Bounce and Shake ... a good health practice idea

I collect a lot of toxins and toxics during a day, and don't exercise regularly. There's no excuse for that, life simply gets full and yet I know my body needs to move. I'm a Scorpio woman and in the view of astrology Pluto, the ruling planet of Scorpio went retrograde in April and will be in retrograde until early September of 2009. This is an excellent time to re-view and reassess my choices and my relationships with this dear self. I found this article while linking from one site to another. It's something I'm going to try this today in our wee wheelie house and then outside in the blustery air.

Here's the link to the entire article on Lymph Health on Lynn Koiner's Website.

EXERCISE: While all exercise stimulates the lymph, jumping on the rebounder is the best. If you do not have room for a rebounder, a jump-and-shake exercise works just as well. With feet slightly apart, you jump just a little and then shake the body. It is similar to dancing in African tribes that bob-and-shake type of dance.

The bounce and shake routine gets your heart pumping and your body moving so that your metabolism starts working. Follow the following steps to do the bounce and shake:

Standing with knees slightly bent, feet comfortably apart, bounce up and down easily without lifting heels off the ground
As you bounce, let your arms hang, relaxed, by your side. Shake your hands

Nod your head up and down in a comfortable range of motion, 2 to 4 inches
As you nod back and look up, breathe in through your nose to the count of 5, and then exhale to the count of 5 as you lower your head

During the first minute, breathe through your nose; During the second minute make a noise originating from the base of your throat – like snoring; Then breathe in through your nose, and out through puckered lips, as if blowing out a birthday candle.

Stop bouncing and shaking. Take a moment to feel the vibrations you have created throughout your body.

ATTENTION: The superficial lymphatic system is located in the sub-dermal layer just beneath the skin. It is continuous throughout the entire body — There are also deep lymphatic systems but by working on the superficial lymphatic system, you can affect drainage throughout the entire lymphatic system.

Flowing: Practice Patience and Endurance ... timing is divine

Pete and I drove to the Pacific Ocean shore of Washington State last Sunday to celebrate a bit of mastery with practicing patience and endurance. I wrote about it on our other blog VFT. This morning the sensation of being here ... on the Ledge as the weather swiftly proceeds around and through this upland wood is pure grace. The clouds have some where to be, they move across the sky from east to west racing to some unseen destination. Or, maybe they simply race. The air is freshened by the race, a little rain has doused us with moisture but mostly the wind is primary.

This lifestyle we live as modern day Gypsies separates us from so many things and many people. In a common day the separating incidents are more than enough to turn a soul to stone. I watch my darling partner endured one more exposure in the pursuit of an ordinary goal: shopping/in-building bank. Though Pete is less sensitive to chemicals than I he is nonetheless a Sensitive. We wade through the process of unraveling separately and as a pair and as the grief rises like fermentation from raw milk or a batch of kim chee we are pitched by the brain fog or weakness and flow somewhere else. A treasured member of our ohana (kin) waivers between the realms of physical and spiritual life, she is with her sons and hospice care givers back on O`ahu. If we could be on the island we would be with her physically. We cannot so we connect through the cell phone and I tell her, "I'll love you forever." A message from her left on Pete's cell phone "See you later alligator" remains until technology erases it. This cousin has shared her self and her love with thousands of people, young students, troubled families and spiritually disconsolate souls. She has been unselfishly giving in all these years. "Maybe she should have been just a little more selfish sometimes," my brother said yesterday when we talked of this Makua O`o ... our cousin. The grief of separation is real. It is one of the deep emotions the sort of emotion that is expressed in such different fashion among our kin of humans. I feel the loss and purposefully give it my cousin's scent and allow myself the tears, listen to the music of the islands and then turn most of the rest of the grief over to Ke Akua. At least until the next time.

We went to the ocean to hear the roar of the Pacific. We went to celebrate the dream that has become manifest. We went to remember those who are separate from us and yet are never far enough to not love forever. Writing here I am reminded of the divinity of timing. We went to the ocean and found a new o'o and today I'm here back at the page of this blog to use it. "I'll love you forever R. Mokihana."

Do your best in all things … BELIEVE YOUR BEST IS ENOUGH.

