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Highs and Lows
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope those of you grappling with challenging weather are safe and warm. I have experienced some intense highs and lows over the past few weeks; the deep low of losing our beloved dog, and the true high that comes from a wonderful weekend with friends at a wedding celebration. We are always living in…
Allow
By Allison Waguespack |
Last Thursday my family sat together in the emergency vet’s office at 4:30am to say goodbye to our almost twelve year old dog Dixie. It was very sudden and unexpected. This photo was taken a week after we rescued her as a tiny twelve week old puppy. My kids were pretty tiny at that point as…
Perspective in the Present
By Allison Waguespack |
Last week I booked my flights for the next retreat I am leading. Whenever I book flights for a retreat I always take a moment to reflect back to my first retreat 9 years ago. I was completely petrified to book the flight because it felt like a commitment I could not undo. Ironically one of the…
Falling into the World
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy New Year!! It always takes a little getting used to when the year changes. As I am sure is the case for many of you, I tend to look both back and forward at this transitional time. Last week as I was thinking ahead to what this year will likely bring and it was…
So Hum
By Allison Waguespack |
Last week I was preparing for my Monday class and I didn’t have a message. Usually the message shows up sometime during the prior week and if I am mindful I catch it, but last week that didn’t happen. I sat to briefly meditate and connect with my breath; the deep inhale and the audible…
Look for Glimmers
By Allison Waguespack |
I am working with a coaching client who shared a common struggle about having trouble getting excited about things that they usually enjoyed. So I assigned GLIMMER homework to my client. I assigned it to myself last week as well and to all of my students on the mat. Glimmers are the opposite of minor…
Allowing Pain In
By Allison Waguespack |
I think most of us can relate to those times when others around us are suffering and it can feel like a heavy weight sinking us down. The practice of mindfulness teaches us many strategies for learning how to hold others pain lightly in an effort to be of service to both them and yourself.…
Thanksgiving
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. For the last 5 years I have shared the same story about a brief interaction that happened in Nov 2020 (the height of COVID) the week before Thanksgiving. All the years I lived in NY I always hosted a large Thanksgiving. Obviously, 2020 was going to be…
Impermanence
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I know I have mentioned that this past summer I took an Intro to Buddhism class with my daughter. It was powerful in that it filled in a lot of blanks that I had about the history and evolution of Buddhist tradition. One of the topics that…
Patience
By Allison Waguespack |
I was meditating before my first class last week, unsure of what I was going to share for my message, and one word kept popping into my head. It felt like a bright flashing light; PATIENCE, a sentiment that is challenging to many of us. The nature of life is that we cannot predict the…
The Power of Energy
By Allison Waguespack |
Last week I had the chance to meet in person with someone I have known for the last four and a half years. We are part of the same small group of six that was paired together at the start of our two year mindfulness meditation program. Since completion of our program in early 2023,…
The Stories we Tell
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. Last week I talked about delusion; how we can create our own realities based on the stories we tell ourselves that are not true. We see this process work in different ways. Some folks use the strategy of delusion as a way to hurt their own self…
Head in the Sand
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. I shared a story with my students last week that has turned into my latest Substack article. The story is about an experience I had walking on the beach with my dogs last week and how the witnessing of the mind helps us practice and shift. Please…
The Strength of Vulnerability
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. We all have those times when we are feeling vulnerable and sometimes we view that as weakness but it is actually quite the opposite. As we shed the layers, what we find underneath is raw but authentic and that is where we can connect to our inner…
Stained Glass Heart
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. I feel very blessed that my husband and children are doing well but there are people in my life experiencing deep heartache and we know how that pain is not contained with the individual but rather all their loved ones experience pain and sadness as well. So…
This Moment
By Allison Waguespack |
Last weekend I went to my daughter’s last parents weekend before she graduates in May. In preparation for the weekend, we discussed the plans and of course checked the weather to inform our packing decisions. It was supposed to rain all day for the Saturday football game and the home team (our team) was predicted to lose in a…
Unravel Gratitude
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. Things have been quite heavy these last few weeks for me. Three people in my life have passed away and that of course has made me pause and reflect. We are also in the last weeks of getting college applications out which is quite overwhelming and my body has…
The Power of Grounding
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. This past week I was focused on grounding. It has been a busy travel month and for me it always takes a bit to settle back down after that. This reading below represents a focus on physical grounding (connecting to the earth) as well as using grounding…
Be Flexible
By Allison Waguespack |
Last week was quite hectic with both ends of the spectrum in terms of emotions. The beginning of the week consisted of attending my uncle’s funeral which was both very sad but also a beautiful celebration of a wonderful man. The week ended with a quick (but very fun and relaxing) trip to a small Bahamian…
What You Hope For
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. Last week I shared that my uncle had just passed away and now as I write this I am traveling to his funeral. I thought a lot about what I wanted to share this week as I was working with my own grief. My uncle was 93. His…
The Small Moments
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Labor Day. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Last week in my classes I shared my favorite quote from Anna Quindlen’s book entitled A Short Guide to a Happy Life. Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long stretch of gray cement. It would be wonderful if they…
Attention & Intention
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! Last week I only taught one class before I drove back to North Carolina with my daughter to move her into her house for her last year at college. I was keenly aware of how fleeting the time with her is; realizing that there is likely one more drive home to Florida after graduation and…
