Taking a Break

I think it’s time for me to admit that I can’t keep all the balls in the air. I just have too much going on these days with work and family commitments and can’t keep up with writing here. So I’m going to take a break and regroup. I will keep reading blogs; many of you have become so dear to me over the three years I’ve been blogging here and I don’t want to lose touch!

Be well!

Love,
Yogamum

 

Foot in Mouth Pose

Saw this over on the always-amusing YogaDawg’s blog, and just had to share:

 

Now I Can Blog Anywhere

Just downloaded WordPress for iPhone. Now I have no excuse not to blog more often; however, readers beware that my spelling and punctuation may suffer.

 

In Which Yogamum is Interviewed by a Real Live Journalist

Yes, the lovely Charlotte Otter (who is a Hollywood correspondent, a mother, a novelist and all-around brilliant person)  graciously agreed to interview me for the Interview Meme.   I thought, since my blog has been sorely lacking in content lately, that a little more about ME would be a way to spice things up around here.  You know, because you definitely don’t hear enough about me, right?  So here are Charlotte’s questions, and my answers.

1. You have recently started teaching Spanish. What has surprised you about the experience?

First, I am surprised that I can actually do it, despite lack of formal training, and do a decent job of it.  The biggest surprise, however, has been what a truly joyful experience it has been.  I am continually amazed by the ways in which teaching demands that I approach my students and colleagues with an open heart, with compassion and without judgment.  And if I am able to do this, I am met with warmth and joy, and I feel that from that place, I am so much better able to really teach, rather than just teaching from my head.

I am also surprised by how teaching fulfills my creative needs.  I love nothing better than coming up with a creative, innovative lesson; it doesn’t happen every day, but when it does — and when I teach it, and it WORKS — well, there’s nothing like it.

2. It’s been a while since you blogged about yoga. How’s your yoga practice going?

Oh, you noticed that, did you?  Honestly, other than during WoYoPracMo, I haven’t been very consistent in my asana practice lately. Too many distractions, too little time… I just feel that my energies are being pulled in a different direction these days.  I do manage a decent practice about once a week, which is lovely.  At times I feel guilty — and I have to admit that I’ve put on a couple of pounds since my practice has waned — but then I think that yoga practice should be a joy, not an obligation, and that until I can approach it with that mindset, I’m better off giving myself a break.

3. You have a whole day to yourself, in which you don’t have to account for anyone’s needs but your own. What do you do?

First, I would sleep as late as I want.  Then, I would get up and have a latte while reading a good book.  A long walk somewhere beautiful, followed by a leisurely yoga practice, would be lovely.  And then, of course I would need a massage and a pedicure.  Some quiet time to write would follow, and by that time I would definitely need a nap.  I would love to end the day with a lively dinner out with all of my best girlfriends (that would be quite a crowd!), with many bottles of wine.

4. What are your top three cities and why?

Paris.  I have only been there once, and it absolutely blew me away.  I could spend the rest of my life just wandering the streets, admiring the bakeries and cheese shops (and sampling their wares), looking at art, and soaking in the ambiance.

New York City.  The food, the theatre, the art, the history, the shopping, the 24/7 freak show…. what could be better?

Denver.  Because it is livable.  Because everyone is so friendly.  Because the mountains are just over there, calling my name.  Because you can wear jeans everywhere.  Because folks here don’t take everything so seriously.  Because you can always find parking.  Because there is so much sunshine.  Because there’s just enough of everything I need, but not so much that it makes life overwhelming.

5. You are a keen reader. What book have you just read, what are you reading now, and what’s next on the TBR pile?

I just read “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” by Garth Stein, for my book club.  Actually, I didn’t quite finish it, but I’ve moved on to “Gregor the Overlander” — a children’s book that I am reading for a mother-daughter book club on Monday.  So far, I’m liking it.  There are giant cockroaches…and the main character is named Gregor…obviously a nod to Kafka, yes?  Next on my reading list:  “Take This Bread” by Sara Miles.  This is my book club pick for next month; it’s a spiritual memoir by a woman who experienced an unexpected conversion to Christianity.  In between all these books, I’m reading a few work-related books with such riveting titles as “Dyslexia and Foreign Language Learning” and “Differentiated Instruction for Foreign Language Teachers.”

So, enough about me, what about YOU?  If you’d like to play, here are the meme rules –

1. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment, and I will send you some questions.
2. Update your blog with the answers to the questions and link back to the original post.
3. Include the rules in your post.

 

No Crisis Here!

