You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘meditation’ category.
this morning’s chilly breeze reddened my knuckles and billowed my lungs. there was a corridor of contrails that drew me into my run, the roadside littered with bobbing robins. and so it was that when i turned east to head home, the sun relieved my hands of their chill and infinite silence existed between the bird calls of the morning.
this moment – every moment – a gift. this moment that is 13.8 billion years in the making. so many events had to happen simultaneously for this moment to be, for me to be in this moment, running in the sunshine with the kindest of intentions toward myself.
simply mind-boggling. outrageously incredible.
in every moment, the Universe is whispering to you. you’re constantly surrounded by signs, coincidences, and synchronicities , all aimed at propelling you in the direction of your destiny. ~ denise linn
home again after the run
many times in my life i have referenced ‘the wind is not my friend.’ prone to earachesas wind rushes past them, haired fuzzed and in-face issues, and the dread of its challenges on run days; particularly this.
recent heart lessons echoed this morning as i pulled on my running togs: if i am to be kind to myself, i must befriend the wind.
as i turned at the end of the laneway, into the stiffish breeze, the usual fight and resistance did not arise. instead, i understood that i must move into the wind, spread my long wings in a vulnerability, a welcoming embrace, in order to be lifted.
and so, for the first half of the run, i allowed myself to soar, running with, instead of against, this friend. new friend.
at the turn around point, the whoosh fell away from my ears. i became aware of the throaty calls of ravens, the vireos’ curious insistent question: ‘where are you?’ the trees, swaying and bouncing, rhythmically sighed the songs of wind instruments. the wind at my back, pushed me into a skitter along the arc of the earth and dropped me at the laneway with a pounding heart, alive with this new day.
this is your chance. this little, short human life that you have is your opportunity. don’t blow it . . . my teacher said that making friends with myself meant seeing everything inside me, and not running away or turning my back on it. because that’s what real friendship is. you don’t turn your back on yourself and abandon yourself, just the way you wouldn’t give up on a good friend when their darker sides began to show up
~ pema chodron
in the spring, i went for a run and put up a wee post about it. as it happens, i have continued to not be a runner on a consistent basis since then.
this morning’s run was under grey skies, as seems to have been the mornings of late. it was also later than i prefer to run as i waited for both daylight and coffee to happen first.
crickets and cicadas provided the universal heartbeat backdrop to the run. starlings and
mourning doves hung like garlands in trees. the shoulder of the road was still littered with fallen trees, though power lines that had been broken and were hanging just a few mornings ago, all remnants of last weekend’s hurricane dorian, are now repaired, explaining the power outage yesterday.
i have been contemplating entering the pei marathon’s 10k event this year. i have done it twice before, once shod, once barefoot. i have even flirted with the idea of the half marathon. thankfully, my common sense and self care instincts kick in before i get further than a furtive wink with the 21 km demand.
i am not a distance runner, not being well suited to endurance events, except perhaps birthing labour.
years ago, when i first began training for a half marathon, i gradually added more kilometres to my week on a schedule slightly on the conservative side of most recommendations. weeks in, somewhere around the 13/14km mark, a wisdom deep inside my right hip flexor began to arise. i dropped back my weekly distance for a couple of weeks and then slowly began to increase it again. this inner wisdom was not to be denied.
i am not the sort to ‘work your way through that pain’ and, observing the ultimate outcome for those who do, i am grateful for the kindnesses, including abandoning the thoughts of half marathon training, i have offered my body as i age.
so, i continue to run. short distances which fill my senses and clear my heartmind. having nothing to prove to myself, these runs serve me well.
onward, then. headlamp and safety vest season is upon me.
learning to treat ourselves lovingly may at first feel like a dangerous experiment. sharon salzberg
enjoy a 60 minute practice geared toward maintaining joint health and body strength as we age, move through stress-related soft-tissue tension, arthritis, or a variety of joint injuries.
a gentle flow warm-up sets the tone for stretches, basic postures, warm laughter, and a rejuvenating final relaxation.
no yoga experience is necessary for this class.
classes are on mondays and fridays at 10:30am
in the upton room at west royalty community centre.
begins on march 1 and ends on april 29
*no classes on march 8, april 12, 22
15 classes $120
any 10 classes $85
any 7/8 classes $63/$72
*add’l drop in for package participants $10
general drop in $12
enjoy a 60 minute practice geared toward maintaining joint health and body strength as we age, move through stress-related soft-tissue tension, arthritis, or a variety of joint injuries.
a gentle flow warm-up sets the tone for stretches, basic postures, warm laughter, and a rejuvenating final relaxation.
no yoga experience is necessary for this class.
