Patricia Barnes Therapeutic Yoga

04/02/2026

This spoke to me. Maybe it will be helpful to you!

There is a fire within you
that does not belong to the noise of this world.

It is older than your worries.
Older than your anger.
Older than the stories that tried to make you forget yourself.

Êkwa…

In this moment,
we sit beside that fire again.

We do not need to make it bigger.
We do not need to prove anything.

We just need to tend it.

With our breath.
With our presence.
With the way we choose to walk forward from here.

If something was said to you today
that tried to shake you…

let it pass like wind through the trees.

If something within you feels heavy…

place it gently beside the fire.

Not to throw it away—
but to let it be seen,
warmed,
understood.

Because not everything we carry
is meant to be held alone.

Mâmawi… together…
even in quiet ways.

Kisê-Manitow,
help us remember who we are.

Help us walk in miyo-pimâtisiwin…
the good life…
even in small steps.

And if we forget again—

kîhtwâm…
again and again…
bring us back to the fire.

Êkwa.

Walk gently this day.
Carry only what is yours.

Ekosi.

—Kanipawit Maskwa (Standing Bear)

03/25/2026

This confirms the message that we need to experience yoga in order to understand it 🙏🏻

As Br. David reminds us, “We may read volumes and volumes on the art of swimming, yet we’ll never understand what swimming is like unless we get wet.”

In order to learn from life, we also need to acknowledge and embrace its imperfections. None of us get through life unscathed, and living gratefully helps us see life’s abundance in those times when our hearts become timid or doubtful.

Living gratefully gives us the opportunity to try “swimming” in life every day. When we intentionally practice in this way, we build skills that prepare us for whatever life offers next.

Read the full essay: https://grateful.org/resource/learn-by-doing/

02/16/2026

Let's keep the spirit of peacefulness and mindfulness as we move forward in our lives❤️🙏🏻🕊

In a time when the world feels loud and divided, I’ve been thinking about something simple.

Nineteen Buddhist monks recently walked 2,300 miles from Texas to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It took them 108 days — a sacred number in their tradition representing completion and spiritual wholeness.

They weren’t marching in protest. They weren’t campaigning for anything. They were walking for peace and mindfulness.

Some walked barefoot. They moved through snow, wind, and long highways. One of the monks even lost his leg in an accident along the way. Still, they continued.

That kind of commitment says something.

Walking has always been deeply human. Before nations and before technology, we moved across the earth at the speed of our own feet. There is something about that pace that changes a person. It quiets the mind. It steadies the breath. It brings us back into relationship with the ground beneath us.

We often look for big solutions to big problems. But sometimes peace begins in something smaller — in presence, in discipline, in choosing not to harm, in slowing down enough to actually feel where we are.

Whether we call it mindfulness, prayer, or simply awareness, the act of walking with intention reminds us that we belong to this earth — and to one another.

Maybe the world doesn’t need more noise.

Maybe it needs more people willing to move gently.

Êkwa. Walk gently.

02/13/2026

February is ❤️ month! Check out these suggestions.

02/09/2026

I love reading the daily inspiration from Grateful Living 🙏🏻

02/05/2026

Check out all the resources here!

In a year when some sought to erase the contributions of women and people of color from the nation's story, others chose to honor it.

In Binghamton, New York, a stunning new statue of abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman was unveiled along the Downtown Binghamton Freedom Trail. In discussing the significance of its placement, Anne Bailey, professor of history and director of Binghamton's Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity, explained that "Binghamton N.Y., and Broome County, in general, were a part of the Underground Railroad network, and Harriet Tubman, Gerrit Smith, William Seward and other figures were part of an important hub of anti-slavery activity in Upstate New York.”

Zoe Dufour, a figurative sculptor, designed the bronze statue, which was unveiled in March. “It is an incredible honor to commemorate an individual like Harriet Tubman,” she reflected. “I want to spend my career sculpting individuals like her, that show us the best parts of humanity. She championed for rights and freedom against what must have felt like unassailable odds and was successful beyond what was imagined possible. She still captivates us today. Her story transcends time and is a reminder to hold hope hand in hand with action, rather than to give into despair.”