What We Bring Along
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. As I was thinking last weekend about what I wanted to share with my classes I read this passage from Mark Nepo. What We Bring Along — Mark NepoA river doesn’t hold all the water that passes through it. In our journey through time, we all struggle constantly…
The Gift of Slowing Down
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I hope you all are doing well. For some folks here, school starts back today and that is the official end of summer. The last couple of weeks for me have been a slower pace than typical and I have been really enjoying them. It helped me remember and experience this quote “If we…
You must be Present to Win
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. Over the last several weeks I have been going through and organizing all of my writing starting back from my first blog post in 2012. While doing so, I was reminded of an anecdote that Jack Kornfield shared about a friend of his who had a sign hanging…
Feel your Feelings
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. It was great to be back teaching at Dandelight Studio last week. This practice is so much about noticing what is going on in the mind and from there we can often find an understanding and hopefully a softening. This was my experience last week as I was…
Impermanence
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. I am excited to be back home and teaching back at Dandelight after a couple of busy travel weeks. Last week I was in NY. In addition to seeing family and a few friends, I spent two days teaching my Mindfulness for Actors curriculum in the summer…
Dear You
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday. Early last week my mind was very busy; almost like there was a background movie playing that I was having a hard time shutting off. I focused a bit more on my meditation to try to connect and soften into what was underneath the clutter and I was reminded of this poem which…
Comparing Mind
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. I just got home from St. Martin and it was a great trip!! I have been fortunate to have traveled to St. Martin a few times prior to this trip, most recently 4 summers ago. As I was preparing for this trip I noticed the stories in my mind.…
Our Teachers
By Allison Waguespack |
My newsletter is a little late today because I woke up this morning in beautiful St Martin. I just completed a month long Intro to Buddhism class that I shadowed along side my daughter. It was a very interesting topic to approach through an academic lens and it has filled in many gaps in my understanding…
This Moment without Judgment
By Allison Waguespack |
We all have strategies for when we feel unsettled. One of mine is to dig into the readings that inspire me. That is what I did this week as it helps me to ground, refocus on my practice and work harder. This was the poem that inspired me and what I shared with my students this…
Patience and Compassion
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. I have been fostering 4 kittens for the last few weeks. It has been harder than I thought it would be however it has been gratifying as well. They have been my teachers. I am not able to keep any of these kittens due to a severe…
The Middle Way
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. My daughter is taking an asynchronous class this summer in addition to her summer internship and when I asked her what class she told me Intro to Buddhism. I got very excited because while I have been studying Buddhist concepts for many years, I welcomed the chance to fill in…
Four Locks & Four Keys
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Memorial Day! I hope you all are enjoying your long weekend. This past week on the mat I started and ended all my classes with a SO HUM meditation. I had been feeling a bit SO HUM myself last weekend and wanted to share how this powerful breath can turn into a bit of a mantra…
I can’t meditate
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Memorial Day! I hope you all are enjoying your long weekend. This past week on the mat I started and ended all my classes with a SO HUM meditation. I had been feeling a bit SO HUM myself last weekend and wanted to share how this powerful breath can turn into a bit of a mantra…
SO HUM
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Memorial Day! I hope you all are enjoying your long weekend. This past week on the mat I started and ended all my classes with a SO HUM meditation. I had been feeling a bit SO HUM myself last weekend and wanted to share how this powerful breath can turn into a bit of a mantra…
Instructions for Ourselves
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. As many of you know I am in the very early stages of working on a book of everyday mindfulness stories. I am imagining it as a more in-depth version of the stories I write here each week. As I continue to work on my content (and my nerve),…
Habit of Happiness
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend and a wonderful Mothers Day if you celebrate. Last week I shared a little snippit from a workshop I created several years ago that teaches how to “Create a Habit of Happiness”. Yes, it is a habit just like many other patterns of thought and action. In this workshop I share…
Dear You
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday. Early last week my mind was very busy; almost like there was a background movie playing that I was having a hard time shutting off. I focused a bit more on my meditation to try to connect and soften into what was underneath the clutter and I was reminded of this poem which…
How do you practice?
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. I talk all the time about how yoga is a practice. There is the on-the-mat practice and the off-the-mat practice. In time it becomes very clear how they thread together. When we judge ourselves on the mat, we judge ourselves off the mat. When we let go and surrender on the…
Your Grass is Green
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I wish happy holidays to all of those who have been celebrating over the last week. Last Sunday we had the Masters Golf Tournament on TV at our house as I am sure many others did. My husband commented several times about how green the grass is at the Augusta golf course. At…
Time to Reconnect
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. Last weekend when I was in New Orleans I reached out to an old friend; someone I hadn’t been in touch with for many years. Sometimes that happens and for no reason people fade out of our lives. It’s a lost connection. I googled, found her and…
Be Here
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I hope you are all doing well. Chris and I were out of town this weekend and got home last night so this newsletter is a little late this morning. I am giving myself grace for that because I really tried to deploy my practice (and my message for my students last week)…
Learning to Float
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I have a close friend going through a tough time and we have spent quite a bit of time this week talking about the struggles in the mind. Our thoughts can run away with us and take us to some very scary places– and sometimes fighting ourselves makes…
