Green

This morning I created this picture of another of the images that went through my mind during the acupuncture session yesterday.

The green colour is very unusual but vibrant.

Visions

Had a lovely acupuncture session when I had a series of pictures rolling through my head.  

I loved this dancing spiderweb.

Another poster

As I was working this morning I had this idea for the second poster in the office.  As soon as work finished I rushed into my room to do it – so all the writing work has been held up.

I have sent it off to the printer.  Now I am on pins waiting for it to be printed so I can see what the two posters look like up on the office wall.

More writing

I feel as if I have been writing all day.  Obviously I haven’t as I have had time to do this picture as well. I’ve called it  ‘textures’.  I am going to put it in the office to hopefully brighten it up.

I have never done anything like this before and I really enjoyed doing it.

Lots of words and pictures

Went through a lot of material for this report I am writing.  Went through a lot of pictures for some posters I am going to do for the improved office.

Of all the pictures I went through this is my favourite.

Too hot to do....

I feel too hot to do anything!  I feel very fortunate that this time of the year we do all the work first thing in the morning when it is cool.  I don’t feel like doing anything for the rest of the day.

Working with pictures

Have spent the afternoon working with Bianca’s pictures.

I love this one of the sunflower in Pierre’s garden.  Reminds me, and presumably him as well, of France.

Alive again

Had a lovely ballet and yoga class despite the heat.

This is how I saw I my pelvic floor coming alive again.

Students

We had a large group of 40 students from NESS school come this morning.  They did various activities in Buddha Garden, which included making some compost, exploring and then drawing a map of their explorations.  Bianca took this picture of the one group of students willing to lie down on the floor around their map.

I really enjoyed myself with them.  I really like teaching provided I don’t have to do it full time.

Picture found

Today we had a glorious clear out in the office.  We have decided how to re-arrange everything to make more space.  It means doing some minor building work but it fits in very well with what we are doing in the small store room.

While doing this I found the above picture that Val painted while she was staying in Buddha Garden. I really like it and think with a few modifications it would be a lovely picture to embroider.

Precious water

While it is so hot it is lovely to have some water around the place.  This is a picture of our very small pond by the Pryog orchard which I happened to notice when we were working there this morning.

At such a time of year it symbolises more than ever how precious water is.

Glorious red

Its red chillie time again and I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

The red is so glorious and I love how it gleams in the hot sun.

Dry but....

Had another lovely ballet lesson.

I realise there are parts of my body coming alive that I haven’t felt for a long time.  A complete contrast to the dryness of everything in nature at the moment.

Freeing

This is a picture showing how I felt yesterday.  How having the support to my pelvic floor somehow allows me to free my hips.

I feel there is a lot more I need to understand about getting support and being free.  Both for my body and myself.

Me and him

Martin, a volunteer, sent me this picture today.  Taken just before he left.  I rather like it.

Had a fabulous ballet class today.  We talked about hips and freedom and I realise how much freer I feel now that I have found the right support for my pelvic floor.  At last I feel I can dance without strain.

Beautification

This picture shows us scraping up the last of the dry leaves to make compost.  We were able to do a lot of beautification jobs today which is I think a good thing to do on the first day of the Tamil New Year.

Unfortunately my wifi doesn’t seem to be working properly which is a nuisance as without it there are a lot of jobs that are much more difficult to do.  I have no patience when Facebook takes ages to load!

My emotions visualised

Its Tamil New Year and a holiday so first thing I did today was to finish off all the pictures of my emotions.  I am really pleased with them. 

Mainly because the pictures show me surprising things about how I experience my emotions.

Be empty

Today I did several ‘be empty’ pictures for the meditation.

This is my favourite one.

Anger personified

This is a picture I did to express my anger.  I did it as part of a meditation I am doing about releasing my emotions.  It seems easier to do if I have pictures to look at instead of just imagining it.