To learn more about the Downtown Binghamton Freedom Trail, visit https://www.binghamton.edu/centers/harriet-tubman/freedom-trail.html

To introduce children to Harriet Tubman's incredible life story, we highly recommend the picture books "I Am Harriet Tubman" (https://www.amightygirl.com/i-am-harriet-tubman) and "Harriet Tubman: A Little Golden Book Biography" (https://www.amightygirl.com/harriet-tubman-golden-book), for ages 4 to 8

For older kids, there is also a captivating chapter book "She Persisted: Harriet Tubman" for ages 6 to 9 (https://www.amightygirl.com/she-persisted-harriet-tubman), an illustrated biography "Who Was Harriet Tubman" for ages 7 to 11 (https://www.amightygirl.com/who-was-harriet-tubman), and a graphic novel "The Underground Abductor" for ages 9 to 13 (https://www.amightygirl.com/the-underground-abductor)

Harriet Tubman's Civil War contributions are also recounted in the excellent book about 16 women who made a mark during the war: “Courageous Women of the Civil War" for teens and adults, ages 12 and up, at https://www.amightygirl.com/courageous-women-civil-war

For adults who would like to read more about Tubman's life and contributions, there are two excellent biographies "Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom" (https://www.amightygirl.com/tubman-road-to-freedom) and "Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman" (https://www.amightygirl.com/bound-for-the-promised-land)

For more books for children and teens about pioneering African American women, visit our blog post "99 Books about Extraordinary Black Mighty Girls and Women" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14276

To see more stories from A Mighty Girl, you can sign-up for A Mighty Girl's free email newsletter at https://www.amightygirl.com/forms/newsletter

02/03/2026

So much to learn during Black History Month! Here is a start.

Long before computers were trusted to guide spaceflight, Katherine Johnson was already doing the math that carried America into space and brought its astronauts home.

Born in 1918 in West Virginia, Johnson was a prodigy who started high school at 10 and graduated college summa cm laude at 18. Her talent was so exceptional that a professor created an advanced geometry course just for her, steering her toward research mathematics at a time when few Black women were allowed near it.

In 1953, she joined NASA’s predecessor as a “human computer,” calculating flight paths by hand. Her work shaped Alan Shepard’s first American spaceflight and John Glenn’s historic orbital mission. Glenn famously insisted she verify the computer’s numbers before launch. If Katherine Johnson said it was right, it was right.

Her calculations guided Mercury missions, Apollo 11’s moon landing, Apollo 13’s safe return, and early Space Shuttle designs. She co-authored 26 research papers, became the first woman in her division credited as an author, and asked questions others avoided until the answers made sense.

Katherine Johnson did not just help America reach space.
She proved that precision, persistence, and curiosity can move the universe itself.

01/19/2026

Do you like the idea that peace is a practice, a way of living? Please pass it on!❤️🙏🏻🕊

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." –Martin Luther King, Jr.

📷: TJ Holowaychuk

Start each day right with an inspiring gratefulness quote in your inbox. Sign up here: https://grateful.org/practice/word-for-the-day/

01/14/2026

Divine feminine!

"A woman in
harmony with her spirit
is like a river flowing.
She goes where she will
without pretense, and
arrives at her destination
prepared to be herself,
and only herself."
- Maya Angelou 🌘💙

01/09/2026

Grateful Living has been very helpful to me over the past year. I hope you will find some inspiration here as well!

01/03/2026

Appreciate the energy of the wolf moon!

The Wolf Super-moon 🌕

We may not have much light in winter but this moon will charge you until spring, if you let it.

Donna x

12/31/2025

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year, including self-acceptance and self-compassion!

On the stroke of midnight tonight, you can resolve to be better, if you like…
to be fitter,
to eat cleaner,
to work harder.

On the stroke of midnight tonight,
you can resolve to become a whole new you,
if you so choose.

Or, you can take a moment to acknowledge what you already are.
Because it’s a lot.
You are a lot.

And you deserve to be truly seen.

On the stroke of midnight tonight, perhaps you could congratulate yourself, for coping.
For breaking, again,
for rebuilding, again.

For catching the stones life has thrown at you,
and using them to build your castle that little bit more beautifully.

And if you have used those stones to block yourself in for the ‘heal’, perhaps you can realign them this year. Make a grander gate, not a higher wall.

You have endured, my friend.
Through times you thought unendurable. You did.

And I don’t see the need to resolve to become a whole new you,
when you are already so very much indeed.

Happy new year.

You made it.

Now let us face another 365 day-turn, arms wide…
accepting, embracing and ‘seeing’ one other,
for all we truly are…

breaks and all.

Donna Ashworth