Join Julie Potiker as she leads you through this guided meditation where you will use your breath to relax - and focus on what it is you need right now. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Rose-Breasted", by Kai Coggin, from the book, "Mother of Other Kingdoms, poems by Kai Coggin".

"Rose-Breasted", by Kai Coggin(for Pheucticus Iudovicianus)
To be rose-breastedmpas in the grosbeak that gracedthe feeder today on my lunch breath,me, in my teaching clothes, bright red beret,black shirt buttoned to my neck covered in roses,somehow a reflection before this auspicious landing.I sit on the bed with my shoes on because I have to leave again soon--my wife has been sneezing and coughing, so I brought her a pharmacy runof cough drops allergy meds Kleenex, and from bed she's been watchingthe spring migration landing outside our bedroom window.I bring both our binoculars to bed and for a moment here we are,lunch-break lovebirds peering close and hopeful, and there!A sudden flash of black white and roses - he lands!A rare vibrant specimen, gorgeous Rose-breasted Grosbeak,his feathersred like summer tomatoesred like fire-engine crya red blazing sunrise cutting through the skyand I've been teaching simile and metaphor all morningto fourth-graders at the school down the road,so all I see are figurative languages in the way he perches there--a rose blooming in mid air,the roses on my shirt,the roses in my heart rising,rose-breasted chest bested onlyby this flying mirrored birdsongquiet flutterfeeding on seeds during my lunch-breakour binoculars glinting in the noonday sun.

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com
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