A Summer Morning

A chubby four year old finger
tentatively touches the space
between my eyebrows -- 
flipping a switch
the chattering squirrels already deep into 
the negotiations of the day,
the birds concluding their dawn chorus

stepping outside with a stretch,
an eight year old garden nymph
stirs up the mint, oregano, and sweet pea,
my skirt brushes past the roses

I sit in a pale slant of sunlight,
the laundry fluttering dreamily in time
to the scales floating through the window

A summer morning garnished, sliced, and served

getting older

Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes! We had a wonderful day -- out for breakfast and then to Springfield for a little Frank Lloyd Wright, playing at the capitol building, running around the Botanical Garden where we climbed trees and found a labyrinth(!), shopping, and a yummy Vietnamese dinner. Matthew knows what makes me happy 😀

::nice duck face


::happy to be back climbing around historic buildings


::we are the champions!


::It was hot hot hot and humid! Which made for some crazy hair! 


::how does this bell work?


::their only speed is RUN


::a labyrinth! recent memories from Bodhi! 


::Ibby meditating in the center, while Matthew makes his way around. We then all sat on that bench and watched a wedding in the nearby rose garden.

home again

Just arrived home from our long drive to Utah and back (for my yoga training) -- without any other drivers! Matthew now knows I'm capable and may never go with me again. I'd like to thank cruise control, cherry coke, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Sufjan Stevens, Hamilton, two well behaved little boys, and my lovely 13 year old assistant for making this all possible -- I couldn't have done it without you 💜💙💚💛

Session Five

The last session of our yoga training session was about choosing our path.  We talked about teaching different kinds of classes -- a children's class, prenatal yoga, kundalini, etc.  Syl has put in so much work with different class outlines and ideas!  I'm sure that it will be really helpful in the future.  She has also mentioned so many other things that I get so excited about!  Sometimes I just want to download information directly into my brain, haha!  But I know that life is about the journey, about learning and growing bit by bit, about enjoying each moment and relishing new discoveries.  Some of the other things include energy work, partner yoga, chakra therapy, and astrology!  I know she has spent years learning all of the things and I just want to know them all right now!  There is a whole wide world out there that I know nothing about!

Labyrinth

This morning we went over to Syl's house to walk the labyrinth that she has in her backyard.  It is incredible!  She gave us some material to read before we went and I thought it was all interesting, but seeing it in person was unexpectedly moving.  She based the design on the labyrinth in Chartres cathedral -- which I've had the pleasure to see in real life.  I loved that cathedral and its coat of ethereal blue!  I do remember seeing the labyrinth on the floor, but I really didn't know anything about them at the time -- I was 18 years old -- so the experience was wasted on me, as so much is on the young!  We spent time meditating on the lawn for a bit and then could enter the sacred space when we felt so compelled.  When I was using my brain, I decided that I wanted to go in when there were less people inside, I didn't want it to be crowded, but soon I let my heart take over, which is always better, and wandered in when almost everyone was still there!  



It was really enjoyable to join my yoga sisters and greet each one with a handshake, pat, or small embrace as we made our way through.  I spent quite a bit of time on my journey, with loads of thoughts racing through my mind.  The most delightful moment was hearing Twila's voice in the prosperity quadrant yelling, "It's all fiction!!!"  I texted her later to tell her and she said she was basically thinking that right at the same moment, haha!  I also really felt the enlightenment, healing, and peace of the other quadrants.  

The whole experience of doing this yoga training has been really transformative!  And the love I have for my fellow trainees is deep.

Session Four

I have really enjoyed the topic of the yoga training of the last couple of days... Emotion in Yoga and discovering your voice, because:  I am a totally emotional person and I love and adore chanting!  We always start our practice with the sound of OHM.  It is so funny to me now how odd it felt to chant when I first started doing yoga.  It felt so different and foreign to anything else I had done.  But now a yoga practice doesn't feel complete without it!  At the end of every day of the training we have done a longer chant and it is so lovely to raise our voices and make a joyful noise together.  I have long thought that our singing hymns at church stems from the ancient practice of chanting and there is something fiercely powerful in uttering the same sound simultaneously, either at the same pitch or harmonizing together.  I also love the moment right as its ending when there is an echo and then a lingering vibration.  Now that is a moment!

When talking about the emotions of yoga, Syl mentioned Karma, Dharma, and Nirvana which are topics I look forward to learning more about.  I definitely believe in Karma and I'm still searching for my Dharma!  And who doesn't want to reach Nirvana?  Hopefully in this life.  I also like talking about emotion in the context of yoga because the release of emotions is one of the most powerful draws for me to the practice.  It was such an unexpected consequence for me when I first started doing yoga.  I initially started it for purely physical reasons, but soon enough found that with the opening of my hips came the flow of my feelings, my fears, my very soul.  Now I need to do it -- I crave it!

One Week Down

The first week of the training has come and gone so quickly!  There has been a teensy bit of drama, shall we say, with my family, but everything is working out -- the Universe is as is should be, right?  There wasn't really room to stay at my parents' house because of some unexpected guests, but Steve was nice enough to invite us over to his house.  Jessica is in China, Emily is in Estonia, and Jenny is on her mission so they have loads of room over there!  Phin and Archie love the playroom upstairs and get right down to business as soon as their eyes open in the morning -- so much so that Phin was not careful enough maneuvering himself around the ping pong table and was gashed!



But he soon recovered enough to show me his smooth yoga skills



We made it through the first few days of me being gone all day and then on Saturday the kids went with my parents to a time share up in the canyon behind Ogden.  I am so glad that they are able to spend time all together!  I know my parents are getting old so I cherish any opportunity that we have to make lasting memories.  I also don't worry too much about my kids being a burden because honestly, they are so well behaved!  And I'm not even being biased.  At all.

I was hoping to spend time with my Ella girl, who came down from Idaho ostensibly to see me while I'm nearby, but Rachel came with her and they were out very late on Saturday night with Joseph Clay, of all people, so I really didn't get to see her as much as I would've liked.  We did spend the morning together on Sunday.  Joseph showed up early to enjoy some of Jill's delicious orange rolls and then fell asleep on the couch, waking every so often to mutter something about the knot in my ball of yarn -- but I eventually got it!  I'm determined and tenacious when it comes to tangles!  



And I finished the assembly of this sweet little blanket for Bonnie Williams' soon to be baby girl





The training is going so well at the yoga studio!  I've enjoyed reading more of my chakra cards



And my favorite thing is leaning back and gazing out the high windows to see the tops of my beloved mountains.  It really is a gorgeous location, like a brick, ivy covered tree house.  It rains every couple of days and the hillsides are covered with greenery... so lovely!