Noticing Resistance
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! Noticing the different ways we resist has been my practice recently. It started with my clear resistance to meditating last week while my daughter was visiting for spring break. My resistance was coming in the form of excuse making and then harsh judgment about my excuse making. My inner critic tapped into my imposter…
Shift the Perspective
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. The passage of time has been on my mind recently and how quickly time goes. We value our time at such a premium that we seem to spend quite a bit of it worried about wasting it. It is kind of ironic when we step back and realize…
Power of the Pause
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. If you have been receiving my newsletters for a while you have definitely gotten a birds eye view into some of the last two and a half years of my life. There have been relocations and transitions, over 60 visitors and 17 trips and 4 retreats as well.…
Building Joy
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I hope you are all doing well. Last week I was very attuned to the power of the comparing mind both in myself and others. Whenever I think about the comparing mind I am reminded of this quote by Teddy Roosevelt; “Comparison is the Thief of Joy”. This became my message for the week. FDR…
Change
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are enjoying your long weekend. I have noticed in several ways recently how powerful the concept of framing is in shaping our perspective. It reminded me of this saying that became my message for the week; When you change the way you look at things, the things you are looking at change. Often we view…
Two Wings
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday. I got back from my most recent retreat (my eighth) almost a week ago and I am still feeling the beautiful effects. It was truly all I could have asked for! On this retreat I shared the story of how my first retreat came to be. I was teaching at a yoga studio in NY…
All That We Are Not
By Allison Waguespack |
As you are receiving this in your inbox I am currently on retreat (in the beautiful place from my picture above) with some incredible people. I will share more on that next week. This past week I shared a reading by Mark Nepo called “All That We are Not.” I have included an excerpt here: Discernment is the…
Meet Pain with Compassion
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are having a great long weekend. Last weekend I was driving with my daughter back to college to help her move in after her semester abroad. On the 11 hour journey we listened to a podcast that had been recommended to me by a close friend. She had sent a text a…
The Telepathy Tapes
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are having a great long weekend. Last weekend I was driving with my daughter back to college to help her move in after her semester abroad. On the 11 hour journey we listened to a podcast that had been recommended to me by a close friend. She had sent a text a…
Collective Karma
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday. I hope you are all safe and well. I taught early in the week last week and my message in my classes was that often what we see as “in the way” actually “IS” the way. When we are experiencing difficulty there is usually a lesson we need to learn in order to guide us where we…
Growing Our Fruit
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy 2025! I missed you all last week. I was traveling with my family and made the conscious choice to step away from responsibilities (including this newsletter). When I step away, I often gain perspective and last week was no different. I had the chance to read a bit while on my trip and in a book by Anne…
You are the Boat
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday and Happy Holidays! I did something I have never done before last week; I was a guest on a health and wellness podcast. It was very fun (but I was definitely a bit nervous beforehand). We talked a lot about suffering and ways we can NOT create extra suffering for ourselves. The podcast…
Acts of Kindness
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday. I hope you are all doing well. The holiday season can be frenetic and hectic yet within the joy of the season there is the chance to carve out space for simple kindnesses. Last week I was playing tennis of all things and a friend who I hadn’t seen in a while walked onto…
The Work of Chagall
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. While I was on my recent trip to Vienna we visited the Albertina Art Museum. Just to be fully transparent; I am not an art person but we wanted to check it out and the museum happened to have a large Marc Chagall (1887-1985) exhibit commemorating 40 years since…
The Practice is Everywhere
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday week. We arrived home yesterday from our amazing trip to Prague and Vienna visiting our daughter. It is powerful to visit places with so much history where we can see and walk through the streets of the past. Those places tell stories of the people who lived there;…
Happy Thanksgiving
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. As you read this, I am traveling with my family from Prague to Vienna as we spend the week visiting my daughter who has been studying there this semester. Since I knew I would be missing classes this week, I shared my Thanksgiving message last week with students.…
Crisis Offers Opportunity
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I hope you all had a good weekend. Last week my mind felt very crowded and busy and I was finding it hard to shut it off. It even took longer in my meditation practice to quiet the “monkey in my mind”. When that happens, I start with ALLOWING the monkey. I visualize the monkey jumping…
Meet the Mind Where It Is
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I hope you all had a good weekend. Last week my mind felt very crowded and busy and I was finding it hard to shut it off. It even took longer in my meditation practice to quiet the “monkey in my mind”. When that happens, I start with ALLOWING the monkey. I visualize the monkey jumping…
Lisa’s Lessons
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. So, my birthday is coming up very soon and some years are more challenging than others to feel peace with the reality that time is passing. This year happens to be one of those challenging times. When I find myself feeling upset about it I remember what I call “Lisa’s…
Gratitude for the Mat
By Allison Waguespack |
It always takes me a few days to come down from the high of leading a retreat. On the trip, there is so much to be grateful for; the amazing people, beautiful scenery and special bonds that form. When I arrive home there is the chance to settle back into the routine and to continue…
7 Rules of Life
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! We just arrived home from KLARITY Mindsette RESET Portugal last night! As I wake up this morning back in Florida, I am just beginning to process this amazing collective adventure. Often when I return from a retreat, it takes a few days for me to fully absorb the experience so you will likely here many more insights…
You’re Imperfect, You’re Enough.
