Sharing and Giving Back

Today is high school graduation day for my first-born grandchild, Kelsey Landis (my maiden name) Haymond (in the yellow shirt).  Needless to say, a BIG day for all of us.  The whole family, all ten of us, will be there to share in her joy.  How lovely it is to have family members to share joys like this with.  I am so blessed to have two sons with beautiful families only three hours away on the north side of Atlanta.  I can drive down for this special event and be back tomorrow morning in time for my scheduled second yoga class at the Ashley House assisted living facility...........  This is a challenging, rewarding event for me.  They are all so eager to do whatever I suggest and smile while they are doing it!  But, then, all of my students provide great reward to me by their participation in treating their bodies, minds, and spirits with tender loving care like we do.  Often they give me more than I give them.  Sharing and giving back - that's what life is really all about. 

Rocks and Retreat

Great retreat on Saturday.  New feature - Reiki by Todd.  "Constructing a Happy Life" was the theme and we all did lots of yoga, meditating, and contemplating with ample time for being, not doing.  The hammock and labyrinth were favorite spots.  I am so grateful for the lovely group of women who gathered and shared throughout the day.   On Friday, rocks were added to the borders of the labyrinth.  Todd was very ambitious bringing a whole load of rocks from a local farmer's property FREE.  I am so grateful for the gift of the stones as well as the labor involved in transporting and placing them. 

Got a break this morning - unexpected - no one showed for class!  So, now I can report to all you wonderful friends (I have no idea how many but I'm dreaming LOTS) who inspire me to keep writing.   Strange how our connections now work - Thank goodness I can communicate this way..........Well, the doctors were fun.  All residents, about 15 of them in a lunch room with lots of tables so that at one point I simply lay down on an empty table to demonstrate a pose - very little floor space available.  Anyway, they got right into the spirit of it all and participated like good audience members will.  FUN.  Then, yesterday, I had my first chair yoga class for about a dozen people at Ashley House assisted living facility.  A wonderful challenge - they were so very receptive and willing and made me smile.  Two were over 100 years old!  They called me a "spring chicken" at 79.  What more can one ask for from life than such opportunites as these?  Last night three friends and I walked the labyrinth together and then shared for a while.  I am sooooo blessed!..........Today Randy is cutting the dandelions - truly few blades of grass - mostly dandelion stalks.  He'll also trim the borders of the labyrinth.  They're a bit tall........time to quit rambling and ..........who knows?  Some hammock time, for sure, before the day is over.

Doctors and Yoga

This morning I'm in preparation for a one-hour visit at nooon with doctors at the Montgomery Center in Greenwood to tell them about yoga!!!!!  I've been praying for a chance to get at the doctors for years now - so don't let me mess it up.  I'm hoping not just to get them into classes but, more importantly, all their patients into classes!  At this point I don't even care if they go to another teacher - just GO.  It's strange to be on a mission like mine.  Somehow it just won't go away - just keeps growing.  And, it becomes more well defined - like at this point - Breathe - Move - Be still.  How's that for a theme.  I'll see if I can get them to do all three.  Wish I could get them all down in savasana, but that's unlikely.  Oh well, I'll make the best of it.

Saturday Yoga at 96 Library

What fun we had!  Here's a couple more - Me, Sheryl - and Diana, Me, and Sheryl.  I intended sending more but it's so slow I've given up.  I think we should schedule another town yoga on the library green!!!  It was FUNNNN!

Letting Go

The hummingbirds are back!  Been here about a week now and this morning I saw 5 at once at the feeder.  I've spent the last 30 minutes or so searching for my photo of hummers and can't find it.  Maybe I'll get energy to continue perusing my photo files and getting them better organized one day soon, but not now.  One more place where decluttering is needed......Which reminds me of the theme of last week's Anam Cara session - Letting Go!  Detaching from results....Something I've been working on for years now.....and I'm getting better at it and I'll keep working because, next to forgiveness, I think letting go of results is key in my soul work. For example, recently I've put out there a retreat here at the Yogatorium for next weekend.  I accepted the fact that there might not be any willing guests (except perhaps my known supporters) and yet, the ten spaces are FULL!  Of course, that thrills me.  On the other hand, sometimes one student only shows up for class.  In that case, I look at it as a grand opportunity to give a private lesson or even to just enjoy having a companion in practicing the asanas together.  Letting Go of Results.  A whole book could be written with that title!

I'd Take More Chances

If I Had My Life to Live Over  by Nadine Stair is an essay in "If I Had My Life to Live Over: I Would Pick More Daisies" a delightful collection of thought-provoking essays and poems.  What caught my attention this morning is -I would take more chances.  That's one of the joys of being alive.  Just this morning, I took another chance and agreed to meet with the activities director at Ashley House, an assisted living facility in Greenwood.  Why?  I certainly have more than enough to do - but I am eager to introduce as many people as possible to yoga.  Why?  Because it makes us happier.  Certainly it makes me happy to see the smiles of my students when they discover their body parts will actually move in new directions--maybe not as far as the person next to them, but they move in new directions or for longer distances or with less strain or some other astounding physical (or mental) accomplishment occurs. What a joy!  It's what I'm here for..... ...... Maybe someday I'll write about making more mistakes.  I need to think on that one a bit more.  At the moment I can't think of many mistakes I've made lately - so maybe it's time to dare???

