practices – Page 13 – Nourishing Wholeness

life practices: spring equinox

My intention is to blog once a season about Life Practices in order to share what I am practicing in my life, and to suggest opportunities to join me, as well as ideas to use in your own practice.

Spring Equinox occurs midway between the longest night of the year, at Winter Solstice, and the longest day of the year, at Summer Solstice. It is called an Equinox from the Latin “equal” and “night,” but in reality, the equality of day and night is only approximate and depends on your geographic location! In 2013, the Spring Equinox occurs at 6:02 am Central Time on March 20th.

Following on Winter’s long, cold, inward time, it is natural for us to be ready for the new life and new beginnings which Spring Equinox promises. Many cultures celebrate the Spring Equinox, which often has a connotation of beginning a new year or cycle, with celebrations such as Nowruz (Zoroastrians, Ba’hai and Persians) and Ostara (Celtic, Wiccan, and NeoPaganism). Here in Minnesota, we usually have to wait a little longer to see much physical evidence, but around this time, Winter’s grasp does begin to noticeably lessen as breezes begin to warm, snow melts more quickly, migrating birds begin to return, and early bulbs may even start poking up through the slowly warming earth.

Spring invites us to remember the natural rhythm of the seasons—it’s time, once again, to surge forth into fresh, new life, to open to a new cycle of growth, opportunity, and fortune. And yet, we can also keep in mind what the Equinox represents—just enough balance of day and night, dark and light. We can take a lesson from the plants that will soon emerge—even as the light beckons them to green again, their roots reach down into the dark, fertile earth for its support. Can we keep our feet firmly planted in the dark, ground of inner support that Wintertime has taught us while we reach into the excitement and possibility of Spring?

One common Springtime practice for opening to the newness and freshness is Spring cleaning. This can take many forms—cleaning and decluttering your home, your garden, your relationships, your soul…However you do it, I suggest it not be about banishing anything from your life, but instead about mindfully choosing life-affirming practices that could help you to live your life more fully. What could you choose to cleanse or enter into this Spring that will help you to open to new possibilities and growth? What will support your soul so that more of you can awaken to the possibility of new life? You may want to write in a journal, or try a short ritual alone or with friends that could include the following:
•   Light a candle, yellow or light green in color;
•   Place a living plant near the candle and meditate on the balance of root support and outer growth needed for this plant to thrive, sensing your own internal rootedness.
•   When you are ready, breathe in one life-affirming quality or practice you might like to take on this Spring, and breathe out its opposite (don’t overthink this, whatever arises is fine). Do this for awhile until nothing new arises.
•   Sit quietly, breathing at your own pace, with the living flame of the candle and the living essence of the plant, breathing into your own living, growing soul.
•   When you are ready, say thank you and blow out the candle.

After the Spring Equinox, the days continue to grow longer, until at Summer Solstice, we’ll be back to the longest day. Please plan to join us for our Spring Equinox Celebration at Unity Unitarian Church in St. Paul this year on March 20th! May you welcome and find grace in this changing of the seasons.

Collage as a Practice. I have a collage waiting for me to write about, but it hasn’t been the right time, so that one will have to wait…This collage represents my New Year’s Intention of living more in Natural Presence. It is good to revisit now as I write this Spring Equinox blogpost—just seeing the image again reminds me of why I continue to do my practices. I practice out of devotion to my essence, my soul’s unfolding. I want to be more whole, more natural, more simply present and awake and alive. Collage is one of the practices that helps me to get in touch with this, along with many others I write about in this blog!

What practices do you take on from a place of inviting your soul’s individual unfolding? When do you feel simply present and alive?

Connected, Grounded, & Alive! A 4-week Women’s Practice Circle. Do you feel stressed by life and out of touch with your natural, feminine state of being? Join a group of women to practice connecting with our feminine essence more deeply. We’ll explore with movement and inquiry how to nourish and cultivate our connected, grounded, and alive life-force energy in order to feel happy, authentic, and whole!

No prior knowledge or experience is necessary. Starting this Sunday, March 17th! For more information, see our calendar.

How do you stay in touch with your body? How do you nourish your instinctual life?

Laughter as a Happiness Practice! Come explore the art of laughter to invite more joy, play, and wellbeing into your life! Because of the deep pranayamic breathing exercises, this form of practice is also called Laughter Yoga, but it does not include any physical asanas and can be practiced by people of all ages who are willing to be a little bit silly. It was started in 1995 by a family physician in India and is now widely practiced in over 65 countries around the world. Medical research supports its physical and emotional health-giving effects.

I am a Certified Laughter Yoga leader, and I offer a few different opportunities for laughing with a group. The Summit Hill Laughter Club meets two Wednesdays/month, April-June 2013 at St. Paul Yoga Center: 4/10, 4/24, 5/1, 5/15, 6/5, 6/19 from 7:30-8:30 pm. No registration required, donations for use of the space accepted. I also offer a for-fee Noontime Laughter Class two Mondays/month at Tula Yoga & Wellness: 3/25, 4/8, 4/29, 5/6, 5/20, $10-$15 suggested donation, drop-in, 12:00-12:50 pm. Please contact me if you have any questions—I would love to laugh with you!

How do you consciously bring more happiness and joy into your life?

Reverending/Ceremony. I absolutely love performing ceremonies that bring more honoring of our intentions and love into the world! This above laughing picture was from a wedding I performed, and I facilitate the Seasonal Celebrations like Spring Equinox at my Unitarian Church. Let me know if I can assist you in honoring any transitions or special moments in your life—Weddings, Baby Blessings, Seasonal and Transitional Rituals, Memorial Services… You can read more about my practice of ministry.

What have you celebrated recently? How did you create sacred space to welcome or honor a life passage?

The Enneagram. Dave and I just finished facilitating a couple’s retreat using the Enneagram at our favorite B&B, Journey Inn, in Maiden Rock, Wisconsin. It was a beautiful, sweet, and intimacy-building experience for everyone. Our next offering will be our Deepening Practice Study Group focused on The Enneagram & Childhood Development: Healing the Past & Attaining Wholeness. In this highly experiential workshop, we will use Margaret Mahler’s model of sequential stages of psychological growth to explore how the different phases in our early childhood development (from birth into our fourth year) leave distinctive imprints on each of the nine types. For more information, see our calendar. We hope you can join us!

