Archive for December, 2010
light.darkness.birth.death…
The Winter Solstice, as the darkest day moves into longer days of light, on the same day as the Full Moon and total Lunar Eclipse, while we celebrate birth and life itself, the ending of one year, and the beginning of another.
Through the writing process this past year, along with settling into my life with all three daughters now in college, I found more time in stillness and silence. One clear recognition that came to me during these expansive moments is about birth, babies in particular, and who I am. Years of meditation, my first journey to India and sitting with Dolano, my immersion in Byron Katie’s Work, and various teachings of Zen masters lead me to the recognition of ‘who I am’. The simple and profound knowing we’re not the body, not the mind, but pure essence, existential alive nothingness, is quite apparent in a newborn baby. We sense the miraculous in their presence. This soul, spirit, essence arrives in the vehicle of a tiny body-mind, as a whole, complete awe-inspiring, perfect, luminous being.
Then right from the start, other’s thoughts, feelings, and actions become part of the life experience. So added to this pure essence, this luminous being, is some love, tenderness, attention, affection, fear, expectation, guilt, shame, inadequacy, neglect, anger, pain, suffering. And, we continue growing, adding our own thoughts, feelings and actions to the mix.
We grow up and reach some level of responsible adulthood. For some of us, that seems to be only possible with the aid of a substance; drugs, alcohol, food, indiscriminate sexual experiences, gambling, excessive busyness, achieving, or consuming. Those of us who see the light by living long enough in the darkness, a living sort of death, then choose another path. This path begins by dropping the substance and doing whatever work we can to reconnect with the same pure essence, spirit, that we began this journey. This is the work, isn’t it. From inside out, we begin to slowly recognize and dismantle the once protective armor, walls, masks, and veils which leads us back to Truth, where we find glimmers of the luminous essence of who we are.
Many people have spoken about what an incredible experience it is to be a grandparent. Listening as a client described her tender relationship with her grandchildren with such pure love and joy; it became clear to me that grandchildren come into our lives at the stage of our lives when we’re looking at our accomplishments of the years gone by, at the body-mind aging and it’s limitations, and question what this short time of a lifetime has really been about. We are free to show up with these new souls without the fear and responsibility the comes with parenting, and simply be present with pure, unconditional love for this new being, for life itself. The celebration of any new life is a reminder to return to who we are, that pure essence, spirit; it’s especially poignant as we come closer to the time of leaving these body-minds we journeyed in.
Sitting here finishing this piece, I glance out the window into the pitch dark sky… not surprised to see the darkness pierced by the brilliant light of the nearly-full moon. It’s really all a circle, isn’t it.
In the spirit of the season, I honor this auspicious time by bowing to divine order, the earth, and all beings…
Om Shanthi ~
jumping for joy…
I was less than happy to see snow flurries flying through the cold, gray sky yesterday with the forecast for the rest of the week in the 30′s. Of course, it’s a natural thing to expect here in December in the northeastern part of the US. I continue to struggle with the reality of dark at 5pm, leaf-less trees, abounding shades of gray and brown, and particularly my refusal to get outside and do my two-mile daily walk. It’s just too cold and dreary! If you identify with any of this so far, please read further; I have a solution at least for parts of this cold, dark dilemma…
My brother introduced me to the rebounder a dozen or so years ago; it is one of those small trampolines that sits about a foot off the floor. Jumping, running, walking in place for 15 or 20 minutes on this thing has the same aerobic effects on the body as 45 minutes on the treadmill. It’s 40″ in diameter and can be propped against a wall when not in use, or the legs fold flat and it can slid under a bed.
Mine is now propped against my wall in my office/workroom…I simply roll it over to the middle of the room, put on some great Krishna Das chanting music or anything else that has a good rhythmic beat and for 20-30 minutes,do what I call, jumping for joy. It really is a great dreary, cold day substitute for those walks I love and need and just can’t enjoy in below 40 degree weather.
Here are the benefits you can expect from using the rebounder:
Helps fight fatigue: Rebounding tones the glandular system to increase the output of the thyroid gland, the pituitary and the adrenals — which all help to restore energy.
Strengthens the heart: Rebounding strengthens the heart.
Increasing the G force will cause greater contraction. The involved muscles work harder and get stronger.
Nourishes the heart: By strengthening the heart muscle, rebounding allows the resting heart to beat less often. Each beat becomes more powerful and sends out a greater surge of blood around the body to nourish its 75 trillion cells.
Improves circulation: Rebounding encourages collateral circulation — the formation of new branch blood vessels that distribute blood to the heart. This is helpful when there is a lack of nutrition to the tissues as a result of impairment of the main blood flow.
Reduces blood pressure: Rebounding boosts muscle tone of the middle arterial muscles which acts as a buffer during high stress periods.
Aids muscle training: Muscle training from rebounding also helps return blood pressure to normal levels more quickly after acute stress.
Lowers cholesterol: Rebounding has proven to help lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Fights heart disease: Rebounding holds off the incidence of cardiovascular disease.
Boosts red blood cells: Rebounding increases the functional activity of the red bone marrow in the production of red blood cells. The red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients to the tissues of the body and also help remove carbon dioxide from them.
Facilitates oxygen: Rebounding establishes a better equilibrium between the oxygen required by the tissues and the oxygen made available.
Circulates oxygen: Rebounding circulates more oxygen to the tissues.
Increases respiration: Rebounding increases the capacity for respiration. Breathing is controlled by changes in the volume of the chest cavity brought about mainly by muscular movements of the diaphragm. Repeated rebounding exercise accomplishes more muscular movements of the diaphragm with the consequent chest expansion.
Aids muscle performance: Rebounding helps fluid move easily within the body, thus helping muscle performance and lightening the load required of the heart.
