Embody Goodness - and Important Announcements

Hello beautiful ones,


As I write this, the air is filled with smoke and our beautiful earth burns in Northern California. People are being evacuated from their homes into an uncertain COVID world, firefighters rescued by helicopter, land, national forests, homes & businesses burning to the ground. Across our nation, kids are back to school in all manner of learning styles and environments. We are being told to stay home, to leave, to distance and then to come together into evacuation centers, classrooms and college campuses... The situations keep amping up, rules keep changing, numbers go up & down not only for tracking the virus but also for jobs, the stock market, air quality... and certainty seems like something of the very distant past most days. 

AND yet, Embody continues to offer a message of hope, healing, and wellbeing. Check out the bottom of the email for an important update on our partnership with the IsaFoundation & our work nourishing firefighters, first responders, and evacuees impacted by the California wildfires. (Video credit to Embody board member Margaux Drake!) The axiom, action cures fear, really comes into play here and thus living our 'feel better do good' mantra. When I feel helpless, I HELP! WE help! Embody helped so many this past week here in NorCal.... check it out. 

Embody also offers hope, healing, and wellbeing each week as we gather virtually as a global community. We practice yoga and mindfulness so we can manage our lives and create futures we are excited about while making the world a better, safer, healthier place for all beings.

Though we may struggle, please remember there is always hope. Take time to breathe deeply, find gratitude, create an intention, move your body, drink water, and find a place of stillness deep within. The mind may be chaotic on the top but if we drop deep into the center of our being where it's calm, quiet, and all the answers lie, there is peace. May the words of John O'Donohue help us untangle the knots of our being and help settle into the flow of grace & love.

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For Love in a Time of Conflict

When the gentleness between you hardens
And you fall out of your belonging with each other,
May the depths you have reached hold you still.

When no true word can be said, or heard,
And you mirror each other in the script of hurt,
When even the silence has become raw and torn,
May you hear again an echo of your first music.

When the weave of affection starts to unravel
And anger begins to sear the ground between you,
Before this weather of grief invites
The black seed of bitterness to find root,
May your souls come to kiss.

Now is the time for one of you to be gracious,
To allow a kindness beyond thought and hurt,
Reach out with sure hands
To take the chalice of your love,
And carry it carefully through this echoless waste
Until this winter pilgrimage leads you
Towards the gateway to spring.

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I say amen to John O'D! Friends, remember today, this week, next week, into infinity and beyond... you are beloved. You matter. You will be okay. We can do this- TOGETHER! Let us collectively join our hearts & minds for the healing and protection of ourselves, our children, our environment, and our earth.

All my love,

Dana Christian Lee

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Upcoming Events

This week's Embody practice:
Embody welcomes 'Blue Yoga' out of Birmingham, Michigan, as our guest yoga studio who is blessing us with a practice.

Their mission is:

One passion. One practice. One people.
We move, we breathe, we laugh, we set intentions. As a community, we break through barriers. #betterafterblue
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Be sure to add this to your calendar!!!

Embody in Grand Rapids:

Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Guest Studio Host: Blue Yoga Birmingham

Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Embody Team Teacher Jill Fox

Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Embody Team Teacher Stacy Calcatera

Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Embody Team Teacher Leah Grace

Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Embody Founder Dana Christian Lee

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Thanks to Jaron for leading our practice last week!

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“Empaths did not come into this world to be victims, we came to be warriors. Be brave. Stay strong. We need all hands on deck.”
~ Anthon St. Maarten