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Connections and Community: Galas, Markets, and in-Person Events May 31, 2025 16:03
If you prefer to listen to this month's blog offering, please click HERE for the audio link.
Over the course of the past few weeks, I have had several opportunities to attend events and to meet with individuals in person. This has been a refreshing change, since I usually interact with customers and clients online.
In late April, the Student Government Association at Butler University hosted a fundraising gala, and they invited me to attend as a vendor. This was an intimate event held in Dugan Hall, which is a beautiful new building that houses the Lacy School of Business.
As an alumna, it is always a joy for me to return to the Butler campus, and this evening’s event was no exception. I enjoyed chatting with the students, faculty members, and the other vendors who attended this gala. It was a lovely event, and a few quarter malas found new homes as well.
Adelynn, the student who had invited me to the event, helped me carry a box to my car afterwards. She told me that her grandmother had also attended Butler and shared stories about Starlight Musicals, which used to be held at what is now Hinkle Fieldhouse. I told her that I saw Liberace there once with my family when I was in junior high school.
Adelynn also remembered her grandmother mentioning the C-Club, which was a cafeteria for commuter students. I remember studying there between classes, reviewing Beowulf and reading poetry by Richard Brautigan and Etheridge Knight. They served excellent soups and sandwiches there. Now, it’s more like a small convenient store and study area. I wondered if Adelynn’s grandmother and I attended classes at Butler around the same time.
I thanked her for inviting me to the gala and for helping me carry my things to my car. This was the second time I had attended an event like this at Butler, and I hope to attend other events there in the future.
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In early May, I attended a Mother’s Day Market at Hub & Spoke in Fishers, Indiana. It was also an intimate event, but that’s OK with me. Actually, I prefer smaller events to those that are extremely crowded and noisy. It’s good to have time to interact with people. Some people have questions about what malas are and how to use them. It gives me an opportunity to explain the meaning of the beads, the knots, and the tassels and to demonstrate how to use malas in meditation practice.
It’s also helpful for people to be able to see these designs in person, especially the quarter malas. These “mini malas” are much more popular at in-person events compared to online sales. In fact, I don’t offer quarter malas on my website anymore, but I’m happy to create them as custom designs. For those who may be new to practicing with malas, these fun-sized designs are portable, affordable, and practical.
A dozen other vendors were with me at this market, also, and I enjoyed chatting with my vendor neighbors. The women across from my table sold beautiful personalized bouquets of fresh flowers and plants. On my left was a woman who worked at a local brick and mortar shop and offered hand-made soaps, teas, and essential oils.
The woman on my right was a scientist who worked full-time at a research lab, but she was helping out a friend by selling her jewelry on her behalf.
A full mala and a few quarter malas found new homes during this event, so this Mother’s Day Market was a success, as well.
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I don’t attend very many in-person events like this. Typically, individuals will reach out for custom designs. May was certainly the month of quarter malas for me. Two weeks ago, one of my colleagues at school, Candice, asked me to create a quarter mala for her.
What’s nice about a local, in-person request like this is it allows me to bring bead samples directly to people. Usually, when I create a custom design for someone, I communicate via email and send them photos of bead options and possible layout designs.
In Candice’s case, I was able to bring in samples of Moonstone, Rose Quartz, Chrysocolla, Amazonite, Labradorite, and Amethyst beads for her to see and hold. That tactile connection is really important.
Once she decided on the beads she liked best, I was able to create two potential layout designs for her. I strung one set of beads on a variegated pink cord, and the second set on a bright teal cord.
She really liked both designs, and I was happy to create two quarter malas for her to support her personal practice.
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A few days ago, I met with a woman named Paula who is in the process of organizing an outdoor summer festival next month. Because I will be traveling out of the country, I will not be able to attend this event; however, we met for coffee at a local coffee shop because she was interested in a full mala that I had posted on my website.
Paula explained on the phone prior to our meeting that a full mala was not in her budget at this time, but our conversation inspired me to create a quarter mala design for her that was similar to the full mala that she liked.
Consequently, I created the All You Need Is Love Quarter Mala and sent her a photo. She loved it, and we met at Mocha Nut Coffee Shop soon after that so that I could deliver her new quarter mala to her in person. We talked about our families, our travels, and our career paths over a London Fog and a Mocha Latte. We also chatted about upcoming retreats that she plans to offer, and I indicated an interest in being a vendor at these events as well.
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It's so nice to be able to interact with people in person and to have the time to chat about our lives and what matters most to us. After all, interconnection and interdependence are important aspects of meditation.
I’m also glad that I had several opportunities this month to meet with people in person and to create malas and quarter malas that will support their personal practices.
I do have one more event coming up in June. Wellbeing Fest will occur at the Perry Township Event Center in Indianapolis from 11-4 on June 8th. If interested, please visit holistichubwellbeingfest.com for more information and details.
If you don’t live in the Indianapolis area, and you are interested in a custom mala or quarter mala design, please don’t hesitate to send me an email via our Contact Us page. I am happy to create a one-of-a-kind design to support and inspire your meditation practice as well.
I hope you enjoy this last day of May, and I hope that June treats you well.
Thank you for taking the time to read or listen to this month’s blog post.
Take care—and keep practicing!
The Heart of the Practice: Spiritual and Health Benefits of Mantra Recitations June 24, 2023 17:05
If you prefer to listen to this month's blog article, click HERE for the audio link.
Did you know that reciting mantras can be good for your heart?
I love it when I can find science-based articles that support concrete benefits to a regular meditation practice, and I found an article that addressed the benefits of mantra recitations, specifically.
I recently read an interesting article from an online medical journal (National Library of Medicine). It concluded that reciting mantras can have a positive effect on heart health and respiration.
This article, by Luciano Bernardi, an associate professor of medicine, along with several other researchers, physicians, and professors, conducted an experiment that analyzed the heart rates and breathing patterns of twenty-three healthy adults during periods of free talking compared to sessions of reciting the Ave Maria prayer in Latin and the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra.
The title of this article is “Effect of Rosary Prayer and Mantras on Autonomic Cardiovascular Rhythms.” Feel free to read the details of this study, if you like.
Ultimately, what these researchers found is that reciting the prayer and mantra slowed the respiration rate to six breaths per minute. Recitations also enhanced heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity.
Apparently, a slow respiratory rate has favorable effects on cardiovascular and respiratory function. It increases the oxygenation of blood in the body, it increases a sense of calm and wellbeing, and it improves irregular breathing patterns.
This study also concluded that reciting the rosary or a mantra is not only an important spiritual practice; it is also a beneficial health practice.
Additionally, Bernardi, et al, happened to mention in this article an important historical connection between the prayer and the mantra.
According to the article, the rosary was introduced to “Europe by the crusaders, who took it from the Arabs, who in turn took it from Tibetan monks and the yoga masters of India. This supports the hypothesis that the similar characteristics and effects of these mantras and of the rosary may not be a simple coincidence.”
This detail points to another relevant benefit of a daily recitation practice—one that fosters a sense of interconnection and community with others.
I attend weekly Dharma teachings at TMBCC in Bloomington. Typically, before the Dharma talk begins, we chant prayers together, and after the talk, we chant dedication prayers. It’s the only time during the week where I have the opportunity to chant with others. The rest of the time, I’m on my own with my personal practice.
Even though these prayers are relatively brief and take just a few minutes to recite, having an opportunity to share a collective mantra/prayer practice with others fosters a sense of interconnection and community with other sangha members.
It’s a soothing, calming, shared experience, and it’s a beautiful way to frame Geshe Kunga’s teachings.
Compared to the monasteries that we visited in India, our temple is very small. Our voices may not echo and reverberate in vast temples with high ceilings and polished marble floors, but we are joining together in a communal, shared practice—reciting, reading, and breathing together in a shared, sacred space.
Some of us are very familiar with this weekly practice, and some may be first-time visitors, but all are welcome as we recite these prayers together.
I’m grateful to be able to travel to Bloomington for these weekly teachings. I’m also grateful to have been able to travel to India a few months ago where we visited beautiful monasteries with high ceilings and polished marble floors (Drepung Gomang Monastery in South India, and Namgyal Monastery in North India).
Listening to hundreds of monks chanting together, filling these beautiful spaces with cadences and rhythms of sacred sound in Tibetan and Sanskrit was an amazing, meaningful opportunity. Their voices lulled us into a peaceful, tranquil state and fostered a strong sense of connection, interconnection, and community.
If you don't have a daily mantra practice yet, I highly recommend it. A daily recitation practice will not only benefit your physical health, but it will also benefit your spiritual and emotional wellbeing. Om Mani Padme Hum is a wonderful mantra to recite on the daily, and if you need a mala, I have several to choose from in the current Middle Moon Malas collection.
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful summer season, and I hope this month's article was beneficial in some way. I look forward to sharing another article with you next month.
Take Care--
Teresa