The Gift Of Travel ✈️

Dear Loved Ones,

Our family has embraced EXPERIENCES and EXPANSION this year via new opportunities and travel. We enjoyed a beautiful family mission trip to Columbia in April, and Heather ventured to Mexico and Belize for yoga retreats. (She’s heading back to Belize in 2019 — please join her!)

“I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!” — 2 Corinthians 6:11-13, The Message

Madeline and Mackenzie have amazing opportunities lined up for 2019! In lieu of birthday and Christmas gifts, we are asking family and friends to consider supporting their unique adventures.

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❦ In February, Kenzie will be performing with Stage Dreams Theater at JTF West. The Junior Theater Festival (JTF) is the world’s biggest and best celebration of young people performing musical theater. This festival takes place in Sacramento, CA in February 2019 and the Dream Troupe will be performing a 15 minute production of Mulan Jr., as well as participating in educational workshops. Stage Dreams Theater is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Please donate to Stage Dreams Theater and dedicate to MACKENZIE WIEST.

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❦ Madeline will be traveling to Italy and Greece in June 2019 with fellow Latin students from her high school. This Ancient Mediterranean journey through EF Educational Tours will be a trip of a lifetime for Maddie and her classmates! View the full itinerary and her personal fundraising page HERE.

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We are extremely grateful for your love and support of these endeavors! Thank you for investing in meaningful life experiences for our family. We deeply treasure your prayers for safe travels. May we all continue to LOVE, SERVE, and INSPIRE locally and globally through our thoughts, words, and actions!

May you be blessed beyond measure! ❦

With love and gratitude,

Jon, Heather, Madeline, and Mackenzie

Pre & Post Natal Yoga Perks ❦

This month marks 5 years that I have been guiding Pre & Post Natal Yoga. What a blessing and journey it has been to facilitate this unique combination class! I began my personal yoga practice at age 30 when trying to conceive and begin a family. This class format is near and dear to my heart. ❦ You can read my yoga story in Love At First Savasana.

Pre & Post Natal Yoga is specifically designed for pregnant women and parents with infants (newborn to pre-walkers). This unique combination class is modified to meet the needs of pregnancy and the beginnings of motherhood. Strengthen and relax the body, ease the mind, and connect with baby in a safe and supportive environment. Feel inspired and nourished in a community of women sharing the experience of pregnancy and parenthood. Fathers are more than welcome to attend!

Pre & Post Natal Yoga provides a nurturing atmosphere where you can enhance the bonding process with baby, while strengthening your body, mind and spirit. The yoga postures, deep breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques positively impact the quality of your pregnancy, birth experience, and first year of parenting. The benefits of a regular Pre & Post Natal Yoga practice include: strengthens the uterus and pelvic muscles, improves circulation, aids digestion, exercises the spine, and increases overall comfort. Yoga can also alleviate many of the discomforts of pregnancy such as nausea, constipation, varicose veins, swelling, back pain and sciatica.

Personal testimonies will convince you to try or refer this class! ❦

My hope is for everyone to have access to such a wonderful resource! Upper West Side Phoenix moms are blessed to have Pre & Post Natal Yoga offered every Monday at The Collective AZ. Please join us and/or spread the word!

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Autumn Aspirations 🍁

Autumn is referred to as a Vata (air) season, which means the presence of air and space (Ether) is more noticeable in and around us. You may feel more light, carefree, creative, or even spacey and scattered. We harmonize this by learning to go with the flow more — physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As we practice letting things come and go, it is a particularly good time to remind ourselves to breathe deeply. The heart and lungs are a focus of this season, and the breath flowing through helps make space for the release of whatever the heart is holding to tightly, or resisting. Autumn is a very special time to make space around and in the heart. Step out of your tension, out of your fear. Laugh. Lighten up. Loosen up. Change your energy. Relax until you find the flow. Relax until you find your rhythm, until you feel life’s rhythm again. ❤️

A new season is a great time to set some new intentions for your life.

❦ What has been coming up for you in the last days, weeks, months?This could be a thought, emotion, relationship, or situation.

❦ What isn’t serving you, what do you want to let go of?
This could be negative self-talk, fears, self-defeating behavior patterns, or a relationship.

❦ What new intentions do you want to bring forth and cultivate?
This could be a word, a feeling, a relationship, a new situation or aspiration.

“You don’t have to fear change. What you need to fear, a friend once told me, is things remaining the same. When that happens, life has stopped. Your life is constantly, quietly evolving each moment into something new, something different, something that adds gracefully, beautifully, and perfectly to what was.” ~ Melody Beattie


In order to protect ourselves from taking on any negative energy from other people or situations; we can learn to SHIELD. There are times when you may find that being around certain individuals or groups of people leaves you with feelings of discomfort. It may be that spending time with a particular friend feels draining or that dealing with a specific coworker exhausts you. Being around toxic or angry people is also draining. And you may even find that being surrounded by a crowd of people lowers your energy levels rather than perks you up. This is not that unusual. Each of us radiates energy and is capable of being influenced by the energy of other people. It is important to learn how to shield yourself, so you don’t unknowingly take on someone else’s energy.

There are a number of ways to avoid being affected by people’s energy. SHIELDING is one preventative technique you can use. Center yourself and envision being enveloped in a cocoon of loving and protective light. This protective layer should allow you to consciously regulate the energy around you. The intent to shield oneself is all you need for this technique to work. You can even create a TRIGGER WORD to assist you in quickly creating a shield. Say this word each time you create a new shield, until the word and the shield become automatically associated in your mind.

While it is important to know how to shield yourself from energy, there are those energies that you may not want to shut out. The energy of laughter from a newborn baby, the feeling of joy radiating from someone in love, and the frequency of calm emanating from a mentor are just some of the energies coming from others that you may want to have around you.

