Alaska moonlight

When I arrived in early April, the snow on the ground had started to melt and yet within days of my arrival there was a new dusting of snow.   As my time evolved, so did the  scenery transform from white into brown and gray.   Not so beautiful but raw and barren.   As spring emerged  in mid May,  green buds appeared on the trees and grass shot up literally overnight.  Once again, I was reminded of the contrasts in this huge, unruly place.

I am not allowed to talk about the  military work according to my contract, but what I can say is that I continue to have the highest regard for our men and women in uniform who are dedicated and committed to serving our country.    It always feels like an honor to give a little to them as they give so much for us.  Now, as a family member myself, I know what it is like to sacrifice and I know what it is like to live between fear and pride.

TRAVEL.     My weekends were filled up mostly with travel to beautiful places.     My life in Anchorage 30 years ago was but a distant memory, set in a time when I was younger and wilder.   I was shocked to realize that my brain could only remember street names and a few businesses here and there.   The rest was like amnesia.   What I discovered is that Alaska is still wild, just like a part of me.

I decided to see as many glaciers as I could …26 in one day…that’s what the tour advertised and they did deliver on their promises.    There was stunning scenery after stunning scenery and I tried to focus on the fact that so few people actually get to see what I was seeing.  Lucky, lucky me.

Seward.  Amazing little fishing town.  Quaint comes to mind.   I took the whale watching cruise and a delightful day watching seals, otters, bald eagles, puffins (they are so cute) and a Mom humpback and her baby splash and blow in the distance.

Seward is a gorgeous fishing village

Denali, highest peak in N. America

Then there was Denali, otherwise known as Mt. McKinley.  Our highest mountain in North America… 20,320 feet high.  In her majestic ways, she alluded us most of the time, creating her own microclimate, mostly hidden behind swirling clouds and snow.

Denali National Park and Preserve...such a unique place,  a sanctuary where animals live truly in their natural habitat and us humans get to have a peak at them from a bus tour where we had to keep everything inside the bus except our cameras.  No hands or arms outside the windows.   And quiet so as to be guests in this sacred, vast territory.    No cars allowed.      There were  caribou, moose standing on the side of the road, dall sheep, a red fox, a nest of falcons, a lynx, bald eagels …And the biggest gift of all…. Ms.  Mama grizzly bear and 2 cubs walked straight up to the bus and laid down.   Thrilling and shocking.  I was grateful to be on the bus and not hiking.

MaMa grizzly and Cub

DANCE. I decided to take up belly dancing and became shocked to find out how many things have to  happen simultaneously in your brain and body at once….hips moving, arms in another direction, and those tiny cymbals called zils on my fingers clacking to the beat of drums.  My teacher was sophisticated, passionate and she had two tattooed eyes that were watchful as we danced behind her.  Carrie.

BellyDancers

I bravely enrolled in an Indian Temple dance class and was mesmerized by this beautiful woman who has spent her lifetime learning the art of Indian temple dance.

And then I tried Bikram yoga.  This, of course, is the hot 102 degrees insane type of yoga.    In one particularly challenging class when  my lungs pleaded &  screamed for a meager bit of cool air, I heard myself say ” if my son  endured Afghanistan in 130 degree heat with full 125 pound armor on, then I can suck it up and finish a silly 90 minute class of heat.”    I calmed down after that and am happy to say that I made it through several classes without throwing up or running out of the room.   Anchorage Yoga.

CONNECT.        The friendliness of the Alaska people is equal to their big hearts.  Once, after my yoga class,  I was blow-drying my hair (trying to recover)  and a very compassionate woman from the class invited me to her home for dinner after realizing I was living in a hotel for 2 months.   I met her charming husband, her delightful kids and neighbors and felt so included and grateful for family connection again.   She knew me for 5 minutes only and invited me to share her family, her home, and her friends.     What an amazing surprise that people can still be so trusting of a complete stranger.

