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Are you a resolution maker? A “resolutionist?”A friend of mine goes to the gym every morning. Yes, every morning. He gets up and goes. My husband swims every day. Both of these men report that in the first week of January the gym and pool are filled with resolutionists who resolve that this year they will work out, swim, eat better, or lose weight. Yoga studios fill with students. By the end of the January, or maybe in February, the gyms, pools, and studios have slowly emptied except for a few new regulars and the old regulars returning to their routines. What’s the deal?   Here we are in 2023. Each year that number changes and I do, too. I hardly remember any resolutions I made because I seldom made any. Did you? Do you?   I polled some friends about resolutions. Here are a few answers: I don’t make resolutions any more. I’ve never lost those 20 pounds.I resolve every year to be kinder to my family.I sign up for a different new class every year. Sometimes I never go, but I love the process of looking. The New Year marks a place, a specific date that many of us recognize as a new beginning. For me it’s a bit like my birthday as a marker of time, a reflection of the past, and a glimpse into the possible future. In the reflection process, I consciously review the past in order to learn from it.     Several years ago I started coming up with a phrase or word that I would carry around with me as a reminder of new or different habits or patterns I wanted to put into place. One year the word was “equanimity.” Another phrase I used was “I don’t know.” Those still come in handy.   I learned a new technique for that intention at a New Year’s meditation retreat at  Jekyll Island, GA, with Cheri Flake, The Stress Therapist. We enjoyed several days of yoga and meditation before New Year’s Eve when we retreatants gathered in an outdoor pavilion near the beach. Cheri led us through some visualizations and meditations to guide us into 2023. In the first one, she passed around some rocks and asked us to hold one. Through kind words, she guided us to put whatever we wanted to leave behind in 2022, what we were finished with, into the rock. I found some events/memories/ideas that I felt I could leave behind. They had served their purpose like an old shirt. I infused them solidly into the rock. As a group, we walked silently in single-file to the beach where we tossed or heaved our rocks into Mother Ocean. Ahhh. Lighter already.   The next morning, New Year’s Day, we collected ourselves on the beach. After a short meditation, our intrepid leader encouraged us to consider how we would like to feel by the end of 2023. How did we want to feel? To me, that includes all of me—the physical body, emotional heart, intellectual mind/brain, and intuitive center of the belly.   Then…this is the best part… Cheri asked us to stand up and feel all of that, and then to take the stance that represented that particular attitude. We could chose something like “I want to feel like a rock star” and walk in the manner of a rock star. Wow. We all assumed our postures of CEOs, acrobats, freedom fighters, firm decision makers, or soft bunnies, and scattered across the beach. I started grinning as I imagined what we looked like as we sauntered, sashayed, strode, and strutted across the beach.   That experience was much more fun than making a resolution. I did come up with a word. I’m not telling what word I chose. You’ll probably see it in my walk by the end of the year.   May you let go of what doesn’t serve you. May you embrace what does. Together, may we move into 2023 with love and compassion for all.   Namaste, Cindy It’s Mexico Time!!! Cindy and her husband Randy are headed to Mexico for their annual February vacation. There will be no classes from January 30 through February 24. Classes will resume on Monday, February 27.

Centering Body & Mind—Yoga & the Four Sublime States
(An offering of Southern Dharma Retreat Center)

One of the many lessons of the pandemic is how interconnected and interdependent we are.

The practice of yoga combined with an exploration of the Four Immeasurables can show us how to intentionally connect to ourselves and to others in ways that can reduce suffering and nurture happiness. In this at-home retreat with Cindy, we’ll explore how asana, along with the cultivation of friendliness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity can quiet the mind, decrease discontent, and develop clarity and freedom, the benefits of which we can share with others. 

Each day will include periods of silent and guided meditation, mindfulness exercises, and the practice of Hatha yoga postures and breath awareness. Depending on your situation, you can participate in all the sessions (much as you would at a residential retreat) or you can adjust the schedule to work with your “life” activities and responsibilities. For everyone, the intention we set will be to practice self-awareness during our time together and our time away from the group.

For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.southerndharma.org/retreat-schedule/661/at-home-retreat-centering-body-mind-yoga-the-four-sublime-states/

In the United States, we are five months into the Stay Home, Stay Safe aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. At my house, we call it “The Covid”—as if it has an actual identity as an unwanted guest who won’t leave. We all want to talk about The Covid; about how our daily lives have changed, how difficult travel has become, and how worried we are about our family members and ourselves. We are swimming in anxiety, restlessness, and worry. How exhausting!

What can we practice to transform or at least limit these fraught conversations and heavy feelings? Surely there are more life-affirming alternatives to Netflix and on-going cocktail hours with friends on Zoom. (Is there any activity that doesn’t involve a screen right now?) 

During these challenging times, I find it especially helpful to focus on the Four Immeasurables, also known as the Four Limitless Qualities or Heavenly Abodes. I’ve mentioned them before because they are always within us, as the blue sky is always with us, although it may be covered up by clouds. As a reminder, these qualities are loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. 

Does focusing on these make the pandemic go away? No. However, when we uncover and cultivate these  qualities, we can experience life as more peaceful and spacious.

Take a moment:

• How does your body feel when you feel angry? Really, how does it feel? Light and free? Tense and tight?  
• How does your body feel when you feel loved? Light and free? Tense and tight?
• How does your body feel when you feel joyful or playful? 
• How does your body feel when you drop the storyline of who wears a mask and who doesn’t?
• How do you want to feel at any given moment? 

If you felt more at ease when focusing on the physical sensations of love, joy, and acceptance, perhaps others would, too. The aspiration practice of metta or loving-kindness prompts us to think beyond our personal difficulties and recognize that all of us are in this situation together. If each one of us loosened our grip on what we think is right, and instead wished for all of us to be more at ease, how would that feel? Maybe we would smile under our masks and wish that all beings be safe and happy, mask or not. Maybe we would send off a prayer that all could be healthy and well.

Let’s give it a try.

Let me be clear: I believe in science. Follow all the rules about wearing a mask where it’s expected and mandated. Wash your hands. Oh, and wear a mask. It’s possible to smile with your eyes. 

There will be no classes on January 1, 2020. Happy New Year to all!