Women Who Thrive, Change The World!

Archive for the ‘Authenticity’ Category

Love The Life Within You

This beautiful wise elder woman who lives in South Africa shares her bread, candle and tango wisdom with us on what it is to passionately and devotedly love the life within you. Expressing it without any reservations or doubt.

The question to place our attention on – “What is love?”

The simple answer? – To love the life within you.

Not something we have been taught as women in most of the cultures we have grown up in.

When I am communing with nature or moving my body within an improvisational wildly free dance I remember who I am, the passions that are uniquely mine, and the wholeness and artistry that I wish to share with the world.

An elder now myself I look back on the past and the parts of myself I seemingly “lost” when I sacrificed my own knowing.

As Meraal says in the video, no matter what age you are, there is always opportunity to pour those parts that have been carefully tucked inside back into our lives.

Celebrating with a deep sense of belonging, self acceptance and joy!

Meraal van Wyk, Swellendam, South Africa. Gratitude to Green Renaissance for this beautiful video!


Encouragement to share this post with a link to WildlyFreeWoman. Gaye Abbott, 10/2/21


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Dare Darlin’ Dare

Image: Julie Ann Wylie along Cape Flattery Trail, Makah Indian Reservation, Washington; photographer Wayne Wylie

GUEST BLOG POST BY JULIE ANN WYLIE

A Wildly Free Elder Reprint

Throughout years of seeking I’ve quite naturally embodied the interpretive & educational qualities of the Hierophant. Translating useful principles, methods and wisdom of others has been a necessary step for my own application and self-study. Passing along both process and outcome to querents along the way fulfills an inner drive to inspire self-healing.

I didn’t see this coming, in fact I wasn’t even sure I had it in me. Never before, best as I recall, have my own words, my unique thoughts, my inherent wisdom poured forth so bountifully.

It started innocently enough with a ‘YES’ to participate in a training for Poetry as a Tool for Wellness. The six hour course brilliantly fosters empathetic facilitators by introducing their curriculum experientially.

On the last day of training, two poems were introduced. I listened closely as they were read and as peers shared what these writings had evoked in them. Next, our trainer gave us 8-10 minutes to write about our impressions and I was ready to go! Thoughts were forming into words and words into sentences as she continued her instructions. Sensationally present within my body, I could hardly wait to get pen to paper as the head waters of this prose poured out …

Dare to share, to create, to open …
Dare I? Dare you NOT?
It’s daring darling that has landed you HERE, NOW.
Daring to start.
Daring to stop.
Daring to show up.
Daring to walk away.
Daring to say YES, oh, and NO.
Daring to care
It’s daring darling that has split the seams in the nightmares of your dreams.
It’s daring darling that keeps you returning to your pillow, almost giddy with wonder about what might be revealed this sleep.
It’s daring darling that drives you to the doors of vulnerability and daring darling that blows those doors open as you exhale or simply lifts your hand to the knob.
Dare darlin’ dare.
DARE DARLIN’ DARE by Julie Ann Wylie (Copyright 11/2020)

poeticmedicine.org julieannwylie.com


Our Wildly Free Elder global community welcomes Julie Ann Wylie into our fold. You will soon see her on our Elder Spotlight page. As an engaged and fully embodied participant within our community., she recently read this poem to a small Wildly Free Elder group who are exploring “What Does Your Life Stand For?”.

Wildly Free Elder!

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Aging with vitality, grace, self love and compassion, along with a huge dose of humor, is our greatest accomplishment.  After all, getting older is something many will never experience.

The Japanese say – Shi Bui – which translates as the beauty of aging.

Rather than being a fall away from beauty in all of it’s meanings, aging can be the revelation of beauty, the time when the inner radiance becomes visible for all genders.

Shining from the inside out our natural presence is honored by finding dignity, reverence, belonging, resilience, humor and wholeness – from within.

Not domesticated nor……READ MORE ON OUR NEW WEBSITE:  WildlyFreeElder.com

Wildly Free Elder – The Artistry of Aging places attention on shifting the present mainstream narrative on aging,  providing resources, and building a global community for connection, collaboration and artistry.

Please join our community by signing up for blog posts, submitting an Elder Spotlight or blog post article in alignment with WildlyFreeElder, or joining our global Conscious Aging Conversations via Zoom.  It really doesn’t matter how old you are – we are ALL aging!

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Created by Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, August 7, 2020

ENOUGH IS A PRECIOUS FEAST

Wisdom-1

In a gentle way you can shake the world.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

Attending to life is a sacred act of love.

