When Parched

I miss Salzberg's Meditation Challenge and had I known that lessons would remain active for a month or so, I would have not deleted most of them.

We take an intentional posture... Lesson #21

For the peeps (meaning Gingerzingi) who are missing the meditation challenge, here's a lovely one...

Went climbing on Wednesday and Patti told me that she needed to do more stretching and was looking to take up yoga again but wondered if her husband would join her. Patti did say that her daughter told her: He climbs because of you. He swims because of you and he bikes because of you. He'll do yoga too. Her daughter's words made my heart melt.

On Thursday I went to Gloria's again and we roasted fennel, beets and carrots according to a recipe in Thug Kitchen 101. I excused myself to go to the bathroom at one point when I heard a noise so weird that I reversed my direction and called out to Gloria to see if everything was okay. The verdict?

The oven door had shattered into hundreds of little pieces. Gloria calmly sent me back in the direction that I had gone. When I returned, she said I'm glad that I do yoga then we cleaned up the mess. I've only heard of shower doors shattering like that. Prior to going upstairs, I had been sitting right by the stove.

I'm getting better at making decisions and not second-guessing a situation. For example, one of my Zumba teachers forgot his water bottle. At the end of a routine, he encouraged people to grab water then said but he wouldn't be able to because, wahhhh, he had left his water bottle.

At first I discussed "the situation" a bit with a friend and she belongs to the same tentative club that I do but then I thought about how much I enjoy this teacher's class and how nice he is and so what if class was almost over with; I went and got the water, a small act for a teacher who is not leading Zumba classes for the money... I also know how it is when you start a workout and your water is, say, in the car. It's no fun to push when parched.

Repost from @lilycushman108 - It's still unbelievable to me that over 20K people participated in the challenge this month. Such a beautiful community that I'm honored to be a part of. All made possible by the magnitude of @sharonsalzberg and her continuous dedication for so many years. ♥️ Huge thanks to "Team Sharon" for working so hard behind the scenes to make things run smoothly all month long. 🤓 Special thanks to our co-teachers @lodrorinzler @kimberlyjbrown @ethannichtern @sebeneselassie and our hosts all month @mndflmeditation @nalandabodhi @theinterdependenceproject @shambhalanyc @brooklynyogaschool @newyorkinsight 😇 #commit2sit #realhappiness

A post shared by Sharon Salzberg (@sharonsalzberg) on Feb 28, 2017 at 10:40pm PST

Goings-on

This time last week I had already received an urgent text from my cousin about my aunt who she'd found on the floor. My aunt refused to go to the hospital and even refused to let my cousin call anyone but me to help get her off the floor.

When I told another aunt of the incident, she said Of course it's hard to get off the floor...

After my cousin told me about my aunt, my heart chakra was so tight and I still am not sure what to do with myself.

My aunt is feeling well enough to tell my cousin and me to go somewhere and sit down but she is still not out of the woods... Are any of us out of the woods?

There were also two other family members having medical issues which made for a really "interesting" week...

I ended up using over the counter allergy drops for my eyes and, wait for it, I had an allergic reaction to the allergy drops. My eyes are still itchy but at least they don't feel like they are on fire...

I liked the part in Salzberg's meditation lesson (#17), yesterday, when she said imagine your worries are like birds in your hands that fly away...

What Falafel Is Made Of

The watery part has subsided but I'm still waking up with itchy eyes. I usually give in and put two eye drops in and that usually does the trick for the rest of the day. It's like Groundhog Day.

I've been doing my meditation lesson at night a lot because I see the email then I forget. I like it when Salberg says Welcome back at the beginning of each lesson.

I really liked the body scan, lesson ten; those were the deepest breaths that I had taken in a while.

For the eating meditation, I did that one while eating a Cara Cara orange. These oranges are so amazing that I forgot about the whole pomegranate shortage or what seemed to be one anyway.

During the meditation, I squirted myself which was kind of cool because it was like the orange was affirming one of it's characteristics. It was also nice to take in the amazing aroma...

Today is my mother's birthday and several of us went to the Missouri Botanical Garden for Celebrate the Gospel.  We got into a conversation about Crazy Bowls and Wraps when my aunt Debbie asked me What is falafel? As I explained, she asked Where did this "child" come from? Haven't heard them ask that in a while.

Celebrate...

One of my favorite Salberg Instagram post; I need a set-up like this one:

Repost from @maemansfield - All the fixings for my daily meditation. #commit2sit #day7 #28daysofmeditation #realhappiness #holistichealth #holisticlifestyle

A photo posted by Sharon Salzberg (@sharonsalzberg) on Feb 9, 2017 at 10:20pm PST