A Kitten, A Tin Foil Hat and Mittens in Everyday Ramblings

Say hello to Henry. The picture is what it is, there wasn’t enough light yesterday to get a clear shot without the flash but you get the general idea. He is an engaged little guy. He has long legs and is sleek, active and irresistibly adorable.

We did stop playing long enough to have delicious homemade waffles for lunch. Yum. There even was a break in the rain so Most Honorable and me could go for a short walk.

When I got back to Portland it was raining so hard, even geared up, I hopped on a bus instead of walking all the way home from the train station. In spite of the fact that I was doing a Weekend Warrior Fitbit challenge with a few of you… :)

The Simple Church audiobook was due back at the library today and I just finished that. I get bonus points for sticking it through. The edition I listened to was from 2008 and the cultural references were quite dated. They talk about Web Logs as this new thing and the ascendency of Gap Stores. Oh and iPods! As if they were the cat’s pajamas.

But now I do have a much clearer idea of what the senior staff at my church is up to with these changes. That and well, umm, someone got ahold of the consultant’s report that they commissioned earlier this year and made photocopies. I was able to read that too.

There sure is a whole lot of change going on in my world.

I’m glad I had the free time this afternoon (it is all relative, I do have chores) to take a nap with Carlo on my lap.

The book about thriving churches made me think about how I teach yoga and what I teach. There are a few schools of yoga taught here in the West, (Ashtanga comes to mind, a vigorous challenging physical practice) that has stages. You go to class and learn the first series and then once, and if you master that you move up to the next series. You do the same movements all the time, learning to go deeper, but the next series is always out there ahead of you tempting you to work harder.

Then there is Bikram yoga, (or hot yoga) where you do the same standardized sequence, which can feel good and be comforting in its repetitiveness.

Both these styles pose various risks because of the aspirational and competitive aspects of human nature and the wear and tear on the body of repetitive movement patterns.

At this point I don’t have any students that are hooked into a path that will make them want to learn more but I have four or five that are moving in that direction. Just getting them to experience the benefits of taking more than one class a week, or even better, developing a home practice has taken a year or more.

I want to be able to offer them that path.

Right now I give them a variety of movements and practices and tools and hope that something sticks but I would love to watch them move towards a sense that ease, stability and contentment are available to them as they are willing and able at any point along the way.

Guess I need to put on my thinking cap (probably partially made of tin foil) and get to work.

Brrr. The temperature is dropping out there. I also need to get out my mittens, my trek poles and my ice shoe covers and pray to the weather gods for the ability to stay upright.

Last updated December 04, 2016