About Course
Gentle Observations
A Free 3-Day Somatic Journey to Open Your Heart 🕊️
Your invitation to observation
This free 3-day experience is your invitation to unzip from the noise, step out of survival mode and open up to stillness.
The Offering:
- Daily Breathwork: Learn to observe your physical sensations without judgment.
- Compassion Mantra: 10-minute daily meditation to soften and open the heart.
- Somatic Foot Soak: A grounding ritual to soothe your nervous system and awaken your intuition.
You spend your whole life building and creating for others. This space is for you.
What Will You Learn?
- How to observe yourself without needing to change yourself.
- How to create a simple daily practice of stillness.
- How to recognize sensations within the body without immediately judging them.
- How to strengthen your ability to receive rather than always doing.
- How to begin identifying emotions through gentle observation.
- How to become more familiar with your intuition through quiet reflection.
- How rest, repetition, and integration can become part of your healing practice.
- How small moments of presence can create meaningful shifts over time.
Course Content
Gentle Observations
# Lesson One: Gentle Observations
## Welcome
Hello, and welcome to Gentle Observations.
Over the next three days, we will move over the spaces in the heart which may be sensitive, they may be calcified, or very open. Whatever state you are in right now is just great. The state that is available for you is specific for your teaching, and I invite you to take a deep breath in, a deep breath out, have a nice cup of water, and see what you might learn along the way.
## Before We Begin
You can expect around 45 minutes to an hour for each segment. However, more or less is completely fine. I do not suggest being overzealous and doing each assignment in one day, as you do not get all the teachings at once, but rather, the integration time helps assist you along the way, and I hope that you will allow the metaphysical state of integration to allow its natural replenishment to help you.
There are certain aspects of rest, receiving, and integration, and the simplicity of one-, two-, or even three-day courses allows you to experience such simplicities of life. So, at times, some of the exercises may seem overly moderate or brief. They are not out of lack, but much of the latter, to assist you to deprogram from the much more complicated time we live in, where we are constantly using our mind to build, to push, to create, to do, to do, to do. That's how we believe we will prove who we are.
## Today's Teaching
These courses are created in the opposite. You do not have to prove. You are great simply because you are. You don't have to prove that to me. First, you must remind yourself of that. In a series of several tools that may seem weird, odd, or off to you, it's to remind your body that you are not scared, you are SACRED. You are not in survival; you are alive. You are strong like your roots. You have made it. Every single act brought you to this moment. You are a being, and you made it to right here. No matter who you are, you made it right here, and good for you.
No matter what the chatter, or whatever else, it doesn't matter. We meet here, and this body work is to remind you that you can unzip from the junk that is not for you. Say thank you for the gifts that are for you, and thank you for what does work, and everything else? You turn it into gold. That is how you plant seeds and create your own inner garden.
## Today's Practice
I would suggest bringing yourself into a cross-legged position, with a straight spine, hands remaining still. Observe your breath on the top of your lip, and notice your breath. Notice it. Notice how it goes out, the temperature and sensations, and observe your state, and do not allow change, but notice.
Listen to the mantra *Om Mani Padme Hum*, the mantra of compassion. This is a reminder for many things, but mainly that we all have the capacity for enlightenment. Sit or sing while listening to this mantra for 10 minutes each of the three days and notice how you feel. Allow yourself to feel any feeling.
If you don't feel anything, imagining a river, or a body of water moving forward, can help. Remember not to blame yourself. Notice if you feel hot or warm. Breathe in and breathe out.
## Reflection Practice
When your meditation is complete, prepare yourself a warm foot soak.
While sitting and allowing yourself to feel, without naming if emotions are good or bad, try to name what those sensations may be. Just observe them and notice them while listening to this mantra. Moving your toes in the water, allow the mantra and each breath of observation to move through you. Remember the chart of emotions and see if anything from before arises.
Remembering to breathe, receive. What messages does your intuition bring back to you?