LOVE. I love the beauty of Alaska.  It is wild here, it is big, and it is a place of deep contrasts.  It’s not like any other place I’ve been.

Love....I missed my husband and I missed my family while I was away.  And so my love for them grew even bigger and I became extraordinarily grateful for these people in my life.    There really is no place like home.

I am off again to Alaska in a week.   For a month.  And then to Japan for 2 months.  And in between the hot summer nights, I will find myself on a beach in Mexico, dancing and celebrating my son’s wedding.     How lucky can you get?

Dance Travel Connect Love.   Not a bad life.

Mama Grizzly

A couple under blue skies

The sweetness of the retreat lingers as I drink my morning coffee and surround myself with unopened emails and a newsletter to write.   I remember this time a week ago, my thoughts were in savoring  the sun against the patches of snow and deep blue skies as we hiked to the top of a mountain in Colorado.  The couples retreat was full on.

At the Mountain Park Environmental Center,  Helene and Dave Van Manen led us up the mountain on a two hour hike all the way up to the lookout point.   He is known to many as Ranger Dave and she as Coach Helene.  They work daily to educate children and anyone who listens about the conservation of this beautiful land.     

It’s a stunning place for a retreat, the HorseShoe Lodge, where rooms are  comfortable and delightfully decorated.  We stayed in the Canyon Echoes Room which was warm and welcoming.   My second time here and I felt very much at home, surrounded by stillness and comfort.

Couples yoga in the afternoon.  We did tree poses together symbolizing how we balance each other.  I realized while in the middle of the pose, that I couldn’t balance on my own but that I needed to be mindful of my husband’s movements and then how he and I had to work together to stand tall in the tree pose.     The blend when we got it right was reassuring, a strengthening metaphor of how  a couple must adjust,  giving and taking.   I felt the true awareness of being in the moment and focusing on myself as well as my partner’s needs.

Couples Tree Pose

Food.  So delicious.  Bernie, the chef, at the Horseshoe Lodge was magnificent.  Yummy, healthy salads, warm nurturing soups, and an eggplant entree to die for,  Mary’s (his wife’s) oatmeal cookies.  Such a treat.  I felt pampered and nourished at each meal.

Saturday night. The ending of a spectacular day.  I felt myself relax and lean into my husband’s arms as we all sat on the floor and listened to Helene and Dave sing.   The blend of their voices together and Dave’s guitar was like a soothing elixir to our bodies and hearts.  All couples sat on the floor wrapped around each other, listening, sometimes singing along.   The music restored us further into ourselves and our relationships.  The music of Dave & Helene.

We realized that snow was gently falling outside as we snuggled in more towards each other.

A sweet Sunday morning.    The snow seemed to glisten  in the sunlight between the pine trees surrounding the Lodge.  Breakfast of yummy oatmeal, raisins, nuts, & bananas  and then we were out on another hike up through the canyon.   It was easy to be walking sometimes in silence, other times connecting with others.   Some couples stayed back.

Couples in the Canyon

Sunday afternoon:  I indulged myself in a massage by Carol and landed in never, never land somewhere in my head while completely relaxed.  Others were napping or journaling or reading.

Goodbyes were said, some of us lingering, staying an extra day.

And then, we were off the next morning on a three hour drive to Joyful Journey Hot Springs Spa,  through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  The wide open ranges with mighty mountains in the background covered with white pristine snow lay before us.  The pastures were also covered with snow and the occasional cow  fronted these ranges.  The beauty was stunning.

The Sangre de Cristo Mountain range

After driving through stunning scenery,  we were at long last at the hot springs and soaking in a choice of several hot tubs fed by hot springs.  Relaxing once again.  The spirit of the mountains called to me.  As I looked out our window from our room,  I noticed there were small sand dunes covered in snow!  Very beautiful.

