Nautical Days 2013

I'll be at Nautical Days next weekend for another year of fun and meeting lots of people.

Come and check out my book, Cd, cards if you attend, I'll be at space #83.

Saturday Aug 3 to Monday Aug 5.  Comox, BC

It is a great weekend of entertainment for the whole family, and Shopping!

*August 5, thanks to all those who came by and especially those who let me know they had bought something previously that they were still enjoying.  One lady came to tell me that they played my CD for an upset and anxious grandchild who couldn't go to sleep and it worked, and the child asked for it to be played the next night.  Wow! How nice it is to share these things.

I asked for no rain and not as hot as last year and I got my wish, it was a wonderful weekend!

Bucket List

What's on your Bucket List?

Roots to Breath, Dona Anderson 

Years ago I went on a workshop about reducing stress and instructor spoke about each of us having a bucket that was normally about 2/3 full of daily home and work stresses, financial worries, activities, family, to do’s etc. He said this was our normal, and occasionally extra things would come along that would fill up our bucket a bit more but would go away in a day or two.   

But sometimes if the bucket was already full or near full and something else happened, or some kind of significant event, it would overflow.  These would be the times when we were too overwhelmed and under too much stress. It was interesting how if the bucket was already full, it only needed one small thing to make it overflow, and then what happens when there are those huge things that just get dumped on us in an instant!

Years later the movie The Bucket List, came out it gave a much different version of what the bucket could hold, it had another role.  I have heard a lot of people talk about their “Bucket List” and I’m always curious what mine would hold, nothing extreme that’s for sure.

As far as travelling goes, I have been lucky to have travelled in Europe, Britain, Canada, and most of the US, and I remember saying to my husband years ago when Pavarotti came to do a concert in Edmonton, that when we get to the home maybe this concert will be what we are remembering.  I don’t know what I will be doing next year or in my later years, but I do feel our most important goal is to try to be happy each day now, keep learning, do something you love, enjoy some personal self care time, and to be contributing in some way for as long as we can.

Yes, I do want to travel to a couple new places, but travelling can be very stressful and sometimes hasn’t exactly been what I had imagined or expected, and other times it was more.  So how do you decide what all to put on your list?  Lately, the more I stay home and venture out into my community, the more it fulfills me through the people I meet and the experiences I encounter.  Joining a weekly guitar group has set me up for years to come, and introduced me to a new friend who wants me to jam with her so we can learn together. 

A recent seniors bus trip to Vancouver to see Les Miserables was a full fun day of enjoying the wonderful show, meeting other people from where I live, finding out what they do, enjoy, and to see how friends of friends can very quickly start to build a connected group. Even if it was only for one day, it allowed me to see the possibility of opportunities that exist if you’re willing to open up and take a chance, get out of the house, let yourself be seen, or make a commitment.

Dona Anderson

A bucket list will be very different and personal for each of us if it is our last list of things we want to do before we die.  While I do think it is great to think about what is really important or satisfying to us, I think the list should also be an ongoing list that helps us to live and enjoy each day now.  I don’t want mine to only be about wishes, dreams, and things I haven’t done yet and maybe never will. I want it to also include real things that I should be doing right now, like enjoying myself, who I am and what I have. I want it to list things like meeting a neighbor and perhaps making a new friend, or it can tell me to take a community course to see who I meet and what I learn. 

Perhaps it will tell me to say yes a few more times to see what happens, use my library card, use the good dishes, or its OK to spoil myself or others occasionally. It can also tell me go places by myself to find out what I like, or to take a drive outside of town to find out what is there or to check out a new restaurant so I can talk about it, and it could tell me to learn or do something I don’t like yet. 

There are all kinds of lists and bucket lists, and I want my happiness to come from the things I’m already doing in my life each day that are exciting, rewarding, nurturing, challenging, fulfilling -

All things I can do now! 

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The making of Permission to Rest, my relaxation CD

What Fun!

Roots to Breath, Dona Anderson

Permission to Rest, my relaxation CD

I had lots of fun working on this CD a couple of years ago.  It's interesting how new projects offer new things to learn and often take you to different places -  this one took me to a recording studio where I learned lots.  I didn't even know there was one in our valley and there it was.  It's amazing what you can find when you start looking.

To prepare for this besides the much needed recording studio, I had to decide what relaxations to do from my book, Simply, One Breath At a Time.  I needed to  find a cover photo, music I thought would suit the relaxations, listeners, and that I could get the license for, I needed to find out where to get the CD's produced, and I needed to find and hold on to a calm and steady voice while sitting in front of several microphones.

