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Deborah Ferris Mindful Meditation & Reiki, Tillsonburg, ON (2025)

11/10/2025

Mindfulness & Nature's Beauty
Learning to be mindful is a practice and one of the most enjoyable ways to practice is spending time in nature.

On a snowy day you can simply look out the window and mindfully look at trees covered in snow or take a little foray into your garden and be present with what you see, hear, touch and feel in the moment. As you do this, notice how you feel and even where in your body you notice the feelings and sensations. Really take in these moments. You can even amplify them.

Mindfulness is an opportunity for us to be curious and to investigate the present moment and its aliveness.

Nature provides us with so much beauty that refreshes our body/mind/spirit. Going for a walk amongst trees and by water especially uplifts and gladdens the heart. It's also good for our immune system too.

This week notice the beauty of nature whether from your chair or being outdoors.

Wishing you wellness, happiness and harmony. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

11/03/2025

Patience in Meditation and Life
Patience has been called a virtue and it is so true as many of us find it hard to be this way.

The Buddha advocated patience whether you are sitting in meditation or living your life. There will always be ups and downs, frustrations or suffering so we need ways to help us keep our calm and cool.

Patience involves pausing before reacting, cultivating inner peace and responding with clarity and compassion to challenges and to other's actions.

When we cultivate patience we develop an understanding of our minds and emotions and how other's may act in ways that show they are suffering.

This week you may wish to notice how patient you are whether waiting in a line-up, waiting for a response from someone or having patience with your own physical or emotional skills. Work at breathing and pausing before reacting.

Remember compassion is key.

Wishing you ease and peace. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

10/27/2025

Just For Today ...
The Fifth Reiki Principle or Precept that all Reiki students learn is 'Just for today or Today only be kind and grateful to all sentient beings'. This is an important precept for all of us to live by.

We can be kind and grateful towards ourselves. If we make a mistake or we are not seen, we can treat ourselves gently knowing that we can learn from situations and events. We can realize that we need not be dependent on the other for us to be okay. We can know that if someone is unkind to us they are coming from their own suffering.

This precept also advocates for us to extend kindness and gratitude to others. We can be kind to those who are suffering whether physically or in some other way. We can extend gratitude to trees, flowers, animals and so on.

When we are kind and thankful we are filled with joy and happiness. This truly helps make the world a better place.

This week look for ways to express your kindness and gratitude from acknowledging a loved one or stranger to caring for a plant, an animal and so on.

Wishing you happiness and peace. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

10/20/2025

Diwali Festival of Lights
There are a number of countries that celebrate Diwali including India, Fiji and Malaysia as well as in some cities in Canada.

This is a celebration of the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. People celebrate by lighting candles and lamps during the five day festival.

As well, gifts of sweets are exchanged, homes are cleaned and fireworks light up the sky in countries like India.

Even if this isn't part of our cultural background, we can recognize this special time by lighting candles, meditating or praying for peace, harmony and love to prevail.

We all wish for happiness and lightness in our lives. May we find our true joy, love and may Light prevail in the world.

Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

10/13/2025

Gratitude on Thanksgiving Day
Gratitude is an acknowledgement of all that sustains us, says Jack Kornfield, Mindfulness Meditation teacher and author.

Today and every day we can give thanks for our shelter, food, family and friends, good health or the portion of good health that we have and more.

Let us remember today our blessings and gratitudes like the teachings of the Buddha, mindfulness, the beauty in the world, healing energies/arts like Reiki, the bounty of the harvest and so much more.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and peace, love and harmony. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

10/06/2025

Gathering the Harvest
The Fall season is a time when we gather in a harvest of foods. Below is a sample of our cherry tomatoes that are continuing to flourish.

As we gather in food for storage, preserving or eating fresh, at the same time we can be gathering in our intentions for how we have been acting in the world at this time.

For example, did you intend to go to yoga classes or walk four or five times a week? Did you intend to re-start a mindfulness meditation practice this Fall? Maybe you made an intention to be more present throughout the day and take some short pauses to notice what you are thinking, feeling and sensing.

If you made intentions, plans or goals, you can check that out - gather them in - and see how you are doing. This way you can correct any lapses and reaffirm your intentions. Perhaps even logging some of them and having a friend to keep you on track.

The harvest though is really a time of celebration. So, if you didn't meet all the posts you set then you can still feel joy in knowing this is a new moment and the next and the next is also a new moment. In Beginner's mind, we start over anew - a fresh new breath in and a fresh new breath out.

Wishing you joy and wellness. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

09/29/2025

The Unnoticed
Have you ever gone for a walk and not really been fully aware of your surroundings and the wonders within and without?
Sometimes we need to be more present as we walk, talk and think, so that we can see the hidden beauties that await us.

