Embrace the Scents of the Season as a Practice of Being Present

December is here and the winter solstice will once again welcome in the return of the light. Keep the beauty of your inner light nourished with the continuous practice of reflecting on gratitude. Living in these moments of constant change, allow for that roaming mind to seek distractions. It takes more effort in the dark to see clearly.

Surround yourself with the presence of stillness and notice the sweet smells of the holidays. This is the season of scent. An opportunity to nourish the senses with smell is the most powerful way to connect to the moment. Breathe in the aroma of gingerbread, peppermint, nutmeg, and pine.

Winter smells dark and smoky, like the heady aroma of burning pinecones in the fireplace. The mind is stimulated with the aromatic scent of winter igniting memory like the blanket for snuggling under and the warmth of the fire. Baking, cooking, and sharing meals embrace the sensations of emotion. Living our practice of mindful awareness is in the moments of noticing the fragrances of familiarity and the coming together of spirit.

Our sense of smell can trigger more vivid emotional memories than any other sense and transport us back to our most cherished memories. In fact, research shows 75% of the emotions we generate on a daily basis are affected by smell. The gift of inhaling, letting in life, is directly connected to the brain’s limbic system, lifting our spirit as we create opportunities to take in the gift of smell.

So light a scented candle, simmer a pot of cider filled with cloves, cinnamon, and oranges, or use essential oils in your humidifier that invoke the infusion of the holiday. Bake cookies and decorate the spaces in your home with a pine-scented tree or garland. Then pause and feel the quality of the scent as a practice of being present.

Breathe into your heart the true essence of this season and be aware of the effect. Notice the shift of the mind and witness the experience as pure grace unfolding. This is an auspicious opportunity to embrace the mystical and mystery of life.

Collectively, we can make a choice to embrace this season with the compassion and love of giving. The abundance of life is revealed through the scent of sweetness. It is all around us and yet we are often too busy to pause, inhale, and feel the exhale that has linked us to something greater. Inhale while noticing the winter scent is our ability to take in the aroma of life and share the essence of the Christmas spirit.

All of us at Yoga Among Friends extend a heartfelt blessing of gratitude as we welcome this season. May each day offer peace of mind and an abundance of calm in sharing these yoga practices of living each moment in conscious kindness. May we continue to shine and be the light for others. 

I would love for you to share your comments and thoughts below about what makes you pause, inhale and exhale during this season of scent.

The light in me honors the light in you,

Laura Jane

Life Needs to be Lived in Spontaneity

The word Grace has such a welcoming vibration. As Annie Lamont would remind me, “To summon, Grace, say ‘HELP’ and then buckle up. Grace finds you exactly where you are, but it doesn’t leave you where it found you.”

Yes, be prepared to truly let go and let life in. What changes us, heals us, and what ultimately transforms us is the release and then allow the chaos to begin.

I have no idea how one year later we got here! It has been a ride and yet together I feel our community has supported the journey here. We are opening the doors and raising the windows as we return to those sweet spontaneous moments of saying hello. To be able to hear laughter, smell the scent of some passing aroma whether it is hair conditioner, a familiar yet forgotten oil, or just the smell of some wonderful fresh detergent, I want to return to smell, taste, and seeing the unexpected of life in full togetherness.

Zoom serves a great purpose for our survival, but the hunger I have for a genuine hug is my devotion to keeping humanity alive. Life needs to be lived in spontaneity. The freedom to overhear a conversation and learn something new —or be included in a conversation that arose out of some mutually shared moment. To pause and listen as others pass by and to feel belonging in a shared space.

I miss the alive energy of shared souls. I know I am not alone in this desire to be together and hopefully, the inspiration to come back into our sweet center will happen as May begins. We have added some new classes and new teachers, and hope that new faces will soon feel the urge to begin a practice at YAF.

Thank you to everyone who is willing to get the vaccination, and we appreciate the respect of each student that continues to care for one another regardless of bias and learned patterns. We are so fortunate to be at this place now. 

Blessings,

Laura Jane

Tears to Laughter: May We Embrace All of Life

Practicing being human starts each day as I accept my limits and then try to expand my horizons with compassion and forgiveness for my struggles.  My soul is fully alive as I embrace all the emotions of living large.

I was brought to my knees as I grieved with the world for the loss of 157 lives exploding into a fire in Iran and the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, his sweet young daughter, and nine other special beings. And my deep sadness wallowed over the passing of Ram Dass, my personal inspiration for 40 years.  

Life and death are constant, and yet we avoid the persistent fear that exists whenever we are reminded that our physical life is so uncertain. I am confronted with the fragile space between each breath as the conscious acceptance that death breaks our hearts open again and again. Being fully alive, I accept all of it and to offer up the deep moan, the bitter cry, and anger for the depth revealed in this empty space.

While collectively we embrace all the families, friends, communities, nations, and the entire world with loving empathy for the profound losses, each of us becomes greatly aware of our own mortality. Heartbreak is the gateway for initiation to the soul and to inspire a desire for greater effort into the journey of the heart. To become mindful in the present moment as this pain arises, as a purely human experience, is honoring the gift of being alive. Allowing the soul to cultivate deep compassion for all humanity is awakened through grief. To block, avoid, to push back on this sacred doorway only creates the mind to suffer more pain.

To inhabit the ease of releasing resistance is my daily practice. Falling into the grief allows for a profound unfolding of love to be revealed. I am fully in love when I embrace the impermanence of my life in this physical body. I’m only here for a short while in the grand picture of humanity and yet I have been blessed to live in this time and space with great self-love and to embrace it by nourishing my soul daily.

Death is also a part of living. I know this is not the conversation we invite nor is it a comfortable topic for the average day as we play our various, daily roles of identity and function. The mind resists any idea that brings up the shadow of our being. Stress will keep presenting itself in the moods of depression or anxiety and then the habits of hiding begin to form. All my additive behaviors flourish in secrets and tend to hide the light of my soul from shining.

However, I am choosing today and every day to embrace and celebrate the possibilities of miracles that are available in the presence of living fully in the NOW. I am waking to gratitude for this day and appreciate the sweet fragile spaces between each breath. I choose to live fully with each opportunity to tell someone that I care, I see you, and I am listening to your heart.

I must practice to remember that perfection is a curse of my need for love and not the ability to be the love. As I accept all of myself with all the faulty parts, I can embrace the wholeness for life. Only from this perspective can I see how to navigate the mystery with all its hardships and blessings. I choose to be in love with life with all the messy pieces. I practice forgiveness that I am human while knowing I have the ability to choose my thoughts, my words, and my actions.

Yoga is living in the presence of the mind’s attention to focus inward. It takes continuous practice to learn the tools that allow for the activities of one’s mind to become stable and focused in order to see clearly in navigating the various choices and challenges of daily life. Our many classes offer wonderful opportunities to continue thriving as the teachings must be experienced as a living transformation. Please check out all the upcoming workshops and classes we are proud to present!

May you be led forward for the highest good of all as you go about your crazy day filled with great joy!

With love and light,

Laura Jane