Friday, July 6, 2007

The Sixth of July == More Independence

Departure Memorial planned for today!

The timing is good as I am strong enough to go home to the West side.

It will be good to get back home, and I have plans in place for the care I need.

One of the side effects of great spirits is the possibility of overdoing...one I explored yesterday. So I will be guarding my sleep, rest and quiet time to do my big job...

To all of you who are with me in this journey, know that I am reaching out to each of you in spirit and would be in a more concrete way if I could and do the work of geting well simultaneously.


The messages of hope and wisdom and healing and lightness are the treasure of this time.

With love,
Mary

33 comments:

T-Rex said...

Good news!

We know you're with us, Mary, so trust that you can focus on what you need to do for your "big job."

Meanwhile, I will be practicing the chants Leslie taught us on Sunday...

With love and all good thoughts.
Tracy Y

Adina :) said...

Good Morning Mary!

It was great news to see that ur going home today.

Its natural for u to overdo -sooo cool it- and be sure to get your rest.

Sending u a big hug and loving light and

You will be well

Adina:)

Unknown said...

Mary, it sounds as if you have all the experience you need to care for yourself as a loving mother cares for her child.May you rest, recover, be deeply nourished in the comfort and familiarity of your own home. If you feel an occasional cool hand on your forehead or the gentle fluffing up of your pillow, know that it is the mother (or father) in all of us nursing you back to health. Then we can watch you run out to play in the sunshine with your friends!!

Unknown said...

Hi Mary,
Welcome home to the west side, a great place for healing.
xx
Lisa M

Dmitri Shapira said...

Good Morning Mary,

Congratulations on your ever more independence and on going home today. Thank you so much for continuing to blog but please rest too!

With love,
Dmitri

lesjmanes said...

hi mary, It always feels good to get home when one has been away....as the saying goes "Home is where the heart is"! there is a comfort in being home so rest well and get well!!.. your wonderful spriit is secure in my heart and my rays of healing and blessing are ever flowing to you. lots of xxooleslie

Dana Olson said...

Good morning Mary!
So glad to hear that you are heading home!
'Tis indeed the best place for healing!
Namaste,
Dana & Charlie

min said...

bravo - enjoy your home and learn to rest in it - one sniff around - and rest and admire your surroundings....xoxoxo minouche

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,

We are happy you are doing so well.
Good luck with the move home.

Love,
Danny and Sandy

Marc Z said...

Hi Mary, oh my, that (is) good news, your going home today! I think anticipating future temptation to do do do may well keep you at just be be be. Ever hear "don't just do something, sit there!"?

Like the yoga practice you know so well, now some of your body cells need practice on newer asanas. You'll need rest for that. Of course, maybe once home having nice music to accompany will make that easier.

Of course, you could always consider that listening is a form of doing, and that form's usually restful!

Above all, welcome to your home. I hope you got to enjoy the fireworks from your window the other night. I "visited" you by watching them on tv (never do that) but (I think) listening from the window!

Fingers spread wide,
Marc

Anonymous said...

Good Morning, Mary!
Good to hear you will be back in the comfort of your own home! Thank you for keeping in touch. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Please rest well and get well.
Lots of love,
Varoti

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,
I'm glad you are going home today. Welcome back to the Upper West Side. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.
Love,
Zippy

Mary Beth Early said...

Mary,
So good that you can go back home! Advice-giving is such a touchy thing. My experience shows that going home presents so many temptations to do more, catch up, fix things, etc. The advice? (right, you didn't ask, but here it is) The big job has to come first.
I am so much better at giving this advice than following it. Life's lessons - every day it seems to be the same lesson over and over - rest, heal, wait, observe, persist. I think you're a better student than me, so maybe you won't have to do it over so many times.
Sending love and restful thoughts,

Mary Beth

Kevin said...

Mary,
Grace waits deep and still on the window ledge.
Turning her attention only away from restlessness and inertia.
Puffed a bit and huddling up against the sudden summer's windy chill.
Like a Magnetic Field,
Subject and Object the same
We continue pulling for you.
Get home safe, and rest, rest. rest.

Dena said...

Dear Mary,
Just heard the news about you and am already inspired by your blogs. You are always so loving and helpful to me when we meet. My prayers are out there for you. Glad to read you are responding so well.
Namaste'
Dena

Unknown said...

Yippeeee!!! You're goin' home..Now REST...really, it's the greatest. Once you try it on for size you'll see how cool it is!! So wonderful seeing your blog this morning.
Lot's 'O Love and Healing Thoughts, Maureen

Unknown said...

Hi Mary,
Great news. I think that you'll heal much faster at home.
My father was of the generation and gender that never complained about anything....until he went through chemo. You are so positive and full of light that even the chemotherapy doesn't diminish the warmth and love that radiates from you. I am thinking of you often everyday.
Inspire. What a good word. You inspire me.
xxxooo
Bill Mosser

Jenny said...

Finest Mary, I am pleased each morning to see your communication -A little screen meditation that sets me for the day. You are brave and solid and inspiration, but I already knew that. I send you all my love and devotion for your healing time. Rest and rest some more in the comfort of going home. Tender love, Jenny

Barbara Nicol said...

