But, I’m kind of liking it. With two teenagers in the house, life is never dull, and I’ve enjoyed the extra moments with my girls. I feel like I’ve caught up on 17 years of motherhood sleep deprivation over this past month and and half as well! I am blessed to have a hard working UPS driving husband serving on the front lines providing essential items to customers, and bringing home steady income for us. And, I know that is not the case for most.
As a yoga and wellness teacher, I’ve hesitated teaching on a virtual platform. Honestly, it seemed a bit overwhelming, and impersonal. But, when students began requesting studio length classes they could do at home, I started my research — Zoom, YouTube, Vimeo… Oh, what to do! I finally decided to start a YouTube Channel, converting audio meditations into video formatting, and filming yoga videos on my iPhone 6. Are they super professional? No. Are they good and useful? Yes. I’m happy with what I am creating, and the feedback has been positive. I hope to continue to LOVE, SERVE, and INSPIRE.
Enjoy these FREE resources for YOU, and please share the love with any friends into yoga and meditation. Let me know if you any have class requests. ❤️
I hope you all are staying healthy and hopeful. Please contact me with any prayer requests. I am here to serve and encourage you. 🙏🏻 Oh, and I am so excited to guide private sessions again beginning next week! 😊
Blessings,
Heather (& my favorite yoga buddy, Gardenia!)
A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 8oz to 20oz. She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continued, “The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed–incapable of doing anything.” It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses…don’t carry them long…remember to put the glass down! Source: Science is Madness
When we slow down and pay attention to how we are experiencing our lives, we are more likely to make wise decisions and act from a centered and calm place. When our intentions arise from such a place, we create less stress and more harmony in our lives and the lives of those around us.
What is a stress or worry you can let go of today? Through observation and awareness we learn to be more calmly responsive and less emotionally reactive.
“Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him and leave them there, for He always tenderly cares for you.” ~ 1 Peter 5:7 TPT
How do you deal with stress & strong emotions? How do you discharge theenergy? There are 3 general ways…
1. Numbing: alcohol/drugs, food, sex, shopping, gambling, technology/screen time, anything excessive
2. Lashing Out: expressions of anger, aggression…physically, emotionally, verbally…especially to those we love & trust the most
3. Lashing In: negative internal dialogue, self pity or blame, depression/anxiety…Anxiety is owning a crisis before it arrives & focuses on the improbable. Do not worry about your life.
What’s your “go-to” emotional release? Honestly listen to the story you are telling yourself. Receive it without blaming, shaming or judging. Let it filter through the soft gaze of awareness & grace. Change can only come through observation & awareness.
What are some healthy stress management techniques that work for you?
Choose one or two that come to mind and incorporate them into your life this week. Remember to put the glass down!
~ Let’s turn our pain & sadness into compassion.
~ Our anger & aggression into motivation; aggression is often stuck energy wanting to move forward.
~ Our anxiety & worry into healthy concern which focuses on the probable and produces positive action.
~ And turn our apathy & unfocused thinking into passion & purpose.
Burn the rope of
past conditioning,
or slice right
through, awareness
like a blade that
cannot be stopped
by any obstacle.
Without the history
of who you’ve
been, what is the
essence of your
soul’s expression?
When you allow
the moment to
offer up its perfect
response, what is
the free and true
experience of you?
Springtime is the season of reNEWal — abundant life awakens and is displayed all around us — the warm sun, blooming flowers, birds chirping in song, change in the air. It is the perfect time to BREAK THROUGH OUR BLOCKS. “Sometimes we’re so blocked in a particular area we don’t even consider a breakthrough a possibility. We’re so blocked we don’t even see our blocks. Stay open. Don’t limit yourself. Something that yesterday seemed entirely unfeasible and forever beyond your grasp may tomorrow, next month, next year — or today — become something you can do naturally, something that’s available to you. It can come as a total surprise, in an area you hadn’t considered. Your breakthrough may happen in an area you’ve been struggling with and working on.” ~ Melody Beattie
How are you reNEWing? What breakthrough are you looking for?
Life is more than setbacks, and it’s not static. Appreciate and respect where you are now. But let yourself move to the next level when it’s time. Celebrate your breakthroughs when they come. Listen to that quiet voice, that fleeting thought that says, Why don’t you________? — even if it’s something you’ve never done before. ~ Melody Beattie
Who or what is pulling on you?
What do you think you should do?
Now take it to the next step, the next level.What does your heart & soul lead you to do?
Bhavana Meditation:
Bhavana is a Sanskrit word meaning reflection, contemplation, infusion.
To practice a bhavana meditation, think of a quality you would love to be permeated by, and soak in it.
Think of one, two, or three qualities you would love to be infused with. Ask within yourself, “What would I love to be filled with? What kind of energy? What quality of being?” You could write these words in your journal. Your words might be quite different from one another, such as power, peace, love, excitement, stability, clarity.
