CRISTINA

yellow tulip

Embrace Your Inner Light

Last week, I was sitting with the question, “What has helped me most to embrace my inner light?” Today, I thought to share these with you. By nurturing these principles daily, you can cultivate a profound sense of inner light and clarity. Each moment becomes an opportunity to align with your highest self, radiate kindness […]

Embrace Your Inner Light Read More »

ocean

Through this lens

Through love’s eyes   seeing through love’s eyes attending, presence a soft focus, a gentle gaze simply so the suchness of all shimmering through  a softening, the corners of the lips up, a smile through love’s being   time-space folds into eternity the illuminated night sky —infinite vastness lean all of you into divinity within

Through this lens Read More »

west coast trees and fog

Varied Thrush

Varied Thrush The Varied Thrush lay, one wing open on the deck after a thud —his feathers clung to the window like tiny moths pressing into the afternoon light.   I remember the moment when: with trembling trepidation I gathered his liquid light body in the palms of my hands on that cold, November day

Varied Thrush Read More »

spawning salmon

Yesterday’s salmon

Yesterday’s salmon Just beneath the river’s shimmering skin, sleek, scarred in shallow waters they lunge upstream, up ladders, between rocks.   A twist, a splash, an arc to drop dead still before another surge. An ode to salmon’s final journey.   A pause, a gathering strength against gravity’s downward racing, tumbling current against time in

Yesterday’s salmon Read More »

beech tree

Tree-being movement meditation

Tree movement mediation This is a wonderful movement meditation for grounding your whole being when you are feeling disconnected or uprooted. You may do this meditation as a dance movement practice or as a sitting meditation. This meditation will help you feel held by the earth and more energized. Time: 10-30 minutes or longer if

Tree-being movement meditation Read More »

Italian bread salad variation

Italian grilled-bread salad

Italian Grilled-bread Salad This is a crispier, more colourful and greener variation on traditional Italian Bread Salad. It includes grilled leftover baguette, tomatoes, spring greens, cucumber, lots of basil, oregano, and parsley. It’s perfect for hot summer days when sun-ripe tomatoes and fresh basil are available. Like all my recipes, I encourage you to improvise

Italian grilled-bread salad Read More »

mountain trail copyright cristina viviani

Mountain trail

Walk up into the forest keep right at the big bend. Walk gingerly past the brambles, gingerly alongside the culvert to the creek —fresh bear tracks in the mud. Come, listen to the rippling, bubbling creek. Its cool breath soothing your cheeks teasing away time and unease. Drop anxious thoughts into the murmuring skipping down

Mountain trail Read More »

To be human

To be human is to sense everything and to release everything    —nothing belongs to us. Here, I am a guest cradled in the arms of this blue-green, spinning miracle. I am swirling the Milky Way through this body. I am skipping a river in and out of this heart place. I am breathing a

To be human Read More »

Polenta dish

Polenta with baked eggplant

Rosemary Polenta with baked eggplant and onions This is a simple, delicious dish that goes well with your choice of protein such as beans, scallops, chicken etc. If using the traditional large eggplant rather than the thin ones, a few hours before baking you will need to slice the eggplant and sprinkle with a little

Polenta with baked eggplant Read More »