Sacred Practices

Heart Centered SoulCollage Card

Doesn’t it seem like the world has gone askew? We are feeling topsy turvy, with climate change, the crazy weather, as well as huge political uncertainty and violence going on. It’s no wonder our nervous systems are on high alert.

I wanted to share a few practices I consider sacred because they help me stay centered and grounded, and breathe more easily. Here are few of the things that bring me peace in mind and body.

Yoga: thank goodness for online classes with Adrienne, (on YouTube) which I discovered during Covid. Now if my hips are tight, or my hamstrings crying out for stretching, I can do a 20-minute class right in my bedroom. One day I'll get back to a regular yoga class.

Meditation is non-negotiable. For over 40 years, I've been getting up to practice every morning first thing. It’s the anchor that sets me up for the day.

Journaling – mostly it’s just free writing – untimed, spontaneous, just letting my subconscious guide me. Jotting down what comes up, how I feel, what’s important to me to remember. (I try not to make it a To Do list).

SoulCollage®: combined with journaling, I love my SoulCollage® deck of collaged cards. In 2012, I learned about this creative form of self-expression and have been playing with it ever since. I love doing readings with my cards to find my own inner wisdom. It’s like having a visual journal of my whole self, all my inner parts, the fabulous and the flawed, over the years. I love to share this practice with others and will be setting up a schedule soon on my website for Spring workshops and a special creative, restorative retreat.

Dream journal –because I am struggling to understand my dreams, I have taken classes with Toko-Pa online. I love her book, The Dreaming Way https://toko-pa.com/product/thedreamingway/. I try to catch them and jot them down first thing, before they slip away.

Exercise – my husband and I try to get out to walk daily, but since he broke his ankle in the fall, and our tiny Shit-zu won’t go around the block in below zero winter, we've been walking less. So I added an Essentrics class twice a week, plus Pilates. My naturopath would like me to do exercise every day, but hey, I’m only human. It’s cold out there right now.

These sacred practices are my lifeline – and have never been so needed as right now.

To turn down the noise between my two ears, and be in peace, is so important. I led a book club last year with two books that address this and that I find very inspiring : Hear Yourself, Finding Peace in a Noisy World by Prem Rawat, and Breath: Wake up to Life, both available on Amazon, in Kindle, hardcover, or Audible versions.

“When we feel lost, it’s because we have forgotten the way back home to our heart. And then we become confused. The word “focus” comes from the Latin term for hearth – the fireplace that is the heart of the hoe. When we feel that fire burning inside us, we know we are home; we know we are in love.” Hear Yourself, How to Find Peace in a Noisy World by Prem Rawat https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/hear-yourself-how-to-find/9780063070745-item.html

What is your lifeline? How do you connect to sacred practices? I’d love to hear from you.

Namaste,

Jennifer

See my Facebook page, Inner Wisdom Guide, and I’m on Instagram and Linked In as well.

www.jenniferboire.com