Saturday, August 21, 2010

TAI CHI # 3

Journaling progress, an interesting concept.....progress.

The Tai Chi instructor was late this week, so we students with a capital "S" warmed up as we awaited her arrival. We stretched, swung, and attempted to teach each other what we had retained over the past two classes.  

The swami arrived, harried but in command, and immediately began the routines. In this class I had particular difficulty in coordinating my feet and hand movements in a certain movement, the teacher corrected me once, twice, three times, and finally said to me, "You are  thinking too much, instead of letting things flow naturally."    Harrrumph.......


How did she get to know me so well in only three classes?

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

VEGAN TILL SIX

Continuing the ultimate quest for a sensible eating lifestyle, my latest find for your consideration:

VEGAN TILL SIX  PLAN - Mark Bittman, Readers Digest.

 "My arrangement with myself is that from the time I wake up until dinner I eat only fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. I don’t even eat white bread during the day. And then starting at dinner, I do. I have one meal a day when I do pretty much what I want, which is normally quite indulgent."  

 Mark Bittman lost 35 lbs eating this way and brought his cholesterol, and blood sugars into normal range. I should be so lucky, but it does sound  do-able.........

Friday, August 13, 2010

TAI CHI # 2

Class # 2 last night, another awakening. The 30 minute warm-up exercises once more had my knees screaming........hopefully this too shall pass.  In the second half hour of movements we picked grapes, stroked the horse's mane, flew like a butterfly,  soared like an eagle, and  rolled and patted the ball of energy only the teacher can see.

All very interesting hand gestures, then the teacher add the foot movements! Well, whilst I was moving my individual hands in a clockwise and counter clockwise direction, the part of my brain that takes care of my feet went AWOL. I felt sympathy for the teacher, looking at my tortured  reflection in the mirrored wall. My body wobbled, creaked and felt so far away.


Then the door opened, in popped a white haired lady reminiscent of the Principal's mother in the Simpson's cartoon.  She announced to the class that we have a wonderful instructor, and told us to enjoy every minute.  The door closed and she evaporated into the hallway.  The teacher explained to us that she was 93 years old, and had taken classes because she thought Tai Chi was for old folks. Well that's the kind of old lady I want to be, 93 and still stepping up for classes....... Come on knees, we have miles to go before we sleep.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

HOW TO BE ALONE

Found this, and really enjoyed her thoughts and images.........



A favorite found phrase of mine from many years back is:

"If you find me here by myself
 Don't think of me as lonely
 Just alone." 

BLOOMING TEAS.....

Tea has always been my beverage of choice....after water. My everyday tea is PG Tips, not gourmet by any means, but the brand I was raised on.  The water must be boiled and the tea brewed in a teapot for me.  No bag in a cup of warm water with the string dangling over the side, like a fishing line, with a wee label on the end like a lure. I never cottoned onto to that look, or taste.   I want the tea leaves to float freely in the boiling water, and slowly release their flavor.  Not hurried, but in their own time.

I want a cup of tea  that is treated with the respect  it deserves. After all it makes me stop,  practice a little self-care, then offers me the comfort of a warm embrace from tea times past, whilst offering me the opportunity to be fully present, here now, with this cup.

  The following video of blooming teas is a feast for the eyes, and hopefully the taste buds. A joy for the sensesI offer to you......................

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Men That Don't Fit In


There's a race of men that don't fit in,
    A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
    And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
    And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
    And they don't know how to rest.
If they just went straight they might go far;
    They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
    And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
    What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
    Is only a fresh mistake.
And each forgets, as he strips and runs
    With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
    Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
    Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
    In the glare of the truth at last.
He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
    He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
    And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
    He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
    He's a man who won't fit in.


I have always loved the writings of Robert Service.  The characters, awe,  longings, fear and wildness expressed in his work.

I relate so much to The Men Who Won't Fit In. This poem describes my own restlessness, a Scottish curse perhaps, that travels with many of us in our wanderings (physical, emotional and spiritual), and becomes a teacher in our old age.

"And now is the time to laugh" ........

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

TAI CHI CLASS #1



Tai  Chi class #1.

The first class was fraught with thoughts, rather than flowing movements. Kind of reminiscent of getting a mammogram, and with the dismal condition of my creaky knees just a painful. Put your right foot in, your left foot out, raise your arms with your palm up lower with your palms down, hold the imaginary ball of light, pull in energy into one's solar plexus. The only thing that was promising was that we were all quite slow movers, which was a plus for the teacher. 

After 30 minutes, I thought my right knee had turned into a bowl of rice crispies and the left was screaming at me to stop. But onward I went through the 60 minutes, no air conditioning and sweating profusely.  The next day was pretty bad with my knees still grumbling to each other about the abuse they sustained the night before. But, eventually, over a few days, they calmed down.  However, they are in for a shock on Thursday when once again they are called upon to bend and flex for another hour.

I trust after the ten-week course, the knees will be more flexible, and I will be too.

SQUISSSHHH



The air is oppressive.

It drapes like a heavy cloak.

Around my shoulders...........



I wonder if humidity is good for the complexion?  In Scotland we always declared that rain was the secret of our fair complexions. Water is life after all,  and mist does a body good.  The joints are another matter altogether.  Makes one ponder the ying and yang of life,  it does.....

Thursday, August 5, 2010

BROKEN PLACES



I am taking my old achy knees to Tai Chi classes tonight. The bad right knee and the aching left knee that I twisted last Friday, hunkered down, staining a corner of the deck that dh built 25 years ago. The area was designed never to be reached by human hands, or so it appeared to me last Friday. My knees paid the price of my stubborness to stain that particular area. I am not sure how the exercises will go, but go I shall.

More and more with each passing week, I find my body is letting me know it is present, and not in a healthy way. I do not like that feeling..... Perhaps it is too late...but perhaps it is not. Today Is The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life and a call to live, after all.

Today, I am thankful for aches that talk to me, and new beginnings that are always within reach.


Onward..... into the fray