Coach Diane Mueller

Blue Skies & Snow

Driving back to Denver, I thought what restorative and magic powers await us when we take the time to give to ourselves.  It doesn’t have to be a grand adventure like my husband and I experienced, just easier  when you walk away from your house and all the to do lists and the busyness gets put on hold…..it’s just easier.

And now back at home, and seeing the young,bright yellow daffodils blooming in my yard, I drift back to that peaceful,  unique  feeling of balance.   I am rested now and ready to begin again.  I am very grateful for this special experience of being on retreat with my husband in such a beautiful land.

What I’m thinking is that it’s not where you go or how far you go, it’s important to take the time to just be.  And a retreat helps to us to get away from all the endless lists and overwhelm that is so easy to fall into.  I will remember the snow and the blue skies of Colorado and I am grateful to have had this unbelievable opportunity.

Oh yeah and if you haven’t been in a cold climate before, Pike’s Peak in February is definitely the place to be.  OI!  We were lucky that the road was open all the way to the top and so we drove the narrow road that had steep drop offs into nowhere with snow blowing everywhere. It felt a bit surreal to drive all the way to the top and since I’m traveling with a professional photographer, I volunteered to drive up the mountain.  I didn’t go over 25 mph and I just kept my eyes straight ahead.

Okay, the photo here shows us at the summit and looking somewhat normal.   It was 3 degrees below zero…so when you look at the picture of me smiling, just know it was blizzard like conditions.  I’m not sure how I got the muscles in my face to smile.    It felt so on the edge of abnormal.

We tried to thaw out inside the gift shop/restaurant a few feet away.  And this is when the whirly birds started.  14,000 feet can do strange things to your body.  At first I thought it was my imagination, the pressure in my chest, combined with the feeling that my head was very enlarged and fluffy;  I kept checking myself to see if I was even thinking straight. I’ve never experienced anything like it.    I looked over at Thom and he seemed to be doing okay but I knew instinctively that he was suffering.   I saw a woman devouring a chocolate covered donut and I just knew right then that I had to get out of there.

We both agreed in a stupor that we needed to get back down the mountain as soon as possible.  And so we did.   At 10,000 feet I decided that I was hopelessly sleepy and exhausted.   I looked over at Thom…he didn’t look too good but like all crazy photographers, you know, they still want to stop and take pictures.  Afterwards we discovered all his pictures had this strange  out of focus quality to them with the wrong exposure.   Hmmmm.

I was thinking that when we get overwhelmed and overscheduled that life does become just like the high altitudes.  Weird, out of balance, freaky, a little bit edgy.   And the best we can do is get down the mountain and back to ourselves and spend time nurturing ourselves.  Unless of course we choose to stay on the edge.

The skinny road to the top of Pikes Peak

Stay tuned for the next part of the retreat…..

And this on the eve of announcing my live blog.   Okay, Jo, so just throw off the stupid restraints and  write.  Talk about the name of the blog, at least.

Dance Travel Connect Love.  That’s the name of this blog and it goes around the dancing women logo.

Dance Travel Connect Love

And what it means is that I will be gathering women to dance with me, travel to exotic places for retreats, connecting with each other and their own hearts.  And then there’s love.  Always, it’s about love….love to the other women in other countries and to the people along the way in our lives.  It’s about loving ourselves, too.

I keep thinking that there are rules to this blogging and there probably are.   But so what….I’m probably not following any of them.  I’m just finding my way and I am writing.   I really do have something to say but I don’t want to pretend, I want to be authentic and worthwhile for people to read.

I had a special treat today.  A former client lovingly told me that because of the work we did together, that she was where she is today in the world.  That she had realized some of her own dreams directly through our work together.  She said   “I heard you talk about your own dreams and it made me realize that I could have mine, too.  And then you encouraged me to do a vision board and as a result, I am now in this house that I love so much.”    I paused for a moment and thought to myself, well,  Jo, you said the same thing to your coach a few years ago when you were so grateful to her for the growth in yourself.  There is nothing, nothing better than having someone really “get you.”   And having someone give you that unconditional regard.  Good lord, if I’ve done that with my clients, I feel proud.  And today was a pure demonstration to me of how it works.  We really do pay it forward.  Each time we are with someone and we listen and we inspire them with our own boldness, they get to do it too.  How cool is that?

