Yoga Times & Summer Solstice Gathering
Join me in class to nourish your nervous system and to welcome the firey season of summer! Also, I have a video demonstration of my favourite breath work practice!
Yoga, Meditation, and Wellness Classes:
Upcoming June & July 2024:
Yoga and Meditation classes are happening on Denman Island.
Classes are on Tuesdays:
June 4, 11, 18, 25, July 2 and 9
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Classes will be held at the Denman Island Gathering Place
4575 Denman Road
Please reserve the days you can attend by replying to this email as spaces are limited. You do NOT need to attend all classes.
These classes are trauma-sensitive, restorative style (mostly done on the floor) and excellent for all levels and abilities. Even total beginners to yoga and those recovering from an injury or surgery will be able to participate in these offerings.
The intention of these classes is to calm the nervous system and deeply rest the body. We want to trigger the rest/digest system and give the stress response system a very well deserved break.
We end each class with a guided Yoga Nidra meditation. This is a powerful ancient practice with lots of great research behind it that supports its claims to meet and calm anxiety and insomnia with skill.
You will leave feeling restored, nourished, and ready for a dreamy deep sleep. No need to bring anything but yourself and some water to drink. Dress in layers. I will take care of the rest. I look forward to practicing with you!
Summer Solstice Yoga Gathering on the Full Moon
June 22nd 1pm - 4pm
We will enjoy a yoga practice, Yoga Nidra guided meditation created specifically for this Solstice gathering, a full moon ritual to invite in Summer Solstice, herbal tea from the garden, and some journal prompts to bring clarity and to connect with this firey season.
Let’s welcome and honour the Summer season with intention!
Podcast Series - Stay Tuned!
I am in the midst of creating five podcasts that tell the story of how I came to this work, stories from folks I have worked with over the years, and stories of how we have begun the work of removing the layers of unhelpful beliefs, habits, and ways of being so that we can walk more lightly and brightly through the world.
The world needs our calm and our light right now. We need our calm and light right now. Together we can help each other walk calmly, wisely, attentively through this very troubled (and very beautiful) world. We are all in this together. Stay tuned for this offering coming up this summer!
“We are all just walking each other home…” ~Ram Dass
Feeling triggered? Here is some proven help…
I was communicating via text yesterday with one of my favourite humans and she was sharing how triggering it is to be around some family members and how hard she was trying to rise above the difficult relationship dynamics. It brought to mind so many difficult situations I have had to face this past year. I have lost three family members in the last 10 months and have spoken at all three Celebrations Of Life. I used this breath practice to support myself through all of it. It is portable, powerful, and super easy to learn. I cannot recommend this practice enough. I demonstrate it in a video below.
Cyclic Sighing is the fastest physiologically verified way to meet and prevent mounting stress. For the sake of stress reduction around the clock, and improved sleep and mood, this type of breath is the best medicine.
How to do Cyclic Sighing:
Inhale through the nose as deeply as you can, and then do a second inhale immediately afterward to maximumly inflate the lungs.
During the second inhale or sip of air, even if it is a very short sip of air, the physical vigor necessary to create that second inhale causes the alveoli of the lungs (which collapse or lie down when we are stressed or elevated) to pop back upright. These little workhorses of the lungs start to collapse because of stress during the day or in moments of acute stress.
One Cyclic Sigh during the day is the fastest physiological way known to reduce your stress and access your calm. It moves us from fight/flight to rest/digest.
I set a timer while walking my doggie and do five minutes of this breath. Stacking yields as the Permaculturists would say.
As stressful situations come my way, I quietly use this breath to calm my nervous system so that I can make the best possible decisions and choices in the moment. Real-time help. I love that about this breath. I teach it to all of my yoga students, private clients, and loved ones whenever we do any kind of work together. It is that GOOD!
Demo Video here:
MIDLIFE MUSINGS & refusing to rush…
Stitches of Connection ~ don’t leave me halfway…
I had to clean out the spare room several days ago. The closet had become unmanageable in a way that could be dangerous to any unsuspecting soul who had the misfortune of opening the door. I suspected the closet was representing the inner workings of my mind somehow, so I needed to address it.
