Tai chi and me -- sixteen years on

I've never been a jogger. I'm not much of an athlete, period. And since Shadow-dog died almost a year ago, I don't walk as much as I used to. 

But I'm still doing tai chi sixteen years after I started, and am very grateful for the practice. It's been helpful with balance through years of vertigo, kept up my core strength for gardening tasks, challenged my brain to remember the sequences in order, and helped me through frozen shoulder and recovery from a broken foot. It's gentle and graceful, but still enough that I work up a sweat every morning. There's almost enough room in my living room to do a complete set of 108 moves, but what I really love is doing it outdoors.

Over the last few years, I've discovered that I can almost do it without thinking because it's part of muscle memory. So I've combined it with a morning prayer mantra... which sometimes distracts me enough that I lose my place and have to back up because I forgot to turn and chop with fist, or missed stepping up and raising hands at the right time. But that's okay -- extra exercise is never a bad thing!

I've tried yoga and other kinds of exercise, but this is still my favourite because it's something I can do alone or with a group, anywhere and any time. And after 16 years, I'm still doing it right, or so I discovered when I came across the video below. That's a pretty wonderful thing to know!

Here's a fellow named Kevin moving fairly slowly through the 108 moves. I love to watch him go through the motions now and then because his video reminds me of nuances that I sometimes forget. If you're a tai chi practitioner, you'll know what I mean. Enjoy!

Balance on a Sunday

Today will be a day full of fun... the Saskatchewan Roughriders, my favourite team from the Canadian Football League, are playing in the Grey Cup final in their hometown (my birthplace) of Regina, Saskatchewan. My extended family and I will get together to watch the game on TV, but there are even more excited people in Rider Nation who will be watching the game live, including quite a few of my Saskatchewan cousins. Stay warm and cheer loudly, everybody! Go Riders! Green is the colour!

Here's a video (with a catchy tune) that gives you an idea of the kind of zaniness that the Rider Nation displays on game days. Toques may be required underneath those watermelon hats at Mosaic Stadium today (temp expected to be just below freezing) but then again, excitement and a few pocket flasks may be enough to keep people warm and happy!

And for those of you who could care less about Canadian football, here's something of a counterpoint to football excitement -- an extremely focused woman who gives an amazing demonstration of concentration and equilibrium. Today, I'm thinking about how we all need balance in our lives. Fun and excitement, relaxation and peace. Make both part of your Sunday, if you can. I find this video of Miyoko Shida's talents very calming. Thanks to my friend Mark for bringing it to my attention. Enjoy!

The word of the year is...

My most faithful friend (the one who has been with me since grade one) and I have a ritual that we follow sometime around the beginning of each year. No, not making New Year's Resolutions -- I've never been very good at them -- but picking a word that we hope will shape the year ahead. Sometimes the words are a wish for the year, other times, they reflect something of the struggles we've been facing and how we intend to overcome them.

For example, at the end of 2009 we were both feeling helpless and hopeless over the lack of progress against Climate Change at Copenhagen, and our government's lack of care for our environment. I was getting really depressed about the fact that, though I do my darndest to live lightly on our earth, our politicians are still fixed on monetary issues and give handouts to big business so the stock markets go up, rather than invest in really important things -- like the health of the planet that sustains us all.

After some moaning and complaining about the state of the earth, Cathy and I picked the word Hope for 2010, a bold and daring word at a time when having Hope for our planet felt next to impossible in a lot of ways. Hope became our challenge. We started pointing out to each other the positives that we noticed... the number of people we met who were starting to wake up to the climate crisis... the hockey player who payed for his carbon emissions... the media outlets who gave climate change issues a lot of coverage...  groups like Sierra Club and the David Suzuki Foundation and all their followers and all the good things they were doing... organizations like Kiva, helping the poorest of the poor... local food initiatives... recycling projects... cooperative living groups... and so many more. Over time, Hope bloomed in both of us. I think it's safe to say we ended 2010 with more Hope than when we started.

