I’ve been volunteering at hospice for the better part of a year. I’m still very much a newbie, but I’m also beginning to settle in to the somewhat predictable rhythms of my Wednesday morning shift. Rhythms of my shift I sign in at 8:45 and receive morning report from the volunteer who arrived an hour… read more…
In this series of blog posts, I discuss yogic practices that relate to death and dying. In a previous post, I looked at corpse pose (savasana). Mala, japa, samskara Have you noticed those strings of beads that yogis sometimes wear around their necks or looped around their wrists and wondered what they’re for? Those are… read more…
A student pokes her head through the door to ask, “When does yoga start?” So many responses come to mind: “On the inhale” “When you were born” “Your last class never ended” But I know what she means, so I reply, “12:15, you’ve got 10 minutes.” (Another student recently reminded me of the time she… read more…
Driving home from the dentist this week, my son initiated a conversation about final disposition. Well, actually, he initiated a conversation about mummification and Ancient Egypt, but I took the opportunity to ask him whether he’d prefer to be buried or cremated when he dies. “Buried”, he said. “In a coffin or in a shroud?”… read more…
I teach a meditation class at a busy fitness centre. The room is bright, well-equipped with blocks and cushions, and located immediately next to the area designated for weight-lifting. As we practice, the room sometimes vibrates with the impact of weights hitting the floor. The steady beat of pop music and the sounds of metal… read more…
The legacy of late-stage chronic Lyme disease in my life is fear. It’s a low-level fear that informs so many of the decisions I make for myself and my family. I’ve become so used to obeying this fear, that I often forget it’s even there. And I forget that the reason it’s low-level and not… read more…
This post is an excerpt from my August 2018 e-newsletter. Not signed up? Click here to receive updates and musings from me 3-4 times per year. Do you have a favourite verse or quote? In trying to make sense of my life, particularly when going through something challenging or starting something new, I’ve often relied on… read more…
Days cool like a bath you’ve fallen asleep in. This is a line from a poem I wrote many years ago, but it keeps coming to mind this week as the weather shifts towards fall. Other poems are surfacing also, like the poetry I wrote last October as I traveled through Bhutan and India. This… read more…
