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This Week's Letter from Dana:
Hello beloved ones,
Happy December! One more month before we call 2020 a wrap- WOW! How do you want to complete your year? What are you most hopeful for these last 31 days of the year? As we enter the season of darkness and stillness, it is the perfect time to do what many don't often choose to do- get quiet and go within. Nature, right now, is giving us permission to slow the pace of life, hunker down, and embrace the gifts the darkness brings. Though this holiday season will likely not hold many of the people and traditions we count as most dear, my hope for each of us is to replace the normal hectic, long holiday to do lists, crazy busy shopping & ugly sweater parties with permission to rest and simply be. I invite you to join me in making a "Holiday to BE List" this year. Get out a journal and write this question: 'How do I want to be this holiday season?' I implore you to choose life affirming ways of being; joyful, grateful, jolly, generous, loving, thoughtful- the list is long. Set your mind and heart to that way of being and know that is enough; that you are enough. It's not our doing or buying, cooking, decorating, or entertaining that makes us or the season special, it's our essential nature. Your precious essence needs tending and restoration; body, mind and spirit. So go easy with your precious self this holiday and what you might think it should be. Let us take a page from Mother Nature's playbook this winter. She takes time to rest and we are called to follow her lead into quietude and reflection. Winter, darkness, this global pandemic, can feel like endless, almost like ground hog's day. Yet all things do eventually end and this will too. Let us use this time to shore up our inner resources, plant the seeds for 2021, and simply let go, awaiting spring's new growth. A Buddhist teacher, Stephanie Noble, speaks to the power of the darkness in a way that I find beautiful & provocative. “Dark is the rich fertile earth that cradles the seed, nourishing growth. Dark is the soft night that cradles us to rest. Only in darkness can stars shine across the vastness of space... There is mystery woven in the dark quiet hours. There is magic in the darkness... We are born of this magic.” Let us use these days of darkness to unleash our magic! You are loved, dana Join our Live Practice!
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“So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.” – T.S.Eliot
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Hello beloved ones, Happy December! One more month before we call 2020 a wrap- WOW! How do you want to complete your year? What are you most hopeful for these last 31 days of the year? How can you turn 2020 around, even just a little? Though it's been a rough year, we can all acknowledge that, and then flip the script to a more positive mindset. It's the only thing we have control over really anyhow. Recently, I was listening to a podcast where the speaker told a story of her repeatedly hearing the phrase 'don't get your hopes up' her entire life. That was the mantra she lived by for a long time, until realization struck. “Don’t get your hopes up” is one of the worst sentences in the English language. Not only is it just rude, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don’t get your hopes up, if all you focus on is feeling negative, then you’re going to have a bad time. So, we implore you: get your hopes WAY up, dream like it’s going out of style, & make tomorrow exactly what you want it to be." ~Lori Harder So I'm ALL about that. Who's with me? Let's anchor into hope, elevate our positive energy and activate our lives. Let's bring it all to the mat this week and every week until the end of the year. Then it's limitless. To infinity & beyond, dana This Week's PracticeDear ones, Our Hindu brothers and sisters celebrated Diwali this past weekend; the festival of light which signifies the beginning of the new year. It's a beautiful holiday to remember that light prevails over darkness. What a timely message indeed. The world is tough right now. The days are dark, many are back in quarantine (many of us never left), kids are home, many are sick & our hospitals overflowing. Lives, livelihoods, and jobs continue to be lost; it can look like there is no end in sight. If you're discouraged, scared, overwhelmed, or stressed, you are not alone. If you need to go under the covers, hide, go within, retreat from reality, do it without shame. Do it intentionally, yet do not stay there. A moment can become a rut that you do not not want to settle into & furnish. Though it can seem oppressively dark, remember light always burns within. Though the spark may seem dim, almost indistinguishable, it's there! There's always an ember of hope because you have life. This too shall pass. Feel your feelings and allow them to flow through you. Do not dwell too long in the lonely cave of fear, diminishment, and isolation. Even the bear emerges in spring ready for a new season after a long winter's nap. Diwali honors the goddess Lakshmi on the festival of lights. She is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, beauty, fertility, and auspiciousness. With her arms raised to bless and grant, she signifies the promise of material fulfilment and contentment. Hindus offer prayers to Lakshmi to bring good luck and fortune in the coming year. Though we all may not be practicing Hindus, let us lean into this holiday of embracing light and calling out for help & guidance into the new year. May this blessing offer you balm for your soul and light on your path. Oh Great Goddess, embodiment of the Lotus and the fulfiller of all desires, May your grace flow. May your grace flow. Great Goddess of all Creative Power and Abundance Lakshmi rose the spell of the intoxicating sweetness of the divine; to be close to her is a profound happiness and to feel her within the heart is the make existence a rapture and a marvel; grace and charm and tenderness flow out from her light, light from the sun and wherever she fixes her wonderful gaze or lets fall the loveliness of her smile, the soul is seized and made captive and plunged into the depths of an unfathomable light. - Sri Aurobindo, “The Mother” Shine your light, share your life. The world needs you now more than ever. Go in peace. Namaste. May it be so, Dana “Nothing can dim the light that
