Category Archives: Blessings/Meditations

A Valentine’s Day Blessing

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It’s Valentine’s Day … and an unexpected day off, due to icy weather. It feels a bit like a Valentine’s Day gift.

When I was very young, I was ambivalent about Valentine’s Day. Then I moved to stridently anti-Valentine’s, due to the lack of romance in my life at the time. Valentine’s seemed to be less a time of celebrating love, then rubbing it in the face of those of us who were feeling noticeably – embarrassingly – unloved.

I later came around to feel that Valentine’s was not so much a time for celebrating romance, but rather love and friendship. That felt much better, much truer to me.

And, today, I think that Valentine’s Day is also for honoring, celebrating, and loving oneself. For if we can’t love ourselves – who we are, what we do, and how we spend our moments – then how can we truly love others?

In massage therapy, we learn that it is vitally important to care for ourselves first. An unhealthy massage therapist is not a very good massage therapist for anyone else. In the same spirit, if we can’t take pleasure in who we are, how can we expect others to?

So I hope you will take a moment today to first be your own Valentine. Take a moment not to judge, or self-critique, or criticize. (I think many of us spend too much time already in those unhealthy pursuits.) Instead, take a moment to find something within that makes you special and so worthy of love. Something that makes you smile. Have a bit of chocolate. Or buy yourself some flowers. Do something special for yourself.

And, then, do something special for someone in your life.

As I was doing my yoga yesterday, I was joined by Groucho, one of my cats. She often sits in on my practices, patiently waiting for savasana and meditation, when she can crawl under my prayer blanket for a cozy snooze.

Yesterday, I asked her in my heart to communicate with me, to share a secret with me. And, she told me this:

I live. I love. I rest.

It sounds like a plenty good philosophy to me. And, it also sounds like a good blessing for this peaceful holiday.

On this day, may you …

Live. Love. Rest.

Namasté
Jackie

Thanksgiving Blessing

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This is the blessing from our Thanksgiving yoga classes during the past week. Each year, I look for a new Thanksgiving blessing to share with you … and each year, invariably, I come back to this one. It is from W.E.B. Du Bois, the tireless civil rights leader and author.

Give us thankful hearts … in this the season of Thy Thanksgiving. May we be thankful for health and strength, for sun and rain and peace. Let us seize the day and the opportunity and strive for that greatness of spirit that measures life not by its disappointments but by its possibilities, and let us ever remember that true gratitude and appreciation shows itself neither in independence nor satisfaction, but passes the gift joyfully on in larger and better form.

Feeling Blessed? Here’s more on gratitude from our Yoga classes over the years …

Click here for the Gratitude Savasana and Energy Bridge instruction:Thanksgiving Yoga ~ A Blessing, Part 1

Click here for another beautiful blessing that guided our meditation at the end of one Thanksgiving Yoga class: Thanksgiving Yoga ~ A Blessing, Part 2

Here The Buddha explains why we should be thankful, click: So, Let Us All Be Thankful

For “Thanksgiving Yoga: Rekindling Our Light”, click: Rekindling Our Light

And, for a beautiful poem of Gratitude from Harriett Kofalk that served as the foundation of another Thanksgiving Day Yoga practice click: I Give Thanks

May you have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving …

Namasté

White & Gold — A Balancing Breath

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The “White & Gold” breath is a mindful way to fully expand the lungs, draw in fresh prana (the life force that surrounds us), balance and harmonize the body’s rhythms, and empty out negative congestion in the body (those things that slow us down).

We practiced this breath in yoga class on 9/14 … and we will use it in next week’s classes as well. (So you can try it out before class if you like!)

Sit comfortably. Or lie down (if you promise not to snooze). It is possible to do this breath while sitting at your desk or sitting in traffic. (I wouldn’t advise you to do it while driving … but I have been known to slip a breath or two in when going from here to there.)

Just relax a bit and find your breath. Try to ignore the other distractions of life, and just listen to air as it journeys in through the nostrils and finds it way into the lungs and journeys out through the nostrils. This sound of the breath can be very quieting for the body and mind. (I always like to imagine that even as I am doing nothing – being completely lazy – the restful rhythm of my breath is carrying on … sustaining and renewing me.)

