Time was when our house was a hive of activity - five children, an assortment of labs, springers, cats, chinchillas, a variety of reptiles and, occasional OC sightings.
Life's calmer now and, while I do miss the energy and the chaos, the slow lane definitely has it's charms.
Yoga for instance. My first attempt at yoga was in Brussels. Four children still at home along with their furry or slithering creatures, not to mention the language handicap. I didn't learn much in those classes since, as soon as I lay down on my mat, my brain took that as a signal for "Nap time!" As exhausting as life was in those days, a nap was probably more what I needed than yoga. And sure enough, a nod being as good as a wink to a blind tired (wo)man, I'd only regain consciousness when the bodies around me began gathering up their gear at the end of class.
Restful? Yes.
Embarrassing? Shamefully so as I slunk like a wraith from the room, still clueless about yoga.
Fast forward a few decades. Empty nest. Grandchildren yes, but far away. Just me, the OC, not even a cat. Pre covid we took classes at a yoga studio. During and apres covid we found classes on Youtube - all kinds of instruction on all kinds of yoga - free and right there in our own space whenever we choose. So convenient we never went back to the studio. And now, if a person happened to peek in our windows on any given afternoon in summer when it's too darn hot to be out in the garden, they might think they'd come upon a crime scene. Two bodies, limbs twisted for five minutes at a time into all kinds of knots or, more alarming still, sprawled motionless on the floor.
What happened here? Should we call 911?
No need. We're alive, careful to adapt the poses to our advanced years. We wouldn't want the fire brigade coming to untangle us.
This is how we roll. Finding forty five minutes to an hour every day to slow down, maintain mental as well as physical flexibility. How can we not feel connected to others when we realise that, while we're on our mats practicing yoga or impersonating corpses in savasana, there are millions, all over the world, doing likewise? All of us looking for peace and serenity. Lying there, eyes closed, just breathing, I find myself calmer, more tolerant and accepting of others just the way they are; calmer and more accepting of myself just the way I am; and more able to let go of the petty differences that divide us only if we let them.
9 comments:
An excellent practice Molly I did some yoga in my time and need to see what I can do in a limited way and yes, you are correct it really helps with outlook. My physio is helping me with movement, sporadically, as I have my challenging days.
XO
WWW
Sounds like you are rolling just fine.
What a truly excellent idea and practice. I did some yoga (decades ago) but have neglected it. And am now as supple as a brick.
Lovely post!
WWW - Maybe you could manage yoga in a chair? Many poses can be adapted for that. Any little bit might help you to feel better - good luck!
SK - that's not usually in my vocabulary - it just came out of nowhere!
EC - You underestimate yourself. Anyone who gardens like you do has to be a bit more flexible than a brick!
Colette I'm tryin'!
Ahhh, yoga! I would love to know if you have any online classes that you really like. I started yoga years ago in a class at our little gym at work. Then the instructor left the gym and nothing else was convenient (because of my work schedule). Then I planned to start back with her when I retired, but she had a stroke the same week I retired (!!!). So, it was another year's delay while she recovered (which, thanks to her lifetime of yoga, she has almost fully recovered). Last year, I started her classes again, but they are far away, and I'm thinking when she resumes from her summer break, I might not re-join. I will miss them terribly, but .... I've been meaning to look up yoga on youtube for ages, but don't really relish the trial-and-error of finding one I like, so I keep putting it off. Happily accepting recommendations from Miss Molly!!!
Anna - That sounds like a bunch of collapsing dominoes! I'll send links for our favorites to your email.
How depressing! - I assumed that you'd been yoga-ing since you could toddle. Which is why I've seen film of you doing things that I couldn't possibly have done in my peak of physical flexibility (I've always been stiff. And cautious.) Well, some of us are not born to bend.
I too loved almost all the books you mention. I must reread Middlemarch - don't think I've read it since, um, 1971, but I still remember Dorothea and the ghastly Casaubon and the awful Rosamund et al. I've never read (or seen, come to that) Gone with the Wind, though.
Dear Molly, our world, our country, my state, my neighborhood, and this home with the cats needs your last paragraph to be emblazoned in the sky or at least on a coffee/tea cup or as a plaque to put on the wall in a place it can be seen and read daily--and sometimes half-hourly.
I've been working on a memoir to follow the one I did on the convent. ("Prayer Wasn't Enough). It's taken me back to childhood and growing up and taking decades to mature into a woman who values herself--most of the time. But remembering the long span of 86 years has also taken me into some memories about things I did or didn't do. I have not found friends, family members, colleagues that I need to forgive. No. What I have found is the realization that I must forgive myself for hurting others. Mostly, I think, unintentionally, but the bruising was there. So I am using meditation time and yoga time and prayer time and simply "being" time to let the honey of forgiveness seep into my heart and mind and soul. By the way, this paragraph was only possible because of the one you wrote.
Oh, and on my blog you left a comment saying you had figured out how to "sign in with google." Pease, Molly, would you let me know how to do that? My e-mail address is on my blog site when you click that link there about more about the author or something. I hope this works.
Peace
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