mindfulness
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A Path Into Yoga: Part Three
Western medicine couldn’t heal my body. This realization – and my acceptance of it – slowly sunk into my bones. A couple of months after my last cortisone injection, I tried a “medical yoga” class, a synthesis of restorative yoga and physical therapy intended for injured people, taught by a nurse from the local hospital. Continue reading
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A Path Into Yoga: Part Two
Chefs aren’t known for having an abundance of spare time, but for a few years I devoted most of mine to creating a fantasy world (literally) and writing a young adult story set in that world. I’ve long nursed the dream of publishing a novel, to legitimize my lifelong habit of needing acceptance from others Continue reading
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A Path Into Yoga: Part One
The ego-mind lives in fear of so much that cannot be avoided or controlled: change, failure, loss, weakness, judgment, shame, pain, and death. My ego-mind, for instance, does not want you to know that I have a son who I was never there for, because my life was a mess, and I was a mess. Continue reading
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From “Lessons From The Body” by Manuela Reeds
”If you grew up in western culture, you were taught to trust a reasoning mind, facts, and scientific evidence – not to listen to your body. You probably had no lessons in school to teach you to slow down and trust your bodily sensations. Instead, you were most likely taught to shut down, hold in Continue reading
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Whirlwind: How The Heart Is Wiser Than The Mind
There are times when our thoughts sweep us away. We get caught up in the whirlwind of the mind’s magnetic pull, and something needs to happen to reel us back to the moment we’re actually in and what is happening there. It could be something small: we have forgotten the bread in the oven, or Continue reading
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Alchemy
The peacock struts around eating things that are brightly colored: plants, insects and snakes. Much of what it eats is poisonous. May we learn to move closer to pain, invite in the Lady of Sorrows to sit it at our table, as if she were our neighbor, as if she were a weary Continue reading
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Quote by Matt Licata
Enter deeply into your neurosis, your anxiety, your panic, your confusion, your suffering, and your fear – get to know it’s textures, qualities and fragrances, and allow it to take you into the secret chamber buried inside your own body. For within the mandala of tender ripe aliveness there are jewels beyond the mind. – Continue reading
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Remember
Meanwhile, the wind blows, incredibly. The sun rises – seen or unseen – and moves across the sky, incredibly. Water covers most of the planet. Effervescent laughter is remembered. The vast silence of the world helps quiet the noise of your mind. The great emptiness fills you up and calms your heart. Do not be Continue reading
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Towards The Fire
When things unravel with such fury, we conclude that something should be held responsible. We look for a place to lay our blame, though the source of our pain often has the power to be a catalyst for growth, a facilitator of movement in stagnant waters. If we can un-stick ourselves from the quicksand of Continue reading
C.M. Rivers 