Aids lymphatic circulation: Rebounding helps lymph fluid circulate throughout the entire body – which acts as your body’s internal vacuum cleaner.
Promotes body growth: Growth of the long bones is especially stimulated by rebounding due to the stimulating effect of the pituitary gland, which produces a growth hormone.
Stimulates metabolism: Rebounding provides for a better absorption of nutrients from food intake and conditions all the body’s systems to handle energy more efficiently.
Enhances digestion and elimination processes: The gentle bounce exercise of rebounding has been exceedingly effective in returning natural, regular bowel movements to chronically constipated individuals.
Aids endurance: Rebounding expands the capacity for fuel storage, resulting in extra endurance.
Reduces obesity: Rebounding diminishes body fat, improves muscle tone, improves the efficiency with which the body burns carbohydrates, and lowers pulse rate and blood pressure.
Builds alkaline reserve: Rebounding provides an addition to the alkaline reserve of the body which may be of significance in an emergency requiring prolonged effort.
Aids peak cell function: Rebounding helps the body attain absolute potential of the cells through chemical function.
Improves coordination: Rebounding improves coordination through the transmission of more impulses and responsiveness of the muscle fibers.
Aids in muscle tone: Rebounding affords a feeling of muscular vigor from increased muscle tone. Healthy muscles are important to our sense of well-being, our grace, our coordination and energy.
Builds strength reserves: Rebounding supplies a reserve of bodily strength and physical efficiency.
Delivers muscle pain relief: Rebounding offers relief from neck and back pain, from headaches and from other pains caused by the lack of use of the various joints and muscles of the body.
Eases menstrual discomfort: Rebounding curtails the occurrence of fatigue and menstrual discomforts.
Maintains peak brain function at any age: Rebounding results in better mental performance, with keener learning processes.
Brings on better sleep: Even very light, gentle rebounding allows for better and easier relaxation and sleep.
Minimizes the numbers of colds: Rebounding helps keep the entire body with all its variable systems in tune and minimizes the number of colds, allergies, digestive disturbances and abdominal problems.
Stops premature aging: Rebounding can prevent or diminish the hardening of the arteries. By conquering this ultimate pathology, you will keep your mind alert, skin smooth, skeleton flexible, libido intact, kidneys functioning, blood circulating, liver detoxifying, enzyme systems alive, hold memory intact, and avoid all symptoms of the aging process.
I follow jumping with a yoga practice. This helps me be out of my head and in my body, the stretching feels delicious, and this movement allows me to slow down and be present with each inhalation and exhalation.
You can find rebounders on my brother’s cool website if you want to check them out www.evolutionhealth.com While you’re in his site check out incredible photos of him walking the wire…
Of course, another aid to what is called SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is what my kids call the happy light, or the official name is full-spectrum lighting. Sitting in front of this type of light helps with mood and energy levels since it’s providing similar effects as we get from the sun. Here’s one of the sites if you want to look into this http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/
Please let me know how you support yourself emotionally and physically in these cold, longer-dark days and in your life in general…
Namaste ~
remembering…
Due to time constraints, this post in honor of AIDS Awareness Day is coming a day late. I know remembering and awareness are appropriate every day…
I got sober in 1981 attending meetings in my neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and across town in the Village. About a year or so into my sobriety people in the meetings started getting sick, very sick, and dying. This deadly disease didn’t have a name at that time; a virus that seemed to affect IV drug users and gay men. My sober friends in their 20′s and 30′s began getting positive HIV diagnoses.
In the last few years of my active using I’d become an IV drug user and often shared needles with my gay friends; or when desperate enough, needles found on the street by my apartment, or even from the dumpster at St. Vincent’s Hospital. My fear of getting a positive HIV diagnosis changed my life in profound ways.
Max told me about a Japanese man, Michio Kushi, who had this way of eating that would support the immune system and help the body to heal. At that stage of the disease and new diagnoses daily, I focused my energy on learning about this macrobiotic way of life and eating. I completely changed my diet to a vegan, whole food one, and learned to like the taste of seaweed, how to cook with a pressure cooker, to eat seasonally, how to cook beans and tempeh, the value of organic and locally grown foods, and whatever I could about the healing effects of food on the body. I cooked for myself and for my friends in hospital rooms with the big red ‘danger’ sign on their doors. Along with the diet change, I immersed myself in the yoga I started practicing when I was counting sober days. I had a daily meditation practice and became a yoga teacher.
The recovery community gathered closely around the sick and dying, with our own personal fears, and no judgement. The never-ending memorial services became a painful, solemn reality. Holding my friend Larry’s hand at Max’s service, he whispered in my ear, “I’m afraid the next one will be for me.” His was close to ‘the next one’…
Twenty-nine years later, I am one of the lucky ones that never got that diagnosis. I feel I have a responsibility to not only carry the message of recovery, but also to do work that empowers people to heal and care for themselves to the best of their ability through nutrition and lifestyle changes. I also have the blessing of giving birth to and raising three competent, capable, kind, caring, beautiful daughters. They are the next generation at risk; we talk openly not only about drugs and alcohol, but also about risky sexual behavior.
I’ve also had the opportunity to do work in rural villages in India where HIV is rampant, along with shame. The shame of the disease keeps them in denial as the men get sick and die, the widowed women are infected, untreated, carrying the disease and passing it on to their children. The children in those villages are now the focus for testing and treatment.
I honor those courageous people who live with HIV, some for 20+ years, I honor the sick and dying here and around the world…
But for the grace of God…I honor these dear ones I said goodbye to…Tom, Karem, Dennis, Max, Kevin, Larry, Michael, Eddie, Tom, Charles, Lindsey, Georgette.
Namaste ~
