Laughing Ladybug Yoga

I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR the other night on my way home from teaching a class. The guests were Toni Frohoff, a behavorial and wildlife biologist, and journalist Charles Siebert.

They were talking about a group of gray whales off the coast of Baja California in Mexico that are actively seeking out human interaction. Their stories were amazing! Mr. Siebert talked about a baby gray whale that popped out of the water an arm’s length from him and stared at him! How amazing that a whale was watching us! Mr. Siebert said that this experience of being watched by a whale changed him.

I came home and looked up Charles Siebert’s full article in the New York Times Magazine. (You can read it  here.) I was completely spellbound by the research he reports on and the world of whales. Could a creature so different from us really be so similar to us? It looks like the answer,  and with scientific backup, is yes!

I don’t know why this fills me with such joy, but it does. I don’t know why this fills me with such hope, but it does. 

May all creatures everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and freedom for all.

Many native American cultures see animals as messengers. Similarly, I’m a big believer in watching for messages about our lives in the nature that surrounds us. For example, if you know the story of how I came to build Laughing Ladybug Yoga, you know the significance I place on natural messengers.

Over the last few days, 3 doves  have nearly flown straight into the windshield of my tiny little Smart car.

After the third one, I hollered, “OK! I get it!”

But what I was saying I “got,” I didn’t know. I had to do some research.

Here are some of the things I found: 

The Dove represents peace of the deepest kind. It soothes and quiets our worried and troubled thoughts, and enables us to find renewal in the silence of mind. In these moments of stillness we are able to appreciate the simple things in life.

Hmm. Almost crashing into my windshild was a bold move for a representative of peace. But I do tend to need a louder message than some people.

Doves are members of the pigeon family. Both symbolise the qualities of home, security and maternal instincts.

I have been doing a lot of “nesting” lately. Rearranging furniture and redecorating. I’ve been struggling a lot with quitting one of my yoga classes so that I have more time at home with my husband. I had a conversation with a client last week about the struggle to balance family and career, how we as women don’t really learn how to do that, but that we have to choose one or the other. 

If Dove flies into your life, you are being asked to go within and release your emotional disharmony, be it of the past or the present. Dove helps us to rid trauma stored within our cellular memory. Humming can help you with this release.

This really struck something in me when I read it, since it reminded me that trauma is stored in our cellular memory.

So I think that Dove is telling me that at this point in my life, and in the life of my marriage, it’s smart to direct so much energy to my home, homelife, and husband.  And that it’s time to cleanse my cellular memory of disharmony to make room for harmony.

I love that the natural world is so in tune with us, or that we’re so in tune with it. But really, neither is correct. We ARE nature, and nature IS us, so of course there is a natural flow of energy between the two.

What are your opinions about the struggle to balance home and career? How have you found it? Or have you? I’d love to hear from you.

Because of our schedules, my husband and I have a hard time coordinating dinner. We both work until 7 or 8:00 at night, and by that time nobody wants to cook, and dinner out just doesn’t sound good. We usually end up going out for a bowl of soup or sandwich.

I’ve really been struggling to find a way to make our evenings together low-key and enjoyable, especially since they’re only a couple of hours long. 
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