1. Morning walks. Yesterday, even though there were mosquitoes and the risk of ticks, I really really needed some river medicine. It was totally worth it even if it was only for a little bit. We are still having so much rain that everything is super green.
2. Good people. I am surrounded by them — neighbors, students, friends, family. I’ve had to lean a little extra on a few of them this past week and they were right there and ready. And then there’s you, kind and gentle reader. 🙂 ❤
3. Practice. In two more days I’ll complete a sadana (dedicated disciplined spiritual practice) of 40 days of yoga asana. I have a consistent daily meditation and writing practice, but because I wasn’t teaching again until recently, my yoga practice wasn’t as consistent or intentional. I did at least one sun salutation every morning when I first got up for the past 38 days. The “rule” with this sort of short commitment is that if you miss a day, the 40 days start over.
It’s always so interesting to commit to anything for a period of time. It’s how I built my blog in the beginning, so many 30 day or month long posting challenges. It’s the thing about practice in general that is so amazing — you return to the same activity every day, see how your experience changes while the practice itself stays the same. You really start to see yourself and your situation clearly. As it says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Yoga is the practice of tolerating the consequences of being yourself.”
4. Books. The above pictured trio by Michelle Cassandra Johnson were especially good. And I’m still wrecked from reading Educated, which wasn’t at all what I expected. I’m also rereading all of Andrea Gibson‘s work, trying to contend with their most recent health update.
5. My tiny family, small home, little life. I love my life so much — even when it’s hard, even when it hurts.
Bonus joy: keeping promises to myself, pizza, the smell of basil, writing with my wildish women sangha, training with Shelby and the gang, working out and walking with Eric, sitting in the sauna with him, the hydromassage chair, the pool, teaching yoga while it storms outside, rain and thunder, good TV (even when it’s bad), listening to music, a warm shower, clean sheets, dog tail wags and sighs, how Ringo makes me laugh (last night he was on the couch barking, trying to get my attention, so I threw a blanket over his head and he just stood there, then barked again but it was muffled and it cracked me up), sitting in the back yard with Ringo and Eric, every time a swallow tail butterfly floats over the backyard just like that one the day Sam died, all the recognition Eric is getting lately for the good work he does, that our nephew Jesse is okay after a motorcycle wreck last week, switching our internet provider, books for my Kindle from the library I can borrow and read and return without ever having to leave the house, the collapsible wagon I got to move yoga props when I teach at Red Sage and how Eric always helps me load and unload at home, crying (sometimes it’s the only thing that will make me feel better), other people’s dogs and kids, that people in our neighborhood seem to have finally run out of fireworks, new neighbors who have a kid and a dog, the four dogs across the street getting loaded up into their truck by their human (they have a ramp he sets up while they all wait and when he says “go ahead” they run up it in a line, three labs and a cattle dog, and they are clearly so happy), getting to see the July 4th 5k (on accident — we were out on a walk and apparently were on the same route as the race so had to pause and watch all the dogs and humans, many of them dressed up), that we are within walking distance of so many things but also in a quiet part of town, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.
