Happy New Year

I spent a large part of the first day of 2009 in an orientation for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction based on the pioneering work of University of Massachusetts Medical School's Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. This is the beginning of an 8 week course that I have signed up for. I'm very excited about this great new start to my year and my life.

Brant Rogers of Yoga Hillsboro is the facilitator of this program and he is kind, warm, and brimming with knowledge about living in the space between stimulus and reaction. I can see with some clarity how this knowledge will augment and amplify my current teaching of body sensing yoga. The yoga nidra experience that Brant led us through today was so similar to what I've experienced with Simon, but still unique in how my body reacted. I was alert and receptive throughout but felt immeasurably relaxed and joyful at the end. This is fairly unusual for me to achieve without practicing yoga in tandem with the meditation. Ahhhhhh... progress.

We've celebrated the holidays with many friends and all the blessing of our family from afar. I certainly miss the day to day interactions with parents (all four), siblings (by marriage and birth), and nieces and nephews. If only that great invention we've been promised by Star Trek lo these many years ago would come to fruition. Beam me up ... I'm ready!

I've already gotten off on the wrong foot this year with a binge at Burgerville but I have to say that it's hard to feel much remorse after tasting that Chocolate Hazelnut Milkshake. Oh sure it was for Izzy, but let's be real people! I slurped that sucker like crazy when her back was turned! Yummo!

Okay, once again I travel rapidly from the sublime to the sybaritic. I'm just glad some things haven't been left behind in 2008!

Wishing you a healthy, happy New Year filled with equal parts of balance and balminess.

Namaste,

Jan