5 Things For Which I Am Grateful

1. Tea – again.  The ritual of sitting down, with myself or with friends, for a cup of tea.  Time is slowed for the length of a cup.
2. Daphne’s swim class was canceled today.  I love the class, but I like being sufficiently well slept for happiness.
3. Jason’s creative brain.  He made a huge “spider” crawling out of our tree onto our front bush for Halloween.  When he gets an idea, he makes it happen.
4. Fleece blankets and down comforters, because winter is cold, and I like to be warm.
5. Winter.  I don’t care about big seasonal differences, but the fresh, chilly air is nice (once I get used to it 😉 ).

Contemplate the Current World Crises

The ACOG (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) just submitted a competing potential piece of legislation to congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard’s submitted legislature regarding maternal care.  While the later addresses use of evidence based medicine in a culturally competent way, the former just calls for studying more of why there are cultural/ethnic differences in outcomes.  The ACOG is even, in it’s press releases, saying that they don’t like legislature that doubts them.

According to Dr. Waldman it is unacceptable because a) it promotes “the wholesale adoption of delivery models that have not yet been proven safe and effective, including doula support, group prenatal care, and home-birth,” and b) it “questions ob-gyns’ ability, compared to certified nurse-midwives, family physicians, and certified professional midwives, to deliver care that supports physiologic birth.”  —The Unnecessarian: A Tale of Two MOMS

I find it simply so frustrating that there continues to be – on a large scale, anyway – such holding on to old, “easiest for me” ways when the evidence is contrary.  Exactly what I can do about it is an interesting question.  It’s hard to shift the views of a large, established, slow moving organization of elites.  They don’t want to change and don’t recognize outside persuasion to do so.  Becoming involved in the political level is interesting, but, I suspect, ultimately frustrating, as working against the perceived experts generally doesn’t go well.  But being involved at the grass roots level, informing the women who ultimately play a large (if they so choose) role in the process may be the way to go for me.

Six Questions

1. How has yoga changed my life?  I’m not entirely sure how to answer this question, as I have discovered that I don’t really know how to evaluate what my life would be with different choices.  It’s not so much the “what” as the “how”.  Every decision we make gives us a different experience which informs the rest of our lives in some fashion.  Good experiences and bad alike, they all have the potential to change us in some way.  Perhaps yoga has made me more receptive to utilizing that potential.
2. How is teaching connected to your path/destiny?  I like to share what I know and what I love.  Perhaps as a way of connecting with people in an environment that feels safe for me, it is a way to give to others the space to investigate something I’ve found that I think is wonderful.
3. What is your motivation as a teacher?  The “oh!  that’s interesting” moment when a student puts something together in their head and/or in their body and makes some discovery – small or large – that is the impetus for exploration in themselves.  Even if it doesn’t necessarily lead to anything, seeing people make that exploration is incredibly rewarding.
4. What do I have to offer that is unique?  My slightly socially awkward and nerdy personality that has utmost confidence that there is a little nerd in everyone.
5. Who am I?  Another question I don’t know how to answer.  I wouldn’t say that I “AM” my job or whatnot, but I think that I would say that I “AM” a mom.  The nurturing instinct that has been able to manifest more fully really is a part of not only what I am, but how I think and act.  I might have to say the same thing about being an engineer, but I’m not sure on that yet.
6. How do I give my gifts to the world?  Clumsily, but that’s just my way.