Author: Ki McGraw

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. As an Irish American, I’ve celebrated this day with my brother, Patrick, throughout our lives. I’ve kissed the blarney stone in Ireland, made Irish Soda Bread annually and played the Irish drum called the bodhran in musical sessions.

I do so, even as I recognize that the story about this day is full of blarney. Saint Patrick was not a saint, was not named Patrick, didn’t wear green, and is not from Ireland where there are no snakes. Like other celebrations that have been shaped for particular purposes, I observe the parts I can and leave the rest.

What part of this day can you celebrate? What ancestry have you descended from? Ki to Happiness loves what she can on this and every holiday.

One of the main issues my students and clients let me know about is the discomfort with uncertainty. When significant relationships, employment, housing, health, and transportation become unstable, anxiety naturally arises. Especially when these things happen in combination or all at once.

Hatha Yoga provides a consistent practice with which to find stability within. The Sutras underpinning the path indicate that the practice calms the perturbations of the mind. When practiced regularly, with serious determination, the mind moves to gracious peace.

Where do you find certainty during uncertain times? How do you stabilize yourself in this constantly changing world? Ki to Happiness finds comforting peace in practicing Hatha Yoga regularly.

I’m a member of a support team for one of our distant community members as she navigates her way through the storm of cancer. It’s an honor and a privilege to participate. When financial assistance was requested, I offered free private services.

As others who have gone through such storms would attest, navigation requires patience. Being present as one waits for results and recommendations necessitates support. Having been through other storms myself, I’ve developed such patience, and I’m happy to provide support at a distance without thought of remuneration.

How do you help someone who is far away? Where did you learn such skill? Ki to Happiness has learned many skills through navigating several storms and helps others at a distance with prayer, Reiki transmission when appropriate and patience.

I taught one of my clients yesterday a practice I learned from Sufism. In doing so, she learned to time her breath rhythm with her heartbeat. That profound somatic activity changed her life.

Sufis say “spirit rides the wind“ meaning the Spirit of Guidance enters us through the breath. Companioning the breath with the heart rhythm brings that guidance into the materializing plane. Through a repeated practices our heart and breath become synchronized into a profound team.

Can you let your heartbeat partner your breath? Can you experiment with timing your breath to your heart beat? Ki to Happiness times her breath with her heart beat and her heart beat with her breath.

In a lovely session with a new client, she indicated that she had learned all she knows from her trips to Hell and back again. I let her know that is an apt description of where my skill set comes from, also. In that way we are joined and have developed deep rapport.

The many challenges that occur for us along our chosen path of growth and development give ample motivation for evolution. I know far more about wrists, having spent the last three months healing from breaking mine, for instance. In this learning lab of life, we are all given lessons which we can convert into bleasing s as we return from the hell of hard knocks.

What kind of hell have you been through? How did you make it back? Ki to Happiness shares the many blessings from hard lessons with students and clients.

The spring forward shift has taken effect. The cats and I got up on schedule an hour earlier after an earlier night. We all took our positions for morning practice.

Free from pain, I sit in my meditation position, and focus on my breath and alignment. I open to guidance and receive several directions about tuning up today’s calendar. In the dark, with the wind blowing our outdoor lights into our windows, the rain descends like the Guidance carried on the wind of Spirit.

Have you gotten on schedule yet? What Guidance do you receive during your spiritual practice? Ki to Happiness acts on the Guidance received.

Bob suggested we watch the Oscars last night. Amid the opulence, the costumes, and the celebrities. I appreciated the tributes to those who’ve left this Earthly stage. The clip with Ryan O’Neal made me cry as I heard him speak those words of Love Story emblazoned into my young memory, “ Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

Removing the unconscious conditioning of that statement, I replaced it with a more truthful statement. Love means saying you’re sorry, and changing your behavior in the direction of loving correction. Perhaps then there would be fewer tears all around.

How willing are you to apologize? With love in your heart, after apologizing, are you able to change in the direction that love points the way toward? Ki to Happiness loves and apologizes and makes changes as necessary towards whatever Love reveals.

As we set the clocks ahead by one hour, we do so during the new moon. Often this can be a time requiring great adjustment. The new moon takes the energy of today and broadcasts it forward through the next month during which we shift into astronomical spring, effecting the next season.

Preparing in advance for this meant going to bed early with everything ready for today. In this way, the intentions we set are able to be free from stress, irritation, or angst. Still, we know it will take four days for our circadian rhythms to adapt to the time change.

Did you prepare for the time change? Can you give yourself four days of grace as you adapt to it? Ki to Happiness springs forward with clear intentions for a lovely month.

My yoga practice continues to demonstrate increase in my strength and flexibility as I heal from my wrist injury. A couple of tiny steps forward in that direction yesterday brings me great joy. I share that joy with you, dear reader, to encourage you along your healing path.

In speaking with a lifelong girlfriend yesterday, I called on that strength and flexibility, in order to heal from some old junior high issues. After all these years, I learned that one of the most popular girls of those days felt just like I did then. Changing my perspective on her required flexibility, as well as strength to hold my center in light of the revelation.

How strong is your center? How flexible is your perspective? Ki to Happiness heals into greater strength and flexibility in body and mind with yoga.

Yesterday as my husband and I were walking along, gratitude upwelled in my heart. It turned into tears streaming down my cheeks. I shared with him what I felt for our journey of 27 years.

The first thing he ever asked me to do with him, was to take a walk. All these years later, it’s the same walk. Sometimes side-by-side, sometimes talking, rarely holding hands, we walk. He is on his path at his pace, and I’m over here on my path at my pace.

Who works with you? Can you express your gratitude for sharing a part of your life’s journey with them? Ki to Happiness walks her talk.