Author: adellebrewer Page 7 of 10

Its time to breathe… Prana!

Take a deep breath, sense the cooling energy entering your lungs and spreading to the tips of your fingers and the twinkle of your toes. Exhale, and say ahhhhhhhhh…

In light of the disturbing events of this last week in our history, remembering to img_1573breathe has become even more important. Taking a breath when confronted with img_1600anger, hostility, ugly words, disturbing thoughts, and sensing the presence, the vitality of your body, and its innate ability to heal, is so important moment to moment.

I am currently in the Dallas/Love airport, after a quick 3 days with my precious granddaughter and 6 of my 7 children. We had amazing conversations of honesty, reality and vision, spurred by the very troubling situation that their generation faces. They are our future, and I’m full of hope in spite of the darkness.

This coming week will be a great one to bring yourself to the dance floor and dance your emotions into action. I will be teaching Prana both tomorrow and Wednesday morning. Nia FreeDance on Thursday will be a playlist of songs to let it img_1571flow and find the peace inside and this weekend???… WOW…

Fantastic timing, as the HUGE healing presence of Randy Miller, Soul Motion™ teacher and Nia 1˚ Black Belt, visits us from Los Angeles. Randy will be teaching a Soul Motion™ class for my Friday evening time slot, as well as a workshop and class on Saturday and Sunday. You can purchase the classes/workshops separately, or all three for only $65.

I will also be teaching Yoga for Lunch on Thursday at 12:00, and Slow Flow Yoga on Sunday at 8:45am… a LOT of opportunity to move, to breathe, to BE.

Ladies and Gents… THIS is why we are here… to be in community, to connect to one another, to dance together, to feel so we can heal.

Please sign up now by clicking here…  and we will dance

With deep love, Adelle

PS… An added bonus will be the presence of a dear Nia Black Belt friend from Austrailia, Lisa Silverstone, who is traveling across the US for 6 months. Lisa will be teaching the Sunday 4:00 Nia class, as well as Monday at 12:00. She is a dynamite teacher and a precious ball of positive energy. Let’s show her our fabulous community with open arms, welcoming hearts and bodies that love to dance!

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My name is Adelle

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My name is Mary Adelle Brownlee Brewer. I’ve been called by many names in my life… Adelle, Mary, ‘A’-dell, Adelio, ‘Brownlee’, ‘Brewer’…

Adelle is just fine… the name given to my Great-Grandmother, my Great-Aunt, my mother and to me.

I write today reflecting on my ancestry, with wisdom beyond the ages. My grandfather, Senator John Houghton Brownlee, known as ‘Granddaddy’, and my grandmother, Lida Wilhelmina Biedenharn Denney, known as ‘Mamie, ‘ were both individuals with incredible intelligence, and a deep compassion for others. Granddaddy helped pass legislation for our lake systems in Texas, corralling the mighty Colorado river, so HUMANITY could be safe.  Mamie ushered many through her doors, both at home as well as the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Wichita Falls where she presided as President, always with kind, inclusive words for HUMANITY, and also a 6oz. bottle of Coke.

My name is Adelle. I am a mother of four amazing human beings. I am grandmother to austin-cameron-brewer-lovea beautiful girl of pure light and love.

My name is Adelle. I am a movement artist. I teach Nia, JourneyDance, and Yoga. I coach people in a breathing technique called Transformational Breath®.

My name is Adelle. I own The Synergy Studio, where 250-400 people come through the door every week with one thought in mind… to leave feeling better.

My name is Adelle. My purpose is to open pathways for healing, paved in love.

What other names can I be called??? What other labels can be slapped on me, limiting my possibilities, my potential? White, Black, Hispanic, Indian, Liberal, Conservative, Christian, Buddhist, Straight, Lesbian, Gay … the list goes on and on…

I ask, “What truly matters?”                                                                                                 Only one label fits… human beings… or more clear… HUMANITY.

Labels do one thing… separate us from another.

We embark today on another swing of the pendulum in American politics. The election, no matter how we voted, has brought out the ugly labels that we place on one another. A question… Are we going to step back from awareness and inclusiveness,  or are we going to keep stepping forward? Forward means one choice, but its not easy.

