At the end of one year, beginning of next, finding calm
There are 13 days left of 2023. I always have a strange feeling of limbo this time of year, like I am caught in between the past and the future, straddling two calendars. But in some ways that is where we always are: right here, right now. There are lots of days behind and, hopefully, lots of days ahead. But we have no choice in the moment but to be where we are.
How one manages the present moment is always the question. Today I picked cards from multiple decks I've been gifted or purchased to give me food for thought on the daily. The first was a Dove card from Steven D. Farmer's Power Animal Oracle Cards. Serenity, it said. Slow down, pause, and breathe. Then I picked a Heart Chakra card from a deck of Chakra Wisdom Cards that offered up the idea of Peace, of meditating and being calm in my interactions with others and the world.
Slowing down and finding peace and calm in interactions is not always easy, especially in the midst of the oft-stressful holiday season, when expectations are high and the reality of family and friends doing exactly as we'd like is statistically low.
To pause and breathe is always the answer and yet it is often easier said than done. As my children gather round, friends in tow, I am both elated and slightly unhinged by the shift. My house is messier than usual, coats and shoes flung hither and thither, recycling piling up, and I do have to stop to remind myself I will miss this, miss them, when they are not around. I have to stop and remind myself of what matters long range, that any petty arguments or annoyances are not worth holding on to. Without a commitment to serenity in our own minds and bodies, without that pause to breathe in what matters and breathe out what doesn't, things can quickly go awry.
We each posess all the elements of being our own oasis of serenity. We each have it in us to take a moment of repose instead of reacting from a place of singular ego-driven power, from the need to be 'right.' We all have the ability to shed the shoulds, lower our shoulders from where they're tight around our ears, and find a place of peace for ourselves and our loved ones, for all people.
To help you along in this process, I am sharing a recent recording I made of my Sacred Bloom Sound Bath in the Kingston, New York studio of bassist and producer extraordinaire Ben Zwerin, a longtime friend.
Click on the file below to listen. Lie down, get comfy and get into the present moment by tuning in to sacred sounds.
I will be performing my Sacred Bloom sound bath live in a number of places in January to start the new year off right!!
January 3 at 6 PM at the beautiful Maha Rose, a two-hour "Get in Tune" drum circle & sound bath meditation.
January 5, from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM, I will be at the lovely YogaSol
And, if you should find yourself in upstate New York, Monday, January 8, I will be at The Local in Saugerties from 6 PM - 7 PM
Hope to see you at one of these events
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