Restore

Restore....to bring back to health or strength.  My classes today were restorative.....time to restore our selves.
We started the class with legs against the wall, that is how we did breath work.  Most of our poses were supported, many using the wall.  It was all slow and easy, the last pose, supportive fish a gentle yet strong chest opener.....many stayed in the pose for their final relaxation.  Yes, there was some snoring today!  All left with smiles, a great way to start the week.  A young woman told me tonight, that coming to yoga made her whole week better.  Imagine that.........


We should all make the time to restore..........most of us are depleted, of energy, time, hope, and health.
It sounds too good to be true, too simple doesn't it?  How can breathing and stretching restore?
Think about how the body needs and uses oxygen, then think about how shallow your breath is most of the day.  Think about how you stiffen every time you get stressed, now think about how many times a day you are stressed.  Starting to make sense isn't it?  So if all you can do is sit or lie and breathe,
start with that......breathe slow, in and out through the nose, then see if you can take some deeper breaths and slowly exhale......how about doing that ten times?  So now, see if you can do that three times a day.....ten slow breaths.  I bet you feel better!


There are other ways to restore.....most of us are always in a state of dehydration.  Drink some water, 
eat an apple or orange, drink more water.  If you are fatigued, try a glass of water......headache, drink some water, .....joint pain, drink some water.......those are all symptoms of mild dehydration. Our bodies are around 70% water, our blood needs water to circulate through out our body, every cell in our bodies needs water, have a glass!


It's mid-afternoon, energy has disappeared, don't grab a candy bar or cookie!  Eat some almonds or walnuts, have some yogurt, a piece of cheese and fruit, and a glass of water. Restore your energy,
restore your body.  Take a short walk, get some fresh air and sunshine!  Restore!


Tonight, restore with sleep.......the body repairs while you sleep.  Take a warm bath, dim the lights,
turn off the tv, listen to soft music, remember to breathe, have some water, and this may sound silly, but give yourself permission to rest.
Good night, Sweet dreams

Abandoned

I went to buy groceries early this  morning, around  eight,  Sunday morning is a great time to grocery shop....no one is there!  By a quarter to nine I was back in the parking lot, loading the car.  I heard a woman's voice
behind me, "excuse me, could I ask a favor?".  I turned around, a young woman in her early twenties stood before me.....I could tell she was probably under the influence of some drug, she moved slow, her speech was a little slurred.  She told me her husband had beaten her ( her mouth was busted,  her face bruised) and had pushed her out of the car about ten miles up the highway.......a couple had picked her up and brought her to the parking lot of Walmart.  Her mom lived a couple of miles away, it was cold and she asked if I would take her to her mother's house.

I asked her if she wanted me to call the police, but a look of panic crossed her face, and she told me she would walk to her mom's.  I stood there for a minute, looking at her, and trusting my instinct, told her that I drive her to mother.  But first, I needed to call my husband.......I asked for her name, called Rick, told him what was taking place, gave him a description of her and where I was going.

She got in the car, she couldn't buckle her seat belt, I buckled her up and the first thing she wanted to know
 was if I wore tinted contacts.....she kept telling me I had the prettiest blue eyes she had ever seen and that she couldn't believe I didn't have tinted contacts in.  I talked to her about her husband,  I told her that an abusive situation would only get worse.   That she needed to talk with the police, and get out while she could.
 She said that was the same thing her mom had told her.  I urged her to go by the local college ( block from her mom) and sign up to study for her GED.  I am not sure if anything I said registered.  When we got to her
mom's house,  a man was in the front yard, and she mentioned rather fearfully that it was her mother's boyfriend.  I asked if she would be ok,  as she was getting out of my car, she just said thanks for the ride.

I have thought about her all day.  Uneducated, abused.......what chance does she have?  Yes, she was drugging,  thin as a rail.....she looked like an abandoned puppy that no one wanted.  The sad thing, I think there are a lot of young women like her.....who think they have no options, no choices.  They are the invisible, the ones you don't look at when they pass by,  or maybe you cross the street to avoid them.   I have said countless prayers for her today, that  life would be kind to her, that a second chance would be given and she could start a new life.  That she would know love and kindness, that she would have contentment
and peace.

So tonight, when you say your prayers, say a prayer for her and all the others like her........who live in hell on earth, who think there are no choices, there are no options, that no one cares.  Pray for her safety, pray for opportunity, pray for courage and wisdom, pray for them all.........the world she lives in, is cold, hard, dangerous, and in the midst of us all.

God bless us all tonight.........peace.

This Old Road

This is the road to our barn......the road that we walk every day.  It is amazing to watch the seasons change walking down this dirt road.  Right now, the trees are full of color and soon there will be no leaves, only the pines and cedars providing shades of green.  Hopefully some time this winter, it will be covered in snow.  In the spring the dogwoods and hydrangeas and wild honeysuckles
show colors of soft pink and shades of white.  In the summer, a canopy of green shades us from the heat.

I have watched Jordan run miles up and down this road,
I have walked this road sobbing with sorrow, and laughing with joy..... Spider webs have hung like lace curtains and glistened in the sunlight with the morning dew, and snakes have slithered across it.  Rabbits and squirrels have teased the dogs, wild turkey and deer have left their tracks, and once even a mountain lion crossed it in the snow.

This old road is timeless, there are places where you see nothing, not the house nor the barn, and it seems you are a million miles from anywhere.  It has become my favorite part of our property, this old road.  It is a great place to think, to walk, to run, and sometimes just to sit down
and look out into the hollow and daydream.  It is a place to leave your worries, and let yourself be in the present.....it is a great place to breathe.  It is a road that goes nowhere, yet will always take you someplace,it will take you home......and when you feel the wind blowing in your face, you know it is the same wind that has
blown here since the beginning of time........this old road, has become an old friend.

