Weighty Matters

I've started going to a yoga class on Thursday evenings. It's taught by an instructor who is certified in Curvy Yoga (a teaching style that emphasizes body-positive moves for yogis of all sizes). Phenomenal, is all I can say. Last night in our shavasana pose (a/k/a Corpse Pose), our instructor asked us to imagine our torsos to be deep pool, and to imagine ourselves diving off our own faces and into our bodies.... what did we see? Well, maybe I didn't exactly see what I would have expected. I actually imagined myself swimming within my physical body and seeing actual organs. I saw my heart, and smiled. I have done it much better than I did years ago. My lungs were strong and active. I saw my liver and the place where my gallbladder used to be. I paused for a moment to thank my liver for its work. Then I turned to my digestive system....... a place sorely abused for many years on end. And I felt a little wistful. I reached out to tenderly touch my stomach, with a mix of ...

The old saying is "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." Last weekend, my plan was to spend a very lovely spring weekend in Damascus, Virginia, to do the second half of the Virginia Creeper Trail (cycling). I figured in May, most of the cooler weather would have already passed by. I would bike the 17 miles over to Abingdon, spend a nice relaxing lunchtime and then pedal my way back to Damascus. All in all it would be an absolutely magnificent time. You can hear the heavenly cackles from here, can't you? I ended up staying in a different place than my last trip up, and it was perfectly lovely. It was a hostel, and my roomies for the nights/weekend were through-hikers except for one other biker. But oh my, what a nice group of people! Their tales and stories of the trail -- and most especially their kindnesses and good spirits -- made me almost think about hiking the AT, even if I had to section it out. Please note the use of the word almost  there........