ReBirth

oldstones.tuihealthcareHonor the last of Winter this week.

Give an extra self-massage to your kidneys,
make that hearty soup one more time,
pile layers of blankets onto your bed
and pull two or three around you when you drag yourself
out to the couch or chair to start another day (now one hour earlier).
Plan a maple syrup snow cone for another Saturday of snow,
keep wooly, weathered boots on the boot tray and over
two layers of socks.

Before you count down to the 20th and pretend that Spring
didn’t already start weeks ago when cabin fever thickened or
when days noticeably lengthened and birdsong grew louder
and keeps growing louder,

Honor the last of Winter!

mAaahssage

cups.tuihealthcareCold tightens muscles, especially around the neck and shoulders. I’ve been asked about local massage resources and recommend these people based on my own experience:

* Toni Salluzzi, LMT *
phone: 516.286.7517 / email: tonisalluzzi@gmail.com
Located in Hyde Park and she’s here! at TuiHealthcare / 446 Broadway Street in Kingston.

* Barbara Schofield, Reiki Master *
phone: 203-962-2361 / email: barbaraschof@gmail.com
Located in Catskill and she’s here! at TuiHealthcare / 446 Broadway Street in Kingston.

* Dana Ronnquist, LMT *
phone: 914-420-6965 / email: DanaRonnquist@gmail.com
website: http://www.hummingbirdhealingarts.com
Located in High Falls and Rosendale, and at Birch Body Care in Kingston.

* Birch Body Care / various LMTs including Dana Ronnquist, LMT *
phone: 845-331-7139  / email: info@birchkingston.com
website: http://www.birchkingston.com
Located at 73 Crown St in Kingston.

Love Poem to You

hearts.snow.tuihealthcare I like celebrating a day focused on love. Here we are on Valentine’s Day, and I like celebrating it with a poem. Here’s one for all of us by Adrienne Rich:

Power

Living in the earth-deposits of our history

Today a backhoe divulged out of a crumbling flank of earth
one bottle amber perfect a hundred-year-old
cure for fever or melancholy a tonic
for living on this earth in the winters of this climate.

Today I was reading about Marie Curie:
she must have known she suffered from radiation sickness
her body bombarded for years by the element
she had purified
It seems she denied to the end
the source of the cataracts on her eyes
the cracked and suppurating skin of her finger-ends
till she could no longer hold a test-tube or a pencil

She died a famous woman denying
her wounds
denying
her wounds came from the same source as her power.

Home Sweet Cabin

homefever.tuihealthcareIn these deep snow days, shovel and slip days,
we want to stay warm! And yet,
cabin fever surfaces. We feel stuck.

A few recommendations for your inside-ness:

1. Use the time to investigate yourself with Tara Brach as a guide. I’ve signed up for her podcasts and enjoy a variety of topics on be-ing, as well as guided meditations. http://tarabrach.com/audiodharma.html.

2. Move your Qi. In a focused, simple, and deliberate way.
Bend forward putting your hands on your shins, breathe and hold. Choose one part of your QiGong practice and repeat it three times. Move your hips as if using a hula hoop, both directions. Keep it short and simple and do it every day.

3. Look out the window. Remember that things are always transforming.

On Such A Heart

CV17“QiGong is essentially a philosophy for living life with mindfulness, an awareness of the present that leads to better understanding of ourselves, others, and the world in which we live. Our first priority must be to cultivate a heart that is at once peaceful, strong, and courageous. Focusing our intention on such a heart is QiGong that can be practiced everywhere, all the time!

In Chinese medicine and philosophy, all mental activities are understood to be associated with particular internal organs, thus affecting the whole body. The mind connects with the heart; the soul connects with the lungs; the ethereal soul connects with the liver; the intention connects with the spleen; and the will connects with the kidneys. Among these five relationships, the mind-heart association is most important, because the mind supports the animation of our whole body: our appearance, facial expressions, bodily gestures, speech, response, and overall consciousness. It is also the source of our mental and emotional states. Disturbances of the heart/mind show up immediately in our bodies. When we’re frightened, our hearts beat faster and our breathing becomes short and shallow. Love can make our hearts tremble, while anger makes our eyes fierce and our faces red.”

– Master Liu He, Jade Woman Qigong: The Healing Power of Taoist Medicine for Every Woman
http://www.linggui.org/order-book-dvd/