Love is the only choice. The alternative is fear…  it is a choice.

If you jump in today to the free 21-day mediation offered by Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, you will experience the 6th day and beyond. The 6th day is profound… it is about awareness, and the ability of the body, YOUR body, to heal itself at the cellular level. Please do this for yourSELF, your cells, and for your connection to others. Listen, release and relax for 20 minutes. After today, ‘Day 6’ disappears. It is only up for free 5 days at a time. Here is the link to ‘Creating Peace From the Inside Out: The Power of Connection.” 

‘Let there be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.’  If you haven’t seen this, click and watch… its breath-taking.

It begins with each one of us.

From my heart to yours… Choosing love, Adelleyantra-cards-copy

Below is the visual transcript of the Day 6 Meditation: Creating Peace From the Inside Out: The Power of Connection. I transcribed it, as I am a visual learner. 🙂

 

Day 6 Meditation

Centering thought: I call upon the healing power of awareness.

Om Hreem Namah: Pure, transparent awareness is my essential nature.

“Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things they are transformed.” Thich Nhat Hanh

Oprah: Today, on day six, we will gain a greater understanding of the healing power of awareness. My primary and most essential spiritual practice is to strive continuously to live in the present moment… to resist projecting into the future, or lamenting the past. I truly believe THAT is the secret to a happy life. I also know that living and finding peace ‘in the now,’ is not possible until we heal the wounds of the past.

Many years ago, author and counselor John Bradshaw pioneered the concept of the inner child. He took the audience on the Oprah show, and me, through a profound exercise. He asked us to imagine looking into the window of our childhood home, and see our self inside. “What do you see?” he asked, and more important, “What do you feel?”

For me, it was an overwhelming sad, but powerful exercise. What I felt at almost every stage of my young development was lonely. Not alone, because there were always people around, but I knew my soul’s survival could not depend on those around me. It depended on me. Looking back through that window into my life, I felt that the people in my house did not realize what a sweet spirited little girl I was, yet I also felt strengthened seeing and feeling my spirit, for myself.

Maybe you too have experienced events that have caused you to deem yourself unworthy. Healing those wounds from the past is one of the biggest and most worthwhile challenges of life. If you are holding anyone else accountable for your peace or happiness, you are wasting your time. You must be fearless enough to give yourself the love you did not receive.

Begin noticing how every day brings a new opportunity for growth… how buried disagreements with whomever parented you can show up in arguments with your partner, and how unconscious feelings of unworthiness can show up in other relationships. This is the healing power of awareness. All of these experiences are your life’s way of pushing you, urging you, to leave the past behind and make yourself whole.

 

Deepak: The world’s wisdom traditions teach that all healing happens in awareness. What are we supposed to be aware of?

People try to watch their words, control their emotions, take signals of approval and disapproval from other people, and so on. This is awareness applied outward, which only gets a person so far. The outward world changes too fast and unexpectedly to be a trustworthy guide. Only self-awareness brings real mastery over life’s challenges.

This may sound very abstract, but in reality, self-awareness begins at the physical level, where cells know how to self-heal through their own built-in intelligence, which has been called the wisdom of the body. The ability of cells to go directly to a wound or intruder and trigger the process of healing is astonishing. We rely upon our healing system to sustain our survival day after day, decade after decade.

Self-healing becomes more unreliable at the psychological level, where relationships either become more negative over time, or more positive. A relationship that grows in positivity, meaning more love, peace, compassion, kindness, understanding, tolerance, and mutual growth, must find a way for healing that happens every day. On the other side, the obstacles of healing are the same as the obstacles of relationships… conflicts that go unresolved and linger as resentments, issues too ingrained or too emotional to bring into the open, differing personality styles, lack of communication, parent-child issues, and generational issues in general.

In medicine, we know that chronic disorders began years, and sometimes decades, before the arrival of diagnosed symptoms. Our cells do not possess such advanced knowledge, yet they don’t have to, because they apply healing to the present moment, here and now. The fearless way that our cells manage to survive, and even thrive in the face of countless threats, can be our guide to self-healing at the emotional and psychological level.

