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January 26, 2005
Lymph is gross
Yay, TODAY was the easy day.
Only because I haven't been going to yoga. I need to address that, soon. At this point, I'll have to complete the 20 required hours next quarter. But I have no idea how I'm going to do it.
I'm planning to talk to the Ed Director about options, perhaps fulfilling the requirements off campus during breaks. Barring that, I'll have to talk to the yoga instructor here and work something out. Maybe just show up and do my own thing for the hour... I know enough yoga from last quarter to fill an hour. But that, fulfilling the letter of the requirements and not the spirit, is my last resort. I hope the new Director is cooler than that.
At the beginning of Massage class, to chant, we sit quietly in a circle and wait for a song to "come up", meaning someone starts singing it, and we all join it.
Well, I went first and started the Asato Ma... only in the feline dialect: "Meowwwww (Om) meow meow meow (asato) meow (ma) meow (sad) meow meow meow (gamaya)..."
And people joined in. Oh it was great. Liberating in a way... we slipped into doing the proper Sanskrit after awhile.
We also did some pagan stuff, e.g.
Dust I've been and dust I'll be
when the dust has settled, I will still be meFire I've been, and Fire I'll be
when the flames burn out, I will still be me
It goes on... did some Christian stuff, something about going down to the river to pray. I admit to being a bit resistant to it. Raised Southern Baptist. Not pleased.
Anyway, we talked about the lymphatic system (eww) and watched a demo of the lymphatic protocol we'll be learning. It's lymphatic for health maintenance, so it's not enough training for working with, say, lymphedema. I'm oK with that, no medical massage for me, thanks.
Speaking of medical, Desmond brought up his recent headaches while talking with his doctor today... doctor felt around his occipital ridge, asked if it hurt when he pressed certain places, declared the headaches due to tension, and proceeded to write my boyfriend a prescription for Valium.
Oh my god. I could feel myself charging up as I listened to this story. First, it bugs me to have doctors writing prescriptions for drugs instead of bodywork, or hypnotherapy, or tai chi. I also feel really ticked that the doctor didn't seem to care one way or the other about addressing the cause of the tension. "Oh you have tight muscles? Muscle relaxants!"
That is not health care. Giving people intoxicants to help them cope with the kind of unhealthy demands made by our unhealthy world is not health care. The sheer arrogance of titling the person who can do that a "health care provider". It upsets me to the point of sentence fragments.
Anyway, hopefully he finds enough relief from the neck release exercise I told him about that he doesn't have to spend money filling the prescription.
It's a fabulous exercise; it saved another friend of mine today from a horrible headache.
To start, reach around front with your right hand to the back left side of your neck, so your arm should be crossing your chest.
Find a muscle or spot that is particularly tight or sore, and press into it gently with your fingertips. Just enough so that it feels good.
Then, take a breath in while turning your head toward your hand to look to your left. As you exhale, turn your head to the right.
That's one. Do it four more times.
Then, bring your head back to center. On your in breath, move your head to look up at the ceiling. On breathing out, move your head to look down at the floor.
Do that four more times.
Take a minute to notice how you feel. Then do the other side, crossing your left hand over to reach around to the back of the right side of your neck.
You can do this on every single sore spot and tight muscle in your neck and shoulders. It's great on the subway, or for a mini-break at work. Don't do it while driving, though :-)
Apparently the founder of the school is hot to have an alumni program in place. This was one of my suggestions in my worktrade proposal that I submitted at the beginning of the quarter, but the HR person and I never worked that out. So, I wrote a letter to the founder and stuck it in his mailbox. I think it'd be an awesome way for me to have a lasting positive impact on Heartwood.
I think it'd be nice to have a website where alums could have an account that would enable them to update their contact information with the school, from public (so clients can find Heartwood graduates near them), to semi-public (only viewable by other alums, so classmates can find each other), and private (Heartwood Institute only).
Tonight was pizza night! Whee. The staff really did it up. Candles and tablecloths in the lodge, and Brenna and Holly serving pizza in drag dressed as Italian men. They had Italian names, mustaches, spoke in accents, and beamed when I said "Gratsi". Welcome to the pizzeria.
I think my favorite was a deep dish sprouted crust pizza. The greek pizza with feta was pretty nice too, though.
Hope my cold (which has been abating) can handle the indulgence.
Poor Surya has been sick as well, and I brought her a plate of food to her yurt. I hope she's back in action soon.
Tonight Ste3ve gave me this link to an article about a cannabis activist Grandma. Any sentence beginning with the words "My cannabis chocolate cake..." is going to be a good one, I think.
I've never used cannabis, but the government saying we can't use some substances irks me more than doctors pushing other substances.
Tonight was community heart circle. I almost walked by it... but listened to my inclination to go. I've been trying to do that lately, listening to my intuition, going with my first impluse and not letting my head talk myself out of things.
Glad I went... I talked about being angry at stupid doctors, feeling afraid of my impending graduation, and the successes I've been having with choosing peace rather than worry.
Now, to bed. Tomorrow marks the end of Week 9's classes.
Posted by Josh A. at January 26, 2005 10:44 PM