The Witness

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" The Witness"

Out beyond all ideas of right doing

and wrong doing,

there is a field.

I'll meet you there. ~ Rumi

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I updated my Witness card. I find the idea of the Witness to be extremely intriguing. In my yoga classes I introduce this concept quite frequently. It's a tough concept to grasp because of course, the moment you grasp it, it's gone. It's one of those things that makes others think you're nuts when you start talking about it. "Witness, what the heck? I am Me, there's no witness!"

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"Then who's the One watching the breath?"

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When we use the Witness in SoulCollage it's very powerful. At the facilitator's training we each got a chance to be the four corners of facilitating; Witness, Reader, Facilitator, Scribe. While each part was fascinating, I found Witness to be the most powerful. Watching the process without forming opinions, judgements or feeling any need to interact or "perform" was amazing. When the reading was over, the insights the Witness had were so telling that sometimes just a single word from them put the whole reading in perspective.

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There is comfort to be found in witnessing and in being witnessed. Sort of like the ancestor's memories, keeping watch, being able to pass on. Words like unbiased, accepting, not trying to change anything, experiencing, come to mind. How many times do you experience something without trying to change it? Or label it? Have you ever looked at a tree without categorizing or naming it? What about an animal? Or a person?

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This is a powerful meditation. Try it. Allow yourself to witness a tree without naming it. Staying with it and watching without trying to change that moment by going to the past or future. What is the tree in this moment? What are you in this moment? Silently witnessing. The breath comes in. The breath comes out. No need to analyze. It will do it of it's own accord. Most things will if we just allow it.

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Relax. Breathe. Feel. Allow. Watch (Witness).

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from Stephen Cope's Wisdom of Yoga

and Yolinna's Yoga Wall

Hmmm... Patience

Feeling at loose ends, crossroads, distracted, impatient, meandering, unsure, needing guidance NOW. So I did a reading. Wanted clear cut answers so used the Rider Waite deck which I rarely do. Interesting.... got straight answers and then understood them once I translated them to my Osho cards. Wanna follow along?

First Card, Me & My Situation/Issue: 5 Pentacles. Pentacles represent money. 5 represents money being tight, financial losses. Osho: Outsider. Ohhh.

Second Card, Energy Around Me: Temperance. Needing to blend spiritual and material. Using new forms of creativity. Trusting, time of inner growth. Osho: Patience. Ohhhh.

Third Card, Why I'm asking the question: Judgement. Wake up call, guidance from higher power, joy, sense of fulfillment. Osho: Beyond Illusion. Hmmm.

Fourth Card, Present and Passing: 2 Pentacles. Worry about money. Trying to decide about options. Time to make a choice and stick with it. Osho: Moment to Moment. Huh? And then Oh.

Fifth Card, Free Will, What I allow to happen: 8 Pentacles. Integrating old skills into new forms. "You've tried various means of making your living, and are now finalizing how you want to use your personal resources to realize a material sufficiency that will allow you to expand" Re-a-ll-y. Craftsmanship will be rewarded.... Osho: Ordinariness. Re-a-ll-y?

Sixth Card, Near Future based on current circumstances: 3 Cups. Woo Hoo! Experiencing success and plenty! Feelings are clearer now, "you're on your way now to great things" Ohso: Celebration! Heck yeah!

Seventh Card, Hopes & Fears: Reversed Star. Dangit. ....recently experienced disappointment, yep. needing repair time. yep. feeling withdrawn......sigh. Digression: this card keeps coming up reversed in every deck..."wishing on a star"..... Osho: Silence. Yep. You're right.

Eighth Card, How others view me: Page of Cups. Young person bringing me message about love. Taking emotional risks. Feeling it will work out. Osho: Understanding. Bird flying out of cage that didn't have bars....

Ninth Card, Course of Action, what I must get through: Reversed Ace of Swords. Cutting through illusion, temporary delays, glitches, plans not manifesting as quickly as I hoped. Well, who don't know that? Osho: Consciousness. Gulp.

