Category Archives: Yoga

Mar 12 2012

Busy Days: A Summary of the Blur That is My Recent Life

Friday and Saturday:

This weekend I went to training to be a National Board facilitator in the Seattle area which now  means that I can provide support for more teachers and comment on more writing for the National Board experience like I do for the ProTeach experience. I love working with teachers and writing, so it just makes sense to me. I saw a few familiar faces in training, folks I’ve worked with many times before in scoring writing for the state. It was good to see them, to exchange stories from the field, and catching up since our last get together. Funny how the same people turn up in the same types of places with the the same interests. Being a National Board certified teacher myself, well, I really understand teacher candidates’ challenges all too well and then some. It’s like the challenges of teaching and being student at the same time and then add my previous remote location and less than amicable working conditions, and you have layers and layers of challenges. It has been a very busy blur of a weekend that passed all too quickly with occasional bright and shiny moments in a somewhat gossamer dreamlike state due to the lack of sleep and, quite literally, exhaustion. After much sleeping in and napping today, my energy is returning and will soon be followed by an early bed time tonight with more sleeping. Sometimes…I wonder how I do as much as I do…but it’s usually after the fact. Mid-stream, I just go and figure out how to make it all happen.

Arriving are the almost-Spring and Spring activities that signal the end of Winter to me. It was Megaband weekend in Portland, the area’s largest Contra dance this year. The crowd was the largest I can remember as was the band with the addition of a few unexpected instruments. It was also one of the warmest nights for Megaband that I can remember. Just north of here at the end of May, Seattle will also have a large gathering of Contra dancers and musicians at Folklife Festival. It is such a fun weekend. I have been going to Folklife Festival for…wow…since 1997-ish. A long time. Those plans are pretty much made. Now to work on Spring Break. I need a personal writing retreat to the coast where I will have time to write to the rhythm of the surf and a warm fire, two elements that when experienced together inspire me the most.

Sunday:

I’m currently reading MFA in a Box which, so far, has some very salient points for writing in the narrative voice. It was written by Pacific University MFA grad John Rember and is a good read. I have just finished L.L. Barkat’s Rumors of Water, also on writing and also a good read. Books on writing by authors who are publishing are a valuable insight into individual author approaches to writing. Next, maybe some science fiction, poetry, or fantasy or yes to all.

I’ve worked up a collection of poems, Postcards from Mt. Adams, as a project, an online chapbook of sorts, on this lovely blog from my time on Mt. Adams. There’s one about a trip up to the summit when a lightning storm surrounded me that is still asking to be written. Soon. I’ve never seen so many flashes of lightning touching down around me at time one time. Frightening and beautiful.

Monday

And all too soon. It’s Monday, and I’ve got a little time before work to work on work. Noticing a theme here? Yes, me, too. Note to self. Finalize your Spring Break plans today. You’ll need it. A bright spot today is yoga tonight. I have been a yoga enthusiast for years and really enjoy the vinyasa flow style of yoga. This style of yoga is highly beneficial to a demanding life style. The poses, asanas, challenge the practitioner to engage in and hold poses that cause an internal reaction of holding on when it gets challenging. This has been described as creating an inner space that is calm, quiet, peaceful when the body and mind is under stress. I have found this to be true and a wonderful outgrowth of yoga practice along with a more toned physique. The depth of engagement in asanas is completely up to each individual which means that it is possible to practice yoga my entire life. If you’re interested in trying yoga, give it more than one session. The first month is the most challenging as your body undergoes changes quickly. Core muscles quickly respond to yoga. So when the initial early days seem a little challenging, persist. Core muscles will soon strengthen and make practicing a delight. Okay, this day is starting early. More later.

Jan 8 2012

A sunny dark day and writing

Nothing inspires like a sunny day in Winter. It was magnificent. So I went exploring Vancouver with no particular destination in mind. Just roaming. It was great to just go wherever, do whatever. I have been so focused on schedules, goals, things that must get done that I needed time to just do whatever with no particular destination, just allowing the spirit to move. I was hoping there would be writing in it somewhere, and there was.

I came home refreshed, made a stir fry, did some yoga, and then massaged essential oils into my hair before a shampoo. Eucalyptus, tea tree, and almond oil. The residual affects of the oils remain after a shampoo. In this case refreshing and calming as I am wired after such a beautiful day!

And I was fighting sleep tonight, so I took to the journal, and a short story just poured out from some deep, dark place about seventh grade. There is the writing I was hoping for, but had no idea it would be a dark story of difficulties overcome by a seventh grade girl. It has an unsure, self-conscious young girl in it who was fighting for her freedom from oppression. This is an everygirl story with bits and pieces that girls can relate to in different ways.  I am amazed at how fast I wrote it. Add a little sunshine to ordinarily gray Winter skies, and there you go! Soon I will dress it up a bit more, give it a better title, too, and then send it out to meet the world.  I love breakthroughs even if they’re dark.  It does end well. This may become a chapter book. It has the potential to.

