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The WLE Weekly | 08.26.2023
Meditation Monday | Resetting the Sails
Hello and welcome to today’s brief guided meditation. Read along below, or listen here.
Today we take a moment to listen to the self in a quick question and answer exercise.
First let’s settle into the body.
Finding a comfortable meditation seat or lying down – what ever is calling you today – take a deep breath in through the nose. Exhale out the mouth or nose, whichever feels most natural to you.
Two more times on your own timing, really drawing the breath deep into the core of your being and exhaling as much as you can. Letting the exhale naturally turn into an inhale, as your body releases all that air that is no longer nurturing our cells.
Close the eyes if that’s comfortable for you, or simply soften the gaze and find a spot on the floor in front of you.
Take a moment to take your temperature here. How are you feeling?
Is the mind still, or racing, or irritable, or joyful?
Not judging or fixing anything. Just noticing the weather in your sky right now.
With this acknowledgement of the self in mind, let yourself become very still.
Whisper the question in the back of the mind. Quietly to yourself:
“What do I want?”
See if perhaps a one word answer can come back to you. Not forcing anything. Just listening.
Maybe it’s peace. Rest. Ease. Joy.
Maybe it’s a basic need. A meal. Hydration. Sleep.
Maybe it’s connection. Friendship. Love.
In this next moment or two, just listen for your want.
Thank yourself for listening. For asking the question and being still enough to hear the answer.
Keep this dialogue of yours in mind as you go out into the rest of your day, and week.
What do I want?
How can I align what I am doing/consuming/making time for – with what I want?
We are the authors after all, and sometimes the author gets so wrapped up in the plotline they need to pause and reset the sails.
Take one more deep deep breath. Seeing if this one can inflate the torso so much that the spine gets longer. Exhale all the way.
Wishing you a lovely rest of your day.
With Love,
Esta
Thoughts from My Morning Walk
Thoughts with Love, a series.
The other day I sat down and wrote out what my Ideal Day would look like.
Have you ever done that?
Both kids in my life are in a day camp this week, and I am being given a preview of what back to school will look like in my new lifestyle as a stay-at-home wife/stepmom/online yoga & meditation teacher.
This influx of time means I can focus with more intention on my goals… like building my muscle of discipline. I have been spotlighting “discipline” in my life these days, and I’ve tweaked the definition of it for myself too, in classic With Love style. I’ll get into that bit later in the blog.
First, I want to collect some thoughts from my morning walks lately.
My friend and I discussed recently that it astounds us when people don’t know what they want… Because everyone knows what they want. Deep down. If you had three shots of tequila and were asked “what would bring you joy?” I think you’d find yourself answering real quick fast. (Not that I’m encouraging three shots of tequila – that was just the honesty filter being imagined!)
There is no Google search result that will tell you how to be happy. You already know.
It just takes quieting down and asking yourself.
Ok so back to my new definition of discipline. See, I always had this negatively tinted pair of shades on when I looked at the word “discipline”. I perceived it as hard-ass, no room for grace, get up at five a.m. and run David Goggins style – every day and never quit.
This definition gave me no room to integrate it. This definition goes way opposite my personality of calm, soft and feminine. Cycling in and out of different levels of energy and working with my hormonal cycle has meant swapping in my negative sunglasses for some rosier tinted ones.
Discipline is the highest form of self-love.
Let that one sink in for a moment. I know it took me some time.
Discipline simply means choosing what is best for you, even if it’s not what you want at the time.
Because now that I’ve decided what I want… it’s going to take discipline and habit building to get there. My husband and I like to take walks in the morning, and we were chatting just yesterday on the idea that it’s not about attaining the goal you set your mind to, it’s about becoming the person who gets that goal.
As I step onto the mat every day this week in the chakra course I am completing with Brett Larkin – I am reminded by that little voice in my head at the halfway point that says “Hey, you could shut it down and go make a coffee. Just mark the video as watched in your course. Who’s gonna know?” The path of least resistance is the easiest one to take. (I stayed on the mat by the way, and completed the class feeling that much more accomplished)
As Jim Rohn said on my walk playlist this morning: “The thing about something being easy to do… is that it’s easy to not do it too.”