From over the edge On the Ledge, this old Nurse Log is holding up a chunk of The Ledge and giving new life to tiny trees just starting out.


Shifting Makua O`o

Happy Mother's Day, mothers. It has been a while since posting here at Makua O`o, our life in a wheeled home takes a lot of energy. Simplicity is conscious, and it is not without lots of effort. To make wise use of my energy and time I will consolidate blogging and post only on VARDOFORTWO ... at least for this next little while.

Spirit is in everything I do, and it seems the message is ... simply be with it. So, join me back on VardoForTwo and I will make space for the spiritual practice of an elder in training there ... On the Ledge in the Woods.

Listen … with your whole body … LISTEN RESPECTFULLY

Aloha,

We are officially living from within our tiny, beautiful VardoForTwo. Life is a series of events, many comedic beyond imagination, tragic if not taken with humor. Pete and I have been a week in the woods with the company of frogs, fairies and the resident culture of Tahuya, Washington.

Life has become even more purposeful ... each decision affects the next. We sleep inside our safe cave and must consciously decide how to maintain a clean inside while cooking, washing, being with the weather and the woods. Washington is wet ... we learn to cover and clean everything outside. We learn that self-sufficiency is a full time job and it just doesn't get done ... it just is.

JOTS our kitty is loving the woods and has had adventures with the lake dogs, finds plenty to hunt and is finding she could easily be lunch. She and I do trail walks almost every day and I have discovered she loves to wrap around my shoulders and neck like a scarf and would climb into my hair if given permission.

Being in a vardo is like being on a boat ... it sways and moves on a sea of air and movement is ever present. I listen to my body as she feels the reassembling of a life. It's a good story. I write from the library for now, until internet becomes possible in the woods, take good care friends, followers and family.

From the ledge in the woods we send aloha! Mokihana and Pete

Do your best in all things … BELIEVE YOUR BEST IS ENOUGH.

My second cup of tea has filled me nicely. Breakfast of steamed millet and hard cooked eggs seem to be settling into my system with good effect. I feel nourished. My sewing machine is on the floor, the basket of rope piping I began the other day gets longer. I've found a real set of Sharps for hand-stitching and my mind is stepping through the process of making a padded wall for the back of the vardo. It doesn't look like we are going to be moving from The Kitchenette in less than a week ... our things are still as they have been for months. In fact, just prior to moving things get even more jumbled as we live the between-ness of get to the there, from here.

The cold that caught me last week seems to be wearing through me. The sniffles and drips are minimal, my voice still a half octave lower. In some ways the stuffiness creates temporary relief from the ever-on job of the proboscis with multiple chemical sensitivities. It's at this time when my prayer channels needs to be turned squarely in the tuned in position. Like turning over the keys to the gate, I surrender the job of sniffing to the Invisible Companions and do the best I can. Spontaneous napping happens and multiple re-plays of favorite escape films "A Good Year", "Stardust", "Babette's Feast" "Chocolat", and "Miss Potter" keep me company. I drift in and out of nap-land hear the voices of my film friends.

Pete has been out buying the poplar he'll use to make the bed frame. Through the glass door I watched him haul the two arms filled with wood. He caught the pot of millet steaming on the burner ... I'd hoped he would see ... breakfast was being kept for him. The things we do in a day fill most minutes from dawn to dark. Navigating our way through the choices, being honest and gentle as we discern truth that will be comfortable for us ... it takes a village. We are two old dears with a village of faith we sometimes lose track of. Then, the birds come to eat our millet, the moon lights a dark sky and healing dreams take me to all places and times at night.

I just do my best and that is good enough.

Listen … with your whole body … LISTEN RESPECTFULLY

R . E. S. P. E. C. T.

Sister Aretha is singing to me in The Kitchenette. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. I rock across the floor with her and dance in sock-covered feet glorious rhythm, the music takes me through the morning. My list of things to do gets done, and I have some fun. Pete's getting so close to hanging the two-piece Dutch front door. Adjustments need to be made; hanging a door is tricky. I am so lucky to live with an artist like this man. "Don't worry honey, things are going to be okay. Don't let these little things rattle you." A shim here, a shave there. He's right, I rattle a lot if left to my own devices. So, to get that rattle out I'm here at the keys taking a break from cleaning and clearing the kitchen part of the kitchenette. A nice nibble of 71% dark soy lecithin free chocolate is helping, too. I feel the welling of tears bubble and somehow they find a comfortable exit ... perhaps that is one of the exit strategies writers have always taken. Fingertips press to the shaft of the quill; then to the fountain pen; typewriter key; computer keyboard. R.E.S.P.E.C.T...

