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Showing posts from January, 2015

Remembrance

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Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Today also marks the 70 th   anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. People were sent to Auschwitz, and its sister camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, beginning in 1942, from almost every corner of Europe. http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/the-final-solution/auschwitz-birkenau/transport-and-arrival/#.VMfX2NLF_To People were forcibly removed from their homes and transported in cattle cars to the camp. During the transportation to the camps, which could take days, people in the cattle cars often stood in place. There was very little water or food, and no bathroom facilities. http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/the-final-solution/auschwitz-birkenau/transport-and-arrival/#.VMfX2NLF_To Upon their arrival, people exited the cattle cars and lined up to begin the selection process. German officers and doctors decided who lived and who died. http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/the...

The Gift of Breath

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Breathing is something that comes naturally to the body. Part of our autonomic system, our bodies breathe for us without our even thinking about it. Breathing brings oxygen into our bodies, which helps us digest our food and expel toxins. We breathe to center ourselves, to bring about calmness, to concentrate, to relax. Breath decreases anxiety, worry, stress, tension, unrest. In yoga the practice of breathing, called pranayama, is the foundation upon which all other exercises are laid. In meditation breathing is used as a tool to open the unconscious mind. The act of breathing is found in many medical treatments for people who have Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and military personnel who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD.) The breath is our link to the divine. It centers our souls with our bodies. As is the body, so is the breath. If the body is calm, the breath is calm. If the body is anxious, the breath is anxious. If there is no breath, the bod...

New Year's Moon

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New Year’s Moon (A letter to the moon) Hello there Luna. Happy New Year! How were your holidays? I hope that they were wonderful.   As the holidays approached, I found I was feeling a lot of stress, which is unusual for me.  I do not know what precipitated my feeling that way.  However, it seemed that every time I watched the news there were stories of civil unrest, racial tension, public protest, fighting between nations, tales of plague and death. At my workplace, tempers got shorter and shorter as the days wore on. In a time of peace and love towards one another, the stress all got to be too much for me.  Thankfully, in the hours leading up to Christmas, I could feel the stress slipping away from me. I felt a new sense of relaxation and calm. I was quite glad of that. Thank you for your visit Thursday night. It was so good to see you on the first night of the New Year! I know you were not in your full moon stage yet, but in the dark winter sky, ...