Tag: Who Dares Wins Publishing

Friday Feast: Egg Salad and Blog Mash-up

Posted on by Joy Held

 

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

I promised this egg salad recipe to a good friend who shared a recipe with me last FF for guacamole.

“Joy’s Egg Salad Delight”

 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled, mashed

3 Tablespoons light mayonnaise or canola mayonnaise

1 stalk celery finely chopped

¼ red onion finely chopped

2 Tablespoons red pepper relish (found in the pickle aisle at the grocery)

1 Tablespoon fresh dill chopped (1/2 tsp. if using dry)

Salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together, cover in an air tight container and cool immediately. Because of the mayo this can’t be left out for long periods of time. Serve on toast with a piece of crisp romaine lettuce.

Friday Blog Mash-up

Here are the great blogs I’ve visited this past week. Check them out.

http://www.eatmovewrite.com/ Interesting blog about the trials and tribulations of a freelance writer.

http://www.creatingkeepsakesblog.com/index.php?s=art+journaling Nifty site with some good basics about art journaling.

http://www.onewomanswrite.blogspot.com/ Linda Rettstatt’s excellent blog about life as an author.

Do you have a recipe to share with Friday Feast?

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

Thursday Thought: Journal As Memory Maker

Posted on by Joy Held

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

A journal is a “home away from home” for our thoughts. Thoughts run the gamut from accomplishments to worries, and our journals are bound to catch all sorts of our ideas eventually. There are no rules for what should and shouldn’t be kept in a journal. That’s up to the keeper. Here are some ways a journal is helpful to just about everyone.

1.Place to keep track of life events. Just jotting down what happened on a particular day and what the weather was helps us review our lives whenever we take moments to go back through and reread entries. We feel a sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction which contributes to our overall feeling of positive self-worth.

2.Goals and wishes vault. The journal is a fantastic place to write down dreams and future plans. Write it down, make it happen really works because when we see our wants in writing it gives us a fresh perspective on their value and importance. Dream lists in a journal keep us focused and this refreshes our energy because we have something to work toward. Focusing on goals keeps depression at bay.

3.Creative projects tracker. Writers and artists often have a journal per book or art project which serves as a place to dialogue and document the work. Outlines, lists, resources, and comments are really important to the final result. They serve as a sounding board and a file for information and compliment the end product nicely. Many popular writers keep project diaries and publish them years later as “the making of” books to keep their works popular and interesting. This practice allows the safety and freedom an artist needs to make the inevitable mistakes that happen along the way to a creative endeavor.

Journals have a way of taking on a life of their own in a very short time. They are friends, confidents, and idea generators in many ways. In what way does your journal support your life and work?

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

Monday Meditation: Memories and Meditation

Posted on by Joy Held

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

As I sat on the meditation cushion one day last week counting breaths and truthfully minding my own business, a memory from my childhood popped up out of nowhere. I was around eleven years old and my precious Grandma Joy was staying with us as she did on a regular basis. Many of us have a “traveling granny” who lives out of a suitcase from house to house checking in on her children and grandchildren. In this memory, grandma was angry with my father for some reason. I don’t remember why or if I ever knew. I witnessed them exchange sharp words for the first time in my life and watched my dad leave the kitchen by way of the sliding screen door onto the back porch. My grandma picked up an unopened bag of sugar from the counter and hurled it at my dad just as he closed the screen. The bag bounced off the screen and splattered sugar all over the floor. I swept it up while marveling at grandma’s arm, and she got her suitcase to the front porch to wait on my aunt to pick her up. This scene replayed itself in vivid detail during my meditation and needless to say, I lost my train of relaxed consciousness and ended the sitting with a deep breath and a “Namaste” immediately. But the long, and I thought lost, memory contained a message for me. This isn’t an unusual circumstance. Meditation is often a time of revisiting memories and not all of them are pleasant.