How do you gain insight on the unfolding and inner workings of your soul? What maps or tools work for you to access your innermost self?

Awakening Spring Blessings, Katy

2013 New Year’s Intentioning

Phrase for the New Year: Natural Presence
What would a natural and open Khyva do?

(Khyva is the new middle name I took to honor and own my matrilineal lineage. My ancestors post talks about this.)

1) Natural Self-Care for my Diamond Peri/Menopausal Years. I am very aware, having celebrated my 50th birthday last year and starting to experience hormonal shifts, that my body is changing. I want to do my best to support this transition with clarity, openness, and love. This includes:

Herbs to support the transition
Listening to feelings that arise in the hormonal swings for the truth they are communicating
Educating myself and getting support as needed

2) Nourishing Wholeness. This is the DBA I filed this month in honor of it being time for me to move more into the world with what I have been learning and practicing. I just started a Meetup! More to support this process:

Work on my book
Work on creating this new business
Practice: self-allowing, trusting cycles, owning, pleasure

3) Conscious, Intentional Living: How do I want to live? I realize that most of my life I have not planned my life intentionally. I have mostly tried to control and manage life as it came at me. I’m scared and excited to see what my life might be like if I get clear about how I actually want to live and go about intentionally creating it! Practices to support me:

Lunar intentions
Daily and weekly and in-the-moment intentions
Including pleasure, sensuality, rest, heart

The Cards I drew to support me:
Durga: Boundaries that will assist me in nurturing wholeness
Awaken: “Keep your eyes open. When we decide to live a more conscious life, we see signs of grace everywhere.”
Arianrhod: Virgin and Mother, care for all life, universality and cyclicity of our lives, nurtures us through dark night of soul changes

Now that we’re just about at the end of the first month of this new year, how are your intentions going? Is there a guiding word or phrase that can be your touchstone? How do you create the life you want to live?

life practices: winter solstice

My intention is to blog once a season about Life Practices in order to share what I am practicing in my life, and to suggest opportunities to join me, as well as ideas to use in your own practice.

Winter Solstice occurs this year on December 21st at 5:12 am CT, the earliest arrival of Winter since 1896 according to The Farmer’s Almanac! This is the first day of Winter—the shortest day and longest night of the year. Every day thereafter, the days grow longer until Summer Solstice, when we have the longest day and the shortest night. The ancient Mayan calendar marks Winter Solstice 2012 as the end of the 13th 144,000-day cycle, completing a full 5,200-year Mayan cycle of creation. While many fear that something may threaten our world at the end of this creation cycle, astronomers are not concerned.

Whether we face actual physical challenges or more internal ones, Wintertime is the time to pay attention to how we are doing on the inside. It is the time to crawl into the cave of ourselves and give extra attention to our physical and psycho-spiritual wellbeing. Just like the mama bear who hibernates, we need to prepare our cave so that we have the support we need to go into the mysterious dreamtime of connecting deeply with ourselves. We prepare by making space for all of ourselves—all thoughts, feelings, or physical suffering—we accept and allow whatever arises, meeting it with loving kindness.

Winter is the season to learn to yield, to surrender to your own truth, however painful, to listen carefully, and to take time to integrate your experience. It’s a slower time, a resting time, a staying-with time. Yielding to your own process means slowing down enough to make contact with what you are experiencing, what is moving you on the inside. Is there a practice you can commit to that will support you in this endeavor? It could be as simple as a few minutes of meditation, taking breathing breaks, sharing your heart with a close friend, or writing in your journal…How will you support your inward journey this Winter so that you may emerge renewed and refreshed in the Spring?

Here’s a starting place for a journal exploration, or a short ritual alone or with friends:
•   Begin in the dark, saying this chant 3-5 times: deep is the darkness, with no light at all, before and behind, and to either side*. Feel the rhythm of the chant drawing you inside, into the still, silent darkness. See if you can yield into the chant and the darkness. What does that feel like?
•   When you are ready, light a single candle. Breathe that light in, noticing everything you can about how it affects you and the space around you.
•   Name out loud or in your journal how you will support yourself in this time of inward turning.
•   Name out loud or in your journal anything you want to explore in yourself more deeply during the enfolding darkness.
•   Acknowledge your gratefulness for this inward time of listening and being, and blow out the candle.

Please join us for the Winter Solstice Celebration on December 21st at 7:00 pm at Unity Church Unitarian in the Parish Hall. May you welcome and find grace in this changing of the seasons.
(* from Stephen Mitchell’s Gilgamesh)

Collage as a Practice. I haven’t been collaging in the last few months—it’s interesting how this practice comes and goes for me. I have an old wooden card table set up in my little room surrounded by shelves of magazines divided by type, ribbons, beads, jewelry, pens, wax pencils, glue, and other fun things to collage with. It’s welcoming and ready for me, but my energy has been going elsewhere. I know I’ll come back when it’s time as collaging is one of the practices that helps me remember who I am, to illuminate the threads I am following and weaving in my life.

This collage is one I completed in honor of my middle name change and 50th birthday—Changing Woman.

What practice help you to remember yourself? How do you weave the threads of your life together?

Advent Singing Meditation. As we transition from Fall to Winter and continue our inward turning, I invite you to gather one more Friday evening with me to deepen your Advent journey with sacred chant and silent prayer/meditation. Learn and sing music from Hildegard of Bingen and from the Gaelic tradition. No prior singing experience necessary. Suggested donation $5-$10 per session.

Friday, December 14th, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, at Our Lady of the Presentation Chapel atrium, 1890 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul

More Information: Jennifer Tacheny, jtacheny@csjstpaul.org (651) 696-2872, Hosted by the CSJ Membership and Association Offices (Celeste’s Dream, Consociate Services, and Sister Membership).

Is music a part of your life? Try singing alone, with others, or even with a recording and then dissolving into silence. What do you notice?

