Transforming Experiences

08/19/2025

Finding the Sacred in Nature a deep embodied sensory immersion in nature through a forest bathing walk. Come join us this Sunday August 24 from 9-12 at Mueller State Park. We all worship the Creator in His created beauty. RSVP for more information. [email protected]

06/17/2025

We have space for more to join us this Saturday for an all day Scripture Circle. This is one of the most impactful teachings we encounter. Sign up today. Cost includes lunch!! https://mailchi.mp/togetherinthemystery/pentecost-in-my-living-room-june-scripture-circles

01/13/2025

Join us Friday January 24th at our home!!

Our friend, Rabbi Noah, is in town leading some Scripture circles next week, and we'd love to have you join us, if you're in the Denver or Colorado Springs area!

If you’d like to join in a three-hour Circle, we have the following times we’d love to see you (and feel free to join for more than one):

Saturday, January 18 at 1 pm in Colorado Springs - Details & registration here: https://tinyurl.com/OpenSCJan18COS

Sunday, January 19 at 1 pm in Lakewood - Details & registration here: https://tinyurl.com/OpenSCJan19

Wednesday, January 22 at 6 pm in Colorado Springs - Details & registration here:
https://tinyurl.com/OpenSCJan22

Or, if you’d like an immersive full-day experience, we invite you to join in study on Friday, January 24 from 9 am-3 pm in Colorado Springs - Details & registration here: https://tinyurl.com/OpenSCJan24

For more information on Scripture circles in general, you can wander over to our website: https://anamcara.com/scripture-circles/

And if you are NOT local, and would like to join an ONLINE Scripture Circle, we have one on the first Wednesday of every month (next one is Feb 5th), and you can sign up here: https://anamcara.as.me/open-circle-wednesday

12/27/2024

Join us in Colorado Springs in February for our new cohort!! Experience your Belovedness!! 💜 https://www.soulcareinstitute.com/programs/two-year-soulcare-retreat

10/26/2024

Artistic Afternoons: BODY FLOW

Allow yourself to let your breath guide your body movement today.

Take a moment to notice how you feel and how you are breathing.

Notice if you are taking shallow breaths. Stand up and take several deep inhales, raising your arms to touch the sky and dropping them to start again—filling up the lungs and belly as deeply as you are able.

Perhaps you're feeling anxious, and your breath is short and quick. Is your body tense and tight? Breath some deep slow breaths for three minutes, shaking your body after each one. Release any tension as you move.

Maybe your body is energized and wants some flowing movement, matching your breath to your movement. If you are jumping perhaps you will want to take short quick breaths.

Dance for a bit and notice when your body requires more breath.

Is your mind foggy and distracted? As you allow your lungs to fill with breath, lean your head back and breath more deeply. Allow your body to lead the breath. Perhaps take your hands to your rib cage and imagine pulling them open to create more expansiveness, bringing in more oxygen with each breath. Breath in the right nostril for a few minutes, awakening the brain.

[When you are done with this exercise, take some time to write about the experience. What did you notice? How did you sense the Breath of Life, moving in and out of you? Did anything surprise you? Awaken in you that had been unattended previously? How did your body feel at the end of the exercise, as opposed to before you began? Write it all out; record your experience in some way.]

This is our final guest post for the week, from spiritual director and breathwork facilitator, Kim Nielsen Van Natta. If you would like to learn more or experience Sacred Breathwork, please contact Kim at [email protected] or book a 75 minute session at https://calendly.com/kimteltd/30-minute-integrative-breath-clone.

Thanks for sharing your words and wisdom in this space, Kim!

10/26/2024

Midday Meditation: A Breathwork Practice: GRATITUDE

The intention for our time today is Gratitude.

Begin by finding a comfortable position.

Then become aware of your breathing.
Notice the sensations of the Breath of Life breathing in you.

The soft, gentle Breath of God. Stay here for a bit.

Perhaps notice the coolness or warmth of your breath.
Does it change on the exhale?

Now take three slow deep inhales through the nose, and equally as slow exhales through the mouth, staying with the sensations of the breath.

Staying with this breath pattern of in through the nose and out through the mouth, find a pace and length that feels comfortable for you. No rush.

Now think of something you are grateful for today.

Where do you notice that in your body?