The process of moving is like hanging a door; it takes adjusting, a shim here, a shave there. We'll be moving into a smaller than The Kitchenette space and only the things we love and need will live inside VARDOFORTWO. I know those adjustments will be made, in time. Today, I focus on cleaning and clearing so I can move the table I use for sewing and cutting into the room. I clean the kitchen, sort through dishes, pots and my stack of clothes and make room. There's a progressive to this whole art project of vardo making and tiny space living. Taken out of place, or too far in advance, the art is rushed and perhaps like watercolor everything smears or become rattled. Living simply is an art project of an exquisite sort. I get to meet my old genetic memory of life with a clutter and stacker mother ... and decide if this isn't just one more of those adjustments that needs a little shim or shave. It's a journey and we love it.

We have shadow on the sidewalk so that means there's some sunshine out there. A batch of milk paint for the door can be mixed and a first coat applied to the raw oak door. It's part of the do list today, and now that I've done a bit of successful Fingertip Exit Strategy, there's room for a little more on the do list.

Hope your day is a little do, a little exit strategy that suites you and above it all, hope Sister Aretha sings a lot of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. into the day.

Aloha, Mokihana

Believe in Ke Akua, for this higher power makes all life possible … WE ARE NEVER ALONE

Photo Credit: www.completedcircledrums.com/newMoon.html

TONIGHT IS THE NEW MOON ... The Hilo Moon Oopps.... I am early by a day or night. Today is only Wednesday and by the calendar New Moon is Thursday (goes to show just how much I need this :::smiling to my own dear self:::) ... well, the ritual is done and it felt WONDERFUL and the dream is loving the attention. xx00xx

"Into the darkness of the night, I am making my dreams coming true ..." This lyric is part of a song I was taught when Pete and I lived in Hilo on Hawaii Island. I had been wishing to sing more and within a few weeks after arriving on Hawaii Island I found (and heard) Oona M giving voice lessons in an office next door. My friend Alice had rented the space adjoining hers to a wonderful musician. Each time I sat to chat with Alice I could hear the different voices accompanying the piano Oona played. The voices were not exquisite, yet there would be one that was. Young and old voices simply sang and without doubt each voice was born of joy. It was fun to hear. My wish to sing and enjoy voice lessons came true in Hilo those five years past. The lyric "Into the darkness of the night ..." refreshes my experience with what it FEELS like to have a dream come true.

The Hilo Moon, the New Moon, is an auspicious and powerful time to give your dreams to the fullness of faith, and the darkness of rich potential. Rainbow Tree created a wonderful cleaning and affirming ritual using the egg. I enjoyed doing this ritual during the first new moon of 2009. I am preparing that Egg Ritual as I write this. There are dreams in the making, and the dream of a new location and a new home in VARDOFORTWO are our grandest dream. Being in sync with the energy and cycles of the natural bodies (earth, moon, planets, air, nature's creatures) means I must attend to what is happening with those natural bodies. The Moon is my particularly powerful Home ... it is to Hina I turn when the busy-ness of navigating in the physical body dis-orients and fragments me. My hard-cooked eggs(there are two) are cooled and ready for eating. My affirming dreams written on my egg shaped paper (cut from a brown paper bag) wait for me to be present. Once I have published this article, I will sit with and enjoy my dream-making egg ritual.

Here is an excerpt from Rainbow Tree's cleansing and clearing ritual for a new moon:

Cleansing your spirit or soul is just as important, even possibly more so than cleaning your home! There are things in your life that have been building up, clutter in the brain so to speak. It may even be affecting you by little illnesses, allergies, loss of sleep, irritability and/or a variety of other ways. You may not even realize that your soul/spirit needs cleansing... but it does!

Link to the entire article here. Thank you, Mahalo Rainbow Tree.

Blessed Hilo Moon Mahalo! Mokihana