Monday, March 17, 2008

March 17, 2008

Dear Friends,

The week in Mexico with Dean and Rebecca Learner and old and new friends was wonderful and full of wonder. On the beach for every sunrise and sunset, I enjoyed the unfolding and refolding vibrancy of the sky and sea. Trumpeting colors announced and celebrated each day and the inestimable value of being present for the present.

At least twice a day I swam and walked in the warm clear water and felt the renewal of my skin, the quietness of my mind, and the buoyancy of my body and spirit. The horizon spoke eloquently of the wholeness of the earth and the interconnectedness of us all.

I rested each day, ate nourishing food, and found joy in the reality of the practice and ideas of yoga as they permeated my skin, mind, and spirit.

Rested and strong, I returned to New York. During the past week I went through tests and received the result at week’s end that there is no active cancer at this time!

While I am aware that there are no certainties for the future, I am equally aware that there is every reason to celebrate the present. I am eager to share this celebration with all of you who have been so generous with your prayers, thoughts, and help!

For now, I am appreciating normalization and recovery with no chemo. I am taking an estrogen blocker with a good record in preventing reoccurrence.

Spring is in the air -- sporadically. But the trees and bushes are budding and the calendar is making its way into the certainty of renewal.

I am grateful beyond words and appreciate each of my friends and blessings.

All the best!
Mary

22 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,

As always, enjoying reading your blog -- your news and observations which are beautifully written.

Feel your love for life, everything and everybody in it.

I'll see you in New York.

Masha

Unknown said...

What wonderful news. Stay well!

Donna in Ann Arbor

Jeff L. said...

Hi Mary,
We here on Long Island are so happy to hear the good news!
See you soon.
Jeff

Mike Allen said...

Dear Mary,
Linda and I are delighted to hear the good news. We have been thinking about you and hoping for this result.
I was also in Mexico with the Potters and Reading in early February - still trying to loose the weight...
Cheers,
Mike

anna and art said...

ah mary, welcome home, welcome back!
i love you. xo anna

Jenny said...

Friend Mary, Congratulations on a race well won. Thank you for showing us how it can be done, with grace, eloquence and connection. Love you as always, Jenny

Jeff H said...

Dear Mary,

No cancer present -- how heart-warmingly wonderful! Now, one recovery breath and on to the next pose.

Still plodding through Sacks' "Musicophilia", I came across the most illuminating passage on the experience of listening to music:

"The hearing of a melody is a hearing with the melody...It is even a condition of hearing melody that the tone present at the moment should fill consciousness entirely , that nothing should be remembered, nothing except it or beside it be present in consciousness...Hearing a melody is hearing, having heard, and being about to hear, all at once. Every melody declares to us that the past can be there without being remembered, the future without being foreknown."

So, hearer and the heard merge in a state of dhyana . Ahhh...

I look forward to your continued recovery and hope to see you in June.

With love and a big hug,

Jeff H

Kevin said...

Mary,
What wonderful, wonderful news...How extraordinary you are, Mary, and already legend here, at the bend in the River, as I and Erika, and all my students celebrate you and your bright light on this loving path to recovery.
Looking forward to seeing you this summer in the city.
....and also one day picking you up where the long boats dock that float down from Vienna. The Danube is swollen now touching to the top step of the riverbank full of the full moon and the wet forests from the north. It moves silently through the night like liquid black glass, using itself effortlessly and guarding it's own powerful element. By light it's the same but you can feel it's blue weight pushing the buds out of those Buda trees....It's Spring...
And we keep sending out love.
Kevin
&Erika

Margie Rosenblum said...

Oh Mary, Such a relief. I am so so happy for this miracle.

Love, Margie

claudia said...

Mary!
l whish you a good easter of rebith!
here in venice is a very strange cold spring!
claudia

Unknown said...

Mary,

Chris told me your good news and I wanted to tell you that we are very happy for you. Stay well!
Sandy and Danny

Karen said...

Dear Mary,

How wonderful to hear this news!

I thought of you often the week you were in Mexico, knowing how much you would enjoy being there. I look forward to seeing you soon in Ann Arbor.

Much love,
Karen A.

Claudia said...

Dear Mary,

Such a blessing that you are feeling much better.

Thinking of you often and always sending you the best.

Saludos from Miami -
Claudia

kate veitch said...

I join with many others in celebrating your news and your buoyant spirits. Here in south-east Australia, some welcome autumn rain after a long drought ... the soil and plants drinking it up ... soaking in the goodness.

in gratitude

Kate V

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,

Your writing is so sublime and the news it brings uplifting. I am very happy you are well.

Bill M

alexander vreeland said...

Dear Mary,

I am so happy to hear this good news. Life is so filled with learning experiences and you seem to have faced yours with great honesty and grace.

Bravo,

Alexander

Unknown said...

namaste dear mary dunn, you are such an inspiration and i salute your beautiful feet and soul. i can get my heals to the floor in adho mukha svanasana!!!!!! thanks to you. what a wonderful health recovery. may be i shall see you ann arbor or in pune again. your light shines bright. betsy

Unknown said...

namaste dear mary dunn, you are such an inspiration and i salute your beautiful feet and soul. i can get my heals to the floor in adho mukha svanasana!!!!!! thanks to you. what a wonderful health recovery. may be i shall see you ann arbor or in pune again. your light shines bright. betsy

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,
I used to get get news about your health from different people including Jake Clennel who gave me the latest news of your recovery. Today I was remembering you and just gave a casual search for your name and came across this blog.
You have written so beautifully.
I am very happy about the recovery. I salute thee for the courage you showed and the example you set.
We are all fine here.
With warm regards,
Uma, Pune

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,
You don't know me, but I have often heard about you from both Lolly Font and Osha Hanfling. I'm coming to NYC from SF on 4/9 thru 4/13. I've practiced yoga for almost 30 years, had my hip replaced 3 years ago, and remain an ardent yogi. I'd love, if possible, to have a private class with you while in NYC. If this is possible, please email me at: diane.master@gmail.com or call me on my cell while I'm in NYC at 650/465-2644, or email me when you get this message. I'm so glad to see that you are remaining disease-free!

Gandharva said...

Dear Mary,
i'm so happy to read that good news!
i send you all my love.

Carlo
p.s. even here in italy it's still cold... but trees tell that spring is just over the corner!
:-)

maria c said...

Hello Dearest Mary!

It was so wonderful to open your blog with all the poetry that comes from you and I can picture you in Mexico blended with that beauty and quietness. I enjoyed every word you said and how you said them! Grace, elegance, cheerfulenss and love come to you at once and to all. A lot of "punya" :).

I am fascinated to hear the very very good news about your health, and it's certainly a reason to celebrate it. Cheers!!!
Thank you soooo much for sharing that with us.

You are alwasy in my thoughts and deeply in my heart. Deep down I hope to see you sometime in the future. Perhaps one of these days you want to check how CA feels like :)?
The sky has been blue with a nice breeze and pleasant temperature. I think that could fit you well :) and also good wishes, love and hugs!
Here it goes one from me, a big loving sincere one.

I have a friend who was one of those fortunate persons who could be around you in Mexico, and so I heard a bit more about the retreat with you all amazing teachers and heard about your vibrant and radiant persona, which is truly your nature.
Once in a while I see Elizabeth here and ask about you. So, even thought I don't write that often I read, ask and think about you and chant too!
I like music and the Sanskrit language sounds inviting to go deeper in and them find that silent which is sacred.

Om, Om, Om, shanti, shanti, shanti, ananda, ananda, ananda, sukha, sukha, sukha, maitry, karuna, mudita
Namaste!

warm big hug from maria :)!