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Day One + Intro
Reclaiming your mind
Please Inform yourself with the following terms. You may have heard them before, but keep refreshing, keeping stock of them, because even how you have informed yourself of a term, even if you are a teacher, you may be suprised on the teaching an learn a deeper understanding on the 100th lesson, or reteaching.
Yoga: Yoga (योग) refers to:—(1) union, meeting, connection or combination; (2) spirit ual discipline to link one with the Supreme; to stabilise the mind through karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga, so that it is not disturbed by sense objects. (Source: Pure Bhakti: Bhajana-rahasya - 2nd Edition)
1) Yoga (योग):—[yogaḥ] A state of meditation : where there is no existence of sensation
2) [yogaḥ] Arrangement or orderly collection; arrangement of sentences by putting the different word and clauses in proper order so as to obtain the correct meaning.
3) [yogaḥ] Union with self here all sensation ceases to exist but in moksha cessation is complete. yoga leads to moksha. [2]gurumukhi.ru: Ayurveda glossary of terms
Yoga is a Sanskrit word which means "union" and is interpreted as "union with the divine". One of the most detailed and thorough expositions on the subject is the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, which defines yoga as "the stilling of the changing states of the mind" (Sanskrit: yogaḥ citta-vṛtti nirodhaḥ). Yoga is also interpreted as the yoke that connects beings to the machine of existence.
According to Pāṇini, a 6th-century BCE Sanskrit grammarian, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau (to concentrate). In the context of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the root yuj samādhau (to concentrate) is considered by traditional commentators as the correct etymology. [3] (wikipedia: Yoga)
Sutra: Sūtra (सूत्र) refers to a “thread (for tying together)” (the bulbs of Nymphaea), as prescribed by certain bio-organical recipes for plant mutagenesis, according to the Vṛkṣāyurveda by Sūrapāla (1000 CE): an encyclopedic work dealing with the study of trees and the principles of ancient Indian agriculture.—Accordingly, “If bulbs of various species of Nymphaea are uprooted tied together firmly with threads (sūtra), smeared with melted butter and honey and then planted they produce those respective species in bunches (on a single creeper). Similarly several wonders of transformation can be worked out by tying together the stems of Nerium indicum and those of various species of Punica granatum”. [5] (Source: Shodhganga: Drumavichitrikarnam—Plant mutagenesis in ancient India
)
Yoga Sutras: Yoga Sutra (योग सूत्र): One of the six darshanas of Hindu or Vedic schools and, alongside the Bhagavad Gita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika, are a milestone in the history of Yoga. [6] (Source: WikiPedia Hinduisim)
In my own words, In every tradition there are threads of truths that assist us to understand each worlds. The spiritual (our felt world), the world we see, and our emotions, plants, and energies help us intergrate all of the other worlds. As I have been taught, to be humble, not take more than we are given and always give back to the land. These threads through time are simply maps to assist us. As some of us may have different internal dialogues, teaching us different paths, with different compass' so sacred and ancient tools like the bhagvahd gita or, yoga sutra are laws that escape linear acts like time. To help us intergrate our own journey.
Today, practice reclaiming your mind by taking a look at Yoga Sutra 2.23
Sva Svamisaktyoh Svarupopalabdhi Hetuh Samyogah
Sva: of being owned
Svami: of being owner, master
Saktyoh: of the powers
Svarupa: of the nature, own nature, own form
Upalabdhi: recognition
Hetuh: that brings about, the cause, reason
Samyogah: union, conjunction
The Reason For The Coming Together Of The Seen And The Seer Is For The Seer To Unfold The Awareness Of His True Nature And Power
## Examining the Teaching
It is one thing to read a teaching, and another to study it.
Many of us have been conditioned to read quickly, arrive at a conclusion, and move on. Ancient texts were not written to be consumed in this way. They were written to be returned to. A single sentence may reveal a different understanding depending on your stage of life, your experiences, and your willingness to observe.
