Dear Friends of White Lotus,

As the clock ticks us forward into another year, we move tenderly, tentatively, sometimes with trepidation trailing behind us, to take our places in 2021. We can not deny unprecedented times. We have learned to act cautiously over the past year, but hopefully that caution moves us forward with care; care we have learned to take for ourselves and others. The attention we have become accustomed to giving to the little details quickening into an awareness that might extend into other areas of our lives. Maybe, possibly, hopefully.

Still, opportunity is ripe and abundant in the coming year as we will be required to practice patience, vigilance, and continuing to learn the Zen of turning the mundane into a high art. All good and valuable practices.

May the coming year see you well, bringing new and yet uncovered gifts to the surface.

Om Shanti,

Tracey, Ganga, and the White Lotus Family

Poses of Repose

by Tracey Rich

Your body needs rest. And we need as much encouragement and as many opportunities as possible to nurture our nervous and immune systems. Concentrated periods of deep sleep or deep ease can bring the necessary rebalance our body-mind ecosystem needs to function optimally. There is no better time than in this moment with life's currently abundant stressors to learn to listen to the rhythms calling out to us and to use a few simple tools to relax and reboot. When nature calls you must listen. Rest is central to your well being.

In asana, savasana is considered one of the most important poses in your practice--if not the most important pose. Learning to take yourself into a deeper state of relaxation is invaluable. This asana can also be cultivated on its own, entirely separately from a sequence of asanas. A good savasana is worth its weight in gold.

As well, moving into other conscious, supported supine positions that encourage periods of repose are wonderful ways to get...

Music of Repose

with music by Sven Holcomb

There's nothing sweeter than to relax in a sea of sound waves. What better way to drop into a new year than to kick back, or as we're suggesting in Poses of Repose, to kick up, as in legs up the wall.

Once again, we are happy to offer you a beautiful sound meditation created by Sven. We think you will deeply chill to his accomplished musical accompaniment to our asana. Couple this sound wave with a pose that restores your mind and body, or listen sitting quietly, or in the asana of Savasana.

Either way you choose to use this sound meditation, may a new beginning to your new year bring you harmony and into tune.

May We Talk About Healing and Well Being

by Tracey Rich

Help! With the delicate nature of the times, a little balance would be gratefully appreciated. But how to achieve it? Turbulent times can always be found in someone's world somewhere, and at other times on a larger scale havoc can rock the world. We look for tools to right the unsteady boat of our lives.

Rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard work of following unrest to its source is a challenge indeed. You could pull at any thread in this complex universe and it would unravel a host of intersecting issues. In this time of hardship, confusion, and contrast can we manifest ways to find center, and from there find common ground on which to stand.

There are many great tools in the kit for personal development, inquiry and growth like Yoga, non-violent communication, and a host of other options. But, are these practices working individually and collectively at the level needed to stem the rising tide of the dis-ease people are filled with?

We are inviting you to share...