Dear Mary,

Glad you are home. Envy your time to rest a little, as the days before Amma's arrival are a whirlwind with often little time to sleep.

There is a famous sleeping lama in Dehra Dun, His Holiness Mindrolling Rinpoche. Because he was called "the sleeping lama", I thought he would be mild-mannered...I thought so until this immense bird of prey, like an eagle, with claws bared -- I can still see the claws in my mind's eye-- landed on his roof just as I was going in the gate. It made my hair stand on end.

This lama was terrifying -- he sat up when I came in -- he was very ill so it was a great blessing to be let in -- and looked at me with an eye -- one eye -- that saw through me, everything about me... he called me over to the bed and whacked me with all his force across my head .. he must have been aiming at some sort of center because my reaction was a feeling of great peace, bliss, happiness and gratitude... I walked away with the highest respect for him as a lama..and only years later found out he was the one of the four lineage holders (for the four schools) in Tibetan Buddhism...

I guess this is just a story that illustrates how much work can be accomplished while "sleeping"...

Much love,
Barbara

Erika C. said...

Dear Mary,
You have always been an inspiration to me in class and now you are an inspiration as you go through this challenging time!

All I want to say is thank you, thank you..for being who you are, for everything you have taught and are teaching me and so many other people, not just about yoga but about life!

sending love and prayers,

Lucienne said...

WelcOMe hOMe, deaREST Mary. Place pillows in every corner in every roOM...they will remind you to REST.
We're happy to kNOW that you are in your own nest.
with love, lucienne

Jackie said...

Mary, we're so glad you're going home. I wish I were in NY, but we all trust you to do, and not (usually) overdo, and to take exactly what you need, as you are a healthy person.

We all love you so much, it is hard to surrender concrete response. But we want you to, so that you can concentrate on your health, from the narrowest mote of observation to the widest and most openly restorative acceptance of the embrace of the mother tide of health in which we all float.

We will be there as needed.

All love,
Jackie Austin

PS Our community also sends love to your family in this time, especially that grandchild whose photo you keep showing off. Keep the brags coming and heal fast, lady, please, so you can do weird childasanas again ASAP. xxxx

claire colvin said...

Mary,

I have been following your blog and your progress in the hospital, and I have just read the magnificent news that you are going home! Your very own bed is always the best medicine! Please rest rest rest. You are in my thoughts every day. Sending much love, Claire

Anonymous said...

Mary,
Now is the time to be selfish, full of self. Be indulgent and let yourself be lazy like a cat, sleeping in the sun, all cozy and warm. Every once in a while stretch and clean yourself and eat,and then go back to sleep!!
Sweet dreams.
Love,
Cynthia

Jen said...

what's most important is that we reach out to you and bolster you. Ha! Pun intended! Let us prop you up on this next step.

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,
I recently heard about your cancer, and now have linked into your blog.

Your have shared generously your gifts, your wonderful teaching, your humour, your dedication.

Lots of Light to you, and all the best.
Leslie Hogya
Victoria, B.C.

Tina L said...

It is both exiciting and inspiring to hear that you arrived home! Knowing that you are taking the time to care for yourself is the greatest gift to all of us.

Each day of my practice both on and off the mat, you are in my heart.

Love and healing to you.
Tina L

cathy said...

Practiced with the girls at Bedford Yoga. We send our love.
Cathy

Robin Janis said...

on your homecoming, a summer poem:


Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faith



Every summer
I listen and look
under the sun's brass and even
into the moonlight, but I can't hear

anything, I can't see anything -
not the pale roots digging down, nor the green stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,

nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still,
every day,

the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker -
green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk.

And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves,

the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum.

And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in the dirt

swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear?

One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn's beautiful body
is sure to be there.

Mary Oliver

Robin Janis said...

on your homecoming, a summer poem:


Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faith



Every summer
I listen and look
under the sun's brass and even
into the moonlight, but I can't hear

anything, I can't see anything -
not the pale roots digging down, nor the green stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,

nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still,
every day,

the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker -
green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk.

And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves,

the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum.

And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in the dirt

swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear?

One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn's beautiful body
is sure to be there.

Mary Oliver

Barbara Scott said...

Dear Mary Louise,

You know by the salutation that this is from your NC family. One that has known and loved you all your life. We were,of course, distressed to learn of your illness but encouraged by the prognosis. You know we are thinking of you and have you in our hearts abd prayers. Come to BR soon for the healing power of the mountains and memories.

Love, Barbara

henriet said...

Dear Mary,
You are in my thoughts. I remember a class in which you asked us, with your playful delight, to give bouyancy to the chest with the image of a helium balloon. The joy and lightness you help us seek draw inside and rest with our ever expanding love and respect for you.
Henriet

Valerie Melman said...

Mary, this is Valerie Melman, one of the trio of South African girls who so loved our yoga retreats in Isla with you and Dean!
I sit here at my summer home looking out at the peace and serenity of the lake and picture you with tranquility helping you get through the darkest hours. Be strong, our strong Yogini!
Valerie