Mindfulness. It's a familiar term these days. Probably you are aware that practicing mindfulness helps to mitigate stress, overwhelm, anxiety and manage our mood and emotions. Mindfulness allows us to be present with ourselves and others. It is a very simple skill to learn and like so many things, to strengthen and maintain our ability to be mindful, requires regular practice. Fortunately, it doesn't take a huge amount of time to cultivate this skill of mindfulness and once you've got the hang of it you can "practice" all day long!

If you are a member of this library then you have a lot of resources at your fingertips for supporting you in becoming mindful. Mindfulness is what we are developing when we practice asana - the physical practices of yoga - as we witness how we are feeling physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically and observing how the postures are effecting all those layers of our being. For those of us with wildly busy minds, asana practice is so helpful to draw the mind into the body and begin to settle. Over time it becomes easier to sit and practice mindfulness and to live our lives mindfully.

In the class I added to our Foundations section this week, we start with a seated practice of mindful attention and pranayama before we begin our asana practice. Check it out here:

Be Mindful, Breathe, Align and Swim into Backbends and Twists (86 min)

I also added this brief video:

A Guided Mindfulness Practice (8 min) This was an impromptu video I made this past week as I sat out on the floating dock on my pond with my cat, watching the wind blow through the trees and across the water. (so you get some cat purring and wind sounds in the mic but it's still pretty nice)

I hope you enjoy these offerings this week and they support you in being present for yourself and your loved ones.

Punar milamah - we'll meet again!

Audrey