So, friends, I hope you take a moment to visualize what you want.
And then? Write down (3) action steps: one you can do every day, one you can do every week, and one you can do every month in order to get there.
Here’s to self love in the highest of forms.
With Love,
Esta
Meditation Monday | Five Minute Five Senses Check In
This Guided Meditation takes only five minutes, and walks us through our five senses as a quick reset.
Enjoy the meditation via Spotify or YouTube, or just read along below if that’s your vibe!
Meditation Monday: Five Minute Five Senses Check In
This is one of my personal favourite meditation types. It’s so simple and can be done anywhere and anytime. It simply requires tuning in to the present moment.
So, let’s get comfortable. We can be seated, standing, lying down, or even walking for this one.
First things first, we come into the breath. One deep inhale through the nose, and a deep exhale through the mouth. A second inhale deep through the nose and see if you can sigh out the exhale on this one. Last one in your own timing, deeply into the base of the belly, and out through the mouth.
Let the breathing return to normal now.
With the eyes alert but not straining, simply take in your surroundings. What do you see? What is the light like right now? What shadows are out to play? Are you able to see nature, or are you in a building? What is directly in front of you. What is to your left, and then just over the left shoulder? What is to your right, and just slightly over the right shoulder? Is there anything above you? What is the ground like below you?
I’ll give you a moment here to breathe just as you are, no need to fix anything, and take in everything you can see in this present piece of time.
- – – – – – –
Now let the ears get the spotlight of your attention. What can you hear right now? Let your ears be an open mic in a field. Receptive to everything around you without judging any of the sounds. Without assigning a like or a dislike to any sounds. What can you hear? I’ll give you a moment to breathe and listen.
- – – – – – –
Bringing the awareness back to the body and letting any smells available to you – come into your attention now. What scents are available? Is there fresh air? Is it building air? Can you smell any food, or coffee or flowers on the air? What can you smell?
- – –
Moving the attention now to taste. Seeing if there are any tastes available right now. Is your mouth left with any tastes from a recent meal or beverage? Is your mouth feeling clean, or dry or anything notable? Can you tune into the sense of taste for just a moment.
- – –
Lastly, we will tune into sensation. What can you feel right now? Are you wearing any jewelry? Can you feel the fabric of your clothing on the limbs and skin? Are you wearing shoes, can you feel the surface beneath you? Breathing evenly and at your own pace, allow yourself to sink into the feelings available in this moment.
- – –
Now that we have checked into all five senses, we can take this awareness in. Take note of any areas of the body that might need a stretch, or more movement. Maybe take a couple more deep breaths as we wind down this five-minute, five senses check in.
Thank you so much for practicing with me.
With love,
Esta
Thoughts from the Interview Seat
Thoughts with Love, a series
At the end of August I am putting a little faux interview out there into the internet universe.
I wanted to explain who I am, why I got into yoga, and why I think it’s so important to meditate – in a medium a little bit different from a blog post!
(There will be a blog post. Do not fret. I love me a blog post.)
“So, why do you like yoga so much?”
I love that my y husband kicked off our home interview with this one.
Yoga helps me come home to myself.
To yoke together both sides of my brain, link the breath and the body and just be.
This is a deeply peaceful reset of mind and body for me.
I came to yoga from a place of feeling really mentally scattered.
I had just seen my doctor, as I was experiencing panic attacks at the time, and it was disrupting my life. I was referred to a psychologist and diagnosed with PTSD. The day to day reality of that was anxiety and depression symptoms. This all happened in my early twenties.
Yoga and meditation were suggestions for someone grappling with anxiousness and depression. Along with other work with my therapist, I started to roll out the yoga mat at home… but how to begin?
It was around here that I found Tara Stiles, the Yoga Rebel. She walked you through a yoga flow, with a lovely soundtrack in the background, all on YouTube. I didn’t have to stumble around in a yoga studio as I learned what exactly “Tadasana” was – and she used language I could understand as I learned the poses.
