Breathe Big

Hello everyone, I can’t thank you enough for supporting this page and my work all of these years. I’m not going anywhere, I am consolidating my accounts here on Facebook. I am re-organizing and restructuring my time and energy and oh it feels good. On Facebook you can find me under my name Mary Kathryn LeMaster or through my non profit Eye See HOU. I’ve closed Breathe Big and am running my business under my own name Mary Kathryn LeMaster (website in the works). I still am offering Meditation and Mindfulness practices along with Accessibility Consulting, Public Speaking and Advocacy.

I would love to connect with you more through my accounts on Linked-In (under my name) and Instagram .

And even more I would love to be with you in person eye to eye. Stay close for upcoming speaking engagements and workshops. If your business or foundation wants to learn more about my story or accessibility please reach out!

I wlll delete this account on Monday so make sure to contact me other places or via email
[email protected]

Take beautiful care and I will see you soon.

Photo description for Mary Kathryn smiling wearing black glasses and a leaopard print shirt.

Remember who you were before diagnosis. That same person is still here if you want them to be. You get to decide what parts of you get to stay or transform, not the doctors or family members. Hold clear boundaries for what you want and what you believe in for yourself.

I may be blind physically, but my inner vision is a bright force that will never be dimmed.

When you leave the doctors office with a diagnosis, you often feel like your leaving with someone else’s title for you. Don’t forget you to take your power back and give yourself your own title. Claim what is yours and live out your life to your full potential for YOU.

Photo description for Mary Kathryn wearing leopard print yoga pants black booties long black coat with her white mobility cane and smiling standing next to a wall that reads Yes She Can!

An extra hour of daylight? Thank you thank you thank you.

Spring Daylight Savings is the best day in the low vision/blind world! We gain an extra hour of independence.

When I was driving I would count down the days until we moved the clocks forward, I could be on the road an extra hour before dark and oh my good I would milk it. Now, I get to be outside an extra hour in the garden or meet friends after work. I still do anything I want whether it’s day or night, but traveling during the day is much easier with my vision.

Time to celebrate this extra light!!!

ID for Mary Kathryn sitting outside in a chair with a cup of tea and a mountain and sunrise in the back ground.

Omg, pull over, pull over.

Candy apple red 73 Bronco. My dream car since I was 20. Any color really, they all make me drool.

Why do I still get excited when I see one even though I don’t drive? They remind me of freedom. Bigger than life freedom.

It’s the feel I am after.

Dreams don’t die, they just take different shape.



Photo Description for Mary Kathryn with a giant smile standing in front of a candy apple red 73 Bronco.

Get yourself friends who will drop everything to meet you on a dark sidewalk and help you in the restaurant. I love meeting friends out and especially at night even though I sometimes get stuck not knowing how to get into a building.

Last year this would have set me back emotionally, but I’m glad I keep having these experiences to remind me I always figure it out, either by myself (with ) or with my friends and family.

Walking through the mall tonight with my cane and Hank said

“Mom, I remember the first time you went to cane training and how much you hated it. Now look at you whizzing down the mall”

Oh this reflection ❤️ We forget our loved ones are on the journey with us sometimes as we are just trying to get through the day. But they see us, the growth, the stumbles, the scars and the resilience.

Felt delicious.

Photo Description for Mary Kathryn about to skip a rock on a a lake with the Montana mountains in the background at sunset.

White canes are magic.

Did you know less than 10% of the Blind population used a white mobility cane? Most will tell you they don’t want to be seen looking weak or like they need help. We need to break this old stigma, not just in our community, but across the board. Reality is every single person will at one time or another be using a mobility aid to help get from point A to point B with safety.

We all need help in multiple ways and it’s a beautiful thing to be helped and to help.

Photo Description for Mary Kathryn standing under a sign for Witches with a tall witch holding a wand over her head. She’s wearing White Canes Move Obstacles” t shirt, pink yoga pants and a white f***y pack.

Me: Oh look at those gorgeous colors.

Woman at salad bar looking at my cane: Um, yes, yes they are.

I know, it’s so weird that I can see, but not see. Just rolling with it over here.

It’s only 11% of the blind population that sees nothing, the rest of us see something. Shapes, some color, only tunnel vision or only peripheral vision.

What have you learned about blindness from my page that has surprised you?




Photo Description for red and yellow cherry tomatoes next to broccoli on a salad bar

I remember my mom making sure my friends parents know about my “eye problem” before I spent the night juts incase I needed help finding the bathroom in the dark. It drove me crazy to be a topic of discussion. At thirteen I didn’t want to be different because of my eyes, I wanted to be different of my style and my own voice.

Now, I welcome my life being different. Figuring it out on my own path with friends and family along the way.

I walk into many rooms knowing I’m one of the few blind people people have spent time with. I love de-mystifying blind stereotypes and reminding people life is more than alright, it’s quite magnificent.

❤️
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Today marks the Fall Equinox.

The day of balance, equal daylight and darkness in the night sky.

I remember how dark this hike was and then all of a sudden the sun came bursting through the trees. I couldn’t see my feet when I walked , but I could see my hand reaching for the sun. I stood there literally in the middle. A place we rarely allow ourselves to be, we get stuck that life has to be one way or the other. When it come to blindness, people think to be blind you see nothing at all, but for so many of us we are in the middle of being able to see and not see.

Today we have an opening and a closing all at once.

I have been in the middle of emotions all week.  Happy and angry at the same time, immensely sad and grateful in one moment. Scared and optimistic. Not competing each other, but standing side by side.

The fact that we have the capacity to feel both at the same time is pure nature.

Happy Equinox. I hope you allow yourself to feel it all.

Photo Description for Mary Kathryn standing in the dark forest with her hand in the air as if she is holding the sun as its light shines so brightly through the trees.