shines from within.” – Maya Angelou Hello beloved ones, I am not one to start an email with negativity and stress, yet today I do want to face it head on looking at the data with radically honesty and personal reflection. We are seven months into this global pandemic reality, RBG has been replaced in whiplash speed by Amy Comey Barrett confirmed to the Supreme Court , and our election is six only days away. The US economy is facing a tsunami of long-term unemployment as millions who lost jobs early in the pandemic remain out of work six months later and job losses increasingly turn permanent. Need I go on? The stress of pandemic is impacting all of us in different ways and at different times. A recent NPR article states that we are seeing sleepless nights, hair loss and cracked teeth as pandemic stress takes its toll. Front line workers, poll workers, college students, teens/young kiddos, parents & families, racial/ethnic minorities, and unpaid adult caregivers are some of the main populations impacted. Why do I elevate this information? Because it's real. SO real in fact I am one who is personally experiencing sleepless nights, brittle hair breakage/loss AND I just went to the dentist this week; two fractures in one tooth and I now need a crown. Seriously, I cannot make this business up. And this is just about me personally, nothing of what I know to be true of the struggle of my family, friends, and people with which I work. People are struggling all over! Though only I can share my own story, I do this humbly and transparently, so you know you are not alone. What is the good news?What is the good news? What is the remedy? I only teach that which I need to learn most, so join me tonight for Week 2 of our 'Sweet Sleep & Dreams' four week series. Yoga nidra and gentle/restorative yoga are the focus. We all need to allow ourselves spaciousness, graciousness, and the gift of time to restore our bodies, minds, and hearts. Calming down our nervous systems that are functioning in overdrive is critical. Caring for our precious selves is the only way we will make it through with our physical health and mental wellbeing in tact. According to the National Institutes of Health: "Quality sleep- and getting enough of it at the right time- is as essential to survival as food and water. Without sleep you cannot form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories, and it's harder to concentrate and respond quickly. Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells (neurons) communicate with each other. In fact, your brain and body stay remarkably active while you sleep. Recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake. " The long and short: sleep is not a choice. It is essential to overall health & daily functionality. How do we actually get more quality sleep? Though there are many inputs into getting a good night's sleep, there are proven ways that help support you. Movement and breath are huge; yoga, walking, biking, anything that moves your body, gets you breathing, into your body & out of your head. This allows us the opportunity to shut off the mind for a moment and silence the chatterbox between our ears! Meditation is also key to calming an active mind which is directly connected to our bodies. When our mind slows, our body can relax, rest, and restore. Join me tonight to practice just those tools; movement, breath, and meditation. We will breathe slowly & deeply, move gently and mindfully, and rest peacefully & with ease. This is critical for your self-care and overall health & wellbeing. Please prioritize YOU! See you on the mat soon. Yours in ease & zzzzz's, xo dana Upcoming EventsSweet Sleep & Dreams Week 3 w/ Dana November 4, 2020- 3:30PT | 6:30ET Sweet Sleep & Dreams Week 4 w/ Dana November 11, 2020- 3:30PT | 6:30ET Join us on our Facebook Page Hello tribe, How are you? How's your stress level? How's your focus, creativity, inspiration? If any of this is landing in an OMG I don't want to entertain these questions kind of way, I am for sure talking directly to you. Life these days can get to be too much. However, if you're feeling overwhelmed, without enough energy, and running low on patience & productivity, ask yourself 'how's my sleep?' There you will find a big clue to how you're feeling and functioning day to day. In our culture a phrase is often thrown around, "You can sleep when you're dead." Welp, I am here to say without sleep you can feel like the walking dead. I don't recommend not sleeping as your aspiration; it's really not so noble. The grind, burning the midnight oil, crushing it, killin' it, nose to the grindstone, putting in blood/sweat/tears & the like are simply not sustainable and can actually be harmful to your long-term health and wellbeing. Over the next four weeks, we are going to focus on restorative practices such as Yin and Yoga Nidra, both forms of yoga that will help us sleep better. We will take small steps and tool up on tips & techniques that can support more restful nights and more hopeful, inspired days. Yours in ease and zzzzz's, dana Upcoming EventsVolunteer Events in West Michigan: Feel Better DO Good!
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“The EmbodyGR community embraces and supports, says ‘yes you can’ when the noisy inner voice says, ‘no you can’t’ – Kari Wilson, Community Member Archives
September 2021
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