What are yours?
If any of the themes below resonate with you, I’d love to hear from you.
with love ✨, CATHERINE
Observations on moving, breathing and being. These are mine.
I’ve been writing them down since 2020.
I took a long pause. I’m back now.
On being perennial
I came home this week to a surprise. My neighbors on either side had gifted me peony-like roses from their gardens, gathered into a glass jar painted with a quiet geisha—graceful and elegant both—the breadth of life on one stoop.
On the unremarkable
I sat down this morning to write. (Yes, currently I write day-of. Perhaps that will change. For now…)
My mind was blank. Nothing stood out. No big insight, no big breakthrough, seemingly no big anything.
I thought to myself, “I have nothing to share”.
On replanting
Home is where you lay your head. At least, that's what the military brat in me learned in my early years, moving around every two to three years. Not unlike Move Breathe Be's own mark, the dandelion, that scatters its seeds, not knowing where they'll land, trusting that they'll take hold, all in due time. I could learn a lot from the dandelion.
On connection
I often don't allow myself to lean into emotion the way I did last week. I tuned inward, into my body and its sensations. Into the heaviness and emptiness alike. My yard becoming my medicine, my solace.
This week, my yard remained my medicine, but in community. The weight was light, the space full.
On smiling
I’ve been smiling (and laughing) a lot lately. It’s been through connecting to people, places and activities that bring me joy. It’s been through releasing that which doesn’t through journalling, meditating and walking, e.g. Through it all, I’ve turned more inwards than ever before, noticing how “alive” I feel from allowing myself to be in the present moment—smiling and laughing and experiencing that which is around me.
Beginnings (part 2)
It is a hard and beautiful time to be alive. These words could likely be written, read, spoken, heard at any time in history to accurately represent life, yet they seem particularly fitting in this present moment.
Many of us right now are likely angered, saddened, anxious. As if we didn’t have enough already to carry, we bore witness earlier this week to an incomprehensible act of sedition and insurrection at one of the foremost symbols of democracy in the world. We are shaken.
…
It is during these moments of incomprehension that I am even more grateful for my self-care and well-being practices that are so strongly anchored in yoga. It is through these disciplined practices that I can still attempt an inner calm despite all that is with respect to work and love and life.
So as we enter into week two of this new year…what might we implement today to nurture and foster this inner stillness and influence our perspective on life?
A reflection on the importance of the hug
Virginia Satir, often referred to as the pioneer of family therapy, highlighted the importance of physical touch overall—and specifically hugs—when she equated modes of life (survival, maintenance, growth) with the number of hugs received per day (4, 8, 12).
The need for touch is real. It is a significant part of the human experience, connecting us to self and to others. Without it, we can feel deprived, even starved, for physical contact with another.
A reflection on a sunrise
I couldn’t sleep last Wednesday night. Unfortunately, I don’t sleep well many nights, but that particular evening was especially challenging. Eventually I threw in the proverbial towel and decided to do something I don’t do often enough—watch the sunrise.
