Take a listen or a read through a sneak peak of my upcoming Moment of Slow offering, coming in 2023!
This Moment of Slow invitation is about a saying or mantra I have been practicing with for awhile now.
I talk about when I use this saying, why, and of course, the particular words I have chosen.
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Listen to this Moment of Slow invitation:
if it feels good to you, you could close your eyes and notice your breathing while you listen.
Read this Moment of Slow invitation:
[00:00:00] Cassandra: Hi there. Welcome to Moment of Slow. If you're listening, you might be able to hear Ernest's paws slap through the creek water and the birds chirping. Who knows what else.
[00:00:28] Cassandra: Today the invitation is, uh, a saying that I've been practicing myself for probably over a year, like a year and a half now, is it's what I say to myself at the beginning and the end of my yoga practice. I have also been integrating it into [00:01:00] other practices and processes that I've been creating for myself and for other people.
[00:01:09] Cassandra: So I thought it would be valuable to share as a Moment of Slow invitation.
[00:01:21] Cassandra: It's kind of three, I guess it's like nine parts to it. And so the saying or the mantra is, um, practice, teachers, and learners. That's like the elements that I'm working with, like the practice of doing something. And then the learners who are amongst me and within me, and then the teachers who are within and amongst me.
[00:01:55] Cassandra: And so I say "practice, learners and [00:02:00] teachers" and then I link them to the three realms of within, between and beyond. And so there's "practice, learners and teachers within." There's "practice, learners and teachers between," so between myself and this tree right here are the between, in between both of us. We can learn from one another.
[00:02:32] Cassandra: We can also teach one another, and there can be a practice between us of, of noticing one another of uh, you know, practicing that relationship. So within, between and then beyond. And the way that I connect with beyond is that it's, [00:03:00] it's all that is beyond my within and beyond the between. And so that beyond maybe, um, what one thinks of as the universe or gods or goddesses or um, some higher or beyond being. And it could also be, I've, I've lately been also thinking about it as beyond this moment of, of beyond into the past, beyond into the future, beyond into other timelines, other, other planes of reality. Um, it's, it's all of that and more. Beyond, I mean each within between and beyond all kind of includes some element of unknown, I think. Maybe beyond especially does?
[00:03:55] Cassandra: So what I say to myself is [00:04:00] "practice, teachers, learners within. Practice, teachers, learners between. Practice, teachers, learners beyond."
[00:04:10] Cassandra: And sometimes I stick with one for a while and I, I usually link it up to my breathing and I might even, you know, say "within" multiple times, I do, I do, um, like it when I do touch on all of those elements.
[00:04:30] Cassandra: So six elements. Um, [laughs] Ernest just nosed me in the butt. "Hi!" And is sitting down. "Yeah, you're especially hungry today. yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I'm especially hungry today too, but I only bought treats for you. No treats for me right now. Here you go." [00:05:00] Giving him a crunchy treat.
[00:05:05] Cassandra: So the invitation is to play with those words. Um, play with the kind of mantra, the, the rhythm to it. Um, you could play with it like I do usually at the beginning and end of my yoga practice, but like I said, I, I've been thinking of these six elements and realms as, and kind of ways of being. In, you know, weaving them into other processes and practices of mine. So I invite you to do the same.
[00:05:50] Cassandra: I invite you to take a listen to the creek sounds and maybe twigs breaking underfoot and under paw, if you're [00:06:00] listening. If you're reading this, I invite you to touch in with your sensory experience and your surroundings and give a moment of slow for yourself.
[00:06:17] Cassandra: Till next time!
How do the words "practice, teachers, learners" and "within, between, and beyond" resonate with you?
I welcome your response in the comments.