Reflect, Renew, Resolve: It’s That Time of the Year
Jan 02, 2024 06:00AM ● By Paul Chen
Another new year! If you are one who invests time in reflecting upon your journey, renewing your energy for the road ahead, and resolving to make progress in your chosen areas of focus, we welcome you to our annual reboot issue!
This year, it’s particularly packed. Whether you’re going to focus on manifesting your life goals or health goals or developing a more peaceful mind, we’ve got you covered.
We kick off 2024 with a three-issue series—January through March—on pranayama, the breathing practices most associated with yoga classes here in the U.S. January’s article is an overview of breathwork and pranayama and its benefits, which include reducing the impacts of stress, anxiety and depression and boosting one’s mood. In other words, how we might go about developing a more peaceful mind!
February’s article will describe several practices that yoga practitioners might discover in Atlanta’s yoga studios, and the March installment will look at pranayama within the context of the eight limbs of yoga, the spiritual path expounded upon by the Indian sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras, written in the early centuries CE.
In 2022, we kicked off the new year with a special section on life coaching, containing reader questions along with answers provided by local life coaches. One of those coaches, Diane Martinez, recently released her book, Open Up and Get Unstuck, and we offer an excerpt of it in this issue.
Continuing in that vein, in October, we ran a special section on health coaching. This month, we kick off a bimonthly column, Ask a Health Coach, featuring advice from health coach and yoga teacher Hope Knosher. To submit questions for Hope to answer, go to bit.ly/naa-ask-a-coach.
Finally, we’ve created a graphic to point you to the in-depth coverage and articles from our Conscious Evolution department. After several years of creating refreshing stories for this department, we now have a library of content that can serve readers well into the future.
As we embark on an extremely consequential year in the history of our country, let us endeavor to continue evolving as individuals, and may our progress be reflected in our ever-growing capacities for excellent health, love for those dear to us, compassion for those in need and those we often consider as “other,” and our connection to Source and all there is. And may the progress we see in ourselves be reflected in society as a whole. ❧
Publisher of Natural Awakenings Atlanta since 2017, Paul Chen’s professional background includes strategic planning, marketing management and qualitative research. He practices Mahayana Buddhism and kriya yoga. Contact him at [email protected].
Letter to the Editor
Letter to the Editor
head: A Muslim Perspective
As a long-time reader of the Atlanta edition of Natural Awakenings, I read with particular interest the December Letter from the Publisher and the article, “Our Spiritual Leaders Speak”— about the horrid conflict waging in Gaza.
I appreciate publisher Paul Chen’s bold assertion of the Christian edict to “Love thy Enemy” as well as the call for a return to humanity from diverse religious leaders. I am compelled, as a practicing Muslim, to offer an Islamic perspective that aligns with these sentiments.
The Quran states, “Whoever kills an innocent person, it is as if he has killed all of humanity.” (5:32) No matter the claim or motive—attacks on the innocent have no support in Islamic teachings. Prophet Muhammed and his followers were persecuted constantly during his early sojourn. He did not retaliate for many years until he was given divine revelation to defend himself and the small Muslim community.
Even then, acts of war were to be measured with a long list of prohibitions to prevent excessive loss of life and property including the protection of synagogues, churches, temples, and other places of worship. The brazen, cowardly acts of Hamas and the resulting toll on human life is not characteristic of the Palestinian people.
Unrestrained extremism of any stripe is condemnable and cannot stand. Likewise, the disproportionate response by Israel is to be denounced as it has been by many Jewish groups, anti-Zionists and people of goodwill all over the world.
Ultimately war is the utter lack of imagination in a Universe full of Abundance. Only lacking mentalities resort to violence for a just end. Humanity must prevail or I fear hope will be our greatest casualty.
Angelo Omari, Decatur
