Month: December 2021

Instead of returning home yesterday, Bob’s team of advocates motivated the hospital to keep him. This is good news. With a little more time and all the good attention he’s receiving safely there, his stroke recovery can continue to proceed unhindered.

After spending all day getting ready and facilitating the team, I hit a wall of relief at 5pm. Recognizing my efforts were enough, I stopped. Exhaustion brought me speechlessness and an early bed.

How do you react to relief? How can you manage when you hit a wall? Ki to Happiness becomes a wallflower, standing by the wall of relief, exuding fragrance from shy blossoms.

Bob will be discharged from the hospital today. It is uncertain where he will go yet. I have prepared our home to receive him. I am also prepared for him to go into a different facility for more attention and recovery if at all possible.

Both of us shared our fears about his return to this multi level tight space without a private restroom while disabled. We spoke at length and shared our separate stories until they flowed like separate streams into one river. Our stories are now mixed together on their way to the Ocean of Oneness.

What story do you need to tell? Who’s story do you need to hear? Ki to Happiness flows toward the One with each shared story.

With all that’s going on after Bob’s stroke, I was alarmed to find his class without a teacher. Having done all I could to secure a sub and a back up sub, I felt at a loss and had a sense of futility as I walked home from my house call private session.

Suddenly, I felt inspired to share my walking and chanting practice on our Hatha Yoga Center live streaming group page instead of keeping it to myself. Within moments I felt fine. That feeling walked me right back into the Hatha Yoga Center so I was able to shift right into covering that class myself.

What helps you shift from futile to fine? How quickly can you reach for that tool? Ki to Happiness quickly shifts with walking and chanting.

As Bob heals from his stroke, collateral healing is occurring. A Course in Miracles states that no one is healed alone. In speaking with him, now that he’s able, mirth and joy burbled up from the endless supply within us both, anyway.

Two old friends with whom there had been estrangement have returned to my heart. Whatever the issues that may have kept us apart, the loving connection brings us back together. While this is happening, Bob is relearning how to stand, use his arms, smile and drink water.

What’s healing in your world? Can you open yourself up to witness the collateral healing? Ki to Happiness shares this healing with you.

I cannot push the clock. I cannot see the future of what will occur as Bob recovers from his stroke. As his certified stroke assessment specialist said many times, there’s no crystal ball with which to see what will occur.

What I can do is stay stable, tell the truth, and stay strong. Push-ups might seem like a waste of time, or a vanity. Right now, they are embodying my spirit of pushing through these challenging times.

Do you have a crystal ball? What can you do to push through the challenges you are facing? Ki to Happiness has several crystal balls all of which say keep pushing.

Bob Smith, founder of the Hatha Yoga Center in 1977 “has been stroked”, as his teacher Ram Das put it. Now that Bob is in the hospital, we will begin to know the extent of the consequences. It may take a long time for him to “get back”, like the Beatles’ song and the name of Bob’s last viewed documentary.

My role as codirector of HYC since 1999 is to see to it that he has a place to “get back” to. As Bob’s wife, it means carrying his legacy forward, whatever may come. My yoga practice and our community sustains and supports me so I can persevere.

What sustains and supports you? How can you best use your time while you are waiting? to Happiness continues to use common sense, which directs me back to Yoga.

This morning I am practicing common sense. It’s become all too uncommon. Allowing myself to adjust and adapt to the present needs, I return to the basics.

As a holistic counselor, those basics include drinking water, walking, and staying calm in the face of sudden change. It applies to me just as much as anyone else. Breathing slowly always grounds us.

How is your common sense? Can you help it become more common by exercising it? Ki to Happiness is breathing slowly and using common sense.

The heavens are at it again. The new moon in Sagittarius says start new creative projects. The solar eclipse pattern says tear down old structures. The net affect may be experienced as confusion unless we can see the bigger perspective.

I found it helpful to recognize that these patterns are occurring. Going with what is flowing, I did both. I pray for old structures that no longer serve us to conclude as we creatively experiment with new and improved possibilities. I dreamt of someone quitting smoking cigarettes, and instead, painting a picture of two of them.

What can you quit? Can you experiment creatively with a new possibility instead? Ki to Happiness prays and plays.

A student returned to work with me yesterday. Five years ago we shared a moment of deep darkness together. I reached out in the darkness and offered the light of truth as I best understood it then.

We joined together again in the name of yoga. As we concluded our session, tears freely flowed as five years disappeared into the healing awareness that all is well. That darkness long ago has dissipated in the light of greater awareness. It takes time.

What healing do you need? How much time are you willing to give? Ki to Happiness allows healing to take all the time it takes.

Yesterday I witnessed several little miracles. My eyes must have been cleansed of all that otherwise would have obscured the small and mighty Divine Interventions. I saw five years of tension in one relationship disappear into the love that is for the giving.

I saw schedules easily managed to accommodate my sudden needs. As if the Red Sea parted, obstacles got out of my way as I continued on my path. Helpers, both physical and spiritual gathered to usher me through to the safety of this moment.

How clear are your eyes? Can you see little miracles indicating Divine Intervention? Ki to Happiness has eyes to see the light upon all that Is.