Practice: Happy

8 min Today's word is:  Embodiment Today's Learning Practice is with Jen Bleier, a somatic educator.  She offers up the perfect word!  Embodiment.   Join us in this exercise of practicing conversation on Learning Conversation.  :-) Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

38 min.   Interview:  Jen Bleier, Somatic Educator Maureen and Pierre interview Jen Bleier, friend and somatic educator.  Trained in Gyrotonic, Gyrokinesis, Pilates, Somatic Experience practitioner, and small "d" dancer.   Jen's work spans different modalities, hence her self-description as a somatic educator.  Jen said: "when you work with bodies, you can't not work with emotions." Maureen and Jen are on the same team - working to heal, working to educate, integrating Mind Body Spirit health. So what is Gyrotonic? Officially:  the Gyrotonic Expansion System. Gyro - meaning rotating movement that heals - hence tonic. Those who do yoga and work with bodies, those who suffer with lower back issues, sciatica, know the pain that comes from our skeletal system impinging nerves. Better support, better flexibility and expansion of the skeletal system can relieve that pain. Increased space in the skeletal system promotes synovial fluid, whose principal role is to reduce friction between cartilege and bones in joints. Improved flexibility in the body, for instance through an expanded skeletal system that is being compressed everyday by gravity, walking, standing and sitting, can produce improve health.   .  Gyrotonic started out as "Yoga for Dancers." It was started Juliu Horvath. There are over 6,000 Gyrotonic trainers worldwide.  Perhaps you didn't know that?  We certainly didn't until Jen educated us. Check Jen out at:   https://jenbleier.offeringtree.com Check out Gyrotonic:  https://www.centergyrotonic.com/about/gyrotonic_expansion_system/ In a similar vein, Ido Portal:  Movement Culture. https://www.idoportal.com Healing through movement. At the beginning of the podcast, Maureen says: "we're all waiting for the medical world to catch-up." Meaning, catch-up to practicality and success of somatic paths to improved health.  And to some extent it is. Physical therapy after surgery - get up and move. Medical imaging's improved understanding of healing and body mechanics, brain function. And, yet to some extent it isn't because movement therapy is difficult to monetize. Nonetheless, through sharing and learning pathways, courtesy of podcasts, streaming videos, worldwide web interconnectivity, it's happening. We're delighted you are along for the ride in Learning Conversation.  Enjoy!  

Response-ability training is an online educational program to provide people with knowledge and skills to respond to their experiences, as opposed to merely reactiving and over-reacting chronically and unconscoiously. When you can respond to what life presents you with regulation and mindfulness, you save yourself from chronic stress which makes you better and your relationships with others better. The Becoming ResponseAble program is a foundation for learning about mental health as mindbody health and discovering inner resources and outer resources you may be unaware of!    

5 min Today's word is:  Happy Maureen references a documentry on Happy - 2012 movie. Is happy a good goal? Join the conversation.   Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

Resource:  Dr. Jordan B. Peterson Maureen begins the pod energized having just taught a yoga class.  With over 175 published podcasts on resources, practices, discussions, interviews, reflections, we've somehow not talked about Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. Peterson is a pivotal figure in 'Learning Conversation,' not just for this podcast but for so many who have followed his lead in examining what words mean and how they can be used for good or harm. Peterson's opposition to Canada's speech legislation in Bill C-16, an amendment to the "Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code," catapulted him to a larger audience. Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist who early on saw the danger of progressive cultural change.  He recorded his views in 2016. The recordings went viral. Peterson spoke what few dared. His reaction to the Bill C-16 was not the substance of words but the dynamic of the bill which essentially compelled speech - designating what can and cannot be said and making that part of the criminal code. In other words, his objection focused on the foundational principles of free speech. Government should not legislate what can and cannot be said. In objecting, Peterson became the grain of sand in the oyster around which other layers of conversation formed. Peterson's podcasts and interviews became the epicenter of conversations, teachings, discussions which were not being had in other parts of Western society, parts that were tamed and shamed and remained silent on Progressivism's righteousness.  With cultural support and power, political correctness began to be legislated. Today, we find ourselves on one side or the other of 'political correctness' with varying degrees of consequence. Cancel culture. Job security or insecurity. Political divides. Social discord. The binary application of 'for and against' is, unfortunately, part of the political correctness movement. Wielding and leveraging cultural power is key to its change management; no room for discussion, debate, nuance, learning, conversation. Winning is not based on persuasive argument. Of course, speech issues, cultural change, progressive thought, conservation thought are multi-faceted subjects, but without room to examine and discuss facets, discourse is course or dismissed. Shouts and protests are memed and mimed into binary slogans. Black Lives Matter - good, appropriate.  All Lives Matter - not good, inappropriate, disrespectful.   How fitting this podcast is released now. In the aftermath of a heinous genocidal assault that has been building over decades and is embedded in political and religous agendas through the charter of Hamas. We are witnesses to digusting binary barbitry that dehumanizes our collective society, and  breaks down civilized conversation and actions. Just what Jordan Peterson talks about.   Our hearts go out to all who suffer.  Peace through grace, and let it begin with me.   Live to learn and learn to live.   Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

