Welcome to our four-week Self-Care September “Find Your ME” 30-Day Challenge & Giveaway, where we are making a daily commitment to discovering and honoring your ME - your true, complete self. Each week will focus on a theme, and we will embody that theme through daily movement meditations, mindfulness exercises and more all led by DeenaOH of MindBodyGrace. If you're not familiar with Alexander technique teacher Deena Odelle Hyatt, make sure to read our interview with her.
Through this four-week challenge, we will explore these questions:
Who is The Whole and True ME?
Where is my center?
How do I find alignment?
How does this affect how I show up in the world?
How do I carry my ME (My Self)?
Daily Movement Meditation
Each day, DeenaOH will host a 20-minute Movement Meditation via Zoom at 8 am PT and 6 pm PT. In addition to leading you in Movement, at the close of each session she will guide you into ten-minutes of constructive rest (stillness and non-doing).
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7873795308
Meeting ID: 787 379 5308
Passcode: DM or Email for passcode
The zoom session will open ten minutes early, and will start at 8 am and 6 pm sharp. Please don't be late.
Weekly Writing Ritual
Each week on Sunday, you will engage in the ritual of writing around one weekly themes of awareness, balance, commitment and desire. Light a candle, put on some music, and dive in. We will update the writing prompts each week at the bottom of this post and we will also share them on social.
Weekly Sister Circle
Each Sunday, you'll have access to a thirty-minute Sister Circle via zoom where we will gather, dance and share on the weekly theme.
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7873795308
Meeting ID: 787 379 5308
Passcode: DM or Email for passcode
Giveaway Details!
Now for the fun part: if you take part in at least two movement meditations per week and complete your weekly writing ritual, you'll be entered to win a ME Ring ($129) and a private postural consultation with DeenaOH ($200). Just participate and complete and share your weekly checklist on social (see below). Make sure to tag @fredandfar and @deenaOH and use the hashtag #findyourME. You'll get bonus points if you're able to join us for the Sister Circle.
Week One Writing Ritual Theme: Awareness
“Until you make the unconscious conscious,
it will direct your life
and you will call it fate.”
- Carl Jung
Journal Prompt
In paying closer attention to your mind+body alignment, what have you noticed-- what habits have you become aware of?
Example
I notice my tendency to “stick my neck out there” when I’m talking.
When I remind myself to let myself stay in my center, I also realize that I become a better listener.
Write freely for 20 minutes starting with what you’ve been noticing-- there are no rules other than writing for 20 minutes without stopping. This is an act of concentration and flow. Bonus: If a certain word sticks out to you, let’s say “energy.” You can say “what do I mean by energy?” And write through that idea.
Exercise
CELL PHONE INTERRUPTION: When your cell phone goes off. PAUSE. Feel what it feels like in your body when you hear that text noise. Notice what it feels like to wait a moment before picking up your phone. Take 3 breaths before responding.
Week Two Writing Ritual Theme: Balance
Balance is all about becoming aware of the different elements of your life and identity and integrating them. From the duality you experience in different roles - worker, mother, lover, caretaker - to the intrinsic duality we each carry - masculine energy // feminine energy - balance is what we achieve when we can embody and move through these identities with fluidity and love.
Balance Writing Prompts
Where do you wish to find more balance internally?
What are the parts of your life you wish to balance?
How do you envision finding more balance?
How to Do The Writing Ritual
1. Put on wordless music, settle into your body, breath, light and candle.
2. Take a moment to meditate on the theme. Feel into it.
3. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Begin. This is not a performance.
4. If you get stuck, write about where you feel stuck and keep writing.
5. When the time goes off, breathe, blow out the candle, notice.
Week Three Writing Ritual Theme: Commitment
Commitment. It is what transforms awareness into action, and in the process changes your life. Commitment is also how you honor your ME and achieve integration and union between your needs and your lifestyle, your dreams and your daily. It starts with understanding what you need and building a life that honors you.
Commitment Writing Prompt
Write out your vows. To your loved one, or an envisioned partner. You love this person dearly. Write out your commitments, your promises, what you want to uphold. Read it to yourself out loud. These vows - they are for you.