So here we are.  I did it.  Wrote another post.  I figure that if only one other person reads this and felt inspired or touched, then it’s worth wrestling the saboteurs.  Thank you, dear readers for getting through this.   Let me know what you think about what I’ve written.

Questions to journal on or think about:   where are you being a role model for others?  Who has helped you along the way? Where are you paying it forward?    It may be time to send them a silent thank you and/or it’s time to recognize how you make an impact on others.  Pay it forward and see what happens.

]]> http://johatcher.com/weblog/?feed=rss2&p=200 http://johatcher.com/weblog/?p=147 http://johatcher.com/weblog/?p=147#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:05:46 +0000 johatcher http://johatcher.com/weblog/?p=147

I am a woman who is so, so lucky to be in a network of wise women of master retreat coaches from all over the US.  This morning I was on a call with a few of these coaches and there was this theme, a thread, that ran through the hour long conversation.   The strand was like this:   The end of the first month in 2010 is rapidly approaching and “it’s so not what I expected” or “I’ m not walking a straight line with scheduling retreats”  (Yours Truly).  We spoke about women waiting… how we women spend a lifetime waiting…..waiting for our children to be born, waiting for them to take their first steps, waiting for our periods to start, waiting to find the love of our lives,  waiting for our first job to come through…..we are women waiting.

And Helene Van Manen, our leader and retreat coach mentor  Coach Helene sang us the song…

“We are women waiting

We are waiting

We are waiting for our children to remember to return.

We are women waiting”

I am waiting now for life to unfold in the manner it’s going to be this year.  I know that I will be out on three military assignments; one of them will be with my beloved.  I know that my son and his fiance are getting married.  And I know that I will be 60 soon and that I will celebrate.  And I know that everything can change in the blink of an eye.

This journey is one of trust.  And as Michelle Burns  Coach Michelle said on this call, “there is a gift in waiting and receiving.   Remember the Divine Feminine.”   I know that I have seen this feminine power  so many times at my retreats…..women receiving support and help from each other.   There is power in not knowing although it drives most of us crazy because we don’t know and it’s scary not to know.   There is such power in waiting and trusting.  Trusting that it will unfold in exactly the perfect manner for us to learn.

Other voices…. DianeMueller Coach Diane. “Realize the quality, not the quantity.”     As masters level retreat coaches, this is what we do.  We recognize that we are listening and waiting on a deep level to know what is right.  And each of you reading this, I challenge you as well to really listen to your life now.  I believe  that it is in the quality of your day that counts,  not in how much you can cram into the day.

And I was reminded by yet another wise woman on this call, Lois Perron  Coach Lois that sometimes even though we can’t see it at the time,  there is a reason that we are keeping our schedules open and that something bigger and more suitable for us can happen in those slots that are not filled.  Lois reads her journal from the previous year and sees how events happened unexpectedly, without her planning it and discovers that there were  delicious opportunities that she realized happened that might not have happened if she had filled that space ahead of time.

“You were wild once. Don’t let them tame you.”-Isadora Duncan

I am a woman who is waiting and like Helene, I want to live wild. I don’t want to be tamed.   I want to be in joyful waiting.  I want to live in joyful acceptance vs worry.    What is the way that you want to live?

We are women waiting…..

Master Retreat Coaches on Retreat in Colorado

And a bonus is that we’re both loosing extra pounds that were creeping up.  Yah, those disgusting extra blobs of fat that hang out around your belly and other places that we don’t want.  Now, as each day that passes propels me closer to the big 6-0  (that’s years old), I’ve decided I want to be rid of this extra padding- weight- flab-jelly roll stuff that’s lurking about.   I’m done with it.  Although I don’t think it’s done with me.  It clings like it’s going to stay forever.  Well, guess what, buddy.   Time to leave the nest.