I decided to empty it of all the crammed and jammed items which mostly consisted of my sewing stuff: fabric stash, notions, iron, ironing board, various worn-out clothing items so patiently waiting to be mended (probably not ever gonna happen in my lifetime but I don't tell them that), and a partially made quilt that I started about 9 or 10 YEARS ago.
I don’t even own the bed frame I had based the quilt’s colour palette on any longer. Somewhere during its creation, I decided that I didn’t like the look of the quilt. This happens often whenever I am working on a creative project. Halfway through I decide it is not beautiful or good enough in some way and I put it away or quit. But there is an energetic cost to abandoning these projects. A trail of unfinished inspiration.
When I work in my art journal and am unhappy with an image unfolding on the page, I often want to close the journal and walk away. And that’s precisely when a little voice from somewhere deep within whispers, “Don’t leave me halfway…” And I keep going. Inevitably those pages become my favourites. And each time I am surprised at what unfolds on to the page.
I think the messages we receive around the making of art and creative practices are stifling. We are told only a precious few of us are artists or are artistic or creative. You are either born with it or not. Your creations are only valuable and justify the time taken to make them if they can be bought or sold. A quilt made by a factory has perfectly even stitches. How can anyone compete?
Ironically the beauty in any art is the evidence of its originality made possible by exactly the homemade-ness and imperfections and humaness of it all. The process of creating the thing is where the real value is found. The process of making something with my own hands is where the satisfaction lies. I have missed the forest for the trees when I believe the narrative that because I don’t make money from it, it is not worth doing.
I love being older and knowing (and continually learning) better now. Humans are meant to create. All of us. Not just a special few.
I remember when I would first spend time in this stunningly beautiful land that I call home now. It was as if the natural beauty created by Nature herself, was taunting, challenging, calling for me to create something. My hands itched to be making something from nothing.
I have worked with children in some capacity for my whole life. They pick up a paintbrush with authority. They dance with abandon. They sing with their whole hearts. And never once do they question their ability or their right to be doing the thing. When did I lose that? How do I reclaim that? How do I protect that creative confidence and impulse in the children I know and love?
I pulled that abandoned quilt out and had a second look. That little voice stated the obvious: I had left this quilt halfway... I had walked away in frustration and defeat because of the perception of it not meeting some kind of perfectionist standards for quilting. My uneven stitches and squares, imperfectly sewn together, had resulted in a quilt that embarrassed me. So it was banished to the back of a closet never to see the light of day again… until it was time to move houses.
When I was boxing up my previous home to move here, that half-made quilt almost did not make the cut for coming with us to our new home. When I came across it I considered placing it in the giveaway pile but something in my heart stopped me—too much time had been invested in this thing.
When I started creating the quilt a decade ago, we were tight on funds because our business needed to find a new commercial space and so we were watching our pennies closely. The fabric was mostly sourced from second-hand men’s shirts I found at a thrift store. I deconstructed the shirts and repurposed the fabric. So much time. So much effort. I could not throw it away or give it away. So the unliked, half-made handmade quilt was reluctantly placed into the moving boxes labeled “Sewing Stuff.”
I began working on it again after my closet-cleaning episode brought it back to my attention. As I stitched it together these past days, I remembered my precious Nana. She made quilts too. And not the perfect kind. She made improvisational quilts. One had my name stitched on it and lived on my bed throughout my childhood. I loved that quilt. I am so sad that it has been lost through the decades. What I would do to sleep under it once again and have her handmade creation keep me warm…
Every so often as I was sleeping under it or using it for fort-building with friends I would get a prick from a stick pin left behind in the quilt. Pins were often mistakenly left in sewing projects by my Nana who could not see so well. We all knew to be cautious whenever she would make us something from her sewing machine because for sure there would be forgotten pins somewhere.
Pulling this quilt out and working on it has brought so many beautiful insights and much satisfaction. I feel connected to my Nana, an ancestor now, who made many blankets and other creative things for her family while she was alive.