All of us are uncomfortable with having an enemy. This is the pain we want most to heal, because it puts the self in conflict rather than at peace. The first step is to accept that healing is a natural aspect of the mind, just as it is of the body. The common experience of the mind is misleading, because what we notice looking inward is restless, mental activity. In this restless state, the mind seems to have nothing close to the orderly, harmonious life of a single heart, liver, or lung cell.

As long as we are obsessed with the restless mind, which is constantly driven by the ego’s demands and insecurities, we find ourselves in the grip of illusion. We do not see or experience the true self, which exists beyond the restless mind. Illusions can only be healed by being dispelled through awareness. It is the reason our meditation practice is so powerful. The entire work of self-healing consists of finding the place inside ourselves where healing is as effortless and natural as the physical healing that is sustaining us this very moment.

Preparing to meditate… repeat the centering thought: I call upon the healing power of awareness… make yourself comfortable, and close your eyes. Begin to be aware of your breath and just breathe slowly, inhaling and exhaling. With each breath, allow yourself to become more deeply relaxed.

Now gently introduce the mantra, Om Hreem Namah. This mantra makes your mind and body more receptive to healing by opening consciousness to its own true nature. Repeated silently to your self. With each repetition, feel your body, mind, and spirit open and receive just a little more. Whenever you find yourself distracted by thoughts, noises, or physical sensations, simply return your attention to silently repeating the mantra…

Om Hreem Namah.

After meditating… and as you continue with your day, contemplate the centering thought, “I call upon the healing power of awareness.” Namaste!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your ‘Immortal Diamond’

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Dear Friends,

As we begin a week of anticipation, change, and plenty of anxiety, I invite you to connect to your true essence, the light of peace and well-being ‘state’ that brought you here, even before you were born… your immortal diamond.

It is from this place that our nation will heal. The immortal diamond in each of our hearts that desires peace, security, safety, caring and a feeling of worthiness. YOU ARE THE CHANGE. Each one of us IS the change. It MUST start in the heart space of each one of us.

Come to class this week. Let’s dance from that heart space… expanding, contracting, flexing, strengthening, mobilizing… and setting the energy in motion.

I’m in the 8th day of a free online 21-day meditation with Oprah Winfrey  and Deepak Chopra. It is about connection, relationship, and change. I’m experiencing a thought-provoking 20 minutes of daily listening, breathing, and quiet time. So easy, yet profoundly transformational. You can jump in on the 4th day, if you do it tonight. The website keeps up 5 days at a time, dropping off as they add. Every DAY is worth it. I hope you jump in tonight… BE THE CHANGE.

After I listen and meditate, I transcribe the words to read later, as I am a very visual person. Words dance off the page and into my heart as images, memories and colors.

Below is ‘Day 3’ to share with you. It is extremely poignant and applicable to our present times. I hope you will read it and be inspired. The website to sign up (FREE) is www.chopracentermeditation.com

See you in class! Love, Adelle

day-3-meditation

Day 3… Centering thought: my true self is the source of peace and love.

Shanti Hum. I am peace.

Today’s meditation centers on how to bring the true self home.

Oprah: One of my most memorable experiences was a conversation with Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr. He talked about how each one of us creates a false self, based on our career, our race, our social status, and our physical appearance. This is the public you. Father Richard says, “The false self partly exists to help people survive in the real world, but what each person has is the face that we had before we were born. That’s our true self, or what many believe is our soul. I call it our immortal diamond.”

Our goal should be a continual connection to that immortal diamond, but anger, pride, and jealousy are all fuel for our false self, which creates a thick layer of painful suffering that blocks us from knowing the piece of our true selves.

Father Rohr believes that human beings suffer when they feel out of control. We see that manifested every day on the news, within our government, our companies, and our own families. In our closest relationships, we understand that where there is chaos, there is a loss of control. The result is disconnection. Frustration over not taking out the garbage, or getting home late, or letting the bills stack up, are the first signs that we are not connecting with our true selves. One of the best ways to prevent disconnection is to look inward to your immortal diamond.

Deepak: We can choose to connect with another person or not, but we cannot choose to disconnect from ourselves. Many people are uncomfortable with this truth. They spend a vast amount of time escaping themselves, with all kinds of activities, work, and distractions. Bringing relationships back to oneself, or home, can sound scary and difficult, which is it is not meant to be.

It is a beautiful ideal to envision a relationship with yourself that solves all other relationships. Is it realistic? The answer for conscious people is no, because from the beginning their sense of self is ego-based. Individual egos have self-centered aims, tastes, desires, opinions, likes and dislikes. The very construct of the ego brings with it a built in conflict with other egos. If you think about it, it’s surprising that separate egos, each with their own set of rules and agendas, ever get together in the first place. When they do, the connection always risks unraveling because each ego is primarily tied to what it wants.

The path to an ideal relationship, therefore, must get past the ego with its insecurities, demands, and endless focus on I, Me, and my. The true self ignores the rigid boundaries and constraints of the ego personality. Being unbounded, the true self has no desperate personal stake in the world, but only in its ability to BE, love, create, and evolve. Our primary goal, therefore, is to experience the true self through our meditation practice, whatever form that takes. These moments in life are when you feel at peace, secure, safe, cared for and most worthy… When love and caring float easily. This is your true self coming through.

Unlike the worried voice in our heads, the voice of the true self is silent. Its words consist of silent experiences that bring a moment of recognition. At such moments, we know who we are. We know how life is meant to feel. Doubt and confusion stand far away from us. In other words, our true self is a state of being.

Adelle: “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu ~May all beings be peaceful and happy.”  I invite you to hold that intention this week — and beyond. Enjoy… <3

Gratitude Dance…

Good beautiful morning in San Antonio! fullsizerender-27

As I sit with my coffee, thinking about the day ahead, and reflecting on the amazing weekend adventure that I just returned from, I am filled to the brim with Gratitude.

Spending the weekend with great friends, old and new, celebrating the masculine spirit in perfect balance with the feminine, I was in Santa Fe for the ‘Men of Nia’ event. Men from all over the US came to teach classes and workshops. I am beyond inspired, and deeply grateful for these men who model compassion, grace, love and strength.

Fred Bass, a dear friend and fellow Nia 1˚Black Belt, came from Portland, Oregon to tell his story, and inspire others. Having lost 2 of his 4 children to a disease even beyond the knowledge of doctors, he dances with the spirit of all four daily… ‘two who walk the streets of Heaven, and two who walk the streets of Earth.’ His workshop was beyond words. Fred is a man who truly models a life of Gratitude. He will be joining us in San Antonio in 2017, along with other Men of Nia, to inspire us, and all of those we love… stay tuned. 🙂

Take a deep breath, and open your day with a Gratitude dance.

See you this week!

Deep love, Adelle

Nia:  Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am, Friday 5:30pm, Sunday 4:00pm

Nia FreeDance: Thursday 9:15am

Yoga: Thursday 12:00pm, Sunday 8:45am

One and Wild Precious Life

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“Tell me…What is it you plan to do with your one and wild precious life?”    ~Mary Oliver

The saying ‘an attitude of gratitude’ has been around for a long time. It highlights how our attitude affects our daily life, and how expressing gratitude for the smallest of things in life shifts the energy that we feel in our heart.

It does that and more…

Science and medicine in the Western world have been diving deeper into what was considered ‘woo woo’ or esoteric not too many years ago. Saying positive daily affirmations, thanking others as well as ourselves, and bringing a positive attitude to any situation shifts the body on a cellular level, increasing endorphins, and activating the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

Is it the fountain of youth? I believe it is. I witness it daily in my classes, with my friends, and with communities that I visit and teach. Youth and age are only labels that we put on ourselves. We truly are only as young as we feel, and that starts with how we approach every day.

After just returning from a over-the-top fantastic Nia FreeDance training in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where I taught my new Nia routine “CELL-ebrate”, then nfd-nc-graduatesJoanie and I were inspired by 17 amazing people who took the weekend training with us, I am FULL of gratitude and in awe of this lifestyle practice that is trickling out in the world one body at a time.

