The “Gland Finale” Is Actually The Beginning
Enjoy and afternoon dedicated to YOU!
There has been a constant throughout my life that I give credit for helping me journey through my life. It entered my life almost unexpectedly.
Believe it or not, it began before marriage and children, before college degrees, and before I reached true self awareness and any respectable level of independence.
You see, while I was negotiating all the injustices in the world (those worthy of San Francisco marches and signing various chest-thumping petitions) I was also figuring out where I belonged in that world; how to be effective in it; how to be helpful in it; how to KNOW what was the right thing to do versus the easier route of taking shortcuts for a similar more diluted response.
Frankly, there is still some of that struggle going on in my life EVEN TO THIS DAY!
I witness injustices and undermining behaviors and can feel such anger. The Taurus Bull inside me just wants to ram into the perpetrator causing all the harm and call attention to those around them to, well, you know “WAKE UP!”
But, I often stop myself (thankfully in time), so that I can provide another perspective. I know the answer will come and clarity will be sought out. I know others will awaken … it sometimes takes time. And, I’m a believer in Karma.
What is this thing that brings me to a new perspective?
It’s the practice of yoga.
Rolling out a mat, sweating, grunting, managing my thoughts, negotiating my emotions and breathing in and out of it all; it’s the practice that came first.
I met my biggest challenge during my midlife.
(Not exactly a midlife crises—moreso a midlife awakening)
When I was 43 years old, I became a cancer survivor.
I had a lumpectomy.
I had lymph nodes removed.
I had a year of chemo and radiation.
I had an oophorectomy.
My body changed overnight.
Just 3 years prior to my diagnosis I was weaning my daughter from breastfeeding. One morning, I found myself in the body of an 80 year old woman for a period of time.
I had officially entered menopause.
It sucked.
I had heart palpitations.
I had anxiety.
I forgot things.
I put the milk carton in the cupboard and the cereal in the refrigerator.
Learning how to live with my new body alongside my husband and active preschoolers.
Working with other cancer patients with Wild Heart Sanctuary and A Quality Life Community for Cancer Survivors. (Noble Moon, a wild mustang, unzips a jacket to allow her closer to a lung cancer patient)
Working with burn survivors at our beloved Burn Camp “Camp Nah Nah Mah.”
Teaching 25 years of Kid’s Yoga classes.
Yoga has always been there to help me through each and every rendition of myself. Not all of it easy, but all of it manageable.
Please join me for the “Gland Finale.” (it’s really not the end of anything but rather the beginning of everything)
