Author Archives: catherine

The Berry Thief

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bird_paintingThe Berry Thief:  Painted by Esther Morrison Smith for this year’s 30 Day Art Challenge.   I only got to meet Esther through her work.  This painting expressed the bitter cold of that evening and the way all creatures have to adapt to survive.  It also conveys resilience and sharp wittedness.  This bird is awake.    I doubt this bird is spending much time thinking about what it will do next or what it did yesterday.  Survival depends on being here now.

I’ve been thinking about how to enliven my own animal sensibilities:   tracking sensation, tuning into environment, seeing, hearing, feeling people.

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Good at the Beginning, Middle & End

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butterflyWe had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss today.  We continued to focus on the tactile field of the body.  We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness.  Like last week we included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

Alan teaches an approach to meditation which is informed by a traditional saying in the Buddhist contemplative tradition:  “Good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end.”  These “goods” can be explained by three aspects of successful practice. Good in the beginning refers to our motivation.  We start each session by generating our highest aspiration for the practice.  Good in the middle refers to maintaining a continuity of focused attention. Good in the end refers to dedicating the value of our practice to the achievement of everyone’s most meaningful aspirations.

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Offering, Calling & Honoring

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humming bird drum 2

Today we had the fourth Saturday meeting of the12 week meditation series in the Daring Greatly: 60 Day Gratitude Challenge at Two Rivers Yoga. This week we focus on embodying our spirit and romancing our souls!  We began with a prayer inspired by Ana Forrest’s teaching:

Let us dance with what is immovable in our lives.  Let us find the courage & help one another to truly connect with our Spirit.  Let us find the courage & help one another to go through our fears. Let us find the courage to use our healing breath to call out to Spirit.  Let us find the courage & help one another to ask for what we want.  Let us find the courage & help one another to walk in Beauty, accepting the wholeness of our being . . . Let us give thanks!

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Stopping for the Light

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racing lightWe had our Introduction to Meditation Session at CRG Events Company Meeting yesterday.  The title of this presentation is called Stopping for the Light.   Most of us lead very busy lives in which we try to be as productive as we can.  It’s really easy to start living at pace the burns our inner resources too quickly.  We keep going as fast as we can through all those green and yellow lights.

In fact we often don’t see the yellows until it’s too late. These are the little warning signs we get in our bodies, in our minds and in our relationships with our families, friends and coworkers.

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Thresholding

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doorwayWe had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss today.  Today we focused our practice on the tactile field of the body.  We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness.  Like last week we included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

Alan writes about settling the body, breath and speech into their natural states.  He describes this as a process of  balancing three essential qualities:  relaxation, stillness and vigilance.  We could observe the process of our bodies settling by consciously feeling  specific areas – feet, legs, torso, arms, neck and head – relaxing.  Aaaah, if you’re reading this right now you can take some deep breaths and feel what I’m describing.

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Walkin’ the Good Road

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On the Good Road

Today we had the third Saturday meeting of the12 week meditation series in the Daring Greatly: 60 Day Gratitude Challenge at Two Rivers Yoga. This week we focus on learning to Walk the Good Road and becoming healers.  We began with a prayer inspired by Ana Forrest’s teaching:

Let us dance with what is immovable in our lives.  Let us find the courage and help one another to travel the Good Road.   Let us find the courage and help one another to find the prayers that are true for us.    Let us find the courage to use our healing breath to see and feel the energy inside ourselves & others.   Let us find the courage and help one another to honor the laws of medicine and nature. Let us find the courage and help one another to trust ourselves to try, to accept ourselves when we fail & to try again.  Let us give thanks!

Prayer has always been a bit challenging for me.  Reading Ana’s personal experience of it has sparked something inside – I feel a shift happening.  Right now just letting the discovery be.

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Patti’s Gift

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Catherine's Birthday Body ButterMy friend Patti gives me so many gifts as we live our friendship together.  This year’s gem is really so amazing I had to take it in bit by bit.  Patti is a biodynamic farmer, herbalist, writer and cofounder of The Farmwife Mystery School in Snoqualmie.  What you see in this picture is Catherine’s Birthday Body Butter.  It feels and smells as good as it looks.

 

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Yoga Behind Bars

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Yoga Behind BarsI had the amazing gift of joining my Two Rivers community of friends to practice in moving prayer for the benefit of Yoga Behind Bars.  We’re part of a wonderful fundraising effort called Gratitude in Motion in which many local studios are giving heart and thanks.   It was so good to see the many faces coming together in the LIGHT!

We moved in fluid synchrony with moments of calm to really take in the moment, the miracle.  Our friend and teacher, Kelley, explained that at the very moment we were practicing another friend and teacher, Cathy Iacobazzi, was offering yoga to residents of the Women’s Correctional Center in Monroe.  I felt a sense of connection and empathy grow imagining the women “inside” breathing with us.

In the quiet moments of savasana I began extending loving kindness to “them” – wishing they be safe and well.  In the inner space of quiet a wish that “they” forgive and be forgiven arose.  It started to swell inside me as I realized there are things that I haven’t forgiven myself for nor have I forgiven others.   It struck my heart like a resounding bell – this realization – this truth.  Us and them started to dissolve into we.  Today, I wish that we all can forgive and be forgiven.  In boundless gratitude.

Holding Space

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Holding SpaceWe had the fourth meeting of our four week Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.  During the month of November we’re focusing on the basics in order to help each other build a personal practice.

 

We attended to the four foundations of mindfulness:  body, feeling tone, emotions and thoughts.  We enhanced our concentration by sensing into these areas to allow what may be calling out for healing to arise in our awareness.  We enriched the healing experience of meditation by opening to a sense of a healing quality might answer a particular call.   An experience of physical tension could be soothed with relaxation.  General anxiety could be assuaged with peace.  Feeling a sense of heartache could be met with love.  A busy racing mind could be quieted with calm.  In each part of the journey we paused long enough to recall the last time we experienced the healing quality.  We enriched the memory by activating it with as many senses as possible.

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Listening In

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inner-wisdomGiving thanks, thanks, thanks for this cool clear, bright sky – it’s helping me listen up & wake up!   Yesterday was the second Saturday meeting of the12 week meditation series of the Daring Greatly:  60 Day Gratitude Challenge at Two Rivers Yoga.  This week is about listening in.  Now if you read down to the second to the last paragraph you’ll find a treat for your ears!

Okay:

 

Right now:   begin to breathe . . . really breathe & feel your breath bringing new life to every cell of your being . . .
Right now:   begin to breathe into the dream of your life . . . see it, sense it, enliven it with your breath!
Right now:  begin to breathe into your feet, into your hands, into your heart so they can be flexible & quick ever ready to respond to change!                                                               Right now:  Give Thanks!

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