5 min Today's word is:  Suffering Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

24 min Maureen and Pierre discuss spiritual traditions of solitude versus the disaffectation of anxiety and isolation.  Spiritual practices include: Jesus in the desert for 40 days.  Thoreau "On Walden Pond."  Meditative practices.  John Francis - not talking for 17 years.  Modern disaffection include recent school shootings, which is on Maureen's mind as a former school teacher, mother, person. It's counter-intuitive or perhaps 'unnatural' that there are these traditions of finding integration into society by withdrawing from society. Because we are so society bound, its not usual for a person to take up spiritual practices of solitude.  Maureen's website:  Landscapes for Learning focuses on working out within, and the wisdom of knowing thyself.  Often finding oneself involves being with oneself outside of the complications of society.   Maureen a former school teach brings up the flip side of the coin, a disaffected person who retreats from society and 'loses' themselves versus finding oneself via a spiritual tradition of separation. Recent school shootings, most if not all taking place from disaffected or mentally challenged males, raise the discussion point which Maureen wants to explore:  is isolation healthy or not healthy for individuals.   The discussion leads back to a little known book about monastic life called:  The Cloud of Unknowing.   Maureen reflects on her walkabout.  A year of traveling and teaching yoga, separated from her normal roles of mother, teacher, dog owner, family member.  The walkabout allowed Maureen to shed normal roles and live one day at a time.  If you are interested in a walkabout, you might enjoy listening. If you are interested in the power of 'unknowing' consider it as a concept to fully embrace the world you experience.  

5 min Today's word is:  Orange Color or fruit. Double espresso's and Pierre's got hop at the buzzer + one. Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

15 min What does it mean to be fit? How do you stay fit?  If you want to be fitter, how do you do that?What motivates you?  Maureen found a gym that has been motivating her towards building strength and getting fitter.  There are many elements in it and Pierre is curious. Maureen begins to explain Crossfit to Pierre, who starts to see the attraction of Crossfit in mind, body, and spirit training, with a work-out community supporting good each others good health.   Maureen explains that Crossfit started with the concept of cross-functional fitness, in order to enable ordinary people to be functional in everyday movements.  Wow. Basic. Powerful. Especially as one looks around at today's fitness challenges. Maureen also says that a big part of the attraction of a Crossfit gym is the community - people supporting one another on a journey to better movement and health. Without a "why," without a community, lots of efforts to improve health fail.  It's important to find a path and know yourself. What motivates you towards better health?   Pierre and Maureen discuss their motivations and differing experiences with gyms and paths towards fitness.  Maureen introduces resources and people connected to Crossfit for listeners to check out. RESOURCES Greg Glassman - founder of Crossfit.  Science based, cross-functional fitness.   Jocko Willink - retired U.S. Navy SEAL officer, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medals, co-author bestseller:  Extreme Ownership:  How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win podcast  www.jocko.com Dave Castro - retired Navy SEAL and Crossfit trainer https://www.instagram.com/thedavecastro/?hl=en   Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

21 min Jon Kabat- Zinn is today's resource.   Kabat-Zinn is a professor emeritus of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  He received a Ph.D. in molecular biology for MIT in 1971. He is one of the earlier people in the health field to recognize the adverse effects of stress on health.   His book Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness (1991) leads today's conversation into this resource. Full Catastrophe Living - the title of his book, Pierre claims is the title of his, Pierre's, life.  Maureen mentions how Kabat-Zinn had to prevail with his editor to keep the word "catastrophe" in the book title.  Seems appropriate for these days and our lives.  Kabat-Zinn set up The Center of Mindfulness at Mass.  Winner of all kinds of awards, Kabat-Zinn was a leader in bringing the body into the health equation, and also into mindfulness space.  It's not all in your mind, and the solutions are not all in your mind.  There are complimentary effects in healing the whole person.  Where Ever You Go, There You Are - another title of Kabat-Zinn's.   And here you are!  Reading and listening to this podcast. We're glad you are here.  Enjoy this health resource as we explore together the nexus of literature and resources in the mind, body, spirit space.     Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS Enjoy this health resource as we explore together the nexus of literature and resources in the mind, body, spirit space.     Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS