Warm greetings, dear Friend!
Wherever you are in the world,
and wherever you are in your journey,
may you be well and happy. 🙏🏻

In December’s newsletter, I mentioned that I’d like us to share “tools” / (spiritual) practices with each other this year that help us to access JOY (my word/theme for 2025).

In January, I wrote about SILENCE.
In February, I wrote about SPACE.
In March, I wrote about SIMPLICITY.
In April, I wrote about BELONGING.
In May, I wrote about SERVICE.

This month, the tool/practice that I’d like to share with you is MOVEMENT synced with the BREATH.

From May 27 to June 19, I experienced Camino #3: a 400 km walk from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain (via the coastal route of the Camino Portugués), and then on to Finisterre and Muxia (pronounced Moo-SHEE-ah), also in Spain.

Before I left for this Camino, I read “How To Walk”, a wonderful little book by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. In the book, he talks about “gathas” – short practice poems that combine your breath and your steps so that you walk and breathe according to the rhythm of the poem. This inspired me to create a musical gatha of my own, and it served me very well as I walked my Camino: I Walk, I Breathe

My intention was to make this journey a walking meditation – and, to a great extent, I succeeded. After days of singing my gatha to myself as I walked, my inner stillness deepened to the point where I no longer needed the gatha, and I enjoyed some deep listening to what was both within me and all around me. Delicious! (The photo in this month’s newsletter was taken on a quiet morning on the way to Finisterre, where the path was at the same elevation as some low-lying cloud. Beautiful!)

AND – in very short order after I was home again – I became overwhelmed with the busy-ness of my life, and I seemingly forgot everything that I’d experienced on my Camino!

It took me most of the summer to “find my feet” again – that’s why you haven’t heard from me until now. (Over the past few months, a number of people that I’ve spoken with have told me how challenging the summer has been for them as well – is that true for you too?) Sometimes, it seems, getting clearer on what we DON’T want (for me, busy-ness) is what we need to get clearer on what we DO want (for me, simplicity)!

And so – I now return to my gatha, and to syncing my steps with my breath, to remember. My sincere wish for each and every one of us is that we allow MOVEMENT (in whatever form works best), synced with our BREATH, that enables us to touch and cultivate inner stillness. May my gatha serve you well with this!
I Walk, I Breathe

How about YOU, dear Friend? Does this month’s theme resonate with you? What form of MOVEMENT works best for you? Walking? Running? Dancing? Cycling? Swimming? Skiing? Skating? What “tools” / (spiritual) practices would YOU like to share this month? WHEREVER you are on your journey, I would love to hear from you. Please e-mail me; we’re all in this together, and we have much to learn from each other. 

(THANKS for being a part of my journey, and SPECIAL THANKS to the kind souls who respond to my newsletters [this time, Ann, Joanne, Mark & Amy, Sandy, and Ouida Joi] – reading your comments is always a highlight of my month. And SPECIAL SPECIAL THANKS to all who shared personal intentions with me to hold for them as I walked my Camino – I honoured them in every step!)

And, as always…
You can listen to my songs and chants here and here.
You can find the words to my songs and chants here.
You can buy my CDs here – ***AND NOW, ON bandcamp TOO!***

UPCOMING AND ONGOING EVENTS

I’m blessed with many opportunities to share my words and music; I perform as a solo artist for many churches in both Canada and the U.S. (in person and online), at local chanting events, and at many local retirement homes. I also perform in many local musical groups. 

For more detailed information on any of my performances, please click on any date in my online calendar. And if I can serve YOU in any way with my words and music, please know that it would be my great pleasure to do so! 

All of my music can be enjoyed any time on my YouTube channel, and I would really appreciate it if you were to visit it and then click on “Subscribe”. (And if you’re a Facebook user, I would really appreciate it if you were to “Like” my Fan Page and then click on “Following”.) Thanks so much!

As a very dear and wise friend in Montreal once said to me, “All I can offer you is my experience”.

My sincere desire, in every one of my newsletters, is to encourage us all to live our Big Lives one Small Step at a time.

Much love to you, dear Friend!
I bless you on your journey,
and I wish you Ease and Grace and JOY
with MOVEMENT synced to your BREATH.

Go with Love,
– Nathen

Nathen Aswell
Performing Songwriter / Inspirational Speaker
Encouraging people to live Big Lives one Small Step at a time
https://www.nathenaswell.com
https://nathenaswell.bandcamp.com
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/NathenAswell
(604) 618-4429