Integrating the Academic and the Spiritual

 As a new graduate with my Masters in Library and Information Science I find myself in need of much more physical exercise--dance, yoga, running, and much more meditation. Less computer time or at least less intense computer sessions--for now.

How do we balance our online life with our in-person, in-body grounded-ness? And keep in touch with our Spiritual needs? How do we "do it all" and still remain sane and even evolving?

Good questions, right?

Now that I have my graduate studies behind me, I want to keep current with the Library and Information Science field. I'm already signing up for technology courses at my local JC and catching up on those projects that had to be put on hold for so long.

Now that school is over, I can see just how focused I was and how much of my life was on the computer and not "present" with my spiritual needs.

New Priorities

• meditate daily
• write in my journal
• draw
• connect with friends in person 
• do hands on projects (not on computer)

How do you balance your online and offline life?

In Peace,

Sarah

finding the balance between head and heart

As I wrap up my MLIS studies that have taken much of my energy for the past three years I think about meditating and spending more of my time heart centered rather than head or thought centered. Just yesterday friends sent me a link to a video of a young woman, Kiesha, a Shaman, who has been selected to be a messenger. Her profound message is to live from the heart:

http://vimeo.com/16812713

I hear her message and it resonates with me. How can we live more fully from the heart, get out of our heads, and act with Love?

Recently I've noticed that I am picking up on other people's energy. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it can be invasive. I remembered that I know how to protect myself and part of this remembering or noticing is about grounding, centering, and getting out of my head. By starting the day with a meditation or Theta session I can center myself, ground myself, set myself up for living fully in my "I AM." This is how I will begin to live in my heart more fully.

What do you plan to do?

With Love and Gratitude,

Sarah

Are you following your Bliss?

I find that many of us do what we think we are supposed to do. Or think that we are stuck in the current situation--often not even realizing the feeling of "stuck."

Last week one of my adult literacy students was looking for work. He kept trying to submit his application to a large company that had The most ridiculous online application. I asked my student why he felt determined to apply to this particular company--seeing how difficult this application process was. He told me that someone at a job placement office told him that the company is hiring. That's it? Yes, apparently.

I then asked if he wanted to work there, I mean, really wanted to work there. He was indifferent. Next I asked him what he really wanted to do. He said he wanted to work with food. OK, now we're talking, I thought.

I said, "let's work on your resume to reflect your love of food and cooking and focus on that instead of this other job." So we did.

This was a huge lesson for me and a reminder, wake up call, or whatever you want to call it. I know that in an "economic situation" like the one we currently find ourselves in, people are thinking they had better hold onto their hats and do what they can, not necessarily what they want to do.

How can we take more risks to follow our bliss? How can we take a step outside of this "stuck" place to tell the Universe we are ready to live our best lives, not the ones that someone else tells us to live?

In Peace,
Sare

Getting away from Urban Noise

Healing in the most profound sense.....quiet!

We live in an urban area near BART (bay area rapid transit), Amtrak, freeways, and city streets. At night I hear all of this. I wear ear plugs to bed on a regular basis.

At work I hear sirens, city noises, people talking, often many people talking at once--yes even in the library!

Sometimes it's difficult to tell just how much this affects me, but I know it does (thus the ear plugs).

This past weekend we got out of the urban environment and went camping in Sequoia National Forest and also at Kings Canyon.

How blissful the quiet was. How healing for my nerves.

I was not aware of how much I needed this until I got home and slept soundly. When I went to work, nothing bothered me, when normally I'm bothered by a million things.

Prescription: Get out in nature. Not just on a walk up the street but really out in it.

Peace to all,

Sare

self healing

How many times do we call on someone else to help in our healing process? For me, it's a usual thing.

I often read about how we all have the power to heal ourselves. Yes, I believe this. What is the part about others stepping in though? Maybe it's a confirmation; someone else is let in on our process and this makes it more real. Once it is "real" then we have a witness of our healing.

But I know I can heal myself.

I'm meditating and doing Theta. I'm giving myself positive affirmations.

It's working!

Tell me your healing stories....

Follow Your Heart

We hear this a lot in our spiritual practice. Yet how hard is it? How do we know we are doing it? Why are we resistant to it? How can we, pardon the expression, "Just Do It"?

I find myself feeling--not into whatever it is--and tell myself, "Sarah, you're not following your heart. If you were, you'd feel enthusiastic, or something different than this." Okay then, how do I do it? I think there is a dive in aspect to following ones heart.