A few weeks ago I visited my home town of San Diego, California in the beach area of Ocean Beach/Point Loma where I was born, raised and brought three sons into the world – with the purpose of spending time with family still living there.

It was like living my life backwards with so many memories arising as I walked my old haunts and the hard packed sand at the waters edge.  On one of these walks I reflected on my entry experience at the airport a day before.

Since it had been decades since I flew into San Diego I found the airport not only larger, but more complex in an organized way.  One of the improvements being that car rentals were now in one building in back of the airport.  To reach this building one needed to ride the 11-minute shuttle to get there.

As the door opened for the shuttle bus I was to ride a beautiful African American woman stepped down from the front of the bus onto the sidewalk with a huge smile on her face and greeted us all with an immense inviting and loving energy, calling us precious as she took our luggage and lifted it into the designated spots within the bus.

As another woman sat down next to me she turned and with a smile on her face said to me, “I’ve never been called precious before!”  In just that one gentle way our bus driver had opened up and connected this woman to herself and to me.

It did not stop there!  Once the bus was loaded and the driver had greeted everyone and stowed their luggage we were under way to the car rental building.  As you know, travel can be stressful and sometimes the purpose of individual’s travel can run the gamut from vacation to attending to immense challenges they may be faced with.

The driver greeted us on the PA system, asked how all of us were doing – waiting for our responses, and then proceeded to tell us a little about San Diego and what we were passing by on our short journey.

In the silence that followed this everyone on the bus all of a sudden started hearing  oldies songs, like Moon River, that were whistled over the speaker system…..by our entertaining bus drive.  And she was good!

Following that she invited us to sing children’s songs that she probably sang with her grandchildren, and which most everyone on the bus had sung as a child.  We went the gamut from “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round & Round” to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and finally to “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” (with animal suggestions from her captive audience) .

Next on the agenda she challenged anyone who wanted to participate to say tongue twisters with her….and one man from New Zealand standing on the bus with a very large box took it on and succeeded with the most lovely accent!

At this point we were just about to our destination. As I looked around all of the passengers were smiling and connecting with each other.  The entire energy on the bus had changed.  We were connected and enjoying the few moments it took us to get to our destination, the stress of travel forgotten.

As everyone stepped down from the bus our driver handed us our luggage from where it was stowed with a huge smile.  I thanked her for such an entertaining and community connected trip with a shared connected smile.

This woman had engaged us in the short moments we were all together and created something extraordinary from a job and 11 minutes together that could have been quite ordinary simply getting us where we needed to be.

Enough was indeed a feast!

When we as women question whether we are good enough, or simply enough, we are caught in the entanglement of either cultures expectations, or our very own patterns and perfectionism.

What would it be like to simply let go of those expectations, a diagnosis, labels or identities –  and discover who we are as extraordinary, empowered and creative beings in our fullest expressions in any given ordinary moment?

Perhaps we shall find that in honoring our “being enough” it takes us from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Shake the World Sistah and create a feast!

Copyright Gaye Abbott, 9/8/19

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OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

Breathing Spaces

Life At Wolf Creek

 

 

Our Life Is Our Art!

Margaret Warfield ~ Artist http://www.margaretwarfield.com

In an interview with beloved photographer Dewitt Jones he said, “taking time to fill your cup every day is an act of creative selfishness.

If we can see our creativity as a way to “fall in love with our world” instead of something that other people are judging, then we are well on our way to being authentic in our expression.

That shift in consciousness around our very individual and unique contribution to the world – whatever it is – can not only enliven us, but can awaken other living beings as we touch their lives.

We are connected to something much larger than we are.

The energy of passion, the deepest of reflection or even the sacred suffering that everyone experiences at times in their lives, holds the reminder to embrace the celebration of wholeness that is held within each day.

Our life is our art!

Listen to WHO by Gypsy Soul below, a distinctively unique group from Ashland, Oregon. We are the sum of the choices we make! This single is the stridently independent Gypsy Soul playing in Seattle’s Triple Door Theater:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ2DnJIyEe4

But if you are gonna fail, fail for who you are rather than failing while trying to be good at what other artists and writers have been good at. Fail looking for the truth rather than because you tried to avoid it.

 Recognize your beauty, submerge yourself in it, and create out of it.” ~Archibald Campbell, Wild Artist

Gaye Abbott, 7/23/19

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OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

Breathing Spaces

LifeAtWolfCreek

The Dream That Dwells in the Soul

The greatest possibilities lay in wait as a human heart is freed to open. Speaking language that is birthed from a clear and open space of stillness – of Being. A space that speaks not of what we have done, but of wh

“Beauty calls us beyond ourselves and it encourages us to engage the dream that dwells in the Soul.”  John O’Donohue

At times in our lives we are reminded to harvest the beauty from within.  It can’t be seen….but felt.

