AMuriel Yoga

There I was, immersed in the radiant light of the Healing Touch Level 4 workshop in San Diego sponsored by Healing Beyond Borders International. The heart centered energy of 17 powerful healers was sparkling as brightly as the 4 crystal chandeliers on the ceiling. It was an awesome experience to be with healers who together represented hundreds of years of compassionate healing service to humankind. And we are willing to share! I am closer to my long term aspiration of seamlessly weaving multiple healing strategies for the optimum health of my fellow humans.  

Being certified as Healing Touch Practitioner at Level 5 is my 2015 goal. The requirements for certification at this level are exciting, challenging, and enriching my repertoire of healing techniques. One of the requirements for certification is detailed documentation of 100 Healing Touch sessions to a wide variety of clients. 

As an Apprentice, I am seeking to improve my skills through heart centered healing techniques, self- inquiry and feedback from those I touch. So… an agreement to have a treatment with me comes with the knowledge that I am in training and I will be documenting the session. Only ten of my sessions will be chosen for inclusion in my application for certification. Identifying data will be deleted.

Contact The Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla or the local Scripps Hospital for information about local Healing Touch Practitioners. For information about Healing Touch:

www.healingbeyondborders.org       www.healingtouchcalifornia.com  

Those of you inspired to experience Healing Touch for yourself or for a loved one are encouraged to call me for an appointment.
Any feedback is valuable; perhaps you will feel moved to comment below.
In the spirit of healing,

Annie

No Mud, No Lotus

“…Without mud, you cannot have a lotus flower. Without suffering, you have no ways to learn how to be understanding and compassionate…. So the practice is how to make use of the suffering, make use of the mud, to create the flower, the happiness, and this is possible.”  ~Thich Nhat Hanh

The painting "No Mud, No Lotus" was inspired by my yoga teaching and practice. Compassion for each of us as creatures of flesh and bone (Mud) who seek the Light as does the Lotus. We flower into beauty as our understanding increases.

The original painting was done for a local art community called Arts Alive Encinitas. Arts Alive sponsors 101 local artists to paint and display 101 colorful all weather banners to hang on lampposts all along Encinitas PCH 101 from February through May. This is my third year to participate in this wonderful artistic experience. For more information visit their webpage at www.artsaliveencinitas.com

          It’s Worth a Few Pricks

One of my earliest memories is of picking blackberries with Grandmother Seymour. She thumped the ground with a stick to scare the snakes and sang hymns as we walked to the berry patch with our pails. At the sight of the berry bounty, it was a surprise that the earth could be so abundant and sweet. As a child I was enraptured by the sensuality of that physical experience. I still am. I loved the tasty juiciness, the deep, vibrant purple running down my chin and royally stained grubby fingers.

I have always been a food forager and as I look back the berries have always been available for me if I was willing to pick them. I was only briefly deterred by the prickly thorns. I learned quickly and early that “It’s worth a few pricks to get to the berries.”

Those thorny scratches healed with no scars to show. Others have left their etch in my heart.

How do you express the deep gratitude for a nascent thinking pattern of the universe as bountiful? To give back I have planted gardens of food and beauty where ever I have lived and have shared the fruits with as many as I could. 

For so many years I tried to measure my own homemade cobbler to the mouthwateringly delicious standard set in my memory by my Grandmother Seymour. It was an even longer time before I realized how much more valuable was the immersion in that present moment and full experience of the sukha/sweetness of  Grandmother’s tender touch as she pulled the thorns from my finger tips and I ate the flaky crust with berry stained fingers to distract myself from the hurt. Her generosity and understanding as I ate far more berries than I put in my pail and then later…….

The ink I made from blackberry juice was an explosion of deepest purple. Writing with a sharpened feather quill in my diary or letters cast an aura of importance to the most banal poetry rather like Robinson Crusoe ala Martha Stewart. Its’ faded marks now pointing only to the impermanent nature of all we think we hold dear.

And so I am learning to be mindful of this year’s bounty and the perfection of the berry cobbler aroma in the present moment.

If we can breathe that aroma, all that we experience is tied to this earthly existence. Revel in that breathing. It is the first sweet berry that life holds for us. Just as it is the last berry we let go of. When your mind wanders bring it back to breath. When your breath wanders bring it back to mind.

Years later as I picked blackberries with my NBF we bonded deeply into berry appreciation. Gratitude for having found an empathetic soul in the swampy south gave me such a feeling of communion it eased my loneliness. It helped me recognize the true importance of the small things that make truest friendship right in your own backyard instead of yearning for another place.

     Our four year old daughter was once caught fast by the berry brambles, and then made a victim of fire ants while I strove to extricate her; spilling the berry basket as she whimpered. She continued to pick and eat the berries; only momentarily discouraged. Once on the way home with our filled baskets we saw a rat snake taking care of the rodent population. It’s worth a few pricks to get to the berries.

Those cobblers had the sweet summer tang of berry patch adventure and we gained a better understanding of the need to pay close attention to the risks involved and have a back-up plan as you pursue your goals.

The up dog of that is aparigraha or non-possessiveness.  Being content with what is needed and not coveting more for the attachment to it.

To translate to the berries: It means pick gently to avoid thorns; eat some while picking but collect enough for future cobbler. Share the bounty. Try not to eat the whole cobbler yourself, generally you’ll regret it.  Learn to practice aparigraha.

Blackberry season is upon us and once again I am drawn to the berry patch for life’s lessons in sweetness and aparigraha.

Encinitas Arts Alive Banners will hang on Pacific Coast Hwy 101 by next week!

My banner theme for 2013 is a personal one. The two feathers symbolize a cherished family philosophy as a guide to living life responsibly and with a positive outlook.

First Feather:
Pay Attention
True awareness is our life goal.

Second Feather:
No Bummers
Don’t let anything or anyone knock you off your core happiness.

The Unveiling will be on February 16th at noon. Catalogs are viewable online or you can get a paper catalog at the unveiling. Bidding begins at the unveiling and continues online till the final live auction.