Category: Uncategorized

January 22, 2021

Story 25: Knots and Ties

My grandmother kept chocolate, an apple and a paring knife in her apron pocket, read to us, cheated at cards but let me win. She knitted socks and liked her tea with cream, told us stories about talking pigeons and rabbits and owls. 

Walking Meditation 14 – Winter Movement

This walking meditation helps to ground you in your step by step movement.

Coming Soon: Eavesdropper

Every early morning, backhoes excavated the soil around brittle water mains and sewer pipes, and, come nightfall, the trenches were mostly tucked in again, and wooden bridges ran across unearthed pipes, connecting each house to the street.  Noise and dust were everywhere: they seeped through every crack in our house, and left a thin film around the coffee cups in our kitchen cupboards. And every morning we brushed a soft grey dust off our children’s sleep damp hair and faces.

January 16, 2021

Story 24: Migration

Transition sometimes patiently waits, and works, in the  regeneration of a fallow field, a metaphor to describe the seemingly  barren possible, the creative in-between of what was and what might become.  And, writes William Bridges,  “…it is the nothingness that we find there that gives it its power, not something we encounter in that in-between state.” (See Links 16)

Coming Soon: Knots and Ties

My grandmother kept chocolate, an apple and a paring knife in her apron pocket, read to us, cheated at cards but let me win. She knitted socks and liked her tea with cream, told us stories about talking pigeons and rabbits and owls. 

Walking Meditation – Winter Movement

While there are different types of approaches to walking meditation, most depend on your location. An inside tread up and down an hallway, is different than a stroll along a river or wander through a forest, and different again than a fast stride through a busy city. But this meditative walk can be done anywhere and at whatever pace is natural to you.

January 9, 2021

Story 23: Patsy Cline

A story about my neighbour, 3 rusty cars, racoons and the question: “what is he building back there?”

Meditation 13: Meadow

This Meditation takes you through a meadow of goldenrod, thistles and milkweed to an old apple tree.

Coming Soon: Migration

Transition sometimes patiently waits, and works, in the  regeneration of a fallow field, a metaphor to describe the seemingly  barren possible, the creative in-between of what was and what might become.  And, writes William Bridges,  “…it is the nothingness that we find there that gives it its power, not something we encounter in that in-between state.” (See Notes 16)

January 2, 2021

Story 22: Sehnsucht

Sehnsucht. Photo credit: Fridolin Walcher. 18

Happiness comes from the Icelandic word “happ”, meaning luck or chance. We do tend to tie the two together, as though happiness were a thing we might hopefully trip over one day, should we be so lucky. Sehnsucht is about our yearning for happiness, and the challenges we face in its search. (See Links 18, 19)

Yoga Nidra 15: Night Sky

We seem to seldom give ourselves the opportunity to experience our minds without the noise and clutter of our busy lives. Like a night sky polluted by city lights, we might, through the haze, only recognize and attend to the brightest and loudest experiences. But In the wilderness the stars are more clear, less distorted.  This Yoga Nidra practice follows the sights, sounds, sensations and thoughts of a night sky.

Coming Soon: Patsy Cline

A story about my neighbour, the House of Staples and racoons.

December 25, 2020

Story 21: Milkweed

One might think that the show is over once the flowers of the Milkweed have flashed their beauty, and the leaves have fed the hairy black and orange caterpillar; but no, the best is yet to come.

This story is about Milkweed and a silver tour bus that had stopped near our history museum.

Meditation 12: Navigating the movements of the mind

This meditation will make you more aware of the chaos of your mind, and practice navigating the waves of your thoughts.

Coming Soon: Sehnsucht

Sehnsucht. Photo credit: Fridolin Walcher. 18

Happiness comes from the Icelandic word “happ”, meaning luck or chance. We do tend to tie the two together, as though happiness were a thing we might hopefully trip over one day, should we be so lucky.

Sehnsucht is about our yearning for happiness, and the challenges we face in its search.

December 18, 2020

Story 20: On Balance

Yesterday, weeks after that first day of the deer hunt, on a snow covered path along a line of now bare trees, I saw a large Barred owl, perched high, still, waiting, watching for its small furry prey.  And then, quite suddenly, it lifted and waved its powerful wings, and dove towards the frozen earth.

“On Balance” is about expectations, uncertainty and hope. (See Links 16 & 17)

Meditation 11: Night Sky

We seem to seldom give ourselves the opportunity to experience our minds without the noise and clutter of our busy lives. Like a night sky polluted by city lights, we might, through the haze, only recognize and attend to the brightest and loudest experiences. But In the wilderness the stars are more clear, less distorted.  Mindful meditation is a practice to begin to notice and better understand and experience the moments of our lives, the sights, sounds, sensations and thoughts.

Coming Soon: Milkweed

One might think that the show is over once the flowers of the Milkweed have flashed their beauty, and the leaves have fed the hairy black and orange caterpillar; but no, the best is yet to come.

This story is about Milkweed and a silver tour bus.

December 11, 2020

Story 19: Apart

Photo credit: Paul Roorda

Sometimes we are given brief, unexpected moments in time – and their fleetingness doesn’t take away from their power to connect us with each other; maybe it only adds to their preciousness.

Yoga Nidra 14: Mud Lake (for sleep)

This Yoga Nidra practice takes you on a walk to a small lake and a hollow tree.

Next Weekend: On Balance

Yesterday, weeks after that first day of the deer hunt, on a snow covered path along a line of now bare trees, I saw a large Barred owl, perched high, still, waiting, watching for its small furry prey.  And then, quite suddenly, it lifted and waved its powerful wings, and dove towards the frozen earth, and I held my breath.

On Balance is about expectations, uncertainty and hope.

December 4, 2020

Story 18: Egg

A story about fragile eggs and egos.

Over coffee this morning, I told my husband that my next story would be about eggs. He laughed and said that I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel now, that perhaps I should write about politics instead. (See Links 15)

Meditation 10: Sensations

This meditation has you imagine heat and cold, heaviness and lightness to bring you to a deeply relaxed state.

Coming Next Weekend: Apart

Last fall, on an overnight flight home from visiting my oldest daughter in her city across the country, I overheard a conversation between two strangers. When  the lights dimmed, and I drifted in and out of sleep, their conversation grew more intimate.

November 28, 2020

Story 17: 1979

1979 is the year my family emigrated from our small town in Switzerland. The story is about that time, Canadian lunch boxes, new friends, and crossing disorienting gaps.

Yoga Nidra 13: Floating Body (for sleep)

In this yoga nidra practice, let go of consciousness, and give yourself over to sleep as you travel above the sea and the earth.

Coming Next Weekend: Egg

A story about fragile eggs and egos.

Over coffee this morning, I told my husband that my next story would be about eggs. He laughed and said that I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel now, that perhaps I should write about politics instead.

November 21, 2020

Story 16: The things we keep

A story about my great grandmother, her broken hip and a pale yellow water pitcher.

Yoga Nidra 12: Meadow (long)

This long Yoga Nidra takes you through a meadow of goldenrod, thistles and milkweed to an old apple tree.

Coming Next Weekend: 1979

1979 is the year my family emigrated from our small town in Switzerland. The story is about that time, Canadian lunch boxes, and crossing disorienting gaps.