With a newfound awareness of the present moment, and connecting of breath with movement – yoga helped me embody the peace I was yearning for. It spread out with meditation, and a general passion for learning about it.
My motivation to share this deep peace has lit a flame within me, and it will not go out. For years I tried to simply be the good administrative, corporate citizen. Yoga was the hobby. Meditating was just for me. This is no longer the case.
Yoga is worth sharing, it’s a free and accessible “workout” that increases range of motion, flexibility and strength no matter the level you start at.
The variations to poses are endless, and there are props and different ways to build up to harder poses or pose variations.
Yoga inately brings your body and breath into focus. If you’re experiencing high levels of stress, bringing the body to a physiologically calmer state, using the breath and focus on movement – is wildly beneficial.
I can’t wait to share more with you – and I am eagerly awaiting your questions!
What do you want to know about yoga, meditation or me – Esta?!
Please leave me a comment below, or send me a note at withloveesta@gmail.com
Thank you so much for reading along. Wishing you an incredible weekend.
With Love,
Esta
Meditation Monday | Guided Relaxation Meditation
Thoughts from the Barbie Movie
Thoughts with Love, a series
I saw the Barbie movie recently, with my best friend and my stepdaughter and her friend.
We went in open minded, pink outfits on, snacks and Kleenex at the ready.
For a PG rated movie, this one was deeply layered, in all the best ways.
It had me thinking on meditation actually – Barbie meditated a few times in that movie – did you notice?!
Don’t worry – no spoilers in the top three!
Just three moments in the movie where I was reminded that meditation comes in many forms.
⚠️But the last item is a little bit spoiler-y so tread carefully! ⚠️
1 Remember when Barbie sat on a bench and saw girlhood? Saw the girl she was looking for?
The answer is always within us, we just need to be still enough to listen.
We already know.
2 “Close your eyes, now feel” – said Ruth.
This is meditation. This is self awareness.
This is living.
3 We saw the inhale, the rise of the chest on Barbie.
This is breathwork.
Becoming aware of the breath – becoming the awareness behind the breathing body.
Breathing and simply “being”.
This comes with practice.
It needs to be revisited.
Okay now we get into one of the last scenes, so while nothing is “given away” we are talking about a BIG ending theme in the movie!
⚠️ 🙊 ⚠️
The part that had a lump in my throat is when Ruth & Barbie are talking in that blank space.
Barbie closes her eyes again.
She tunes in.
You know – this scene?
She sees the joy, the heartache, the connection, the humanity, and she ultimately whispers “yes” and accepts living. Accepts life.
What a shiver went down my spine then.
Did we all have that moment?
That moment in the nothingness?
When life tapped us on the shoulder.
Showed us the beauty of living. The beauty that is made up of joy and laughter and tears and heartache.
Made up of love and light and human connection.
Of learning and expanding and healing and growing.
And we all ultimately whispered.
“yes”
What a beautiful thought.
What a beautiful movie.
There is so much more left to discuss on this one, but I just wanted to highlight (in pastel pink) the meditation moments of Barbie for you.
Wishing you an incredible long weekend.
May you say yes to the beauty of life, in every possible moment.
With Love,
Esta
Meditation Monday | Full Moon Meditation
Read along below – or listen along on YouTube or Spotify!
Hello & happy full moon eve to you. This meditation is a mini ritual of release, and will only take a few minutes.
Find a comfortable seat, or lie down – whatever calls to you.
We will take a deep inhale, with a shorter inhale at the end – “topping up” the breath – before an exhale out the mouth.
This is an effective way to bring the body to a nice state of calm.
In through the nose – sip of air – hold for a moment and exhale all the way
Two more times in your own timing
We aren’t racing, just let the lungs fill up completely and exhaling fully
In this calmer vibration state – will you bring to mind something you are needing to let go of?
It could be a memory, a mistake, an argument – just see if the mind will highlight for you, something that is bothering you these days.
When you let the mind wander and chatter as it will naturally do – is there a place that it goes to again and again?
Inhale and trust yourself to show yourself the answer.
Exhale and release it.
