Hello Fellow Embodied Hearts –

I endeavor to send this missive out every New Moon…I am a little late this month and it is good practice for me to trust that in the big scheme of things this is not a big deal and you will not take umbrage.

I turn 50 on October 12th! There is a great deal of transition and movement happening as I step into this 6th decade of life. It is both exhilarating and exhausting. I am excited to share some reflections, considerations and new opportunities with you.

First, you will notice a new look and feel to this newsletter. Well, I have a new website and the newsletter is now a publication of my blog posts. This site reflects the shifts my work has been undergoing over the past several years. I am offering more one-to-one work focusing on helping you become more resilient and building your capacity for life in all its twists and turns, ups and downs. This is an exciting way to step into the next phase of my life and deepen my way of serving. Check it out!

Second, I have been reviewing the past decade (and prior) and considering where I have been in order to get clearer about how I want to move forward. These kinds of pauses are important. They can offer the possibility of re-orienting ourselves to our intended path and trajectory.  The past decade has been full of soul wrenching challenges for me…I lost my larger extended yoga community, both my beloved elderly cats died, I lost an important mentor and friend, I fell ill, my father died, and my husband fell ill. Yet, it was also full of remarkable opportunities…I met my mentor and friend, Susan Harper, and began my in-depth exploration of Continuum, I deepened my relationship with my much older brothers, I did some deep somatic healing of my own life’s traumas, I completed an in-depth two year energy healing training, I embarked on a three year training to become a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (which I will compete this month!), I adopted two kittens, and I became a recognized Continuum Teacher (just last week). WOW…this is the terrible beauty of life. 

As I consider all these experiences (and there are many more) I more deeply understand how life will simply give me what it gives me and it is up to me what I do with all of it. How I respond, metabolize and learn from it. How I hold my grief, my sorrow, my longing and my wild joy… all in the same breath sometimes. This is the impetus for me to do the work that I do…to help myself and you find ways to meet life and not be so bowled over and flummoxed, to find more possibility of presence no matter what the circumstances. So, although I may not really like some of the experiences I have had, I know that they have been fodder for my growth as a human, a teacher and a guide. And just as the beautiful poem below relates the beauty of the decomposition of autumn,  how can we find the color and vibrancy along side the loss and the challenges? How can we trust the power of the decay to feed the possibility of something new.

I am excited to keep unfolding and growing, dying and birthing with you. Keep an eye out for new offerings, book a session, and write to me and let me know how you are navigating this wild journey of life and death with whatever grace and presence you are finding.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me…it is an honor to walk with you. 

Practice Prompts:

• Practice pausing regularly throughout your day, your week, your year, your life. Notice what you were doing just a moment ago, and where you are right now. Stay with the now…what you see, smell, hear, feel, taste…for several minutes. Then consider how you wish to move forward into the next activity, conversation or interaction with the world. This is a simple and beautiful way to keep gently tending your trajectory of presence.
• When wishing and planning for something different or new, pause and create a gratitude list of what you have now. Then from this place of abundance consider how you wish to move towards your desired outcome.
• Identify and practice the practices that help you come back to yourself and the clarity of the moment…yoga, walking, sitting and listening, dancing, gazing at water, meditating, sitting with the trees, cooking…
• Book a Resiliency Session and we will take some time to pause and listen to the wisdom of your body and see where you might find more space for what’s next.

Upcoming Practice Opportunities:

• Full Moon Mandala Practice…Thursday, October 10, 7-8:30pm
• Continuum Inquiry Playshop…Monday, October 14, 7-9pm
• Yoga Nidra Practice…Sunday, October 20, 5:30-7pm
• Harvesting the Heart Breitenbush Retreat…Nov 15 -17 (early bird reg ends Oct 15)

Inspirational Wisdom:

October

Light in leaves in wind in sky.

Bright October brings beauty
to dead things
and the wingless learn
to fly.

Berries try to stash the summer
in their skin.
Squirrels bury food
and future forests.

Flowers fall back into all
the abundance that birthed
them and decay
paves the way for life
upon life.

When our dreams fall
we might recall
that forests are fed
by the fallen.

What we call death is only
the birth
of bodies and dreams
without boundaries.

What we call death is only
the discovery
that we belong
to the beauty
that burns in all beings.

~ Bernadette Miller