On growing up at fifty, practice as a modern-day chaplain and cultivating a domestic monastery.

• (1:48) - Parenting Practices and Transitions
• (3:51) - Addiction Recovery and Personal Experience
• (5:33) - Talking to Children About Addiction
• (10:02) - Living in a Domestic Monastery
• (15:24) - Marriage and Personal Growth
• (23:50) - Chaplaincy and Palliative Care
• (26:13) - End-of-Life Celebrations and Legacy
• (29:07) - Connecting with the Community and Future Plans

Melissa Berry Appleton is a Buddhist Chaplain, lay ordained in the Soto Zen Prajna Mountain Order, by Roshi Joan Halifax of Upaya Zen Center.

Currently serving as a Chaplain with the University of British Columbia Okanagan, British Columbia Interior Health Physicians and the clinical counselling and social work graduate intern practicum program, Melissa has worked as a front-line worker in geriatric cognitive impairments, palliative care, and residential treatment centers for addiction.

Almost complete with her Masters of Clinical Counselling in Psychology she's practiced and taught yoga, somatics and meditation for more than 20 years.

Melissa is mama to three incredible humans now launching as young adults; her deep commitment to practice in the Domestic Monastery is her greatest source.

On rest as the way to reclaim your brilliance, at the altar of now.

• (0:00) - Octavia's Background and Introduction
• (2:16) - Losing Parents and Spiritual Connection
• (2:58) - Rest as a Healing Practice
• (16:03) - Reading from the Book "Rest is Sacred"
• (16:19) - Personal Reflections on Rest
• (16:38) - The Power of Rest and Collective Care
• (27:01) - Daily and Collective Rest Practices
• (27:19) - Protecting Energy through Rest
• (31:57) - Practicing Self-Care and Listening to Oneself

Octavia Raheem is a mother, author, yoga teacher and practitioner, and activist. She has received national attention for her work training yoga teachers and diversifying the yoga and wellness industry. Her work as a yoga professional focuses on practical tools to teach individuals how to manage stress, anxiety, and fatigue through yoga and meditation in a way that is accessible to all levels/abilities, and restorative to the nervous system. Her work has been featured in Yoga Journal, Mantra magazine, Well+Good, CNN, WXIA, and Atlanta Magazine.

Excerpt from Rest is Sacred by Octavia F. Raheem:

Divine One of Rest,
You said come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. You said I will fight for you; you need only to be still. You said be still and know. And here we are. Here, being this portal within these pages. Here, being this place. Here, at this altar called right now. We come in gratitude for our Ancestors who are well enough in spirit to tend to our wellness. Because of them, we found a way to rest. We made a way to rest. We are here to reclaim rest as our birthright. Let it be so.

On the temple of your regular life, and the daily practices of attention, surrender and wonder.

• (0:00) - Introduction to Mirabai Starr and Her Work
• (2:16) - Discussion on "Ordinary Mysticism"
• (5:15) - Accessibility and Intended Audience of "Ordinary Mysticism"
• (7:18) - Personal Stories and Everyday Mysticism
• (11:34) - Mirabai's Identity and Role as a Young Elder
• (14:29) - Current Rituals and Spiritual Practices
• (19:03) - Memories from Taos and Early Influences
• (21:29) - Embodying Contemplative Practice
• (25:44) - The Practice of Wonder and Surrender
• (32:13) - Final Reflections and Mantra Practice

Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author, internationally acclaimed speaker, and a leading teacher of interspiritual dialogue. In 2020, she was honored on Watkins’ list of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. Drawing from 20 years of teaching Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos, Mirabai now travels the world sharing her wisdom on contemplative living, writing as a spiritual practice, and the transformational power of grief and loss. She has authored over a dozen books including Wild Mercy, Caravan of No Despair, and God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Mirabai has received critical acclaim for her revolutionary contemporary translations of the mystics John of the Cross, Teresa of Ávila, and Julian of Norwich. Mirabai offers the fruit of decades of study, teaching, and contemplative practice in a fresh, grounded, and lyrical voice to a growing circle of folks inspired by the life-giving essence of feminine wisdom. Mirabai continues to teach seminars, workshops, and retreats, both in person and through her online community Wild Heart. She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

https://mirabaistarr.com