June 2024 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Thank you for being part of this community! Maybe you join me weekly for yoga, hike with me on our monthly women’s hikes, use my herbal salves, have attended my retreats or coaching courses, or maybe you are just watching and observing what it is I offer. For whatever reason you are here, I want to sincerely offer my gratitude to you. I hope there is something in this newsletter that may speak to your heart. I always love hearing from you and understanding your challenges, your happiness, and hearing about the ways you are learning and growing.
What I am learning:
Life gives us so many beautiful opportunities for learning and growth. Our interactions with others can often be some of our greatest teachers. I have found that the lessons I need most continue to unfold when and how I am ready to receive them. I am truly grateful for my family, friends, teachers, clients, and mentors who offer me opportunities for self-reflection and learning. I have spent the last few years really uncovering and looking within at my patterns and some of the dysfunction in my life and in my relationships and have learned so much. I have learned some of the patterns and behaviors and beliefs and tendencies that lead to unhealthy relationships. Recently, I have been contemplating the other side of this and seeking to understand what a healthy relationship looks like-whether that is with a friend, a family member, a coworker, a spouse/significant other. On one of my calls with my mentor, Bonnie Wallace, she offered this beautiful insight into what she felt might be some foundational principles of a healthy relationship. I loved her words so much that I wanted to share them with you.
”How do you FEEL in their presence and after being around them? Do you feel calm or shut down? Do you feel energized or anxious? Can you express yourself? Can you fully be yourself or do you feel the need to filter yourself? Are they willing to learn? Are they accountable (this is what I am doing to address this behavior in my life)? Are they emotionally mature (can they hear how they’ve hurt you without blaming or defending)? And finally knowing that in all relationships there will be triggers, is there the ability to address these in a constructive, safe, and healthy way? (a way in which you are better able to understand yourself and they desire to understand you more too).
For me, this conversation was a beautiful learning opportunity and offered me a guideline for how I want to show up in my relationships and gave me insight into ways I can continue to improve myself within my relationships. I would love to hear what you learned from these words and how they resonated with you.
What I am offering:
NEW OFFERINGS:
My training in Costa Rica in February taught me some valuable new tools that I am excited to share. I am in need of some volunteers that will be willing to allow me to practice my new skills for a reduced cost (through the month of July). I am looking for clients willing to have a face reading, a hand reading, a full body analysis, lifestyle consultation, and emotional release trigger point therapy. See detailed explanations and prices for each of these offerings attached to this email.
YOGA and RETREATS:
Join us every Tuesday at 8pm MST on zoom for 60 min of yoga, breathwork, and meditation. Join our Facebook group here to stay up to date on any changes to the schedule: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1997436973946383/?ref=share_group_link. First class is always free and $10 per class after.
Note: No yoga on June 11th as I will be out of town/service that week.
I am offering private, in-home (or on-line) yoga lessons for those looking for more personalized attention. I also am happy to do private retreats tailored to you and your groups’ needs. These offerings are not on my website currently so please reach out via email if a personalized yoga session or retreat is of interest to you.
I had the amazing opportunity to assist at Sariah Bastian’s “You’re Gonna Love Her” retreat last month. Gathering with women who are interested in connecting through healing and positivity has become one of my favorite places to be. There is such strength and power and beauty in women who are seeking. Knowing full well they are facing intense challenges and heavy pain in their life, and yet they choose to seek for wholeness and healing, and in doing so, they offer hope and healing for all those they come in contact with. I observed this in the women present at the retreat and my soul was filled with love and peace and hope. I have a great desire to continue gathering women and would love your input and feedback on what topics, trainings, skills, or experiences would be most beneficial for you in your life right now. My ability to hold retreats this year is limited, so I hope to make the 1 or 2 I do offer as impactful as I can. Please share your input and insights to guide me in best meeting your needs.
HIKING:
This month we will be hiking a portion of the Navajo Lake Trail. It is approx. 4 miles and rated as moderate. Join us Saturday June 22nd at 9am for an amazing hike. Stay tuned for updates or other changes due to weather. I look forward to seeing you all on the trail! If you are interested in joining us for a hike, please join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/384391280768422/?ref=share_group_link
SALVES:
I am also selling homemade herbal salves on my website. Choose from Calendula, Pine, Rosemary, Calendula mixed with Rosemary, or a NEW OFFERING of Yarrow. The calendula, rosemary, and yarrow salves are made from homegrown organic herbs and the pine salve is carefully harvested from Pinion pines in the Southern Utah area. These salves have many beneficial properties and are a great addition to your home first aid kit.
If any of these offerings are of interest to you, please reach out to me at joyfulbalancedhealth@gmail.com
What I am reading:
This month I have been completing the final steps from my training in Costa Rica, to receive my certification as a level 3 Psychosomatic Practitioner. I have spent time reading through my manuals and training materials again and again and each time I feel the information becomes clearer and even more profound. As I have had opportunities to practice on clients over this last month as well, I am recognizing how impactful this work can be and how much I enjoy learning and sharing about it. A passage from my training manual that really spoke to me, especially as I have been contemplating relationships this month, was this excerpt from Stanley Keleman’s work “Emotional Anatomy”. He says “Anatomical structure is the basic archetype of thought and experience. Anatomy is internal relationship… anatomical relationships are also emotional relationships… anatomy is the foundation for human relationship. What happens on the interior, those connections that maintain the structure of personhood, eventually happens outside as well…. human relationships are somatic interactions of emotional pulsation and behavioral form-inside us, outside us. We relate to others via the forms we make…Life’s emotional experiences create form and shape. Shape gives emotions, thinking, and feeling an avenue for expression and satisfaction or the opposite, inhibition and pain. With our shape we interact with the world and create relationships. As we reach out to others for contact, love, intimacy, co-operation, we may create relationships that serve to reinforce or compensate for our individual shape…”
What I am loving:
I am loving listening to yoga nidra meditations in the afternoon when I am tired, instead of taking a nap. I always feel refreshed and energized afterward and my nervous system feels calmer and more peaceful. For those who are not familiar with yoga nidra, it is a guided meditation that is also sometimes called yogic sleep. It is said that 30 min of yoga nidra is the equivalent of 3-4 hours of deep REM sleep. It promotes deep relaxation and is healing for the nervous system. For those who have experienced yoga nidra, how has it impacted your life?
Sending you all love and light,
♥️Jessica