Like dreaming, meditation allows our brains to soften and it sometimes takes the opportunity to “clean house”, do some necessary filing of information collected recently, or present us with a memory that gives us the chance to understand something  presently going on in our lives. After several days of thinking and wondering why my brain chose this particular memory to replay at this particular time in my life, I have decided it was meant to remind me that my father was a stern man and set in his ways. And he was seriously outnumbered by estrogen in the family dynamic. Lots of strong women in my family on both sides. Poor guys have trouble sometimes getting a word in edgewise. My father died four years ago and lately I’ve been trying to come to terms with the way some people have differing opinions about him. It’s a long, long, long, long story, but not everyone remembers my father like I do. None of us are perfect. And that is what I think the memory, as unsettling as it was, meant to remind me about. Love is not dependent on the perfection of self or others. It’s about acceptance as difficult as that may sometimes be.

What do you do when a memory bubbles up to the surface while meditating? Allow it to happen but above all simply witness the memory. Don’t get embroiled in old dramas. Just let it flow by. Thinking about it later is possible but not necessary. Most important, don’t allow memories to keep you away from the meditation cushion. Be brave.

Have you ever experienced a memory during meditation practice? What happened?

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com. 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

 Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

Friday Feast: College Food & and Blog Mash-up

Posted on by Joy Held

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

When I first came across Rachel Ray and her 30-minute cooking, I shouted, “Hooray!” Here was everything I needed in the right place at the right time. When I get home from teaching yoga, I’m STARVED. The slow cooker is really helpful on those days because I get home from the studio after 7:00 p.m. I can’t cook from scratch that late at night and have it ready before midnight. But slow cooker recipes seem too heavy some days so I like to do quick meals that are satisfying in many ways, the most satisfaction being it is done in a hurry!

Now that my daughters and their friends are in college they have all learned snap cooking, and I have recently been amazed how simple and healthful some of their recipes are. Maybe they were listening all those years I said, “Corn chips give you zits!” Here are a couple of their stand-by foods that are really healthy and quick to prepare. (Thanks Aurora and Pam!)

Turkey Fingers

Turkey cutlets, egg wash, canola oil, flour, bread crumbs, and Grill Mates (trademark)seasoning of your choice.

Put the seasoning in a bowl and mix with bread crumbs. Cut the cutlets into strips, toss lightly in flour, dredge in the egg wash, then the breadcrumbs. Fry in about 1/4 inch of canola oil, until golden brown turning only a few times.

Serve with sister’s honey mustard: honey and Gulden’s (trademark) brown mustard mixed to taste. 

Super Delish Guac

3 hass avocados
.5 small red onion
.25 chopped fresh cilantro
2tbs lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
.5 tsp cumin
.25 tsp salt

Mash avocados and mix with everything else.

**

Here’s the stupendous mash-up of blogs I’ve haunted this week.

http://www.onewomanswrite.blogspot.com/

http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/

http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

 Be well, write well.

Wednesday Workout: 7 Habits of the Highly Successful Workout

Posted on by Joy Held

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Habit 1: Make a Plan

Physical activity and exercise are essential to our health and well being. Our bodies have innate schedules we are born with such as digestion and sleep patterns. Exercise is most successful when we plan to exercise and we stick to it. It is super beneficial to exercise close to the same time every day as much as possible.

Habit 2: Set a Goal

Create a general and realistic desire for a physical activity plan such as maintaining good health. Exercise is part of that goal. Go ahead and set weight loss goals or plans to exercise 30 minutes six times a week, but be cautious about setting goals that create unrealistic expectations. This creates stress and exercise is supposed to help alleviate stress.

Habit 3: Do What You Can Do

Start every workout with the mind set to only do what your body is capable of doing that day. Some days are better than others. Learn to listen to your body’s signals. “Today I feel good enough to run two miles.” Sometimes you will hear a different message. “Today I need to take a long, slow walk and do some gentle stretches.” It’s all good.

