I have a confession. I have been with someone while I have dated Mike. Quite clearly, myself; but also, another entity with whom this month indicates I've spent 5 years. All right, it's more of a knowing, or a meaning, rather than a thing or person...it's the practice of yoga! And apparently, on a 5-year anniversary, the traditional/modern gift is wood/silverware. Not sure what I could do regarding silverware for my mat, towel, and peaceful understanding of "Om," but wood is something I may be able to symbolically represent with this amazing love affair of mine.
I have all but one time practiced yoga on a wooden floor, which thus supported my mat/body. [The one outstanding practice was a park-group-meditation, pretty neat!] When I first began yoga, this wooden base offered me solace and comfort in child's pose, and the beloved, arguably most important pose of, Savasana (corpse's pose). It was something my first teachers reminded me of - that Mother Nature, the earth, and our Universe supports us if we trust in its knowing and foundation. So, in truth, the gift of wood is something that yoga has provided me time and time again. My presenting of wood to yoga, may have happened yesterday while the class attempted Vriksasana (tree pose). During this balancing sequence, my 5 years worth of yogic mindset and triumph across the various asanas allowed me to stand evenly, strongly, and proudly with arms raised high. Next week, I might not be able to lift my arms as such, or each leg on either side, but it doesn't matter. The "wood" of my tree balancing fluctuates just as any tree does in the wind, and just as any student of yoga understands that our practice must journey ups and downs, and even sideways at times! Below are some other most helpful lessons that yoga has taught me. In both my practice and in my life. If you have thought about taking up yoga, I would absolutely encourage you to do so! Its power is a self-realization, and how incredible is it to embrace the capability of internal empowerment?! Thank you, yoga; Namaste!
-exist within the present moment (you are already here)
-the hardest part of yoga is getting onto the mat (you are already here)
-embrace what is, and do not hurt yourself to reach a pose (or goal)
-meditate
-BREATHE
-sit with yourself more often to listen to your body
-the longer you sit with yourself, the more your body shares with you (and adjusts to feel at peace)
-let go
-mind and body are one
-BREATHE
-thoughts create action, and actions perpetuate thoughts (you are more in control of this than you may believe)
-embrace your creative side
-allow modifications to help your process
-push, but do not harm (yourself or others)
-you are resilient and capable of many things
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
tabula rasa
A repeat post title (re: 1st post ever). But a very different and important blank slate.
Tomorrow I go back to work - a new job (yes, another new job) - and Elle will be put into full-time daycare. This is strange beyond many measures since I a) never thought my kids would be in daycare [certainly not full-time], and b) I have worked in childcare, so being on the other side of it is incredibly bizarre. I am lucky to have perceptions as the former teacher and as the new parent, since it helped Mike and me narrow down a center that we liked: safe, nurturing, creative, established, FUN. Even after the decision was made, were other precautions or nerves available to settle in, we quickly discovered one of the administrator's 2 future grandchildren will be enrolled there in the coming months. Has to be a half-decent environment if their own family is comfortable, right?! All in all, we are very happy with the choice, as tomorrow we'll be dropping her off.
Now, onto the idea of leaving her with other people. No, the idea of leaving her - period. Mike and I already teared up about it last night. It's already been laughed/joked about with the teachers there that she'll be more than fine, and we're the ones who are going to be the crying wrecks come drop-off. I had an amazing 6 months at home with Elliot, and am so thankful for the support from Mike, family, friends, and everyone else during that time. It wasn't always easy. It wasn't even always fun, but reflecting on it I wouldn't change a thing, and I can just imagine waking up tomorrow regretting going back to work and putting E in school all together! But, I digress, change is never easy. It takes work, it takes time, and it takes that support on which I just spoke from those surrounding you with love. Elle will have a blast with other children. She'll be stimulated by other toys and crafts and learning that wasn't yet accomplished in this house. And I, too, will be stimulated once again by business, adult speak, and working towards a life outside the home, in a career I have realized should be my own.
The office I will be helping manage is a mental health (hooray, the field!) office that serves clientele and their families who need psychotherapy with or without additional psychiatric care. The director's vision (whom I am quickly admiring) has always been to collaboratively work with other medical/counseling professionals to offer traditional and alternative health options for her clients. Prescribing medication can be a step towards recovery, but she believes most in working holistically with the client's daily living to help them create change (re: never easy, takes work, time, and support) towards a most healthy well-being. This vision, is a process that seems so simple, and yet with the financial downside of collaborating with other PCPs and explaining that the "splits" of insurance reimbursements between the medical/therapeutic components of this wellness plan behooves all parties involved, has not been so smooth. After 25+ years she has trudged towards this vision, many pieces are falling into place, and I will be a part of the administrative team helping maintain it, and helping it expand that much more. Exciting!
