Another lesson from the mat

My yoga practice is has helped me in more ways than just physical. And even more than just the inner peace. There are a lot of metaphors in yoga that work in life and here is one that I am beginning to assimilate. I am a pretty inflexible in my muscles, especially hamstrings and legs. Stretching is important to my health because the strength and inflexibility in some of my muscles can throw me out of balance--as my lower back can attest. So I have always tried to stretch in a way that was ultimate--go until I feel resistance and then go until I feel more resistance. The harder I stretch, the looser I'll become, right? Recently, I've been taught another approach. Don't stretch to your limit. Stay just inside of it. Then stay with the stretch. Breathe into it and observe how your body relaxes naturally into the pose. This has worked wonders with hip stretches. I can see the uses of this practice in life. Sometimes I try soooo hard to make something work. Over-exert. Use up my energy stores trying to push a brick wall (which is what my hamstrings feel like at times). But if I back off a little, I can find that the impediment with loosen and give way. I am seeing how this can work with my writing, my relationships, parenting. While I have yet to put this to the test, I am really looking forward to seeing where I can go with this.

Intro to Labyrinths

I have talked about labyrinths before and my experience with them. But if walking a labyrinth is not practical or there isn't one near you, here is a virtual way to get acquainted with the meditative practice and possible uses. I would still recommend trying to find a labyrinth to walk in its physical form. Click here to find a labyrinth near you.

Looking back, looking ahead

Looking back, I wonder if the tone of my ten entries is a little preachy. Maybe. Not done yet. I really am optimistic about this world and don't feel the need to be apologetic about that stance. I don't think it is big ideas and actions that are going to free us from current economic climates. But we all do need to do our part. I am bothered by the country's consumerism. My house isn't exempt. I could point fingers particularly at my husband and daughter. He likes new electronics. She can't go into a store without wanting to spend money. I am not an impulse buyer, but that doesn't mean I don't buy things I don't need.

I am really trying to cut down on my consumption. Not just of food and meat. But paper. I canceled our phone book, the freebie paper that gets thrown on the end of our driveway once a week, and many of the catalogs we get. I've used the back of used paper to print out items such as directions and coupons. These are small steps, but they feel right.

Just One thing

Recently I attended a ritual in which participants were asked to write an intention for the coming seasons on a small piece of tissue paper. The paper was then crumpled to the size of a pea and ceremonially planted in the earth. This was to signify the planting of our intentions that they may flourish and grow with the seeds of the earth in the coming Spring. What to write. Focus on one thing? UHM? Let's see. Lose Weight? Balance my books? Take care of clutter and overflow in my house? Care for the environment? Use all those new art supplies I have been buying and actually create something?

I felt overwhelmed. But I also felt like all this stuff had to be connected. It was! I was able to write an intention that encapsulated all these things.

I intend to appreciate, conserve, care for, and share the physical bounty I possess.

This may seem broad and a little corny. But think of the application. If I put this into practice all of the aforementioned issues would disappear. It's worth planting the seed.

Square Foot Gardening

Already contemplating the garden. I produced the most stunted produce last year. Not only do I want to compost to save waste from going in landfills, but my soil needs improvement. I have a book called Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew which is probably my favorite gardening book. I just found out he has a new version of the book. I like his ideas for easy and organized gardening. The basic idea is 4'x4' raised beds that are subdivided into 16 one foot blocks. Plants are planted according to the density best suited for them. One eggplant in one block. But maybe 16 carrots in the same size square. You get the picture. I have a variation on this with an L-shaped bed that is 4 foot wide. Next year I hope to have actual 4' square boxes as prescribed. One change in the old book to this book. In the old book, you dug down deep in to the soil and to the soil you removed, you added many things. Put it back into the raised bed (6"). In the new book, you remove sod, put on weed blocking material, lay your frame over and fill with vermiculite, peat moss, and compost---all bought. No fertilization needed. Each year, you just add your own homemade compost. I like the idea of this. The ease. But part of me wants the romance, the groundedness of eating vegetables grown in my local soil. Is it really local produce if all the soil is imported?

