Women Who Thrive, Change The World!

Posts tagged ‘Gaye Abbott’

We Are The Sum Of The Choices We Make

Never give up, never give up, never give up sings Gypsy Soul singer Cilette Swann.  We are truly the sum of the choices we make in life.  The song you will listen to below invites us to wake up from our slumber and ask these questions:

Do I give enough?

Do I love enough?

Do I trust enough?

Do I risk enough?

Did I ever give up on anyone?

Questions to not only ask ourselves frequently, but vibrantly, passionately,  and mindfully live in order to be able to say YES! to all but the last question!!

Addendum: “Did I allow myself to receive enough” for all of you women out there that have given until you had nothing left to live your life with….

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview and Reviews can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Category:

Authenticity, Empowerment, Self Love

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Make A Way For Yourself

Photo by Marisue Mullins

Listen.

Make a way for yourself inside yourself. Stop looking in the other way of looking.

~ Rumi

Sometimes we are enveloped in darkness and shadows and can’t see clearly enough to find our way back on the path.  A woman often thinks that once she gets older (and wiser presumably!) that her path will be well lit always.  That may not be the case however.

Yesterday Austin had powerful and passionate weather.  I had my first taste of hail the size of – well no, not golfballs, but about half that size anyway.  My patio was filled with these white orbs from the sky.  One minute I was engrossed in a book that I was reading and the next thing I know thunder rocks the house.  Soon following that the hail started and it was the most amazing thing as the temperatures here have been in the high 70’s and up through the 80’s.  How is it possible to have hail with such warm temperatures?  I know there is a scientific explanation for all of this, but sometimes we just have to admit that it just is and marvel at the diversity of it all!

After this great storm (in which tornadoes touched down in other parts of Texas!) it was like it never even happened.  The sun was uncovered and light came streaming in.  The picture above represents one single stream of light amidst the gloaming after the storm shining on the Buddha statue.  Notice the shadows as well.

These are the areas that are not clear to us as we walk along our unique paths.  What possibilities lay in the shadows and in the storms of life??  Arising from the inside.  Listen.

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

WEBSITE:
www.ResonanceWithLife.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview and Reviews can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Category:

Awareness, Divine Inspiration

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We Have Come To Be Danced!

Last Friday night my body was a mass of whirling limbs, undulating pelvis, and open hearted movement.  Where was I?  At one of my favorite movement pastimes.  You see I, like you, have several favorite movement practices….among them swimming, yoga, making love, and ecstatic dance/contact improv.  The latter is what I was involved in a few days ago.

What is so outrageously refreshing about ecstatic dance is just what the poem below by Jewel Mathieson (thank you to Kimberly Beroset!) suggests quite powerfully.  There are no boundaries or constraints to adhere to.  The dance movement comes from deep within and in the moment.  By yourself in a room full of dancing, whirling, cavorting people….or in direct energetic contact with one or more others.  It is like finding out who you are within each breath of limb, organ, skin, and fluids.  It is taking the time to explore what is desiring and demanding to emerge next…while taking the risk of fully inhabiting that movement, sound, dance, emotion, relationship with self and/or other.

I have written here before that women too often apologize for everything, even their very existence.  My remedy for this has been to suggest that every time a woman wants to say ” I’m sorry” (though there are truly times when that is appropriate) she should instead say “I’m so sexy!” – or at least think it…and stop the apologies in their tracks, never to emerge unconsciously again!

The poem below embodies all of what I am speaking to here and as I slip a piece of luscious dark chocolate into my mouth I say to you……We HAVE come to be danced!  Let us not forget that for even one single moment!  See you on the dance floor of life!!

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview and Reviews can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Category:

Authenticity, Creative Expression, Empowerment

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Yoga Woman – Creating A Scared “Time In”

Did you know that in the early history of yoga, and up until recently,  it was meant as a practice only for men?  That is hard to believe as the majority of students and teachers globally these days are women.  What first attracted me to the practice so many years ago now was the freedom to explore my body, mind, emotions and breath in a “time out”  – or better “time in” –  without the pressures of everyday life intruding.  Something women historically have had precious little time for.

