Solstice and new moon
Stars, earth, moon: dance together
Celebrate their Song
***
cristy@meximinnesotana.com
P.S. Registration for next Sundays (Re)treat is now live! Join us for a yoga retreat in your own home with the theme: Nurturing Resilience. Hope to see you there!
Watcher in garden
Content beside the ivy
Creation in bloom
***
cristy@meximinnesotana.com
How much time it takes
To Honor our Mother Earth
One breath: Gratitude
***
cristy@meximinnesotana.com
P.S. If you have 90 minutes at 9am central time (U.S.), come and honor yourself today at the Mother’s Day online yoga retreat.
Hi Friends,
This is shameless self-promotion but it’s fun to share a piece of good news as most of our input channels seem to be focused on the virus situation. I got my first “real” yoga teaching gig close to home, starting when we start being able to meet with people face to face again. Or maybe I will try some online delivery via Zoom! I’m sharing the announcement that got posted on Thursday by the owner of Healing Within Acupuncture & Wellness Studio.
Sometimes good things happen when we get prepared and then stay attentive to possibilities as they arise. I’m so very grateful, especially at a time when my “main gig” is will be in transition in the next few months.
Ah, life! You never know what is around the next corner! Visualize something good that might come during any challenge. Perhaps it’s just as likely as the doomsday scenarios. 😉
Cheers & stay well,
cristy@meximinnesotana.com
P.S. I am offering free 1:1 calls for people who want some extra support during this “corona-palooza” event. No obligation. Just a chance to speak your thoughts and emotions and to receive empathy and encouragement. Schedule a 20-25 minute call with this link.
Happy Valentine’s Day, readers!
I realize this holiday may not be a universal one, but I have started embracing it as a way to show love to everyone, not just romantic partners.
Maybe this comes from my Mom‘s tendency to send Valentine’s cards and to reach out to show love to people. Or maybe I just know that showing love costs very little, and can create happiness and joy around us.
Yesterday I was listening to the new podcast by the OnBeing called Poetry Unbound. I had the thought: it is our CAPACITY to love that completes us, not one other specific person. We can feel complete when we love ourselves fiercely and deeply. With or without a partner.
(If you haven’t heard yet Poetry Unbound, it’s a beautiful short form podcast that is so wonderful. Treat yourself to this free dose of joy if you are so inclined.)
So what happens when you spread love and it is not returned?
It is still felt. You are the one feeling it. And you always have the choice to feel it, regardless of whether others have the capacity to return it.
I am about to show love for my colleagues by teaching week 2 of 3 of Desk Chair Yoga. What will you do to show love to your family, friends, acquaintances or maybe just people on the street?Â
Much love to you,
cristy@meximinnesotana.com
This Wednesday marks three years since I started meditating daily. I celebrate today by writing about my yoga book club topic for this month from the Niyamas – Santosha.
This concept, contentment, has been an enjoyable one for me, especially considering the ways in which the messages we receive via so many channels are meant to induce longing within us. They convince us that we lack something outside of ourselves to be happy. The emotions we feel then drive us toward what brings us pleasure, and move us toward avoiding discomfort or boredom.
By staying centered and aware of what is going on within us, we can stay in a place of contentment rather than longing. We can be grateful for all the amazing gifts this life brings, and the plethora of blessings that have come our way. We can realize the freedom that most of us enjoy to choose the responses we want to bring to our circumstances.
I am starting to understand that life is about 50/50 – about half positive emotions and half negative. Without some of each, we would never know true joy, and we would never be able to empathize with the pain we all experience as humans.
When we come to accept this reality, and to feel content without constantly seeking, we experience what Swami Rama noted, that “contentment is falling in love with your life.” Nothing is missing in this moment. Life is complete as it is right now.
Are there places in your life where it is hard to be grateful? What if you could embrace all of the changing dynamics in your life, and dance with them? What if you could see them as temporary, as ever-changing, and just a part of the greater flow?Â
***
cristy@meximinnesotana.com
