Author: Ki McGraw

We live in Apple country. I have eaten more different varieties than I ever knew existed. I’ve been eating an apple a day for years and it has kept the doctor’s away.

I got a big box of apples from the farmers market. I had Scotty from Jersey Boys deliver so I didn’t have to carry 25 pounds back home. Honeycrisp is the first solid food I let enter my mouth! Bringing the best of summer into the fall.

Do you eat an apple a day? Want to join me for it this fall? Ki to Happiness encourages you to do so!

This full moon brings to light all of that we have been growing during the summer. In it’s light you see reflected our own unconscious material. From my garden I harvested basil and mushrooms.

From my heart, I harvested a greater willingness to let of any perceived offenses. In place of resentment, I am harvesting Joy. This moon brings hope for a soft fall.

What are you harvesting from your physical guardian? And what from the Subtler Garden within your heart? Ki to Happiness shares from her bountiful Summer.

Yoga strengthens the connection between the body and the spirit. This innate connection can be disturbed with trauma. Our intention can heal that split.

As I sit in the solitude and quiet of my morning practice, I receive guidance from my spirit as to how to best embody it’s highest values. I also receive feedback about my physical state so I can refine my practices.

What refinement do your practices need? How can you best embody your Highest values? Ki to Happiness intends to stay connected.

We approach full moon on Monday and fall on Tuesday. It feels like it’s already arrived here today, with winds and rain. Time for warm food and extra blankets.

I change with the weather. I like how my push-ups warm up my body. Looking forward to sharing with you some of the delights of the season as we transition.

How are you with the changes? Are you able to adapt easily? Ki to Happiness loves sweater weather.

In my practice is this morning, the building began to shake. I looked at our major entrances and found the source of the disturbance. We were encamped on by homeless neighbors. One of whom violently struck and kicked our glass doors to attempt to break in again.

As the construction workers began to arrive to their office in our building, I greeted them and congratulated them for making it in. When they got both entrances free again, we shared a fist bump. My breathing returned to balance and gratitude upwelled.

Are you getting enough fist bumps? How fast can you regain balance and gratitude once it’s been disturbed? Ki to Happiness recovers faster and faster with lots of practice.

Yesterday one of our members of the push-up challenge let me know he dropped out. This morning I pushed on without him. When I was posting, I did my tricep dips. In the mirror reflection I saw myself on camera doing push-ups and in person doing tricep dips.

This gave me a chance to integrate both aspects of myself. Strengthening my front and my back as a contribution, I join the two together. With or without any one particular other, I live my commitments.

How are you doing with your commitments? Are you able to stay in integrity? Ki to Happiness integrates.

I started my morning certain it was Thursday. I had in mind my appointments and my teaching schedule. I sat into my practice and laughed. It’s Wednesday!

Delighted to learn I have an extra day of life to live, I sucked the juice out of my practice. Each aspect seemed refreshed and clear. Gratitude does that. It seems to change the aperture our eyes so we are able to take in more light.

How are you doing on this extra day of life? What will you give your energy to? Ki to Happiness is celebrating Hump Day anew.

Lately I’m noticing my intimate others have been hitting their limitations. Attitude has shifted toward the curmudgeon, like my grandpa used to display in his expressions. “This world is going to pot.” Or “ we’re all going to hell in a hand basket”, he’d say.

It’s always been the case for those of us who have been on the planet a while that we can see the degradation of society and the building of what has been called the “Idiocracy.” It’s also always been the case that choosing happiness is “an inside job”. My happiness exists, and I’m free to choose to attend to it.

Are you using your freedom to choose well? What will help you choose better? Ki to Happiness takes responsibility for manifesting her natural inborn state.

I’ve been processing the bounties of summer. I put up several pounds of plums from one of my client’s trees. I used her pear apples to make a clove cinnamon strudel. I served it with pluot crisp.

Sharing the goodness with my husband and our dear friend multiplies the blessing. While I am abstaining from travel during this intense time of the variants, I am benefiting from experiencing the roundness of the year. Seasons subtle shifts are move apparent as I stay put.

What will you do with your summer’s bounty? Any end of summer needs? Ki to Happiness salutes the season.

It’s so important to have a day off. It allows time and space in which spontaneous awareness can arise. Hatha Yoga Center has the building to ourselves on Sunday. I open all the doors and curtain to the commons area so the cats can explore the grande foyer. When they’ve had enough, they come back in.

Today they wanted to just stay in. Sometimes we feel that way, too. A quiet morning in the dark at the end of summer calls us to linger a little longer with our head on the pillow. My folks call it lollygagging.

What do you call it? Have you had enough? Ki to Happiness lounges in post practice leisure.