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 TREESby Mary OliverWhen 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 worldbut walk slowly, and bow often.Around me the trees stir in their leavesand call out, “Stay awhile.”The light flows from their branches.And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,“and you too have comeinto the world to do this, to go easy, to be filledwith light, and to shine.”
Fran,
I want to thank you for suggesting the book Forest Bathing. I just completed my International Certification as an Aromatherapist and so have had time to read more. Forest Bathing talks so much about the effects of Aromatherapy in nature. He also suggest that if we cannot get into nature as much as we would like we can create the feeling and effects through diffusing in our homes. I have been doing this for many years now. This book just helped remind me how effective nature and its scents effect us. I lived in Winthrop, WA for 11 years and miss being so close to nature and the sounds of silence, so the book reminded me I can create that feeling almost anywhere. I would recommend the book The Upside of Stress by K. MCGonagal. It is really an empowering books.
I offer free consultations for any yoga student or anyone who wants to find out how the effects of Aromatherapy can help them. I then can make them blends ( only charge for the cost of the products used, I am not a business but a resource.) Feel free to pass on my information to your students.
I miss the workshops you offer as a yoga teacher sometime sit feels good to be the student, I am hopeful that time will come sooner than later. Your studio looks lovely. How wonderful to have your own space.
HI Milo,
Thank you for the book suggestions and for sharing how meaning the the book on Forest Bathing was so meaningful to you. I will pass your information to any one interested in Aromatherapy. Your work sounds so interesting. I also miss seeing you at the workshops, I miss giving the workshops. Yes, as a teacher, it is so good to be a student and to just let someone lead us into the yoga journey. Well, this COVID won’t last forever. I will be offering workshops again, I am sure. Namaste, Fran
Nice to see your great attitude. Wishing we can come together as a country but probably going to take more than 1 election. In many ways we’ve made lots of progress and yet, in others we’ve become more divided than ever before. I try to think of the fact that generation to generation we have always become healthier, freer and more tolerant/less prejudiced. Congrats on the Yoga studio! Stay well. Jeff
Yes, I agree, Jeff. I think sometimes we take two steps forward and one back…sometimes we take two back..but for the most part, I believe that every generation brings forth more enlightened people…look at your kids, for example. They are very open and free and opposite of the repulsive racist tendencies in our country. Take good care, stay healthy! And thanks for your congratulations on my yoga studio! Namaste, Fran