Category Archives: Interesting Topics

Soul Works: Creating Inner Security

Soul Works: Creating Inner Security

You are invited to join Paulette Dwyer and myself for the second Soul Works gathering. This is a forum for women in the second half of life: Sunday September 11,2011 at 1.00 – 3.00pm
September 11 is the tenth anniversary of a world-changing event. We choose this day to look inward at the changes within us, and to discover the hidden undermining forces that hold us back from full authentic expression of our uniqueness. Is there an inner terrorist? How do we cultivate inner security?
Using the tools of yoga, experiential processing, and the talking circle, we share what we know and what we learn from one another. The underlying paradigm of this work is that we are each enough. Yet we can grow to become more.
Wear comfortable clothing and bring yoga stuff.

Venue: Holistic Haven, 31139 Via Colina #205 WLV 91362
Cost: $25 by Sep 9th. $30 at door
Payment check to Paulette Dwyer: 2660 Townsgate Road # 730 WLV CA 91361
For more info call Paulette at 805 6608350
Email Maggie@easeintoyoga.com

Who are we?
Paulette Dwyer, Psychotherapist, Yoga Instructor (25 years),past owner of Westlake Yoga Studio, and Regional Manager of Westlake Village, YogaWorks, Wellness consultant, hiker, skier, closet karaoke singer.

Maggie Mellor, yoga teacher, world traveler, writer, grandma and mindfulness practitioner, delights in spending time with women talking about life.

Food Glorious Raw Food!

Food Glorious Raw Food!

What are you Grateful for? Imagine being asked that by your server, as you sit down for a celebratory meal in a carefully chosen eatery!  We are celebrating Simone’s graduation from Berkeley University. We dine early to  allow time to walk to the ceremony.  At  4.30 in the afternoon,the place is well filled with a mother and toddler, several  groups of students, and our rather over-dressed party of four.  All the food is live, organic and vegan.  All that can possibly be locally grown is. I love all of that.
Oh what to chose, I want it all!  Raw or cooked? The menu reflects this primary decision by its lay-out, cooked on one side, and raw on the other.  Dishes have surprising names:

  • I am Cheerful, burgers made with sunflower seeds,
  • I am Sensational, a pesto pizza
  • I am Whole, a bowl of shredded kale and quinoa.

I settle for the I am Hopeful, a raw version of Pad Thai. It is truly heavenly!  Glancing around at the open kitchen, I watch the staff  mindfully pile up the plates, everyone  calm and focused. They have been hired for their willingness to prepare all the food with love and consciousness.     A thousand things spring to mind to be grateful for.  Just being here first of all, with dear ones, and, now, about to select from the most seductive  dessert menu a yogini could imagine.  No sugar or flour or dairy is used at all!  I am grateful for that. We share the I am Rapture, the strawberry shortcake and the I am Magnificent, the raw chocolate mouse.  Both dishes live up to their naming and are a most fitting crescendo to a symphonic meal of sheer delight.

As I check my make-up in the tiny bathroom, I look straight into the provocative question posted just above the mirror: “Do you know how beautiful you are?”  I take a deep breath and a moment of stillness, to allow that one in.  Yes, I am, and I am very grateful.

PS: Great news! Cafe Gratitude is now also in L.A.  Check it out!

Spiritual Technology

Spiritual Technology

It doesn’t matter what you may use, to keep reminding yourself to stay Conscious.   I have this  solar powered prayer wheel on the dashboard of my car.  As the sun rises it begins to turn.  The Tibetan Mantra Om Mani Padme Hum are inscribed on the wheel, and while I drive, it makes a subtle turning sound.

Recently I drove behind a truck that had a variety of stickers with slogans that are counter to the slogans I might choose.  For example, the Peace sign sticker had a circle with fighter bombers inside it, with the message Peace the Traditional Way – implying that force is the way.  Aaaarg!  I find myself in argument with the driver of the truck, who I have never met, and I discover a rising anger towards him.  Then I hear the subtle turning of my prayer wheel, and see the sun shine on its golden color: Ha, now the mantra comes into my Awareness. My thoughts shift away from  judgments and self-righteous ideas, back to a place of openness and freedom.  As soon as I realized where my mind was taking me, what story I was telling myself, I just laughed out loud and felt immediately free!

Driving with this reminder, keeps my mental/emotional body in check.  When the monkey mind wanders off down some well-worn pathway, we can be pulled back.  This is of course a spiritual muscle that needs strengthening, just as much as the physical body needs that.

I got my solar powered prayer wheel in Bhutan!  Saw it, and HAD to have it. I believe there are only 3 of them in our town.  If your desire nature has suddenly sky-rocketed,  shop at Amazon!

Hands in the Dirt

Hands in the Dirt

Oh the joys of spring, renewal, and another chance.  I am repotting the bamboo.  Having been advised by many gardening friends that bamboo should not go into my backyard, as it will take over, I have kept it in pots, which together, form a nice, moveable hedge.  Dividing it every year into new pots, means my hedge is growing.  Plant abundance, a joy that every gardener knows.

I ponder the qualities of bamboo – fast-growing, flexible, and very resilient  to the force of wind.  Bending wildly in gale force winds,  bamboo resumes its tall stately shape when the storm has passed.  Bamboo is hollow on the inside of its thick stem.  The small leaves are lovely in their drooping angles and cross overs.   Bamboo has endless uses: the shoots are delicious food for people and panda bears, the stems form excellent building materials for homes, furniture and tools. Bamboo flutes transform  the human breathe into the sweetest sounds.  Nowadays we even wear clothing soft and comfortable, made from bamboo.  What’s more, throughout China bamboo is considered Lucky.

Dividing the roots is not always easy.  There has to be some surgery, sharp tools to separate the deeply entangled roots tucked into the now too-small pot.  Where exactly to tear and cut for minimal damage?   I recall The Secret Life of Plants, a book read some 30 years ago, of how plants are in  relationship with the environment.  I speak sweetly the bamboo, reassuring it that all is well, the pain of separating and relocating  is brief, compared with the ease and space of the new container.  Is the plant really screaming, I wonder?  I tuck it in with new soil and a dose of Vitamin B1, rescue remedy for plant trauma!

I want to be like bamboo:  growing fast, (in consciousness, thank you, not in my body!) flexible, able to constantly adjust and adapt to the strong forces around me,  to sing my note and, oh, yes,  I’d like to be really useful too.

How my affair with Mae Kaew the elephant began

How my affair with Mae Kaew the elephant began

how I fell in love

In April 2009 we visited the Elephant Nature Park in Northern Thailand. This is a safe haven for tired and abused animals. No rides, no shows, just feeding and bathing the ellies. It was one of the best experiences in my life. Getting up close to an animal the size of an elephant is spectacular. I felt her stillness and her depth, and I know she felt mine! Click how I fell in love to see the short clip.
Chris and I hope to get back there next week, weather allowing,to deliver the musical energetic remedy especially potentized for elephants that have experienced trauma.