Limp in, Walk out

I have been doing a walking meditation called a labyrinth for years. I have posted on it. Love it. It settles my mind and keeps my body occupied. Generally when I walk the path of a labyrinth I try to imagine letting go as I walk toward the center. In the center, I try to center. DUH! Be in the now. One with all. Experience the Godlight. Got it? Then I allow this spirit to swell and fill me as I walk out. Well, the last time I walked the labyrinth was the beginning of February. I forgot my agenda, and low and behold, I had a bit of a transformation. I am a spiritual person, but I don't often go into my journey with others. It is personal. What I do reveal is generally the stuff of the surface. I am not going too go deep here, either. These are quick sketches I am writing. But during this latest walk, I hit pay dirt and went to a new level in my consciousness. Some issues broke open for me, and I began to see things with a new sight. AH-HA moment. Lightbulb. Just some issues I have been working on since childhood cleared up for me a little. Nothing I would normally write about. But on the way out of the labyrinth, I heard a little voice say, "Now that we got that settled, how about the knee?" I had been having quite the time with me knee since November. All kinds of pain. Limping. Pain that moved around so I couldn't really explain it. Popping noises all the time. It clicked. It froze up on me. Pain on stairs. I iced it. Took pain killers. Did every thing except go to the doctor. I was waiting for the holidays to be over. Then I was waiting for the new insurance. Then I was waiting for my sis-in-law to get her knee done so I could ask her questions. Well long story short, the knee hasn't bothered me since the labyrinth. I remembered what a healthy knee feels like. Today I was doing deep squat after deep squat in Yoga. I've never experienced anything like this in my life. The bothersome thing? Now that this has been so miraculously overcome, I wonder why my whole life can't be WHOOSH the way I want it.

Oprah's Best Life

I tuned in for Oprah's Best Life Week. It seems I need a kickstart in all areas. Where to start? But especially since my 40th birthday is upon me, I especially was paying attention to health matters. So this is the way of it. I know I need to lose weight. The Best Life Diet seems intuitive and reasonable to me. And I am easing into it. Gathering resources and information. I am not procrastinating as much as I am taking things slow. I have started a new regimen of vitamins. I got my eyes checked and am sporting bifocals. I really like them--no problems adjusting. I scheduled a mammogram. I will schedule a physical. I was going to schedule an appointment for my knee which has been bothersome for far too long, but I didn't for reasons that will become the subject of another blog entry.
I am investigating nutrition in ways I never have before. I am about ready to eliminate white breads and flours from my diet. I just need to plan out meals I love to get me through the transition. And I have been walking an hour a day on most days (weather permitting). When I do yoga, I have been taking it to a new level. All in all, it has been small slow changes. Nothing so radical as a diet, but as I enter a new decade, I want to do so with care and an eye forward on how I can optimize my future decades.

Still loving the iPhone

I can go for a walk, stay in contact with the kids, have emergency contact, listen to music and podcasts, text or write myself a note (often a walk will clear my mind and allow me to remember something important that I want to call to mind when I get home), and take photographs of nature and things I observe. Plus I can map my route and see how far I've gone and approximate calories consumed. Now, all of this depends if I am out for true exercise or mental escape. But the iPhone is great tool for me to hone my intent. If I want a hard session, I listen to my iTread workout. If I need to think, I can put in a meditation tape. I can use it to learn with podcasts. And if my walk gives me artistic inspiration I can take pictures or notes. I can even check the weather before I go to make sure I am dressed appropriately.

I Pledge and Starbucks

I got swept up in the spirit of the "Be the change" and the "Yes, we can" attitudes that pervaded the inauguration. Would I have done so if a new Republican administration had inspired these ideas. I'd like to think so, but I can't be sure.

Anyway, to answer the call put forward by Ashton and Demi and their "I pledge" campaign, I have pledged to start composting this year. So far, I have been doing research, but I hope to put this into effect starting next month. It has always seemed a little intimidating to me--having to get the mixture just right to created the proper chemical reactions, but I am going to start.

And to answer Starbuck's call for 5 hours of volunteer work, I am going to do some workshops with the local domestic violence shelter. I have done this before, but in light of my present commitments to my volunteer work with the Lancaster Literary Guild, I had not planned to do any workshops in the near future. Still it feels good to be putting an extra effort out there. Times are tough, and I want to help get this country on its feet again--even if my efforts are small ones.

Green Tara

I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions this year, but I am beginning of journey learning about and working with energies of the Green Tara. She is a female Buddha associated with (among other things) compassion, enlightenment, success in the workplace, liberation from fear. I am not a Buddhist, so I don't want to step on toes with my year's quest. I taught a survey course of Goddesses from around the world this past fall to a group of extraordinary women who are still gathering to meet and share energies. I chose one of the figures we studied and decided to take my personal study to a deeper level. I am experimenting with meditations and mantras. I have experienced many different kinds of meditation over the years, but have not built a practice. It is ongoing. I probably won't have much to say until I come to the end of my year, but I'll put it out there as intention.