Bring your attitude of gratitude to class this week. Activate it daily, and say thank you to the simple things in life… your meal, the garden, the rain, the sunshine, your body, your one and wild precious self… and notice the cellular shift in your heart. Just notice. You may sense a smile spontaneously lighting up your face. You may observe that your smile becomes infectious, as others smile too. Notice.

So Hum… I Am…  Loving you, Adelle

Change, the constant, the elixir!

Breath Rocks

Change is the only constant in life. It is the elixir that feeds creative expression, growth and keeps us young in body, mind, emotions and spirit.

As the filming of the new Nia routine Breath approaches, I have welcomed more change into the creation. Fabulous feedback from my colleagues, my community and my fellow choreographers, have helped me tweak the focus, the intent and the clarity of the moves.

What if we treasured... Breath!

I hope you will join me on the dance floor this week, as I get ready to travel to Portland, Oregon, headquarters of Nia. I will be dancing Breath on Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am, and Friday 5:30pm. Every time I dance it with my community, it grows, morphs and changes.

I would be honored to dance with you. Hear from you. Breathe with you.Breath Long

With love, Adelle

*Nia FreeDance on Thursday at 9:15am will be a class of ‘letting go, and letting it flow’ as we tap into the creative chaos that feeds change!

Letting go…

Good Monday afternoon my friends,IMG_9837

When you get into a place of over-whelm, running from one project, place or person to another, what do you do?

Through many years of multiple children, family gatherings, starting different businesses that ultimately led me to The Synergy Studio, traveling and experiencing the many things that I love to do… the tools in my back pocket have grounded me.

Dancing, singing, meditation, breath, nature… and letting go. When I set a positive intention in motion, ‘I am spacious, I am grounded, I am expansive, etc.,’ and I truly let go and let it flow, life is so present and peaceful.

In the midst of what always feels like a crazy time of year, harkening back to raising 4 children and the start of school, once again I find myself more conscious of letting go. Facing the filming of the new Nia routine Breath in three weeks, which can feel heavy and a weighty responsibility, as well as the many events that are on the horizon with trainings and travel, letting go is my BIG mantra… Now I Am Letting Go.

IMG_9839It works for me, and life flows with grace and ease. 🙂

Join me this week, as I play with some oldies but goodies… those go-to routines that feed my soul and are present in every cell… Agolo, TraceVision, Fantasia, Aya, Bliss, Miracle, ??? I’m not sure what I will teach, but they are my ‘letting go’ routines that don’t require any prep work, just my spirit arriving to dance.

I will let go… and let it flow. I hope you will join me!

Come dance,

Adelle

PS. I also take extra-long Epson salt baths, get a massage, fill my house with fresh IMG_9838flowers, visit with friends, and enjoy a healthy meal with a glass of wine. 🙂

My classes this week:

Nia: Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am, Friday 5:30pm

Nia FreeDance: Thursday 9:15am

Yoga for Lunch: Thursday 12:00pm

joy bubbles and the big ‘J’ Joy!

Do you analyze your unhappiness in order to find the triggers and make improvements? How about your happiness, when you are feeling content and Cameron Louisa Adelle Hats Funconnected to a joy-filled emotion? What a friend of mine coined ‘joy bubbles?’

Recognizing how the emotion of joy feels in my body, either in the moment or in reflection, I can notice the choices I make that bring on the bubbles. For me, it is definitely a combination of my actions… smiling, laughing, singing alone or with a friend, kissing the check of my grand baby, sharing a tender moment listening to another… as well as the code that is embodied in my cellular system, a code in Nia we call the big ‘J’, Joy. It is a principle that is the foundation of Nia, White Belt Principle #1, Joy of Movement.

When I recognize that my body wants to move, wants to rest, wants to breathe, Samba Hat, Wig, Glasseswants to sing, wants to laugh and wants to heal moment to moment, I can sense a universal Joy that is present even when things around me seem discombobulated, or emotionally unsettled.

I can re-create the joy bubbles and Joy-filled moments in my mind by bringing them to the dance floor of life, giving thanks for my body’s ability to show up and support me as my best friend and greatest companion.

I hope you will join me in class this week. Bring your body, mind, emotions and spirit and get ready to turn on the joy bubbles. The big J, combined with the emotion of joy… yum. Bubblicious!

