A Note from Sue & Alex

Hello Ranchers!

As our busy Summers come to an end and we welcome the cooler temperatures, it is a perfect time for reflection. Structure returns to our daily lives as we shuttle kids and start new projects before the year ends.

Therefore, it is an excellent time to re-energize our mindfulness practices. As we often discuss at The Ranch, it’s about adding more good into the equation, not taking away or going the all or nothing route.

Just like bringing more water, veggies, sleep and fun to our days, we benefit from adding mindfulness. This can happen in many ways, including:

• Taking 2 minutes upon waking to simply lay still, breathe and think of one thing you are grateful for at that moment before rolling over and getting up.
• Downloading a meditation app and treating yourself to a few minutes each day. Ranch yoga instructor Alison Bristow discusses the benefits of meditation in this newsletter and offers a link to one led by her on the Insight Timer app. You can also try Headspace, Calm or 21-Day Meditation Experience from Deepak Chopra.
• Being conscious of your thoughts. Whatever you are saying to yourself becomes true over time. If it’s all judgmental or negative, quickly rephrase in the positive. It is proven that our subconscious mind believes EVERYTHING we tell it!!!!
• Do one thing each day to make someone happy, your heart will thank you.

Wishing you all a mindfully fabulous Fall!

In Health and Love,
~ Sue & Alex

NEWS & NOTES

Do the Dolomites in 2020!

After another successful Summer in the Italian Dolomites, we are thrilled to return to this beautiful destination in 2020! Staying at the unbelievably charming Hotel Rosa Alpina, you’ll enjoy Ranch-like results as you hike one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world, all while eating delicious, Italian-inspired, plant-based cuisine. Priced at $8,900, weeklong sessions will run for just seven weeks from August 30th – October 17th with room upgrades available at an increased rate.

STAFF CHAT

In the last few years, the case for meditating has become unequivocally clear to me. Simply put, why would anyone want to live their entire life using only a tiny portion of their mind – and the most chaotic, fluctuating portion at that?!

Studies indicate that the average human has 50,000 – 70,000 thoughts per day. Furthermore, it is said that the majority of those thoughts are repetitive and negative in nature. Just the sheer volume is enough to cause anxiety and most likely why that part of the mind is often referred to as unruly or the monkey mind. Without any deeper awareness to hold it, a person absorbed in only that part of their psyche can begin to feel out of control, depressed or anxious.

The phrase, “tip of the iceberg,” is a useful metaphor in helping people understand the bigger picture of the mind and consciousness. This old adage is based in real-life glacier science that only 10% of an iceberg is visible above the surface while the other 90% is hidden beneath.

For a moment, visualize the mind like an iceberg and imagine that the part we refer to as thinking is only the very surface of that mind – 10% or even less. And then consider that beneath that tip of the iceberg stream of thinking lies the rest of the mind – vast, wide, usually largely unexplored and unused. Consider meditation as what helps bridge the gap between your awareness and the deeper dimensions of your own mind.

The barrier is the habitual attraction (some even refer to it as an addiction) that the vast majority of us have to that one little part of our mind called thoughts, thinking or mental movements. Meditation gets that part of the mind quiet and redirects attention away from it. The goal is to create enough of a space between you (as the one who is aware) and the thinking itself.

In my work with others, I now receive more and more requests from individuals seeking freedom from things like anxiety, excessive stress, phobias and depression. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, people need the added support of another person physically present and supporting them in reconnecting with their own capacity to go inside and connect with the parts of themselves that have been alienated.

What I like to call the non-bells-and-whistles practice involves three basic simple elements:

• Stillness: bring the physical body into stillness
• Quietness: choose not to speak or project sounds out into the environment through the voice
• Inwardly directed focus: this is at first most easily achieved by closing the eyelids.

Once these three elements are at play, you can simply watch what arises within you without the normal distractions and engagement with the external world. Sometimes, again because of the overwhelming importance that has been placed on thinking and doing, this can feel unbearable at first.

To ease this barrier, it often helps to engage in a practice like breath awareness – redirecting attention away from thoughts and onto breath. Simply notice the breath as it flows in and then back out. Even keeping attention on that breath movement for three cycles in a row can noticeably shift the inner and outer state.

I love giving our Ranch and Ranch 4.0 guests an opportunity to experience some of what is described here. Many share that it helps to round out the overall wellness and balance they are seeking to reconnect with when they make an investment in themselves by committing to the rigors of The Ranch.

And keep in mind, reading about meditation cannot give you the experience of meditating and the benefits that go along with it. If you haven’t tried meditating, I hope after reading this you will seek out ways to give yourself the experience. Spaces dedicated to meditation are cropping up around the country. In addition, there are a variety of meditation apps such as Insight Timer, Calm, and Waking Up that can be downloaded right to your mobile device.

I also offer you the following link to try it for yourself HERE

CHEF’S CORNER