Inauguration of Barrack Obama

I didn't even blog about the inauguration??? You know that Obama gave his acceptance speech in Grant Park where I finished my one and only marathon. It was thrilling to see the landscape of my biggest challenge in the spotlight. Well the inauguration conjured other memories. Mark and I got engaged on a picnic beside the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial. And I just finished reading a book on the Lincoln marriage. So all the Lincoln references felt personal to me. That's not even beginning to hit what I felt about Obama taking office. In a lot of ways I felt healed. I didn't expect that. But I have been feeling sorry about my race's treatment of other races. I didn't realize how I had internalized all of those messages until the moment Obama arrived. I feel proud and awakened. I am not saying that he will be able to cure all ills with a magic wand. But I finally have someone in office I can respect. I couldn't say that about Clinton. I don't know if I have ever really felt that as an adult. I am looking forward to seeing what happens. But YEAH! President Obama did sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I did a dance. Would that it have been in effect when I was in the workplace.

Time again for ten new posts

I can't believe I haven't posted yet this year! My goal was to design a new website in January. Perhaps I was waiting. I think I have the homepage designed. But I am working on a template. It is hard. I have forgotten all that I know about designing a website. Why must I reinvent the wheel each time. Any web designers want to volunteer to come up with a real stripped down site? I just want something simple where my artwork will provide the visual focus. I need to get this done so then my artwork may once again be my focus. It isn't any fun writing about NOT MAKING ART!

Market Baskets and iPhone

I have often remarked about my Little House on the Prairie ideal vs. my husband's Star Trek ideal. This year, I relished in giving books and market baskets. His big gift to me and himself were matching iPhones. I am used to getting tech gifts from him. That's fine. Something I wouldn't give myself. I tend to buy Mark more books than he can read. (I was good this year and only got him a subscription to Runner's World.)

Now part of my LHOTP wistfulness is a wish for a simpler time. Self sufficiency, community participation, direct contact with the food chain. I am not a technophobe, but what bothers me about technology is that I constantly have to update my skills--especially after I have managed a degree of proficiency with the old technology so that I can work it with the fluidity of muscle memory instead of brainpower. The other thing that annoys me about gadgetry is that I have to live in a state of dissatisfaction. I can never be happy with what I have; I must be constantly alert for updates, in both software and hardware.


Now I must backtrack a bit. I've been carrying a big purse lately to accommodate my day planner, journal, books, etc. I also tend to carry my market bag with current projects or books. But this past week, I have suffered a bad back. I do long for simplicity, but being confined to a sofa with nothing to do but explore iPhone applications, I am beginning to see that simplicity can come in many forms. If I set myself up right, I could be carrying one tool for use in/as navigation, diet log, calendar, grocery list, wine guide, phone, iTunes, pedometer, knitting patterns, address book, email, flashlight, clock radio, reading books and articles, diary, personal trainer, surfing web, art gallery, meditation timer, and restaurant locator. It's like the Swiss Army knife of life. If it could function as a corkscrew, I could probably be set for life. WOW! Now all of this will take a bit to set up, and a bit longer to be comfortable with it. I am going to be very hard pressed to give up my paper day planner, but I think that bad back will prevail, and I will at least try a paperless version.

For some time, I felt that maybe technology and subsequently my husband were at odds with my values of simplicity, but I think I am beginning to see what gains I can make in my life.

1. Going paperless will save on resources. No more printing maps and directions
2. I won't expend as much energy looking for all my stuff and cursing myself when I forget it.
3. I can further save on space by downloading books--something I am not eager to try, but with dwindling bookshelf space, I must think about.
4. One device to plug in. One power cord to keep track of.
5. In sync with my hubby.

So, I may at times give commentary as to how I am doing, making the iPhone a tool for my life, instead of making my life fit the phone. I've already thought of an application I have yet to see: Produce stand/local food source locator. Can someone get on that? I need to fill my market basket.