Empty

Empty......sometimes the vessel is empty and no matter how hard we try to get one tiny droplet, there is nothing there.  It's time to step back, regroup, think and probably give it a rest.  Tonight, I tried to post three different
photographs.....no luck.  I sat here for half an hour starring at the screen, listening to Blackie Bear snore......the only thing that happened.....I got sleepy!

It has been a few weeks since I have rested......my body and my brain are talking to me tonight.....and luckily
this is a slow weekend, no gigs......some down time.  It's the perfect weekend to rest, the fall colors are just incredible now, the dogs and I can just roam around and be lazy tomorrow. If we are lucky Jordan will come over and  catch some falling leaves with us.  I have a couple of new books to read, I think a blanket and a sunny spot would be enticing.   A pot of white chili might be on the menu.

So there's my weekend in a nutshell......not the most exciting, but one that fills the need.  I wish you all the weekend you seek, the weekend you need.
Good night, Sweet dreams

Bits and Pieces

Late post, please forgive me! Rick and I went to hear some of our songwriter buddies perform tonight.
It is a real treat to hear our friends play their songs!  Creative energy is just amazing!

It has been a wonderful day,  our great nephew Jordan got to skip daycare and hang out with us......I made sure I had all his favorite foods and snacks.  It was his day, so whatever he wanted to do, we did.
This day care stuff is all new, it started a few weeks ago when his mom went to work.  He told me today that one of his friends spent the day at the wall yesterday........I asked why did he spend the day at the wall,
Jordan informed me the wall was time out......he also told me his teacher told his friend she would be having a long talk with his mom.  Jordan told me he did not want to ever go to the wall!   I told him I wouldn't want to go to the wall either.

I really appreciate all the kind comments you all have left the past few days.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I also appreciate you all voting for Phil Campbell High School on the Glee Give A Note FB site.
We are now in first place, with just a few more days to go!  Keep up the good work, you will never know
what it means to that community!

I have to get up in a few hours, so I think I should maybe hit the bed now.
Good night, Sweet dreams.......

The Philosophy is Kindness

"This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart is our temple, the philosophy is kindness."  - Dali Lama

My friend Kaye shared this quote with me this morning, I have thought about it all day......it's almost too simple isn't it.......the philosophy of kindness.  Treating everyone( no matter the color, creed, race, religion, rich, poor,)with kindness.    It seems easy to talk about beliefs, but treating everyone with kindness, can we do that?
Even if they are so different that they scare us, even if they hate us, even if they smell, or they act "funny" or they don't think like we do, can we treat them with kindness?  Do unto others.....can we?

My father told me to work out my own salvation because I questioned his and my mom's religion so much......it seemed so full of hate, so full of fear, so judgmental...... I read all those words in red, yet it seemed
"their" temple taught everything but those words in red.  I have believed since I was a child, that love and kindness could change the world.....that giving with no expectations was the supreme act of kindness.

Many days I come home exhausted from giving, from sharing kindness.....it's ok, better to be exhausted from
sharing than sick with fear and hate.   My body is the temple......so are we caring for our temple, treating it with respect and love and dignity?  Do we nourish it with good food, pure water, clean air and sunshine, and rest? Or are we  pushing, stressing, it to the breaking point?  Do we give our brains meditation time or do we continue to bombard them with stimuli 24/7 and then wonder why sleep never comes?

The philosophy is kindness......I believe it is that simple......kindness to each other, to ourselves......it starts in our hearts, our brains and we can share it freely.   Kindness.....pass it on.

Fall Thoughts

Fall is my favorite time of the year, and fall in Alabama has been beautiful......clear blue skies, low humidity,

and the color will be peak perfection by the weekend. The temps have been perfect too, 6o's for daytime highs, 30's at night......my kind of weather!

I shot the photo with my I-phone this afternoon, down behind the barn.  There are lots of golds, because of the hickories and oaks, but the reds.....the dogwoods and sweetgums are just beginning to shine.  Every morning when we walk, you can see the changes, the color and the angle of the light.  

We have had some frosts, but nothing major, no killing frost as my dad use to say.....just enough  to let the plants know change is coming.

Tomorrow will be six years ago that my mom passed.  As I walked this morning I thought about her passing.  She had been so sick, those last few weeks, that I rarely left her house.  I do remember the day she passed it was cold .......what I remember most.......on the way to her funeral

I asked Rick when had the leaves changed color.  The sun was shinning, and it was that clear blue Alabama sky, I just remember the color of the leaves was dazzling.

I think it was the first time in weeks that I had noticed anything around me.......but those beautiful fall colors seemed to shimmer hope that afternoon, the first that I had felt in maybe months.  She was sick almost two years,  and honestly there is not much from those two years I remember.....just the caring for her.

I have two friends  who have lost their mothers in the past couple of weeks, it seems odd that their mothers passed during this beautiful autumn, it made my friends' losses more poignant and sad because I was already feeling the sadness of the anniversary of my mom's passing.  

The first day of November marks the beginning of our second tornado season ( yes, we are so lucky, we have two) strange beautiful weather, our fall season in Alabama.  Only two months left in 2011, how can that be?  Time does have wings.

Don't forget to vote for Phil Campbell High School on the Glee,  Give a Note FB site.....we are in first place!

Thanks to all of you, just  six more days to vote, so keep up the good work!  

Good night Sweet dreams