Thank you for blogging about Sarah D.!

A big thank you to Angela from Just waffling...

and

Sarah at One Real Thing

for blogging about my friend Sarah Dinsmore who is working through her recent diagnosis of gastric cancer. You can read her story here. And my recent posting about her and our friendship here.

Thank you so much for putting her at the front of people's minds and hearts.

Your words are the best medicine that exists.

With love,

Jan

Can cancer be a blessing?

Weird blog title right? Well, you might not think so after you read this excerpted blog from my friend Sarah.

Sarah has been my friend for 15+ years. She was there for me when my daughter Izzy was born and she was with me with hugs and support when I was diagnosed with both forms of my own breast cancer. Sarah has always been there for me.

Sarah has just been diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer and I sat with her in the oncologist office two weeks ago while she heard the most devastating news any person can imagine hearing. Her two daughters collapsed into tears as we all hugged and tried to imagine how life could possibly go on. Through it all, my dear friend Sarah kept her chin up and said "no". "This isn't me he's talking about."

The very next day, Sarah came to my Healing Yoga class and spent the entire hour comforting my other students and offering advice and compassion regarding their problems or concerns. Not ONCE did she mention what we had gone through less than 24 hours before. This is why my friend Sarah is so beloved and deserving of tremendous support. She cries over other cancer patients who don't have the love and support that she has.

Would you please consider spreading the word about her? She has ZERO financial resources and barely lives paycheck to paycheck. To be honest, I had no idea it was this bad. I'm embarrassed to say that I thought she was doing "ok". Not great but getting by. Now I realize that in the midst of all of this, she might not be able to pay for rent or food let alone costly medical treatments. Can you imagine feeling "blessed" in the midst of this?

If you feel you could, please, please consider posting about her and spreading your network open for her.

The website I designed for her is: http://sarahdsays.weebly.com

Prayers, good wishes, and small donations can literally change Sarah's life right now. She can focus on healing and keep on counting all of the blessings in her life.

Thanks so much for ALWAYS being such wonderful and caring friends,

Jan

HO HO HA HA HA....

Can you hear it? The laughter of course! This weekend I finished my training to become a certified Laughter Yoga Leader. It was AWESOME! We laughed so hard and for so long that I'm sure you could hear it from wherever you are. I went into the first day of class feeling a little sluggish and by the end of the second day I was literally THRUMMING with health and joy.

This is from the LaughterYoga.org website:
Laughter Yoga has been scientifically proven that laughter is both preventive and therapeutic. People practicing Laughter Yoga regularly report amazing improvement in their health as well as a more positive mental attitude and higher energy levels. The first thing participants say is that they don’t fall sick very often; the frequency of normal cold and flu reduces or even disappears. There are daily reports of partial or total cure of most stress-related illnesses like hypertension, heart disease, depression, asthma, arthritis, allergies, stiff muscles and more. While this sounds fantastic, it all makes perfect sense, as laughter is nature’s best cure for stress.

Most illnesses today are stress related and chronic stress attacks the immune system and makes us vulnerable to infections, virus attack and cancer. In fact, this is a major motive for people taking to Laughter Yoga. You can feel the difference from the very first session. You get energized; your mood changes and you feel great. With regular practice you can experience a big change in mental and physical health. Laughter Yoga practitioners are happier and healthier; they can cope with stress better, and have a positive outlook on life.


Still not convinced? Check this out:


If you haven't tried Laughter yoga yet go to the laughteryoga.org site here to find a club or class to try. Also, I will be offering a class in the Fall at Cedar Hills Recreational Center if you are interested in trying it with me. I'd love to have you come play with me.

Love and giggles to you all,

Jan

Blogging my way out of catastrophe....

This is a "blog-lite" posting today. Just an attempt to get my feet back in the water and get inspired to post again. I've been overwhelmed with stress, unchecked emotions, and illness lately and the thought of writing has seemed insurmountable. "I'm too worn out" or "I won't be able to be creative enough right now". How silly. It's just writing. Do you build things up to ridiculous proportions in your own mind too? I love this quote from Mark Twain, "I've suffered a great many catastrophes in my life. Most of them never happened."

We humans are so talented at manufacturing hurdles for ourselves out of nothing. I try to catch myself doing this nowadays but it is insidious. The antidote of course is to just be real and present in this breath and moment. Because the past is done and the future will unfold as it will, but THIS moment is the one that we can give ourselves to wholly... again and again. This moment is very likely not filled with catastrophe at all, just space and mindfulness. Instead, it is pregnant with potential.

I invite you to look into your own life for things you worry about that have little or no basis in reality. I'd be so interested to hear your opinions on this or any other topic.

Wishing you a beautiful moment,

Jan

Bodaat...blogging one day at a time: Mangalore Tragedy

Feeling pain for my friend Kavita and of course for the poor people grieving their losses of family and friends.

Bodaat...blogging one day at a time: Mangalore Tragedy

Wishing that words and prayers were enough to heal the world.

So Faux at Letting Go...

I have a confession to make:

I'm a fraud.

I encourage my students every single day to practice letting go of the past and the future and to focus only on the moment at hand. Breath by breath.

I stink at this sometimes. And this day was one of those times.

I got caught up in drama and lost it. I vented, I fretted, I even whined. I tried to control the future outcome and lamented the failings of the past. Today was not a good day for this practitioner of mindfulness... except.... I recognize it. I totally get IT. I allowed myself to get caught up in old patterns for the sake of momentary comfort rather than facing the truth of my feelings and emotions in the moment. I got some momentary juice and power from going rogue but now I'm left with regret and sadness. I have more work to do on calming my reactive muscle and building up the deliberate response one instead.

So I guess technically I'm not so much a fraud but more just an imperfect being on my own path. Practicing, making mistakes, and trying to catch myself sooner in the moment rather than reacting first and regretting later. And maybe making mistakes and learning to love myself whether I am zen or zany is actually a pretty good quality for a teacher. Maybe it's a pretty good quality for anybody.

So I guess, I'm really okay. And I suspect you are really okay too, in this moment, no matter what....


You can now return to your regularly scheduled life. Sorry for the false alarm.

Namaste,

Jan