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. Last Monday I lost a friend of 30 years. He took his own life and when these things happen, after the initial shock moves through we are often left the question Why? Our path is a windy one. Full of unexpected twists and turns and at times…
You are the Luckiest Person in the World
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. Last week I was listening to an interview with Steve Gleason who is a retired New Orleans Saints football player. The Saints are an important team in my house because my husband is from Louisiana and we both went to college there and Steve Gleason became famous…
Here & There
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful week. My son turned 17 last week….. a year away from 18, and it felt significant. The passage of time is a constant but there are moments where it is more intense and this was one of them for me. I found myself longing for those…
What We Resist Persists
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. I have been finishing up my workshops for my upcoming retreat in Portugal and some of the themes are very powerful. The concept of Resilience is one I have mentioned quite a bit these past few weeks. There are two dictionary definitions of Resilience; Our yoga practice…
Recipe for Resilience
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! This past week was really great. I had the chance to teach at 3 new studios and that is very exciting. When we approach new things there are several mindfulness tools we can deploy. I have shared many of them with you through this newsletter but one of the most powerful is RESILIENCE.…
The Power to Allow
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Labor Day Weekend! I hope you all are doing well. I have had a couple of people in my life suddenly lose a parent in the last couple of weeks. There is the intellectual understanding of the natural course of things and then there is processing the shock and touching what is out of our…
The Right Path can be Difficult
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend! While I was away I spent quite a bit of time in the familiar and also a lot of time in the unfamiliar. I noticed how my mind felt less burdened and stressed when I was exploring new places so since I returned home I have tried…
The Beginner’s Mind
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend! While I was away I spent quite a bit of time in the familiar and also a lot of time in the unfamiliar. I noticed how my mind felt less burdened and stressed when I was exploring new places so since I returned home I have tried…
We Need Love to Grow
By Allison Waguespack |
Wow! These last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind both physically and emotionally for me. I traveled to 5 places and slept in 7 different locations! As I visited with lots of family, friends and students, the time was full of bittersweet reminiscing as well as the excitement of exploring a new place, Montreal…
If We Don’t Change It, We Choose It.
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday. I hope you all are doing well. Last week I was finalizing the content for a 6 hour Mindfulness Course I will be teaching at Michael Howard Studios Acting School in Manhattan next week. I decided to share the overall theme of the workshop as my mindful message for the week. It really…
We See Things As We Are
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great summer weekend. I continue to be amazed by the power of our minds to shape our reality. When we observe our thoughts with a bit of objectivity we have options; we can choose how those thoughts can best serve us. It is this remarkable power that we often…
You are the Boat
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a good week. I have been struggling a bit these past few weeks with my own inner critic. I have noticed it has been especially loud so I have been leaning more heavily on my meditation practice to help me quiet it. This reading by Mark Nepo entitled Integrity has…
The Power of the List
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy July! I hope you are all enjoying the summer so far. A couple of weeks ago I was spending time with a friend of mine that is going through a challenging time. Often, when we experience difficulty it is coming from several forces at once and it can make us feel quite overwhelmed. We…
Truth is Freedom
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend! One of the most powerful aspects of a mindfulness practice is learning how to NOTICE. It sounds silly as we are taking in stimuli and information constantly, but really paying attention, processing and learning from the messages we are receiving takes practice. Sometimes the universe bangs us…
The Joy is in the Journey
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend and Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers here. Last weekend I went to visit my brother and his daughter (my niece) who live in Costa Rica. I don’t get to see her that often so when I do, the visit is all about her. During the…
The power of the sacred pause
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! The transition to summer is here and whenever my schedule shifts I find myself feeling a bit more reactive in my responses. It was that awareness that inspired me to share this quote with students last week. “Between the stimulus and the response there is a space. And in that space is our…
The blessing of being a work in progress
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. Last week I did something my kids didn’t like. Considering they are 16 and 20 that definitely happens quite a bit; I can’t do that many things right :). In response to their disapproval I said “I am a work in progress”. The power of mindfulness is…
The Courage of the Seed
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend. Last week I had conversations with two different people who had experienced deep loss of a close family member in the previous weeks. For one it was a complete shock which brought with it a complex set of emotions mixed with the grief, and for the…
Practice the Art of Thankfulness
By Allison Waguespack |
Last weekend was mothers day and I found myself truly thankful for the simple gift of having both of my children with me. There are the big moments we are programmed to be grateful for but we also have the opportunity to find gratitude in the everyday moments. It’s a practice that as with any…
We can be as happy as we choose to be
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! Last week I found myself going down the negative news cycle rabbit hole. I have heard it called doom scrolling and that is actually what it feels like; scrolling for doom. I was feeling quite down and stressed, until I realized why. That is pretty much always the first step in this practice;…
The Tenants of Wise Speech
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! Last week, as I was sharing about KM RESET Retreat in Marathon in my classes, several people mentioned they didn’t see it because it was at the bottom of my newsletter 🙂 So, first things first; dates and details are confirmed for KM RESET Retreat Marathon Key. Feb 1st-3rd 2025 at Isla Bella…
The Power of the Right Action in the Present Moment
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. It was a busy one for me. Sometimes when things are hectic and we lose the ability to pause we can find ourselves reacting rather than mindfully acting. When I notice this happening within myself I repeat my mantra; the words I try to live by most…
We cannot receive what we do not believe
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! Thank you so much for the support I received last week after sharing a couple of my new endeavors. It truly means so much. Through this process, I have been very aware of my own internal stories; the beliefs we have about ourselves that may or may not be true. It are those…
Let there be Light
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I apologize for the especially long newsletter today. This past week I shared a reading by Mark Nepo that talks about the value of trusting ourselves and not giving up when we are trying new things or stepping out of our comfort zone. It inspired me because I truly needed that reminder. I…
Don’t pick it Up
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. In my last newsletter I shared the message about being a river, not a container. That concept continued for me this past week as I shared a story that one of my teachers, Jack Kornfield, tells from his time as a buddhist monk. One day he was…
Be a River
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice long weekend and a wonderful Easter to those who celebrate. Last week a friend of mine was sharing a revelation she had regarding the chance to free herself of trauma that she had been holding onto. She said “I am a river, not a container”.What she meant by…
Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. As humans we are creatures of habit. We have lots of positive habits; we brush our teeth in the morning, take our vitamins…. you get the idea. However, we also develop habits that do not always serve us. In addition to physical habits (staying up too late,…
How to Get a Life
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a good week. I happen to have a stack of books on my nightstand; several of which I am in the process of reading (and a couple not so much :)). However there is one book in the pile that I do read often. It is entitled A Short Guide…
Be a Friend to Yourself
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! Last weekend I got to spend a few days away with my college roommates. As I said goodbye to them at the airport, I found myself feeling extremely grateful for the gift of those enduring friendships. Thinking more about that upon my return reminded me of this reading that I shared with my…
The Power of the Pause
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope all is well. Last Sunday morning I left my house to head to the studio to take a yoga class. As I was leaving my neighborhood I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone. I had the time to go home and grab it but instead I decided to practice being with…
What can we let go of?
