Kristin Ou is a part of the PastoraLab Orange County cohort. She is an associate pastor at Anaheim Free Methodist Church.

TESTIMONIAL

“One of my highlights of our PastoraLab meetings is our “embodied practice” where we connect the content of the meeting with an exercise to embody the principals that we learn. In July’s meeting we learned different techniques to keep our impulses in check such as having a mantra to bring our mind and body together, breathing with intention, or slowing down in order to be more fully present in our circumstance. One of my PastoraLab sisters led us in doing these exercises together.

It was impactful for me to practice these techniques with the other women while at the same time reflecting on my own church context and the adaptive challenge that we are currently facing. Oftentimes life gets very full and I simply don’t remember to put these things into practice. Since the July PastoraLab meeting, when I find myself in a place of imbalance or anxiety regarding the challenges ahead of me I have been practicing these techniques. I have found that they have brought me to a place of openness towards God, and that they have helped me to re-focus and think through how I and my team can best lead our congregation through our adaptive challenge.”