The
Consciousness Collaborative Update
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Register for Upcoming Workshops
& Events
Meditation Class
 December 15thJoin Jamie Thurber for another evening of shared meditation. Each month offers a new path inward, in alignment with the solstices. Interested? To Save Your Space Email Jamie~~~ Healthy Cooking Classes Mondays-Beginning January 3rdExplore healthier options to your everyday meal choices. This series of four classes will focus on Easy Breakfasts, Vegetarian Options, a "Make Ahead Dinner," and Sweet Treats. To register, email Nathalie Blitz and use "Cooking Classes" as the subject line. ~~~
What's Next?! Workshop Spring New Series Begins January 15thIf what you want is truly possible, what would you choose for yourself? Discover the unique gifts that make you extraordinary and learn how to come back to your most grounded self, even in challenging times. From this place, you may embrace What's Next?!Mark your calendar now for the spring session beginning in January and take advantage of the advance registration discount ending Dec 1st.Sign up on-line today.
Click the workshop you are interested in for full details about any of these upcoming opportunities.
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Recipe
of the
Month
Squash Soup
This is a delicious favorite to serve for holiday gatherings, and an excellent contribution for a potluck meal. Ingredients:
- 1 squash - 1 medium onion - 2-3 cloves of garlic- 1 C. soup stock - 1/4 C. rice milk (optional) - 1 tsp curry spices - sea salt - olive oil Directions:1. Cut and clean out your favorite kind of squash. 2. Steam the squash for 25-30 minutes. 3. Chop and saute onions and garlic in olive oil. 4. Put squash, onions, garlic, soup stock, and spices in a blender or food processor and puree. 5. Heat in a pot and add rice milk (optional). Total servings will depend upon the size of the squash you've selected.
Need more recipes? Check out the Recipe of the Month page for previously published eats.
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Meditation
of the
Month
Clearing with Breath & Color
The holidays can be a stressful time for many of us. This is a simple meditation to clear away the burdens your body is carrying, and come back to conscious awareness. Perfect for anyone who gets lost in all the busy of this cooking, shopping, social season.
Cover the base of your ring fingers (where your ring sits) with your thumbs and close your eyes.
Now, breathe deeply. Bring the breath to each part of your body, noticing where there may be tightness and density or openness and space.
When you notice an area of space and comfort in your body, notice if it has a color or if, in the moment, you are feeling attracted to any particular color.
Now, breathing in through the top of your head, allow the color of space and comfort to fill your whole being, while the color of tightness and density is exhaled through your mouth. If the density does not have a color, envision black smoke coming out of your mouth.
Continue to scan your body with the breath, exhaling tightness and density, and breathing in nourishment and space. Feel the openness filling your body to the tips of your fingers and toes.
When you are glowing with the color of openness, allow that to be what you are inhaling and exhaling. It is passing through you, it is embodied within you. You are a part of the open energy of the universe.
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If you read the "Trying Times" column in the November newsletter, you might have been surprised to learn that I now have a relationship with the martial arts. Well, no one was more shocked than me! I love the spell check feature, and use it faithfully, but every once in a while martial stands in for marital and all I can really do is groan.
Of course, I proofread the monthly prose before delivering them to your mailbox each month, but checking errors in one's own work can present a bit of a problem. I know what I'm trying to say, and even when I read it backwards (which is the trick I learned from my newspaper days), I tend to see what I expect to see, just as I saw the essence of "husband and wife" in martial...I guess sometimes it may feel a bit like karate at my house, but generally, no.
So, it got me thinking about what a perfect life lesson this little typo provides. I believe we see what we expect to see. We do it all the time. But because we're living in our own heads with our own stories, we fail to see what truly is, rather we see what we want or anticipate...be it positive or negative; we see what we expect.
There's an exercise we do during the What's Next?! Workshop series that relates to this theme. One person stands still and a partner approaches with an assigned posture. For example, the partner may simply stand beside you, facing you. I have no reaction to this one, as I have no story about what this might mean; but for some, this simple posture evokes feelings of discomfort, judgment, and a strong desire to push the partner away because it feels like they want something. The "still" person feels what they have learned to expect. The pattern of this story has been repeated so many times, the mind/body simply reacts.
My least favorite posture is when someone approaches me gently, and then tugs on me...literally, tugging on my shirt. Uggh! If I believe my old story, I feel that someone is coming to me broken and they want something from me, as though I must "fix it." I feel, not only do I not want to fix anything, but more importantly I am being asked to do something that was never doable - an impossible job. My childhood was filled with adults who had unrealistic expectations of what any child could do, and me in particular. I couldn't cure my mom's schizophrenia, nor was I the cause of it, although I was asked regularly to "fix it" or the resulting chaos. That's what I learned. If someone approaches you tugging, they want something impossible.
Before I worked with what I believed about a friendly tug, I truly believed this was the only possible reason for such an approach. It was my personal typo. Spell check couldn't catch it, because sometimes people do tug a bit, and it doesn't mean there's anything to do or that the only reason to tug is to ask the impossible. I saw what I expected to see, and without the help of a "professional proofreader" I'm not sure when or if I ever would have caught it.
Imagine me coaching people and believing that every tug is a request for me to do the impossible - good grief! How could I ever walk this path, doing what I love, without that clarity? With this, I issue an invitation to you: Be brave! Allow yourself the benefit of a "professional proofreader," be it a coach, therapist, or honest and intuitive friend. Discover what personal typo keeps coming up in the prose of your life story, and how shifting a single letter, like the "i" in marital can make such a difference.
