Of Golf Balls, Family/Pets, Patience and Humor

Since we are talking about humor.......

My Mom's dog was not doing well a while ago; she is twelve years old.  Flora had fluid in her lungs, and was on heart medication, my mother understandably was very upset; I talked my mom across the Atlantic Ocean through some Dien Cham for Flora on the phone; I kept the instructions simple and had her repeat them back to me and give Flora a session while we were on the phone. 
Flora seemed to not object at all from the start. (- During my most recent trip home I had showed my mom some tapping I had learned through one of the STWS workshops (Quick Energy Corrections) and she liked that.  As far as I know she taps every day, so I knew she might be all ears about Dien Cham for Flora and would not find it particularly strange.)  A week later she told me that Flora was doing well, her lungs were fluid-free as per the vet and Flora continues to get the heart medication every day.  My instructions were to do whatever the vet said but also continue to do DC on Flora every day to keep her relaxed.  She was in good spirits.  She also started the routine on her younger dog.  She seemed to own the protocol already.  We feel so helpless when our pets are not well, don't we?  DC is empowering because it allows us to help our pets relax and as a result form a stronger very enriching bond.  As you know it has helped me with Mowgli numerous times and he continues to get a session before most morning walks.  

Golf balls for self care reflexology

 (Kevin Kunz)

Kevin Kunz highly recommends using a golf ball for self care hand reflexology and it makes sense; I started keeping one in my backpack as well.  I have been speaking with R's mom about Reflexology a couple of times and she has experienced it on the feet as well as on the hands.  However, she thinks it only makes sense if you get sessions all the time which was the perfect opportunity to give her two golf balls and show her how she could easily do a bit of self care every day while watching tv.  During our next visit, I found one of the golf balls underneath the table on the floor.  Oh no, I sighed, she probably did not do her homework at all!  Before we left that weekend, I handed her the ball.  She was quick to say that she had been using it and started using it right then.  I smiled, kissed her good bye and left.  Then I remembered to fill up my water bottle and went back inside.  At that point she had put away the ball and was reflexing her fingers which I had also shown her.  Wow! 

Mowgli taking a nap; R doing breathing exercises

A lovely spot for yoga at Hudson River

Educating about self care also includes my partner R.  He has experienced, foot, hands and facial  reflexology.  I designed a session for him on a sticky note as well as on one of the grids included in Marie-France Muller's book.  Recently we spoke about his morning meditation practice (honestly I had all forgotten about the protocols I had given him throughout the years) and to my surprise he mentioned that he does points on his face, he also really liked a short session of hand reflexology in the past, that I designed a few years ago.  He really got a kick out of the fact that I broke down the two minutes the entire session takes into segments of seconds for the individual reflexes.  This is probably what is most difficult to get across to most mostly Western-medicine orientated brains (the term pill poppers is common): that minutes or seconds of Eastern-based holistic medicine can make a difference by interrupting stress patterns.  Although R. does not follow the routine as I suggested, I am very happy that he does something every day and uses what he knows creatively.  He "found" spots he likes to work and he just confirmed to me that he still does my hand reflexology protocol from time to time.  I am pleased. 

One day we sat on the train and I told R. that I felt overwhelmed.  He took my hand and asked me if I wanted some Reflexology.  Haha, that alone took off some stress.  He vaguely remembered some reflexes, we had fun, his touch is warm (he has been practicing Tai Chi almost daily almost as long as I have been practicing yoga, which is 16-17 years) and whatever he did felt lovely, it sure made me feel better!  Whenever he has an emergency, he consults me; so far almost everything has improved immediately and he always jokes by saying that he will never say anything bad about Reflexology ever again, it has become a running joke for us.  

As for my own self care routine; the heat wave has inspired me to do yoga at the river at night or in the morning on occasions, at times taking along Mowgli who loves sitting in the grass, watching the water!  In the morning I often do Chi Gong in Central Park and I feel I am in pretty good shape these days.  Juice Generation's water melon with berries smoothy (easy on the ice) has been added to my breakfast from time to time and making refreshing salads using kale as basis and adding vegetables as found in the refrigerator made it fairly easy to deal with the heat - have I mentioned I am not a friend of extensive air conditioning, so yes, fans have been doing it at home.  Naturally, the fact that I grew up without air conditioners and fans may have something to do with it.