Reflect & Manifest

 As we welcome the contemplative yin season of Winter, we assess where we came from and where we are now, to consciously direct where we are going.

To support your year-end reflection & manifestation process, I integrated my favorite retrospective practices within a Chinese medicine Five Elements conceptual framework. 

To facilitate seasonal reflections throughout the year, I created a similar template for your quarterly reflection & manifestation process. Get both here:

REFLECT & MANIFEST

REFLECT on the past year, reconnect with your Purpose, clarify your Visions, then MANIFEST your new year and each season with a clear Plan and aligned Actions. 

Enjoy! Happy holidays ❤️

Jiling Lin, L.Ac. 林基玲

acupuncture . herbs . yoga

​JilingLin.com

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Five Elements │ Wander & Wonder

 

Happy November!

As the winter oceanic swell grows, we are baking more, sleeping earlier, and starting to wrap up the year. How are you celebrating and experiencing the changing seasons?

ESALEN 2022 │ We just returned from our Five Elements of Yoga & Chinese Medicine weeklong retreat at the gorgeous Esalen Institute along the Big Sur coastline. The cliffside hot springs, delicious foods, beautiful community, smiling Milky Way, and deep wisdom from the land, waters, and her people nourished me deeply. I hope you can join us at Esalen, next year!

WANDER & WONDER │ In one of my favorite Five Elements of Chinese Medicine classes, I shared Wandering & Wondering, a process that roots & nourishes my life, and I hope will inspire you, as well.

Download my Five Elements Wonderings class handout here:

WONDERINGS

I invite you to:

• Open. Choose a question (or a couple). Focus on ONE element through the duration of your walk, or explore ALL elements in different sections of your walk.
• Wander. Bring these questions, your journal, and writing/ drawing tools. Allow yourself to meander without direction through a landscape.
• Wonder. Hold your question(s) lightly. Dialogue with the landscape of both your external and internal terrains.
• Sit. Notice a place that calls to you. Silently sit and observe both your external and internal environments. Free-write observations & insights.
• Thank this place before you continue wandering & wondering through other question(s), or close your journey.

May the gifts and changes of this season nourish you. May you open to wonder in moments both small and large. May you enjoy the loving embrace of your family, community, and our planet. Thank you for your presence on our Earth!

Jiling Lin, L.Ac. 林基玲

acupuncture . herbs . yoga

​JilingLin.com

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JILINGLIN.COM

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FACEBOOK

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Full Moon Gratitude Meditation

Happy Full Moon!

Light a candle, get comfortable, and enjoy this Full Moon Gratitude Meditation: 

For more podcasts, visit https://www.jilinglin.com/podcasts

Have a great month!

New Moon Intentions Meditation

Happy New Moon!

Light a candle, get comfortable, and enjoy this New Moon Intentions Meditation: 

For more podcasts, visit https://www.jilinglin.com/podcasts

Have a great month!

Writing 2021

How do you express and process past experiences? How do you vision and plan future possibilities? 

Journaling is an embodied practice that connects mind and body by bringing pen to paper. This releases stored thoughts, memories, dreams, ideas, and more. The hidden potential of your subconscious finds a path into the world. 

This may be a cathartic release: let it out, let it go. 

Or, surprising new insights may emerge: organize your thoughts, create action items, then move your dreams into reality. 

If you are already journaling, then how can you enliven your practice? What areas of your journaling practice feel dead or outdated? How can you breathe fresh air into this area of your life? 

If you are not currently journaling, then try it. Set the stage (see below), then commit to at least a month of daily writing. With so much stimulus in our daily lives, journaling offers solace, an opportunity to rest, reflect, and dream. 

Ritual

Create a daily journaling ritual by setting the stage, then committing to it:

• Choose a dedicated journal that feels good, and a smooth-flowing pen or pencil. 

• Journal at the same time each day (I like first thing in the morning)

• Journal at the same location each day 

Stream of consciousness

Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” book calls for three pages of daily stream-of-consciousness writing, first thing in the morning, every morning. This is an integral process in Cameron’s process of sparking creativity, and living an expressive life. 

I commit to one paragraph, but usually fill at least one page. Do what feels best for you. If your time is limited, then simply commit to laying pen to paper for a few minutes each morning. 

Doodling

Stream-of-consciousness writing may include not only text, but also doodles. Sometimes, our thoughts are so unformed that no words arise; only shapes or colors come out. Have colors on hand to simply make marks: small blots, large splotches, lines that go nowhere but everywhere… experiment, and feel into it. I love crayons: they make immediate marks, and are easy to use. Again, find what feels best for you. 

Prompts

If absolutely nothing comes to mind when sitting down to write, then here are some simple daily prompts: 

• List three things that you are grateful for in this moment.

