Category Archives: mindfulness

#music for #MellowOutMonday: “Retrograde” | James Blake

…for magic + mindfulness + movement + meditation

AND, most especially, to honor mercury retrograde‘s final day of madness!

 

embodied practice: walking the labyrinth

we meet to walk in silent contemplation

of earth, cooling our feet

of air, tickling our skin

of water, rushing as sound + current to dampen our ears

of sun, blazing warm on head + hearts

we spiral in + quietly in

stepping

breathing

cleansing

clearing

sorting

settling

centering our awareness on new beginnings, grace, gratitude, friendship

we spiral out, expanding once more

greeting one another on the path

a momentary pause

a deep bow

a gaze into eyes of compassion

we sit then, steady of heart + mind

soaking in the suchness

of the four elements

of dear companions

of movement that awakens understanding

embodied practice: the magic of mellowing out

Last Monday afternoon, I sprained my ankle. So, instead of teaching, I spent a couple of hours mellowing out in the ER. For my trouble, I returned home to witness this milestone: my 4-year-old son riding his bike without training wheels for the first time (and after only one previous practice with me)!

gets splint loses training wheels

A little magic for the madness…and a lesson in mindfulness. Not only in movement, but also in knowing when to rest. I heard the Universe loud and clear! With a deep bow to my cosmic enforcer Mercury Retrograde, I diligently took care of my injury and enjoyed several days practicing the Buddhist art of having nothing to do, nowhere to go.

My ankle’s mending well, and I’ll be back on the mat tonight to teach the last of two #MellowOutMonday Yin + Yang Yoga classes before my summer “sabbatical.”

In year of espousing to friends and practitioners the wisdom of self-care and self-compassion and leading mindfulness practices in cultivating refuge and relief, I am taking a huge dose of my own medicine! I’ll be taking an extended break from teaching my evening classes for July and August to fully live the lessons I teach about mellowing out.

I look forward to introducing you to my friend, mentor, and teacher Sybil Shelton-Ford of As You Are Yoga who will teach on my behalf, July 7 – August 11. My friend Belinda Thurston, owner of Just B Yoga, will cover the rest.

Join me, wherever you may be, to take refuge + unravel + rest in sweet relief!

#music for #mindfulness in times of #madness: all is full of love

this has become a beloved + enduring mantra for me on any occasion
but especially when life feels off-kilter…

 

embodied practice: “taking refuge in the island of self”

breathing in, i go back
to the island of myself.

there are beautiful trees
there is water, there are birds,
there is sunshine and fresh air.

breathing out, i feel safe.

~thich nhat hanh
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go: Waking Up To Who You Are

as a mountain
exalted
resilient
uplifted
half moon, waxing: open heart
balancing: steady of body + heart + mind
taking refuge in the self

zen in motion:
as a mountain,
exalted,
resilient,
uplifted,
half moon, waxing: open heart,
balancing: steady of body + heart + mind,
taking refuge in the wisdom of breath,
refuge in the self
~t scott

#MyMellowOutMonday

embodied practice [for deep listening]: attuning the heart

May our hearts be as full, open, strong + clear as the bell itself.

bell meditation practice with sangha [sit+study, 4 may 2014]

my gatha for attuning the heart to mindfulness

embodied practice: on the power of mindfulness

“…Meditation is not escapism; it is not meant to provide hiding-places for temporary oblivion. Realistic meditation has the purpose of training the mind to face, to understand and to conquer this very world in which we live. And this world inevitably includes numerous obstacles to the life of meditation.”

~Nyanaponika Thera
The Power of Mindfulness

embodied practice: on whole body awareness

Living, the whole body carries its meaning and tells its own story, standing, sitting, walking, awake or asleep.

It pulls all the life up into the face of the philosopher, and sends it all down into the legs of the dancer.

A casual world over-emphasizes the face. Memory likes to recall the whole body.

It is not our parents’ faces that come back to us, but their bodies, in the accustomed chairs, eating, sewing, smoking, doing all familiar things.

We remember each as a body in action…

Thus the stuff of the ages goes into man’s thinking,
is interpreted and comes out in movement and posture again.
Personality goes into structure—by denial or affirmation into person again.
It is an aspect of life in evolution.

~Mabel E. Todd
The Thinking Body

embodied practice: on self care as self-preservation

via "panarchy" [http://miafortunato.tumblr.com/]