About How Things Change in Everyday Ramblings

This is the sculpture in the nearby park that is often monopolized by the private school kids from across the street. There used to be a mansion here a long time ago that became our county hospital for a time. Over time things do change…

Thanks for your concern (and suggestions) about how I might be able to better manage my migraines. The science that I find the most promising is on the relationship of the vagus nerve and some tests they are doing with a handheld device that electrically stimulates the nerve at the neck.

I have suspected for years that one of the main triggers was not in my head but in my gut and as a yoga teacher I am learning more and more about the vagus nerve and how to access it with breath and movement.

Of course most of the yogis that have developed practices over the millennia that have been passed down were men. And a majority of migraine sufferers are women. :)

Anyway this is an area I continue to explore. In the meantime my drugs arrived with three boxes of cat food yesterday.

I have packing material guilt.

I mail order every three months or so the wet food by the case and the dry in a big bag and I noticed this last week when Mrs. Sherlock took me to PetSmart after class on Wednesday for two 30 lb. bags of litter that the price is comparable.

As far as energy saving go I think a shared ride out to the boonies, where we both stock up is the better value than all the packing material and the percentage of energy used to ship the food across the country.

I had a very active morning yesterday and was ready to chill when Kes and Most Honorable arrived. I had two margaritas with my lunch and that just incapacitated me for the rest of the day. I read a little but mostly I got into bed and rested and listened to podcasts.

Exactly 30 years ago today I smoked my last cigarette. That amazes me. I smoked for 16 years. I am so glad I made that choice back then, that I had the space and social freedom to make that choice. Both my parents and two of my siblings smoked. Kes is the only one of us that never did.

It’s been 4 ½ months since I stopped drinking Diet Coke. As the weather turns colder (and it is) I will be drinking more hot tea. For a few months now I have drinking a lightly sweetened with honey, agave and one packet of Splenda mix of mostly mint tea and one bag of green tea. I love it and it is easy to make.

And in the process I have managed to decaffeinate myself as well. I was hoping that would help with the migraines and in the long term I think it will. It has certainly helped with my response to anxiety and stress and garden-variety tiredness. When I am tired I am more likely to rest instead of powering through.

On Wednesday I had a small class, just three students, two with artificial knees, one only a few months old (the knee not the student). I get an opportunity to see and listen to my students and modify the practice specifically for them in that small a class and at the end after I took them through a short sequence of restorative poses they all looked deeply relaxed.

Completely unselfconscious and relaxed.

That is how I would like to look later today.

The cats keep sprawling across the coloring book…