
Finding the calm before Christmas
Join Helen for a full morning of mindful practices, learning to manage your thoughts rather than your thoughts controlling you. Mindfulness is the art of being present and it takes practice. When we aren’t present (which for most of us is most of the time) we get lost in thoughts of the past or anxiety about our future.
Looking for certainty in an uncertain world can cause real stress for our nervous systems. This can affect our sleep and relationships and, if left for too long, can impact our physical and mental health.

Awareness
A is for Awareness
It is the ability to pay careful and caring attention to all that arises in us and to all that we are aware of that is around us. It enables us to be fully present in our lives, as they are lived moment by moment. It increases our ability to have more moments in which we perceive the exquisite vividness and richness of each moment.

Connection
C is for Connection
It is what we long for from the moment we are born until we die. To be connected with others, with nature, the earth below, the sky above. When in nature, we can feel more at peace. When with others we feel alive, inspired, held, and accepted for what we are. By being with others, we meet ourselves. When connecting with ourselves with love and tenderness we experience a sense of coming home and with it a glimpse of an unbound freedom to be who we are. And the deepest love is revealed to us in moments of connection with presence, silence, and space.

Expansion
E is for Expansion
Expanding beyond the limitations of our small selves, our views, and our ideas – allows us to hold dearly what is meaningful and at the same time to let go of what isn’t serving us anymore. It makes space for new possibilities, stepping out of the known into the unknown, with courage and determination. It is a deeper knowing that knows that we can access our powerful resources for insight, transformation, and healing through being aware of the vastness that is in us and around us.