This beauty calls for stillness so that she may be heard amidst lives of doing.

It was this call that had me keeping to my loft bed the other morning with a warm quilt, a view of the mini-pollinator garden on my deck, the green backdrop of trees and the sound of Wolf Creek below.

As women we most often feel compelled to “keep things going”, serve until we have nothing left to give, and never ever be idle.  This comes from a long lineage of women before us who’s lives and culture dictated they constantly be engaged.

We had little time for dreams beyond ourselves and the work at hand.

Yet it is within the clear and open space of stillness – of simply being – that the nature of who we are is seen and honored.

As I sat propped up in bed feeling perfectly healthy (one must be “sick” to stay in bed!) there were moments of feeling I should be “doing something”, but this old internal conversation died a peaceful death as I listened to a call much stronger.

To simply rest and be present to the unfolding moment. What richness dwells there!

What if we dedicated time on a regular basis to simply dwell quietly in the unfolding moments without agendas, schedules or demands?

No distractions from electronic devices, but a place where such things as gardens, nature, books, blank canvases and a fountain pen are the “tools” of the day.

One might call this “fasting” – the popular diet fad right now – from everything, anything or person that takes away from making love with the beauty within.

From this space the dreams have room to show themselves with no time constraint or restriction.

They are launched from the beauty of expansive stillness and inspired from the body at rest.

Without self judgement or guilt around actually doing nothing….and accepting everything.

Embracing the moment, dozing in the comfort and gestating the dreams beyond doing.

The dream that dwells in the heart then has room to breathe and make itself know beyond identities that may claim you.

Fertile ground for acknowledgement and acceptance.

Rich soil where roots can dig down and true nature can take over…

telling the story of the possibilities of our dreams.

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Gaye Abbott, 5/30/19

OTHER BLOGS:

BreathingSpaces

LifeAtWolfCreek

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiration From Maya Angelou

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Uplift just published a short article on this amazing woman of character, passion, transparency and strength.  I am passing some of their words on to you for inspiration – and to challenge YOU to mine the depths of your heart and soul for your own unique answers to these questions.

“Born in St. Louis in 1928, Maya Angelou had an unmistakable rhythm to her soul, a deep strength that held her up and the ability to make words dance. Just like a phoenix, she faced adversity in her life, and rose, again and again, from the ashes.

Having lived her life to the fullest against all odds, Maya Angelou fought to show the world the truth of what she believed– that every life counts and “it takes each of us to make a difference for all of us.” Today, we’re sharing inspiration from the great woman herself, so that we can all rise together.

Inspiration From a Poet that Will Make Your Heart Sing

On life:
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

On the power of perspective:
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

On what really counts:
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

On the power of forgiveness:
It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

On having your own back:
I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself.

Maya Angelou quoteI’m a woman. Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.

 

On finding the balance:
A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

On the importance of courage:
One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

On personal growth:
We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!

On the value of each and every action:
I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.

On aging your own way:
The most important thing I can tell you about aging is this: If you really feel that you want to have an off-the-shoulder blouse and some big beads and thong sandals and a dirndl skirt and a magnolia in your hair, do it. Even if you’re wrinkled.

And finally, on herself:
I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.” (Taken from https://upliftconnect.com/)

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Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 2/14/19

Unfolding Our Own Myth

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Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others.
Unfold your own myth.
Rumi

Shape shifting.   What shamans propose is possible when working with the “unseen” and “unknown” within the mystery that pervades all of creation.  Yet this is available to each of us. At this current time in our history it is urgent to “shape shift” into a new reality, an ancient knowing of who we are….really.

Stripping away the words and the traumas that have contained our identity up to this very moment in time, harvested from cultural, family and ancestral dictates, standards and proclamations.

Wiping the slate clean with the movement of our bodies – a blank canvas before us where we can color in and out of the lines, curves, spirals and intimate spaces of our soul’s journey.

Never a “finished” product, but an on going transformative improvisational art piece that is constantly evolving out of the true genius we came in with. Bringing forth the essence -innate gifts, expressions, talents – of what we were born with and beyond.

Co-creating  in collaboration with the life blood of the natural world, the mysteries of the cosmos and the whispers of Source into the depths of our heart and the strands of our cells – releasing the Soul to sing a song that no one else can replicate, yet everyone can hear.

“This is the ultimate act of creation, to speak (with our words, bodies and intention) our selves into a new story for the future of life on earth.”