Without expectation,
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Not Texting;
What's Nexting?!
Webster needs a new verb phrase: What's Nexting. I am awed by this phenomena. Every person who signs up for the What's Next?! Workshop series, or one of the associated programs, begins What's Nexting before they even enter the room for the first time. I believe it relates to the intention a participant sets forth when they choose to go for it!
Have you ever done that? You set your mind on an intention, without a specific agenda of what the result might look like, but holding the space for your desire to manifest...and then IT DOES. I believe that's what happens when someone signs up for What's Next?! Workshop. The gears have clicked and set in motion...What's Nexting begins!
When the series actually starts, and participants discover their unique gifts, notice what gets in the way of those gifts, and integrate new tools and ways of being into their lives, they find themselves meeting that original intention with a more familiar sense of "core self." The essential self each person reveals has new space to blossom - knowing that it's not only okay to operate from your "zone of genius" (thank you, Gay Hendricks), you are meant to!
One participant recently said, "All of these new clients are coming out of the woodwork, and I'm ready for them. It just feels right! For me, the accountability of the What's Next?! program provides both a challenge and a safe space for me to move through my blocks. And I'm seeing tangable results in my business." Because What's Next?! Workshop meets once a month over the course of six months, the growth is progressive, with each class building upon the last. In turn, no one ever waits six months for something to happen - it is happening, the entire time, from the moment you sign up. That's "What's Nexting!"
Curious about what you might do if you were "What's Nexting?!" Join Joanne Lutz for the spring session beginning January 15th.
Sign up with payment by December 1st for a $150.00 discount off the series tuition.
Still not sure you're ready to begin "What's Nexting?!" read what others have said about their experiences.
01/15/11 - Everything you need is already in you
02/12/11 - Discover your gifts
03/12/11 - What gets in the way of your gifts
04/09/11 - Feeling the flow
05/07/11 - Integrating
06/04/11 - What's Next?!
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Cookin' Up Something Good!
Healthy Cooking Classes
Have you been slaving away in the kitchen this holiday season wishing you had something new and healthy to serve? Integrative Nutrition Counselor, Nathalie Blitz understands your pain, and invites you to join her for a series of post-holiday cooking classes. For four Monday evenings in January, Nathalie will help you create healthy and delicious eats in four specific categories: - The first class will bring attention to the first meal of the day. Simply put - skipping it stresses us out! You will learn a few quick and easy-to-make variations to this important meal. Vegetarian Options - Many people are interested in incorporating some satisfying plant-based protein meals into their weekly diets. This is a chance to learn how. Make Ahead Dinner - Much of the struggle around healthier food choices is the lack of time and preparation. Let's face it, there is nothing like a nice dinner ready for you when you get home! This class will focus on healthier variations to your standard meal. A protein, grain dish, side dish, and dessert will all be included. Sugar Blues - "Sugar? In a Healthy Cooking Class???" In this session you will discover a different approach to sweets and how to incorporate this important flavor into your diet. Sweet vegetables, snacks, and desserts can be easy to make and should not be taken out of your daily menu. See how it's possible. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn something new and share the fun of cooking with others. Find joy in your kitchen, by sharing one with Nathalie! All classes meet from 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm in Arlington, MA on:January 3rd, 10th, 24th, and 31st
(no class on Martin Luther King day)
Series Tuition: $235.00(fee includes: hands-on experience, expert instruction, recipes, informational handouts and the cost of food - *note* ingredients will be organic) To Register: Contact Nathalie Blitz via emailand use "Cooking Classes" as the subject line This small group format (limited to five participants), will ensure that each person receives personal attention and hands-on experience. Think of it as a semi-private cooking lesson with an expert in the field!
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They Say It's Your Birthday...
is BACK!
It's that time of year again. The founder of The Consciousness Collaborative, Joanne Lutz just celebrated a birthday and she is offering her presence to YOU!
With a new year comes a new offer. If you are an existing client, refer a friend (who schedules and pays for a one-to-one session or group workshop) and receive 50% off your next individual session.
If you have not worked with Joanne before, or have never received a complimentary session, schedule three individual or couples sessions, pay for the first two, and accept the third as a gift. What a lovely present to give yourself to celebrate someone elses birthday!
To schedule your appointment or refer a friend, contact Joanne at 617-827-0803 or via email.
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Quote of the Week Contest
"The only thing that keeps us from wanting to know who we are is the fear of who we might be."
-Maria Nemeth, Ph.D
The Energy of Money
Each week, an informative, inspirational, provocative, or consciously amusing quote is posted to The Consciousness Collaborative home page and on our Facebook fan page.
We invite you to get involved.
If you have a favorite quote that you'd like to share, click here. Each week, one quote will be selected to appear on the home page, and you will be credited for sharing the prose! If you've missed any of the great quotes that have been posted these past few months, read them here.
Thank you to Cindy Maloof, Renee Maloney, Bonnie Macaro, and Jamie Thurber for sharing their favorite quotes!
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 Meditate Much?
If you have a favorite meditation or mindfulness exercise you'd like to share with The Consciousness Collaborative Community, mail it in! We'd love to know what works for you, and we may even post it as a Meditation of the Month.
Interested in a new way to meditate? Check out the Meditation of the Month Library. Or join Jamie Thurber on December 15th for his monthly meditation gathering in Arlington.
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