 Life is amazing. It's also busy, messy, unpredictable, and overwhelming at times. A friend recently posted a meme on her Facebook wall that said, "I need a time out. Send me to the beach and don't come back until my attitude changes." Pretty sure we can all relate to that one. I need a time out, too!
In this messy, amazing, inspiring, demanding, distracting world, there's often not enough time to dedicate to the other things... the sacred things, the things that feed your spirit and soothe your frazzled, bedazzled heart. Enter... the Retreat. I'm an admitted "retreat junkie" and have used the luscious insights I have gained to begin leading retreats, myself, over the last several years. In my opinion, retreats are necessary luxuries for our lives; not because they allow for an escape, but because because they allow for an e x p a n s i o n. Over the next {5} days, I’ll be letting you know the top five reason I believe in retreats, and why they’re so very good for you. Join me. Click here to learn more about the Bliss Camp Winter Retreat for Women in January, 2020!
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Nature does not hurry, yet everything gets accomplished."  When was the last time you took a chance to pause, and just notice? What I notice first, and most, is birdsong. Even in these wintry mornings, there are so many different whoops, melodies, honks, and chatterings. The noisy reminders make everything else seem still, somehow. The noisy reminders of birds are so preferable to the pings and buzzes from our pockets and desktops. They are simple, and simply joyful. Today, I remind myself to pause. To breathe. To notice.  I brought my better understanding
To the tree light of the sun porch Or did it bring my understanding back to me? My new favorite, cozy hidey-hole is located in this sweet woodsy cabin near the lake in Cascade, Idaho. I’ll be holding my first retreat of 2020 there January 9-12. Want to join me? Click here to learn more about the Bliss Camp Winter Retreat for Women! Meditative moment: join me in the glowy glory of this golden aspen grove near McCall, Idaho. The way the sun, bold and bare in the crisp cotton sheet of blue sky Warms the leaves of the aspen trees and makes the very air glow Runs over my taut senses like a heavy gentle settling; my breath crackles up my sternum and out to meet the silence And on the exhale I am gathered In the shared woven roots that sustain their contented height The branches of my lungs meld and weave in rhythm with the centered breath of this communion And the aspen trees sigh without concern, pleasantly held in this Autumn moment as they release their weightless leaves, one at a time The veins and spines detaching to mulch in the sacred promise of the grove  “The anguishes and achievements of my past, and the questions and possibilities of my future, are dormant in this precious place of breath and solace.” This is from a meditation I wrote for the coming New Year awhile back, when I had my own studio and thought that I had reached the ultimate in business goals. But even with that accomplishment under my belt, and a dozen warm and wonderful clients at my door, I was plagued with insecurity and feelings of inauthenticity. . And so here I am today, studio doors closed, teaching beginning yoga at the local YMCA, and it’s delightful. . I can embrace the anguishes and accomplishments of my past and thank them for being exactly what I needed, knowing that I can step into my highest light in situations that may have, at one time, seemed otherworldly.  |
by Emily Nielsen"I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition." All posts are copyright ©Emily Nielsen
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