.....a dog's life

Yogis,
I have been spending my social distancing weekends at our beach house. We head down on Friday and back on Monday simply to have a change of scenery and different air. In both locations we hunker down. Cooking our own meals, watching movies and taking walks on the beach. Until there was a 72-degree sunny day.

A week ago Friday was spectacular, which meant that everyone quickly forgot about the pandemic and rushed with chairs in hand to sit in the sand. Lines formed for ice cream and French fries while families strolled the boardwalk. I witnessed this from afar. Needless to say, the next day the governor ordered the beaches and boardwalk to be shut down.

With two exceptions…..exercise or walking your dog.

That was the moment I first realized that this current wave we are riding is a hey day for the dogs. Their rights now even greater than our own.

I watched as rules for cities and countries on lock down allowed people to leave their home for a lone walk with their dog, and if multiple people lived there, one walk with the dog for each was approved. Yes!!! yelled the dogs.

Dogs typically left alone for hours on end while the family heads to school and work are now

surrounded, petted, talked to and entertained. One friend told me that in her new daily schedule she has a time where she creates stimulating games for her dog. Whatever will our beloved pups do when this all comes to an end?

Adoptions from shelters and offers to foster are skyrocketing as those who live alone look to a dog for companionship. A listening ear and a love of snuggling when anxiety sets in. Oh….and they are now allowed to go for a walk.

In our home, Phoebe gets her typical run with me and then only an hour later, one with my husband. Her daily trip to the creek or river is still on the agenda and whenever I can’t figure out anything to do…. I grab the leash and we go for walk.  This week alone she has frolicked through the bluebells, swam in the river, chased eagles on the beach and somehow snatched the best seat in the house every time we get ready to settle in for a movie.

     

By nighttime, she is a puddle in her bed.

Come morning though, as I open one eye she’s up and leaping

in the air with joy, eager for whatever adventures this day will bring. Yes, these are indeed the dog days of 2020.

I am practicing being as grateful and enthusiastic for each day as my dog.

Om,
SARAH

.....even quieter

Yogis,
Wow……

Who could possibly have imagined how much the world can change in one short week? In some ways it feels as if we are watching a movie. Empty grocery shelves, closed restaurants and cars sitting in driveways in the middle of a weekday afternoon. Neighbors waving from afar while the news streams the latest numbers. Impermanence.

Everything in life changes. Even these bodies we inhabit are different from day to day. Yet right now the changes are coming so fast and furious that our minds can’t even keep up. As if we are being swept up in a windstorm, beyond our control. But that is ok. There is one still point……

Place one hand in the center of your chest with the other hand on top. Drop the chin and the inner gaze to the spot you are holding. Here is where we find the heart energy and is the home of your soul. The soul is the one unchanging thing in this world of constant movement. Feel the breath there. Here there is always peace and it waits for you to notice.

Change is uncomfortable and our cause of suffering. We suffer when we lose what we love and also when what we don’t want comes towards us. Yet change is the one constant. But there is one still point……

Earth is asking (well maybe demanding as it didn’t work when she asked more gently) for us to slow down. One by one, the things we ‘do’ are being pulled back. Less cars, less noise. No events, appointments or parties. Days more leisurely. Personally, patting myself on the back for slowing down and taking this all in stride.

Then Thursday morning I went for a run and took a different route. I turned down a street which leads toward the river. Lined with towering trees and absent of any streetlights, I looked into the dark hush. There was a different energy. I paused to notice and feel it, closing my eyes. The message I received was to slow down even more. To get even quieter. To listen.

Hhhmmmmm…… Yes. Let go and listen. There are so many messages for us now. Wildlife returning to streams, canals and even town roads. Cleaner skies and more people outdoors. And new ways of living are beginning to bubble up. Are we willing to listen? Or will we simply ‘get through’ this and return to life as it was?

Change is uncomfortable and can involve sorrow and often hardship. But it also creates a blank canvas for new. Chances to step forward and do all those things you always said you were going to do. For me this meant finally being brave enough to stand in front of my pc and lead a practice without a live audience. Something I have promised to do for several years now but never quite got to it. And one change leads to another and another…..

Spend this time wisely. Be informed but also sit still and listen. Here the words of the Universe.  This is an opportunity. And also figure out what is the new thing you are going to do this week.

Closing my eyes and listening,
SARAH

....the world continues to spin

Yogis,

There are so many things I love about this time of year. One of them is its effect on my meditation practice. In March from 6:30 to 7 am there is a big shift around us, and I get the chance to witness it.

As I get settled in my seat and close my eyes, the world is still asleep. Everything sits quiet and dark. A half hour later as my eyes blink open, it is light. Morning has arrived and the world is fully alive. While in between the two I get to sense the transition.

On Friday as I sat, I heard the call of one bird as he broke the night’s silence. A lone voice against an empty backdrop. A few seconds later another. Within minutes there was a chorus. I knew without the need to ‘see’ that morning had indeed broken as they say. Not only by the songs of the birds but also their enthusiasm in welcoming in the day that lay ahead.

At that moment it hit me that while we humans are all navigating through challenging uncharted territory, the rest of the natural world continues along untouched. It gave me great comfort.

While we all change our patterns, watch the news and settle into a subtle state of uneasiness, the deer watch casually from the backyard while nibbling my plants. Meetings and handshakes have been cancelled, yet the raccoons still high five each other as they once again figure out how to get the ‘locking’ top off my trashcan. The bluebells bloom and the moon shines on me as I sleep. This all brings me comfort.