Take a moment or two here, to thank it for the lesson. Perhaps the proof to yourself that you are stronger than you thought. Perhaps the proof to yourself that you are capable of radical forgiveness.
Bring the right hand over the heart, the left hand over the belly button.
Let the emotion of that release, flow. Let it be – and meet it with radical love.
See if you can bring a smile to the lips – loving yourself for both knowing the answer and knowing how to let it go.
Blink the eyes open if they were closed, and may this full moon find you lighter now than you were before.
With Love
Esta
Thoughts from a Place of Healing
Thoughts with Love, a series
This past week I have been working through a chakra program created by my yoga teacher, Brett Larkin, founder of Uplifted Yoga.
Before you dismiss this as too woowoo, I suggest viewing the chakras as simply: a set of lenses. Like putting sunglasses on in various colours/tints. You can view parts of yourself better through different views.
I’m not going into the chakras too much in this post, but I will be sure to explain more in the future. Or find more info now in this explanation video: What Are the Chakras – a complete breakdown from Brett Larkin.
This blog post drops into a thoughtstream of mine while meditating this week. Some dialogue between the self, a little bit vulnerable and scary to share… which is a sure sign that it should be shared! Thank you so much for joining me.
Q: How do we not bleed on those we love
A: By healing
Go back to the little me
Love her
Be with her
Scream with her
Go back to the teenage me
Love her
Be with her
Scream with her
Watch how the emotion melts away
Emotion is meant to move
I held the root chakra in awareness
Palms in a bowl in my lap
Open and receptive
Ready?
I asked myself
Took a deep breath
Nodded
And exhaled
All the love from my heart
Poured into my palms
And I gasped
With the sheer amount of it
The love I could hold
Like a waterfall into a copper bowl
I held space
The roots of the bowl
Crawled down and out of me
Expanding into the ground
Fingers coiling into soil
I ground in to hold even more
Held the hurt
Held the anger
Held the rage
Let it pass
Ground into the earth even more
And released them
Radical forgiveness
Radical love
I used to get to frustrated with myself
Learning the same lesson again and again
Forgiving the same hurts again and again
But now I know that’s part of it
We can release only what we have digested
As I learn more about myself
As I learn more about the world
I can go back and undo those knots I made
That knot in my throat about the woman who birthed me and left me
That knot in my stomach about the doubts of my sanity as I kissed depression
That knot at the base of my skull insisting I might not be good enough
Holding space
Loving this too
This part of me
This lesson
This life
“Healing” is an ever changing journey.
Everyone has a scrape here and there, a wound they have adapted around.
Meditation gives me the space to process and move through emotion.
Healing a new layer of skin over, loving myself more and more.
If you want to try meditation, I post guided meditations weekly on Mondays!
I would love to share this tool with you.
With Love, Esta
Meditation Monday | Midday Reset
A Guided Meditation
Let’s do a midday reset together
Well find our seat
Coming tall in the spine
And seated grounded in the base of the hips
Feeling both tall and easy and grounded and strong
Well take a couple deep breaths here on your own timing
No breath is a bad breath
We are just tuning in
Now that were more settled in the body
Let’s check into the mind and see how we are today
Is the mind a busy place
Are we feeling tired
Overwhelmed
Excited
Nervous
What adjectives come to mind when you think about how you are in this moment
Knowing that that adjective will change
Second by second
But just taking a snapshot of where you are
And we’ll focus the mind a little further
To define an accomplishment that you have achieved today
Maybe you’re building a habit and you stuck to that habit today
Maybe you did your workout
Maybe you were kind to a stranger
You accomplished something big at the office
You were super loving and present with your family
What’s one accomplishment that you did today that you smile to think about
And with that warm gratitude for yourself for your strength for your moments
Can you focus forwards and define how you want to show up this afternoon
How is that you want to be?
What do you want to embody?
And we’ll reconnect with the breath now
Taking a deep inhale
And sighing out the exhale
And thanking yourself for taking this moment to reset
Recalibrate
To take a moment of gratitude and forward thinking
I wish you a wonderful afternoon
And you can come back to this practice at any time
With love, Esta
with love , Esta 