Posted by Stan Stewart (Sawyer) on March 24, 2010 under Stan Stewart | 
I performed for the first time with Penn Strings on Sunday. It was great. We had a kind of simple ease together even though it was our first time performing together. The set included everything from Beethoven to Coldplay, so there was no shortage of variety. I can hardly wait for the next gig!
Contrast this with the fact that taxes are due in less than a month. Lots of numbers, calculations, paper forms, confusing descriptions. Thank goodness, my CPA takes care of most of it!
My music/recording studio has been in a shambles. Between gigs, rehearsals, jams, PULSE, and being lazy after all of this other stuff is done, I had really let it go. So, over the past couple of weeks, I really cleaned it up. Well, actually I’m about half-way there. I can see the floor. OK? So it’s a major victory.
I’m grateful. And ready. To take the next step. Here goes.
Playful blessings…
(Here you go, technorati: PHAYQ8KRXTNP)
Posted by Anita Bondi on March 21, 2010 under Anita Bondi |
I know it is spring because I feel like I have cobwebs in my eyes, nose, and brain. I asked Stan this morning if he liked Spring. I even noticed my tone was a little sour when the question came out of my mouth. I also noticed that I felt a bit lifted by his answer. Turns out his favorite season is Fall. So is mine. I feel a little bah humbug about Spring, the same way folks feel about Christmas (which by the way, I Love!). I know. I know. Things are popping out of the ground, birds are singing, trees getting ready to burst, and all that good stuff.
I am suspicious it has to do with work. The sense that it is time to get moving again, after the long winter’s nap kind of thing. The other day I practically closed my eyes while walking from the car to the back porch for fear that all the fallen branches, leaves, peeling paint, splintering wood of the deck, would somehow reach out, grab and strangle me. See, it is the work thing. I can’t enjoy the season because I think I now have to work harder, do more, accomplish something.
This accomplish something thought has had a hold of me for quite awhile. I think it relaxes a bit more in the Autumn and Winter. As I feel it waking up from its slumber it scares me. Maybe this is the year I don’t have to invite it in? Maybe this year, this new season, there can be a chance for a springing up and over the old. I can land on the other side of it and with eyes forward keep walking-not look back.
This kind of talk always sounds good and makes me feel like an athlete after a good motivational speech
from a coach. I feel focused, ready, at the top of my game. Of course it is still early in the morning and my coffee is still hot!
Posted by Anita Bondi on March 4, 2010 under Anita Bondi |
I loved my Lutheran Lenten group last night. The chairs were in a big circle when I arrived and Pastor Gail had already brought the piano bench in for our altar. As i began to set up for our mini-retreat, the group began to come in, one at a time. Howard arrived carrying a really large poster, framed in gold. At the bottom it said “Crystal Eyes.” I thought that was pretty bold for a Lutheran!
It was a 3-D picture. When you soften your gaze, (yes, take an
Easy Focus) there is a balance that is achieved by your rod and cone vision, so that more of your peripheral vision field is used.
It is a more emotional, intuitive way of seeing the world. Score another one for
InterPlay! In this picture a floating heart appears to come out of a center circle and then zodiac symbols magically arise out of that center and surround the heart. We worked on that last Wednesday, but I did not love my group that night. It was more like a job that night. So, with Howard by my side and the magic heart floating before my eyes, I softened and relaxed. Guess what? Everything shifted. Amazing? No, not really, but powerful nonetheless.
When Martha arrived, I went right over and hugged her! She was not expecting that and drew back a bit, smiling slightly. I took the hint as I stretched my hand out to warmly greet Jack. That seemed better, so I stuck with the handshake.
Notice from the InterPlay Inspiration Deck by Anita Bondi
Once everyone was settled we began with our theme for the night:
Notice. I did a guided visualization/relaxation with a focus on noticing the places where we hold tension and tightness.
At one point I opened my eyes and that is when it happened. That was the moment I fell in love. The whole room was filled with the soft scent of Juniper, the warm glow of candlelight, and all of these brave souls that had come to experience a new way of being in their bodies. They thought they had signed up for an exercise class. That was not what I wanted to teach and frankly, I am sick of not pleasing myself! I brought exactly what I wanted to bring and it worked! Guess what? Everything shifted. Amazing? No, not really.
As I looked around the room, they all looked so peaceful, so trusting and vulnerable. I realized how much they were allowing me to guide them and to stretch them in ways beyond the ability to touch their toes. I almost cried. It was so beautiful. They were so beautiful. When they opened their eyes, I asked them to take a soft and
Easy Focus and to
Notice how they were feeling.
Howard said it was the most relaxed he had been all day and everyone nodded. We all took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh!
P.S. A Lutheran sigh is very quiet, almost inaudible. I am going to work on that next!
Posted by Anita Bondi on March 3, 2010 under Anita Bondi |
There is no title to this entry because I spent 3 whole minutes trying to come up with a catchy title and could not. What is there to say when one gets up at 6am and then, contemplates going back to bed at 8am? My dog has to go out, my bed has to get made, my clients will start arriving at 10am, my list of “to do’s” is a mile long, and all I can think about is lying around watching the rain dripping past the window.
On some level I know there is nothing wrong with that.
I have work to do though! Things to create! Things that have been created that need to get out into the world! Where is my focus? My drive? My motivation?
I used to do all of this stuff with the grace of an Olympic athlete, easily maneuvering the terrain, in excellent condition to push for hours on end. And, most importantly, I had the focus, the drive, the motivation that I am now in search of as I lay on my chaise lounge computer in my lap!
If I am complete in this very moment, why do anything? If i am loved just because I am, why bother getting up at all today? There has to be a reason to move forward.
I am waiting for a reason.
Five minutes and nothing has arrived. I guess the dog needing to go out will have to be good enough.