Summit Hill Laughter Club! Come explore the art of laughter to invite more joy, play, and wellbeing into your life! Because of the deep pranayamic breathing exercises, this form of practice is also called Laughter Yoga, but it does not include any physical asanas and can be practiced by people of all ages who are willing to be a little bit silly. It was started in 1995 by a family physician in India and is now widely practiced in over 65 countries around the world. Medical research supports its physical and emotional health-giving effects. Children who come with their parents are welcome.

I am a Certified Laughter Yoga leader, offering a club every 2 weeks this Fall at the Corner Studio of St. Paul Yoga Center at 1162 Selby Avenue. Please join us on Wednesday December 19th, and in the New Year, 1st and 3rd Wednesdays January through March from 7:30-8:30 pm. No registration required and no fixed cost, just by donation! Please contact me if you have any questions—I would love to laugh with you!

Reverending/Ceremony. I absolutely love performing ceremonies that bring more honoring of our intentions and love into the world! This above laughing picture was from a wedding I performed, and I facilitate the Winter Solstice Celebration mentioned above. Let me know if I can assist you in honoring any transitions or special moments in your life—Weddings, Baby Blessings, Seasonal and Transitional Rituals, Memorial Services… You can read more about my practice of ministry.

The Enneagram is one of the main maps of the soul I find helpful to understand the unfolding of my life. It is an amazing system that helps me to see the deeper, purer roots of my behavior—how most of my less savory behaviors are simply misguided attempts to reconnect with a more loving, whole, and good self.

Dave and I are facilitating a couple’s retreat using the Enneagram in early March at our favorite B&B, Journey Inn, in Maiden Rock, Wisconsin. It’s called Cultivating Deeper Contact and is about just that! Even in a relationship grounded in love and open communication, we often yearn for deeper contact with each other. The Enneagram illuminates many of the structures that stand in the way of such contact, as well as others that actually invite us toward a deeper contact with ourselves, each other, and the moment. Early registration (by January 1st) is $550 per couple, and after that, $600. For more information, see our calendar. We hope you can join us!

Deep Winter Blessings, Katy

life practices: autumn equinox

My intention is to blog once a season about Life Practices in order to share what I am practicing in my life, and to suggest opportunities to join me, as well as ideas to use in your own practice.

Autumn Equinox, or Mabon, occurs midway between the longest day of the year, at Summer Solstice, and the longest night of the year, at Winter Solstice. It is called an Equinox from the Latin “equal” and “night” because (as on the Spring Equinox) the night and day are the same length. In 2012, the Autumn Equinox occurs at 9:49 am on September 22nd.

Autumn Equinox reminds us not only to be grateful for the fruits of the long Summer—from actual garden harvest to the completion of projects, wishes, and dreams—but also to prepare for the growing darkness. Just as in our daily life, the daytime of work and play is followed by a slowing down in the evening and then restorative sleep, Autumn is a part of the natural seasonal cycle. After a time of intense growth and passion comes a time of slowing down and then in Winter, a time of rest. This slowing down gives our bodies and souls a chance to integrate all that has been accomplished, so that we have the space to recognize and allow what is most needed next in our growth. It is a time of balance, of honoring both the light and the dark, of witnessing the gifts of the earth and the onset of crops dying as the earth enters dormancy. This seasonal cycle is part of our nature, too, and aligning with it helps us to lead balanced lives.

In what ways are you harvesting the fruits of your labor this year? What are you grateful for? For balance, take some time to reflect on the darker aspects of your soul as well. What has not come to fruition as you had hoped? Are there unfulfilled dreams and regrets? Can you include and be grateful for all it? You may want to write in a journal, or try a short ritual alone or with friends. A ritual could include:
• Decorating with yellow, gold, or autumn colors;
• Lighting two candles representing the balance of day and night, of light and dark, of harvest and fallowness—they could be black and white or whatever two colors represent this to you.
• Sitting in silence and reflecting on your harvest from the Summer, both the things you are grateful for and the regrets or unfulfilled dreams.
• Nourishing yourself with bread, apple cider, nuts, squash, corn, or any local, freshly harvested food;
• Naming or making a list of the things you are grateful for (your harvest);
• Naming or making a list of your regrets and unfulfilled dreams;
• Sitting quietly and breathing into both, knowing that both are needed for you to become whole: “Breathing in, I am breathing in [specific gratefulness or regret], Breathing out, I am breathing out [the same gratefulness or regret].”
• Saying thank you and blowing out the candle.

After the Autumn Equinox, the days slowly become shorter and shorter, until at Winter Solstice, we’ll be back to the longest night. May you welcome and find grace in this changing of the seasons.

Collage as a Practice. I’ve been learning about the Dark Feminine recently. Marion Woodman say she is “dark” because she is unconscious, that is, not yet brought into our consciousness. When things aren’t brought into consciousness, we are still affected by them—that unconscious energy influences the decisions we make, the ways we think…even what we magnetize to ourselves. And it’s usually the unconscious stuff that causes us to react in ways that are less than skillful.

The Feminne principle in both women and men has many expressions. I’m working with allowing Her unpredictability, Her ability to surrender and receive, Her capacity to be in the moment and receive pleasure, Her instinctive creatureliness, Her utter disregard for being “good” in favor of being real. Read more about this journey.

How do you experience the Dark Feminine in your life? What part of Her (You) are yearning to have come into consciousness?

Play. Every time I visit my sister and her family, I am reminded again about playing! Kids know how to do it—it’s part of how they learn about how to participate in the world. And it’s more than that. It’s also a practice of being.

This is me with Ruby, my 5-month old niece. Ruby Roo and Zander Salamander (3-year-old nephew) both played in as many of their waking moments as they could. Of course, play looks very different at those ages, but there are things in common. They were completely absorbed in what they were doing—be it exploring feet or building with legos—there is an entering into the moment with deep attention and focus. There’s curiosity and delight in exploration—each new discovery leading to the next, leading to the next, in a beautiful sense of flow. And there is such a sense of beingness—they are simply in themselves in the activity—no self-judging, no second-guessing, no anticipating, no daydreaming…in the moment.

