The day after

 Whether I stayed up late on Tuesday, yesterday, or not...there's always tomorrow. And here it is.

Winter sun comes streaming in my windows...heating the house, and the houseplants. I love seeing the ridgetop across the valley for the next 5 months. It may be grey on many a rainy day, but oh, the sun!

Both of the suviving orchids are pushing up their stalks which will soon bloom.

Whatever politics may hold for our lives, I do wish I could go back into my youth before I cared about any of it. A ten year old Barbara had outgrown dolls, and maybe I had begun to love horses. I certainly was reading every book I could get my hands on...watch out Nancy Drew!

I still read, about half of it is fiction, and the other half is about the reality of our lives. Climate change, governance with compassion, commentaries by people more knowledgeable than me, models that include giving back to both the land and each other...etc. 

Sometimes I read about how we move our bodies, and I am still learning how that works. I take part in almost daily Feldenkrais exercises.  Though I first heard of Feldenkrais back in the 80s, (when in college for the second or third time,)  I hadn't stayed interested enough to continue. (Actually there were a few dozen other interesting body work-techniques out there.) 

A recent seminar really piqued my interest again, and I even bought the first explanatory book by Moshe Feldenkrais, "Awareness through Movement." The seminar series is called "Move Better, Feel Better Summit." I chose some of the lectures, and was more interested in the actual exercises...especially those sitting in a chair. But after purchasing the summit, I have begun to do the floor exercises on my bed...which is more comfortable for me.

And a bonus seminar with my purchase of the prior one with four tracts of exercises, is this new seminar, "Discovering Your Learning Body's Superpower: The 7 Secret Keys."

This second seminar also includes exercises led by different Feldenkrais professionals. The second one was led by a woman from Greece.

Did I mention these are very slow, minmial movements, always with paying attention to how it feels to move just a bit. Then a rest period which is actually an important part of training your brain to know how your nerves and muscles can move just a bit. I come away from each lesson feeling much lighter, able to move not only the part of my body I focused on but able to just go about my day's tasks in a more relaxed and calm way.

OK, I'll get off my soap box. What with all the people on soap boxes today, it sure gets crowded!