Stories

How do you respond to breakdowns, blocks, disappointments and delays? (Or what my teacher Frank Bach affectionately calls ‘sticky spots’?) When I first started going to his classes he would regularly stand at the end of my mat and repeat gently but firmly, ‘nothing’s wrong’. ‘Easier said than done’, I used to think to myself as I struggled.

There are many, many things in this incredible experience we call life to be grateful for. From the magnificence of the basic essentials such as breath and the fact that I have food in my stomach and somewhere safe to sleep, through to the other end of my list and the gratitude I have for the ability and the opportunity to write these words.

Living on such a beautiful property, we have the extraordinary pleasure of watching nature at play on our doorstep each day. Though we spend time outside all year round, the first sunny days of spring draw us out of the house with insistence. It’s impossible not to heed the call — new growth in the garden beds, buds on the flowering trees and the return of our favourite birds to the feeder.

Celebrating Inspired Centre’s anniversary — April 2015. Looking back, despite the twists and turns, we can see how the road we’re on became the road we’re on. Dreaming forward, we can’t know our future (or even be certain of what good we’ll do), but we can focus on inspiration, hold the space for transformation and give genuinely.

The warmest place to be is in your heart. Gregory and I were in Mexico in January — soaking up some sun, celebrating his birthday and laying the groundwork for future winters offering Yoga workshops and Shamanic Retreats in Tulum. Some might have called it a working vacation. We like to think of it as ‘purposeful play’.

At the start of our calendar year it’s tempting to work at getting rid of ‘bad’ habits or introducing ‘good’ behaviours designed to make our situation or ourselves better. We often experience a flood of will power that motivates us to act — take a class, volunteer, start an exercise routine, go on a cleanse, get a new job. Sometimes we clear out basements, clean closets and take a vow of new year neatness.

Because the adults in this house have a fondness for the hermit’s lifestyle, weekends around here tend to be on the quiet side of ‘nothing ever happens’. And yet, from late November right through until our calendar flips into next year, even we get caught up in lengthy to-do lists, social events and seasonal cheer.

Gregory was enjoying his breakfast at our kitchen table the other morning when he heard a flurry of wings and glanced out the window: a Sharp-Shinned Hawk swooped in right next to the house, captured a Mourning Dove and flew away with it. “Whoa”, I heard from the other room…