It’s been a challenging time for the world, including my home country, the USA.  This country feels like a house struggling to hang onto its roof. We aren’t seeing our common values, which potentially could hold our county together peacefully. We aren’t respecting one another and allowing everyone to feel valued. Mother Nature is thrashing out storms, screaming at us to take heed.  She demands and deserves more respect. Fires are raging in California, air thick with smoke. COVID, the silent invisible enemy, continues to lurk insidiously. Our, economy, jobs, and health -both mental and physical- suffer greatly. We grow tired of being cautious, yet we continue to follow the rules.
We remain cautious. Cautious we remain.
And yet, I remain hopeful on some fronts. We have the great opportunity to vote, exercising the most non-violent way to express our voices and bring about change. We continue to express ourselves, we educate ourselves. We listen. We do our individual part to make a positive difference. We walk among the trees and spend time in nature whenever possible.
I haven’t written blog entries as much as I would like. Sometimes, my life feels overwhelming. To be overwhelmed is not a negative aspect. For me, this is a time of growth, learning, and processing. I spend a lot of time processing information, thinking, meditating, practicing yoga, teaching online (a schedule of Online Live Stream classes via Zoom and Facebook coming your way soon), and I am making big changes in my life. I’ve been exercising regularly.  We’ve been eating better than ever, making all our own meals, buying only organic products. I’ve lost weight and feel fabulous. And great news, I now have a yoga studio of my own which has absorbed much of my attention these past two months. I will formally introduce my Seattle Green Lake yoga studio to you once my signage is up (very soon).
For now, suffice to say that my yoga studio is uniquely a place where I can teach my Live Stream Online yoga sessions and workshops, where I can write (yes, I am writing a book!), be creative, and plan for a future when I can hold person to person classes of 8-10 students per class.  It is a small boutique yoga studio, manageable, and ever such a healing oasis. It feels professional to film my Live Stream Online classes from this gorgeous studio setting. My nephew John Urbano, film director and photographer, gifted me the professional lighting I am using for filming the yoga sessions.  (Thank you, my Giugiuneddru!) I hope to have this studio for years to come! The studio would not be possible without the love and hard work I pour into teaching each and every yoga session. And, more importantly, the existence of the yoga studio would not be possible without the generous and continued financial support of the yoga community. I am forever grateful.
We’ve been enjoying weekend hikes.  I have never seen the trails and campgrounds so crowded with people who are also chomping at the bit to bathe in nature’s healing elements.
In case you are wondering, there is a special COVID-preventative etiquette while on the trails. When you see a fellow hiker approaching, you place your bandana or mask over your mouth and nose. Once you pass the other hikers, you may remove the mask because, otherwise, it’s hard to hike and breathe. Well, if there are a lot of people on the trail, it’s a constant putting on and taking off your mask. That’s why a loose bandana around your neck makes it easier to be a conscientious hiker.
The photos in this blog are from various hikes taken this summer so far. The wildflower photos are from Mowich Lake, on the northwest shoulder of Mt. Rainier. At over 5000 feet elevation, the wildflowers were at their prime last week!
WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES
by Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”