Days Twenty One and Twenty Two

Saturday practice was a snap - fun, fun, fun. Went to Lauren's early Saturday morning asana class. Going there is like going home. We did all kinds of backbends and made some of it up on the spot. I was having so much fun I forgot to get all serious about this 27 day practice, and remembered to set a (retroactive?) intention toward the end. Still counts as yoga.

This morning started a little rough as I dreamed about stuff everywhere getting in my way while I tried to make tea (=comfort), and awakening feeling like I was choking, got up to get some water and use the bathroom, to discover that my moon time had begun (already?) and then the toilet backed up and overflowed. ~And a good morning to you too!~ Got things down to a dull roar and got that tea made. Then I cried about how everything seems to be in little pieces everywhere - people, projects, life. Longing for comfort and support. That's when my friend called to see about going for a hike, and the day pretty much ambled on from there.

I'm so grateful for allies.

We walked in the hills for two hours, then Joe and I cleaned up the leaves and stuff on/in our patio gardens. I felt comforted by that. It's supposed to start raining soon for about four days.

For my practice today (as if ambling through the tress and hob-nobbing with the leaves doesn't count), I went to NVC practice group, where we explored empathy - the respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. For practice we each conjured up something that we reacted to. In my case it was a comedian I heard on TV last night who said that the best gift for him would be sex and silence (i.e. leave me alone afterward). I didn't like that. We spent the next 45 minutes practicing empathy as a group for individual who offered their examples. We didn't get to my example that way. And the most powerful thing was that, at the end, we went back in to our own examples individually, to see how it was, and to offer empathy to ourselves, and/or the other person. I loved doing this because I found that I had shifted toward my own example, even though I had been being present with others' examples for 45 minutes. And I was able to come up with an empathy guess for the comedian ("Are you feeling desperate and longing for touch, sexual expression, and space?") and myself ("I'm feeling vulnerable and needing respect"). Getting the empathy guess right isn't important, but that energetic quality of willingness to connect is. What a difference. And all without saying a word about it specifically. That's powerful.

I would still not want to be his girlfriend, though.

Phew. As I look forward to days Twenty Three through Twenty Seven (Solstice!) I feel heartented. There's four more school days this week, and much preparation still to do for our gathering on Solstice, and the wishes, dreams, visions, and longings for the Yule Log from those who will not be present in body are starting to come in. Thank goodness I've planned ahead and done early beer research. Spruce tips it is!