Thoughts and feelings

My original plan for this week was to share some of the moments that have been most magical for me and ask you to share the same. My reasoning was that the newspapers are full of moments, mostly bad moments in which mankind is hurting. I read the newspapers regularly, subscribing to three papers - one national, one local and the weighty Sunday edition of the New York Times. My morning ritual for nearly 30 years has been to come downstairs, make some tea and read the paper. Lately, I haven't read the papers with the same relish. The news is too sad. So, I was planning to counter this in my own small way by writing about happy moments. I still will, but not in the way that I originally planned.

I had an intense weekend. I walked the dog for hours, I mowed the lawn and I cleaned the floors, I read a book and I thought. Doesn't sound intense by most standards but the intensity came from my thoughts not my actions. Thinking is not a good thing for me and I tend to do too much of it. When I think, fears creep in, jump in, loom in every crevice. When I am feeling, I feel much better. So, I tried to just observe my thoughts, ask myself what is true, and concentrate on what I was feeling. Yoga helps me move from thinking to feeling so I went to yoga class.

My yoga studio has installed a new humidifer and the room was crowded on Labour Day Monday. The extra bodies contributed extra heat and humidity. I focused on myself during my yoga practice. I focused on my breath. I tried to breathe in and out through my nose rather than my mouth. At the end of class, I felt like a puddle. I had sweated a lot. My towel was wet. My hair was dripping. I stayed in savasana for over 20 minutes until my heart calmed down and I felt ready to leave. As I was by the door, a young man came in for the next class. He asked how class was. I replied "Tough, and hot". He said "You look happy".

And so, here is one of my happy memories of a day last winter when I was skiing with friends.

I went to the mountains to ski on a day trip with four other women ski instructors. The snow was fantastic and the sky was bright. We were skiing down some glades and came to an open patch which no one had skied yet. We didn’t know where it led. The others hesitated, but I said I wanted to try it and headed off. The others followed. We came to some snow covered rocks strewn about like a garden on Mars. We skied over the rocks into another forested area with a narrow path that others had skied. Cindy went first. I followed. As I approached the opening, I heard her yell “jump”. I leaned forward like a ski jumper, straining on my bindings. There was a deep gully and I cleared it, landing on the flat. I popped out of my bindings and slid forward on my belly like a penguin. I got up laughing and saw my two skis lying perfectly parallel over the gully. The others started laughing. We were in a special spot with the mountain protecting us on one side, the rocks to another and tall trees to a third side. The fourth side led back to traditional trails. We stood in the glade enjoying the cold and the sunshine and our laughter and agreed it would be a great picnic spot. We continued out and continued laughing and being silly and having fun all day.

Namaste,
Ginny