• List three things that you are grateful for that are coming (visioning the future). 

• List three things that I saw/ heard/ felt yesterday (observational exercise)

• List three goals for today

Daily gratitude connects us with what is important to us, and a sense of connection and pleasure for what we have. It is particularly helpful to bring life into perspective during rough times: this life is a gift, and there is much to be thankful for. 

Manifestation includes clearly visualizing what we want, so that we can first internally mobilize our resources, before outward action/ transformation can occur. Listing “future gratitude” and daily goals can help set this in motion. 

The Journal

I made a 4x5 leather cover out of recycled leather scraps. I make and insert 120 pages of fresh pages into my cover about 3 times a year. This creates a travel-friendly book that’s small and portable, and  feels good: the natural oils of my hands lubricates the leather, which is shiny from daily use and years of love. I have used the same journal since 2008, and have stacks of inner booklets. 

When I feel moody, I may freehand pages of purging words and doodles with large crayons, then rip and/ or burn it. 

Create a daily ritual, then give it space to breathe. Adjust each day as necessary, but keep the basic structure: write everyday. Draw everyday. Choose one ritual activity that helps you intentionally clear the old and welcome the new to create more beauty, spaciousness, and joy in your life, and all the lives that you affect in your one wild and precious life.

Entering 2021

What were my highlights from 2020? 

What challenged me, in 2020? 

What are my yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals in 2021?

How do I track and hold myself accountable for my goals? 

What is my life Purpose? 

Am I walking in alignment with my Purpose? 

How do my actions align with my intentions? 

Happy New Year. 

JilingLin.com

Solstice & Equinox

 

Winter Solstice (2020/ 12/ 21, 2021/ 12/ 21) 

How do you REST? What seeds are you nourishing under the sleeping winter Earth?

Tonight, we celebrate the longest night of the year. During Winter Solstice, one of Earth’s poles is tilted furthest away from the Sun. After this long dark night, we welcome the returning light and lengthening days, even as Winter deepens her chill.

Spring Equinox (2021/ 3/ 20) 

What seeds are you planting this spring? What are your visions? How are you walking your dreams into reality? What is rooting and budding to life within you as our Earth warms and stirs?

Our Sun crosses Earth’s horizon exactly to the east at sunrise, then directly to the west at sunset. Day matches night, for Spring Equinox. Plan your internal and external garden for the year ahead, then plant it with loving intention!

Summer Solstice (2021/ 6/ 20)

What are you passionate about? What do you LOVE? What do you SHINE into the world? What do you CELEBRATE?

Summer solstice is the longest day of the year. One of Earth’s poles is tilted closest to the Sun. The Sun appears at its highest altitude, for an early sunrise and late sunset. We welcome the heat and activity of playful passionate summer!

Autumn Equinox (2021/ 9/ 22)

As the fruits of summer fall into autumn, what do you release? What gifts do you share? What are you grateful for? What is SACRED?

Our Sun crosses Earth’s horizon exactly to the east at sunrise, then directly to the west at sunset. Day matches night, for Autumn Equinox. We welcome the season of slowing down, drinking nourishing broths, bundling up, and celebrating with community.

Resources

• Find your local dates for Solstices/ Equinoxes on TimeAndDate.com
• Get a pagan perspective at We'Moon
• Enjoy an acupuncture tune-up with me at JilingLin.com

("Nature Heals" artwork by Troy Chafin, from Amplifier Art)

Yoga for Grounded Stability

Here's some of my favorite grounding yoga asanas... on the ground!

Legs up the Wall

- feel supported

- relax

- legs straight up, feet flexed or relaxed

- legs extended wide to the side, to open hips

- feet together, for wall- Butterfly: open hips

- surrender spine to the Earth

- arms to the sides, on belly, or overhead

- close eyes. Find ease.

Standing Forward Fold

- inhaling, lengthen your spine to actively draw yourself deeper into the stretch

- exhaling, release efforting, and welcome what arises: organic movement, a deepening

- feet together, or hip width distance apart

- release head, neck, and spine

- knees slightly bent, or bending and straightening one at a time

- hands to elbow creases (rag doll), shins, or under feet

- cascade forward, shifting weight between all edges of feet

- close eyes. Welcome.

