I spent the last week in Qigong teacher training at Kripalu Retreat Center. The training was wonderful, and I will write more about it in future blogs. But what I want to focus on this morning is simply cultivating our awareness of stillness, which is a part of Qigong and many other mindfulness practices. It … Read more
Not Getting Lost in The Storm Denver has been wildly windy this week. Prayer flags are rippling constantly, like the videos I’ve seen of Tibetan mountain tops. Wind-chimes are playing furiously. And the wind sounds spooky as it whips by the house late at night. It’s NOT snowing. But the wind has me thinking about … Read more
Look Up – This Week’s Mindfulness Focus I’ve been busy cleaning up the yard and garden beds after a long winter. Green shoots of garlic, yarrow, lemon balm, and hops are making an appearance. And my new Black Knight butterfly bush has sprouted tiny leaves. It is easy to keep eyes focused down on the … Read more
Dandelions and Marches What do dandelions have in common with young people and the March for Our Lives? It’s not a riddle. They are prolific and beautiful. And they embody strength in numbers. Until yesterday, I was simply going to write about dandelions, one of my favorite weedy medicinal herbs. Dandelions have lots of attributes … Read more
An Octopus’s Garden for Real I always thought the Beatles’ song An Octopus’s Garden was kind of silly. Fun, but silly. Apparently, octopuses’ gardens are a real thing. I heard an interview with Ringo Starr on Breakfast with the Beatles recently. He explained he was inspired to write the song after learning that octopuses (yes that’s the plural) collect … Read more
The Strange Practice of Daylight Saving Time Those of us living in the U.S. (excepting Arizona and Hawaii) have lost an hour this morning thanks to Daylight Saving Time (DST). The reasons for changing the time seem a little fuzzy to me. Originally (1918) the goal seemed to be about saving energy, but research shows … Read more
Becoming Luminous – this week’s mindfulness focus Last week we visited the Creatures of Light exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I of course knew about fireflies, having chased hundreds of them as a child in Pennsylvania. However, I didn’t realize how many other organisms from sea creatures to fungi give off … Read more
Pruning the Honey Locust Tree The winter-sleeping honey locust in my front yard is barren. In the summer the tree is green, full, and beautiful with graceful feathery leaves. In the fall it turns golden with long flat seed pods. Winter, as with most deciduous trees, has it looking a little like a skeleton and … Read more
The mindfulness focus this week is circle of influence…contemplating the reach of our actions and what if anything we can do to change the world. Sadly this is not inspired by the garden, but instead by the ongoing gun violence in this country. It is easy to be overwhelmed by … Read more
The view out our window on Friday morning looked like we were inhabiting a Loreena Mckennit song. Even as the weather app was assuring us there was no precipitation in Denver, we walked out into air that was wet, thick, and cold. Grey mist hung in the air and a crystalline film enveloped trees … Read more