I always dive in as deeply as I can when I visit, and often leave a bit exhausted from the nonstop kid-time. It’s not as easy for me to be present as they are naturally, so even though I was consciously practicing surrendering to their flow, I had to keep managing my sense of overwhelm, which takes a lot of energy!

How do you play? Do you make time for it regularly? Do you become completely absorbed in activities you love? (See below for one of the ways I practice playing when I’m back home…)

Summit Hill Laughter Club! Come explore the art of laughter to invite more joy, play, and wellbeing into your life! Because of the deep pranayamic breathing exercises, this form of practice is also called Laughter Yoga, but it does not include any physical asanas and can be practiced by people of all ages who are willing to be a little bit silly. It was started in 1995 by a family physician in India and is now widely practiced in over 65 countries around the world. Medical research supports its physical and emotional health-giving effects. Children who come with their parents are welcome.

I am a Certified Laughter Yoga leader, offering a club every 2 weeks this Fall at the Corner Studio of St. Paul Yoga Center at 1162 Selby Avenue. Please join us on Wednesdays September 26, October 10 & 24, November 7 & 21, and December 5 & 19 from 7:30-8:30 pm. No registration required and no fixed cost, by donation! Please contact me if you have any questions–I would love to laugh with you!

Reverending/Ceremony. I absolutely love performing ceremonies that bring more honoring of our intentions and love into the world! I just celebrated two weddngs in July and two in September. This above laughing picture was from a wedding I also performed. Let me know if I can assist you in honoring any transitions or special moments in your life. You can read more about my practice of ministry.

The Enneagram. I’d like to give a deep bow to my boss, friend, and Enneagram teacher, Don Riso, who passed from this world on August 30th, 2012. Read more.

Without the discoveries and insight he received and published about the Enneagram, I doubt I would have this beautiful, comprehensive, and transformational system in my life. I also wouldn’t have had the great good fortune of working for Don and The Enneagram Institute or of meeting Dave through a Riso-Hudson Workshop.

I can hardly believe that he is no longer here in this physical world, I am grieving his loss, and I am extremely grateful for his devotion to the Enneagram, his teaching, and his friendship over the 10 years I knew him.

Dave and I will be carrying forth the Riso-Hudson work this Fall by offering a new Study Group series. We are excited to explore how we hold and perpetuate our type in our bodies, something Don, too, was working on. For more information, see our calendar.

Autumn Blessings, Katy

life practices: summer solstice

My intention is to blog once a season about Life Practices in order to share what I am practicing in my life, and to suggest opportunities to join me, as well as ideas to use in your own practice.

Summer Solstice reminds us to notice and celebrate the full return of the light. The daylight hours have been growing since Winter Solstice, each day becoming slightly longer until the Spring Equinox in March, when the day and night were equal in length. Solstice comes from the Latin “sol” or sun and “sistere” or to stand still because, as seen from the North or South Poles, the sun reaches its highest position in the sky, coming to a stop, before reversing direction. In 2012, the Summer Solstice occurs at 6:09 pm CT on June 20th.

The abundant and radiant light of Summertime invites us into the outside world that is glorious, greening, bright, and rich with possibilities. It is often a time of play—and passion—and abandon. That which prepared itself in the mysterious darkness of our earthly bodysouls is now coming into creative expression in the full light of day!

Spiritual teacher and author Dawna Markova suggests in her book Wide Open: “If we only experienced passion, we would be bold beyond belief, but we would burn, burn, burn ourselves out in a rapturous relationship with the untamable within us. We also need the dark, the stillness, the quiet of the night for the stars and constellations to appear, the patterns of movement of the whole universe to be visible.”

We are at the peak of the sun’s passion. How can you enjoy your passion for being alive this Summer while remembering the need for the balancing embrace of the quiet and stillness? How do you build both into your days? Is there a way for the passion to lead to the stillness—and the stillness back to the passion? How do you allow both in your life? How does each feed you?

You may want to write in a journal, or try a short ritual alone or with friends that could include the following:
• Light a candle, red or orange in color;
• Name or make a list of all the vibrant, passionate, creative ideas, activities, and heart-journeys that you have or desire in your life.
• Now explore one or two of these and how they are supported by taking time for stillness, quiet, and rest.
• Sit quietly and breathe into your belly and heart, sensing the aliveness, passion, and juiciness there along with a solid, quiet, and restful sense of refuge.
• Continuing to breathe mindfully, allow a movement to arise and move your body in some way, big or small. And then allow that movement to settle back into the quiet stillness.
• When you are ready, say thank you and blow out the candle.

Remember that as this day comes to an end, the days will very slowly become shorter, until at Autumn Equinox, the day and night will be balanced, and by Winter Solstice, we’ll be back to the longest night. Savor and revel in the juicy passion of this Summer season! May you welcome and find grace in this changing of the seasons.

Summer Solstice Celebration, June 20th at 7:00 pm at Unity Unitarian Church! Join us in the Sanctuary for a contemplative, family-friendly, Celtic-inspired ritual to mark the turning of the year as the light reaches its peak and the seasons continue their cycle. This participatory ritual will include chanting, meditation, joys and sorrows, singing, and something special for the kids.

Due to the church renovation project, there are some important changes to be aware of: 1) There is no air conditioning, so dress lightly and bring a fan! 2) Enter through the door on Portland on the East side of the church or from the church parking lot (off Holly).

If you would like to participate as a ritual leader or in a facilitating capacity (greeter, set-up, etc.) for this June 20th ritual, please contact me!

Collage and Practice. This collage is an exploration of an image that came to me during an acupuncture session. My qi was low, so my acupuncturist invited me to imagine breathing in the sun and allowing its glow and strength to flow into me. As I was breathing, the image shifted: my heart was a sunflower, and I was breathing into that sunflower that was blossoming, radiant, full of light, strong, sturdy, and robust. On the exhale, that energy flowed through me to any place that needed healing, and I saw all the hands that support me with friendship, compassion, love, and gentleness surrounding and holding me.

With that healing image in mind, this collage came into being. Different from the way my mind’s eye saw it, collaging helped me to discover other parts of the process. Read more about what I discovered in the original post, sunflower breathing.

