Help is on its way

I was driving south on I-81 to Asheville, NC this afternoon when I was passed umpteen times by various emergency vehicles. When I finally started to pay attention to it I noticed a number of them from Fairfax County, which is up by the DC area. They were all headed to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to help with disaster relief. It really did my heart good to tangibly see help on its way.

It is interesting how the nation, and the world, bans together when a disaster occurs. My question is, if we banned together in normal times, would disasters occur?

Sensei Rocks!

Photo by Eric Walter

The Bedford Community Orchestra concert last Saturday was a smashing good time! The event had to be moved indoors due to the crappy weather, but we had a really good turn out anyway.

Highlights of the show included an impromptu clogging exhibition by our drummer's daughter when we played Lord of the Dance. The audience went wild. Also, an incredible performance on the piccolo by our flutist Vicky Walter on Stars and Stipes Forever.

About the photograph: Isn't this a cool picture! Eric captured Sensei in motion. It is actually surprising that his body wasn't blurred as well. Sensei dances through every song!

Tangled Webs

Photo by James D. Coleman

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive - Walter Scott (not to be confused with Scott Walter)

Oh, what tangled webs parents weave when they think their children are naive - Ogden Nash

Oh, what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to believe - Lawrence J. Peters

Oh, what tangled webs we weave when we blame everything on ole Eve - Gretchen Coleman


About the photograph: This photo was taken yesterday in our front yard. The colorful subject is about half an inch long including the legs. If you look closely, you can see the web coming out of the abdomen - quite a shot! If anyone knows what kind of spider the little fellow is, please let me know.

PS: add your own quote!

Spiritual Blogs Get Some Press

Spirituality

A post from Mark Walter's blog is on MSNBC.com/Newsweek site today (Sunday, 21 Aug, 2005).
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7681925/site/newsweek/?articleid=9024914

You can always get to Mark's blog from here by hitting the link, Building Bridges over the Great River, located to the left under Recommended Blogs.

BCO Concert this Saturday

Music does a body good

I play second violin in the Bedford Community Orchestra. I started playing violin in the 5th grade and gave it up after high school. I thought about playing in college - I was asked to try out - but thought it would interfere in my quest to become an engineer.

But I kept my violin. A couple of years ago Jim and Sensei convinced me to play for the BCO. Sensei had recently become conductor and they really needed strings (I mean REALLY needed strings as I had not touched the thing since high school). That was one of the smartest moves I've made in a long time. I can't tell you how much fun it is.

And even though we are fairly small, we put out a big sound. Even more important, we are out to give our audience an experience. We might not hit every note, and sometimes we hit a few sour ones, but there is so much spirit in our playing that no one seems to care.

So, if you are in the Bedford, VA area next Saturday, August 27 at 7pmish, come to the D-Day Memorial, have a listen, and have a great experience.

Laughter really IS the Best Medicine

Belly Laugh

Jim and I went to a Peru reunion party this past Saturday. We carpooled to Shipman, VA with Joyce and her husband Walter. The party was fun and relaxing - it was really good to see everyone who was able to make it. We spent some time each giving an update on their life since the trip and how the trip is continuing to influence each of us. It was really cool.

But the belly laugh came on the drive back to Bedford. Have you ever laughed for an hour and a half straight? The boys started telling heroic stories of saving their damsels in distress from various of natures beings. Snakes, possums, etc. The tellings were so vivid, we could see the rescue missions there in the car. And they were hilarious.

There is research that proves laughter is healthy. I believe it - although my stomach muscles hurt, and I may have pulled a groin muscle trying not to pee my pants - I am still riding that high. Find something to laugh at everyday, it's good medicine!

How Jim Got His Groove Back

Photo by James D. Coleman

My husband, Jim will probably kill me when he realizes I snatched this photo off his computer before he could refine it. But it was just so cool looking, and he probably won't be up for hours, that I couldn't wait.

