Page 26 - Sonoma County Gazette 3-19

I meditate. 2.0
By David Penner
I meditate, I sit alone
My busy mind begins to moan I try to calm it with a sigh Repeat my mantra, try and try.
It takes me to that quiet place
I rest a second in that space Before my mind is out the door This meditations quite the chore
It wanders off to parts unknown While my body sits alone
I call it back, I’m irked by this My busy mind, devoid of bliss
I stare it down, put it on trial
My spirit watches with a smile
My mantra, my mantra, where did it go? How does this help the spirit to grow?
I take a breath, I take a pause
I pry the stillness from it’s jaws I hold it firm, I hold it tight
I grab a hold with all my might
My mind slips quietly from my attention
An email I forgot to mention
What’s for breakfast?, the chickens want out
The dog needs a walk, or he’ll start to pout.
It’s off again, I shake my head Sitting there alone in bed
I bring my attention to my third eye I wonder how much times gone bye
Why can’t I still you, though I try The days and weeks are floating by. It should be easier, it should be fun What is the point when it’s all done?
It happens when I expect it the least
Trying to get home when traffic’s a beast
Having the patience to let someone in Come tomorrow I’ll try it again
SMOKE
By Elizabeth Carothers Herron
She holds the cigarette outside the open window of the CR-V pulled to the side of the road, engine running as she answers her cell. Fires burning
miles to the east smudge the sun orange.
Her shopping wasn’t out of boredom but the uneasy understanding
it’s all connected – the fire,
the fracking boom towns,
the money she spends, the child dying a world away
because a war is going on,
because the river is salted
by a rising sea, because the hospital has no antiviral, because the farm is a desert now, because
she’s driving this SUV.
Another child in a dull gray building behind a chain-link fence remembers the murmur of prayers in a different language, before
he lost his name and became
a number. He is here because
the gangs have told his mother if --
The authorities are surprised by attention to these children, these people whose lives have nothing to do with Macy’s or Amazon or Whole Foods, nothing to do with people who don’t count their change, nothing to do with her.
She holds her cigarette outside
so the upholstery and her hair won’t smell like smoke. She smokes because she is scared
and because she can’t forget
the ones too weak to cry
she saw on the news.
Smoke blown from the fires sticks in a haze of ash
to the windshield. She’s heard it carries the dust of the dead along with toxic particles
of plastic and melted metal – carpeting, refrigerators, cars, always cars now – the air more dangerous
than her cigarettes.
From space the lines of fire appear like the bright ragged hem
of an irregular coastline.
180 million years ago
the lights came on in the universe with the fiery birth of stars.
Year of the Pig
throughout history, have honored the sun, the moon and the seasons. These factors have guided every aspect of their most basic needs: food and water availability, shelter from the weather, even the quality of the air. With these factors fluctuating in varying rhythms of consistency and surprises, the Chinese, during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 24 BCE), established the 24 Solar Terms, roughly splitting the year into 2+ week intervals determined by observations of seasons and nature. These intervals presented some very useful information as to what and how to meet basic needs as well as the more sophisticated needs of the people.
By Dennis W. von Elgg, L.Ac., Redwood Needle Chinese Medicine
From ancient China through today the Chinese, not unlike the rest of life
Utilizing the Winter and Summer Solstices, and the Spring and Fall Equinoxes, the Chinese arrived at a system that places the Winter Solstice
in the middle of Winter (rather than the beginning as in the West), and the Summer Solstice in the middle of Summer (rather than the beginning). The two equinoxes, with their equal sunlight/daylight hours, fall into the center of Spring and Fall.
So, despite the wetness of our days, we can look at the sky and earth and see the beginnings of Spring as we head toward the Spring Equinox on March 21, just six weeks away. Flowers are returning, the grasses are lusciously green and driving upward, insects and animals are churning and awakening, the days are lengthening, and soon to follow, we’ll be turning on our lights later and later, followed by less need for heating our homes.
As a Chinese medicine practitioner, I can feel it in a patient’s pulse.The energetic Spring pulse is favorable this time of year, hopefully growing to
it’s fullness as the Equinox nears. In contrast, a deeper, less expressive pulse would warrant a treatment designed to strengthen, motivate and excite. This said, an overly aggressive pulse might suggest a soothing treatment approach would be wiser in hopes to tame an agitated spirit or a festering imbalance.
This is where lifestyle and natural medicines excel. Not just treating a disease but in supporting vitality though the seasons and with the seasons. From rest and restoration to passions and productivity. And all the nuanced expressions between.
Ok, so all this said, Spring is springing. Go outside and look around you. Clean out that garage, that kitchen drawer, and, AND, your emotional clutter. Be honest, be active. New beginnings abound.
Happy Year of the Earth Pig! Yes, this is the Year of the Pig.
The Pig is of great importance in Chinese culture as the Chinese character for “home” contains
two radicals: one
of “roof”, and the
other of “pig”. Its value to the home was considered indispensable, thus its inclusion as something
so important as one’s home and
a member of the family. Of course they ate them too, so, there you go ....
26 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3/19
Dennis von Elgg is the owner/practitioner at The Redwood Needle Acupuncture Clinic in Occidental. He is also a professor at AIMC in Berkeley, lectures at UC Berkeley, and several other locations speaking on integrative approaches to improving vitality.
Paintings - Copyright Carol Lew - www.OldWorldPetPortraits.com
The Year of the Pig and You
In strength you will show qualities of generosity, clarity, sensuality, reliability, hard work, gregariousness and eloquence, which all draw good luck to you. Good deal, right?
When in a weakened state you will gravitate towards laziness, self- indulgence, secrecy, self-pity and self-destruction.
I recommend that you make very solid decisions about your well-being. Eat, drink, play and work wisely. Employ self care. Have dinner guests. Be warm and be strong, The benefits are exponentially rewarding.