Just today a video movie trailer came across my inbox (thank you Lynn Walker!) called YogaWoman.  I post it here because it makes a statement about what women can create when they become passionate about something.  Women have changed the entire make up of this ancient practice creating an embodied and grounded pathway to moments of nourishment, strengthening, nurturing, flow, expanded awareness, increased fluidity and flexibility, a modality for health and well being for all ages, genders, and races –  and for simply being with the breath in each moment.

As a student and teacher for many years now I still feel a thrill every time I step on the yoga mat and know that this time, this practice, is just for me!  Deep gratitude goes to the many men that have helped bring yoga to the Western shores….and a standing ovation goes to the women that have consistently expanded and grounded the practice in a way only a woman can.

If we can support each other in stepping into our individual expressions, such as has been done with the practice of yoga,  instead of competing with each other (or ourselves!), then we have not only come closer to embodying the authentic and honest expression of who we are, but have joined other women in a collaboration of empowerment and joyous creation.

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT: 

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Website:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Book: http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Category:

Authenticity, Creative Expression, Empowerment

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Happy Birth-Day to Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath!

Happy Birth-Day to the long awaited book that has many favorite posts from the BreathingSpaces blog within the pages!! This is what has taken my time away from posting here on WildlyFreeWoman.  My heart is wide open as I deliver Our Daily Breath into your hands, hearts and souls. My deepest wish is that this book will be of service to those who read it and that it will encourage pauses in life to simply be with the breath and the sacredness of this life we have been given.

As women we sometimes hold back on our creative imaginings and they never manifest out into the world in physical form.  I know that I have been that “hold-back” woman for a long time….and also know that there is always a great loss to others, and the very planet we live upon, when we do not share our wisdom, feelings, stories, art – actually the deepest parts of our unique being.  I have now declared that there are absolutely no more reasons to NOT do and be what my purpose is this lifetime around – so here you have my very first book in print to “delight, rest and reflect in”.

Here is some advance praise as well as links where you can purchase one of three options – Downloadable with beautiful formatting and the ability to print out each week’s focus for a daily reminder; e-book for Kindle, iPad, etc; and soft cover spiral bound to place in your library as a treasured resource.  For a Sneak Preview go to: http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

A Road-Map to Living an Inspired Life!

Richard Cawte, Ph.D.

Give Us this Day our Daily Breath is so much more than just a book about breathing. The subtitle of this beautifully-crafted and elegant work sums up its difference from anything else that I have read on the subject: “Weekly Breathing Spaces to Delight, Rest and Reflect In”.

That says it all.

Life has become so hectic for so many of us, with so many things to do every day (and never enough time to do them!). In Give us this Day our Daily Breath, Gaye Abbott gives us a clear, easy-to-follow guide that helps us find places of calmness and deep ease from which the day can emerge in a fresh, vibrant way.

We tend to pay attention to peripheral things in our lives and yet so often the very thing that sustains us – the act of breathing – is something we barely pause to consider. What I love about this book is that it brings the act of breathing to the forefront, allowing the reader to explore his or her relationship with the world through the breath itself. It’s an inspired piece of writing, flowing from the heart.

Giving us weekly practices is a stroke of genius, because it makes it easy for the reader to experiment and adopt new ways of breathing bit-by-bit. That’s why I love the book so much. It’s more than just a book. It’s a road-map to living an in-spired life, a step-by-step manual that invites us to align ourselves with the rhythms of the natural world – and then shows us how.

Life throws up many challenges, but as Gaye says: “the breath is a tool to anchor you. Allow it to be the constant thread around which you weave your life.” Wonderful advice.

Truly a book to read, delight, rest and reflect in!

Richard Cawte, Ph.D., International Business & Author of the Natural Wealth Course, www.ResonanceWithLife.com

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Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath is a wise, graceful, kind and gently humorous guide to awakening more fully through weekly explorations of breath.
By relating the natural breathing rhythms to the cycle of the seasons, Gaye Abbott invites readers to reconnect with a sense of being at home on Earth and in our bodies. This fresh perspective combines with personal story and observation to offer valuable new insight into the healing and transformational power of breathing.

