Today I honor my step dad’s 100th birthday. I forever treasure his efforts with mudras during the COVID lockdown as he participated with my livestream offerings. Memories of tenderness and toughness are woven together in a tapestry.

I tend to my garden in his honor. I parent my stepson as he showed me. I’ll look to the sky for hawks, ducks or cloud symbols like him, communicating with him through nature as his forest of 100 trees is planted.

How do you embody the legacy that others have left to you? What would you like your legacy to be? Ki to Happiness becomes the best of what’s been left and offers that to others.

Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of my dad‘s birth. He made it to 97 in the flesh, and yet his energy is still with those of us who are sensitive. In mom’s grieving process, she’s become aware that she won’t be traveling to select his memorial forest due to her own physical reality.

That information freed me from waiting anymore, so I placed the order. Dad’s 100 tree forest is about to be planted in his beloved North Woods, where we spent many summers together. Whether or not mom ever sees it, she appreciates the memorial and the effort to commemorate him in this way.

What is the best way for you to commemorate your dearly departed? How would you like to be remembered? Ki to Happiness donates to preserve the memory and values of the departed.

Yesterday, I got a mysterious note in the mail. I opened it, read it, then shook my head. It started off friendly enough, and then there was a manipulative twist.

I read it to Bob who declared it “toxic”. That validation gave me all I needed so I knew what to do next. I wrote back succinctly, mailed it off at the post office, then threw away the offensive correspondence, not wanting to hold on to it as evidence.

 Are you easily manipulated? What do you do with toxicity? Ki to Happiness is wise to manipulation and is free from the need to hold on to proof.

One of our students returned after six months abroad a few days ago. She is in need of a new job. I introduced her and her need to another of our students who last night came through with all the information necessary for suitable employment.

Although the returning student did not attend in person to receive the information, she did participate remotely. That gave me a chance to show her on the live stream the packet of materials waiting for her. I love it when our community works together to support each other in any way.

Do you participate in a healthy functional community? Are you uplifted by others assisting one another? Ki to Happiness feels joy in witnessing Hatha Yoga Center community working well.

Yesterday was fraught with stressful challenges on several levels. One by one, all issues received the attention they needed. Today begins in gratitude for the fortitude and perseverance with which to face those issues.

Stress evolves us, as we use it to learn what we is needed. Our brains are able to convert stress into more DHEA so that we have the resources necessary to improve our immune function and make our heart hardier. Our brains are more plastic and adaptive than we realize which encourages us to continue to grow, change, and evolve, as we face each stressor.

How do you handle stress? What will help you transmute that energy into growth and evolution? Ki to Happiness embraces the stress challenges as an opportunity to grow.

Bob helped me with a project yesterday involving pumpkins. We carved out the top of several small pumpkins, removed the seeds, and use them as planters for some mums. They now line the entrance to HYC, welcoming students, neighbors, and the new Fall season.

One of our HYC signs required attention. It got tagged and tossed by a disgruntled beggar last month. After cleanup and repair, it’s now on the busy street corner with pumpkins surrounding it for a fresh restart.

What are your seasonal favorites? How can you incorporate them into this time of transition? Ki to Happiness uses pumpkins at time to honor the natural changes, seasons and cycles.

After yesterday‘s new moon and solar eclipse, today we find the moment of Balance. Light and dark equally contribute to this day. This balance may give us just the right perspective as we head into the coming months of darkness.

Yoga practice offers us ways to find and maintain balance throughout the year. Balanced breathing, alternate nostril breathing, one legged postures, arm balances including inversions all contribute to our refinement as we witness ourselves at anytime. The Yoga Sutras advises the middle path of sun/moon, right/left integration to avoid “bright pleasure or dark pain” which otherwise lead us astray into developing lust or hate.

What helps you find balance? How do you maintain that balance? Ki to Happiness chooses the middle path of Hatha Yoga.

This new moon, solar eclipse pattern lands on the international day of peace. We are all encouraged to release the past and its many struggles and challenges on all levels in order to usher in a more peaceful world. Finding peace within, we are more able to extend it.

During the light half of this year, I have faced personal and physical challenges. The process has resulted in growth and evolution. I give thanks for the lessons and in doing so they become blessings.

Can you take a moment and light a white candle? Can you sit with it as it safely burns and imagine peace and light radiating out from it? Ki to Happiness shine the light of peace to all.

Leaving my Chiropractic office yesterday, his next patient was a student of HYC. We navigated the chance encounter with hugs and smiles as she stated her intention to return to class as soon as possible. I walked out into the morning sunshine, chanting on my way home to run into two more students, with more hugs and smiles.

I sat out on our deck, sipping tea, surrounded by our end of summer garden, reflecting on the blessings of the morning. Preparing for class, students began to arrive for Bob’s 10 am offering. One student came in from California who’d been with HYC since the 70’s who reunited with two others from then, another joyous chance encounter.



Are you also experiencing chance encounters? Can you take time to reflect on your blessings, and perhaps in doing so attract more of them? Ki to Happiness counts the blessings of summer as they continue to multiply.

In preparation for our upcoming Autumnal Equinox, I got out our new crock pot. It wanted to to be useful and not just take up space. I saw we had plenty on hand to make vegetarian chili.

Pinto, black and red kidney beans together with corn, crushed tomatoes, onions, tricolored peppers, cilantro and spices simmered away all night long. I awakened to the aroma and stirred the pot. It looked like autumn leaves had fallen into to the crock with red, orange, yellow, green, brown and black swirling together.

How will you welcome Autumn? What ritual involves all your senses in celebration of the summer’s bounty as we prepare for the coming season? Ki to Happiness makes chili, enough for the whole HYC community.