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. Last week I was having a conversation with an incredibly wise friend and we were talking about the power of perspective. She is in the process of organizing and purging as she has been through several moves in the last few years and found herself bringing lots…
The Power of Perspective
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Presidents Day! I hope many of you are enjoying a well deserved day off. Last weekend I was at an outdoor concert with a friend of mine. The band played lots of covers from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and I knew almost all the songs by heart. A bit into their set they…
Time & Loving Attention Heals
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. Recently I was checking in with my father-in-law. His wife (my mother-in-law) passed away in May so the last several months have been painful and difficult. He told me that a friend of his, who lost his wife even more recently than he had, already had his…
True Power of Gratitude
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. Last Sunday I was invited to a friends house for a girls day. I was excited to meet my friend’s sisters, her daughter and niece in addition to a couple of her friends. During the lovely afternoon, I had several nice conversations however one in particular stuck with…
The Power of Now
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. I am just a few days home from my retreat and it was wonderful. I included some pictures below but it is truly hard to capture in photos. I can only describe my re-entry as arriving home in a stupor of amazement that I get to do this…
Judgment Steals Joy
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. I cannot believe that my KLARITY Mindsette RESET in Marathon Key is just a few days away. I am so excited!!! As a result of that, my schedule will be modified over the next two weeks so see below for my schedule. Last week I shared that…
This Moment is THE Moment
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. I was very grateful to have a few days away with my family. It served as an opportunity to slow down, but that wasn’t as easy for me to do as I had hoped. It took a couple of days for me to settle and during those…
Intentions help us Heal
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy New Year! After my New Years Day class today I will be traveling for the rest of the week so I thought I would share my New Year message in this newsletter. There is so much focus on the changing of the year. We make RESOLUTIONS; expectations of meaningful change, that are usually difficult…
Learning to Allow
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope those that celebrate had a very Merry Christmas. The holidays can be a time filled with a range of emotions; joy, gratitude, sadness, loss, and disappointment. This holiday season is definitely filled with mixed emotions for me. This being the first Christmas without my mother-in-law as well as a last minute family visit…
Happiness is a Choice
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. As a yoga teacher and mindfulness coach I often talk about gratitude. Over the years I have done lots of reading on the science behind gratitude and there is, in fact, lots of scientific evidence to support a gratitude practice. Especially when things are challenging, when we…
The Value of Time
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. My son got his license a few weeks ago and he is anxious to drive longer distances on busy roads at night to visit friends. In the spirit of the well known truth that whatever we practice we will get better at my son and I have…
The Power of Acceptance
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. The heaviness in the world has definitely given way to moments of hopelessness in many of us. For myself it usually starts with feeling disconnected from my purpose combined with a feeling of helplessness. From there often judgment takes over. With practice I have learned to see the…
The Partnership of Grief & Gratitude
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. I certainly did! I was very grateful for all of the people I got to see and spend time with. I was also super happy to be back seeing some of my old students and teaching at Hastings Yoga last week. The theme…
The Power of Attention & Intention
By Allison Waguespack |
The essence of Buddhism and Mindfulness can be boiled down to two words; INTENTION & ATTENTION. There is a complete interconnectedness between our sense of what truly matters (intention) and how we pay attention. It is really powerful when we deploy these two concepts at the same time. When we connect to what truly matters…
The Power of Acceptance
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. The heaviness in the world has definitely given way to moments of hopelessness in many of us. For myself it usually starts with feeling disconnected from my purpose combined with a feeling of helplessness. From there often judgment takes over. With practice I have learned to see the…
Use Your Wings to Fly
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. Last week I shared with students that there are two Wings of Mindfulness and we need them both working together in order to FLY. The first wing is AWARENESS. When we notice our thoughts we have the power to shift them. The second wing is to be…
Connect to Your Spiritual Warrior
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. This week as I was preparing for my classes I realized that my message had not come to me. Usually it shows up at some point but this week it hadn’t. I started thinking about the energy I needed to cultivate in myself and hopefully to put out…
Resilience is Balance
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. Last week I had an experience that connected me back to the principles of karma so I apologize for the long newsletter today but I wanted to share some of them with you. I was walking my two nine year old rescue labradors in my neighborhood and…
Underneath the Broken is the Unbroken
By Allison Waguespack |
This past week has felt very heavy and heartbreaking and I have found myself struggling with my emotions. On Tuesday morning I was reading distressing news on my phone and crying when my son came out of his room for school. He asked me why I was crying and when I told him I was…
Take Your Time
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. Last week I shared the idea of “Taking our Time”. When we use this term it usually is as a reminder to slow down. However what if we thought about “Taking our Time” as more than just slowing down; instead as an active way of choosing to…
The Gift of Friendship
