Virtual Pause

Virtual Pause

By Angie WinnHealth & FitnessMental Health
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Virtual Pause episodes

  • Episode 94: The Attachment Underneath the Chaos

    July 31, 2023

    Currently my circumstances are in high levels of

    chaos. Yet internally, the chaos is brewing even hotter. Being resilient requires
    reducing the space between chaos and stability. We may notice our tendencies when
    in chaos, like to over-indulge, not sleep well, lashing out at others, or
    withdrawing. But what is underneath?

    Internal chaos develops because of some feeling, emotion,

    thought, or belief we are gripping onto, which in turn, grips onto us. In this episode
    we will dig a bit underneath our tendencies of chaos and see what can be released,
    so that we can stop perpetuating the chaos inside of us.

    Your beautiful face is the light of my heart

    Your gentleness has given me wings

    Your laughter is my scared feast.

    Intoxicated by Your delicate scent

    My heart can beat for no other.

    I walk buoyantly in Your court

    And rest in the shade of Your curls.

    Immersed in the bliss of Your sea

    I surrender at Your feet.

    I have become You.

    -Rumi


    29 min
  • Episode 93: Dumping it All

    July 24, 2023

    “Whether you and I and a few others will renew the world someday

    remains to be seen But within ourselves we must renew it each day.” Heman Hesse

    Sometimes we feel a moment of peace and surrender, but it

    doesn’t seem to transcend past the present moment. As soon as we walk into the next
    situation, we find our anger or despair or insecurity raises its ugly head. For
    me, I think it’s because often times I don’t really reach that place of
    nothingness.

    Today we will go through a visualization, to get us to that place

    of silence, of nothingness, so that it can transcend past the present moment
    into the other aspects of our lives.

    I AM

    Rooted like the earth

    Passionate like fire

    Free like the wind

    Vast like the water

    Shining like the sun

    Peaceful like the moon

    Joyful like creation

    Gentle like the grass

    Patient like the oak

    I AM LOVE.

    Angie Winn

    Photo by Ryan Tasto on Unsplash

    27 min
  • Episode 92: You Only Have to Be Still

    July 17, 2023

    There are times in my life where I have used up all of my

    skills, energy, brilliance, and resources to solve a problem, and it just isn’t
    working. I am relying on my own abilities, yet those abilities are just not
    enough to change the circumstance. I feel hopeless, exhausted, and scared. I
    try to light the flame within me, but it feels like nothing but darkness lies
    inside.

    In this episode we will imagine that area in our life where

    we have nothing left, and let go and be still to allow the light of God to come
    in.

    “The Lord will fight for you; you only have to keep still.”

    Exodus 14:14


    25 min
  • Episode 91: A Shift

    June 26, 2023

    "When I want to find my true self, I do not chase up and down the highways of my sense for they lead me consistently array. But when I want to find my true self, I disentangle myself from the senses, from this other region and move straight to the core of me. Which, says Eckhart, is where the Godhead is located." Howard Thurman, The Way of the Mystics

    When I am at the end of my road, I cannot solve a problem or resolve a conflict, I feel a wave of despair over me that doesn't seem to be able to be lifted, when I have used all of my brilliance and ideas and ways of analyzing and I still see no solution, then I must be still. Surrender leads to stillness which leads to openness. And that's when the shift can happen - and resources, solutions, people, ideas, suddenly come into view. The veil is lifted. I can see.

    Listening portion today:

    To ‘slow down’ … seems like the wrong thing to do when there’s fire on the mountain. But here’s the point: in ‘hurrying up’ all the time, we often lose sight of the abundance of resources that might help us meet today’s most challenging crises. We rush through the same patterns we are used to. Of course, there isn’t a single way to respond to a crisis; there is no universally correct way. However the call to slow down works to bring us face to face with the invisible, the hidden, the unremarked, the yet-to-be-resolved.... It is about staying in the places that are haunted.

    Philosopher Bayo Akomolafe

    Photo by DICSON on Unsplash

    26 min
  • Episode 90: Freedom

    June 19, 2023

    Juneteenth is a reminder of real freedom. In this episode we

    will look at places in our lives where we keep ourselves captive and are not
    free, where we keep others imprisoned through unforgiveness or control, and
    where we may unknowingly be keeping a group or the earth imprisoned because of
    our own lack of self-reflection and honesty.

    Our reading today is from Maya Angelou

    Caged Bird

    A free

    bird leaps

    on the

    back of the wind   

    and

    floats downstream   

    till the

    current ends

    and dips

    his wing

    in the

    orange sun rays

    and dares

    to claim the sky.