Gifts I like to give

1. Books. Hands down number one present to give and to receive. Mark is a techno-geek who reads one book a year. I probably buy him two books a year. He buys me things to plug in.
2. Cookbooks. I know this is a sub category. My poor brother-in-law gets the brunt of this gift because he the only person within my gift-giving circle who cooks. I have been known to get people who don't cook some cookbooks. My husband has received books on biscotti and breads and sushi. He has expressed a desire to make those things, but it seems more of a pipe dream despite my overt encouragement. Last year, I gave me mother-in-law a cookbook that came from a restaurant in her hometown of Marshall, Michigan. She knew the family. So that was appropriate.
3. Art and journaling supplies. What can I say? It is who I am.
4. Personalized stationery. Okay, so snail mail is going the way of the dinosaurs, but kids especially still like getting mail. They like seeing their name on things. And hey--I'd like to think that the Thank You note is not dead. (Although I do tell recipients of this gift to save their stationery for fun letters.)
5. Baby rings. I started a practice of giving my neices and nephews rings for their first birthdays. The boy rings are cool--made by a friend of mine, Suzy Arrington. That tradition started because Jonah saw Maren's rings and wanted one for himself. Later they can wear rings on a chain or give them to their kids. This is not my orginal idea. Got it from my sister-in-law.
6. Personalized Back Packs. I like to give these to little kids. They see their older siblings, cousins with these and they love carrying their own. Plus--it is great for parents. No toys to clean up and store.
7. Gift Certificates to movies, plays, museums, cultural events. Again--a gift that doesn't clutter the house.
8. Pajamas. Love to give and love to get them. My favorite are Gilligan and O'Malley from Target and Vera Wang at Kohl's. Love the Vera Wang stuff--especially anything in purple. Don't own any--yet. Cool PJ bottoms for men.
9. Music. I love giving CD's of things I know others will like but may not know about. I like giving Carla Bruni, Chris Botti, Herbie Hancock, and local artists. Maybe I'll have to switch to downloads soon.
10. Puppets. Better than stuff animals, puppets encourage storytelling and playacting and reading. Tell your child to make the puppet read aloud a page of the story and then have the child read in his/her normal voice. If I was ahead of the game, I would make my own. I have a feeling my friend Elena from http://www.frenchtoastgirl.com/ will be making some puppets this year. Someday I want to own an Elena Nazzaro puppet and have a stand for it. Sculptural art.
11. Clothing. I still love to dress people up. Maybe it isn't the best thing to give. People tend to have their own ideas of what clothes they like, but at least Mark likes the clothing I get for him. And I like to see him wearing the stuff I picked out for him.
12. Something homemade. It has been awhile since I have done this, but I do like to put the effort in and have it received. Past offerings: stories, knit sweaters, salsa or hot pepper jelly, jewelry, framed photos, felted mittens or slippers, poems. If I didn't make it, then it is fun to give something made by local artists.

paper, music, lights

Paper:

First off, let me say that I cringe at most holiday wrapping papers. I guess it stems from years working in fabric design. I think most wrapping paper is tacky. Where is William Morris when you need him or M.C. Escher for that matter. Or Even Keith Haring--now that would be fun paper. And the red and green combo doesn't work for me. If it was up to me, I would wrap everything in brown paper with satin or velvet ribbons in shades of plum or chocolate with a little jute twine and/or gold cord for contrast. A brown gift tag with plum spirals and gold accents. A muted palate with lots of texture. Mark doesn't like the brown paper look. He thinks it is a step above wrapping in newspaper.

I saw some lovely wrapping paper at Pottery Barn displays this year. It looked like birch bark and had great red velvet ribbons around it. They didn't have it for sale though. Last year, they had graphic black and white paper with some presents wrapped in newspaper. I took pictures of that display to show Mark.

What I end up wrapping presents in is IKEA black and white paper. It seems to represent the dark/light themes of the solstice. This year I have striped, big dots, and checker board. I use one for thewrapping and a contrasting paper for the tag. Then I dress it all up with brightly colored (but not Christmas colored) curly ribbons. It is fun and graphic looking. I have a few presents wrapped in brown paper that I decorate with the black and white stuff.

Music:

I do love me some Christmas music though. I have a huge collection of Christmas music. Every year I get a new Christmas Album. There is something about a good carol. And I listen to them when I wrap and when I cook. Basically I listen to nothing else from Thanksgiving until Christmas. If anyone has any good recomendation for albums, I am listening. I think my favorites are The Roches, Sarah McLachlan, Charlie Brown. I also like playing Christmas music on my friend's piano. I took piano lessons for 7 years and can't play a lick, but I can pick out Christmas carols. Maybe I should rent a piano every December. My favorite carols are Oh Holy Night, What Child is This, Santa Baby, So This is Christmas, and Grown-Up Christmas List.

Lights:

I have a hard time with outdoor lights. I like them, but I am looking for the perfect and doable light display. I like it simple and classic. White. No gymnastics on the roof. Every year we put out colored lights. Mostly purple and teal--leftovers from a themed tree gone wrong. We don't have any lights out this year. Mark has had to work a riduculous amount of hours this month, so it just didn't get done. But it keeps me looking over other people's lawns and wondering what my ideal display would be. No blow-up Santas, no grapevine animals, or creche scenes. I like a lit wreath and a greens and light covered lamppost. Maybe some greenery at our second story windows and some candles. I do like our tree and Moravian star in the front window--that is there. The Moravian star is decoration that is native to our home town of Lititz.

Maybe if they weren't so expensive, I'd just get a bunch of them and hang them from our two trees out front. I like them the best. The warm glow is so pretty on a dark night. And it reminds me of childhood.