 TEN BREATHS: Try this gentle mindful practice. Stand or sit in front of a window looking deeply out into nature, or stand outside in nature. Close your eyes and simply take 10 complete, deep breaths. My favorite place for this practice is outside in a sunny spot. In the time it takes for Ten Breaths (less than 2 minutes) you will feel more grounded and peaceful, and whole. While you breathe, focus on breathing. Focus on being present.
Shining One, Breathing out, let go And fall into knowing all of creation As existing within space, And you are absorbed in that Vibrant empty fullness. In this moment your body is intimate With space, exchanging essence for essence. Balancing in the midst of vast emptiness, Know utter freedom. ~ Lorin Roche, PhD. Please join me this month on Wednesdays at 12:30 PM for a midday break with the theme of Resiliency.
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 When someone deeply listens to you your bare feet are on the earth and a beloved land that seemed distant is now at home within you. ~ John Fox Listen Deeply. As spiritual practice reading, or writing, a poem can illuminate a hidden yearning, a forgotten blessing, awaken the imagination, spark creativity. It can become a lyrical tool of prayer and to support sankulpa.
 "Be a gift and a benediction." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
In this gift-giving season of Hanukkah and Christmas turn within and visualize. See yourself receiving your heart's desire. What lies beyond surface consumerism? What does gift giving mean to your spirit? A gift of patience? of acceptance? humor, imagination, creativity? A gift of gratitude, peace? Take time this season for self-care. Acknowledge the beauty of the winter season, music, good books, a cozy home. Open your heart of hearts to receive. I hope you will join me this week on Thursday morning for mat class and Friday morning for Chair Yoga for Strength and Vitality. Look for my schedule page. We must move to the laboratory where all radical change can occur inside of our very mind, heart, and the cells of our body. I call it the laboratory of contemplative practice, which rewires our inner life and confirms in the soul a kind of “emotional sobriety.” Richard Rohr  "It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. " Eckhart Tolle
At this time I want to express my gratitude for you. Thank you for staying with your practice. Thank you for being adaptable and flexible and keeping your sense of humor when virtual classes got a little glitchy. Thank you for staying open to trying something new. Thank you for your donations, too. I appreciate them so much. They are helping me as all of my work in the hospitals stopped and hasn't begun again. Thank you for feeling free to connect with "virtual strangers." Thank you for the discussions we have had every week. There are times in our lives when we seem to have to search for even one thing to be grateful for. When the darkest clouds seem to obscure clear thinking, we can find healing through gratitude. Start small and work your way into a catalog of gratefulness. As an evening practice keep paper and pen near your bedside and list things for which you are grateful. "This practice can boost serotonin levels increasing your happiness. Feelings of gratitude activate the part of the brain that produces dopamine, a messenger molecule that stimulates your brain's reward and pleasure center, and stimulates your social dopamine circuits, which make your social interactions more pleasurable." The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time. We must move to the laboratory where all radical change can occur inside of our very mind, heart, and the cells of our body. I call it the laboratory of contemplative practice, which rewires our inner life and confirms in the soul a kind of “emotional sobriety.” Richard Rohr  Clear awareness. Through meditation and other contemplative practices, we learn to catch ourselves when we are moving off-center, hardening to situations, somehow closing down or thinking our anxieties, fears, phobias, and biases are the voice of reason. "We start to catch the beginnings of a neurotic chain reaction that limits our ability to experience joy." Pema Chodron
You would think that because we are sitting in meditation, so quiet and still, focusing on the breath, that we wouldn’t notice very much. But it is actually quite the opposite. We are developing a skill-set that allows us to see clearly with distance, with non-attachment, to form a nonjudgmental, unbiased clarity. We must move to the laboratory where all radical change can occur inside of our very mind, heart, and the cells of our body. I call it the laboratory of contemplative practice, which rewires our inner life and confirms in the soul a kind of “emotional sobriety.” Richard Rohr Join me on Sunday evenings for meditation at 6:00 PM as we explore Pema Chodron's The Places That Scare You. This week we tap into Clear awareness.  As media bombards us with confusion, take time to unplug and reset with outdoor activities like walking in nature, exercise, yoga, meditation, calls to friends. Set a "no politics" guideline for your conversations to give yourself a break. You need relief! Limit news time on the radio, TV and the internet. Journaling can be a very effective way to release. Putting your thoughts down could even turn into a blog, podcast, short stories, a book, or poetry. I hope you are recording your personal views about 2020 in some way for posterity. There won't be another year like it. Don't let your brilliance be obscured by confusion. Click below to read what the National Institutes of Health recommends to manage stress. Remember you can contribute to your healthiest self by managing your stress. Chronic stress leads to and contributes to reduced immunity.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml  ahimsa, (Sanskrit: “noninjury”)
“Ahimsa, rightly understood, is the ultimate weapon; it turns one’s enemy into a friend, thereby banishing the possibility of further conflict. In the practice of yoga, it is important to understand that the same life flows in the veins of all creatures.” – Swami Kriyananda. “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” - Mark Twain There is the potential that we might mistakenly consider Ahimsa in the abstract, or possibly in a “doesn’t apply to me” perspective. If we do no harm, are we living in peace? If we think no harm, are we free from anger’s acid? Choosing reverence for all living beings is a radical sometimes very difficult process. Far from staying neutral, far from hypocritical non-attachment, intending and then choosing peace, compassion, thoughtfulness and respect requires diligence, first in thoughts and then in actions. Developing a cache of relaxation tools, quality rest, stress reducers, humor enhancers, spiritual connections and community supports our efforts in Ahimsa to manage daily challenges. As we slow down, listen, stay open to others perspectives, we can find peace and as we each become peaceful, so our world heals.  Impulsive March, tempting, flirting, biting, dodging. 60 degrees to snow this week. Winter, throw off your blanket! Searching for green as spring slowly unfolds, I’m rewarded with patience.
 It’s not a surprise anymore when I get “caught by a train;” not the Metra that takes 2 minutes, but those freighters just moseying by. There was a time when I would throw up my arms with frustration. Now, I just say "thanks for the break". A chance to unplug. Why not? If you get "caught," take a break and a minute to enjoy the art.
 A city girl like me is moved beyond words when I come upon a scene like this. The camera so often the intruder, I sat for a while watching and almost missed an opportunity to record this thrill. |
AuthorIsabel Raci, C-IAYT, is a life-long practitioner and student of yoga, E-RYT, certified meditation teacher, relaxation guide, and laughter yoga leader who is passionate about the practice of meditation and yoga as self-care. Archives
January 2021
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© Isabel Raci, 2018-2021
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(815) 661-6152
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Lake County, Illinois
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