A 5-day week will turn into 6 come May, when I add internship hours on for good measure. Graduation is just over a year away, but the clinical experience will sum things up. I am nervous for the challenges ahead, and not just in my counseling path, but those within my family dynamic as well. It's one thing to start adding to the income-pot, but another to ask of my husband, yet again, to mold his day-to-day by taking care of Elle much more than he has up until now. Of course, being a great father and husband, to him it's not of much concern; it just takes creative scheduling. And communication, upon which our relationship has really blossomed. And for that, we are so grateful. I am so thankful for someone who helps me relinquish my doubts and fears out to the universe, an entity which simultaneously grants me assurance and bravery, so long as I am putting forth also those positive energies into the hands of our macrocosm.
For now, without thinking so far into the future or so distant into the world's empowerment, I will eat up this last "Mom-only" Sunday with our trio, and enjoy the nuances that make it so wonderfully ours. Who knew this life I imagined, would not only exist in my dreams...
Tomorrow I go back to work - a new job (yes, another new job) - and Elle will be put into full-time daycare. This is strange beyond many measures since I a) never thought my kids would be in daycare [certainly not full-time], and b) I have worked in childcare, so being on the other side of it is incredibly bizarre. I am lucky to have perceptions as the former teacher and as the new parent, since it helped Mike and me narrow down a center that we liked: safe, nurturing, creative, established, FUN. Even after the decision was made, were other precautions or nerves available to settle in, we quickly discovered one of the administrator's 2 future grandchildren will be enrolled there in the coming months. Has to be a half-decent environment if their own family is comfortable, right?! All in all, we are very happy with the choice, as tomorrow we'll be dropping her off.
Now, onto the idea of leaving her with other people. No, the idea of leaving her - period. Mike and I already teared up about it last night. It's already been laughed/joked about with the teachers there that she'll be more than fine, and we're the ones who are going to be the crying wrecks come drop-off. I had an amazing 6 months at home with Elliot, and am so thankful for the support from Mike, family, friends, and everyone else during that time. It wasn't always easy. It wasn't even always fun, but reflecting on it I wouldn't change a thing, and I can just imagine waking up tomorrow regretting going back to work and putting E in school all together! But, I digress, change is never easy. It takes work, it takes time, and it takes that support on which I just spoke from those surrounding you with love. Elle will have a blast with other children. She'll be stimulated by other toys and crafts and learning that wasn't yet accomplished in this house. And I, too, will be stimulated once again by business, adult speak, and working towards a life outside the home, in a career I have realized should be my own.
The office I will be helping manage is a mental health (hooray, the field!) office that serves clientele and their families who need psychotherapy with or without additional psychiatric care. The director's vision (whom I am quickly admiring) has always been to collaboratively work with other medical/counseling professionals to offer traditional and alternative health options for her clients. Prescribing medication can be a step towards recovery, but she believes most in working holistically with the client's daily living to help them create change (re: never easy, takes work, time, and support) towards a most healthy well-being. This vision, is a process that seems so simple, and yet with the financial downside of collaborating with other PCPs and explaining that the "splits" of insurance reimbursements between the medical/therapeutic components of this wellness plan behooves all parties involved, has not been so smooth. After 25+ years she has trudged towards this vision, many pieces are falling into place, and I will be a part of the administrative team helping maintain it, and helping it expand that much more. Exciting!
A 5-day week will turn into 6 come May, when I add internship hours on for good measure. Graduation is just over a year away, but the clinical experience will sum things up. I am nervous for the challenges ahead, and not just in my counseling path, but those within my family dynamic as well. It's one thing to start adding to the income-pot, but another to ask of my husband, yet again, to mold his day-to-day by taking care of Elle much more than he has up until now. Of course, being a great father and husband, to him it's not of much concern; it just takes creative scheduling. And communication, upon which our relationship has really blossomed. And for that, we are so grateful. I am so thankful for someone who helps me relinquish my doubts and fears out to the universe, an entity which simultaneously grants me assurance and bravery, so long as I am putting forth also those positive energies into the hands of our macrocosm.
For now, without thinking so far into the future or so distant into the world's empowerment, I will eat up this last "Mom-only" Sunday with our trio, and enjoy the nuances that make it so wonderfully ours. Who knew this life I imagined, would not only exist in my dreams...
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