Focus on that place in your body.

Stay with the breath pattern, breathing in a deeper sense of gratitude: in through the nose, expanding your capacity for gratitude, then out through the mouth. Stay here for a bit.
Savor, linger longer. Deepen the place within your body to hold that gratitude.

When you feel you are done, take some time to thank God for the gifts and graces of each breath!
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Guest post from spiritual director and breathwork facilitator, Kim Nielsen Van Natta. You can contact her at [email protected] or check out her website www.transformingexperiences.org.

10/26/2024

Recently, I (Kim) finished training to be a PAUSE Breathwork Facilitator. Breathwork is a very powerful bottom-up healing modality. When we experience shifts and healing in the body first, inevitably shifts in the mind will follow. This is different than the top-down processes (talk therapy, CBT, etc.) which work to change or reframe our thoughts without going into the body.

“Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to adapt and change based on experiences or learning. Breathwork is a powerful practice that has been shown to stimulate neuroplasticity in the brain.” (PAUSE manual)

Curt Thompson tells us that “our brains change in relationship.” Breathwork is one of the ways this can take place.

As we established this week, our very breath is the Breath of God in us. Sacred Breathwork can be used to bring about the healing within our bodies, that then shifts the mind. In Sacred Breathwork, the Holy Spirit Breath is invited into the space to bring about the deep healing the body needs in order to become more whole and freer.

A few of the benefits of Breathwork include:
*increase lung capacity
*boost immune system
*promote healthy digestion
*regulate your parasympathetic system
*stimulate neuroplastic processes in the nervous system
*increase attention and focus
*increase overall well-being
*establish an anchor with our breath so that we pause and therefore can respond to life with less reactivity more awareness and more easily move through ebbs and flows of life

A typical Sacred Breathwork session starts with setting an intention for the time, then talking about the possible effects of the breathwork to our bodies and emotions. We begin with a gentle body scan, followed by 30-40 minutes of breathwork, utilizing two different breath patterns. (An introduction to one breath pattern will be our Midday Meditation today.) Then we gently come out of the space and end with a time of reflection and spiritual direction, with a followup of post-care tips.

If you would like to learn more or experience Sacred Breathwork, please contact Kim at [email protected] (or even book a session at https://calendly.com/kimteltd/30-minute-integrative-breath-clone).

10/26/2024

Artistic Afternoons: 93 Percent Stardust
by Nikita Gill

We have calcium in our bones
iron in our veins
carbon in our souls,
and nitrogen in our brains.
93 percent stardust,
with souls made of flames
we are all just stars
that have people names.

Consider your body and your makeup: 93% stardust. Have you thought about the gift of your own body? About how your very breath (nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen) sustains your body on a daily basis? Gives life to your soul? What do you feel as you sit with these truths? How do you feel about your body and breath? Are you grateful your body and breath have sustained you this far? Perhaps sketch some parts of your body and your breath that you are grateful for in this moment.

Are you dealing with shameful images, hurts done to the body by others or yourself? Do you feel your body and breath have betrayed you? Take time to draw images of where you are in the body right now. Take some deep breaths. Sit with God with the place that might need healing.

Adele Calhoun says, “The body is the soul’s address.”

Robert Mulholland says, “The soul is the place that God is most present to us.”

Wonder at the goodness of your body that holds the place God meets with you, in one way, through your breathing.

Or perhaps create your own version of yourself as stardust with a collage or paint.
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Guest post from Kim Nielsen Van Natta. You may reach out to Kim at [email protected] or check out her website at www.transformingexperiences.org.

10/26/2024

Midday Meditation:

James Nestor says, “The greatest indicator of life span wasn’t genetics, diet, or the amount of daily exercise…It was lung capacity…Prayer heals, especially when it’s practiced at 5.5 breaths a minute…The perfect breath is this: Breathe in for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That’s 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air.”

Give yourself a midday breathing break.

Find a comfortable place to sit, preferably away from a work area.

Set a timer for 7-10 minutes.

Then begin to breathe in for 5.5 seconds then exhale for 5.5 seconds. Repeat this pattern for the duration of your time.

How does your body feel now?
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Guest post from Kim Nielsen Van Natta. You may reach out to Kim at [email protected] or check out her website at www.transformingexperiences.org.