Author Archives: katherinemarr

My mind and I talk. I say to my mind “Be quiet, I can’t hear what is really happening.” My mind replies “I’m not the one talking, you are”. Did I just say that or was it my mind? “Oh be quiet, focus”, I tell myself. “My breath. Breathe. Focus.” I eventually settle into myContinue reading “If You Want To Understand Your Mind, Sit Down and Observe It”

I work with teenagers who are deeply committed to an idea of ending their lives. I talk about suicide on a daily basis and explore what it means to those who are contemplating it. With the recent loss of Robin Williams, I have been following the various responses in the media and reactions expressed throughContinue reading “Intimate Reflections on Suicide”

There is an on-going dialogue within the yoga, Buddhist, and mindfulness communities, promoting yoga and mindfulness practices as a means of achieving greater emotional balance. By emotional balance, we are essentially referring to the development of emotional regulation skills: an ability to create a state of peace in the mind as various emotional states ariseContinue reading “Mindfulness and Emotional Balance – The Chicken and The Egg”

Vipassana means to see things as they really are. The meditation technique is one of India’s most ancient forms of meditation. During meal times over the 10 day course, I would look around the room and contemplate the universality of what we, the 65 women who were there together, were simultaneously experiencing. I would alsoContinue reading “Same Stroke for Different Folks: Reflections on Vipassana Meditation”

In most health care and social service professions, there is the named experience and notion of compassion fatigue: the tiredness and burnout that sets in when one exhausts his/her limitations of what he/she can give to another without ensuring a balanced output of compassion and care for the self. Prevention of this compassion fatigue isContinue reading “Prevention of Compassion Fatigue for Yoga Teachers”

With 2014 upon us, I would like to thank my mentors and teachers for the lessons that have stuck with me from 2013. In this moment, as I write, these are the top quotes/anecdotes/stories I have to share: 1. Just because you are experienced in something, don’t assume you are above and beyond the proposedContinue reading “Top Take-Aways From 2013”

Nelson Mandela: a man whose life left everyone pondering, wondering, being grateful, and asking ourselves the simple question of how do we continue to live up to those principles that he so powerfully stood for. When such an influential leader passes on from the existence that we know, the impermanence of life becomes real. WithinContinue reading “He Sent the Globe Into a State of Self-Examination”

Yesterday, my brother and I ran the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon. With very little training, each of us set off in the morning with a flexible goal. I began the run with an idealistic ambition of keeping up with the 1h45 pace bunny. Within 3 kms, I quickly adjusted that goal as I thought toContinue reading “Never Underestimate the Power of Accomplishment”

It’s often in the face of a tragic event, such as the train and bus collision in Ottawa last week, that we pause and reflect on our lives and the interconnectedness of our existence. Ottawa is small and I estimate that most of its residence are within three degrees of separation of one another. ItContinue reading “Tragedy and our degrees of separation”

Anger gets a bad rap. It’s actually not all bad. Ask some of the teens I work with to list the up sides of anger and they will look at you with a puzzled expression as though you are crazy to even suggest that such benefits exist. The only benefit that they sometimes come upContinue reading “Don’t tell me to calm down!”