Orange Blossom Mindfulness

Talk: Preview to "Under His Wings" Meditation (16:58 minutes)

In this talk, we prepare for the "Under His Wings" Christian meditation that follows.

Topics addressed:
- feeling out of control of your body
- sympathetic versus parasympathetic nervous system states
- focusing on the 5 senses in the present moment moves our bodies into the parasympathetic (healing) state
- nesting
- resourcing, or homecoming
Meditation: "Under His Wings" (19:42 minutes)

Christian meditation created for times when we sense that we're losing control of our bodies.

This could be as a result of a troubling diagnosis, symptoms that are confusing or seem unresponsive to treatment, a recent medical procedure or anticipation of a medical procedure, a bodily change that you don't understand, feelings of unsafety, body hatred, etc.

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Welcome to Orange Blossom Mindfulness

TINY MINDFULNESS RETREAT

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

4-6pm

2nd floor, NOLA Massage

5207 Magazine Street

NOLA, 70115

suggested donation: $25

Space is limited! Sign-up is required.

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Join us for a Tiny Mindfulness Retreat this Ash Wednesday!

I'm SO EXCITED to partner with NOLA Massage for this event!

The day after Mardi Gras is a day of cleansing, recovery, and reflection. In the Christian liturgical calendar, Mardi Gras is the last big bash before the forty somber days of Lent. During Lent, the faithful bring their awareness to their sins and seek reconciliation. It’s a season of sacrifice and fasting, and identifying with Jesus when he was tempted by the Devil for forty days in the desert. Easter, the ultimate sacrifice and reconciliation, is the triumphant conclusion to Lent.

Practitioners of Buddhism reflect on the impermanence of our physical form. Through mindfulness, we contemplate and learn to accept our human imperfections, sitting with our limitations and suffering in non judging awareness. Followers of Buddhism seek to end the suffering of self and others, while at the same time acknowledging and welcoming suffering as necessary to spiritual growth.

Both East and West honor and seek to connect with the humility of our human form. Integration of mind and body is the key to healing. Study after study has revealed that interoception can teach our bodies to heal even emotional wounds. Interoception is the ability to perceive sensations within your body. Examples of interoception include feeling or hearing your heartbeat, noticing hunger or digestion, sensing your muscles contract or relax.

Join us this Ash Wednesday as we focus on interoception as a pathway to cleansing, recovery, and reconciliation.

The offering: (two-hour Tiny Mindfulness Retreat)

talk/discussion: embodying imperfection, interdependence, and impermanence
guided meditation, 10 minutes
short break
talk: detoxification and our bodies
guided walking meditation, 15 minutes
short break
talk: healing properties of interoception, introduction to Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra practice, 20 minutes

Ash Wed. Retreat 2023

photo credit: The Advocate
photo credit: PJ Star
photo credit: Annika Gordon via Unsplash

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MINDFUL MONDAYS

Chapel of the Holy Spirit

1100 Broadway Street

NOLA 70118

6-7pm

suggested donation: $10

(we take Venmo, cash, & checks)

Mindful Mondays

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Orange Blossom Mindfulness, LLC, is starting up!

Michelle Scandurro here. I founded Orange Blossom Mindfulness, LLC in the summer of 2022.

I'm on track to earn my Meditation Teaching Certificate from Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield's Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) in February 2023.

As I build my teaching practice, I'll be posting guided meditations for your use here.

Part of my two-year training program was to offer two separate Mindfulness courses as my practicum. I completed my second one in June, 2022. To read more about my practicum classes, click HERE.

This is my great-grandmother (they called her Mere), painted by my great-grandfather. It's a family heirloom. The orange blossom represents my family heritage in the New Orleans area, and also the hometown of the love of my life. My past and my present. My husband is from Plaquemines Parish, where legendary local citrus (satsumas, navels, Meyer lemons...) are grown. They have an Orange Festival every year on my birthday, which just happens to fall at the peak of citrus harvest time. It's a wonderful event, complete with an Orange Queen, carnival rides, funnel bread, delicious fresh oysters, and performances. My in-laws have always grown citrus, and I associate visits to them at Thanksgiving and Christmas with sweet Meyer lemons and tons of beautiful satsumas, which we eat by the dozen. Little bubbles of joy.

When we lived in the suburbs a few years ago, we planted two citrus trees: one navel and one satsuma. We nursed them religiously for years, climbed on ladders to cover them with protective blankets when the temperature fell below freezing, sprayed them for pests, fertilized, and pruned them. If you care for orange trees methodically, they will produce millions of delicate, heavenly-scented flowers which turn into bright, sweet fruit in the dead of winter.

If we cultivate our minds with care, we, too, can bear amazing, healthy fruit.

orange blossoms