Sacred Wholeness: Nurturing Your Mind Body and Spirit
Sacred Wholeness: Nurturing Your Mind Body and Spirit
By Barbara Hiura
By Barbara Hiura
A perfect opportunity was handed to all of our church members to engage in an often resistant healing process when Wesley offered Sacred Wholeness: Nurturing Your Mind Body and Spirit” winter retreat on Feb. 1, at Willow Glen United Methodist Church. Why resistant? Because it’s emblematic of the Martha and Mary Biblical story. And most of us are Marthas. We tend to serve and serve and serve others. Oh my! This retreat is about “ME.” How do I take care of “ME.” Why would I want to focus on me? That’s Mary who wants to sit and be nourished by Jesus’ word serving only herself. Retreats of nurture ae also a “womanish” thing. Many “Men” don’t think they need this.
The idea of a wholeness retreat devoted to “ME is more than that. It’s finding balance. This retreat, is exactly what the 30 or so participants and perhaps many more in our church body needs to embrace and welcome with open arms, because we certainly don’t take time to do enough of this on our own. “We need to take care of ourselves,” Rev. John remarked. “With devoted time to self-care we can serve God better.” And for most attending, where do we even start?
The day began easily with a very contemplative at-your-own-pace walk through a chalked labyrinth…not that frantic trying to find your way to the end as being lost in a maze, but a soft, slow and thoughtful walk. It’s a tuning into yourself, a focus on your movement, an attention to inhaling the damp air, attention to your surroundings, and being wholly present. Not all found this to be an easy task but in allowing you to be with yourself without outside intrusions, a calm overtakes you and a sense of peace provides the framework for the rest of the day.
Getting in touch with your body. That was the accomplished goal for Bobbie Ueunten’s Feldenkrais exercises. One where you get a sense of your body, one where you free your mind by focusing on breathing, the slow inhale and exhale, and feeling your diaphragm expanding and deflating. Relax! Again, that calm spreads through your body and your mind comes into the moment.
Once calmed in this way, Diana Marks led Meridian exercises with a focus on the 12 acupuncture points or meridians of your body. Her exercise regimen addresses ones “chi” (your energy source coming from your belly) and she shakes body parts, arms, legs, stretching them, patting them, arms, belly.. Wake up! Feel your energy flowing within. She works on keeping that energy from escaping your body. Amazing how now there is a refreshing balance of mental calmness and physical energy. It’s quite a lovely feeling.
After a nice break for lunch with an array of healthy salads, juices and flavored water, and a time to share our experiences with one another, Mark Teagle, came on to lead us in a thoughtful creative writing process with his focus on poetry and journaling. He has a long history writing poetry beginning as a teenager and turning them to lyrics for his musicals. With the understanding, that of course, not all of us are accomplished poets or even journal writers for that matter, he suggests beginning simply. (All those in attendance were supplied with a journal and early on decorated the cover with floral stickies making it our own as all are uniquely created.)
Putting pen to paper, we were asked to write for 15 minutes with a focus on poetry of any form and perhaps think of a Biblical character to describe. It was an open-ended writing exercise. With our minds free from the outside world and that kind of business that crowds our thought process, we look inward and let our thoughts fill the page. Surprise! Surprise! Everyone had written something, a thought, a poem, a character, a story, a journal entry.
Brian Hamilton shared an elegant Haiku to his mother. Simple, thoughtful and deeply heart-felt. Karen Mikami shared an emotional poem of a youngster in her class facing immigration issues with such fear so expressively flowing forth from the written word. Such creative expression is quite powerful. The “me” in each of us finds nurture and health through all these ways of getting in touch with our spirituality and our souls, our minds and our bodies. What a refreshing change.
The day was capped off with an essential oil workshop presented by Kelli Martines. Now this is doing something super nice for yourself. We learned how to mix various scents…lavender, citrus, frankincense, vanilla, etc. each mixture used for nurturing ourselves whether it’s to help us sleep, be calm, be happy, relieve tension or cure a hangover. What a way to end our time together with these various scents enhancing our sense of smell and ohhhhh so nice for our bodies.
The winter retreat whose sole purpose was intentional healing and nurturing was a deeply personal experience. All who attended were thankful for this day made just for “ME.”
We thank the church staff, our hosts, Rev. John Oda, Mark Teagle, Kelli Martines and Hikaru Bakoshi for putting this winter retreat together for the church body. We thank our Umbrella Ministry leaders, Bobbie Ueunten and Diana Marks for their mind and body wellness exercises. We acknowledge the Wesley Church Endowment Fund for our beautiful journals.
