Life is all about experiences and how those experiences mold you to relate to the rest of the world. Chosen experiences this week were all about self care, self-awareness, mindfulness and creating space for calm in a too busy world. In the last year, it has become a goal to pay more attention to self-care, learn to hold space for others without projecting my agenda and to seize opportunities to explore areas I would normally pass by in the course of being a slave to the schedule. Be open to change, opportunity and experience peace in the day to day.
On Saturday, my day was spent at a workshop making prayer labyrinth mats. We learned the history, design elements, themes and meditative prayers for walking labyrinths. We all shared locations of truly exceptional labyrinths encountered in the world - there is a winery in Eugene OR with a lavender labyrinth that is now on my bucket list - and then commenced planning to complete our own small scale labyrinths. It was an exercise in patience, faith and a moving meditation exercise in and of itself. I thought I had chosen a simple pattern... not so much. But in the end, was the only participant with a completed project. Others had their layout penciled in and we brainstormed ways to complete the layout with glued on embellishments, decorative stitching, painting the labyrinth design as a background base for a painting in the foreground and other expressions of personal preference. The uniting of women from all walks of life, ages, professions, faith bases and intentions was as much of an education as the workshop itself.
The plan was to explore the grounds of the priory in Olympia, but weather prevented that plan from occurring, and left it for another opportunity now that I am familiar with the location.
Sunday was spent in my usual and customary worship service with all the trimmings. Full choral music, instrumental accompaniment, a church full of people who have served on my faith journey for the last 10 years, family, friends and friends I consider as family. There was potluck coffee hour after the service and the opportunity to share the adventures and challenges of the past week.
Monday, my birthday, brought my mom and a church pal to yoga class and out to lunch for Thai food. We learned that with one modified downward dog move, we stimulate 76 acupressure points of restoration and healing in our bodies and noted that this move needs to happen daily in life. The opportunity to learn what is good for heart, soul, mind and spirit while refreshing and nourishing with well seasoned fresh food was good for all systems. We visited the back yard of our new home and reveled in the glory of creation in the water fowl, plants and bright blue sky that appeared.
Tuesday presented the opportunity to join a small group in centering prayer. A passage was shared from Brother Lawrence - a Carmelite monk, and we were given 20 minutes to reflect, hold space and contemplate the passage in our own interpretation. I had recently learned in yoga that finding your true center of gravity would feel like opening a door and the urge to yawn was a clue that one had found it. I was able to identify the feeling of center both in mind and body and felt that was enough for one day. Yes, my mind wandered. Yes, I had to snap it's leash back to mindful emptiness. Yes, I utilized some yogic breathing to assist in that endeavor. But it was all good.
There is no right or wrong way to center, to pray, to find one's path in the world. We are all here to help each other. But the path for one, may not be the right path for all. Life often feels like a maze where we have made a wrong choice and followed the winding path to somewhere we ultimately did not want to be. While a labyrinth helps us to discern how far and how fast and what we hope to find when we reach the center and reexamine the path as we exit the labyrinth for what we might do differently next time.
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