What helps you to discover more about yourself, to dive deeper into your inner experience? What images represent your inner world and life path right now?

Body/Nourishment. During this time of healing, I have been much more in touch with my body’s needs for true nourishment. One of the really enjoyable things I’m rediscovering is just how yummy and nourishing food can be! I’ve always been a pretty healthy eater compared to most, but to build my immune system, I decided to try an even healthier diet, including no sugar other than fresh fruit, no alcohol, very low dairy, and lots more vegetables, espeically leafy greens.

Instead of approaching this as a deprivation—what no dark chocolate? no sip of that awesome ale?—I was able to find an inner bow, a sense of devotion to myself and my wellbeing. I have had a number of beautiful experiences in which I not only love the taste of my food, but really savor it, tasting and sensing its nourishment as I eat it.

Here’s a practice to try, Savoring:
• Choose a small piece of fresh fruit that you love.
• Prepare it for your savoring with mindfulness.
• Sit down and first look at it very carefully, noticing all its particularities of color, shape, texture…
• Smell it and really take all the aroma in.
• Then touch it slowly and sense its texture and temperature. You might want to close your eyes for a deeper experience.
• Now bring it to your mouth, and take a small bite. Roll it around a bit in your mouth and notice how it feels and tastes before chewing.
• When you’re totally ready, chew slowly and savor this amazing, sweet nourishment from the earth.
• What if we always got that much detailed, pleasureful information from our food? Don’t you think our bodies would know what they need to be healthy?

How do you listen to your body’s call for nourishment? How mindful are you when you eat?

I am a Certified Laughter Yoga leader, offering a club every 2-3 weeks over the Summer at St. Paul Yoga Center at 1162 Selby Avenue. Please join us on Wednesdays June 27, July 11, August 8, and August 22 from 7:30-8:30 pm. No registration required and no fixed cost, by donation! Please contact me if you have any questions–I would love to laugh with you!

Reverending/Ceremony. I absolutely love performing ceremonies that bring more honoring of our intentions and love into the world! I recently performed a second Baby Blessing for a couple, and I’m preparing for two weddngs in July. This above laughing picture was from a wedding I performed last year. Let me know if I can assist you in honoring any transitions or special moments in your life. You can read more about my practice of ministry.

I am also leading worship at my church, Unity Unitarian, on Sunday, June 24th at 10:00 am. The topic is “Awakening Life.” The church is under renovation, so you can only enter from the parking lot handicapped entrance or the small door on the East side of the Sanctuary, up a few stairs. I’d love to see you there!

Summer Blessings, Katy

sunflower breathing

this collage is an exploration of an image that came to me during an acupuncture session. my qi was low, so my acupuncturist invited me to imagine breathing in the sun and allowing its glow and strength to flow into me. as I was breathing, the image shifted: my heart was a sunflower, and I was breathing into that sunflower that was blossoming, radiant, full of light, strong, sturdy, and robust. on the exhale, that energy flowed through me to any place that needed healing, and I saw all the hands that support me with friendship, compassion, love, and gentleness surrounding and holding me.

with that healing image in mind, this collage came into being. different from the way my mind’s eye saw it, collaging helped me to discover other parts of the process. much of my practice with my body has been about allowing myself to even have a body—a physical, human body that has needs and desires. I had to accept and own this fact before I could be aware of my need for support. I knew how to stay alive physically, but I’m still learning to enjoy my physical life, to savor, and love it. and for that, I need support—support from others in the form of connection, love, healing…

I see how most of my life, my fearful heart could not allow my need for support in—I thought I was autonomous, self-sufficient, and strong, taking care of my own needs. allowing myself to need something from others has softened me and made me more vulnerable. my fearless heart is able to admit that even if I can take care of many of my needs alone, it’s not as fulfilling, enjoyable, or easy.

so, I am here—landing in my heart and body. more fearless and grounded, and thus, more awake. this path of growth and healing is not very linear. in my healing, I see how I am always becoming. I am here and this is a beginning and no beginning—it is simply here. and in my healing and growth, while I may have an end in mind, there really is no end. as long as I am alive, I am present and transforming, here—and here—and here. embracing, releasing, growing, healing, and continuously surrounded by all the support that I need for this journey.

the colors that emerged reflect a particular kind of support, too—the yellow of Joy and the green of Compassion are featured. as I continue to learn to listen to my body’s and heart’s needs, I grow my ability to be compassionate with myself and others, and more open to moments of joy.

how are you supported? what invites your heart to be open, present, and fearless? what and how are you still becoming?

life practices: spring equinox

My intention is to blog once a season about Life Practices in order to share what I am practicing in my life, and to suggest opportunities to join me, as well as ideas to use in your own practice.

Spring Equnox occurs midway between the longest night of the year, at Winter Solstice, and the longest day of the year, at Summer Solstice. It is called an Equinox from the Latin “equal” and “night” because (as on the Autumn Equinox) the night and day are the same length. In 2012, the Spring Equinox occurs at 12:14 am on March 20th.

Spring Equinox reminds us that Spring is on the way. (These Amaryllis from my garden are not blooming yet!) Emerging from wintertime, when we may have had a chance to regroup, to draw nourishment from our roots and rest, we are now being invited into new growth. But even in Spring, it’s not always easy to break open the shell that’s holding us back, to stretch our wings and fly. As the air and soil warms, there is an upsurge of fresh energy and vitality. And yet, even as we breathe this Spring nourishment into our being, it can challenge the comfort of our current way of living, our habits, our ways of knowing ourselves. Just as plants find their way through the soil, rocks, and detritus into the light of day, so must we, too, be willing to meet what is in our path, to experience whatever suffering is necessary to break open the shell and peek out into the light of day. In this way, we, like the earth, can become verdant and flow with new life again.

