Pam Bustin
creator, editor, story tender
Shake and Bake 8: The Getting Down with the Dog Edition
Wherein Pam works to “…slowly awaken the body mind…” Don’t panic – it’s not too woo-woo.
Happy Saturday, my wild and lovely readers!
In homage to Havi’s Friday Chickens over on the The Fluent Self — This is the place I review my week – in an attempt to track some things – like progress on my novel and… living intentionally. I shake out my week and lay it out. Let the hard burn off and the good sink in. Call it an experiment in paying attention. Feel free to join in.
The Quick Chicken (The Doings that help me with the Being):
Work on NIP: Full steam ahead!
Walks: Yup!
Guitar: Didn’t hit EVERY day – but pretty good. Think it might be time to move on to Stage 3 with my trusty guitar teaching man.
Yoga/Meditation: Not bad, Bustin. Not bad at all 😉
THIS WEEK’S EXPERIMENT: More exploration on the yoga front.
THE RESULT: It’s official – the BEST time for me to make it to the mat is … right after my morning Scribble.
I got to the mat four days in a row this week.
Always right after the morning scribble.
The house has warmed up a bit by then, as I light the fire and make coffee before the Scrib.
I come out and give the fire a stir, add a log if necessary.
The sun is usually up by then, so I take a moment to enjoy the view.
I lay a blanket and then my yoga mat on the floor in front of the wood stove and I do my thing.
I use my ipod.
My current “thing” consists of a short flow series of stretches, followed by a 15 minute meditation (using a timer found at Insight Meditation Centre). The yoga is from a video called AM Yoga – it’s an old version from Rodney Yee – I don’t see it on his site anymore but it is still my favourite. It is simple and slow and helps wake my mind and my body – GENTLY.
And…the rest of the week…
THE GNARBLY BITS:
– WaVeS of … exhaustion. I’m not sure what the deal is with this tiredness. Comes upon me in the early afternoon. On a few days, I tried to take an hour to lay down and read and even close my eyes for about 15 minutes. That seems to help. Lordy – do I need an afternoon nap? I’ve never been a napper. Hmmmm…. Dunno.
…Thinking on this for a minute… I remember that when I worked at Tamara’s House, I used to get home around 6pm and I needed a hot soak in the bath for about an hour before I carried on with my evening. Maybe the same is true here – needing to BREAK away from the work and online world for an hour to recharge. Something to think on.
– A bit of heart sadness around family secrets. I’ll take a silent retreat on this one.
[Silent Retreat is another fabulous phrase from Havi and the gang over at the Fluent Self. It’s a simple and I think quite graceful concept – allowing people space to… keep things private… even when they also feel a need to speak a BIT about it. Like me noting this heart sadness today]
– Too much computering hurts my eyes and eats my time and it is isn’t that the computering is BAD, in fact it has become in someways a magical wonderland but… it is just… I think I need to leash it a BIT. Or something.
THE TASTY BITS:
+ Receiving a tasty box of LOVE from a friend afar. Much thanks to the coffee roasting goddess of the northlands and her cookie baking sELF.
+ Finding my way to the yoga mat – it feels so good. One of those things I KNOW and yet canNOT seem to hold onto and make a true daily practice. As I tip the age scale towards 50, you’d think I would simply…do the things that feel good and that nurture me, but…. NOOOO…. apparently I still don’t think there is enough time in the world to care for myself. Silly, yes?
+ Celebrating time spent with family and freinds – either in person or online or on the phone. I tend to hermit a lot and it gets even more pronounced when I’m working on a big project. I need so much time… alone… but I also need to connect with my peeps….balance balance balance….
+ Allowing openness and curiosity to be my guides. In life and in my work.
+ Gathering gifties of all sorts and sizes for the big give-away day.
+ Snow snow snow snow — turning my world into a winter wonderland! And maybe even letting me hermit a bit LEGITIMATELY – nothing like a snow day to declare a day of curling up under a blanket with a book!
+ cozy clothes to wear on said snow day – huzzah for hats and leggings and big socks and my serape!!! OLE!
+ Surprised by a full day offline. Friday. It was past 4pm before I even thought of turning on my sweety machine, Tippy the Typer. I was reaching for the ON button… and then I decided… I’d rather watch a movie. And then another. And then… go to bed with my book. A lovely way to end the week.
NEXT WEEK’S EXPERIMENT:
Well… It will have to do with rest…won’t it?
I’ve been thinking of two things:
getting into bed earlier
building in a “rest hour” to my day.
I will try……..
A rest hour.
For one hour each day – go lie down.
See how you feel at the end of the week. Simple – right?
You’d THINK so.
That’s it for me…. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Feel free to share a Shake & Bake of your own. Or let me know what you are experimenting with this week…
Thanks for stopping by.
go easy -p
3 Comments on “Shake and Bake 8: The Getting Down with the Dog Edition”
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Pam Bustin 
Holy, wow! So much of what you’ve written resonates with me … balance, balance, balance, indeed: connecting, unplugging (in order to reconnect with the self). It’s an interesting thing this life-long exploration of the self … I can so easily be happy in my hermit ways (too happy?!) especially in the depths of winter. Again, the need to balance the inner life of the heart and soul with the outer. Good to hear that you’re bringing it to the mat and discovering some wonderful things there.
Hey Bliss-filled you – thanks for stopping by.
I’m loving hanging out at your place too – such beautiful photos and grace filled posts.
I get excited every time a new post lands in my “in box”.
Have a great week -p
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