I love you!

Adelle

ps. I’m presently sitting on the tarmac in Oklahoma City, waiting on the storms to pass in Houston. I’ve missed my connecting flight already, but trust that there will be another sometime today. Joy bubbles are a choice! :)… OH… Just took off! Now in the air! hahaha!

My classes this week:

Nia:  Tuesday, 6:45am,  Wednesday 9:15am,  Friday 5:30pm,  Sunday 4:00 pm

Nia FreeDance:  Thursday, 9:15am

Yoga, Slow Flow:  Sunday 8:45am

Cameron, Sarah, Adelle Happy Norman Day

*Pics are from my fun weekend in Norman, Oklahoma with my                             children…and a great shot of one of the cooliest dogs EVER, Ms. Samba. 🙂

 

 

 

Dancing Through Life, Living Meditation, Life as Art


Red Nia A Design System for Systainability in the Body

Dancing Through Life, Living Mediation, Life as Art

What does it mean to be dancing through life? To know the presence of living meditation? To see life as art?

 

The ‘big enchilada’ White Belt Principle of Nia, Awareness, is at the top of the transformative tools that support me daily. Sensing every movement as a beautiful dance of life while appreciating my body’s amazing design system of sustainability. Aware that complimenting every movement is a place of non-doing, a place of stillness where my body is being touched by clothing, by the earth, by my hands, by another, and where I can take a breath and send my energy to those places, and relax into meditation. Knowing that I can look and SEE the world through the fresh eyes of a child, without filters, and see all of life as an art piece.

THIS is the exilir of life… Awareness… and with every precious moment that I have, I can make a conscious choice to live it to the fullest. The conscious dance of awareness. The conscious breath of awareness.

Let’s activate our Awareness together this moment, this day, this week, this life.

Join me in class!

Nia: Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am; Friday 5:30pm                                               Nia FreeDance: Thursday 9:15am                                                                                       Yoga for Lunch: Thursday, 12:00pm… all at The Synergy Studio!

*I will be filming BREATH on Friday, to send to Debbie in advance of filming it for Nia HQ in September… I hope you will join me! 🙂

Breathing with love, Adelle

Joanie and I just returned from an amazing weekend, training 23 people in Nia FreeDance: Art of Conscious Dance. They were ALL excited about taking this work out into the world! We have trainings coming up in Pittsboro, NC; Ventura, CA (LA area) ; Samammish, WA (Seattle area); Boulder, CO… and more on the way! Spread the word and sprinkle the magic as we open the world to this new offering of Nia!

Nia FreeDance Debbie, J, A Edwardsville

Nia FreeDance Edwardsville Illonois

 

 

 

Breath! A Nia Routine that includes YOU!

Breath, a new Nia routine, is growing and evolving! This week and next, I will be Breath coming soon...exploring some final tweaks. I would love for YOU to be part of the creation!

Breath is the focus of the routine, with the intent to notice how the 9 Movement Forms of Nia and FreeDance activate the breath with different qualities. “Slow, mindful Breath…Breath of precision…

Spherical/Harmonious Breath…Breath of fun, showmanship, expression… Breath of shapes… Free-spirited, honest, natural Breath… Conscious awareness of the sensation of Breath… Breath that aligns the bones and joints… Breath of movement from the top, open and spacious… Breath of discovery, moving, exploring, creating”

The music lends itself to Breathing, sounding, and singing, including a variety of rhythms, melodies, harmonies… as well as genres. The movements are simple, adaptable, and also very cardiovascular when bringing awareness to the Breath, Take a deep, full cleansing breath and smell the moment!breathing qualities and patterns. There is a weaving of the nine Movement Forms and FreeDance throughout the routine, with the Breath as the connective tissue.

My vision for Breath is to widen the audience that Nia reaches. Breathworkers, Yogis, those who believe they have two left feet, those who believe they have no voice… Breath is for everyBody.

Breath is YOU… your prana… your life force energy.

Are you ready to breathe? See YOU on the dance floor!
Just Breathe bracelet

Inhale, and smell the moment… Exhale, and let go. Let it flow.

With deep love and a full cleansing Breath…

Adelle

 

 

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