Adapted from Taking on the Energy of Others, by Madison Taylor


Maybe Not by Danna Faulds

Begin somewhere. Take one deep breath and dive. Plunge into the core of your most persistent fear or your greatest joy. Grow comfortable with the act of exploration. Well, maybe not comfortable, but confident of your ability to be sure footed on slick rocks, steady while the winds gust. Well, maybe not entirely confident, but willing to set out despite persistent doubts, breathing your way into whatever you are facing. Well, maybe not even all that willing, but you take it anyway, that first step into the unknown. Courage is starting where there is no secure outcome, no sure result. The secret is you can begin again at any time. Take one deep breath and dive.


God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart.
Examine me through and through;
find out everything that may be hidden within me.
Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares.
See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on,
and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways—
the path that brings me back to you. ~ Psalm 139: 23-24 TPT

I am at peace in the midst of change. I am listening to my heart and soul — creating space for new intentions — breathing deep and diving in. I remain completely relaxed and receptive regardless of the end result. My body is light, my mind is at peace, and my heart is unconditionally open. ❤️

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Love Your Brain 💜

EVERY 13 SECONDS SOMEONE SUSTAINS A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.

We’re on a mission to improve the lives of those affected. Here’s how.

LoveYourBrain believes yoga and meditation empower people to positively adapt to changes in their lives. We support people who have experienced a traumatic brain injury and their caregivers to participate in a free, research-backed, six-week yoga and meditation series designed based on the science of resilience.

If you have experienced a TBI (including concussion) or are a caregiver or support person, we invite you to join our yoga community anywhere offered in the United States and Canada! Through this program, we hope you discover your inner resources for learning, growing, healing, and thriving. 💜

Locally, we are hosting a 6-week LoveYourBrain FUNdamentals yoga series for the Phoenix, AZ and surrounding areas. It’s a free program for those with traumatic brain injury (including concussion) and their caregivers to explore the benefits of yoga, meditation, and community. Classes take place Tuesdays starting October 30, 2018 from 9:15-10:45am at Urban Wellness Phoenix. For more information, and to register, click HERE.

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Cutting Cords ✄

In every relationship, people are constantly exchanging energy that can become a cord connecting two people. This energetic cord forms just below the breastbone and can remain long after a relationship has ended. This unbroken cord may leave an open channel between you and another person, through which emotions and energy can continue to flow. If you are unaware that the cord exists, it is easy to feel the other person’s emotions and mistakenly think that they are yours. Besides the fact that this can limit the amount of closure you can experience in a relationship, letting this cord remain intact can leave you with a continued sense of sadness while creating feelings of lethargy as your own energy is sapped from you. Cutting the cord can help you separate yourself from old baggage, unnecessary attachments, and release you from connections that are no longer serving you.

Finding and cutting unwanted cords is a simple, gentle process that is best done alone and when you are relaxed. It is important that you are strong in your intention to release the cord between you and someone else. To begin, breathe deeply and perform a simple centering meditation. When you are ready, visualize or sense the cords that are connecting you to other people. Run your fingers through the cords to separate them until you find the cord you wish to sever. There is no need to worry, because the cord you need to sever will feel just right. [Or, there may be no cord to sever at this time.] [If and] When you have found it, determine where the cut should be made and then visualize the cord being cleanly cut. Afterwards, if you feel that cutting the cord has left spaces in your energy field, visualize those spaces being filled with healing light.

There may be times where cutting a cord can help free a relative or loved one to reach new stages of growth. You’re not severing a relationship, but you are severing the cords that are no longer serving you both. At other times, a cord may simply refuse to be cut because it is still serving a higher purpose. It is also important to remember that cutting a cord with someone is not a replacement for doing your emotional work with people. It can, however, be an enactment of that work upon its completion. In any case, cutting a relationship cord should always be viewed as a positive and nurturing act. By cutting the cords that no longer need to be there, you are setting yourself and others free from the ties that bind. ~ Madisyn Taylor


INTIMACY = In To Me See
How we look at others and treat them is often a reflection of how we see and treat ourselves.

I let go of the cords keeping me attached to ______________ (a person or situation). 

I release all that no longer serves me to embrace positive change in my life. 

I breathe love into myself. I can do what is required with love. 


Cord Cutting Exercise for Solar Plexus Chakra

This exercise is perfect for times when you are feeling energetically drained by someone or a situation. 

Think of a person you wish to let go of, or cut off from, or forgive. It might be someone who is presently in your life regularly, or not so frequent. They might be near to you or far away. Or it might be someone from your past. Visualize the person standing in front of you. Think of your reasons for letting this person or issue leave your life. It may be because the person or situation harms your well-being or causes you to feel negative emotions, or simply because it is time to let go of the situation once and for all. Let yourself feel all the emotions attached to the situation and the person.

Now bring your attention to your Solar Plexus, your stomach area. Visualize a fine silvery energy cord that reaches from your solar plexus to their solar plexus, this silver cord that creates the link, the attachment to each other. See it radiate and pulsate as it feeds the energy connection. Every time you even think about this person or be in contact with this person, the link between you is being strengthened.

Now imagine that you have a big pair of golden scissors in your hands–visualize yourself cutting through this energy cord with the scissors. If it does not cut through the first time, do it again with emotional strength behind it. Detaching yourself from this person. Dissolving the connection. 

You are now completely detached. I invite you to surround the person with healing light, wish them well, bless them with love and forgiveness for their journey, and watch them turn around and move off on their path.

Feel the release around your solar plexus. I encourage you to pull any remaining energy back into your solar plexus–by simply telling yourself “I bring all my energy back to me.” Now cover and seal your solar plexus chakra with thick yellow light. You are safe and protected. You hold your own energy with love.

I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. ~ Philippians 3:13 TPT


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