wind is turning the sunlight on the ocean into rippling, silver streamers. Waves closer to the shore lap lightly, while the streamers flicker and swish. The evergreen and rock of Mouse Island on the horizon is an anchor, a landing, in this moving sea of light. All the ingredients are here for contentment, joy, even bliss. There is nowhere else to be, nothing else to do.
Rachael Naomi Remen, the pediatrician-turned-therapist and author wrote: “Our bodies hold us to our integrity.” She knew this personally, as someone who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease as a teenager and still completed the rigorous demands of medical school, including sleep-deprived residencies. Over subsequent decades, Remen navigated multiple surgeries and medications that often resulted in further complications as she aged. Thankfully, her overall experience with Crohn’s appeared to become more manageable.
As a teacher of general and therapeutic yoga, I have experienced professionally and personally how our bodies, our somatic experiences, hold us to our integrity. We know on a sensory level things it can take minutes or years to acknowledge, repair, or integrate on a cognitive or rational level. Some of what we know lives deep in our bones and/or tissues, below or beyond words. It is an embodied wisdom, a wholeness, that is always accessible to us.
Yoga, as a mindfulness practice, helps us to listen deeply to the nuance and the obvious; it connects us to our physical narratives. The consistent practice of mindfulness, of returning to body, breath, and the present moment, aids us in becoming evermore attuned to the experiences arising in our whole being, enhancing our capacities for self-soothing, self-awareness, and compassion. The deepening of these skills will also serve us off the yoga mat or meditation cushion, whether we are meeting adversity, nurturing relationships, or connecting with the simple joy and beauty of the natural world. This is the integrity, the homecoming, the freedom of embodied presence.
Mindfulness breath mantra, Thich Nhat Hanh
Breathing in, breathing out.
Breathing in deep, breathing out slow.
Breathing in calm, breathing out ease.
Breathing in healing, breathing out release.
Instructions:
Find a comfortable seat that establishes a balance between effort and ease or lie down and invite deep relaxation into your whole being from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes. In either position, you can lightly scan the body to observe where you are holding tension and whether it is serving you or whether it is okay to release it.
Observe the natural flow of breath, noticing the inhale, the slight transition, and the exhale. Match the mantra to your natural inhale and exhale. Begin with the first line of instruction saying it to yourself internally or out loud, as you prefer. Say each line of instruction fully twice, then consider dropping the full instruction to the core words (e.g., in, out; deep, slow; calm, ease; healing release). You can decide how long you wish to practice one instruction before moving on to the next.
At the end, pause to notice any impact from your practice. Consider placing one hand over your heart and the other over your belly and invite a felt sense of kindness and warmth into your hands. Feel the breath under your palms, easy and gentle. Remind yourself: present moment, safe moment.
~connecting to the healing and stabilizing powers of nature
To be human means that we share universal experiences. We are born, take our first breath, require sustenance, seek the embrace of others and the shelter of dwellings, live in dependent relationships to the earth, sun, moon, and weather, and evolve day-by-day. Much else is variable in human experience. However, this moment in time has created a unique and unparalleled, global, shared reality.
Parallel to our individual lives, the natural world continues with its broader rhythms of day and night, moon and tides, fallow and harvest seasons, the expansiveness of skies and landscapes. There is a steadiness, a predictability in nature’s rhythms, as spring continues to melt frostlines and release sprouts and little blossoms in our northern hemisphere.
In this time of universal and individual anxieties, we can return to the embrace and solace of the natural world. We can lean into its rhythms and breathe deeply from the gift of fresh air. We can invite our worried minds to clear and open, observing thoughts, as if clouds in the sky-floating along-leaving no trace. We can remember our connection to something bigger and beyond and return renewed. This can happen by looking at a photograph, engaging in a visualization exercise, as well as taking a walk outdoors. Nature’s resources are ever-present and available. We are not alone.