Here's my plan:

• Next time I'm feeling uninspired, look around at what I'm doing and take a step out of it: Choose something different
• If I'm feeling enthusiastic and I start to judge myself (goes something like this): "Sarah, how can you possibly feel enthusiastic about adding web 2.0 tools to a website? This can't be right!" I'll ignore it and know that the enthusiasm IS telling me that I am following my heart. No judgment please.

I'm reminded of something that one of my teachers said: "Endure Nothing" (Vinn Marti). I absolutely love this. I mean LOVE this. How can we endure nothing? Isn't this the same thing as following your heart? I think it is.

In Peace,
Sarah

between Grace and Effort

I just heard this wonderful phrase uttered by my yoga instructor. She asked us to think about how we can find that place between Grace and Effort. And each time we revisit it we will notice a shift. Naturally I want it to shift more toward Grace, but it did make me think.

What I liked most about it was that she had the perfect use of terms for what I had been thinking, yet I hadn't been able to put my finger on it. And since I had been feeling a lot more of the "effort" side of things I now knew what I was looking to find..."Grace."

It also feels good to know that when we are feeling more of the effort that we can make a conscious decision to actualize the grace. It is within our reach. It is already there. Doesn't just reading the word "Grace" help in reminding you? It does me.

Thank you for reading.

In Grace,

Sarah

The Balancing Act

One: The balancing act is not something that we do once, it is a way of life.

New Term: The Balancing Way of Life

How then do we balance our life?

What I've learned that works:

• Commit to yoga and dance. Do not miss class no matter how behind I feel in my schoolwork.
• Eat healthy and make sure to have protein in each meal.
• Be kind to supporters (husbands especially).
• Go out into the garden once in awhile just to see that nature still exists (for when you're really entrenched in study).
• Breathe. Not just "normal" breathing, but Yoga breathing.
• Watch a fun show after studying. Or read a fun book. It's really important to balance out textbook reading with pleasure-reading.
• Be kind to yourself.
• Be positive--if you notice yourself getting negative, assess what's going on and step back or take steps to make CHANGES
• Make fun plans for vacation.
  

Peace,
Be well,

Go to Yoga!!!!

Your friend,
Sarah

Cultural Arts Literacy-a look at the whole person

Cultural Arts Literacy is the name of the program I created for the students in my Adult Literacy Program. I wrote a grant proposal for the program and I am happy to say it was recently funded by BALIS. We are so excited about implementing the program.

Why is this important to me?

I came to adult literacy as a volunteer tutor. I loved the work and my enthusiasm helped me land the job as a Library Literacy Instructor. Having had no previous official training in teaching (other than in dance) I learned to work with the individual by assessing their goals and constructing a lesson plan. If something comes up that is "urgent" that the student needs help with we will divert our lesson until this situation is handled. The situation might be applying for a job, filling out a government form, or writing a letter.

I had been looking at our teaching styles and program content and realized that most of the information we were sharing was about spelling, reading, writing, grammar, grammar, and more grammar. All this is well and good but not everyone relates to English as well as we'd like them to. What about opening up the student's eyes to other aspects of our society? What about tapping into their creative abilities? Since I had noticed that most of our students had low levels of self esteem I wondered how we might be able to raise their self esteem by using creativity--looking at how society views art--learning about the art of all cultures.

In creating the program I looked at what makes me feel more confident. When my self esteem is low what makes me feel better? Tapping into various forms of creativity REALLY helps. Dancing, creating art, observing and discussing beauty in nature. I believe that all of these things help us tap into our True Selves. When we are in touch with Ourselves, we can handle The World more easily.

In Peace and Gratitude,
Sarah

Movement is essential--thoughts on car travel and our bodies

We just had a marvelous trip from the East Bay, CA to Seattle and back. Had great visits with friends and family. Saw some really pretty sights. Toured two wonderful libraries. And sat a lot while driving!

Having just taken three yoga classes and two dance classes the week prior to driving, I thought I'd be prepped enough to handle a week without yoga and dance. I did jog and stretch, thank God! But upon returning home had a rib out. Yes, one of my ribs was out of place and most of the last day of driving was painful. Two chiropractic visits and a modern dance class later I finally feel normal. But what a way to learn that sitting and twisting to reach things from the back seat was not good for my body.

Lessons I've learned:

• Take yoga on the road with me when I travel. Don't just bring a mat with me in the car. Do the Yoga!
  
• Find local dance and yoga classes to attend in the cities that I visit.
• Stretch before and after sitting.

I'm also looking forward to doing a yoga teacher training. As soon as my local yoga studio announces they have one, I'm signing up!

In peace and good health,
Sarah