'Tis the Season

‘TIS THE SEASON
‘Tis the season. To take a walk in the cold. To realize that night time is part of life, a time of dreams and snuggling in warm, and hugging close to the ones we love. A time of sitting around a fire, or reading poetry together. A time to stay out of the car for a couple of days while everyone else rushes around like a preprogrammed robot. A time to read a good book, or reread a good book, or write a story to be read to our friends or children. A time to listen to our children without any advice or agenda. A time to listen to nature, as the winter pulls us in to the quiet and, perhaps, the sacred.

The night is long, and the moon waxes and wanes. Where is it tonight? The leaves are falling. Which trees still have their leaves and which don’t.? Where are some good leaf piles to kick and walk and skip our way through? How long can we go without the television? How long can we keep following our breathing?

It’s a good time to come back home to the breath. To breathe and know we are breathing is to know we are alive.

When we know we are alive, we don’t need to be human doers, we can be human beings.

When we follow the breathing, we can notice when we are tense and tightening, when we are starting to speed through our eating, or a conversation. What’s the hurry? In the next thing we do it’s the same story: we are either awake to the breath and the moment, or asleep and in a rush to get to the next thing.

What’s the hurry?

Maybe this season, like all the others, is a good one in which to slow down. Take a breath. Notice the difference that noticing the breathing makes. Notice what it’s like to be alive right now, what’s around us, where are we right now in this big world of many possibilities. That might make now seem like a very good time indeed. The way back home is simplicity itself. Slow down.

If you wish.

Best wishes and sweet mindfulness to one and all,
Chris

Solstice and Slowing

• Spend time alone
• Spend time in nature
• Spend time out of time: breathe,
and notice the breathing
• It’s okay to be a human be-ing
•Hang out w/ friends, kids, plants,
trees, birds, rocks, clouds, rain
• Join us for slow and mindful
(and fun) moving

Friday, December 23rd, 2005
Moving and Mindfulness
12:30-1:30 PM
Sonoma Ballet Conservatory, $10

Saturday, December 31, 2005
Feldenkrais® Review/Preview
12:30-1:30 PM
Sonoma Ballet Conservatory, free

Possibilities and aims of Feldenkrais®
• Feel taller, lighter, happier
• Improve breathing and balance
• Re-pattern your brain
• Increase co-ordination and vitality
* Transform your life

Group lessons in 2006:
Moving & Mindfulness : Sat. 9:15-10:15 AM;
And Fridays, 12:30-1:30 PM

Chanting, Moving and Meditation,
Thurs. 6:30-7:45 PM

Adult and/or Children on the Move,
Thurs. 1:45-2:45 PM

Chris Elms 707- 996-1437
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