What obstacles are on your journey this Spring? What ways of being are you being asked to reconsider? What suffering must you risk as you move into the fresh, new light? You may want to write in a journal, or try a short ritual alone or with friends that could include the following:
• Light a candle, yellow or light green in color;
• Place an egg near the candle, sit in silence, and reflect on the journey from life inside this safe, contained, nourishing environment into the fresh, new, growing invitation of Spring;
• Name or make a list of the things that are difficult or that stand in the way of this transition, that may bring suffering;
• Sit quietly and breathe into your roots, into your ground, knowing that they will be there to support you;
• Continuing to breathe into this support, also breathe in the possibility of new, vital, fresh life;
• When you are ready, say thank you and blow out the candle.

After the Spring Equinox, the days continue to grow longer, until at Summer Solstice, we’ll be back to the longest day. Please plan to join us for a Summer Solstice ritual at Unity Unitarian Church this year! May you welcome and find grace in this changing of the seasons.

Singing Body Workshop and Mirabilis in Concert! I’m excited to let you know that my singing partner from out East, Amy Fradon, will be coming to St. Paul to sing with me in March for a workshop and a concert! More details below.

From a few audience members: “Thank you for an incredible evening. You really have the ability and power to bless—truly bless people with love and spirit through your song, voice, and music.” and “Your angelic voices blended so well that I was in a special odyssey of sound. I love your spiritual celtic melodic harmony of prayer ad gratitude to the Big Boss, whoever! May your work continue to lighten the hearts of many earthly souls.”

The Singing Body Workshop, Friday, March 23rd and Saturday, March 24th. 7:00-9:30 Friday and 9:00-5:00 Saturday, with Katy and Amy Fradon
Join Amy and Katy to rediscover the roots and soul of your voice. This workshop is mostly experiential, including singing, sounding, mindfulness, processing time, and ritual. Anyone wishing to explore their embodied voice is welcome with no vocal experience necessary. Held at Unity Church Unitarian. $150 or $125 for Unity Members. Read more and download a flyer here.

Mirabilis in Concert, Sunday, March 25th
2:00-3:30, with Katy and Amy Fradon
Enjoy original and medieval chant and song that weaves celtic ornamentation with haunting, mystical chant and prayer. Specializing in the music of Hildegard von Bingen, a capella and simply accompanied, Katy and Amy’s purity of tone and musical depth inspires and transports. Includes some participatory singing. In the Sancturay at Unity Church Unitarian. $12 admission, $10 for Unity Members. Read more and download a flyer here.

Voice Lessons with Amy Fradon, Monday-Thursday, March 19th-22nd
Amy has been singing and performing in the US and abroad in a wide array of musical groups for the past 25 years, from the Woodstock music scene in the 80s to touring with the Broadway hit, Pumpboys and Dinettes, to recording with Alcazar Records and Shanachie Cachet, to touring as the lead female singer with the Vanaver Caravan, as well as bringing music to the corporate world with Face the Music: a team-building medium with clients including Bank of America, Aventis, Pfizer, and General Electric.

Amy assisted Kim Rosen and Cathie Malach’s self-transformation work, Interspecies Connection, with voice support and group facilitation, and completed a 3-year certification with Kim called the Delphys Training in alternative counseling and healing modalities. She has since been ordained as an Interfaith Minister with a Spiritual Counseling Certificate at The New Seminary, and has developed a large private practice teaching vocal technique and helping people to find their “voice” using voice as a vehicle for self-discovery. Read more about Amy here. Contact Katy to schedule a lesson.

Collage and Practice. I can’t really write enough about my love of collaging! No matter what my life is bringing to me, collage can help me express and find deeper meaning than the linear thoughts that I’m consciously aware of.

This collage is, again, about exploring different parts of myself. I am in the midst of some healing work that includes learning to slow down, to do less, to rest. The process of collage itself invites me to do the same. I wrote about this collage in a recent blogpost. I am deepening my understanding of Anne Dillard’s oft-quoted phrase: “The way we spend our days is, of course, the way we spend our lives.”

One of the practices thas is supporting me in learning to slow down is that I make sure I take at least one 5-minute break in the day in which I do nothing. I might sip a cup of tea, but otherwise no reading, no music, no talking…I just sit in a comfrotable place and stay with myself for at least 5 minutes. This practice is helping me to actually experience my life more, to find more delight, more connection, more meaning, more joy, more peace right in the midst of it…That is how I want to spend my life, not the way I’ve been filling my days for so long–with work and busyness and to-do lists…

How do you spend your days? Is this how you want to spend your life? What simple thing could you try on to practice dropping into the moment?

Body/Movement. Because of this time of healing, I have been much less physically active recently. I tried at one point to start running again, but it was too soon and it absoutely exhausted me, so I decided to wait. I even had to stop going to the Belly Dancing class I was loving! I am learning to listen to what my body really needs, and she was telling me to rest. I slept 9-10 hours for almost a month on top of immune support and acupuncture! Now my body is feeling more energized and I’m waking up after 8-8.5 hours. I did my first run, only half the distance I normally would and more slowly, and I still feel good. So, slowly but surely, I hope to find my way into more conscious movement that supports my health and is attuned to my body’s needs.

How do you listen to your body’s needs? Do you exercise regularly? Can you tell what is enough and not too much? How does your body let you know, and do you listen?

Summit Hill Laughter Club! I’ve mentioned before that I trained to become a Certified Laughter Yoga leader, and now I’ve started a St. Paul Laughter Yoga Club at Unity Unitarian Church. We’re starting out with meeting one Wednesday per month. Upcoming dates are March 14, April 11th, and May 16th from 7:15-8:15, and it’s free!

Come explore the art of laughter to invite more joy, play, health, and wellbeing into your life! Because of the deep pranayamic breathing exercises and the invitation to become more whole by allowing the lighter, more playful and joyful side of yourself to come forward, this form of practice is also called Laughter Yoga; however, it does not include any physical asanas and can be practiced by people of all ages who are willing to try on being a little bit silly. Please contact me if you have any questions–I would love to laugh with you!

Reverending. I absolutely love performing ceremonies that bring more honoring of our intentions and love into the world! This above laughing picture was from a wedding I performed last year. Let me know if I can assist you in honoring any transitions or special moments in your life. You can read more about my practice of ministry.

The next seasonal celebration will be the Summer Soltice in June at Unity Unitarian church.

