On Attachment
Being a tourist, a loose leaf and standing splits
Hello, my dear,
Hold on to your hats, scarves, and mittens because fall has entered the group chat.
The past week saw the end of summer and, with it, extra hours of daylight. So, you have your reason if it seems slightly darker during your 5 a.m. wake-up or the sunset feels a minute long.
I've created a ritual of taking a brief stroll through my neighborhood once I return from work. It is my way of honoring our hemisphere's seasonal tilt away from the sun. It's the season's last warm days, and I want to be immersed in the change.
Two days of appointments and celebrating a dear friend's birthday last week didn't stop me, and I'm hoping to maintain the practice until we leave Massachusetts.
With only five weeks left in the Bay State, things are getting real!
It's time to be a tourist like in Pittsburgh.
The aim is to visit Gillette Stadium, catch a Red Sox’s game and in my quest to hit all 50 states, the Ben and Jerry’s Factory in Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hampshire are on the list too.
Tell me about your time to the area. What do you recommend I visit in New England?
To celebrate the beautiful weather the other day, I pulled out my yoga mat and set it down in a sunny spot on the lawn.
I fiddled with my phone's camera, attached it to the tripod, and adjusted the swivel. I pointed it toward what I hoped would be a perfect frame around me.
I closed the distance between my tripod and mat three times before deciding I was happy with the result. Just before I sat and turned to face the camera, I lowered myself to my knees and continued looking at the space behind me. I don't know what held me there, intuition, I assume. Either way, I felt compelled to keep my eyes open and trained on the space before me. The street grew quiet after a single car descended the winding path. The loud motors of lawn maintenance and children's quarrels of justice and fair play -two suburban mainstays - were also nowhere to be found. I began to extend my leg and turn when a single leaf fell loose from a branch. It skirted the tree trunk and landed with a gentle rustle. Its presence, another layer over the mulch below.
I smiled and sat there in silence for another minute. How lucky was I to witness that leaf's last moment of attachment?
I centered myself and began in a forward fold, at rest but listening for the signal to move.
Standing splits have been a challenge for me since I started practicing. However, the full extension of the pose looks like the picture of grace. And up until that moment, I thought I needed brawny muscles that could withstand anything to find balance in the pose. So, imagine my surprise when the response was my body was tired of being contracted. Rather than spending more time engaged, the desire is room to grow.
With extended arms, I shifted my weight to my right and drove my knee to the back of the mat. I pulled my hip back in space and stood amazed at what my body requested. Then, I wondered if this opening came from Nature's display or if this space had been within me all along.
Loved this and want more on Nature?
Enjoy my walk to work
I've made notes on Spring
Impulse, heat and a quarter life crisis in Jamaica
About a month ago, I tried working outside in the backyard. The mosquitoes, ate me up. How do you do Yoga outside? Do they join you in cat pose?