Managed to take a 2pm yoga class at Yoga Springs this afternoon...after playing hockey mom for Sam this morning and on a very rainy, gray Saturday afternoon. I am feeling relaxed as a result, sitting again at the Emporium coffee cafe and wine store and listening to a man play the piano in the style of George Winston, while another improvises next to him on his guitar. Free music. Also, there are a load of elementary school aged kids playing in what seems to be a chess club next to me sprawled out over about 4 or 5 tables. Their leader/teacher is a young man who is very brisk but encouraging ("The next time you castle with your rook you're going to what? PUSH your pawn!") I will remember this when I next play my dad, who taught me chess on a set his mom gave him as a kid, when I was 12. Pleasant memories. Free. I have some short videos - one to two minutes - on my phone I will upload to one of these blogs soon that I shot last week when I hiked through the Clifton Gorge nearby. I was inspired by meditation sounds on CD's and even videos I've seen (one played on a channel at the hospital I had my son at) and thought I would take a short one, then kept finding different spots to take more, in the hopes of when I am feeling disconnected to nature, not grounded, feeling tense and difficult to get peaceful I can look at one of these on my phone from wherever I am and remember the peaceful walk and nature. (I also had a fleeting thought reading the news this morning that on my first blog I kvetched about my two bedroom apartment and felt guilty thinking about Anne Frank and her family living with another family in the small attic space for all those years). I know, I know. This is my world. It's always a balance between honoring my feelings about whatever and not feeling guilty comparing my blessings to those less fortunate from the past and present. The yoga was free today. Did I mention that? The studio was celebrating 7 years and offered several hours of different classes in their two studios. I came to the last hour and took a restorative Hatha Yoga Level I class from an instructor whose same class I took on Wednesday. It was a different energy sharing the studio space with 11 other people and listening for a long time during the beginning of the class to the voices and bustling in the hallway. I overheard my teacher talking with another student at Wednesday's class end that she suddenly lost her husband 4 1/2 weeks ago. She is so thankful to have her practice. She was also my son's children's yoga instructor Wednesday afternoon. I told her I overheard what she said and mentioned how sorry I was and that I bet she is living very much in the now moment, to which she agreed and we spoke briefly about the challenges of trying to live that way daily and without some kind of major tragedy to get us to that place.
The chess instructor just belted out, "Why do we play chess?" to which the kids yelled, "To have fun!" Such a good reminder for anything I take on in life. If it's not fun, then don't do it. When my son came out of his skating lesson this morning he announced to me he didn't want to come anymore. I knew it was because the teacher was focusing on very specific skill sets and techniques that my son was having troubles with. He is marvelous at having no fear skating really fast forward. I told him how he was the only 5 year-old in the class and all of the other boys are 6 and older and have been skating much longer than him and he should be so proud of himself. He smiled and told me how good he did skating fast and then didn't tell me anymore how he didn't want to come again. My son teaches me so much. Patience. Fun. Risk. Trying something new and staying with it. Practice. I find peace in this.
I am now going to attempt to re-visit a one act play I wrote two years ago and condense it into ten minutes. Ten pages, according to my playwrite friend is what a ten minute play length should be. I am challenged by how to end it. I will try this new thing. Playwriting. I will try it and enjoy it and send it out for criticism and embrace it all.
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