Spring Blessings, Katy

the body is in the soul

I am attracted to this phrase from John O’Donohue: “The body is in the soul.” I turned to collage to discover its meaning.

The body, my physical home, is not just a container or a vessel. She is in the soul. She lives in and as part of the soul. As such, she is not alone, not fending for herself, but held in the shelter and embrace of the soul.

The soul is alive and unbound, impressionable, full of vitality and fluidity, always responding to the moment. And yet, I often experience my body as bound—contained within the confines of my skin, held in and separate. What if my body, living in my soul, as part of my soul, were not bound up in this separate physical package? What if I could remember that these skin boundaries are actually porous and permeable, allowing energy to move in and out of me, to meet and mingle with others?

My body gives my soul a way to connect with others. She is affected by life and she is intimate with all of life. My soul knows physical life through my body—tastes it, smells it, sees it, hears it, touches it, feels it…mindful experiencing of these senses, being sensuous, is to be in the presence of my soul, and is to be embraced in Presence.

Blues and oranges are the colors that my husband and I (in that order) love and are attracted to. For many years, I thought orange was too bright, garish, overdone. As I have learned to appreciate it over the past several years, I feel that I am also embracing my own vitality and life force energy. It warms me, feels radiant with life, invites me to joy, passion, and sensuality.

Images echo how nature, like the soul, holds and embraces and tends to us. She is our home, out of which we arise and flourish, and back to which we return. These images reveal the life, the movement, the fluidity, the beauty, and also the solidity and presence of the body in the soul. Held in the embrace of the soul, my body is safe, grounded, able to drop her boundaries and dip into the water of life.

(Quote from John O’Donohue’s Anam Cara, p.53. Image of woman from Louise Beckerman, titled Waters Edge.)

life practices: winter solstice

My intention is to blog once a season about Life Practices in order to share what I am practicing in my life, and to suggest opportunities to join me, as well as ideas to use in your own practice.

Winter Solstice occurs this year on December 21st at 11:30 pm CT. This is the first day of Winter—the shortest day and longest night of the year. Every day thereafter, the days grow longer until Summer Solstice, when we have the longest day and the shortest night.

Wintertime is the season of rest and renewal for the natural world. Plants stop growing and return to the earth, focusing their energy in their roots or in seed that lies dormant until Spring. Most animals that don’t migrate find comfort in shelter or hibernate until warmer weather. For us, as humans, it can also be a time of rest, a time of going inward to nourish our souls, a time of re-creation. However, as we head inside for the cold Minnesota Winter, it’s often the opposite—we find more and more to do. Not only are the holidays coming, but everything that was set aside over the Summer and Fall now captivates our attention.

The part of us that is in touch with the turning of the seasons yearns for this time of turning inward to nourish our roots, this time of rest. What would it mean to spend time in the darkness waiting and ready for the unknown, quiet and attentive to the unknown? What if we didn’t immediately turn to our to-do lists whenever we had a free moment, thus filling up our time with the known? What if we stopped for a moment to take in the darkening, to rest more, to respond to the invitation to slow down and nourish our souls? How might our lives be different?

Here’s a starting place for a journal exploration, or a short ritual alone or with friends:
• Begin in the dark, sitting in silence for a time, breathing in the darkness and the stillness.
• As you sit with yourself, notice your body and feelings. What arises in you? How is it to sit here quietly with nothing to do?
• When you are ready, light a single candle.
• Notice if there is a change in you with this light—keep coming back to your body and heart.
• Name out loud or in your journal what the darkness and stillness is calling forth in you. You may want to follow your body’s impulse to move or sound this experience.
• Acknowledge your gratefulness for this inward time of re-creation, and blow out the candle.

Please join me and other members of Unity Church Unitarian for a Winter Solstice Celebration at 7:00 pm in the Parish Hall on December 21st. You can find more information below. May you welcome and find grace in this changing of the seasons.

Singing Meditation, Sunday, December 18th from 7:00-8:30 pm, with Katy and cellist, Anna Vazquez. How can you find the still point at your center in the midst of the chaos we call “holidays”? Come to the St. Paul Yoga Center to sing, meditate, and breathe with us in a peaceful, candlelit space, with warm tea for the throat, the healing sounds of cello, harmonium, chants and rounds sung in community, and the ultimate gift of your own presence.

Singing Meditation is the practice of singing simple chants and rounds from many spiritual traditions as a group and then dissolving into silence and allowing a time of quiet meditation before the next song is begun. Singing in this way can be a practice of coming home to our embodied selves as we allow the vibrations of sound to quiet our minds, open our hearts, and land us more deeply in our bodies, in the moment, physically present. All songs will be repeated many times and all are welcome (no prior singing experience necessary). Read more about Anna’s work and download a flyer. $10-$15 suggested donation.

Do you take time to sing, hum, or sound? Next time you do, notice how your body is affected by the vibrations. Also notice how your heart and mind respond.

Save the Date: In March 2012, my singing partner Amy Fradon will be joining me for a Singing Body Workshop and a Concert of my music. Read more and download a flyer.

Collage gives me a really valuable way to get to know myself in a nonlinear way. I’ve been exploring aspects of myself that have typically been less a part of my self-image recently. One such aspect is the one who takes the time to look and listen inwardly, who values intuitive knowing and feminine eros, or life force energy. This exploration feels very connected to the inward time we are moving into with the shorter days and longer nights. I wrote about this collage in a recent blogpost. How do you welcome and allow other parts of yourself to come forward? How do you go inside and listen?

Body/Movement. I also had the chance to explore this theme of allowing more of myself to emerge through movement recently. I had a wonderful session with a bodyworker who helped me to include my physical experience instead of trying to push it away. So often when I notice tension or pain, I notice it, and then want to do things to get rid of it. In session, she invited me accept it, allow it, move with it—include it in my felt-experience, rather than look away or ignore it. From this process, a deeper learning emerged. Including more of myself, I feel less one-sided, more full, more whole, more here. You may want to explore a movement impulse and see where it takes you. How does it make you feel to follow it, allow it, be with it? Does it complete itself in some way?