So sleep. I know this means the weekend is over, and I so don’t want it to be, but it’s the last hour and sleep now is a must, not an option. I want to write more and revise what I have already written, but it will have to wait. It is squirming to be written, but I’ll take that over no motivation at all and wishing I had something to write.

Best of sleeps. Dream, fly, soar.

Nov 2 2011

Knitting Diva, Yes to Yoga, and Writing

It’s late, I have to get up tomorrow, early, but I can’t sleep until I write something, anything!

So I finished a pair of fingerless mitts tonight, casted on a new pair, and also casted on a sweater that I’m totally smitten with. There’s also a dog sweater that I’m finishing, and then I need to decide on things to knit people for Christmas presents.

Now I just need to write something. The formula for cool weather happiness is knitting and writing. Throw in a good movie, a fire, and some sofa time, and I’m over the moon. To know yourself is to own your happiness. To yield to it is bliss.

I have found a yoga studio in Vancouver that provides that Zen space and experience for claiming inner peace and the mind/body/spirit experience that yoga nurtures and encourages in the hands of the right yogi. So tomorrow, a meaningful, well-deserved yoga class. Such a beautiful experience.

Happy goose down dreams,

Patricia

Dec 22 2010

Hugo House Writing Workshop, Yoga, and Home

Recently a teacher friend and I made a trip to Hugo House in Seattle for a writing workshop after school. It was interesting, and I’ll definitely go again.

The first writing that we did was to take a topic and a theme and combine them in prose poetry.

The mentor text was the poem “For About Heavy Machinery” by David Young. As we read through this poem we were asked to identify themes. Mostly it is a sensual poem about heavy machinery. Odd, right? But it works. So then we were asked to create a list of topics and themes that we might write about and then share our two favorites with a neighbor. A combination that I would like to pursue that I thought of was “For About the City” with the heartbeat as a theme.

Then we did something that I really enjoyed. The teacher pulled out this old suitcase and inside was all sorts of odds and ends. We were asked to select four items that reminded us of some experience or something significant. This was in response to the prose poem “Artifact” by Brenda Miller, which is a series of items that she writes about. The outcome of this exercise really surprised me. It was a learn as you write experience for me that still resonates with me.  As the writing exercise goes, the writer can write about multiple items and then choose which chunks of writing seem to go together to determine the poem. I want to present this activity to kids.  It was writing magic.

I’m recovering from doing yoga in class for the first time in a while. Sore, stiff, and generally, ouch. But the soreness will get better and so will I.

So life in Vancouver, WA….love it! I’m so glad to be here. The climate is milder, living is easier, and I truly enjoy my surroundings. I’m in my element and very happy to be here.

–Patricia

Sep 5 2009

Yoga for Life, Eating for Health, & Sleep

Just an ordinary but satisfying Saturday. This morning, I was up early with the intent of going to yoga. I actually made it and on time without rushing at any point. Yoga was wonderful today. The Saturday yogini is beyond belief. She is a yoga goddess. Her yoga sessions are a mind, body, and spiritual experience that is non-invasive and such a beautiful expression of the art of yoga that you feel like an artist creating something amazingly original, personally interpretive/expressive, and alive that connects you with the divine. My practice is getting stronger and more meaningful as well. It’s deepening, and I love it more each day. All of me loves yoga…mind, body, and spirit. It is truly one of the most amazing discoveries of my life time, and I hope to continue in my practice for the rest of my life. It transforms, it heals, and it shows the way.

It was a rainy day here which kicks in my soup and home made bread urges. So after putting on some chicken noodle soup, I made a batch of French bread dough, seasoned the dough with Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning herbs, and garlic powder,  and after baking, brushed with melted butter, Parmesan, garlic powder, and seasoning salt mixture to seal the deal.  It was totally wonderful and savory rainy day faire. Sheyu photographed his meal before eating. So another one of my meals becomes a blog entry somewhere in China. I’m switching all recipes that call for sugar to honey. Today was the first time I made the switch with this French bread recipe this the last time I made it. I just made it an even substitution for honey instead of sugar to activate the yeast, and the yeast did just fine. The bread was very nice. I’m avoiding as much processed food as possible and aiming for whole foods each day to the extent possible. The difference is processed food is food that has been stripped of its fiber and often nutrients with only extracts remaining as the food substances which robs the body of complete nutrition. Honey is so much better for the human body than refined sugar. I rarely eat dairy, flour, sugar, or beef anymore. Today was a small exception with flour for the bread. I’ve learned over time to think about everything I eat and to eat smart, respecting my body. As a result, I don’t have cravings, I don’t binge or fad diet, and I don’t yo-yo. I’m healthy instead, and the rest is exercise and proper nutrition. Feed your body properly, and it will respond.

So I hoped in bed to bed blog, and now I’m getting really sleepy. Think I’ll say good night. Sweet dreams of wonderful things.

-Patricia