She loved making things with her hands. I am sure this is why I do too. I felt connected to her as I remembered, with gratitude, the hours I watched her sewing as a kid. My job was to thread the needle of her machine as needed because her eyes were not able to see well enough for that particular task. I felt super important each time I did it for her.
It is deeply satisfying to not leave this quilt halfway. I am seeing it through to completion. And with an extra decade of living that I have done since I began the quilt, I have now come to love the imperfectness of it. It proves its handmade origins. Each uneven stitch and uneven edge is what gives it its value, its essence. A human made this. I have a teacher* who offers a class called, A Quilt is Something Human. And that it is.
There is an energetic relief and joy at completing a project that had been long abandoned. I have created space by completing this quilt. Energetically, I can move on to other projects. This one has been given the attention it is due. Commitment. Completion. Closure. Reflection.
It has inspired me to keep going. To keep making. To keep creating. I can feel these unhelpful beliefs around my creativity and art-making dying and I am celebrating that death.
I look around my home right now. Art journal with pastels on the coffee table. Sewing machine on the kitchen table. Canvas on the floor. It looks like a studio gone wild in here.
That makes my heart happy and my itching hands are soothed.
This past Spring Equinox, I made some intentions about what I wanted to prioritize in my life this season. As I write this, I am reminded to not leave my intentions halfway either. So many connections. This quilt has become a teacher. Every time I use now, I am reminded to see things through to the other side.
Go make some art!
*Cody Cooke-Parrot is the teacher (amazing teacher — go take a class with them)
ROOTS, SHOOTS & LEAVES: what’s in my mug…
As I mentioned earlier, this past year has been a doozy for grief. Fortunately, I was studying under a herbalist near me as we began saying goodbye to three beloved family members beginning last summer.
My teacher, Amanda Howe (huge shout out to Black Bear Herbs in Cumberland - go study with her), had us make Wild Rose infusions with honey using the abundant Wild roses we foraged from the woods around us. The petals of the Wild rose plant are supportive for both the physical and emotional heart. We were taught that the rose petals are soothing and calming for anyone suffering from grief, loss, sadness, or any other kind of broken heart.
She made us each a cup of this tea and the effect on me was immediate. Nothing had changed externally. My loved ones were not returning in physical form and yet somehow this warm mug of rose petal magic met me right there in the midst of it. Almost whispering, I know how much this hurts and I am so willing to love and support you here. I am only a boiled kettle away whenever you need me…
Totally woo woo. I know. And yet, it is true. If you do not believe me, I beg you to try it yourself and see how effective this plant is for walking with you through the sad days.
Right now (where I am) is the perfect time to begin foraging the petals. We harvest them straight into a jar and then infuse them into honey by pouring it over the petals collected. We make sure the honey covered all of the petals. I then make a tea of Lemon Balm or Mint or whatever is available and sweeten it with this Wild Rose Petal honey. So easy. So nurturing. Such a great way to access the support of Wild Rose petals long after they have finished blooming.
Here is the recipe from Black Bear Herbs:
1/2 cup of honey in a large jar
Fresh Rose petals
Warm the honey gently in a large jar. Be very careful not to boil or overheat. Take the jar of honey to the Rose bush. Carefully harvest a few roses, leaving lots for the bees and other pollinators, and leave lots for the rose hips that will form in fall. Add the roses to the warm honey and immediately put the lid on the jar. Allow to infuse for a day or two and add new rose petals as you wish.
Add a teaspoon of this honey to tea whenever you need some support or want a beautiful treat from nature.
Handle the roses with care as they bruise easily (don’t we all with matters of the heart). Be sure to approach the rose bush with respect and only take what you need. I love to bring some compost or a drink of water as an offering of thanks to the plants I harvest. This keeps me in right relationship with the plant. My intention is to always harvest and forage in a good way…
There is much to be grieved in our world at the moment. A mug of this goodness will support your heart with whatever it is you are feeling the feels about.
Plants are magic. That is what is in my mug these days…
P.S. My Nana loved roses. And tea. Just wanted you to know.
Wishing you peace and love in your mug!