Read this sutra several times. Do not rush to understand it. Instead, begin examining the words individually and then together. Ask yourself why the author may have chosen the word *seen* rather than *experienced*. Why *seer* rather than *observer*? Why *union*? Why *recognition*? Words matter. Throughout history, they have been chosen carefully.
Then move beyond the definitions. Ask yourself whether this teaching can be observed within your own life. Where have you mistaken what you see for who you are? What is the difference between observing your thoughts and becoming your thoughts? What does your own nature mean to you? Is it something that is created, or something that is remembered?
Do not be concerned with arriving at the correct answer. Your responsibility is not to agree with the teaching, but to examine it honestly. Every tradition asks something different of us, but they all ask us to participate. Knowledge is not gained through reading alone. It is cultivated through observation, contemplation, and experience.
Relationships
# Lesson Three: Relationship
On discernment, I invite you to bring yourself closer to yourself.
Take a moment to recognize the greatness that life has cultivated within you this far. Think of all the steps that you've taken to meet yourself here today. The difficult ones, the joyful ones, the ordinary ones, and the meditative steps. Every one of them has brought you here.
Over these past few days, we have explored observation, recognition, and now discernment. Some of the world's leading institutions suggest that a willingness to remain open to growth is strongly associated with greater achievement.
Observation teaches us to notice.
Recognition teaches us to understand.
Discernment teaches us to choose.
Take a moment to reflect on the past few days and notice what stayed with you. Perhaps it was the mantras, or the walks. Perhaps it was learning about the Yoga Sutras, discovering your emotions, or simply taking time to care for yourself. It may have been something you did not expect at all. Whatever it was, notice what continues to call you back.
Discernment is learning to recognize what genuinely nourishes your own mind, body, and spirit. Sometimes the practice is simply pouring back into yourself.
One of the greatest relationships you will ever cultivate is the relationship you have with yourself. Just as you would check in with someone you love, begin checking in with yourself. Sit quietly and perform a gentle body scan. Notice where you feel relaxed, where you feel tension, where you feel warmth, and where you feel discomfort. Observe without trying to fix anything. Sometimes the body simply wishes to be acknowledged.
Mindfulness is not only something we practice during meditation. It is something we practice while washing our dishes, walking through the forest, drinking a glass of water, caring for our bodies, and speaking to one another. It is the simple act of becoming present enough to notice the life that is already here.
Relationship also asks something of us. Throughout this course, you have received. Today, I invite you to consider how you may give back. It does not have to be something grand. Perhaps it is watering a plant, picking up litter on your walk, feeding the birds, planting something, offering gratitude before your meal, or simply spending time appreciating the land beneath your feet. Every relationship is strengthened through reciprocity.
As I have been taught, we are not separate from the Earth. We are in relationship with it. The same care that we hope to receive is the same care we are invited to offer.
The relationship you build with yourself, with the Earth, and with the people around you will continue long after this course has ended. Keep building it. Keep evolving with it. Keep returning to yourself, because that relationship becomes the foundation from which every other relationship grows.
## Today's Practice
Today, I invite you to come home to yourself by making a list of **100**.
Yes, one hundred things that you appreciate.
They can be memories, people, places, songs, books, smells, foods, colours, traditions, moments in nature, or anything else that has brought meaning to your life.
Do not rush. Allow yourself to enjoy the process. You may be surprised by what comes to mind when you begin paying attention.
When your list is complete, transform it into something creative. There is no right or wrong way to do this. It can become a collage, a poem, a drawing, a painting, a journal page, or something entirely your own.
If you feel called, I invite you to share your practice with us by emailing it to **[no-reply@solamedicine.org](mailto:no-reply@solamedicine.org)**. Sometimes allowing yourself to be witnessed is also a practice. It is another way we build relationship; with ourselves, with others, and with community.
Thank you for allowing me to spend these past few days with you. I hope these lessons continue to meet you throughout your life. May you continue to observe, recognize, discern, and remember that the relationship you cultivate with yourself, the Earth, and those around you is one that will continue to shape the person you are becoming.
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