Habit 4: Reward Yourself In Healthy Ways

Pre-arrange to reward yourself with recognition for sticking to the exercise plan. It’s perfectly fine to celebrate a month of not missing a single exercise date with a tiny splurge. And for those folks who exercise a lot, taking a few days off now and then is also healthy. Moderation is the key to all the habits.

Habit 5: Listen to Qualified Guidance

Every workout should be the result of your active choice to gather good information before hand. This means reading several books about the exercise styles that interest you, taking classes with a good instructor, or finding an exercise buddy to workout with.

Habit 6: Be Open Minded to Change

Your body and your exercise regimen will and should change on a regular basis. Don’t get in a rut by doing the same things over and over. Your mind will lose interest and tempt you with ways to avoid exercise. Keep it interesting with a variety of fitness choices every week. Mix things up with yoga twice a week, walking twice a week, strength training once a week, and sprinkle in some cardio on the exercise equipment.

Habit 7: Be Kind To Yourself

It’s very possible to overdo it with physical activity and exercise by not listening to the signals or setting unmanageable goals. Be kind to yourself if something happens to set you off course in some way. Always, always, always support your workouts with positive self-talk. Your body hears what you say and think, so keep it positive!

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance! Like this blog? Share it with someone you think would like it as well. 

Be well, write well.

Tuesday Tickle: Creativity Cannot Be Timed

Posted on by Joy Held

 

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) ournaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

It was a fascinating lesson in journalism class one day when our professor gave us the definition of “deadline.” Being public school zombies, we understood the message of turning things in on time, but Ms. Phipps continued with our lesson and enlightened us to the derivation and still prominent use of said “deadline”.

Courtesy of Webster: deadline-1.A time limit, as for payment of a debt or completion of an assignment. (This is the definition we were well acquainted with.) 2. A boundary line in a prison that prisoner’s can cross only at the risk of being shot. (In the back we assumed.)

There is conclusive written evidence of the word “deadline” being used as early as 1864 concerning the boundaries at Union and Confederate prisons such as Andersonville and Camp Oglethorpe in Georgia. The image of being gunned down still haunts me when I set or receive a deadline for an assignment. There are penalties to pay for missing deadlines. This is another example of time gone wrong in the wrong hands. 

Creativity rebels when given a deadline. It’s another contradictory situation to be sitting between a deadline and a blank page. So we have to devise methods to trick our creativity into staying juicy and accessible so whenever we need some we just turn on the tap and out comes the good stuff. “Impossible,” we hear from disgruntled artisans who have been waiting perhaps years for the good sentence or the great painting. Creativity doesn’t respond well to commands either, but it can be cajoled and caressed out of the vessel and onto the page with a few regular habits. 

Here are some tried and true tricks for keeping creativity hot and ready at a moment’s notice.

1.Journal-writing down thoughts, ideas, crap, and general observations is an exercise that creativity responds to happily. Keep it simple and journal habitually. Just a few words a day keeps the writing muscle in shape.

2.Blog-you don’t have to maintain a blog to write in them. Find blogs online with interests similar to yours, read and respond regularly.

3.Read-sounds simple, but keep a pile of a variety of reading materials accessible and where it will remind you to spend fifteen minutes every day reading whatever you want. Variety is the key. 

What do you do to keep your creativity ready at the drop of a hat? 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com. 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer 

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc. 

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance! 

Be well, write well.

Monday Meditation: Time and Herding Cats

Posted on by Joy Held

 

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

“Time management” is an oxymoron. We can’t possibly manage time. It does what it wants regardless of our efforts to wrangle it into submission. It marches on no matter what. Trying to manage time is frustrating because it’s a little like herding cats or nailing Jello (trademark) to a tree. Time has a mind and a mission of its own. Time cannot be told what to do and it cannot be beat into submission. But time rules the world and we will continue to know frustration until we develop a different relationship with time.