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are well. Deep friendships often sustain us through both good times and challenging ones. I was thinking about that quite a bit last week as I realized that some of the new friendships I am building here in Florida are truly beginning to feel like “old” friendships in the best ways.…
The Golden String
By Allison Waguespack |
As many of you know last year I completed a two year mindfulness meditation training program led by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. As part of the program each participant is put into a group with 5 other students and we met monthly for two years. I am blessed to say that the six of…
The Power of the Present
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. Last week I had an experience that connected me back to the principles of karma so I apologize for the long newsletter today but I wanted to share some of them with you. I was walking my two nine-year-old rescue labradors in my neighborhood and I walked…
Our Trash waits for Us
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. Last week I was catching up with one of my friends who was my old neighbor. We used to walk our dogs together several times a week in the woods right near our houses. When I got off the phone with her I was reminded of a…
It’s not IN the way but IS the Way
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. I am realizing I am sending this out on Sept 11th at 9:00am which is the time 22 years ago when we experienced a national tragedy. I just want to take a moment to honor that suffering. This past week I shared with students that a couple…
The Wisdom in Blinking
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Labor Day weekend! It feels so good to be back teaching my full schedule. I am very blessed to love teaching so much after almost 20 years! My daughter is a reminder of how long I have been teaching because she was 9 months old when I completed my first teacher training and began teaching. Last weekend…
The Fear of Suffering Causes Suffering
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. The universe is always sending us messages…. often right when we need them. However, we have to be paying attention in order to receive them. That is the power of mindfulness. So, when I saw this little parable in my inbox from a friend last week I am…
Change the Frame
By Allison Waguespack |
Summer is winding down but it is still VERY hot here in Florida. As a result I definitely haven’t been running as much or as long as I would like. I have developed a routine for myself that includes stopping two thirds of the way through my run at my neighborhood gym to do a few…
Grounding into Practice
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you are all well. It has been a busy, fun and exciting couple of weeks for me with special visitors (my god daughter and her parents), a trip to Disney World and then to Mallorca, Spain. When we step out of our normal routine it is interesting what can happen. For myself, I…
Breaking through the clouds
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. After all the travel, I am grateful for my routine and teaching my regular schedule this week. While I was away I did not commit regular time to my meditation practice and when I arrived home and resumed my practice it was a struggle. Several times when I…
Power of the Present Moment
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy August! We are back in Florida and it is definitely hot! I very much enjoyed my last two weeks in the northeast and I LOVED seeing some of my old students and teaching a class at Hastings Yoga. My message was my favorite quote and I shared how I saw this play out in both…
Meditation is inside of us all
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you are all well. We had a great family vacation and I was genuinely happy to be back teaching students this week. A couple of weeks ago my 4 1/2 year old god daughter Leah and her parents came to visit. It was very special time and I loved seeing the world through her eyes for…
Inaction is Action
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy July! I hope summer is in full swing for all of you. I am still adjusting to never-ending summer here and I find myself looking at the calendar incredulously at times. I have been having a few conversations with folks close to me lately about feeling stuck or unmotivated and it reminds me of a…
Noticing the Flags of Trance
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. In my last newsletter I shared the struggle I was having with my “monkey mind” that wouldn’t settle down. This is often a symptom of what is called “living in a trance”. Living in trance means that we are not fully present in our lives and we each…
The Monkey Mind
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you are all doing well. This past week I was struggling with my personal meditation practice. My “monkey mind” was taking over and I couldn’t settle down enough to find any space. The “monkey mind” is a description of our thoughts swinging “from branch to branch to branch” like a monkey in a tree. Often times,…
Softening into Resistance Minimizes Suffering
By Allison Waguespack |
As a yoga teacher there are terms that I say very often when I am teaching; two of them “soften into your resistance” and “meet your edge and soften” essentially mean the same thing; to focus on learning how to be kind to our bodies and soften when we feel our body holding onto tightness. This softening into resistance offers us more resiliency,…
Generosity Leads to Abundance
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! I shared the Buddhist principle; Generosity leads to Abundancewith my students this past week. I have found in my own experience that there is an additional element we need when cultivating true abundance in our lives, and that is authenticity. When we make choices based on both of these qualities we have the chance to…
We can be bitter or better but not both
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. I heard this great quote last week that stayed with me. I love the simplicity of the statement and the powerful truth behind it. This message became our practice for the week. “You can be bitter or you can be better but you can’t be…
Mixed emotions
By Allison Waguespack |
This past week my family suffered a difficult loss. My husband’s mother passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Our family has been processing a range of emotions. There is sadness, loss, grief and also relief that she is no longer suffering and gratitude that she is now at peace. A death after a prolonged illness is an…
Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you are right
