May You Be Well - Pause & Center
Pause and Center
A yoga snack
Dear Rest Friends:
Autumn is here. Finally, the temperatures are dropping to manageable levels and the air quality in our area seems to be slowly improving. This year is testing our resiliency muscle - and some of us are exhausted.
When I feel exhaustion or overwhelm, I find that if I take a pause I can get back on track. When I add a centering practice, a short meditation, or a body awareness practice, I feel refreshed and revitalized. Today I share with you a LifeForce Yoga Centering Practice that has helped me and many of my students. It’s one I often use in class. It’s a good short 13-minute practice to give yourself space to re-center between activities. You can consider this practice as a yoga snack for your break. All you need to do is follow my voice as I guide you through it. There are no asanas or yoga poses. The practice includes:
Body awareness,
Breath awareness,
Breathwork ( pranayama),
Mantra (sound),*
Mudra (hand gestures)
Setting intention (Sankalpa), and
Bhavana (visualizaiton).
You can do this practice sitting or standing. It can also be the centering or beginning piece of a yoga home-practice if you have one. Or you can try it anytime you need a centering pause.
If you are interested or curious about LifeForce Yoga, I am offering private sessions for individuals or small groups. I am currently offering these sessions via Zoom. If you want to find out more about it, send me a note at mi@restandbewell.com.
I wish you a centered and peaceful week. Be good to yourself!
Rest and be well.
Love,
Marcela
*Chanting Om Shown to Deactivate the Limbic System—find the research here.
P.S. Next Saturday, October 17th is the Wild Woman Workshop. We will be learning about intuition from the story of Vasilisa and the tiny doll in her pocket. Join us. Info here.
Listening/Reading/Learning/Supporting
Spirituality and Practice is a great place to explore the spirituality of different traditions. I have been using them as a resource for my own practice for many years. They offer online on-demand courses and online retreats at very reasonable prices, and the site has many free quality resources. They have sections on Film, Books, Art, and Explorations (where they have subsections on Elder Spirituality, Practicing Democracy, and The Reverence Project). From their About Page: This multifaith and interspiritual website, founded by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, is devoted to resources for spiritual journeys. The site's name reflects a basic understanding: spirituality and practice are the two places where all the world's religions and spiritual paths come together. While respecting the differences among traditions, we celebrate what they share in common.
Centering with a yoga snack…Blanca’s favorite.