The idea of a wholeness retreat devoted to “ME is more than that. It’s finding balance. This retreat, is exactly what the 30 or so participants and perhaps many more in our church body needs to embrace and welcome with open arms, because we certainly don’t take time to do enough of this on our own. “We need to take care of ourselves,” Rev. John remarked. “With devoted time to self-care we can serve God better.” And for most attending, where do we even start?
The day began easily with a very contemplative at-your-own-pace walk through a chalked labyrinth…not that frantic trying to find your way to the end as being lost in a maze, but a soft, slow and thoughtful walk. It’s a tuning into yourself, a focus on your movement, an attention to inhaling the damp air, attention to your surroundings, and being wholly present. Not all found this to be an easy task but in allowing you to be with yourself without outside intrusions, a calm overtakes you and a sense of peace provides the framework for the rest of the day.
Getting in touch with your body. That was the accomplished goal for Bobbie Ueunten’s Feldenkrais exercises. One where you get a sense of your body, one where you free your mind by focusing on breathing, the slow inhale and exhale, and feeling your diaphragm expanding and deflating. Relax! Again, that calm spreads through your body and your mind comes into the moment.
Once calmed in this way, Diana Marks led Meridian exercises with a focus on the 12 acupuncture points or meridians of your body. Her exercise regimen addresses ones “chi” (your energy source coming from your belly) and she shakes body parts, arms, legs, stretching them, patting them, arms, belly.. Wake up! Feel your energy flowing within. She works on keeping that energy from escaping your body. Amazing how now there is a refreshing balance of mental calmness and physical energy. It’s quite a lovely feeling.
After a nice break for lunch with an array of healthy salads, juices and flavored water, and a time to share our experiences with one another, Mark Teagle, came on to lead us in a thoughtful creative writing process with his focus on poetry and journaling. He has a long history writing poetry beginning as a teenager and turning them to lyrics for his musicals. With the understanding, that of course, not all of us are accomplished poets or even journal writers for that matter, he suggests beginning simply. (All those in attendance were supplied with a journal and early on decorated the cover with floral stickies making it our own as all are uniquely created.)
Putting pen to paper, we were asked to write for 15 minutes with a focus on poetry of any form and perhaps think of a Biblical character to describe. It was an open-ended writing exercise. With our minds free from the outside world and that kind of business that crowds our thought process, we look inward and let our thoughts fill the page. Surprise! Surprise! Everyone had written something, a thought, a poem, a character, a story, a journal entry.
Brian Hamilton shared an elegant Haiku to his mother. Simple, thoughtful and deeply heart-felt. Karen Mikami shared an emotional poem of a youngster in her class facing immigration issues with such fear so expressively flowing forth from the written word. Such creative expression is quite powerful. The “me” in each of us finds nurture and health through all these ways of getting in touch with our spirituality and our souls, our minds and our bodies. What a refreshing change.
The day was capped off with an essential oil workshop presented by Kelli Martines. Now this is doing something super nice for yourself. We learned how to mix various scents…lavender, citrus, frankincense, vanilla, etc. each mixture used for nurturing ourselves whether it’s to help us sleep, be calm, be happy, relieve tension or cure a hangover. What a way to end our time together with these various scents enhancing our sense of smell and ohhhhh so nice for our bodies.
The winter retreat whose sole purpose was intentional healing and nurturing was a deeply personal experience. All who attended were thankful for this day made just for “ME.”
We thank the church staff, our hosts, Rev. John Oda, Mark Teagle, Kelli Martines and Hikaru Bakoshi for putting this winter retreat together for the church body. We thank our Umbrella Ministry leaders, Bobbie Ueunten and Diana Marks for their mind and body wellness exercises. We acknowledge the Wesley Church Endowment Fund for our beautiful journals.
Rev. John Oda gives welcoming remarks and sets the purpose of this winter retreat.
Jan Yamaguchi (above) and Charlene Chow (below and new to Wesley), show their decorated journal covers
Michiko Collins finds a moment to pray during the labyrinth walk.
Bobbie Ueunten (above) and Diana Marks (below) demonstrate Feldenkrais and Meridian exercises.
Mimune Tsukamoto and Shelley Nakashima show they can stomp their feet.
Mark Teagle led the singing and did a session on his writing process.
A workshop on essential oils was led by Kelli Martines.
Workshop participants enjoyed the activity, from left: Bev Lovass, Brian Hamilton, Brenda Gee, Bob To, Rev. John, and Bobbie Ueunten.
and so did, from left: Michiko Collins, Shelley Nakashima, Jan Yamaguchi, Charlene Chow, Bev Acuna, and Mina Estores.
Yes, guys attended, Richard Poczulp and Jim Higuchi hanging out.
Hatty Lin and always behind the scenes, Hikaru Bakoshi.
Marlette Celeridad and Mina Estores have returned from San Diego.
Posted in Newsletter 2025-02-20