-Michael Stone

Creating by accessing the wisdom of Spirit and the expression of Soul that is within our very cells.  Extending our roots deeper into the Earth and listening with them to the pulsation of all life inherent in our own unique path to wholeness.

Uncoupling the sensations of past injury and emotional trauma from the thoughts and conversations that arise out of them.  Taking the old “stories” by their tails and flinging them out into another realm that can contain them without harm to our being or that of other life.

Brother David Steindl-Rast speaks to  “The Double Realm” (a phrase he credited to German poet Rainer Maria Rilke). He talked about The Double Realm as a realm in which eternity and linear time coexist. All of us are simultaneously inhabiting these two worlds – the part of awareness that is in tune with eternity and the part that is walking the path of current life flow.

Even more – a reason to “color out of the lines” and consider that the great eternal unfolding of life that brings us sorrows and pain, as well as joys and freedom to express ,is asking us to trust – implicitly.  And though we have a unique soul-print to open and explore in our life, it can only be accessed within the interconnected relationship to all life.

Every moment informs the next – communicating on such a vast scale that the subtleties are lost on us until we wake up one day and surrender.  Surrender to the unfolding.  Surrender the myth of separation.  Surrender the pain and the joy.  Simply surrender.

Only then comes the freedom to unfold our own myth…….

We Have Come to Be Danced

We have come to be danced
not the pretty dance
not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance
but the claw our way back into the belly
of the sacred, sensual animal dance
the unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance
the holding the precious moment in the palms
of our hands and feet dance

We have come to be danced
not the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him dance
but the wring the sadness from our skin dance
the blow the chip off our shoulder dance
the slap the apology from our posture dance

We have come to be danced
not the monkey see, monkey do dance
one, two dance like you
one two three, dance like me dance
but the grave robber, tomb stalker
tearing scabs & scars open dance
the rub the rhythm raw against our souls dance

WE have come to be danced
not the nice invisible, self conscious shuffle
but the matted hair flying, voodoo mama
shaman shakin’ ancient bones dance
the strip us from our casings, return our wings
sharpen our claws & tongues dance
the shed dead cells and slip into
the luminous skin of love dance

We have come to be danced
not the hold our breath and wallow in the shallow end of the floor dance
but the meeting of the trinity: the body, breath & beat dance
the shout hallelujah from the top of our thighs dance
the mother may I?
yes you may take 10 giant leaps dance
the Olly Olly Oxen Free Free Free dance
the everyone can come to our heaven dance

We have come to be danced
where the kingdom’s collide
in the cathedral of flesh
to burn back into the light
to unravel, to play, to fly, to pray
to root in skin sanctuary
We have come to be danced
WE HAVE COME

by Jewel Mathieson

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Gaye Abbott

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Gaye in Bali, Indonesia/Global Healing Conference

NATURAL PASSAGES CONSULTING

SERVICES OFFERED:

Coaching and Editing for Transformative and Visionary Writers

I help you reveal new possibilities in your creative work

Language is fundamental to who we are as biological beings and is the primary vehicle for taking action that produces effective results.   It inherently carries within it our identity in the world and the potential for connection and collaboration.

As an advanced practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu I am able to see and work with the connection between the body’s energy system and that of language. Conversations actually live in our bodies. Words hold energy that stimulate our biology in various ways.

Transformative writing opens spaces, triggers possibility and stimulates your reader to take effective action.

This is Language as Energy Medicine.

Read More Here

**********

Jin Shin Jyutsu

Jin Shin Jyutsu is an ancient Art rather than a technique.  An Art is a skilled, limitless creation whereas a technique is a mechanical application.

A session of Jin Shin can potentially harmonize, redirect, unblock and recharge the energy flows along the pathways of the body. Read More Here

**********

Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy intimately works from the inside out to assist you in discovering areas in body, mind, emotions, spirit that may be contracting the essence  of your full potential in life.

A simple peeling away of layers to bring to light and life the beautiful structure of your unique being. Read More Here

__________________________________

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.BreathingSpaces.net

Breath-Book-coverW2(1)Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:

http://gayeabbott.com/books/

 

What I Wouldn’t Give….

“What I wouldn’t give for 5 more minutes on the dance floor, while my legs were still strong enough to carry me”

There was a video posted here (and where the quote came from) that was a strong declaration, via older women’s wisdom, about the importance of “being” versus “doing”.   Within a short period of time the video was not to be found anywhere and was not accessible.  Perhaps it is my lack of competency in the technology of internet, but for whatever reason it is a loss not to have it posted here.

