Stress Less:  
1. Dance it out
2. Go for a walk
3. Talk about it
4. Take a deep breath
5. Go to bed earlier
6. Focus on what you can control
7. Reminisce about good times
8. Ask for a hug
9. Look for opportunities in life's challenges
10. Smile

~anonymous 

Words of wisdom from many midwifes: 

“There comes a point in the labor at which virtually every woman wails, “I CAN’T DO THIS!!! It’s too hard, it’s too painful, it’s too scary; I can’t do it anymore and I’m through trying! MAKE IT STOP!!” And I bless that moment. Because that’s what makes them a mother. The surrender to the natural force they are part of; the realization that they *can’t* control everything anymore. Some women get there within a few hours, some take days. But whenever they do, I know they are going to be okay. Not just in delivering the baby, but in raising it. Because they’ve learned the hardest lesson — that they can’t control everything, and they will never again be able to control everything, and they just have to ride it out and learn to live with that.”

I am so happy to support a local initiative to have mindfulness training in schools.  Learn more here.

This video is also very inspiring.  

*'I Am An Emotional Creature' ~ Eve Ensler.  Video here.  

*3 Things Your Little Girl Needs From You That You May Not Realize.  Article here.  

*I've started telling my daughters I'm beautiful.  Article here.  

*Move Over, Barbie - You’re Obsolete.  "Debbie, a female in the male-dominated world of engineering, was bothered by the lack of women in her field. So she decided to do something about it."  
Check this out.  

"Have the courage to fail and the resilience to succeed."


I have a dream...of how I want Dharma Door to operate and what I believe it can offer my community.  

My dream is still in the works.  It unfolds with patience as I balance the many aspects of creating this space and operating the business, and allowing my personal life to unfold and my personal needs to be important too.  

This Spring/Summer, I am going to help create a beautiful mandala veggie garden at Dharma Door Retreat, including perennial fruit gardens and flower/herb gardens. With time, the food that is created will nourish workshop participants and local food shelves, as well as our farmer's market prepared food items. I will continue to find the right teachers and experts to help here and eventually I would like them to join me in offering a month long course that includes building the infrastructure, planting, foraging, and also daily yoga, whole foods cooking and nutrition, community building, and other complementary practices. Perhaps this will happen for two weeks this summer.  Perhaps more.  It is all unfolding.  This has been a dream for a long time. Let me know if you would like to contribute or participate in anyway.

I took this next picture as I waited for Dharma Door to be ready to move into.  Finding this tree helped me find more patience.  If this tree can root and thrive here, at least for not, then I can summon more patience as I wait to come home to dharma door.  I love the peace sign too.  

A TED talk by Sheila Kelley.  Video here.  
This is worth watching all the way through.  I loved the ending statements the most. 

" What Heroic Thing Did JC Penney Do After Being Targeted by An Anti-Gay Group?"

"The anti-gay hate group One Million Moms has issued a boycott calling for JC Penney to fire spokeswoman Ellen DeGeneres due to her sexual orientation. JC Penney responded with this fabulous Father's Day ad — featuring two gay dads for the first time in JC Penney history."


The copy reads: "What makes Dad so cool? He's the swim coach, tent maker, best friend, bike fixer and hug giver — all rolled into one. Or two. Real-life dads, Todd Koch and Cooper Smith with their children Claire and Mason."

"You can almost hear the sound of one million bigoted moms cringing in unison." 

*above quotes from here.  


Inclusion makes a difference.  

“There is a huge connection between family representation and self-esteem,” veteran K-3 teacher Erica Eide explains. “If a child doesn’t see their family represented, it creates a disconnect and interrupts their learning. If you don’t feel recognized by your peers and your surroundings, how can you thrive?”

This is a great article:  Mimi's Moms article here.  


And...in Jewish news:  First LGBT Jewish children's book published. "'The Purim Superhero' is story of young boy whose dilemma over which Purim costume to pick is solved with help of his 2 dads."   
Learn more here.  

When we lose the ability to squat, our quality of life changes drastically. If we squat more to begin with, we will have a longer time of mobility. Here is a song about it... =)

If you have not seen this viral video yet, of a disabled vet who changed his life through movement, now is the time.  

One of my movement teachers, Aaron Cantor, is in this video by Ido Portal.  

Ido Portal on Gymnastics, Motivation, Movement & More: 

"I don't wait for inspiration to come...I inspire myself."

"Move it or lose it..and its gonna be a bad day when you lose it..."

I especially like what he says near the end about how to meet people on the streets...to play...with movement.

~~~One approach:  Find out what the body does; not what you can make it do.  From there, with ease, find the end of your range of motion, breathe there, push gently, discover even more possibility.

TED Talk:   Video here.  

Trusting kids with their education. I like that he says you can hack your way into taking control of your education from inside the school system too. I would love some sort of wilderness/awareness school based out of Dharma Door Retreat or at least near by (this has been a dream since the beginning).

TED talk: Video here.
  
Insight about co-parenting.  "Sandberg's firsthand advice in getting men to take an equal role in parenting: stop micromanaging."