The invitation awaits…

As we continue to enjoy the summer season, we are noticing the long days of light getting shorter. We are once again preparing for school to return and taking advantage of any opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.

This summer has been an overwhelming rollercoaster of emotions. As a nation and as a local community, we are still reeling from the horrible tragedy of the Highland Park shooting on July 4th. We are extending our grieving hearts to all the families that will forever be changed by that horrific event. Life is a daily reminder that we can choose to harm or heal depending on our willingness to be conscious of our thoughts, actions, and habits. And we can choose to be better at healing.

I am once again offering an opportunity to inspire a sense of community with yoga retreats. My greatest joy is bringing souls together to share in belonging and nourish the deeper parts of themselves.

Celebrating life is not a luxury. It is mandatory for humanity to move out of the mind of rage and anger and feel a true sense of peace. Being able to experience belonging to a community and cultivate a week of healing yoga is my gift in offering retreats.

This September, I am taking a group to Portugal and spending the week reminding myself that life is full of blessings. I just have to leap into the unknown and enjoy the uncertainty of letting go and letting the adventure of life unfold. I am always humbled by the amazing beauty the world has to offer.

Traveling offers experiences that have enriched my life beyond what I could have imagined. And being together with the shared intention of healing the heart has been one of the greatest joys of Yoga Among Friends. This is why our community has survived throughout these turbulent times; we are a center for the heart. Welcoming and belonging are among the most necessary elements for humanity to thrive. To feel included, to be seen, and to be heard are important elements for all healing.

At Yoga Among Friends, our mission is to offer a safe place to fall apart and be seen for the depth of being enough. There is no competition to strive for but to be willing to release the armor of learned habits and enjoy the beauty of living a fully vibrant and healthy life. When we attend a YAF retreat, we are opening ourselves up to going deeper to love and get nourished. I am forever grateful for all the ways yoga has inspired a lifestyle of living in loving kindness. We can all use a good hug.

Taking even a day retreat can make a huge difference in our health. A day spent reflecting on “What’s good about this day?” helps us heal. Reflecting on this thought allows us to notice the beauty around us. And instead of seeing the world through a lens of agitation and frustration, we are choosing to take the time to find the qualities of peacefulness that remind us to slow down, take a breath, and choose a kinder thought. We are willing to become aware of the small little moments that inspire us to choose appreciation for the blessings in our lives. We can always experience frustration by comparing our lives to anyone else’s and setting ourselves up for disappointment by desiring a particular outcome to ease our constant, chattering minds.

At times, the process of healing begins by simply noticing the tension in my physical body and getting onto my mat. Just making the effort to lie down and put my hands on my belly and take ten full diaphragmatic breaths. I didn’t change the outer world. Just chose to shift my perspective and allow for the wonder of what is being presented to flow into my conscious mind. I do see and listen better, allowing me to appreciate the simple graces.

Life is a gift, and it does offer us every opportunity to celebrate. If we ever feel lost or overwhelmed, all we have to do is become still and listen to our hearts. Find our north star. This allows us to embrace an inner smile, which if we share throughout the day, there is a chance we will get that smile back. We can choose to offer more empathy for the pain that most people are living with. The pain of physical, emotional, and spiritual grief.

If we invite life in on our inhale and then on our exhale, let go of taking anything personally. we can choose to hold space in our hearts for all souls that are suffering. We can choose to extend that heartfelt belonging even in the midst of sorrow. We can move forward with the possibility that life is presenting miracles.

These are the teachings of yoga. It starts on a gross level and moves the mind deeper into a refinement of ease. We do have the ability to come inward and heal. Yoga is living in a state of mind and heart that can feel balanced. And so we all need to retreat. Each time we step on the mat, we are giving a restored renewal into ourselves.

Now, imagine an entire week of this gift. It brings great joy to feel alive. A courageous heart will go forth and engage with life despite confusion and fear. The invitation awaits…

With love and light,

Laura Jane

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2023 Jamaica Yoga Retreat with Laura Jane Mellencamp-Murphy

Sunday, February 12, 2023 – February 19, 2023

7 nights at Good Hope, a 200 acre historical property in the beautiful Jamaica countryside with access to a private beach. This yoga retreat is for all life experiences. Perfect for all levels of practitioners, yoga teachers, and bodywork therapists.

Save $100 when you register and pay the deposit by November 1, 2022.

"Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu" —May All Beings Be Happy and Free

As we move into July this weekend, we are once again reminded, “What is Freedom?”. This past week we witnessed the strength of a decision that takes away the choice for some women, men, and families to be able to terminate unwanted, unhealthy, and dangerous pregnancies.

The ultimate understanding of what the path of Yoga offers is the freedom of clarity. In other words, it’s the ability to discern from the constant confusion and paralyzing opinions the mind has learned and be fit to move into a higher clarity. Remove the chatter of the emotional story, and in a steady and still mind choose honesty and integrity.

Every human being is gifted with the ability to go inward and listen to a moral compass for one’s self. To have a child is beautiful, and yet to have a child that is not wanted is wrong. To have a child without love is not going to offer our world a better and safer future. To abandon a women’s right to terminate an unwanted or harmful pregnancy is to create a world of self-loathing and rage. Freedom is the ability to make a choice for the highness good for each and every soul.

A clear mind is a balanced mind. When the mind is able to rest in a state of yoga, a higher consciousness arises. This ability to witness is the unfolding of our true nature. All beings are free to live in this honor of choosing the right action that one is fit to live.

Today, I am sitting in the sadness of all the thousands of women wanting children and can’t have them, all the women finding themselves with an unwanted pregnancy, all the families suffering from the hardships of maintaining their health, and the need to feel seen and heard. So many of us are feeling overwhelmed by the uncertainty of our world. Heath affects every aspect of our lifestyles, and we must have the ability to choose the highest good for our individual mental, physical and spiritual health. As a country, we are losing our ability to be seen and heard. We are losing our ability to feel safe and to belong. 

What can we do? We can honor our choice to come inward and listen to our inner voice. We can quiet the outer noise which just feeds our nervous systems with fight or flight symptoms. Our emotional and mental health is our soul’s health. We must come inward and have the courage to move forward with our freedom of the heart to make the highest decisions based on our ability to love ourselves.

As a mother, I want the best for my daughter and for her to live without shame or guilt for being a human being. May all human beings, regardless of race, gender or ideology feel the joy of being able to live their truth. May we all have the freedom to live a life for the highest good of all beings everyone.

”Lokah samastha sukhino bhavantu” 

I choose this July 4th to celebrate the integrity of my inner freedom and to appreciate the gifts we can honor. As a community, we belong to something greater. We respect everyone to feel safe and to be seen and heard. Let’s practice together and celebrate our aliveness to live with this truth.

With love and light,

Laura Jane

The Light of the Sun, the Human Spirit

Every spring, I am reminded of the resilience of nature. The human spirit is needing some reminders that the sun is always shining somewhere. The gloom that pervades our world now is asking us to remember that clouds may block our view at the moment, but they are only filtering the sun’s light temporarily.

The sun is our metaphor for our own inner light. Surya Namaskara, a salute to the sun, is our daily practice of restoring our inner light by linking to the sun’s rays. Our light shines within us, no matter what else occurs around us.

Believing in our own light takes a willingness to keep turning it on. When our inner thoughts link to the clouds, our passion for living becomes dormant. An exhausted mind loses the joy for life. And if we are waiting for the outer world to change in order for us to feel better, we will only feel stuck in the mud.

To depend on others to change is to lose faith in ourselves. The gift of bringing our awareness to the light of the sun and linking our mind to the reverence of its rays is what fills our system with Prana.

Prana is the source of all life. Our light is the energy that connects to the movements of the Universe and this cycle of life is present at all times, whether we feel its glow or not. By remembering the gift of nature and witnessing how spring restores the color, the smells, the sounds, and the beauty of beginnings perhaps we can feel a surge of vitality within our soul.

Each of us is bringing up our own light to shine in the world. “To become the change we want to see in the world” was Gandhi’s peaceful message. To be the light in the storm is our gift to the world. Bring in the light of the sun today. Breathe in the light and exhale the rays of light. Bring into your heart the warmth of humility and remember how blessed we are for being alive today.

We have a choice. Choose the desire to see clearly. The sun is always shining somewhere. Choose to have it shine through your eyes. Let us feel the strength of this nutrient and enjoy the beauty that nature is gifting us right now.

It is not to avoid the clouds or deny them, the lotus flower grows in the mud. However, the flower or the tree is constantly seeking the light of the sun. Having the smallest crack to let that light in and shine it out is our human spirt. Fill your heart with this sweet expansion, and let’s offer our light to the world.

With love and light,

Laura Jane