Jim being out on medical leave has been really hard on him. He is very dedicated to his job. But yesterday, he had an epiphany. After our session with Sensei on Thursday, he spent yesterday in meditation and prayer. When I got home from work, he was like a new person. The depression was gone, he sounded like he did 5 years ago when we were first married.

I really, really want to tell the whole story, but I am not going to. Mark and I have been encouraging Jim to start his own blog and I hope that he will start it with this story. He has it written up and I woke up to find it printed out and laying on my bedside table. I read it over my morning coffee and am still teary eyed over it. It was really beautiful, but best of all, I feel like my husband is back. He is excited and purposeful - full of purpose.

If he posts, I will put a link to it on this blog, and if he doesn't post, then I will tell more of the story later. It is a story that needs to be shared.

Finally, a Selfless Act

Teaching a New Habit

On Thursday, Jim and I went to the Hombu so Sensei could do some body work on Jim. If you have read any of my previous posts you know Jim is having some health issues. Two of which are a tear in his right rotator cuff and a morton's neuroma in his right foot. I wanted to go to see if Sensei could show me some stuff to do between Jim's visits.

This will be hard to describe, but those who know Sensei will get it. The feeling was like being a kid in a candy store and being told to go for it. Sensei taught me how to work on Jim's foot to redirect the energy around the neuroma. That may not sound like it would give you the kid in the candy store feeling, but if you read my last post you might understand better. I finally felt like I would be doing a selfless act.

He started by showing me how to balance the energy between both of Jim's feet. This action is similar to some things I learned in Reiki 2. I had my thumbs on Jim's liver meridian at the spot between his big and second toes, at the web. I could actually feel the difference in the energy. It was almost like the thumb on the subject foot had an electric pulse under it. After balancing those two points, but with thumbs still on the points, I put my index fingers on the gall bladder line on the bottom of both feet kind of below the pad of the second to last toe. I then balanced the energy between both indexes, between indexes and thumbs on each individual foot, then between all four digits on both feet. Mind you I am getting precise instructions along the way, and occasionally Sensei would take over to see how I was doing.

Looking at the bottom of Jim's foot, you can physically see the jam point. After the above points were balanced and his energy was flowing, it was time to work the jam point. Sensei took over here because it was delicate work and if you don't know what you are doing you can cause more harm. But he taught me all along the way. When he applied different pressures, he would show me on my foot how it felt so I would know. When he really had the energy flowing, I took over and practiced keeping it going.

What he was doing was teaching Jim's body how to jumper out the neuroma. He was creating a new pathway for the energy to go so it wouldn't just sit there in the neuroma. Just as old habits die hard, new habits take some time to become an old habit. It will take some time for the energy to learn the new pathway. So my job now is to work on Jim's feet between visits to the best of my abilities. I am confident that I can help because I got one of the best compliments from Sensei after the session - "you did really well today". I know he wouldn't have said it if he didn't mean it.

I am confident that I can repeat the treatment and look forward to being able to do this for Jim everyday. Sensei explained that his work will be more effective if I can do my part between visits. Kid in the candy store feeling? You betcha!

I Got Scolded

Deservedly so

I have been away for awhile, and apologize for that. When Mark scolded me, I tried to explain that I hadn't had anything to say. My last couple of posts have been kind of downers and I didn't want to continue in that vein, but that was how I was feeling. I finally got the boost out of the doldrums that I needed.

Last week I had a session with Sensei about service. I finally had the chance to tell him all about Peru (see posts below) and he asked me what was the most important thing I learned. I replied that I was shown what service was really about by the caballeros, and that I wanted to be that happy. With the velvet gun he sometimes uses, he hit me with both barrels. He pointed out that my current practice of service was really.....self service. That I don't mind doing someone a service as long as I get equal back in return. And he zinged several examples at me. That shit is hard to take, but damned if it ain't true.

So what am I going to do about it? Try. Work on it. Recognize it when it starts to happen - both when I am being selfish when I think I am not, and when I really am being selfless, and stand up for the latter. I know it will take time, ridding oneself of bad habits usually do. But that is where I am putting my intention. I intend to stop being so selfish.