Author: Ki McGraw

Now that the heat and smoke is dissipating, cool sweet air enters our screened windows. Classes will be more comfortable for students. Meteorologist Cliff Mass says we won’t have another hot and smoky day til next year.

The improvement in the environment lures me out to the Apple trees in the alley behind our building. I’ll pick some and turn them into applesauce like my grandmother did in all the summers of my youth. i’m sure I’ll share some with students, as well as the plentiful plums another member of our community gave us for Bob’s birthday.

What does the sweet air lure you towards? From your summer’s bounty, what might you offer others? Ki to Happiness offers Hatha Yoga, apples and plums.

I start my morning with windows closed to keep out the smoky air from our studio. Later, as students arrive, we will use our two air purifiers as well as multiple fans for comfort. The forecast says this will be our last hot and smoky day.

We managed well yesterday during our largest class since the COVID pandemic. With 18 physical students present, we had enough space and air circulation with purification for to practice safely. I look forward to safe, full classes today as well as in the future as temperatures drop and air quality improves.

How are you keeping your practices safe in the heat? What can you do about the smoky air? Ki to Happiness limits her exposure to these conditions for the safest practices.

I’m fluent in love languages. As an additional birthday gift to Bob, I spoke to him in his native love language of duty. I dutifully swept our sidewalk and cleaned out the gutter for his return from golfing.

Never mind that the other side of the street is littered with remnant of an unhoused tweeker. Ignore the neighbor’s trashed yard which has never been been tended to. Doing what I can without infringing on other people’s property is the love language I silently speak to my hood.

What does your side of the street need? Can you do something about it while respecting your neighbors? Ki to Happiness dutifully does her part.

Today, Bob turns 75. My preparation’s lead to a peaceful morning practice since all in place for his celebration. Gifts, flowers, festive food, and his golf outing are all ready. I’ll do my part as he basks in the loving attention he deserves.

He was born into a very different world in 1948. Our country had just come out of World War II and his dad with PTSD chose a lovely young woman to marry and make a life with as he healed. Their good fortune and generosity provided Bob with a solid foundation with which to live an epic life.

Do you know how to play your part in someone else’s celebration? Can you share your loving attention with the founder of Hatha Yoga Center which Bob Smith started in 1977? Ki to Happiness serves the One in serving Bob on his special day.

The sun is setting earlier and getting up later. The air is cool and crisp without wildfire smoke. Flowers are drooping their heads after offering their beauty all summer long revealing seeds.

I love witnessing the subtle seasonal changes. Without big international trips like years before, I bask in the continuity of place as time marches on. Similarly, yogic practices stabilize my consciousness as my face in the mirror reflects 62 years of smiles, tears, sunshine and storms.

Can you feel the subtle changes of season beginning? What brings continuity to your life amidst these shifts? Ki to Happiness welcomes Augtober.

The portal between life and death has opened for me since my dear friend’s passing. I blogged about it’s synchronicity with the timing of hearing from a childhood friend just two days ago. Yesterday morning I learned that one of HYC’s community members suddenly passed away at the exact moment that another former client reached out with a passionate life affirming message.

The coincidence prompted me to reach out to my brother and share my love with him. Afterwards, with permission, HYC converted the remaining classes on our deceased student’s account into a scholarship fund for others who work in emergency response or hospice. Life and death seem to be holding hands at the portal between worlds for me to observe and to share with you.

What does this observation on the open portal between life and death motivate you towards? Who do you want to express your love for? Ki to Happiness loves each of you, dear Readers, for taking the time to read these words and for referring any potential recipient of our scholarship fund to Hatha Yoga Center.

I had back to back contacts yesterday. The first announced the passing of my dear friend. The second one reunited me with an even older friend.

My sadness at the loss of a dear one left me as the happiness of reconnection took its place. As I taught my morning class, I felt ever broadened and scooped out, wide enough to hold the sky. Available for what came next…a cancellation of a private session exactly when one of our students needed some extra attention.

Are you emotionally available to keep up with the changes that keep coming at you? Can you allow yourself to detach from one reaction to be open to the next now moment? Ki to Happiness embraces the changes required to live in the moment respond consciously.

In anticipation of Bob‘s 75th birthday on Friday our son came to visit. Now that he’s 30, he looks ahead to his busy schedule to make sure he honors his dad early. They watched a great basketball movie together, and we shared burritos.

As a stepmom, I know to step aside and let them be together without my interference. I’m welcome to participate in whatever way I want, so I choose to be present at the beginning and ending, as well as serving them. Having seen Hustle 3 times, I easily step in and out with tea, ice water, chips, guacamole and burritos.

How are you satisfied on your birthday? are you willing to step in and out as is appropriate when you celebrate someone else? Ki to Happiness begins to celebrate Bob’s 75th birthday.

My morning practice in advance of teaching yoga, got derailed by one of my clients in crisis. I rallied after tending to the urgent needs and started on time. As my first class began, the rhythm of teaching and practicing steadied me.

By the time the second class ended, I learned from my client that the crisis passed. Miracles replaced grievances. My support team rose to the occasion so the client’s crisis didn’t spread or become my own.

Who is on your support team? Do you know how to contain someone else’s crisis so it does not become your own? Ki to Happiness knows when to reach out for support.

My assistant and I began to digitize my manuscript’s 7th revision. This time, the changes are like tiny puzzle pieces snapping into place. Until now it’s been loopy with huge reorganization necessary.

Before committing the changes to the digital file, I completed reading someone else’s book in which she concluded her story by describing her process writing it. It brought me into uncontrollable catharsis about what we all go through to take our life’s most significant material and convert it into an intelligible and compelling draft worthy of print. It’s so easy for readers to sit back and criticize others who have painstakingly sifted through their content to present it for the benefit of the reader.

Do you read with a metaphoric red pen in your hand? Can you write with out your internal editor taking over the process? Ki to Happiness reads and writes, learns and teaches as the Yoga Upanishads recommend.