Hyper Alert in Everyday Ramblings

I keep listening for the orange guy. I was doing it in my sleep last night and had a restless time of it. I had absolutely no idea how much time and energy and focus was going into this 12-pound furry energetic source in my daily life. (You can’t really in theses situations because you will go slightly insane.) Oh my.

In spite of a riled up digestive system because of the stress with some determined self-care I was well enough to teach yesterday evening.

There is one particular woman, a mother of a two year old, that my coordinator has been trying to get to class for weeks. She is of South Sea Island descent and is very sweet.

A concerted effort was made last night and I went into her room with a lovely young volunteer about a half hour before class and the mother was willing to walk down the hall with me and leave her child for the first time (it seems) and one of the other parents was already in the beautiful room we use for the class and they sat and chatted for a time.

Then she said she just wanted to watch. She sat on a low bench and watched for the whole class. At the end of my time with the caregivers I do a very simple but effective guided meditation while they are lying with their eyes closed on their mats.

I take them through an awareness of all their basic body parts starting with their heels. The caregivers are always hyper alert, they don’t fully relax so this exercise is good because it gives them something to focus on while they are resting and breathing. I can often see the particular body part twitch a little as I mention it.

After we finished and I was cleaning the mats and getting the room organized, the mom, who had stayed and watched, told me that this is the first time (just sitting there quietly) that she has felt her fingers and her toes, her arms and legs for a very very long time.

She was examining them with wonder and astonishment.

This recognition was quite moving and it was very hard not to cry when she said it. My coordinator started tearing up reading about it this morning.

I can barely imagine the difficulty of being so far from home, from family and friends, your culture, with a very sick child. My guess is based on the disassociation there was some trauma too.

In what I hope to be a relatively long and fruitful career as a teacher I don’t think I will ever forget that look of astonishment in her eyes. It doesn't take a big complicated thing to make a difference in another's life. What it takes is sincere connection in a skillful way. Not bad for a confirmed introvert like me.

Just wow.

I took the picture this last Saturday. It is a tree down the block. Most Honorable and I both liked the angles and textures and shapes in the shot.