Lea Bayles, M.A., transformational coach, speaker and author, creator of the Replenish Your Soul series of guided meditations lea@leabayles.com, www.leabayles.com

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Leza Lowitz

Give Us this Day our Daily Breath is a wonderful book born from Gaye Abbott’s decades-long practice of yoga, meditation, awareness, mindfulness and joy, celebrating the breath each and every day like the gift and prayer that it is.   Inspirational, creative, healing and practical, Gaye offers insights, exercises and easy-to-follow practices that allow us to fully appreciate and embody this act of breathing and all it contains. Gaye writes, “When we come together with another life form, we share the breath in the air that surrounds us. We take of the same breath, so to speak. Down through the millennia this has continued. In fact, we are breathing and sharing the recycled air of the dinosaurs, the very first humans, the dolphins, and the trees…In many of the classes, workshops and retreats, I often have people sit back to back and feel their own breath first, then connect with the breath rhythm of the other without attempting to change theirs. Almost everyone noticed, in a short period of time, that the breath would synchronize and become one. 

Perhaps it was always one to begin with. Through this interconnected basic biological process we can feel each other, and with acute knowing understand what is within the other – even if we do not consciously acknowledge it. What if each one of us joined another – or others – in sharing a peaceful breath rhythm. Would the world change?” 

Yes it would, and with Gaye as our guide, it is bound to. And what a joyful and transformational journey it will be. Thank you Gaye for giving us this day our daily breath and reminding us of the incredible beauty, grace and power of this thing called breath that we too often take for granted!

Leza Lowitz, #1 bestselling Author of Yoga Heart: Lines on the Six Perfections www.lezalowitz.com

OFFERINGS: Downloadable (Instant PDF Download Below) with beautiful formatting and the ability to print out each week’s focus for a daily reminder OR through LuLu – e-book (EPub/Adobe, iPad, Nook, Kindle, etc); and soft cover spiral bound or regular soft bound to place in your library as a treasured resource!

PDF Instant Download – $9.97

E-book & Soft Cover Spiral Bound Versions

Also Available HERE

Ebook : – http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/daily-breath-ebook/18852025
Regular bound soft cover: – http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/our-daily-breath—paperback/18852066
Spiral/coil bound soft cover :-  http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/our-daily-breath—coil-bound/18852103

Category:

Be The Change, Creative Expression, Manifesting Your Dreams, The Breath

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I Am A Dangerous Woman

I am a dangerous woman…

Infinitely compassionate and wildly loving.
Softly strong and strongly soft in my ways.
Don’t get too close, you may see dreams come true and wishes appear from thin air.

I am a dangerous woman…….

Able to give unconditional love from an endless well within.
Blindingly bright ~ I will continue to shine until the stars fade from the heavens.
For God’s sake, don’t give me your heart, I might show you what it’s for and how to use it.

I am a dangerous woman……

Capable and real.
Genuine and wise.
Whatever you do, don’t tell me your secrets, I will keep them.

I am a dangerous woman…….

Gently staunch in my defense of family, friends and home.
Crazy in love with my life.
Don’t expose me to your children, I may teach them something of value.

I am a dangerous woman………

Reveling in my sensuality.
Enjoying all the pleasures of being female.
Stay away from me if a lover that is both your equal and your joy is what you seek.

I am all that I am meant to be.
If this means danger then……

I AM a dangerous woman.

Written By:

Mary Costanza – A Woman’s Heart And Soul

Thank you Mary for this inspiring gift as we enter into the New Year of 2012 with our authentic voice, senses, wisdom, creativity, love, compassion, integrity, courage, faith and empathy fully expressing! GA

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com
www.BreathingSpaces.net

Category:

Acceptance, Authenticity, Empowerment

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Simply Kindness – The Greatest Gift of All

As we come near the end of another year I am reflecting on the life moments that have given me the most joy.  What wins hands down is kindness.  Those acts of generosity of spirit and fulness of heart that we as humans are meant for.

The kindness can be doing small acts of giving that are completely unexpected as an overflow from the fullness that we feel in our own lives….or they can be simply being open to receive the offerings of others.