Okay, so back to the raw food thing.  It’s really good, people.  I’m not hungry, I feel satisfied with really a lot less calories.  And I feel really, really healthy.  I can just tell, all these green things going into my body are good for me.  I just know it.  And you have to open your mouth and chew a lot.  My husband says that he’s ready to start swinging from a tree in the back yard as his chimpanze tendencies feel alive.  He makes the chimpanzee sound a lot these days…. hee hee.

It’s simple.  We start with green smoothies in the morning.  That mixture of greens of your choice, i.e., Swiss chard, spinach, or romaine lettuce….whatever green leafy thing you want.    Today we tried mustard greens which had a surprise spicy kick.  Then you add a piece of two of fruit, like a banana, a mango, or some frozen blueberries.   Add water, some ice, and flip the switch on the blender and voila!   A delicious green smoothie is all ready to give you energy and aliveness.   And the cool part is that it tastes so good.  Victoria Butenko has researched this extensively and seems to be the mother of this little cocktail. Check it out…. raw family.

Then we have a salad for lunch.  Now this isn’t just any salad, it’s a variety of fresh, vibrant red peppers, beets, golden and red, luscious zucchini, fennel, olives, blood oranges…whatever is in my line of sight goes in.  The fig balsamic dressing is to die for with this.  

Then for dinner once I made “pasta” with zucchini, not anything like what we think of as spaghetti noodles, but the raw, zucchini.  See I got this way cool petit hand operated  machine that cuts your beets, zucchini, daikon, sweet potato into spaghetti like strips.  And the sauce is to absolutely to die for….macadamia/almond milk creamy sauce on top.  It’s superb.   And, oh, there’s the walnut pate, the sunflower pate, and sun dried tomato hummus….no beans.  Will blow your socks off.  I love this stuff.

The amazing thing is that I don’t’ feel hungry.  The reason, I believe,  about eating raw is that when we cook stuff, we kill the valuable enzymes off in the food.  Then our bodies have to use our own enzymes to break the cooked food down and that’s a drag for someone like me at 60 because your body stops getting so clever at producing enough enzymes or the right ones or something.  Anyway, it all sounds good, eh?

Today I ate at Sacramento’s only raw food restaurant:  The Art of Food Living Community Cage and Tonic Bar. Check it out   www.theartoffood.org.  Richard, the owner,  is very eager to teach you or me  anything we want to know about raw food cooking.  In fact, he offers classes and makes a to die for chocolate cheesecake.  Really, it is outrageous.   Try it.

I’m thinking on this blustery, rainy day how life can blow us over, bend us and just when we think we’re going to break,  the “wind” in our lives jolts us and we stop bending or swaying.  One thing for sure, we have to be able to go with the wind;  if we fight it too much, we will break in half. 

So what is the secret of bending, I wonder?  Is it about surrender?  Is it about allowing ourselves to feel all the emotions that we can when the winds come?  Is it about trusting and knowing that we will return to normal or that we will be forever changed, never to be quite as straight as we once were and that it’s okay to be that way?  Isn’t this the lesson of life?  Letting go of the straightness and riding with the wind no matter how much we want to be straight.   Is it about letting go of the fear that we will break? Is it about relinquishing control?   Tell me the answers, bamboo.  I’m waiting.   

Bamboo:  “I am the one who leans and bends.  I am the one who is not alone…there are others who are bending with me.  I am the one who takes hard hits and I keep getting back up.  I am the one who just is.  I just am.”

Today is a remembrance of someone who took his own life.  He couldn’t bend anymore or perhaps he got tired of bending or he just gave up being.   He couldn’t wait for the winds to stop I guess.   The impact for his family is monumental as they now bend and sway with their own winds.  Stormy weather.

