In this issue:

• What's New
• Quote of the month
• Current Events
• Article of the month: Finding Well Being by Elizabeth Skronski
• Question of the month
• Recommended book
• Upcoming Events
  

What's New:

Okay - it's not really new but did you know that Lightworks for Well Being offers coaching and counselling!

    A  personal coach  does the same for your life. A personal coach is like a personal life trainer. Through a supportive and safe partnership, a coach helps you figure out what matters the most to you, figure out the goals you want to achieve, recognize barriers and design strategies to overcome them, stay focused, develop an action plan, and stand by you, without judgment.  

    Counselling can create positive change in the quality of each day, improving your confidence, your satisfaction in interpersonal relationships and establishing a higher level of personal productivity and life resiliency.

Quote of the month:

Current events:

 Women's Circle:

Come and join us and invite your friends  to our ongoing monthly women's circle held the third Tuesday of every month.  

Take  the opportunity to learn, listen, share and laugh. The evening focuses on women's challenges, strategies and energizing exercises to promote happiness and  well being.   

Anne and I will be away the third week of February attending a week-long seminar, where we will be learning great stuff to share with you on how to increase your well-being. So please make a note of the change in date:

The next Women's Circle is  February 28th , 2006   from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm at 190 Robert Speck Parkway in Mississauga.  You must pre-register to attend. Deadline for registration is Monday February 27th. You can also register by sending an email to elizabeth@llightworksforwellbeing.com 

Due to the inclement weather for our January circle, we will be holding again our topic: How do I bring more of what I want into my life.

 Click here to register 

Article of the Month

Finding Well Being by Elizabeth Skronski

When you hear well-being, what comes to your mind?

For many of us, well being is about physical well being as in … “I feel well, I am physically fit, I exercise so many times a week .” And although our physical well-being is most important, a crucial component of well-being is often forgotten. For me,” being” in a state of well-being means much more than only my physical being. Well-being to me feels like being in harmony with life, having this sense of peace inside of me, inside of my mind, controlling or even better, not having any worrying thoughts …

Is this an eluding dream? In our fast pace, always “doing”, always running from one place to the other type of lifestyle, can we even imagine having a sense of inner peace?

I’m sure you’ve heard about meditation: this often misunderstood technique which brings some kind of relaxation or whatever else because we’re not quite sure how to do it or what to expect. And unfortunately, much like physical fitness which takes a while to show results, meditation is not a quick fix for our daily worries.

Meditation is a powerful tool, a very effective practice that ensures that we do not neglect an important aspect of our well-being – the state of our mind and its relationship to our body and all other aspects of our lives. 

We often think of meditation as a crossed-leg sit-in session - genre lotus position – with the purpose of not thinking about anything for hours on end. Just knowing we‘re not supposed to think of anything is enough to send some of us into a whirlwind of worrying thoughts!

Thankfully, we know, both from research and anecdotal evidence that there is no need to sit forever in contemplation to begin having a sense of what inner peace feels like. A regular practice everyday, in a quiet place, breathing deeply and not worrying about whatever thoughts come into our mind is often sufficient. The key is in persistence of the practice – same as physical fitness.

In November 2005, at our Re-Create Yourself Retreat, a new meditation practice was introduced. It was literally a North American Premiere.

This new meditation technique is like nothing you have tried, learned or experienced. The Talismanic Wheel and Diamond Dharma, or TWDD for short, is a one of a kind meditation practice, at least in North America. What makes it so special and different is that the TWDD meditation is a standing meditation.

TWDD originates from the Tibetan Buddhist Meditation/Yoga Practice and was created by Master Hai Kong, a very wise man born in China (for his whole biography). After many years of meditation in a solitary retreat, Master Hai Kong concluded that our modern lifestyle does not allow us to let go of our attachments to our material things, to our sufferings and to our worries.  

This attachment is what makes it virtually impossible to settle our minds into this peaceful state.

The benefits of the TWDD meditation are numerous. Through holding our body in a stand up position (Mudra), visualizing (Guru) and speaking (Mantra), practitioners of TWDD are able to establish a connection to their inner wisdom. This inner wisdom is what allows the healing of emotional pain as well a physical pain. Inner peace is what awaits the practitioner of TWDD.

Wen Tang is now the ONLY teacher of TWDD in North America. She has studied Buddhism under Master Hai Kong for 7 years and in the Summer of 2005, spent 6 weeks in China during which time she was personally trained by Master Hai Kong. Since  

November 2005, Wen has held 4 sessions of TWDD and 30 people have participated in the first phase of learning of TWDD.  

The testimonials all attest to the power of this meditation. Here’s one from Anne who attended the most recent TWDD session on January 14th, 2006:

           “As a facilitator of our women’s retreat I listened to our participants’ animated and awed responses to the TWDD meditation. I felt a strong desire to experience this for myself, as I find being quiet and still in a meditation sitting a personal challenge! As I expected, I was very active and needed to move a lot and I just went with that. I rocked, swayed, danced, and all the while repeating the mantra reverently. During the restlessness, I had an experience that brought tears and then sobs of longing from deep within me. I observed the most brilliant, golden light that shone on me and I felt the palpable presence of someone/something that was so loving, so pure and so powerful! I was awe-struck. I felt humble, totally at peace and so loved! I felt a desire to have this connection always and it helped me to understand that if I can still my thoughts, this connection is within me always. “

Wen and her partner Jemma hold regular afternoon sessions and will be holding their first mini-retreat at the end of February.  

For more information you can visit the official site of TWDD meditation  and you can contact Wen and register for the next TWDD session  by visiting the class schedule.

And one happy thought Anne and I have for sure … they will be back at our next retreat as part of our Journey to Well-Being ! 

Question of the Month:

When was the last time you visited with yourself, in silence? 

Recommended book:

Women's retreat

The Sisters in Spirit Women's week-end Retreat    coming in Spring 2006 

A weekend just for you: to relax, rejuvenate and energize yourself  in a fun and supportive group environment 

A weekend of self-discovery, to spark your creative impulse, to move forward in your life towards well-being on all levels. 

A weekend to create possibilities, imagination, insights and a focused plan of action.  

click here for more information 

Relationship Renewal  

Self-Development Course 

A  four- week group interactive course that provides self-awareness and understanding of your anger style, the purpose of your anger, naming your  stressors and practicing constructive strategies to make changes at all levels: mentally, physiologically and emotionally...         

 click here for more information