Baby Blessing! I absolutely love performing ceremonies that bring more honoring of our intentions and love into the world! This picture is from my most recent Interfaith Baby Blessing for Reed and his family. He was totally into having blessing oil on his forehead and taste of milk on his lips as we welcomed him into his interfaith family with family and friends gathered. A Tibetan blessing for us all: May all beings moving through this world be showered and blessed with goodness and joy. Let me know if I can assist you in honoring any transitions or special moments in your life. You can read more about my practice of ministry.

Winter Solstice Celebration! Come join this contemplative, family-friendly, participatory, Celtic-inspired ritual to mark the turning of the year as the darkness gives way to the growing light. This participatory ritual will include chanting, meditation, candle-lighting, singing, and cauldron jumping. Kids, bring animal masks and hand percussion (rattles, shakers, bells)!

Please contact me if you have any questions. We’d love to have you join us!

solstice-spiral-around-altar — Winter Solstice Ritual

Winter Blessings, Katy

life practices: autumn equinox

My intention is to blog once a season about Life Practices in order to share what I am practicing in my life, and to suggest opportunities to join me, as well as ideas to use in your own practice.
Autumn Equinox occurs midway between the longest day of the year, at Summer Solstice, and the longest night of the year, at Winter Solstice. It is called an Equinox from the Latin “equal” and “night” because (as on the Spring Equinox) the night and day are the same length. In 2011, the Autumn Equinox happens at 9:04 am on September 23rd.

Autumn Equinox reminds us not only to be grateful for the long Summer days of bright light and warmth that nourished our bodies, souls, and earth, but also to orient consciously to the changing season and the growing darkness. We’re headed into a darker, quieter, more internal time as we move toward the Winter Solstice. We can take a lesson from the leaves on the trees that will soon blaze with their last, vivid colors and then start to let go and fall to the ground. They know how to surrender to the changing of the seasons—and they do so with such splendor and beauty!

As this new season begins and we head into the changing colors and falling leaves, into a time of growing darkness, what changes do you need to surrender into? The Summer of expansion, abundance, and blossoming is coming to an end. What quieter, calmer, more inward rhythm is calling to you? Can you hear it and heed its call? Can you allow yourself to change colors and fall like the leaves, if necessary, all the way to the ground? What wisdom is there for you? You may want to write in a journal, or try a short ritual alone or with friends. A ritual could include:
• Lighting a candle of yellow, gold, or autumn colors;
• Sitting in silence and reflecting on your harvest from the Summer and what you are being called to surrender as we move into the growing dark;
• Nourishing yourself with bread, apple cider or other seasonal juice, and any local, freshly harvested food;
• Naming or making a list of all the things you are grateful for (your harvest);
• Sitting quietly and breathing into the support, nourishment, and care you have received that will help you make this next transition with ease and grace;
• Saying thank you and blowing out the candle.

After the Autumn Equinox, the days slowly become shorter and shorter, until at Winter Solstice, we’ll be back to the longest night. May you welcome and find grace in this changing of the seasons.

Movement. Dave and I had the opportunity to participate in a 4-day Labor Day Weekend workshop about developing awareness of the wisdom of the body. It was such a gift to have this time to not be working, managing a home, even interacting with other parts of my life, and to just focus on listening and responding and learning with my body’s energy, flow, and rhythms. I’ve added embodiment practice into my daily morningtime as a way to include this new awareness more in the rest of my day. I had a pretty profound experience of letting go of self- and body-images during the workshop, which you can read about in my noface blogpost. What is your relationship with your body like? Are you aware of your body’s sensations? Do they bring you information? How do you listen?

Collage. It’s nice to feel the inspiration to collage again! I find it to be such a fun and joyful way to make meaning out of my life. Coming back from the movement workshop and finding the images to express what was largely a nonverbal experience helped me to process and understand what I had experienced. And then, as part of the opening of a year-long course in contentment, another collage wanted to be born, exploring my experience of contentment, which I am calling “serenity” for now. What ways do you have to make meaning, to allow yourself to explore deeply, underneath the words?

Laughter Yoga! I am now a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader! 🙂 HaHaHa!! Laughter Yoga is a practice to invite more joy, play, and wellbeing into your life. Because of the deep pranayamic breathing exercises, this form of practice is also called Laughter Yoga, but it does not include any physical asanas and can be practiced by people of all ages who are willing to be a little bit silly. It was started in 1995 by Dr. Kataria, a family physician in India, and is now widely practiced in over 65 countries around the world. Medical research supports its physical and emotional health-giving effects.

I took this practice on to go against my type One identification with being overly serious, responsible, disciplined–someone who rarely has time to play or have fun…It’s been a really important part of my path of becoming more whole as a person. I’m still a serious, responsible person, but I’m playfully serious—and seriously playful! I’m much easier to be around and don’t get as stuck when I’m feeling stressed. And I enjoy my life a whole lot more! How do you embrace the fun, silly, playful part of yourself? Next time you have a good clean laugh, notice how good you feel–body, heart, and mind.

Read more information about my teacher, Jody Ross, in Minnesota, and find a Laughter Club near you. I will be leading an introductory session at Unity Unitarian Church on November 16th, and hope to get a regular Wednesday evening Laughter Club going in 2012.

Poetry. I’ll leave you with a poem that is speaking to me about this turning of the year into Fall. It is an excerpt from Directions by Billy Collins from The Art of Drowning.

The best time is late afternoon
when the sun strobes through
the columns of trees as you are hiking up,
and when you find an agreeable rock
to sit on, you will be able to see
the light pouring down into the woods
and breaking into the shapes and tones
of things and you will hear nothing
but a sprig of birdsong or the leafy
falling of a cone or nut through the trees,
and if this is your day you might even
spot a hare or feel the wing-beats of geese
driving overhead toward some destination.

But it is hard to speak of these things
how the voices of light enter the body
and begin to recite their stories
how the earth holds us painfully against
its breast made of humus and brambles
how we who will soon be gone regard
the entities that continue to return
greener than ever, spring water flowing
through a meadow and the shadows of clouds
passing over the hills and the ground
where we stand in the tremble of thought
taking the vast outside into ourselves.

Autumn Laughter Blessings, Katy