"Waking up is not a one-time event. Waking up is a practice. Waking up is a commitment that continues for a lifetime." -Chani Nicholas

When I first began the journey of mindful living, I sought out mindfulness, which is typically defined as moment-to-moment awareness, or present moment awareness.

However, I quickly discovered there was more that I was searching for. While practicing moment-to-moment awareness helped me to be more present in my life, I yearned for something deeper – beyond the here and now.

It wasn't until I did yoga teacher training that I slowly began to uncover what I was looking for. The answer was a blend of mindfulness, yoga philosophy and self reflection. This blend helped me cultivate deeply rooted awareness. 

What is deeply rooted awareness?

My definition of mindful living as a whole is always expanding and being refined (as it should), but to date, I define it as the all-encompassing personal transformation we experience when we embody deeply rooted awareness.

As you've noticed, "Deeply Rooted" is the name of the course. So, what does it mean?

Deeply rooted awareness represents our ability to read between the lines, to notice the subtleties of our existence. We do this by connecting to our mind, body* and soul:

Mind: Our thoughts, identity, beliefs and perceptions.

Body: The sensations and feelings we experience.

Soul: Our inner knowing or intuition, alignment with our authentic self.

Deeply rooted awareness goes beyond when and how we practice;  it’s a state of being measured not by numbers or mile markers, but instead by internal shifts. These shifts show up as subtle, yet significant changes in our daily lives: We may notice that we treat ourselves with greater compassion, we don't become reactive towards small inconveniences, or we can more clearly recognize what is bothering us.

This sort of transformation begins when we turn inward to do the work. This is why I wanted to create a course that teaches you not only how to be aware, but also one that goes beyond present moment awareness and into the depths of who we are. 

*In this context, when referring to a connection to the body, I'm referring to the sensations and feelings we experience, rather than our physical health. While things like mindful movement, mindful eating, etc. are certainly part of our overall well-being, they are not the focus of this course.

Our Inner Witness

By practicing deeply rooted awareness, we develop our inner witness – the part of us that is able to observe our human experience instead of identifying and reacting to it. 

My yoga mentor has a wonderful way of saying it: "The inner witness is unchanging, yet observes the parts of us that do change." Meaning, our inner witness is our constant variable – it is grounded inside of us. We use the inner witness to step out of the autopilot version of ourselves and into observation of our fluctuating thoughts, feelings and sensations that we experience as external circumstances change. 

The inner witness represents our point of observation; we are detached from what is happening – not analyzing, not judging and not identifying.

Throughout this course, we will dive into each of these layers of connecting to your mind, body and soul. Below are a few questions for reflection and exercises to begin connecting with deeply rooted awareness and your inner witness. 

Mindful Exercise #1: Balanced Breath

Take 5 minutes today and set a timer on your phone. For those 5 minutes, sit in a comfortable position and place one hand on your heart and one on your belly. You may also close your eyes if that will help you focus. 

Follow the natural flow of your breath for a minute or so.

Begin to take note of the rising and falling pattern of your breath.

As you continue breathing, begin counting the length of the inhale and exhale. Simply notice whether the inhale or exhale is shorter. Follow this counting for another minute.

Lastly, see if you can even out the breath – extending the shorter breath to meet the length of the longer breath. For example, if you counted to 3 on your inhale and 5 on your exhale, you would work to inhale for 5 and exhale for 5. Work towards this gradually, letting it be natural and easy.

This is called balanced breathing, it's often used in yoga grounding practices to calm the energy. Using this tool, we bring mind, body and soul into alignment: Mind focuses on observing (accessing the inner witness), body focuses on breathing and in turn, space is created to connect to our soul self. Our breath can be thought of as our anchor, it is the one tool we can always come back to when we need to align. 

Mindful Exercise #2: Turning Off Autopilot

Identify the areas of your life in which you are stuck in autopilot. Imagine what it would be like if you switched your autopilot switch from "on" to "off." Visualize what your day-to-day might look like, how you would start the day, how you would interact with others, how you would talk to yourself, how you would go about your responsibilities. You can either close your eyes and paint a mental picture, or it may help to write it down.

Questions for Reflection:

1. What practices do you currently have for bringing connection to mind, body and soul? It might be something as simple as a daily walk.
2. What is a sensation you are experiencing right now? To help, pick one of your senses, like smell. Perhaps you don't actually smell anything in this moment, but you may notice the sensation of air entering the nostrils as you inhale. Spend a minute focusing on one sense and see how many sensations you can pick up on.