Living a Heart-Led Life

Do you ever wonder why you do what you do?

Sometimes the reasons are obvious.

And sometimes it just feels right.

When we follow our heart, the best answer to 'Why?' might be “I don’t know, it just feels right.”

When we follow our head we may justify our choices. This comes with a price.

Justification is a form of thinking. Thinking is limited by past experience and beliefs.

When we connect to our hearts, we break free from limiting thoughts and are open to possibility and potentiality. Our actions take on quality of ease, even when the output requires effort.

Here's an example from my life, that may help you connect more deeply to yours.

I’ve decided to host a retreat close to my home in March. Why?

Because it feels darn good. When I imagine a group gathering in cozy log cabins for transformational inquiry, curiosity and reconnection -individually, in community, and with all life -my heart sings and zings!

And then there are doubts; the amount of detailed planning required, financial risk, and the fear of nobody showing up. The doubts are essentially thoughts; helpful to a point but outshone by the YES of my heart that says do it!

What does your heart say YES to? Reconnect to the ever-present guidance of your heart with support from my meditation, yoga and breathing classes and courses. Each is offered heart-to-heart.

Love yourself into doing what authentically wants to shine through you.

Inspiration for your exhalation

As Autumn vibrancy saturates the beautiful Canadian Rockies, a book opens in my hands One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet by one of my favourite authors, Richard Wagamese.

As Richard outlines 'The first Ceremony; The Sacred Breath' from Anishinaabe First Nations teachings, I am once again in awe of congruity among varying paths to self-understanding.

The Sacred Breath asks us to breathe a slow, relaxed exhale as long as we comfortably can while acknowledging “I am one with Creation.”

The philosophy of yoga invites us to dissolve our perceived sense of separation through the exhale.

I haven’t yet found a spiritual system that doesn’t incorporate conscious breathing as a foundational practice.

Now, modern science explains why and how the way we breathe directly affects all aspects of wellness, from anxiety to disease.

There has never been a more exciting time to start a breathing practice!

What happens when you breathe better? Here's what Linda and Joyce noticed: It happens to be an extra busy time for me. The Breathe Better Now program has been so helpful, calming, steadying. I realize that while I think I "know" certain things about the breath, there is more and more and more to experience and I'm grateful for these experiences. -Linda Chamberlain, Alaska

Since practicing breathing techniques with Julie, I notice I have more energy. The first moment I realized this was in my morning routine of carrying tea up to our bedroom. In the past, I would arrive at the top of the stairs breathlessly. Now I have breath and energy to spare. I haven’t changed anything else, other than adding regular breathing practice of 15 minutes per day. It's great to feel better and more energy, just from this! - Joyce Keith, Canmore AB What will you notice? Sign up for the Free Breath Better Now program.

What I learned about aging...from flatware.

For some time, commercial airline pilots have looked suspiciously young to me, but more recent evidence of being “over-the-hill” took me by surprise.

Wishing to replace missing pieces of my stainless steel flatware set, I inquired into their availability through the manufacturer. Mikasa's service representative replied, “We don’t have a curator or historian on staff to search that pattern.”

Whaaaaat? A curator or historian is needed to identify my eating utensils? These were not my Mother's - nor my Grandma’s collection - they can't be that old!

I shook my head, sighed deeply, and resigned -yet again- to being "older."

Oh, how the ego likes to remind us of the confines of time.

As the ego plays on, it also brings gratitude for being alive in these transformative times.

I am blessed to have enjoyed 30,000 meals with this “historic” set of flatware. The spoons were among the first utensils to meet my daughters' sticky fingers, and every piece was shared by friends and family in gatherings of the heart.

And if that's not enough, my hair color matches my favored flatware more each day. I'll bet I didn't think of that as a bright young bride making a wish list in the Hudson's Bay department store.

No matter your current place "on the hill", we're trekking it together. If we pay attention, take care of ourselves and each other, the view keeps improving.

There’s something deep inside us that knows we are beyond swiftly passing time.

I invite you, right now, to prove it to yourself:

Feel into your essence; the very aliveness within. Like an Easter egg hunt, feel under or through any fatigue, energy, or whatever may be most obvious at first glance. Don't think about it, just notice and feel.

Has the underlying feeling of "being you" changed since your earliest memories? You might just recognize a feeling that has been here all along. It doesn't feel old or young.

Our body is time-bound but essential nature is not.

If this is as clear as mud, don't worry - it is a practice.

Recognizing wholeness and completeness beyond limitations is why I practice and share free weekly live-stream iRest@ Yoga Nidra meditations and am gifting you today with a sample recording.

When we know ourselves as more than this time-bound body, we are free to recognize our essence and to be the amazing, joyful human beings we are meant to be.

P.S I can think of no better way to prime the pump of our body as it receives life force, than to breathe consciously and strategically. If you haven’t yet received your seven days of 12-minute practices with me, to “Breathe Better Now”, you can still sign up now.

Oh, and if you like your current flatware, stock up while you can. Time flies. :)