Month: December 2022

In preparation for the new year, I’ve been cleaning house. Re-organizing, and letting go of clutter, adapting to this new space now that we’ve been here for five months is a celebration. Practicing hatha yoga cleans the house of the spirit, also welcoming in the new vital energy as we turn the calendar page to 2023.

While sweeping and scrubbing, I learned of the passing of Pele, Barbara Walters, and one of my classmates from Junior and Senior high school. The death of Lori McWilliams stopped me cold as I let go of the sponge and went to my knees in grief. None of us know how many NYE’s we get, so let’s clean up and be grateful “we have a pot to piss in” as my Grandmother used to say.

What do you need to clean up? How can you best prepare for 2023? Ki to Happiness cleans house in gratitude.

As we approach the fresh new year of 2023, mercury encourages us to look back. This three week period gives us a chance to reflect and redo. Many use this time to make resolutions which potentially won’t truly kick in until this period has passed.

This pattern may be confusing and cause communication and transportation problems. When we are informed about it, we are empowered to make the best use of this time. No need to try to force new things, or begin new projects, or insist on the New Year’s festivities going any certain way.

Can you take your time reviewing the past year? What needs to be refined? Ki to Happiness welcomes this time of reflection.

Around us, floodwaters are rising. We hear the sump pumps tending to the basements in our neighborhood, near Victory Creek. Our live work space is on the first floor, so we are on higher ground, with nothing in the basement to concern us.

We also have maintain power as 40,000 others in our vicinity lost theirs. I’m grateful for our good fortune of staying high and dry with heat and electricity. As a count, my blessings, I pray for those less fortunate at this time of year.

Can you count your blessings with me? Are you warm, safe, dry, with heat, electricity and clean freshwater? Ki to Happiness shares her high ground with any and all who are in our Hatha Yoga Center community, with room for you to join us.

Assembling the second Soji screen Santa left for us, we had only 95 of the 96 parts. I went in search of one screw to replace the missing one as Bob continued screwing in all we found in the box. I looked through our hardware and found 3 possibilities, none quite perfect.

When all was assembled except for that last screw, Bob tried it and it didn’t work. After waiting through the storm for Santa’s late delivery, learning the gifts required assembly, and getting this far, the temptation was great to give up in frustration. Instead, we stood the Soji screen up, and in shifting its relationship to gravity and our perspective, the screw worked well enough.

What has been frustrating you? What can you shift to get a different perspective? Ki to Happiness found a change in relationship to gravity made the difference.

My daily rituals and yoga practices give me a baseline from which I can track my condition. I compare myself to my baseline each day, so I can make adjustments and refinements. Today requires Epson salt soaking.

We received delivery our Christmas gifts now that the ice and snow has made travel possible again. They required some assembly. I volunteered, which resulted in a functional room divider and a cranky body from multiple frustrated contortions in the process.

What do you use as your baseline? what adjustments and refinements are necessary for you today? Ki to Happiness needs to soak.

On this day after Christmas, we are encouraged to give of our abundance to those in need. Initially, a Canadian observance of giving gifts to staff members, this celebration has evolved. It’s a good day to clear out the closet and the pantries, and to release our excesses, and give them to you are less fortunate.

I have a few items selected, which I will bestow upon those who cross my path today. I will offer books one of my clients authored, spiced nuts from our family gathering, and a few chocolate Santas. My students and clients perhaps will appreciate the gesture.

What do you have an abundance of that could benefit someone else? Could you box it up today and give it away? Ki to Happiness has an abundance of joy with which I will wrap my boxes.

I start my Christmas morning with an empty stomach and a full heart. I abstained from having dinner so that I would awaken fresh and clear to be with the Light within. Meditation, chanting, and prayer fill my heart better than the pizza might have.

My thoughts go out to others who are sad, sick, disappointed, alone. I send them the joy of one full breath, igniting the light in the heart and its dream. We are all doing our part to bring about the reason for the season… Christ (Buddha’s, Highest, call it what you will) consciousness manifesting on the Earth in each of us.

How will you celebrate? What will renew your heart’s dream? Ki to Happiness wishes you all a merry Christmas today and everyday.

On this Christmas Eve morning, we have a new moon in Capricorn. With it, there is a feeling of hope and anticipation of newness. The rain is washing away the remnants of the bomb cyclone in answer to many prayers.

As we thaw, we release the past, the fear of how bad it might have been and we shift into cleaning up the aftermath. What remains for me is a greater sense of community as we all pitched in to help one another: my new neighbors, our students and HYC teachers, and friends and family near and far all prudently checked in safe. Today is a fresh day of gratitude for setting intentions for the rest of 2022 to end well for a Happy 2023!

What do you need to clear out in the aftermath of the bomb cyclone? How do you intend to end 2022? Ki to Happiness lets love replace all fear.

As our country is plunged into the bomb, cyclone of polar, arctic, cold, wind and freezing rain, I count my blessings. When I grew up in the Midwest, I experienced many terrible winter storms, blizzards, and treacherous conditions. I am blessed to live in the Pacific Northwest where we’ll soon warm up and thaw out.

Walking out into the frozen world, memories of car wrecks, broken water pipes, and stressful holidays came up from their storage spaces in my body. Releasing the traumas with yoga brought me present to my current safety, relative warmth and contentment with my choices. Until we warm up, I will continue to sip jasmine green tea, practice yoga and pet my cats.

What traumas are stored in your body? How can you safely release them? Ki to Happiness lets this bomb cyclone move through her as she thaws out the past.

In the frigid temperatures, we walked out onto the snowy icy earth. Bob wanted to see the beauty in the sunlight reflected on the trees with icicles sparkling. We bundled up and made our way into the elements.

The simple joy brought tears to my eyes and infused my classes and private sessions with a felt sense of Winter Solstice. I continued to see light glistening from my students, and heard the beautiful sounds of my client’s voices as they make their way through the darkness into the light of consciousness. We honored the moment’s blessing with meditation and sun salutations.

Where do you find beauty at this time of year? Can you feel light returning within as you face your darkness? Ki to Happiness sees beauty in the light of consciousness.