     

    But a

    bird that stalks

    down his

    narrow cage

    can

    seldom see through

    his bars

    of rage

    his wings

    are clipped and   

    his feet

    are tied

    so he

    opens his throat to sing.

     

    The caged

    bird sings   

    with a

    fearful trill   

    of things

    unknown   

    but

    longed for still   

    and his

    tune is heard   

    on the

    distant hill   

    for the

    caged bird   

    sings of

    freedom.

     

    The free

    bird thinks of another breeze

    and the

    trade winds soft through the sighing trees

    and the

    fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn

    and he

    names the sky his own.

     

    But a

    caged bird stands on the grave of dreams   

    his

    shadow shouts on a nightmare scream   

    his wings

    are clipped and his feet are tied   

    so he

    opens his throat to sing.

     

    The caged

    bird sings   

    with a

    fearful trill   

    of things

    unknown   

    but

    longed for still   

    and his

    tune is heard   

    on the

    distant hill   

    for the

    caged bird   

    sings of freedom.

    Maya Angelou, “Caged Bird”

    from Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? Copyright
    © 1983 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and
    division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

    Source: The Complete Collected Poems of

    Maya Angelou (Random House Inc., 1994)

    Photo by Charles Postiaux on Unsplash

    28 min
  • Episode 89: Worthy of Stillness

    June 12, 2023

    We don’t take the time to be still, to pause, because we

    either don’t feel worthy of stillness, or perhaps we don’t think stillness will
    do anything productive for us. So we continue the chaotic pace and refuse to
    pause, and meanwhile our souls are parched. Yet stillness is the only thing
    that strips us of our false self and brings out our true soul. So our souls are
    worthy of the gift of stillness.

    I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope

    For hope would be hope for the wrong thing: wait without love

    For love would be love of the wrong thing: there is yet faith

    But the faith and love and the hope are all in in the

    waiting.

    Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:

    So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the

    dancing.

    -T.S. Elliot


    photo credit: sawyer bengston unsplash

     

    26 min
  • Episode 88: Selah - The Space when Feeling Lost
    May 22, 2023
    "We are in a "selah" time, where the urgency of our challenges invites us to pause, to wait, to relfect more deeply. Selah means to pause, to wait, and to take a breath. It is the moment of intermission, marking the ending of one movement and the beginning of the next." In Times of Turbulence, Fly Loose. Cameron Trimble
    In this pause we will identify a place in our life when we are in the in-between, something has or is ending, and something new may begin, but we feel lost. We will take a pause to settle in this lost space, so that we can use the "gifts of being lost to guide us."
    Our listening portion today:
    "The times are urgent; let us slow down. Slowing down is losing our way. Losing our way is not a human capacity or human capability. It is the invitations that are now in the world at large, inviting us to listen deeply, to be keen and to be fresh and to be quick with our heels, to follow the sights and sounds and smells of the world." Bayo Akomolafe
    Photo credit: Dan Grinwis
    27 min
  • Episode 87: Tending to your Whole Being
    We will dive right into a pause so that we can settle ourselves and then discern what it is that our body needs right now, our minds, our hearts, then our spirits. This is a great episode to experience when you are feeling chaotic and frazzled and don’t know what you need.
    29 min
  • Episode 86: Living between Potential and Failure
    I often find myself in my head - thinking of all the awesome things that I can dream up and do. Yet in reality, I am actually tripping over my past failures. Sometimes I feel like I can’t get out of the gates because of the fear I will fail even more. But I realize that I’m far too attached to both my future potential and my past failures. In this episode we will try and let go of these attachments, finding ourselves in the space between the future and the past - the present moment. “In the stillness of quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair.” - Howard Thurman
    27 min
  • Episode 85: Looking for Life Among the Dead

    April 10, 2023

    “Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead?” The

    angels asked the women at the empty tomb.

    Countless times I have looked for the life my soul yearns for

    – purpose, guidance, love, healing, relief, peace – in places of death. Those
    places of death are old habits, or places that we believe will give us life, which
    are destructive and lead to dead-ends.

    Today we will identify something that is life-giving that we

    want more of and reflect on where we are trying to get it, and what keeps us
    still going back to those places of death. We will then come back to
    integration and wholeness in our life-giving tent.

    “COME TO THE EDGE.”

    “No, we will fall.”

    “COME TO THE EDGE.”

    “No, we will fall.”

    They came to the edge.

    He pushed them, and they flew.

    Apollinaire

    25 min

About Virtual Pause

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Virtual Pause Podcast - A brief guided meditation intended to integrate your body, mind, heart, and spirit so that you can live with resilience and stability in everyday chaos. Different topic each…