Seated Forward Fold

- inhaling, lengthen forward

- exhaling, cascade down

- closing eyes, observe your inner landscape, and each full gift of breath and body

- feet flexed or pointed

- arms reaching forward, placed onto ground, or anywhere on legs, perhaps using a strap around the feet

- long spine, deep breath, surrender

Mountain

- root down through under the feet to the belly of the Earth

- root up through the crown of the head to the umbilicus of the Sky

- feel your humanity lengthening yet stable, holding yet free, sacred and special yet tiny and insignificant, suspended and supported, supporting and integral, between (and part of) Earth and Sky

- solid as a Mountain

- feet together or hip- width distance apart

- hands at heart center, or to the sides, palms facing forward

- eyes closed, or gently open, expansive panoramic vision

- rooted yet relaxed

Child’s Pose

- arms forward, or folded by your sides

- knees together, or apart

- surrender everything to the Earth

- inhaling, thank you

- exhaling, release

Tree

- one leg the trunk, the other leg the branch

- root your supporting foot down through three points of contact: heel, ball of pinky toe and big toe

- hips and shoulders square

- aligned integrity: root up, relax elsewhere: relax toes, face, breath, mind

- root down, to rise up

- center

Warrior 2

- directed energy, rooted, centered

- intentional breath, aligned actions, powerful

- front foot points forward, back foot parallels back of mat

- heel to heel, or heel to arch feet alignment

- stack front knee over ankle

- arms parallel Earth, shoulders externally rotating, palms down

- eyes gaze powerfully over front fingertips

JilingLin.com

Healthy Habits for Emotional Well- Being

Journaling

​

How do you process past experiences? How do you vision and plan future possibilities? 

Journaling is an embodied practice that connects mind and body by bringing pen to paper. This releases stored thoughts, memories, dreams, ideas, and more. The hidden potential of your subconscious finds a path into the world. 

This may be a cathartic release: let it out, let it go. 

Surprising new insights may emerge: organize your thoughts, create action items, then move your dreams into reality. 

If you are already journaling, then how can you enliven your practice? What areas of your journaling practice feel dead or outdated? How can you breathe fresh air into this area of your life? 

If you are not current journaling, then try it. Set the stage (see below), then commit to at least a month of daily writing. With so much stimulus in our daily lives, journaling offers solace, an opportunity to rest, reflect, and dream. 

Ritual

Create a daily journaling ritual by setting the stage, then committing to it:

- Choose a dedicated journal that feels good, and a smooth-flowing pen or pencil.

- Journal at the same time each day (I like first thing in the morning)

- Journal at the same location each day 

Stream of consciousness

Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” book calls for three pages of daily stream-of-consciousness writing, first thing in the morning, every morning. This is an integral process in Cameron’s process of sparking creativity, and living an expressive life. 

I commit to one paragraph, but usually fill at least one page. Do what feels best for you. If your time is limited, then simply commit to laying pen to paper for a few minutes each morning. 

Doodling

Stream-of-consciousness writing may include not only text, but also doodles. Sometimes, our thoughts are so unformed that no words arise; only shapes or colors emerge. Have colors on hand to simply make marks: small blots, large splotches, lines that go nowhere but everywhere… experiment, and feel into it. I love crayons: they make immediate marks, and are easy to use. Again, find what feels best for you. 

Prompts

If absolutely nothing comes to mind when sitting down to write, then here are some simple daily prompts:

- List three things that you are grateful for in this moment.

- List three things that you are grateful for that are coming (visioning the future).

- List three things that I saw/ heard/ felt yesterday (observational exercise)

- List three goals for today

Daily gratitude connects us with what is important to us, and a sense of connection and pleasure for what we have. It is particularly helpful to bring life into perspective during rough times: this life is a gift, and there is much to be thankful for. 

Manifestation includes clearly visualizing our goals and dreams as reality. We first internally mobilize our resources, before outward action/ transformation can occur. Listing “future gratitude” and daily goals can help set this in motion. 

The Journal

How can you personalize your practice?

I made a 4x5 leather cover out of recycled leather scraps. I make and insert 120 pages of fresh pages into my cover about 3 times a year. This creates a travel-friendly book that’s small and portable, and feels good: the natural oils of my hands lubricates the leather, which is shiny from daily use and years of love. I have used the same journal since 2008, and have stacks of inner booklets. 

When I feel moody, I may freehand pages of purging words and doodles with large crayons, then rip and/ or burn it. 

Create a daily ritual, then give it space to breathe. Adjust each day as necessary, but keep the basic structure: write everyday. Draw everyday. Choose one ritual activity that helps you intentionally clear the old and welcome the new to create more beauty, spaciousness, and joy in your life, and all the lives that you affect in your one wild and precious life.

Entering 2020

What were your highlights from 2019? 

What challenged you, in 2019? 

What are your yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals in 2020?

How do you track and hold yourself accountable for your goals? 

What is your life Purpose? 

Are you walking in alignment with your Purpose? 

How do your actions align with your intentions? 

Happy New Year.

Resources

- Book a session with me for acupuncture, herbs, yoga, and wellness treatment/ consultation. I incorporate journaling and other lifestyle protocols/ resources into your treatment plan.

- Integrate journaling practices with lunar cycles/ rituals