If you’re reading this, you might pause for 60 seconds of “aware-ing and caring” practice:

 

Take a few moments to bring curious, compassionate awareness to your body—the first foundation of mindfulness—by noticing the posture you’re in, and sensing how it feels to be in this position. If your intuition encourages you to shift so that you feel more comfortable, go for it. You might gently say to yourself, “aware-ing and caring.”  Expand your awareness to include any thoughts and emotions that are present, another moment for “aware-ing and caring”—What’s here? And can I extend kindness towards it, just as I would towards a friend? 

 

As you experiment with this, see if you can offer yourself grace. Speaking from personal experience, sometimes it feels easier to bring mindfulness and compassion to this moment of life and living it; two seconds later, not so much :).

 

 

As you may have read on my website's homepage, Two Wings Mindfulness “warmly welcomes all of you: your level of experience with mindfulness, your questions and ideas, your gender identity, your sexual orientation, your religious and spiritual experiences, your racial and ethnic background, your dis/abilities, your immigration status, your family complexities, your size, your skepticism, your health challenges, your challenges and joys, and your [fill in the blank with many other aspects of being human!]”

 

Regardless of any Executive Order or policy, my co-teachers and I are committed to facilitating spaces of belonging, spaces that support each of us in strengthening our inherent capacities for healing, wisdom, love, and courage.

 

No group that consists of ever-changing human beings can come with a “100% safe” guarantee—and the Two Wings Mindfulness team will do everything in our power to ensure that when we gather, it feels “safe enough.” Your feedback is always welcome.

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“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another.”

PS: As always, feel free to reply with comments, questions, and life updates! I love hearing from you.

 

PPS: If you think a friend, family member, or colleague would benefit from this newsletter, please feel free to forward it along! They can also join the Two Wings mailing list here.