Instead, the quote above speaks for itself in a multitude of domains in our lives no matter what age we are.  Not simply about “dancing” but how we live our lives.

This past week I experienced the death of a much older brother.  Within the space that was created by his transition I realized once again that it is not death that is our “enemy”, but instead not fully living in the moments we are given and blessed with.  By far the more serious potential regret.

Living life as fully expressed women as if every moment was your last  – being open and present to what is unfolding without any “hold backs” – is by far the wiser choice for a testament to the fullness of your Being this time around….

__________________________________

Gaye Abbott, RYT

http://www.GayeAbbott.com

32363_4_51318

Gaye in Bali, Indonesia/Global Healing Conference

NATURAL PASSAGES CONSULTING
SERVICES OFFERED:

Coaching and Editing for Transformative and Visionary Writers

I help you reveal new possibilities in your creative work

Language is fundamental to who we are as biological beings and is the primary vehicle for taking action that produces effective results. It inherently carries within it our identity in the world and the potential for connection and collaboration.

As an advanced practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu I am able to see and work with the connection between the body’s energy system and that of language. Conversations actually live in our bodies. Words hold energy that stimulate our biology in various ways.

Transformative writing opens spaces, triggers possibility and stimulates your reader to take effective action.

This is Language as Energy Medicine.

Read More Here

**********

Jin Shin Jyutsu

Jin Shin Jyutsu is an ancient Art rather than a technique. An Art is a skilled, limitless creation whereas a technique is a mechanical application.

A session of Jin Shin can potentially harmonize, redirect, unblock and recharge the energy flows along the pathways of the body. Read More Here

**********

Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy intimately works from the inside out to assist you in discovering areas in body, mind, emotions, spirit that may be contracting the essence of your full potential in life.

A simple peeling away of layers to bring to light and life the beautiful structure of your unique being. Read More Here

__________________________________

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.BreathingSpaces.net

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:

http://gayeabbott.com/books/

TODAY I RISE!

As I Sing I Rise Today_1

 

https://vimeo.com/122762336

The first time I viewed this video I was most certainly taken by the beauty of the images and the prose.  Even captivated by the woman’s voice that held the hint of being from some “exotic” place.

But what took me down into the deeper reaches of my soul as a woman was something that remained a little more challenging to articulate.  Tears welled up every time I watched this and the “why?” somewhat escaped coming to form in language for awhile.

But then I felt it in my cells….an emergence of the feminine – in myself and all women across the globe – in a way and form that this sacred planet we live upon is ever whispering to each and every one of us no matter where we live or what situation and circumstances we find ourselves in.

Rising up….EMERGING….as interconnected feminine power, creativity, wisdom, and courageousness within each of our unique structures of being.

And what made me weep was the knowing that we are not alone in this rising up.  We never have to be alone as we mine the depths of who we are – our calling and purpose, our vision and creative outpourings – and through that congruent alignment automatically create a space for other women (and men) to move towards us and touch in for awhile….or a lifetime.  To collaborate, inspire, hold and vision…..united in taking effective action from a space of Being.

I invite you to watch this video daily for 21 days and embody it’s message.  Listen deeply to what is wanting to emerge from within…..and take a step directly into the heart of it and then out into your life and the world!

Resource for Video:  http://www.wiseatheart.com

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Gaye Abbott, RYT

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NATURAL PASSAGES CONSULTING

SERVICES OFFERED:

Coaching and Editing for Transformative and Visionary Writers

I help you reveal new possibilities in your creative work

Language is fundamental to who we are as biological beings and is the primary vehicle for taking action that produces effective results.   It inherently carries within it our identity in the world and the potential for connection and collaboration.

As an advanced practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu I am able to see and work with the connection between the body’s energy system and that of language. Conversations actually live in our bodies. Words hold energy that stimulate our biology in various ways.

Transformative writing opens spaces, triggers possibility and stimulates your reader to take effective action.

This is Language as Energy Medicine.

Read More Here

**********

Jin Shin Jyutsu

Jin Shin Jyutsu is an ancient Art rather than a technique.  An Art is a skilled, limitless creation whereas a technique is a mechanical application.

A session of Jin Shin can potentially harmonize, redirect, unblock and recharge the energy flows along the pathways of the body. Read More Here

**********

Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy intimately works from the inside out to assist you in discovering areas in body, mind, emotions, spirit that may be contracting the essence  of your full potential in life.

A simple peeling away of layers to bring to light and life the beautiful structure of your unique being. Read More Here

__________________________________

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.BreathingSpaces.net

Breath-Book-coverW2(1)Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:

http://gayeabbott.com/books/