Nothing stands still

Hello me again,

The fall newsletter went out and there are already a few corrections and instructor changes.  An update is on its way.  Elizabeth is also off for the weekend, so there will not be a Sunday Hot Yoga class in Cambridge this Sunday, August 31, 2008.

Taught one of the worst classes of my career on Monday night, I was distracted and forgot what I was doing at least 15 times.  It became comical as one student almost feel over she was laughing so hard.  The really surprising part of this event was the lovely email message that came from a student who was in her second class, complimenting the me and the class, excited about her new journey.  You just never know what is going to inspire us : )

Tune in for more updates shortly.

In the moment,

Denise

Hello everyone,

The Fall schedule is a little later then we expected.  My challenges with life and technology continue.  My mother starts chemo and radiation on Monday and my friend Susie's liver is failing.  But the house is free from head lice and the basement, the whole house actually is cleaner than when we started.  Small gifts in everything.  This morning I was supposed to be in three places.  So I called in late to one, taking my children to help me with the second and here I am updating the blog and finishing the fall newsletter so hopefully it should be out today. 

I have been reading Tole's book again "The New Earth", while I did not really take to the guy before he is starting to grow on me.  And thank God for Byron Katie's book, "Loving What is".  Two incredible gifts to the human race.  Through all the challenges of the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to look carefully at my ego and my oh my what a wild beast it is.  Hummm, talk about the taming of the shrew, hehehehehhe.

I have been carrying my mala beads around this week, fingering them, and asking for the right mantra to come.  I find that ganesh mantra comes up as my old stand by, and I practice but my heart is not in it.  I think of gyatri mantra and it feels too global. Susie does not want healing mantras right now and I have not talked to my mother about it yet.  I toy with the the great mantras and find, the real question is what do I want in all of the swirling chaos.  I can see clearly what ego wants, as my ego is really good at shouting in my face.  The more real question is harder to sit still long enough to discern.  I sit and watch, maybe I will learn.

We are at the Cambridge Center today for the Active 8 "Tryathalon" come on out and say hello to my children. They are helping out today as I will be at the Kitchener studio at the Ashtanga Specialization.  

See you on the mat,

Denise

7am and all is quiet in my house.  I have been up for a while.  You can see the kitchen table again and the carpet of crunchy bits from the kitchen floor are gone.  The laundry is turned over and the the machines are spinning.  We woke up yesterday to head lice, fortunately only one child was infested, but 7 heads to check,  4 beds to strip, pillows to bag, phone calls to all those who have been in contact with my son and the places he has slept over the past week, so they are stripping beds and doing laundry as well.  One head to treat (thank you God).  

My head feels like it is crawling but apparently I am clear to.  This is a persistent little parasite.  I have had some experience with.  I have had so much experience that I have been on the head lice check team at the local elementary school.  

My mother has stage three lung cancer.  She is pissed off as she feels great right now and believes that the treatment that will ensue will make her sick.  My friend, Susie, is doing well, better than the doctors expect.  But, she is not a candidate for chemo.  Right now they are just managing her pain.  

We have two great young men staying with us that my son, Conor, met while in Montreal this summer.  They are a joy to have around.  The three of them flip back and forth from English to French all day and all night.  There is no shortage of music around this house.  They have set up the computer in our tiny little kitchen so getting a drink of water can require a dance of its own through the throngs of teenagers that all seem to be glued to the computer.  What is it with one person on msn or facebook and the others all gathered around .... wouldn't it be more fun to just call that person, or msn them and tell him/her to come on over too?  How could one more hurt?  Just another pair of stinky white sport socks under the kitchen table.  My house kind of smells like teenage boy.  I think that Laurie Anderson (female musician) got it right in her song, teenage boys smell like of like old goats.

Ok, time to practice just  nauli kriya and surya namaskar A & B this am.  6 rounds each.  Then wake the sleeping princess (that can get ugly) and get her over to the Kitchener studio this am to help with summer camps.  We  have the little ones this week they are soooo cute and soooo willing to hold hands and explore.  

Each day is its own adventure.

Denise

Updates

Hello all,

Our webmaster is away on holidays in France and Belgium and will not be back until August 13, 2008.  So the fall schedule will not be on the website until then.

The Sunday Kitchener class at 10am has been cancelled due to the instructors work schedule being changed.  We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.  If you enjoy yoga on Sunday morning, please join us in Cambridge at 10am for hot yoga.

We will be closed this holiday Monday as well.  

If you have any questions about the schedule please feel free to call Serenity at 519.884.9877 or call me, Denise at 519.240.9642.

Om Shanti,

Denise

A new day.

It is a new day.  I read something from Ram Das yesterday that helped with perspective when I was informed last night that I had a flat tire.  Hummm.  

"Attraction or aversion colours your perception of what you call reality." Ram Das

I have read this before.  I have heard it before.  Seems I needed to hear it again.

Ram Das always seems to have the wisdom that I need to hear.  Thinking that my tire should be anything other than flat is what causes suffering.  I changed my thought process and surrendered to the process and belief that today would be taken up with putting on the spare and fixing the tire.  I rode my not so great bike to my fabulous massage appointment with Autumn at the Fernandes Natural Family Heath clinic this morning and just took joy in the wind blowing through my hair.

As I rode back looking forward to a day with my kids getting ready to go to the beach I was planning what to pack and what groceries to pick up.  When I got in, Owen with some trepidation informed me that he called his father and told him that there was nothing to eat here.  Hummm.  I had made him waffles before I left and had suggested if he was still hungry that he have a plum or some blueberries.

I felt a reaction coming up.  Aversion.  I called his father to tell him that it was not necessary that we had lots of food here.  His father had already bought him lemon poppyseed loaf.  I paused for a moment and thought, "What is my problem?  Lemon poppyseed loaf sounds way better than waffles, humm.  Let it go."  The need to be right, was hindering my feelings and my judgement.  He brought the loaf, Owen ate about 1/3 of it and was off doing something else.  If his father wants to spend money on that sort of thing and drive all the way over here to bring it to Owen, I can let that be their deal.  I do not have to plug into feelings of guilt about, waste, car emissions and more.  I can and did let it go.

be well and happy, it is a decision,

denise