classes are on mondays and fridays at 10:30am
in the upton room at west royalty community centre.
classes begin on january 7 and end on february 22
14 classes $112
any 10 classes $85
any 7 classes $63
*add’l drop in for package participants $10
general drop in $12
join us. we welcome new energies.
yoga is a dance between control and surrender — between pushing and letting go — and when to push and to let go becomes part of the creative process, part of the open-ended exploration of your well-being. –Joel Kramer
the autumn schedule is falling in to place, though there are still a few bits and pieces yet to fall into place.
beginning friday, september 7th:
i will be guiding my GENTLE YOGA classes on mondays and fridays, 10:30a – 11:30a, and coaching GROUP KETTLEBELL classes on mondays and fridays, 12:00p – 12:45p, at the west royalty community centre on kirkland road. get in touch with me for further information.
beginning monday, september 10th:
i will be instructing and sweating through the ADULT LO/NO IMPACT FITNESS on mondays, wednesdays, fridays, 8:45a – 9:45a, at the west royalty community centre on kirkland road, for the city of charlottetown. get in touch with city of charlottetown department of parks and recreation for information. watch for winter and spring sessions after this fall session.
beginning tuesday, october 2nd:
i will be having a blast with the SENIORS FITNESS class on tuesdays and thursdays, 9:30a – 10:30a, at park royal church, for the city of charlottetown. get in touch with the city dept of parks and rec for info. watch for the winter and spring sessions too.
beginning monday, september 17th:
i will be guiding CLUBBELL YOGA CONDITIONING on mondays, 7a – 7:45a, for upei panther recreation fitness programs. get in touch with upei panther rec for further information. register soon, numbers are limited!
beginning wednesday, september 19th:
i will be coaching KETTLEBELL CIRCUIT class on wednesdays, 7a – 7:45a, for upei panther recreation fitness programs. get in touch with upei panther rec for information. register soon!
ongoing now ‘n’ then at now ‘n’ zen:
i will continue to share the guide of CHAIR YOGA class on wednesdays, 10:30a – 11:30a, at now ‘n’ zen in stratford. get in touch with now ‘n’ zen for further information.
ongoing tuesdays:
the MIXED LEVEL YOGA class on tuesdays, 6:30p – 7:30p, at atlantic fitness east, continues to run. get in touch with afe for information. join us for this delicious evening practice.
beginning tuesday, october 2nd:
i am excited to be guiding the queen’s county SENIORS YOGA & STRETCH on tuesdays, 11:30a – 1:00p, at camp gencheff for seniors college. register through seniors college and watch for winter and spring semester sessions in the same time slot in the same location.
beginning wednesday, october 3rd:
king’s county gets some SENIORS YOGA & STRETCH too. on wednesdays from 1:30p – 3:00p, at atlantic fitness east. get in touch with seniors college to participate. winter and spring semester sessions will be running.
beginning thursday, october 4th:
i will be leading a queen’s county MEDITATION AND BREATHWORK class on thursdays, 11:30 – 12:30, for seniors college, at camp gencheff. contact seniors college for further information.
i have stared at this blank screen for a while and have not found a gentle, tender way to share this news.
the whole way health & fitness studio is closing. march 31, 2018 is the day.
ideally, i would like to share this news in a personal, face-to-face conversation with every single one of you who come to the studio. that desire is not feasible.
most of you know that my life has changed quite a bit recently; there are new other aspects of my day-to-day that I want to spend more time with. closing the studio made the most sense whenever i dared entertain the thought. the last few weeks have brought me to a place of peace with the thought.
the studio has always been about you. about each and every clientfriend friendclient who has created a space for themselves and, in the process, crafted an amazing communal space. i have had the gift and the immense pleasure of being the steward of that space.
i will not say good-bye to the collective energy of the studio quite yet. there are still kettlebells to swing and clubbells to swipe; lebarre class squats to do and so much yummy yoga to practice. there is a final a.m. ready session to grace our early morning alarms.
i look forward to spending sweaty. sweet time with you in these next months.
thank you.
the waters of the world — the oceans and seas — are powerful alchemists.
broken class is tumbled by currents, by waves. rolled in the sands of beaches, stroked along craggy rocks. over time, the sharp edges begin to smooth. the transparency of the glass is polished into an opaque lustre. what was once hard is now soft, what was once hidden is now revealed.
as with seaglass, a meditation practice performs this exact process on our mindheart.
when we sit with ourselves, we discover our hard places, our sharp edges, our cocoons. with time, the sharp edges begin to smooth, the hardness in us softens, the reasons we cocoon fall away.
what was once hidden is now revealed. compassion for self.
compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. at that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live.”
― pema chödrön
