Jen mentions that she owns a production company in partnership with her husband, and she owns a coaching and consulting business, as well. (1:16)
Jen shares that they are storytellers at heart and they’re currently in the process of building a new art of mindful storytelling program, and their purpose is to connect with entrepreneurs and to support their journey. (1:35)
Jen mentions that as a mindful business coach, she connects people back into their business in a mindful way, and supports them on their journey, as aspiring entrepreneurs or established entrepreneurs. (1:56)
Jen leads the mindful moment exercise. (3:59)
Jen shares the three common issues in seeking mindfulness. (7:44)
Jen thinks that a lot of people have a perspective on what they see and read that; they want to understand. (7:56)
Jen mentions that if you’re going to practice mindfulness, you must always sit and do meditation every day, for 30 minutes. (8:55)
Jen shares that the micro mindfulness moment is one of her favorites and all you have to do is to stop for a second, put your hand on your heart, and take 5 breaths. (10:58)
Jen shares a mindful exercise that she recommends to people, and it’s called the stop exercise. (15:26)
Jen shares that taking a moment to stop is something that most people don’t often recognize. Because we react very quickly when our negative emotions are taking control. (16:40)
Jen mentions that she’s currently studying mindful self-compassion. (18:49)
Jen mentions that finding and building self-compassion, within themselves is challenging for most people, but everyone has it. (21:29)
Jen shares her three guiding principles. (30:47)
Jen shares an exercise that’s beneficial in any organization, and it’s called a soft landing. (36:33)
Key Quotes:
“We all adapt much more quickly than we give ourselves credit. But we don’t realize it within ourselves. So, our ability to adapt to uncertainty and change is higher than we give ourselves credit for.” – Jennifer James
“Just stop and take a breath, observe how you feel in that moment, recognize it, label it, and then proceed. Sometimes just taking that moment to stop allows you to ground yourself at that moment, and not react. It gives you that moment of choice and the choice is ours, we own that.” – Jennifer James
“You have to have a foundation of understanding and believing in yourself before you can actually externally put that out into the world, and allow others to believe in you as well. It starts inside, having the confidence to do that. Not as easy, but it starts with baby steps.” – Jennifer James
“If you put on your curiosity hat before every single conversation, whether it be at home or work, it helps reframe how you enter into that conversation. Cool. And it allows you to think differently.” – Jennifer James
Did you know dreams come to guide you? Did you know the dreams of your heart guide you, too?
Dreams are not just about our nighttime journeys but more encompassing than you can ever imagine. And, dreams are our birthright. But how do we understand our dreams and the dreaming time?
These meetings will give you the tools to begin your journey and excite your imagination. Dream sharing is a part of every class and you will learn an easy but profound technique to capture the meaning and essence of your dreaming and create practical action.
You will walk the four directions and capture the essence that is meant for you through exercises and dream sharing. Materials will be provided. Bring your journal.
Where A Wondering Spirit, 169 Shaker Rd, East Longmeadow MA. Contact them directly to register: www.awonderingspiritonline.com If you can’t make it in person and/or live far away, this class is offered the same time and day virtually over Zoom meetings.
Dates and Time 8/12, 8/19, 8/26, 9/2, 9/9, and 9/23/2020 Wednesday evenings from 6-8 pm.
(The space between the fifth and sixth classes is deliberate. I want to encourage time to dream and sit with your dreams before our final class.)
I had the privilege of being interviewed on a Voice America show a couple of years ago. I am including the link to this show since it will give you a more in-depth understanding of dreams and the richness of class material. Obviously studying and learning about dreams has been a true passion of my heart. I love sharing the process and exciting participants on the value of our Dreamtime which unfortunately our society does little to support. If you have further questions don’t hesitate to contact me here or www.awonderingspiritonline.com.
Description: So many world events grab our attention and some stab at our hearts. Meet Susan Hoffman-Fishman, artist and writer who was deeply moved by the Fukushima, Japan nuclear accident, 2011. She and art partner Elena Kalman have partnered up to create hands-on art dedicated to raising awareness about our precious water and homelessness. Intrigued? I hope you will listen in as Susan describes her passion and projects and maybe invite her to your area creating art for the awareness we need for these issues.
About My Guest: Susan Hoffman Fishman is a public artist, painter, writer and educator whose work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries throughout the U.S. All of her public art installations and mixed media paintings concern current social and political issues. Susan’s latest bodies of work focus on the threat of rising tides caused by climate change, the trillions of pieces of plastic in our oceans and the wars that are predicted to occur in the future over access to clean water.
Susan is also the co-creator of two on-going, socially engaged public art projects: The Wave, a national installation which addresses our mutual need for and interdependence on water and Home, which calls attention to homelessness and the on-going need for affordable housing in our cities and towns. The Wave has been installed to date in 24 museums, galleries, parks, schools and festivals.
My podcast guest this week, Ajmu Ayinde, spoke so beautifully about the holistic framework of hypnosis, his journey and, experiences, He focused on Transpersonal Hypnotherapy and shared with us how holistic this modality is in its application, touching upon aspects of us as a human being seeking help. He mentions guided imagery which reminded me of the research and applications I learned from Belleruth Naparstek, a leader in this field.
