This is our seventh annual Summer Solstice Meditation! To watch our practice, please visit https://youtu.be/8WcAM7HAs8Y

For folks like me in the northern hemisphere, where it is light by 4:30 and not dark until midnight here at the 51st line of latitude in Calgary, the summer solstice is a magical time of growth and power; every plant is bursting with life and green. It is very beautiful. There's a wonder in nature that is comforting and uplifting, and we connect with this today in our meditation.

The second anchor of our practice today is how to handle the increasing amount of fear and worry we are steeped in. Even if we personally are untangling ourselves as best we can from our simmering collective consciousness that has followed in the wake of American bipartisan divisiveness, we are all sensitive to the collective consciousness and may feel increasingly anxious.

Our mindful, heartful presence in the body during meditation is one way to move away from the unconsciousness anxiety we or our circle may be steeped in. Join in this practice for a few tips and tricks on how to connect to the present moment and pull ourselves out of fear and worry.

For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca

Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Welcome to our annual Father's Day Meditation, where we share loving kindness, forgiveness and gratitude with our fathers and father figures, and with those with whom we share father and father figure relationships. We also dedicate some of today's practice to awakening and nurturing qualities of the divine masculine in ourselves.

The divine masculine embodies qualities like strength, protection, discipline, and action, but also encompasses emotional maturity, responsibility, and a willingness to serve. It's not about aggression or dominance, but rather a balanced energy that fosters growth, provides guidance, and encourages positive change. Nurturing the divine masculine involves honoring and developing our abilities for protection, discipline, focus, authority, guidance, resilience, maturity, responsibility, leadership, logic, action, perseverance, confidence, commitment, and willpower. These are just a few of the qualities that all humans share regardless of gender that are traditionally associated with the divine masculine.

The divine masculine provides a sense of security and safety, both for oneself and others. This strength is not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual, allowing for the ability to stand firm in the face of adversity. It is a force of action, driving individuals to pursue goals, manifest their visions, and make positive changes in the world. It involves setting clear intentions, following through on commitments, and taking ownership of one's actions and their consequences.

The archetype and ideal divine masculine provides a sense of direction and purpose, not through domination, but through clarity, wisdom, and a commitment to serving others. It's probably the first time in history where men have the opportunity to nurture and express this healthier, sustainable vision of masculinity and hence the culture war divisions so common today and some men wrestle with the idea that letting go of domination actually gives more power, true power. That power comes from serving one's community instead of bending it to one's will. The ideal of the divine masculine involves acknowledging and managing emotions in a healthy way, rather than suppressing them. The divine masculine embraces emotional depth and vulnerability while maintaining inner strength. The divine masculine also embodies empathy and compassion, allowing for understanding and connection with others on a deeper level. It's about being true to oneself and acting with honesty and integrity in all interactions.

For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices. We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca

Kind regards,

Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness

Good morning meditators! Today's meditation is inspired by an interview I heard on CBC's "The Current" this week with Israeli peace activist, Yonaten Zeigen, whose mother was killed in the Oct 6 terrorist attack in Israel. Vivian Silver was a peace activist, and he has taken up her mantle. I was so moved and filled with peace hearing him speak of the need for a new non-binary discourse that helps us move forward from conflict-based consciousness into something more sustainable and compassionate.

As meditators, we know our work as peace activists begins inside, discovering where we are at war with the world, and then releasing this for the much greater payoff of feeling great connection and respect for our fellow humans.

We practice this breath meditation today and I hope you enjoy! To watch in video format, please visit https://youtu.be/-QejnTuT-gg

For the interview with Yonaten Zeigen, please follow this link: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/16150671-hamas-killed-mother.-now-hes-continuing-fight-peace Also, I recommend the transcript as well, since his discussion of new discourse to move past binary thinking is well worth reading several times to internalize. I do refer to it in the pre-meditation discussion, and here it is for reference if you'd like to sit with it further. It's about half way down the page; you can search for the interviewee's name, Yonaten Zeigen: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/thursday-june-5-2025-episode-transcript-1.7553590

For more information about Calgary Mindfulness, or to join our weekly practice, please write CalgaryMindfulness@Gmail.com, where we welcome your questions, comments and intentions for future meditation practices.

We offer workshops and instruction and much more! For information, please visit www.CalgaryMindfulness.ca

Kind regards, Rosanna D'Agnillo, Founder and Lead Facilitator, Calgary Mindfulness