We can either work with time or we can compete against it. The competition idea is largely responsible for our feelings of frustration. “There is never enough time to get everything done,” we say out of habit. “I make lists, but there isn’t enough time to get it all done in a day.” While lists are a proactive method for dealing with our frustrations about not enough time, they too can cause us to “grrrrrr” at the end of the day’s allotted time when we realize how much of the list did not get accomplished.

Try feeling time instead. It’s a practice born of meditation’s ultimate lesson in patience. Begin by, and I hesitate to say it, setting a stop watch or timer when you practice meditation. Do not set the timer for ten minutes, close your eyes, and breathe until the timer goes off. With the timer at zero, first close your eyes, then push the button, and breathe. Meditate until the feeling arises that the session has come to an end. Open your eyes and see how long you have practiced. Regardless of how many minutes have passed, end the session. Do this daily and the time you meditate will gradually increase on its own in a natural way. Putting a time limit on your daily meditation practice is contradictory to the purpose. The purpose is to love your time here, not manage your time here. 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous. 

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer 

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc. 

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey 

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

Thursday Thought: Kind Words To Share

Posted on by Joy Held

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity has received some really nice reviews from two wonderful readers lately. Here’s a sampling of their thoughts and links to their sites. Visit and read the reviews and leave a comment!

From Linda Rettstatt, One Woman’s Write:

“I haven’t posted book reviews here on my blog, but I wanted to share this review because many of my readers are also writers. Here is my review…”

(read more)

http://onewomanswrite.blogspot.com/2011/04/review-writers-wellness-by-joy-e-held.html

From Natalie Markey, Pen To Publish:

“Since this blog is devoted to writers’ craft, industry hot topics and my journey from pen to publish, I rarely post reviews. I have said before that reading is one of the most important tools…”

(read more)

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/2011/04/craft-book-recommendation-writer.html

I am humbled by your kind words, ladies. Thank you!

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

Monday Meditation: The “Easy” Pose

Posted on by Joy Held

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

 In yoga, life is considered a series of “dukha” or sufferings one after the other, but the lessons of yoga are principally about teaching us to cope with suffering through relaxations or “sukha”. This is the art of relaxing and to yoga this means being comfortable and at ease. It means stillness (sukha) in the body and mind purposely practiced to counter act the opposite feelings of stress (dukha.) Therefore, the “easy pose” is taught as a physical position to take when trying to relax. But for some people the “easy pose” is anything but easy, so why is it called “easy”? The “easy” translation simply means being the opposite of uneasy or busy and stressed. Although the specific sitting position known as the “easy pose” is traditional, the mere act of sitting or semi-reclining and being motionless can be considered an easy pose. After all, not everyone can sit on the floor with their legs crossed at the ankles for an extended period of time. It would take human or mechanical intervention to get some of them back to standing contradicting the “easy” part.

 An “easy pose” is one that allows us to be at ease with ourselves without the urge to fall completely asleep. Most of us are conditioned to begin snoring within a few minutes if we find ourselves lying flat on our backs. Happens all the time in yoga. Corpse pose at the end of class is regularly mistaken by some exhausted individual as nap time and the rest of us are serenaded by the heavy, unburdened breath of someone who has fallen asleep on the mat. That’s okay, but as I’ve said before, sleep is not meditation. Sleep is sleep and meditation is an easy, comfortable state of relaxed alertness.

In meditation we are without the normal business of our bodies and minds (thoughts, movements, sounds.) Instead we are physically still. The only movement is what’s necessary to breathe. And our thoughts are fewer and slower. Thoughts are normal but they bring with them varying degrees of stress, so during meditation the fewer the better. It requires a low level of consciousness or awareness to “quiet the mind” as desired by meditation. The lack of thoughts equals fewer opportunities to be stressed by thinking which equates to feeling at ease—without stress. An easy pose is one that is comfortable enough to bring on the sensation of ease without allowing us to fall asleep.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, a stack of blankets, or a meditation cushion IS a comfortable pose for some. Others may need to sit in a chair with feet flat on the floor or lie back on a stack of pillows or a bolster to keep the body from lying completely flat. As long as we are physically at ease, our breath and thoughts will eventually join in and calm down. This is “sukha” or being without the suffering implied by the stress or “dukha” of physical movement and mental stimulation.

