Wholesome Resources for Mind-Body Mastery through Yoga, Meditation, Guided Imagery, Stress Relief, Wellness
Here are three proven yoga techniques to help with setting a worthwhile intention that will help you overcome frustrations, anxiety and fatigue. You will have clarity of mind, and be calm and courageous too.
They are the 1) Pratipaksha Bhavana meditation. 2) Kubera hand mudra. 3) Yoga Nidra, a deeply relaxing exercise that helps you make needed changes. Continue on for details and a handout for easy reference.
Here is a series of 9 yoga poses for a healthy heart (pdf) from the innovative work of Dean Ornish, MD.
For over 30 years, research has shown how comprehensive lifestyle changes can often halt, and even reverse, heart disease. Program components include a low fat diet, exercise, social support, and stress management (yoga, guided relaxation, breathing, meditation). Reversing Heart Disease, Love and Survival, and other books and articles by Ornish contain the details and data you’ll want to have about the lifestyle for a healthy heart. This yoga series was originally published in Yoga Journal (March 06).
LINK: 9 Yoga poses for a healthy heart (pdf)
A great resource for guided relaxation, breathing and meditation is Yoga Meditations: Timeless Mind-Body Practices for Awakening.
Happy Humming Practice
Do you have a happiness practice? Our world is starving for happiness. We are parched for smiles. We are hungry for connections. Practice happiness daily. Hum daily.
Hum your happiness out. Have you forgotten you are made of vibrations? Remember, energy is real. Hum when you’re happy, content, blessed. Hum for no reason. It’s contagious. Quench each other’s thirst for happiness and hum.
Hummmmmmm…
Recall a happy moment. Hum to soak it into your heart.
Hum to those who struggle.
Catch on to shimmering beauty and grace and hum to capture its essence.
Hum out to the harsh realities.
Notice smiling times and hum to savor its sweetness.
Hum out to ease suffering.
Feel heartfelt happiness within. Hum to embody it. Set it free with a hum.
Hummmmmmm…
You can do this. You are meant to do this.
You are not in the crossfire. You are not hungry.
It takes as long as breathing in happiness and sharing it with a hum.
Hummmmmmm…
Devote your happiness practice to benefit everyone, everywhere.
Dedicate your happiness practice to fill the broken people and places craving relief.
Hummmmmmm…
Hum a single note.
Hum a tune.
Hum till you feel happy.
Hum for those who can’t.
Hum for those who forget and for those forgotten.
Hum when sad, lonely, and feeling mad.
Hum your own sound ~ high/low ~ soft/strong ~ clear/crinkly ~ in tune/or not ~
Hum at home, while working, and in between. Hum inside and outside and in between.
Hum a lullaby and to awaken.
Happy. Happy. Happy.
Hummmmmmm. Hummmmmmm. Hummmmmmm.
From Julie Lusk with inspiration from Susa Silvermarie ~ May 2025
I’m still on Cloud 9 from our recent Yoga Women’s Retreat & Slumber party. What a joy to be surrounded by friends – soul friends! They are 
the people, whether known a long time or briefly, that have shaped and supported you into being who you are today, and who you’re growing into.
The Celtic tradition calls one’s soul-friend the Anam Cara. John O’Donohue explains “With the anam cara, you could share your innermost self, your mind, and your heart. This friendship is an act of recognition and belonging that did not set limitations of space or time on the soul. It cuts across all convention, morality and category. In it, you are understood as you are without mask or pretension.”
Wabi-Sabi
is my new favorite concept. It refers to the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.Wabi is a Japanese word that connotes rustic simplicity and the understated elegance found in both natural and man-made objects.
Sabi is the beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of something and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear as well as in any visible repairs.
What a wonderful concept that softens the sting of aging and the illusion most of us are under that demands that we always get it right. Not only does it soften it, it elevates imperfection to an art to be treasured.
So, the next time things don’t seem to go right, simply smile and say “Wabi-Sabi”. It’s a real time-saver too.
Please give us examples of how you are celebrating the spirit of Wabi Sabi in your life. Add your comments below.