Once we had Hope, we decided to keep it going by rejoicing in the good and enjoying Joy in 2011, wherever we found it. We didn't talk about Joy as much as we did about Hope, because we didn't need to, I think. (I've been trying to remember other words of the year... one was Freedom (from rumination about frustration), but my middle aged brain isn't forthcoming with any others -- Cathy, can you help?)

So what's this year's word? Well, now that we have Hope and Joy under our belts, we're shifting gears again. Cathy, a palliative care nurse, has just finished a much-needed and highly-prized 3-month sabbatical break from work and is starting back at part-time hospice home-care, and part-time parish nursing. As for me, I've been struggling with dizziness for two months, working only half of my part-time position at L'Arche, and trying to keep up with my responsibilities at home.

So what better word than (drum roll please....) Balance.

It would be wonderful to regain my sense of Balance in the physical, literal sense... and it would be fantastic to live 2012 in a balanced way... working enough to give a sense of purpose, and resting enough to feel healthy, eating wisely (Cathy's inspiring me more and more toward vegetarianism), getting exercise, connecting with nature through our gardens, spending time with loved ones, and doing those extra things that fill life with meaning and Hope and Joy and all those words from years gone by.

Balance. Yes. We like it. It's our word of the year!

What's your word of the year for 2012?

Just call me dizzy... and an AMAZING video

For the past three weeks, I've been a dizzy dame, and not in a "fun" sense. I have been diagnosed with what's known as Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, or BPPV. Basically, it means that my head spins with sudden movement, whether I'm laying down or standing, picking something up from the floor, or reaching for the top shelf. Driving is an impossibility because shoulder checks just don't work. Simple tasks like unpacking groceries or making the bed take a long time. This morning I took a walk around the neighbourhood with two friends who let me hold onto them as if I was a ninety-year-old woman who is unsteady on her pins, which is true, except I'm only half of ninety.

This same thing happened to me five years ago after a day surgery. At the time, I blamed it on the anaesthetic, but this time, I'm suspecting it came out of the blue then, as it has now. I haven't bonked my head on anything recently; I haven't had an ear infection or even a common cold. There's no excuse for my dizziness, which means it's idiopathic, occurring for no known reason.

So, what to do? Well, the last time around, I waited it out, mostly. It took three months before my body got rid of whatever was causing the problem and I went back to life as usual. I visited doctors and saw a physiotherapist who gave me some exercises that included walking up and down my hallway, focusing on a picture to my right until I'd passed it, then one to my left until it was behind me, turning my head this way and that, over and over. The physio also did something called the Epley manoeuvre, a turning of my head in different directions in an effort to move the crystals that might be causing the imbalance in the semi-circular canal in my ear, and perhaps that helped. I hope it helps again when I see him this week.

Having vertigo again after being so healthy for the five years since the last bout has brought home to me once again the marvel of nature, of the human body. Everything works so well most of the time... but get a few little ear crystals in the wrong place, and they set off chaos that stops me in my tracks. My neighbour down the street broke her arm somewhere close to her elbow last week, and now she has a full arm cast that means she can't drive either (and dressing herself is a trick too, I imagine). Nature's balance is a delicate thing, and it's so easy to lose sight of that fact until something unbalances.

So, though I'm frustrated by my present unbalance, I'm also trying to appreciate the places where balance exists. I'm grateful for the fact that this vertigo has nothing to do with brain tumours or Meniere's Disease. A few weeks of dizziness is but a speck in time when I really think about it, so rather than complain any more than I have, I'll save my breath for prayers for the people who live with frequent attacks of dizziness. I'm appreciating the friends and family who have supported me these last three weeks by helping me do things and go places, and I'm looking forward to getting back to life as usual.

This morning my friend Mark sent me this completely amazing, two minute video of an incredible and balanced murmuration of starlings that blew my mind. Kudos to the girls who got such wonderful footage! It made me think about the fact that, even though so much in our world is imbalanced and out of kilter, nature does these inexplicably amazing and wonderfully balanced things. If we can stop life's dizzying pace and make ourselves aware of our connectedness with every living thing and our need to live in harmony within life's web, nature's balance will be enhanced in our world... and our bodies.

Have a balanced day!