Give yourself a chance to love each word, leisurely. Bond with the word; let your body be at home with it.
Develop a rhythm of leisurely thinking of each word and then pausing to feel it resonating in you. Like when you drop a pebble into a pond, watch the ripples. You might think one of your words every ten or twenty seconds, so it takes a full minute to think all three. Get used to this rhythm: the word, the feeling of the word, the sensations and imagery, the silence after the word, then the next word.
You can meditate in this way for five, ten, or twenty minutes a day. You can do this with any quality you love, or are devoted to, or have faith in. ~ Lorin Roche, The Radiance Sutras
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. ~ Romans 12:1-2, The Message
May you be reNEWed in this season of your life. Stay open. Don’t limit yourself. A breakthrough is happening.💥
SANTOSHA, the Sanskrit word for contentment, requires our willingness to enjoy exactly what each day brings and to be happy with whatever we have. We can easily practice santosha in the beautiful moments and joyous experiences of our lives. But true contentment means being equally willing to embrace difficult moments. Only when we can be content in the midst of difficulty can we be truly free. Only when we can remain open in the midst of pain do we understand what true openness is. In our relationships, when we accept those around us as they truly are, not as we want them to be, we are practicing santosha. ~ Adapted from Cultivate Your Connections by Judith Lasater
Enjoy a portion of a poem written for me by my husband.
She has santosha with the One True God In full body worship In constant course correction All the way to shava
Butterflies go through an incredible journey. They start out as larvae, next they become caterpillars, and finally they attach to a leaf or tree and enshroud themselves with a fine and strong cocoon. Then they appear to sleep. But, during this time when they remain out of sight, they are silently TRANSFORMING. Nothing is visible to the eye that observes from the outside. An inner process of transformation changes an earthly caterpillar with its belly on the ground, into an extraordinary creature with beautiful, iridescent wings. The old form must die or be released for the beautiful, new creature to emerge and take flight. With people too, very often inner, silent transformation is continually taking place, mostly beyond our usual realm of conscious awareness. Through healing practices such as yoga, it is possible to transform the worm-like qualities and shed them like an old cocoon. It takes courage and a willingness to grow and change. What old cocoon would you like to shed off today? What would help you transform, grow, and fly? You are free when you are fearless.
Journaling Questions ❤️
How do you want to feel?
What are you opening to?
What are you closing to?
What are you inviting in?
What are you letting go of?
How are you transforming?
Set a fresh intention for the coming week.
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller
Do you think the caterpillar knows what it will become as it retreats from the world into its cocoon? Or is it a grand gesture of faith, and simply trusts everything will be OK in time? ~ Nigel Coates
Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see. ~ William Newton Clarke
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. ~ Maya Angelou
Just like the butterfly, I too will awaken in my own time.~ Deborah Chaskin
“Just as the world around us changes and evolves, so do the circumstances and situations in our lives. We live in a universe that is alive, vibrant, and constantly evolving. Change is the way nature, the universe, and the Divine move us through each period of our lives. We are led to our next lesson, our next adventure. There’s no need to deny change, to fear it, or fight against it. Change is inevitable. Just as the earth is in constant motion and transformation, so are we. Growth can be gentle now. Growth can be fun. Breathe in new air. Breathe in new energy. Exhale the past, its feelings, beliefs, and toxins. Let it go. Letyourself be transformed.” ~ Melody Beattie
Butterfly Meditation ❤️
As you take in a deep breath, start to visualize the ground below you filled with the color of your choice. This color extends 50 feet down into the earth. Now, begin to imagine the energy centers on the bottoms of your feet opening up. As you inhale, visualize the soft color you have chosen filling up your feet. When your feet are completely saturated with the color, bring the color up through your ankles, legs, pelvis and lower back. Each time you exhale, witness the color leaving through your lungs, carrying any tension and stress with it. See the tension dissolve into the air. The color is now reaching your abdomen, chest, shoulders, arms, neck and head. Exhale the color slowly out of your lungs.
Imagine you are a caterpillar. You are crawling on the tree where you live. Attaching yourself to a branch of the tree, you slowly start to form your cocoon. Gradually, you surround yourself with a golden, silken thread until you are totally hidden. You are inside the cocoon, completely surrounded by the softness of silk. You rest in the warmth of the golden darkness. You are not fully aware, so you do not know what is happening to you. However, you somehow sense that in this apparent stillness the Divine is at work. See if you can sense what is happening to you. At last, the cocoon breaks open, and a ray of light penetrates through a split in the cocoon. As the light touches you, it makes you feel a sudden surge of vitality, and you realize you can shed the cocoon that is around you. As you feel the cocoon falling away, you begin to discover that with it you have shed the defenses and supports of your safety net, and your past. You are freer than you ever dreamed you could be! You are now a beautiful, multicolored butterfly. You realize your boundaries have widened, and you can fly wherever you want. You feel light, fearless, and free.