The honest challenge is developing the stamina to remain in this position of ease for a particular length of time. Practice, practice, practice and the body will gradually remember its state of comfort and be more cooperative when asked to be still. Remember our bodies and minds are very practiced at zooming all the time. The opposite is challenging (dukha) but rewarding (sukha.) This is balance.

What is your “easy pose”?

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

Monday Meditation: Lessons In Living

Posted on by Joy Held

 

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

We are each living our daily lives as we would like to experience our deaths.

“Whoa! Hold on,” you’re saying. “I don’t like to think about dying. I’ll deal with it when it happens.”

It happens a little to everyone every day. Awareness of that tiny fact creates a huge relief in those who notice it. Yoga has a particular gift in this area. It’s a pose called ‘Savasana’ which is Sanskrit for ‘corpse pose.’ The end of every decent hatha yoga class is spent in this one pose for up to 20 minutes. My students call it “the present at the end of the yoga workout party” because with practice ‘Savasana’ is truly a gift on many levels. One of those levels is the practice of our death.

“Okay, too morbid for me. Next blog, please.” 

That’s the normal reaction to a discussion of death. But this is a discussion of the appreciation of life.

I was raised in a ballet school and had to perform on stage quite a bit. Recitals, “The Nutcracker”, and benefit performances used to make me nervous. As a young dancer, I sometimes got so ill I couldn’t go on with the show. Nowadays that’s called “performance anxiety” and the study of it has shown that sufficient preparation and practice of an activity completely alleviates the stress caused by having to perform in front of an audience. I taught myself to practice more often and rehearse my dances in my mind over and over by visualizing the movements night after night before falling asleep. When it came time to perform, no sick stomach or sweats, just a great experience for me and the audience. The dedicated repetition in the studio and in my mind gave me the confidence to perform without tension and without worrying about the expectations. I knew I was doing the best job I possibly could because I had practiced a lot. 

In his brilliant book The Inner Tradition of Yoga, A Guide to Yoga Philosophy for the Contemporary Practitioner, author and psychotherapist Michael Stone explores some of how ‘Savasana’ is an honest, stress-free practice of “life structured by death.” In a pure and simple sense we all make daily living choices that lead us along the path of how we will experience our endings. In the regular practice of corpse pose we gently, slowly, and gradually choose in a small way to live and pass peacefully and with respect toward our world and others. Relaxing deeply in the gift of corpse pose at the end of a good hatha session is an opportunity to make a tiny practice about how we would like to leave this existence. It’s normal to resist death but the miniscule and regular practice of accepting it peacefully builds a reserve in our mind. We can call on those peaceful reserves when faced with stressful expectations and the results will be better for all concerned.

According to Stone, “Yoga teaches us that the dance of all we perceive happens in front of awareness, not inside or behind it.” Yoga helps us practice the dance in front of the audience and with repetition we are not afraid. About the two arenas of life and death he adds, “The ‘practice of dying’ is a matter of learning to live the tension ‘in between’ these two dimensions of existence.” Corpse pose enables us to experience a small death with appreciation for living because after the pose we are graciously given the opportunity to stretch our arms and legs, take a deep breath, and go back to our world. The idea is to take the appreciations learned on the mat in corpse pose and practice those lessons in our lives off the mat.

Visit Michael Stone

http://centreofgravity.org/

Learning to appreciate corpse pose as more than a physical relaxation is learning gratitude for life. Don’t be afraid.

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous. 

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

 Be well, write well.