“Mindfulness, it’s said, is all-helpful. It is liberating. And it’s helpful in your work, with
-Jack Kornfield
your kids, in relation to your body. It’s helpful in lovemaking, in gardening, in creating arts, in
athletics, in community, and education, and healing. …these are things you can train and put into the health care system, and into education, and into the ways communities work with one another.”
So what exactly is this incredible practice of mindfulness that we can train ourselves in?
Join me, Shawna Emerick, in a FREE 4 Week Introduction Course to Mindfulness.
In this course we will cover:
- What is mindfulness
- Mindfulness of breath
- Mindfulness of body
- Mindfulness of emotions
- Mindfulness of thoughts
Register HERE / Registration is required. Thank you.
Throughout the course we will hear and learn about each of the above topics while constantly weaving in the understanding of compassion. Through mindfulness meditation experiences we will also come to know first hand these mindfulness tools and why compassion is a key companion to bring on this journey.
Each session will close with time for questions and answers. Together we will co-create a safe space where every person will be welcomed and included. No question is too silly, too personal, nor too “out there”.
And remember, everything you need to know, your heart already knows. As you begin your mindfulness journey you will begin to notice when doubt, fear, anxiety, and other challenges are blocking you from your true happiness. And, with mindfulness you can break the patterns that hold you back and form new ways of Being that enhance the Light and loving presence that is your authentic self.
But I also want to say, this isn’t always easy. The Sufi’s say that “perhaps the hardest task of all is to keep the heart open.” How can I keep an awareness of something that is causing me great pain. Whether it’s my own physical body, someone else causing me pain, or ways in which we can see the world suffering?
This is where compassion holds our hearts like a gentle, open, and loving hand to our cheek, looks at us, and says, “It is ok to feel. It is ok to look. I am with you. You are not alone. This, too, is all part of the journey. Yes, it will pass, and while it is still here, so are you. Your innate goodness is brighter than what you can see right now. You are possibility and love. I love you. Keep going.”
“Insight meditation is at the heart of the teachings of awakening. Its purpose is to strengthen our capacity to experience “things as they are” directly, without the filter of discursive thinking, evaluation, or habitual reactivity. It consists of bringing a natural and clear attention to whatever occurs in the present moment.” -Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield
And we can do this together. The power of the collective and group gatherings is profound.
Mindfulness, at its roots, is awareness with compassion. The elders, sages, teachers, and wise ones, even talk of mindfulness as a two winged bird; one wing is awareness and the other is compassion. I believe, when awareness and compassion are bound beautifully together within our bodies, hearts, minds, emotions, and spirit, then like the bird, we can fly towards freedom, liberation, and peace.
Join me! Register HERE! Thank you so much for your brave self and for showing up.
Love,
Shawna 🙏🏼