Geez.  I’m looking right now at a vase of flowers the water is all dirty looking and I’m restraining myself from jumping up and putting in fresh water.  “It would only take a couple of minutes”  I tell myself and but now that my butt is in the chair,  I promise myself not to leave the vicinity, I mean the chair,  for 30 minutes.   It’s torture but I’m doing it.  My attention deficit syndrome kicks in here and so I will just take some deep breaths and stay.  Just simply stay.

Working on my theme this year of Celebration, Creativity, and Simplicity.  Let’s see, there is automatic celebration with my 60^th birthday arriving in March and my son getting married in August.  I’m launched the creativity part by attending a book binding class the day after my husband returned home….with him.    Listen, people, it was his idea.  For all of you women who do not have a Renaissance man, go out and get yourself one now.  He is the best and surprises me all the time.

Anyway, we signed up for this 3 hour course and ended up with delightful, cool, unique books.   Thom has now ordered the hole punch to make more little books, along with the hemp twine.  It’s so easy and not even that much investment.  Here’s what ours looked like.  Mine is the one that is round and Thom has the huge diagonal stripes.  (Okay, Jo you don’t have to analyze the reason why we chose totally different papers, although it is fun to toy with…hmmm.)

Books by Thom and Jo

So between the writing and the book making, I’m doing my creative thing.  As for the simplicity thing,  I’m still working on that part.  Need to go through the emails and delete, delete, clear, and declutter.

I’m curious about what anyone who is reading this blog:

1)What have you done for 30 days straight and did it  indeed lead to a new habit?

2) what you are doing that’s creative right now?

3) how are you making your life more simple these days?

I’m looking for a few good ideas….

My intentions for 2010:

1.  Write more and regularly.    It’s the year when I intend to write more simply, more abundantly, and for publications.  It is edgy because I’ve been writing in the past years to process how my life has taken zig zags.   And now I’m going to share more of myself with the world.   And even though there are times when I feel like no one will want to read what I have to say, I’m going to boldly plunge on and write.  And that means this blog as well.

2.  Enjoy what I’ve created.   My travels will take me to exotic places like Okinawa and Alaska.  Places that are totally foreign to me and places that I used to know.  (Alaska.. a place where I spent 5 years in my twenties.)  So it will be a blend of old and new.

3.  Deepen my relationship.  My husband and I will yet again challenge ourselves to find the connection even though we’ll be physically apart.  Look for our blog to restart again in March of 2010.

4.  Make a contribution.  Give away a lot of what I know, whatever that is.  Expand and grow while I’m doing it.  This means figuring out the best way to guide busy women to be more powerful in their own lives.  This means finding the best way to link up women with each other on a global level and seeing how we women can make a difference as we empower ourselves as well as other women.   This is the high dream, people.   Any ideas are welcome.

5. Enjoy and learn from the military experience.  Since I will work on military bases and since my sons will serve their country and be in dangerous places, I want to trust that I can know that they will be safe.  I want to be able to let go of fear and control again and again.

What are your intentions for 2010?   How will you boil it down to a few good things for your life?  What will you do with this one precious life?

Twenty two years later, a few days before Christmas,  I now am writing with my son.  In 1986 he was 3 years old.   Back then we were dancing before dinner and now we are writing before breakfast.    Neither of us can be bothered to drag out our tree from storage with boxed up Christmas ornaments.  Andrew goes to CVS and buys a small artificial tree with tiny lights and balls.   It does the job and we are now officially with a tree.

Christmas with grown children at home can be a time of deep reflection and knowing each other on a different level.  There is friendship now instead of parenting.  There is joy and mutual admiration.  We both write in our own style and reflect on the past and the future.  How interesting the process is to me that we negotiate the stages of life….from parent to friend, fellow writer, companion.   And yet I’m still the Mom.  Weird.