Stretching

Body.

My husband plays squash. It’s a goofy game played by goofy peeps but he loves it. Most of his friends play and for the most part that are great people. Some of the smartest most driven people I have met if I really think about it. One of the most driven and certainly one of the funniest guys there loves to tell stories. Most of them are pretty blue in places, but the other night he told hubby about his favourite place in the world. 

It’s the place he intends to have his ashes scattered when he dies. His friend owns a farm somewhere in Africa, and on that farm is an airstrip. His favourite thing to do when he is there is to sit in a little hut they have build on the hill above the airstrip, arriving before dawn, to watch the animals wake up. Apparently, heaps of animals from the surrounding plains make their way to that patch of grass. It seems counter-intuitive, to sleep out in the open, but hey, I’m not going to second-guess the instincts of an animal.

He says to watch a lion wake up is a thing of beauty. The lions stretch for a long time after waking, even going to a nearby tree and reaching their to full height on the trunk, deeply stretching their legs, backs, and bellies. 

It really is something we should all do. Hubby and I went through a phase for about 6 months (over winter) where we just kind of hibernated, rolling out of bed around 7, feeling blah. I went off to yoga class and he went to squash but our morning routines were pretty non-existent. Now we get up early and do our stretches. It’s made a huge difference.

Mind.

I’m a mad keen podcast listener as anyone who has read even a few of my blogs or had coffee with me 😉 will attest. I really don’t know how many people listen to the episodes I recommend. All I do know is that I WISH I had listened to one of the Kates when she told me 3-4 years ago to listen to podcasts!! arrgghhh

I’ve just downloaded Audible, and am about to embark on Strangers to Ourselves by Timothy Wilson. No doubt I will bore you with the details at some later date!

Soul. 

I’m trying a new method in Vipassana. Normally when I do a body scan during sitting meditation, I go from feet or base to the top of my head. I was listening to an interview with Abdi Assadi and he recommended we go the other way. I did this in my meditation this morning, leaving my beads beside the bed in favour of just sitting quietly with myself.

I am ‘trying’ to get more into my body, to experience my embodiment because even though I learned last year that I Am Not MY Body, I have learned this year that I am actually in this body for a reason, so I might as well explore it!