Hello, my poor neglected readers!  I hardly remember what I was talking about the last time I posted here… I mean BEFORE the iPod toilet paper thingy.  Life is busy, and good, and happy, and not so good for blogging.  I’ve said it before — I feel more inspired to write and my hits go up if I’m in some sort of crisis.  My “what is my life’s work” crisis sort of fizzled out when I realized I didn’t have to be all dramatic about it, and could just do what I feel drawn to in the moment.

Right now my teaching job is using most of my creative energy.  I get so much joy from being in the classroom, and from coming up with new lessons, and figuring out how to meet the challenges that our student population presents.  Our school has a large number of “twice-exceptional” students (students who are both intellectually gifted but also have a learning disability of some kind).  My latest obsession is learning everything I can on how best to teach a foreign language to dyslexic students.  There is really not much out there on this — most U. S. elementary students don’t take foreign languages, and many dyslexic students in high school and college are able to “opt out” of foreign languages due to their learning differences.  So this is my new obsession, taking up my mental energy and pushing my novel onto the back burner.  For a while, I was feeling rather stressed and like maybe I was just using teaching as a diversion from my “real” work — hence my post a while back.  But as I said, it doesn’t have to be a crisis — life takes us in all sorts of unexpected directions, and I’d rather be open to opportunities that arise, rather than shutting myself off from possibilities that might bring new challenges.

I have more to say, but my brain is fried and I’m exhausted.  Will write more, in my next post, about returning to work after 10 years as a stay-at-home mom, and maybe about the current status of my yoga practice…

 

Note to Self

Re:  Your Jan. 28 post

1. Everything does not have to be such a drama!

2. You might consider chucking the idea of True Life’s Work and just do what you are drawn to in the moment.

3. Lighten up!

(Thanks to all for your comments.  I feel much freer now!)

 

You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me!

This is just crazy.  I have no words.

 

What to Do?

What if there was something that you always considered, in your mind, to be your True Life’s Work?  What if you spent your whole life feeling vaguely dissatisfied when you weren’t doing that thing, feeling as if you should be doing that thing?  And yet, what if actually doing that thing didn’t bring you any particular joy? What if you never got into the state of “flow” that is supposed to accompany your True Life’s Work?

I find myself at a crossroads.  I have found a vocation that consumes me, inspires me and leaves me wanting to do more, each and every day.  I had thought I was “supposed” to be doing something else — but that something else, my so-called True Life’s Work, just doesn’t call to me as this new endeavor does.

I have a sneaking suspiscion that my True Life’s Work was really just an idea I had of myself.  Because when it gets down to the daily nitty-gritty, I don’t find myself drawn to actually DOING that.  Thinking about it, yes.  Feeling guilty for not doing it — yes.  Doing it — not so much.  I wonder if it’s time to let it go, and move on?

 

I Ran

Today the whole family went to the indoor track at the gym and walked/ran.  I did the first episode of the Couch 2 5K podcast, which consists of alternating running and walking in 60/90 second invervals.  I was absolutely sure that running kill me, but in fact, it did not.  Actually, I kind of enjoyed it.  FreckleBoy did the workout with me as well and he claims he wasn’t even tired (Kids!  and their energy!).   Afterwards I did a bunch of yoga poses to stretch my hips, legs and hamstrings.

I feel great.

I may have a little bit of a runner in me, after all.

 

Happy Happy Joy Joy

What cartoon was that, where the characters used to sing “happy happy joy joy”?  I can’t quite pull the name from the depths of my memory, but the song has been running through my head like a mantra.  Resolving to have more fun in the New Year seems to have been good for me.  I have been in a very good mood for about two weeks or so.  I just feel, well, happy!

So many good things are happening — we have a new president, I love my job, my mom is buying a house and moving near us, I’m embarking on a new endeavor (triathlon training), my husband’s company is launching, my kids are doing well.

The last year was hard.  I still miss my dad like crazy.  But it’s good to be happy again — I feel like my heart is bursting out of its bubblewrapped shell.  What a great feeling, to be walking through life with a wide-open heart again.

I came across this Rumi poem yesterday, and it seems the perfect reflection of what I’m feeling now:

THE WAY THINGS SHOULD

What will
our children do in the morning?

Will they wake with their hearts wanting to play,
the way wings
should?

Will they have dreamed the needed flights and gathered
the strength from the planets that all
men and women need to balance
the wonderful charms of
the earth

so that her power and beauty does not make us forget our own?

I know all about the ways of the heart – how it wants to be alive.

Love so needs to love
that it will endure almost anything, even abuse,
just to flicker for a moment. But the sky’s mouth is kind,
its song will never hurt you, for I sing those words.

What will our children do in the morning
if they do not see us
fly?

- Rumi