joiku: sketching the essence of our loved ones

April 13, 2010

I just made up a new poem form! Basically, the joiku form is a way of vividly remembering our loved ones. I called it joiku because it crosses haiku with the Sami art of joiking (also spelled ‘yoiking’). From haiku it takes the three line form with a roughly 5-7-5 syllable count.  It also borrows the […]

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and I rise

March 24, 2010

This morning it’s raining.  It’s a gentle day: the rain is gentle, as is the slight cool of the air. A walk in the rain might have been nice, but I was drawn towards sitting meditation instead.  I’ve been moving at a steady clip all week. My body in its wisdom knew that a deliberate […]

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being Persephone

March 18, 2010

Nearly six months ago I descended into one of life’s winter seasons.  My mother and sister had already been very fragile for several years.  Then last autumn, my sister’s husband had a heart attack and became mostly disabled too. My mother lives in the same city I do, but my sister lives a thousand miles […]

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thanks for doing that

February 13, 2010

I just finished writing a thank you note to my mechanic.  The other night he spirited my cell phone out of a mysterious black hole under the driver’s seat. Why a thank you note for such a small thing?  …because he didn’t know the size of what he’d just done.  I wanted him to be […]

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February 2, 2010

“We do not meditate to create altered states of consciousness.  In fact, most of modern life is spent in altered states of consciousness and meditation is the practice of returning to an unaltered state.” –William Martin, from A Path and a Practice

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how to keep your laptop from turning into a pain in the neck

December 30, 2009

A reader just wrote and told me that he was trying my focusing/relaxing exercise for his shoulders–but he suspected that his own tension was from hunching over his laptop.  I wrote back with what I’ve done myself about the laptop-in-lap problem.  At some point in the ensuing interaction I realized that this might be helpful […]

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letting your body show you how to empty the tension from your shoulders

October 27, 2009

[Yesterday in my post about restorative walking, I mentioned ‘emptying the shoulders’ in passing.  A reader picked up on the phrase and commented on it, which prompted me to write more about it today.] Notice how your shoulders feel right now. If you’re really lucky, they may feel like you haven’t got a care in […]

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restorative walking 101

October 25, 2009

This past week, I was dealing with a difficult, time-consuming situation.  By the time I could step back a little I was drained of energy.  My body was tense and tight.  I needed a restorative walk. I just got back from that walk feeling balanced, relaxed, and at peace.  I’d like to share with you […]

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rumors of my death are highly overrated

October 13, 2009

Last week I nearly lost my sister.  She was not a good candidate for surgery, in a life-threatening situation.  The hospital staff tried everything they could think of all week, to get the problem to resolve without surgery.  But it didn’t, and she was running out of time. So, Thursday night the surgeon went ahead.  […]

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it’s not just the note, it’s the beat

September 21, 2009

On my walk just now, I was stopped in my tracks by a bush densely covered with creamy blossoms, barely tinted rosy-gold.  They were shaped something like trumpet flowers but more blunt.  The leaves were a very light sage green. I wondered, ‘is this a member of the sage family?’  I rubbed a leaf, smelled […]

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