After a minute or two, begin to focus on just the right side of the body. Imagine the breath coming into the right side of the body as though it were a vibrant and radiant white light, flowing into the right nostril and filling the body – filling the head, the torso, the right arm, and right leg – with healing prana white light.

As you begin to exhale, gently move your awareness to the left side of the body and imagine the left side of the body exhaling fully – from the left leg and left arm, from the left side of the torso, and the left lung – sending a strong golden light of empowerment and cleansing out through the left nostril.

So, the in breath becomes a vibrant white light for healing, coming into the right side of the body, and the out breath becomes a radiant golden light of cleansing and empowerment as it goes out through the left side of the body.

Try this for several breaths and then switch sides. With the white light now coming in on the left, filling the left side of the body, and the golden light now moving through and out on the right side.

This is not the alternate nostril breath we sometimes practice in yoga, where we physically block one nostril as we breathe. Instead, we are simply using our inner awareness – our imagination – to focus our attention on the breath … to pay attention to just one side of the body as the breath flows in and out.

By moving attention from right to left we help to not only calm the nervous system, but to harmonize and balance the energies of the body.

Visualizing the healing energy of the in breath as a white light is a nice way to remind ourselves of how healing our breath (and yoga practice) can be. And, as we cleanse with the golden light of the out breath, we also are reminded of our own personal power – that we can, indeed, rid ourselves of stress and other challenges. We can control our tension and stress and we can let it all go … with simply a breath.

I hope you enjoy this nice little practice. Play with it … and simply breathe!

Namasté

Present Moment, Wonderful Moment

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“Even though life is hard, even though it is sometimes difficult to smile, we must try.” Those words come from Thich Nhat Hanh in his book Being Peace. He continues: “A human being is like a television set with millions of channels. If we turn the Buddha on, we are the Buddha. If we turn sorrow on, we are sorrow. If we turn a smile on, we really are the smile.”

This is the meditation from Thich Nhat Hanh used in yoga class on 9/11 and 9/12. Each line corresponds to either an inhalation or an exhalation. Play with this meditation and see what blooms in you:

Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment
I know this is a wonderful moment.

You may shorten this meditation. Simply follow your breath with the words: Calm … Smile … Present Moment … Wonderful Moment.

Enjoy your present moment today … let go of the past and try to not stretch into the future. Let a little smile creep onto the edges of your lips. And, then let your body smile.

Namasté

Creating A Peaceful Spirit

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This is from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Being Peace … a gentle and hopeful suggestion for us all. After all, if we can bring a bit of peacefulness into our own life … no matter how small our efforts may seem … there is that much more peace that exists in our world that wasn’t there before.

If we are peaceful,
if we are happy,
we can smile and blossom like a flower,
and everyone in our family, our entire society,
will benefit from our peace.

I hope you let your inner flower bloom today — I’m feeling a bit sunflower-y myself. Wishing you peace today!

Chinook Blessing from Thursday’s Class

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You know, any time is a good time for a little dance of joy! May you walk in peace … and dance in joy. This is an old blessing from the Chinook tribe of the Pacific Northwest. Just like the Sanskrit word Namasté, which serves as a foundation of our yoga classes, this blessing celebrates the warmth and unity of knowing we all are one:

May all things move and be moved in me,
And know and be known in me.

May all creation
Dance for joy within me.

Namasté,
Jackie

Peace Blessing From The Vedas

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This is the peace blessing from yoga class on Monday & Tuesday (7/24 & 7/25). It’s from the Vedas, ancient sacred Hindu texts. While the blessing is thousands of years old, its call for peace feels especially right in today’s world. Perhaps you can add this blessing to your yoga or meditation practice, or your Reiki work this week, allowing the sweet intention of peace to bloom in you and in your practice.

May there be peace in the higher regions;
May there be peace in the firmament;
May there be peace on earth.

May the waters flow peacefully;
May the herbs and plants grow peacefully;
May all the divine powers bring unto us peace.

May we all be in peace, peace, and only peace.
And may that peace come unto each of us.

Namaste.