Guided Imagery is defined as: “sometimes called guided meditation, visualization, mental rehearsal, and guided self-hypnosis) is a gentle but powerful technique that focuses the imagination in proactive, positive ways. ”
What I learned from her research is that we don’t need specifics to get a specific result. For example, when one has to undergo surgery: instead of affirming the surgery and ‘all will go well’ with the use or need for minimal blood transfusions as an affirmation, she found it was more effective to focus on feeling well using indirect sentences. We need very little to incite our natural inherent ability to heal. So, instead of specific affirmations, she used more generic thoughts such as ‘watch the team that watches over you, notice how your body is cooperating.’ These more indirect sentences actually showed a decrease in the need for blood transfusions during surgery. She found that imagery in this fashion puts the wisdom of our hearts to work. I love this, that our bodies have an inherent ability to heal. Hypnosis accesses this part of us too.
Her website contains many CDs for a variety of ailments that I highly recommend.
3 Benefits of Guided Imagery:
Delivers complex coded messages to our deep subconscious;
Uses symbols and metaphors which our subconscious responds to;
Well-designed imagery can get us out of our head; we can access our intuition, memories and amplify our energy filed.
Many yoga practices and various healing modalities utilize guided imagery. Guided imagery allows us to enter into our entire being, not just the head or mind. Need help creating a contemplative space? Check out this article: https://www.thebrecklife.com/creating-home-meditation-space.php.
We want to catalyze our inherent intelligence to awaken our own healing power. Cool, huh? I think so. I have experienced many guided imagery sessions at the end of a yoga class. It helped me get out of my head, relax more deeply. In the long run, that’s healing!
Remember to share and all comments are appreciated. Enjoy.
I began my journey with yoga in the mid to late seventies, a time when the ecology movement was just beginning. I had to travel to a YMCA to get to a class on a gym floor. I was taking tap and jazz dancing lessons at that time. My teacher was on vacation so I did the 30-day routines, following the instructions religiously. When she returned and I resumed classes she couldn’t get over how limber I was, somehow different, even my breathing was better. She asked what I had been doing. Not much except I was given a yoga book and decided to do the program while waiting for her to come back. She was impressed. I was too. I didn’t realize there could be a difference between traditional dance warmups versus yoga but there was. This feedback and observation have stayed with me ever since.
Years pass and I became a lecturer at the local University and incorporated my basic yoga routine from those first classes in each of my holistic studies classes. Athletes from basketball players to soccer were often inflexible. Athletes train for their sport and those muscle groups works really well but what about the rest of their body? Hamstrings were tight, backs couldn’t bend well. So many students commented on how much better they felt after a yoga class. Athletes were awakened to the fact that though they were good at a sport their bodies were not in as prime condition as they thought. This led to discussions and I only hope to inspiration for these young adults to value their body differently.
During this time I came across Mantak Chia’s book Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao. He reminds me of the importance of respecting our body in its totality, not just a machine that we prod on and on. Every organ system is a community of cells, a neighborhood if you will, that functions in harmony with every other system creating an intricate interplay between all parts, united to serve the whole. When we are young, we give the body little thought except for cosmetic reasons or athletics. As we get older and see how the body can run down, we may step up to the plate and take better care. Often, as I have seen in my nursing career, folks often wait until an alarm bell sounds before making changes. We all do this, get disciplined, life interrupts, then we go back to our habits again.
This week, my podcast guest, Eaglemoon Raes, reminded me of Mantak Chia’s meditation, one that asks us to focus on each organ system and give thanks to that community.
Place feet on the floor, back comfortable, breathe
Bring your awareness to your heart. Feel your heart’s love.
Feeling this love, focus your attention on each organ system: brain, eyes, ears, nose, mouth etc. all the way through your body.
When done bring your awareness back to your breath and give thanks for your breath of life.
“These vital organs are intimately connected to our mind. Our body is the filter for all our perceptions, feelings, thoughts, as well as the storehouse for our memory, our very sense of identity.” (p. 21, Awaken Healing Energy through the Tao, by Mantak Chia)
Giving thanks for our bodies seems a timely reminder. Enjoy.
Remember all comments and shares are appreciated.
Description: This podcast takes another look at holism from a practitioner’s viewpoint who experienced an out of body experience at the age of four. Meet Deb Sodergren as she shares her story, her wisdom about healing. Join us for an uplifting holistic discussion for health and well-being.
About My guest: Deb is an Energy Body Vibration Expert/International Speaker/Author and owner of Up Vibrations, LLC. She graduated from the New England School of Metaphysics in 1998 and is a nationally certified as a Reiki Master Teacher and certified to teach Metaphysics and Meditation. She is also an Infinite Possibilities Certified Trainer. “My philosophy of healing is based on taking care of my clients with alternative healing modalities and sometimes with traditional allopathic medicine to ensure that the individual’s whole self is being maintained and balanced. I bring to my practice a deep understanding of the human energy field and the body, mind, and spirit connection as well as extensive training inthe areas of Reiki, meditation, chakra balancing, vibrational medicine, channeling, death & dying, infinite possibilities mindset and others.
Judith Dreyer, MS, BSN, Writer, Speaker, and Workshop Presenter, Master Gardener.
Did you know dreams come to guide you? 
