Emerging Wellness

The very first meditation I ever learned back in 1987 was the candle meditation. It is a simple, gentle meditation which helps you: quiet the mind; shows you the effect of your breath on an outside source so you can witness how your breath is effecting you; supports you to focus your awareness; starts teaching you to observe; supports the gentleness that is required to nurture with your mind; creates a soothing environment and allows you to build up your stamina for sitting quietly. Try it and let me know what you think.

One way to practice listening within is meditation. The benefits of meditation are many - stress reduction, deeper connection to yourself, relief from mental health symptoms, calming the nervous system, supporting the vagus nerve's health, creating a clear mind, improving your observation skills, improving your breathing. For women who are use to putting others first, meditation is a practice where you are prioritizing time for yourself. The practice itself supports you to be with yourself, which initially may involve witnessing your monkey mind. Detach and observe her, without judgement - like watching a movie - don't engage, just watch. You maybe surprise to witness the gems that arise from simply observing.

Silence......when you allow the chatter inside your head to quiet, what do you hear? Does a tiny voice speak up to be noticed? Do you start singing a song to fill up the space? Or do the sounds within get even louder the moment you try to quiet them? There is no right answer. Be present to what is arising, without judgement, simply witnessing. With time, you will start to discern the qualities of yourself that are wanting to be heard and create the space to listen further to them if you need to. The more we relax and allow ourself to listen within, the more we will become aware and conscious of what our needs are on a deeper level and be able to respond to them and consider them, when we relate to others.

How many women do you know who put others first before themselves? We have been trained from a very young age to be of service to others or to think of others first. Yet, we need to put our oxygen masks on first before we can care for another. How? We need to learn to listen within and honour what we hear by speaking up.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year!

Each of us has a natural activity level we are pre-disposed to. Having said this, we can reflect on our lives and recognize that even though we may be pre-disposed to one activity level or another, our parents, school system or societal pressures may have had impacted our natural level. You may have noticed during the pandemic that your activity level has either increased or decreased significantly depending on yours and your family’s circumstances. If you are more incline...d to have a low activity level and are now being over burdened with responsibilities, as a lot of women are, you may be experiencing symptoms of burnout. Or, if you are low activity level and you are now engaged in minimal or no physical activity, you maybe witnessing yourself having more physical aches and pains or gaining unwanted weight. On the other hand, if you are more inclined to have a high activity level and are now finding your gym closed or your sports team cancelled you maybe challenged to find activities which release built up tension and release stress as you are accustomed to. Or, you may find that there you have added responsibilities which are effecting your day to day structure and have not yet figured out to balance out time to incorporate your physical needs. Both activity levels are being challenged, though in different ways in and to different degrees. For the high activity person, you are being asked to do less physical activity or find new ways to incorporate activity into your life. For the low activity person, you are being asked to find actives which engage you to get off the couch or office chair or how to create moments of self care into a busy life. So, what are some of your options? For the high activity person, there are personal trainers, online workouts or videos, going for a run, bike rid, rowing, hiking or climbing. For the low activity person, there are online classes or videos for yoga, qigong, tai chi or interval training, or going for a walk in your neighbourhood. Additionally, if you are a parent, grandparent or own a pet, being engaged with young ones or animals will naturally engage you in being more active or model for you what you can do more of to either relax or be more physically engaged. Having the courage to step out of your comfort zone to do something you would not usually do to be either more or less physically engaged is what all of us are being asked to examine in some form or another at this time. As the series on temperament continues, other aspects of your traits will be explored to assist you in further in how to adapt to the new environment we are all having to create and see it as a way to evolve. https://www.emergewellness.ca/services

Courage.....the ability to feel fear yet trust in the greater vision, yourself or another, and proceed anyway. Courage is a quality many of us are being called to feel and do at this time. My intention over the coming days is support you to witness your unique traits and how they will support you to evolve and find the courage within.

Each of us is born with a unique combination of temperament traits which informs and creates our personality. These traits are influenced by your family, culture or experience so that they evolve over time, yet can still initially effect how you respond or react to situations, people or even yourself. Temperament is one of the ways you are unique. Your temperament is the foundation for your own style of thinking, acting and interacting with the world. Over the coming days... I will explore each of the traits. In support of these evolving times, I will support you to witness the traits through the eyes of courage. You may notice that there are components of each trait's range that you can identify within yourself when you reflect on different times in your life and situations. The possibilities in our life are not fixed. Your observations are accurate. The trait is present, yet has evolved. We are always evolving. My intention over the coming days is to support your unique temperament to find your way in this evolving time.

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When we are in the presence of someone who is fully present, we can see their engagement in their eyes. They are home. Are you?