Hanging by my hips

Well, I had a great post going about a daily yoga practice streak that had lasted 3 weeks, but the streak got broken. By a stomach virus/food poisoning experience over this past weekend. Darn! So, I’m going to take this opportunity to write a post of complaints, because sometimes releasing those thoughts is restorative, for me and maybe others. That’s as long as the primal scream doesn’t leave you with a horrific sore throat, right? Don’t feed the monster. Also, I feel fortunate in this life and yet it’s not always roses and puppies.

• I’m woozy (nauseated) and it’s been going on for five days now. I am of course thankful that it’s only been five days, though I’d like it to end soon.
• These hot flashes are annoying and strange. Sometimes quite entertaining. Not misery-inducing, but, well, being a nearly 47-year-old female is a charming experience, let’s just say. So much for wearing my favorite Icelandic wool sweater to work without a presentable under layer.
• When a spouse has nightly conference calls that last many hours, in addition to a regular 8-5 work day, it’s tough.
• Losing a father-in-law to death is very tough, but it feels not as tough as losing him to Lewy Body Dementia, first.
• Cancer sucks. My friend Terry is dealing with it right now.
• The lines to go through TSA/Security last week -both at MSP and at SEA- were horrendously slow.
• Last fall I bought some new, last-year’s model running shoes at a nice price- the Mizuno Wave Inspire 11. I assumed I’d love them, based on my experience with the Wave Inspire 10. I’ve finally started running in them and they hurt my feet! The model changed and now has arch support that works against the arch support I get from my orthotic inserts, and it’s too late to return them. And yes, I’m too afraid of plantar fasciitis to try running without the inserts. And of course it’s too late to return the shoes.
• Donald Trump’s antics are embarrassing me, as an American.
• I didn’t caucus, last week.
• I didn’t want to caucus, last week.
• I have no idea what I want to do when I retire. If I get to retire. I’m not sure I want to retire. But I’d like to work less, or at least, work at a desk less.
• I live very far from my parents, who are healthy but are aging, too.
• I didn’t ski at all this year. Nor did I go snowboarding.
• I have too much stuff that I don’t use, in my house.
• My house’s back porch is sinking.
• My house’s back doorknob has a habit of falling off.
• My house’s laundry chute door has a habit of falling off.
• My home cooking has a habit of not happening often enough to keep some of the ingredients from getting droopy, but also of happening so often that we have too many leftovers that might be suspects in the recent tummy troubles.
• My pal Julie moved away 2 Novembers ago and I wish I were still seeing her daily or at least weekly.
• There is. Not enough time. To get everything. In!
• Lastly: As mentioned above: I broke my pincha mayurasana streak.

Posted above is photo of me doing a different pose than PM: the hip hang. I recently took an Aerial Yoga class and this pose felt wonderful, in my spine. In keeping with my whining theme: I don’t have a lovely silk sling hanging from my home’s ceiling. I wish I could hang upside down more often! It might right the wrongs done by my desk job and 60+ minutes of daily driving. Oh, lookie, another grumble.

Learned: it’s really hard for me to write a list of complaints without listing a silver lining for each before going on to the next grievance! I’m not sure if this is my yoga training, the wisdom of my advanced age, my general tendency for optimism talking, but there it is. In various ways, there is a silver lining for each of the above, even the deadly diseases ones, painful as they are. More of the silver linings end up in my “projects” column than they probably should, for my own mental health (and BAM there’s another grumble).

Last week, I finished reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s No Mud, No Lotus. Suddenly, my little list above becomes inspiration for some meditations. The general message seems to be about perspective and about being there for those you love – the close, inner circles as well as the whole wide world of creatures with feelings.

Peace, folks.

Next up, in this space: things I learned (thus far) from a recent attempt to work on a specific challenging yoga pose every day. I’ll reboot the streak when going upside down doesn’t make my nausea worse.