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. I taught an arm balancing workshop over the weekend. It has been a while since I had done that and it was really fun to get back to it. As I was reviewing what I had done previously and made some tweaks in preparation for the workshop…
We need more than time to Heal
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. I just started working with a couple who are going through unspeakable grief, the loss of their only child. There is a common belief in our culture that time heals all wounds. What I shared with them and with my classes this past week is that is not the case.…
The Grief of Change
By Allison Waguespack |
Sometimes we move through a period of dramatic shifts and transitions in our lives, and at other times, things can feel more static. As most of you know, for me, the last year has been one of many changes; leaving my old special life to start a new one in a new state in addition to sending…
Peace is this Moment without Judgment
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. As I mentioned last week in this newsletter, I am working through a flare up of an old injury and that brings old thought patterns. One of the habits of thought I notice during these times is a bit of bargaining with the universe for my own…
The Power of Nostalgia
By Allison Waguespack |
This past week was full of nostalgia. I spent a few days in New Orleans; the city I spent my college career, met my husband and some of my dearest friends and where I had a really good time! It was a blast to spend time at my old school and with friends (and my…
The Wisdom in Blinking
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week and happy holidays to all that celebrate. Early last week I was having a conversation with a friend that is likely one many of us have had about the nature of people; the idea of “glass half full” versus “glass have empty”. It has been shown in…
The Power of the Fearless Heart
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. Last week there was a strong voice in my head loudly pointing out all the things that could go wrong. That voice does not typically take over such a large presence in my mind but this past week it was like a sports commentator offering a play…
Attention is Generous
By Allison Waguespack |
Last weekend we had very close friends visit with their 9 year old son Max who happens to be my godson. I loved spending time with all of them however the time with Max was especially poignant partly because being with him reminds me of when my kids were his age. As I touched those…
We Need Two Wings to Fly
By Allison Waguespack |
Last Monday I had one of those days where I was just really feeling down. I wasn’t able to identify a why but what I was connecting with was a combination of sadness and purposelessness. Then came the judgment….. judgment of myself for feeling this way as a mindfulness teacher. The judgment began to totally…
The Kinship of Gratitude
By Allison Waguespack |
This past week my daughter Eva was home from college for spring break and along with a pile of dirty laundry, she brought with her a stomach bug that went through our family. Wednesday was my day. As I laid in bed miserable I was feeling quite sorry for myself. With bad stomach pain, a…
Decision-Making SUPER POWER
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope school is off to a great start for everyone. It probably feels good to get back to (and for me, establish) some routine in our days. As I am figuring out my routine, part of that exploration is trying out the different yoga studios here. There are so many and it is a…
Practice Makes Us Better
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you are all doing well. Last weekend we had friends in town visiting (one of them happens to be an amazing photographer who took this picture) and we went to the Delray Open Tennis Tournament. It was really fun and quite crowded. At one point I found myself waiting in a very long line…
The Antidote to Suffering
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great week. Recently I have been spending some time with the concept of suffering. According to Buddhist psychology, we are all supposed to experience some suffering in our lives. It is what helps us recognize true joy. However, as humans, we do spend so much of our lives trying to…
Power of the Patience
By Allison Waguespack |
Power of the Patience Hope you all had a great week. What I share each week in my classes and in this newsletter usually comes from what I am experiencing in my own life. Lately I have been practicing connecting to the POWER of PATIENCE. In our culture, we are all very good at practicing impatience.…
Power of the Pause
By Allison Waguespack |
Happy Monday! For the second weekend in a row I was blessed to have dear friends in town visiting. It really does fill my soul. In all of the planning and organizing for guests along with the day to day pace of life I noticed myself at times forgetting the power of the PAUSE. If I needed…
What We Choose to Emphasize
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a great weekend. My weekend was filled with laughter and joy as I had three very close friends come for a visit. The weather was cool and overcast during their visit (and I felt responsible somehow that I could not provide sunny eighty-degree days). We all acknowledged the weather was less…
Fill your Happiness Cup
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. I have been developing a new KLARITY Mindsette workshop on Happiness and was inspired to share some of it with my classes last week. Happiness is a lofty topic. It is truly what we all strive for. The Dali Lama talks about our level of happiness being…
Let There Be Light
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. Last week, both in our practice on the mat (with cutie pie crow pictured above) and off of it I touched on what it means to Live in the Light. Often when we think of trying something new or putting ourselves out there, there is…
Move from THERE to HERE
By Allison Waguespack |
This month I am completing a two-year mindfulness meditation certification program (MMTCP) with Jack Kornfield & Tara Brach. The world was a very different place when I was accepted into this program in February 2020 (2/20 photo above) and especially when the program began in January of 2021. It has been quite an intense time…
Ride the Waves
By Allison Waguespack |
A new year can offer us the chance to set an intention for ourselves. I prefer setting an intention over making a resolution because intention offers a little more space for compassion and less space for self-judgment. 2022 has been a year of many transitions for me and those transitions brought with them intense emotions. Truthfully, there…
What Can We Put Down?