I have to tell you that I do not recognize the voice on the CD as mine.  My husband even asked who it was so I told him it was my calm voice.  I still listen to the CD once a month or so for relaxing at home, and each time it offers me whatever I need.  It's gets played often at the healing circle I attend as well, and the other night it gave one of the lady's some well deserved nap time.

My choice of relaxations ended up being pretty easy.  I decided to do two relaxations with a music only track between. One would be the relaxation Permission to Rest, which is also the title of the CD, and for the other I used parts from the two relaxations, Forever Free and the Eagle.

I am still happy with what I picked as they each offer different things.  The mix of the two first invites you to take a few moments to relax, breathe, become aware of and soften different parts of your body, and then it takes you to the ocean where you're guided to open your senses.   Imagine  treating yourself to a walk along the beach and being guided to smell the ocean breeze as it fills your nostrils, feel the breeze as it touches your face, hear gentle waves, feel your bare feet sink into the warm sand, see the water sparkling like millions of diamonds, and then you notice an eagle is sharing this moment with you.  The relaxation later goes on to express feelings of gratitude for this place and memory.

The relaxation Permission to Rest gently and slowly guides you to breathe, connect to and then relax areas of your body.  I often get people commenting on the title, Permission to Rest ... and yes they do agree that most often we do need to give ourselves permission to rest. This is a time where you get to follow along and respond to the gentle nurturing of the words asking you to breathe, feel, relax, soften, and let go as you move through your body.

While the following is part of the ending for this relaxation, I think of it more as a beginning to help us bring wellness into each of our days.

If I take a breath and let it go slowly,

I feel the difference...

When I feel the difference,

I get a glimpse of what is possible...

When I get a glimpse of what is possible,

I open up more...

When I open up and get in touch with

the rhythm of myself,

I participate more fully in the movement

to breathe freely, with intention...

When I breathe more freely, and with intention

I begin to live with presence, and awareness...

This presence and awareness,

graciously nourishes and fills

my body, my mind, and my spirit...

Dona Anderson

 

The CD is available here to purchase  http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/0987772309

 

What more can I say!

Information on relaxation

Need Information about Relaxation?

 I found some!

Roots to Breath, Dona Anderson


It is so great to be able to share things I find with you through this blog.  Yesterday I found this great article about learning relaxations so here it is.

It will be able to help beginners and also a great resource for wellness activities/teachers to share.

http://www.med.umich.edu/painresearch/patients/Relaxation.pdf

Thoughts on the Relaxtion, Enjoy the Beauty

Enjoy the Beauty

Roots to Breath, Dona Anderson

Dona Anderson

Thoughts on the relaxation titled, Enjoy the Beauty from Simply, One Breath At a Time.

It is a great little one pager on page 50 that begins by asking us to rest and "enjoy the beauty of this time, this place, this breath..."

It goes on to talk about peeling back layers or stress and worry etc. by letting the breath soften and release them as you breathe.  It seemed years ago that I did this when asked but now I seem to be in a different place and notice that I get to the layers more quickly, and I actually can feel them releasing from a deeper place.

The relaxation then guides us to feel a few different parts of the body one at a time.  This again brings us to the present moment and to where we can actually take some time to think about ourselves, our hands, back or  face, to feel them and to let each one relax separately.

For a few minutes we are guided to notice the beauty of our breath, place and time, and I'm hoping that in the moments to rest, we will also notice it in ourselves as well...a few minutes for self care...to simply be...how wonderful! 


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The Five Tibetan Rites, sharing a video

This post was rerun and updated in July 2014 here's the link It shares the video and an information link.  Check it out.


I've enjoyed learning about the Five Tibetan Rites and this video by Ellen Wood, is very gentle and relaxing. 

http://youtu.be/HjtslbrFbLY

There's lots of info online and in books you can check out for more history, instructions, benefits etc.

A photo from last weekend!

One Rose Wellness Card

I wanted to pick a card today after just finishing a yoga class and still experiencing the affects of the beautiful classes at the Yoga Outreach Retreat last weekend.

The classes I picked seemed to all involve connecting to heart and compassion.  So it is no coincidence I picked this lovely little message.

"Feel the gentle pulse of your

whole body resting,

now listen to the

words of your heart"

 

One Rose Wellness Card message from Simply, One Breath At a Time.