Holding it All Together...

{donations generally range from $5-$20, please offer what you can}

                September 27, 2021

            Holding it All Together...

                Do you know what it FEELS like to be in a state of holding it all together? I do...

            Be here with me, in the Truth.

                            Practices to support your life

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Holding it all together.

Do you know what it feels like to be in a state of “holding it all together?”

And I actually mean what it FEELS like… in the body… the actual physical sensation.

I do!

I’ve had a tightness and a gripping, mostly at the center of my chest… sometimes dropping down into my solar plexus and stomach… sometimes rising up to my throat and jaw. 

And my mind would describe it as:

-anxiety

-borderline panic

-full-on panic

-maybe even a physical problem with my heart?!

Depending on where I am or how far down the rabbit hole of mental “certainty” I am, I get convinced of a lot of things.

But for whatever reason, this morning, as I noticed the sensation gripping again, and a little tighter, and with curiosity wondered what it was - peering into rabbit hole of where my mind wanted to take me - I realized very clearly that it was my body LITERALLY trying to hold it all together.

To stay steady and strong and present for my kids as they navigate in-person school with COVID cases ticking up

To hold myself together, emotionally, for my family as we enter month 5 of living in transitional housing with only what we packed for 3 weeks 🙄😬

To be available for those I love who need support

To hold it all together because how will I melt into a blob and function or, worse, NOT function

My body thinks that if I compress my heart enough, or pull my rib cage in, or brace my abdomen, or clench my jaw that it can some how keep things on the straight and narrow - my sweet, well-meaning body thinks it can control life!

So, now I work on gently leaning into life and the mess of it and the stretch of it while ALSO softening and releasing and opening anything and everything I can inside my body. 

Start with the jaw

Go to the throat

Sense space around the edges of the heart

Drop to the stomach 

And do it all again…

, Ellie

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Monday Meditation

>>UPDATED TIME<<

8:15-8:45pm 

via Zoom

The link to join is below:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89731541924?pwd=WTdsOGlsemRkaU1xbm43SDAycHRPUT09

Meeting ID: 897 3154 1924

Passcode: 874259

To join, please send a donation* via Venmo (@EllieBurkeLife) or PayPal (ellie@ellieburke.life)

{donations generally range from $5-$20, please offer what you can}

*donations to benefit BEAM:

BEAM is a training, movement building and grant making organization dedicated to the healing, wellness and liberation of Black and marginalized communities. 

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Oct 21-24 2021

Laughing Heart Lodge, Hot Springs NC

**a few spots left**

This retreat sold out FAST and EARLY but a few spot have JUST opened up!

The focus of this retreat will be to support a full mind-body / nervous system reset. You will have daily options for yoga & meditation, deep relaxation, incredible food, hiking on the Appalachian Trail, fire pits, space and time for rest & connection.

Due to the current Covid-related conditions, I am requiring that all in attendance be fully-vaccinated and to take a Covid test a maximum of 3 days prior to arrival on Oct 21. We will be maximizing outside time and taking other necessary precautions to ensure everyone's health and wellbeing remains the priority.

If you are interested in attending, please email me ASAP - I anticipate these spots filling just as quickly as the last time.  

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SAVE-THE-DATE

Half-Day Silent Meditation Retreat

February 12, 2022

9am-12:30pm

Richmond, VA

Nothing has supported me in my life more than the direct teachings & guidance of my teacher.

Nothing has shown me more about myself and no one has quite ever cut through my egoic material like she has.

I would not be where I sit today without learning to sit with myself.

Over the past decade, I have worked with her 1:1, sat for hundreds of hours of weekly meditations, and accumulated weeks of silent meditation retreats.

And now, only now, am I ready to offer this to you...

Though I always incorporated silence + meditation into my annual retreat, I will now begin to offer silent meditation retreats. It is an honor and a privilege.

My next offering will be a Half-Day Silent Retreat:

Saturday, February 12, 2022, 9am-12:30pm

Richmond VA

Sliding scale donations: $40-$125

If you’d like to learn more or would like to save your spot, please email me.

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"Until we make the unconscious conscious it directs our life and we call it fate." {Carl Jung}

            “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.” {James Baldwin}

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Holding it All Together...

Do you know what it FEELS like to be in a state of holding it all together? I do...

--------------------------

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Oct 21-24 2021 Laughing Heart Lodge, Hot Springs NC **a few spots left**

Half-Day Silent Meditation Retreat February 12, 2022 9am-12:30pm Richmond, VA

Oct 21-24 2021
Laughing Heart Lodge, Hot Springs NC

a few spots left

Half-Day Silent Meditation Retreat

February 12, 2022
9am-12:30pm
Richmond, VA