A great day of early church and now raining and reading.  Lao Tzu, author of the Tao de Ching, a sacred text of the Chinese religion known as Taoism, written 500 BC, is quoted in Sarah Ban Breathnach's Daybook - "naming is the origin of all particular things" and that "mystery and manifestation arise from the same source."  This brought to mind a naming I did shortly before I retired from Clemson in planning my life after work, the second half, (now moved into the final third).  I named my activities, all of them, "play."  I figured I'd worked long enough - 66 years of it, deducting the first 6 before school I guess only 60; still that seemed enough.  So, for more than a dozen years now, I have been "playing."  And that word has made all the difference.  I am playing when I make my bed or mop the floor, or pull weeds; when I sit in my swing chair or lie in my hammock; when I visit my grandkids, read, meditate, teach yoga, or speak to groups--it's all PLAY.  I admit, there are times I have to remind myself that "it's all play."  But not many times anymore.  Most often when decisions are required.  Then I remind myself, that all I can control is the present moment and try to let my subconscious make my decisions. 

Not a whole lot of time this morning to spare - but, must mention what a great session my new soul friends and I had last night.  This gathering of soul friends is a tremendously inspirational affair!  It's far more than what I normally think of as a support group, but then my life is full of wonderful support groups!  If you've not identified yours, create one!  It's the most delightful move I've ever made.  And, of course, I'm always open to more new groups:  Anam caras, as the Irish say (soul friends).  That's part of what the Yogatorium and the Pond Retreat is all about and a wonderfully enriching part for me!.......Off to Atlanta after class this morning for time with grandkids - no babies anymore, all people with their own minds!

Who could ask........

He loves me!!!!!  Admittedly, I had to search hard to find that "loves me" petal that was curled underneath and sort of brownish.  But, I'm happy with what I got......Today is massage with Mildred day - Hooray!  "Who could ask for anything more?"

Beauty is Everywhere

Two great photos for you.  See the dandelions growing from beneath the chair?  Sunset in the West from my back porch - How's that for beauty?  It seems to be all around me these days.  Harvested rose petals from the bushes at the Cabin and have a whole field of dandelions to see - picked a daisy on the roadside yesterday and did the old game - Loves me, Loves me not - unfortunately ended with NOT!  Maybe I'll have better luck on my walk today.  But first, my colonoscopy!!  The worst is over - now I'll get to weigh and see how many pounds I've lost when I get back from town.

A Happy Life - Coming up!

So, my quiet time paid off.  The theme for the May 26 Yoga Retreat is "Constructing a Happy Life," a tentative title for the book I've been working on for what seems like years but nowhere near finished.   Maybe it never will be.  You will be asking yourself what activities make you happy, just in case you want a head start!  If you're planning to attend, get your $20 in ASAP.  I'll put together an agenda later today and get it out to those who might be interested in attending.  The essentials are 10:00 to 4:00 (with Pat Grier's reflexology sessions from 9:00 to 10:00 for two people and 4 more later in the day).  Wine and cheese at 4:00.  Bring your own lunch.  Five people  have made verbal commitments. So there are at least five spaces still available. Can't wait for this one!  It'll be FUN!

Learning - too much to take it all in!

Having trouble getting into my blog this morning but think I finally made it.  I've been on a personal retreat here in my cottage for a couple days now and loving it!  Somehow, I've finally taken on the field of energy healing and attempting to get a handle on what it is really all about.  I've avoided it for several years knowing that it is a complex field - as is ayurveda, which I am also attempting to dig into with more attention.  It is truly amazing to me how new areas of interest keep popping up so fast that I can't get comfortable with one when I've shifted over to another.  A couple days ago I spent some time perusing the newest Yoga Journal and found 3 different workshops that I yearn to attend over the next few months. And that doesn't even count my desire to spend some time studying ayurveda in Albuquerque with the master and some more time at the Center for Spiritual Awareness in North Georgia and, of course, there's all the good programs at Omega in NY and at Yogaville in VA.  But, for now, I'll concentrate on planning the program for the next Yoga Retreat here on May 26.  First, I'll take a walk - that's when I get many of my good ideas. It's already 84 degrees and going higher, so I'll hit the ground.

Synchronicity!  It's truly amazing.  Wednesday evening at our first Anam Cara (Soul Friends) meeting Diana brought up a finding of the notion that the body is in the soul, not the other way around!  As, I had just discovered John O'Donohue discussing!  (See my last blog post.)  I am still pondering this occasionally.  My work this week is to begin evening meditation on a daily basis - something I've been promising myself for several years and never been able to make happen.  My intention is to give myself that gift NOW.  My morning sessions are well set and so beneficial in defining my days.  Perhaps evening sits will add insights to my dreams???  ..............My reason for adding the photo - the beautiful dandelion field between my cottage and the Yogatorium.  If you enlarge it - you'll see more bright yellow.  Dandelions are growing profusely now all over this area.  What a joy!  How can I NOT smile with so many happy faces looking at me!

Soul Thoughts

The soul has always been a mystery to me - and remains so.  But, I'm enjoying contemplating ideas surrounding my soul.  One of my fondest resources is John' O'Donohue's Anam Cara (soul friend).  I came upon a surprise:   ........the body is in the soul........You meet a person's soul before you meet that person's body.  I have been pondering this since yesterday afternoon.  And will continue.