By Allison Waguespack |
With the holiday season in full swing and 2022 coming to an end, last week I felt a bit overwhelmed with all that needed to get done. I am sure many of you have experienced similar feelings. I shared the passage below with my classes. Reading it always helps me touch base with what is…
Live Your Life…
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are doing well. Last week was one of those weeks where lots of things were not going totally right; from little inconveniences like dry cleaning and prescriptions not being ready to have to adjust our morning drive to school to bigger stuff in the lives of loved ones. I felt a…
Home is Inside Us
By Allison Waguespack |
With the holiday season in full swing and 2022 coming to an end, last week I felt a bit overwhelmed with all that needed to get done. I am sure many of you have experienced similar feelings. I shared the passage below with my classes. Reading it always helps me touch base with what is…
Choosing Happiness
By Allison Waguespack |
This week in my class I shared some tips for cultivating the practice of CHOOSING HAPPINESS. We know whatever we practice we get better at and we practice things we don’t want to get better at without even realizing it. That is what mindfulness offers… a chance to consciously choose what we want to “practice”. There…
The Power of WISE SPEECH
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a good week. With my recent move to Florida, I have been playing a bit more tennis as it’s a great way to meet people. A week and a half ago I played in a clinic and there was a middle-aged woman there who I hadn’t met before. She seemed…
The Art of Facing Things
By Allison Waguespack |
This past week I definitely experienced a large wave of emotions– the “Sea of Feelings” was not calm as in the picture above. All the change and transition I have experienced in the last 6 months seemed to hit me very intensely after returning home from my retreat. Upon reflection, I realize that my retreat…
Control Over Our Own Suffering
By Allison Waguespack |
I am home just about a week from my retreat. I was so inspired by the amazing people that joined me this year; such powerful women with incredible energy. We laughed and danced and explored our special little island paradise. It always takes me a few days to come down from the high of the experience. I…
I Hope You Are All Doing Well
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you are all doing well. It was a bit of a dramatic week last week with hurricane Ian. We are feeling very lucky that we had very little impact from the storm. My heart is breaking for those who cannot say the same. In the mindfulness community we talk a lot about being…
Karma is a Gift
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you are all doing well. Things here are good. I am getting close to settling on a place to teach which is making me very excited to teach again. So I decided to film a short 20 minute flow and post it to my Youtube page. The link is below if you feel…
CHOOSING HAPPINESS
By Allison Waguespack |
This week in my class I shared some tips for cultivating the practice of CHOOSING HAPPINESS. We know whatever we practice we get better at and we practice things we don’t want to get better at without even realizing it. That is what mindfulness offers… a chance to consciously choose what we want to “practice”. There…
Decision Making SUPER POWER
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope school is off to a great start for everyone. It probably feels good to get back to (and for me, establish) some routine in our days. As I am figuring out my routine, part of that exploration is trying out the different yoga studios here. There are so many and it is a…
End of Summer
By Allison Waguespack |
The summer really feels like it’s ending…. well not the weather here in Florida but school is starting and I am turning my focus to my upcoming retreat in October. I am so excited to be traveling back to Thatch Caye in Belize with 17 students for a wonderful adventure. Last week I traveled very…
SEE and BE with it all
By Allison Waguespack |
Hi Everyone, August is here and with the heat also comes the looming end of summer. A week from today I head north to North Carolina to drop my daughter off at college for her freshman year. Just typing these words makes me choke up a bit. As many of you know, I used to…
Bloom Where I am Planted
By Allison Waguespack |
Hi Everyone, Hi! I hope you all are having a great summer. This last month has been quite a whirlwind for my family but we are getting adjusted to our new life in a new state. This week I finally found some time for my yoga practice. It felt both strange and good to lay…
Deviation from My Path
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all are well and enjoying the beginning of summer. I am entering my last week of teaching here in Westchester. Even as I type those words I can feel my heart swell a bit. This has been and will continue (I expect for the next couple of months) to be an intense…
Look for the Lessons
By Allison Waguespack |
Hi Everyone, It’s taken me a few days be able to write this newsletter. In just over two weeks my family will be relocating to Florida. As you can imagine we are cleaning, organizing, purging, reminiscing, and mostly cherishing our last days here in this sweet town. I taught my last classes for a while…
Gratitude for the Mat
By Allison Waguespack |
Hi Everyone, Please excuse the lengthy message this week but I hope you read it all. I am entering my final few weeks in Irvington and with that comes all types of emotions. Going through a major life upheaval can make us feel groundless and disconnected. I am working very hard to stay present with…
Happiness & Joy
By Allison Waguespack |
Hi Everyone, I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful weather. I certainly am! This past week I was working on a talk I am giving in a couple of weeks on Happiness & Joy so I decided to share a little bit with my classes. This is a lofty topic. It really is the…
Connecting to My Gratitude
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you are all enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend! Today was such a beautiful day and I am grateful for it. I find myself connecting to my gratitude (and lots of other emotions) as my family moves through significant milestones and poignant “lasts”. This is our last Memorial Day Weekend in the home we have…
Two Wings of Awareness
By Allison Waguespack |
On my trip to Zion last weekend I found a lot of inspiration. There was gratefully no cell service in the park which allowed all of us to be very present with the incredible natural beauty that surrounded us. That truly is a practice in mindfulness… a single focus in the moment. Along the way,…
The Power of Vulnerability
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend. I had an incredible time exploring Zion National Park with wonderful friends. Appreciating the wonders of nature with a group of very special women truly filled me up and I even got the chance to teach a class with a spectacular Red Rock view! Last week before…
We Forget to Take Care of Ourselves
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice weekend celebrating the mothers in your life. This week my message was about what happens when we forget to take care of ourselves. As a yoga teacher for 18 years, I know the importance of nurturing our whole selves and how the body holds on to stress and…
The True Test of How Much We Suffer
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice week. As I contemplated my message I began to think about how pain turns to suffering. I happen to be dealing with a nagging physical injury at the moment and a person very close to me is dealing with extreme emotional pain which got me thinking… How we…
One Size Does NOT Fit All
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice week enjoying this spring weather. Over the past few weeks I have let myself physically get really run down and my body definitely responded with a reminder that I needed to slow down. After a few days of rest I feel totally back to normal and am excited…
The Right Action in the Present Moment
By Allison Waguespack |
I hope you all had a nice week and a good weekend celebrating the holidays. Last week I shared the third principle of Karma with my classes. It is truly one of the pillars of my life and I was reminded of it in several ways last week. “There is no power on earth greater…
The Power of ALLOWING
By Allison Waguespack |
I am a little late getting my newsletter out this week because I was out of town this past weekend. It was a welcomed break from what continues to be a tumultuous time for my family and me. Buddhist psychology talks about how we can think of ourselves as the ocean; and the waves and…
Listening to Our “Inner Cheerleader”
By Allison Waguespack |
Last week was a busy one for me. I led my first in-person KLARITY Mindsette corporate workshop for 40 people from a huge company at the Empire State Building and my October retreat at Thatch Caye in Belize officially *SOLD OUT*. The picture above is from Thatch Caye on my last retreat. I cannot wait…