Tenth Card, Outcome: Reversed Justice. Jeez. Delays. Angry & Hostile Energy. Lack of balance. State of equilibrium out of whack, swinging from one extreme to the other. Duh. This should have been the issue card. Osho: Breakthrough. OHHH. Need to work through it and come out the other side stronger. Transform Breakdown into Breakthrough. Well, why didn't you say so? Now I get it.

Did you?

Feel free to give your impressions....it's hard to interpret your own stuff, you know?

A Favor

If you wouldn't mind indulging my silliness, I would really appreciate it.

I downloaded a guestbook onto my website www.yolinna.com

It's a place you can put a picture of yourself (just a small one, you can use your blog profile one if you want or clip art), write a little note and give your town, and it will map where you are from, I would love to fill the map.

If everyone who reads this would just sign it, I would really appreciate it. Right now it just has me and my daughter and it's really boring.

I just think it's kinda cool. Would you please help me out?

Thanks!

What's Your Holiday Theme Song?

What's Your Holiday Theme Song?

My Result: O Holy Night

Holiday parties and gift giving are great, but you honor the true meaning of Christmas, too. Tradition is probably important to you — whether you find it in religion or in your family's annual rites of passage. In fact, it's your spiritual center that might direct your social calendar — making sure you never miss the annual pageant, make the time to spend with loved ones, or just set some moments aside to enjoy that feel-good holiday cheer. These are the sorts of things that take precedence for you during the season.


Sure you like a good gift and love the feeling of giving someone the perfect present. But let everyone else work up a sweat at the shopping malls. You're working on quality time with those who mean the most. And if you keep at it, that lesson will probably rub off on those around you. So if loved ones need a gentle reminder of what the holidays are really about, why not share your theme song with them? Whether you're tied to its message or not, its gentle, powerful, "O holy night, the stars are brightly shining… " is sure to get them where it counts.

Take this test >

Thanksgiving Detail

This year my daughter decided she would like to learn the ancient family secret of how to make a turkey. This has been passed on from generation to generation. My Great Grandmother taught my Father who taught me. I was very excited when she said she wanted to learn--she's never been interested in cooking and I don't believe in forcing the issue. I feel like making kids do something they don't want to do develops a life long "haveta" instead of a "wanna". Sort of like church. If you present them with the opportunity, eventually they want to go but if you force them, they see it as drudgery instead of a blessing. My opinion only, will have to wait and see if it was correct :)

When I was growing up, making the turkey was not an option. I am a girl, duh. Girls have to make the turkey. Even though my dad was the one teaching me, the assistants were girls-- my mom and I. My brothers got to lay on the couch watching the parade. Duh. They're boys. It turned out okay though, I really like to make a turkey. I rebelled against it for awhile but later found those memories to be some of my favorite ones. (hmmm, church parallel? nah.)

My family is from the South. The food is to die for. Literally. Real Butter. Everywhere. My Dad was a Marine. Everything is done systematically. You may not leave anything out and it has to be done in exactly the same order each time. Making egg nog is a 3 hour process. One day my Dad decided that if he died, no one would ever have proper egg nog again. So I had to learn. And Learn. I would try and hide. But no. Wait, I digress....turkey....

Rhia did really well. Everything was perfect. Course she had a much calmer teacher than I. And don't tell my dad but I refrigerated the onions to cut the smell down for her. So it was easier to stir without tears rolling down your face. She stuffed the turkey (wouldn't put her hands in though), made the cole slaw and learned how to make gravy my mom's way. Shhhh, my mom and I cheat-- who really has time to make a roux? Dad would freak out though....sort of like if he found out we put A-1 on steak. Yikes!

She posted a bulletin on her Facebook "I am learning to make the best turkey in the whole world--Lewis turkey!"

Her Grandpa would be very proud. I was very proud. I'm sure my Great Grandmother was smiling down on us, glad that her legacies were living on. She was an amazing woman.

Oh, I almost forgot! I got to see the Thanksgiving parades for the first time. Rhia made us record it on the DVR and then we watched it together.

My brothers missed out. Those parades are stupid. And what's with this High School Musical thing? Ugh. What a bunch of sap. I'll choose the turkey cooking anyday--I'd even rather make the 3 hour egg nog.....ooops, I digress again.

Hope your day was as beautiful as ours.