There is joy in being aware and noticing what is before us. We may see the beauties of nature or sense the groundedness and strength that are ours as we walk along a path. With more awareness, we can notice the smile or frown on someone's face. We can be here right now.

Sometimes we don't notice those who live on the fringes or members of our own families if we are caught up in our cell phones, newspapers, TV and so on.

Let's take in the moment and all that it has to enrich and enliven our life. And, may the moment include love, wisdom and compassion.

Wishing you happiness and peace. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

09/22/2025

Happy Autumnal Equinox
Today is the start of the Fall season and it's a time when daylight and dark are nearly equal. This is thus an excellent time to focus on balance in our life, balance in thoughts and actions.

The beauty of Fall with trees changing colours and the more temperate temperatures help us to adjust from the heat of Summer and the colder months of Winter.

It's also a time to practice gratitude for the bounty of the harvest that helps to sustain and nourish us with the variety of vegetables, fruits and other foods.

In our mindfulness practice we know that gratitude helps us to open our hearts to more love and compassion and when we are balanced in our life we are more easily following the Middle Path that the Buddha advocated through the noble 8-Fold practice.

So today and going forward let us count our blessings and spread our gratitude around. Let us balance ourselves between heaven and earth finding our strength and wisdom as we lead a life of service valuing ourselves and others.

Wishing you love, peace and harmony. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

09/15/2025

Living in Peace
We all want to be happy and one of the key ingredients to happiness is being at peace and living with ease. We may find this inner peace with a walk in the woods, being in a flower garden or lying in the sand at the beach as we listen to the waves rolling in and receding out.

We can cultivate peace through a meditation practice focusing on the pure breath in and the long relaxing out breath. As well, we can chant OM Shanti on a regular basis to instill a sense of peace and calm within or listen to OM Shanti music.

Even saying Shanti, Shanti, Shanti or singing it attunes body. mind and spirit to Peace as we also visualize or imagine Peace for ourselves, Peace for loved ones and Peace for all beings everywhere.

Peace is an important state to inhabit in our spiritual life whether we are dealing with difficulties like frustration, anger, sadness, pain or some other feeling or negative thoughts. Recognizing these other states we accept them and allow them to release as we also cultivate peace.

This week find your inner peace as you ground in your feet, legs and belly chakra, open your heart and focus on your third eye chakra. Allow peace to fill you, surround you and radiate out from you. Stay with this feeling for 5 minutes to 20 minutes.

Shanti. Shanti. Shanti. Wishing you joy.

09/08/2025

The Changing Rhythms
Summer begins to wind down to Fall and we benefit from these seasonal changes especially when we enjoy the moment without clinging to it or avoiding it.

Our mindfulness practice teaches us to be aware through our senses - thoughts, feelings, sensations and so on. So whether you are at the beach enjoying Summer-like weather or you are walking through a garden where some of the flowers have faded and petals have fallen and there's a crispness in the air, you still maintain that presence amidst the changes.

You can feel the changing rhythms around you and in you. Take note as you spend time in awareness. This moment and this moment.

Wishing you happiness and wellness. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

09/01/2025

Mind Like Sky
Imagine that your mind is vast like the blue sky and in that vastness you find spaciousness and openness. You find peace and calm.
So make your meditation on the blue blue sky up above with your feet and legs grounded in the earth. Your breath can also guide you on this journey into emptiness and being awake.

"You are the sky. Everything else (i.e. thoughts, feelings) is just the weather." Pema Chodron, Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher and author.

Experiment with meditating on the vast blue sky and if clouds come in know they will float by.

Wishing you much ease in your life and kindness. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

08/25/2025

Cultivating Qualities Like Peace
We each have a choice in how we live our lives. We can choose peace over turmoil, love over hatred and kindness over cruelty.

Mindful Meditation helps us to water the seeds or qualities that are beneficial to us like peace and calm even while we have the opportunity to see when turmoil arises within us. We can let the overwhelm or war within go. Yes it is a practice. Since we may have to repeat many times the letting go of what doesn't serve us or others. Letting go, breathing and returning to calm.

Paramahansa Yogananda said: "Practice the presence of peace. The more you do that, the more you will feel the presence of that power in your life."

This week let us tune into peace, calm, harmony and love. Feel it in your body right into your bones. Breathing in and out with what is. When the monkey mind appears, notice but no need to hang on. Just let go returning to the breath and peace.

Wishing you wellness, joy and peace. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti. Peace to you. Peace to loved ones. Peace to all beings everywhere.

Deborah Ferris Mindful Meditation & Reiki

11/10/2025

11/03/2025

10/27/2025

10/20/2025

10/13/2025

10/06/2025

09/29/2025

09/22/2025

09/15/2025

09/08/2025

09/01/2025

08/25/2025

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