There is a steadiness in nature that can be called on at these times. For now, since I am asked to no longer hug another, perhaps I will nestle up to one of my beech trees. The social distancing rule of six feet does not apply when burying your nose in one of the numerous flowers beginning their annual bloom or to sitting so close to a stream that you can see the bottom. This virus can not be caught through nature.

In these days ahead, as any anxiousness or fear begins to bubble up, walk out the door and watch the clouds go by. They know not about this pandemic. Gather with the trees, stand under the warmth of the sun and sing with the birds. Be witness to the newness that spring unveils, not only from one day to the next, but even hour to hour.  And find comfort in the fact that the world that surrounds you continues to spin undisturbed.

Watching the dependable busyness of the squirrels,
SARAH

.....what to 'do'

Yogis,
What a funny world we live in…… There seems to always be at least one thing to be afraid of at any given time. Only a few weeks ago it was fires and now it is a virus.

On Friday I needed a few things from the store, but also wanted to get a pulse on what was happening out there. I had been hearing stories of shelves emptied of toilet paper, paper towels, cold remedies and hand sanitizer and wanted to check it out myself. Toilet paper?

It was quite busy at the Giant. Produce aisle looked as it always does. Meat, no problem. The section that houses the dried beans however, which normally looks like it may have accumulated a layer of dust, looked like a hurricane had blown threw leaving only a few sad bags of green lentils. Now I have been touting the benefits of cooking dried beans for the past year but clearly my voice doesn’t have the same power as fear.

Paper product aisle rather sparse looking with only a couple packs of Scott toilet paper left….so I threw one in my cart.  Not exactly sure why. Perhaps that feeling of being swept up by the momentum of a crowd. Or the inkling that maybe I should be ‘doing something’.

Now for the serious stuff. Anti-bacterial soaps and sanitizers. Empty shelves peer back with only two anti-bacterial pump soaps still standing. I grab one.  And for good measure I take one of the last bottles of rubbing alcohol. Now I am getting somewhere! Not sure where….but somewhere.

I empty my purchases at home and am reminded of the 9/11 kit that I started during a different time of fear. I am sure it is still hidden somewhere in the recesses of the basement. Duct tape, aspirin, tampons and water. A whole lot of good that would have done us.

Friday night I go to a yoga class and remember to hit the elevator button with my knuckle.  In the studio they have sanitizers everywhere. Someone else has even brought their own spray. At the end of class I use wipes to clean my props and my hands. On the way down to the car I forget and use my fingertip to hit P. And an hour later one of my hands is red and feels like it has been burned…..the sanitizers.  Appears they killed the guards along with any intruders. Darn.

So…..I realize that what I should be ‘doing’ is what I always do naturally. Keep my body strong. Eat healthy. Get plenty of rest. Spend time in the sun. Breathe fresh air. Meditate daily. Use my anti-viral herbs and oils. And most importantly, hold an internal steady flame of strength, inner peace and confidence.

Back to regular old soap and water for me. And I won’t need to buy toilet paper for a while now.

My citrine necklace reminds me,
SARAH

....vignettes on an island

Yogis,
I’m back from a week spent soaking in the sun, sand, sea and sensations of the small island of St John. A few vignettes on my experience………

Earth

So many things catch your eye and leave impressions when you spend time in a place that is not home. One thing you can’t help but notice in St John is how they dispose of their vehicles. Cars, pickups and motorcycles which have happily provided service for their long useful lives are simply parked on the shoulder of the road, a bit into the brush. Turned off and left. Abandoned.

They are everywhere. Red ones, blues ones. Paint dulled or peeling away. Flat tires, a missing door or an occasional smashed windshield. Observing them is like being given a glimpse into a time gone by.

While the car became motionless, life around it did not.

It may have begun with a single vine weaving its ways around the rear bumper. A bush, blanketed with vivid red flowers, slowly drapes herself over the hood. The determined cactus coaxes the small rust spot to give way, allowing it to push its head through the truck floor, turning the truck bed into a container garden.

Slowly, very slowly, the earth begins to take back what was left behind. Creating beauty and art from that which we discarded. No hurry. She has all the time in the world.

New Friends

A raised wooden walkway led from our front door to the road, which could barely be called a road. On the right stood a very tall cactus tree and within its branches lived a small spider. I noticed her on the second day.

She had spun her web from one cactus arm to another and she waited in the center. Patiently. She was always there when I checked.

I began photographing her on the fourth day, only realizing how spectacularly beautiful she was when I was able to get my zoom to focus for an instant at a time. I spoke to her as I clicked. I watched as she thickened lines in her web that led away from her legs making her appear bigger when seen from afar.

As we left for the airport before the sun rose, I said goodbye as I passed. She was a new friend.

There were others. The donkey who stuck his enormous head inside the car window when we rolled it down for a picture. The self-assured egret who stood unafraid while acting as the greeter near the entrance to the campground. And the Turks Head cacti with their silly way of leaning this way or that in groups, appearing tipsy yet steadily guiding you along the trails.

I met and spoke with lovely humans as well, but the friends I will remember and seek out on my next visit were of the non-human kind.  

Turtle

The warm water buoyant making floating effortless. My mask bringing even the smallest shell into focus. My breath the only sound in this much quieter underworld.

I spot her floating on the bottom. An intricate pattern woven into her shell.  Her strong legs push the water aside as she swims upward. A pause. For a few moments we swim together, side by side, our eyes locked.

My heart gets a bit bigger.

Om,

SARAH

I See You......