As I reflect on my year there are so many “kindness events” that I am filled to overflowing.  It would be so hard to choose just one particular exchange, but…..if I had to choose just one for “giving” and one for “receiving”, this is what I would say.

In giving I was inspired to assist a “disabled artist” to have a new found pride in his creative gift.  Click on the link here for that story (Learning How To Dance In The Rain) .  In receiving I opened to the gift of a home to stay in for 3 months when I relocated to Austin this July, given by a woman who has to be one of the most generous souls on this planet!

Now these two examples don’t stop at the act.  They continue on because everyone in the exchange is changed inside, never to quite be the same again.  An example of this is shown in the video below.  Kindness does indeed travel in a circle!

I invite you to make a list (write, sing, art piece, collage or silently to yourself) of all the times that you either gave or received kindness this year as a way to feel gratitude for the life you have been given in 2011.

For another resource for kindness please go to this website: www.helpothers.org and request free of charge “Smile Cards” – experiments in Anonymous Kindness.  TAG – You are it!

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Category:

Authenticity, Be The Change, Kindness

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Being Absolutely Truly Yourself – Is Freedom!

Today I watched a video of a talk given by the Dali Lama on women.  What he said in essence is that there is a “lack of human affection” in our world today….and that women are the ones to turn that around.   Our naturally compassionate and feeling nature often lead the way in daily interactions.

This is not to say that men don’t have this as well, but we as women are designed for it.  After a few funny stories the Dali Lama made a statement that would potentially upset 1,000’s of years of a lineage that is based on very defined practices and beliefs.  He said he was open to a female Dali Lama!  Needless to say this would be quite a paradigm shift for many, many people…but what if this did happen??

Following on the heels of this I was re-inspired once again by Caroline Casey who gave a TED talk on how extraordinarily far belief can take a person.  I won’t spoil the story for you, so you will have to devote 15 minutes to it in order to find out what happens.  You won’t be sorry that you did!

I am asking myself right now, “am I pretending to be something that I am not?” or “am I absolutely being truly myself”?   Good question to immerse in!  Enjoy the video and Caroline’s story…she is one of those innately compassionate (self and other) women and just by being fully herself inspires us all!


Caroline Casey on Moving Beyond Our Limits

Activist Caroline Casey tells the story of her extraordinary life, starting with a revelation (no spoilers).   In a talk that challenges perceptions, Casey asks us all to move beyond the limits we may think we have.

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com  (New offerings!)

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net  (watch the video of me on the Daily Breath page & see Sneak Preview of book to be published in January!)
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

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For a great Christmas present for those hard to buy for younger teenagers on your list take a look at this.  A great and adventurous read that even you will not be able to put down…with a female heroine!

CLICK HERE

Category:

Acceptance, Authenticity, Empowerment

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You Are Not Crazy!

This weeks post will be brief as I am giving you, the reader, a link to a recent Huffington Post article written by Yashar Ali – a man who has women’s well being at heart!  The title of this article is “A Message to Women From A Man: You Are Not “Crazy“.

You will find a well written insightful article that explains something that Yashar calls “gaslighting”.  This term, used by mental health professionals, explains a form of emotional manipulation “to describe manipulative behavior used to confuse people into thinking their reactions are so far off base that they’re crazy.”  This most often happens to women, but everyone experiences a form of it at times in their life.

As women it is important that we understand and be aware of anything that may take our voice away. That has the potential to diminish the authentic expression of who we are.  One more awareness to leave any remnants of “victim” behind.

Your comments would be appreciated as we learn from each others stories!

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

(Newly revised website! Take a peak at my book preview – Our Daily Breath –  due to be published in e-book form January, 2012!!)

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Category:

Authenticity, Awareness, Finding Your Voice

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Phenomenal Women: The Power of One

“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom“.  ~Anais Nin, 1903-1977, Author

In a time when women are coming to the forefront in many different ways all over the world, the video below struck me as a reminder to each one of us that need encouragement and inspiration to keep taking those steps forward.

There is great power that lies sleeping within each of us, and when awakened into action is formidable and unstoppable.  Hold my hand sister and walk with me awhile….

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

WEBSITE:

www.IgniteWealthNow.com

Category:

Authenticity, Be The Change, Finding Your Voice

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