Deeply Concerned

People use the word deep a lot these days. Things like deep dive or going deeper have become common catchphrases. Going back almost forty years ago we began a program called Deepening Your Practice. It was meant as a time of greater self-study and as a time to focus on more nuanced aspects of one's practice. It was a time to sit and a time to breathe. And a time to be in community.

Words get swept up in trends and move in waves, but aside from words becoming catchy, what does it really mean to go deeper? What is implied when using the word, and what action is activated? What does it mean to be deeply concerned?

Concern implies caring, and caring can be a vulnerable state. Do we stick with anything long enough, especially when there is discomfort, to understand what is truly occurring, and to be in a place to respond appropriately when we are deeply concerned?

Today in a time of rapid change and stimuli overload, polarization, frayed nerves, and heightened states, when inquiring how people are doing, a common natural response is...

You Can't Go Back

Some Fundamentals for Reinventing the Wheel and Practicing Healthy Backbends

Extend, don't bend. Backbends create an immediate desire for people to bend backward. Not unusual since the word is right there in the name of many of the poses in this catagory. Almost immediately, we have a tendency to try and bend as far back as we can. Off we go into the wild, vast unknown of space where lower backs and necks can suffer the most in practicing these poses. Bending your spine rather than extending your spine in backbends is not the way to go back.

People over-bend and often compress their spine in backbends. Using the visual of extending your spine like an arc can help avoid deep, sharp angles along the spine, and could reduce the risk of shortening and possibly compressing the space between vertebrae.

White Lotus likes to instruct you to practice back bending poses...

From the White Lotus Kitchen

Two Strawberry Sensations

My Mornin' Jam
Ricotta Toast

Morning rituals are sometimes the things that get us out of bed each day. The little romantic practices that make life just a bit sweeter and all the more worth living. Things we look forward to, like the aroma of fresh brewed-coffee, or the musings we have while waiting for a cup of tea to steep, or the quiet of a house when no one else has risen but you and the birds. Little things keep us keyed into life's joys.

My latest mornin' jam is ricotta toast. It's just a simple thing that takes the ordinary into the extraordinary. I was not always a ricotta fan, or at least I was indifferent. Then, it happened. Something shifted, and before I knew it, I was an evangelist for this toast.

There are endless ways you could top our White Lotus Kitchen ricotta toast. So please, take liberties. This just happens to be my jam, but feel free to sing the praises of anything you might concoct. And, please be sure to spread the love.

Individual Summer Strawberry Cheesecake Tarts

It's easy as pie. This dessert will be the best summer treat, well really, the best year-round treat that you can make anytime. Our strawberry cheesecake tarts take no time at all to whip up. Summer just happens to make this little dessert sing because strawberries are bursting with flavor right now. And if you grow those little garden strawberries that pack a sweet-tart punch like nobody's biz, then all the better to top your tart. But here's the trick. You use store-bought strawberry jam to make these delicious desserts. And if strawberries are not your jam, then use any flavored jam you love.

We guarantee you are gonna wanna try your hand at these tarts just as soon as you finish reading this recipe. Cuz, why not!

Sanctuary

Personal Meditation Retreat

We invite you to join us for Sanctuary — Personal Meditation Retreat. Immerse yourself in nature for a time of spiritual sanctuary and take a few well-deserved days to rebalance your body, mind, and spirit. Whether you crave silent contemplation or desire focused time to refine your yoga practice, or whether you're finally going to take time to finish reading or writing that book that's been waiting, there is Sanctuary waiting for you. Come alone or come with a friend or family to celebrate a space out of time. We invite you to the Center, to welcome yourself home. Personal retreat is offered...