Lovely food

As we were cutting off the basil seed heads this morning, a volunteer came up with an idea to use them in a toasted sandwich.  Which sounded delicious.

Reminded me that I need to do more work on the recipe website and could ask these Brazilian volunteers to help.  They seem to have done a lot of cooking since they have been here.  

Present

A volunteer who is leaving tomorrow gave me a lovely present today.  A picture of the sacred mountain (hill really!) in Tirruvannammallai where he has been staying this weekend.

I felt so touched and am very happy to have the picture on my work desk.

Workshop!

This morning I went to an Aviva workshop.  Was so delighted to at last have the time and space to do things like this.  It consists of a series of movements aimed at balancing and stabilising hormones in the body.  It seems to be aimed more at women in the reproductive phase of their lives so I am not sure how helpful it will be for me – although it is supposed to help.  In any case I will try it out for six months and see what happens.  It helped me understand why ballet classes help me so much.

It was also lovely to see my friend Appie and arrange to get together some time soon.

Mostly going

Today I feel that everyone is leaving.  A good volunteer who I think will end up working with Pierre. Vivek off to his project and Sivakala early because she has stomach pains. Reminded me of a song ‘lovers come, lovers go, mostly go’.

Although as the picture shows there cannot be going without coming.  Its just I make more of a song and dance about the going!  I do feel rather abandoned though.

A new garden

Today I went to a school in Auroville to see about starting a garden there for the students to work in.  This is the plot of land I was shown where it will be.  I wish that it could be an extra curricular activity and the students not be graded.  Because of how the school runs that is unfortunately not possible.

It now looks as if there will be at least three schools participating.  I have plans for writing a text book which is exciting. 

First cashews

Today we picked our first cashews.  Not many but they are very large and the fruit looks wonderful.  Although I don’t find it that nice to eat as it is rather astringent.

All the cashews we picked came from one tree that is a lot further on than all the others.  Here are the other cashews which are full of flowers.  Lets hope that a good proportion of them turn into cashews.

Where the pigs are

I feel I have spent the whole day in front of my computer.  Taking meeting notes, writing draft letters and then writing up the notes.  This picture is a map I did for one of the land groups to show where the pigs are in Buddha Garden.

By the time I did this I was so fed up with words that I did it entirely graphically.

Dancing from the inside out

Had another lovely dance class today.  I feel that I am learning to dance from the inside.

This picture seems to express this to me but I don’t know why.

Lovely lunch

Ashok is leaving at the end of this week so we went out to lunch.  Ended up in our usual place (Ananda Inn) because it looked like the Promenade, where we went first, would have too much loud music. 

This is the second time I have had to move to somewhere else to eat because of loud music.  Obviously its popular with everyone else, but I hate it when I have to strain to hear and can’t have a proper conversation. 

So glad I went

So very glad that I went to ballet class today.  It was so hot I wondered about going but it was a lovely class and better attended than many.  I felt I danced with a gentle energy which was lovely.

Although I can see in the picture that my face looks as if I am still straining.  I don’t have to strain to do things gently – I have to allow myself to do things gently and be carried by a gentle energy.

Pigs

These are the pigs that have recently been causing problems in Buddha Garden.  Someone had made a big hole in the fence so he could get water for the pigs from the pond.  We closed up the hole and put thorns along the fence but I think it makes a statement rather than solving the problem.

Have felt uncomfortably hot and rather dizzy today.  Also very tired, maybe because with it getting hotter I don’t get very restful sleep.  I also did not eat and drink enough today as I have felt constantly thirsty.

Was pleased that I managed to find and order what I hope will be better support for my pelvic floor.  I also invite more support for myself in Buddha Garden.

A bit grey

Today I have been writing about what my pelvic floor problems might be teaching me. I realise that I may be feeling depressed because I don’t want to accept that the way my body now works has changed.  When I was younger I didn’t have to worry so much about my body. I did what I wanted and didn’t think about the consequences.  Now I need to be more aware and thoughtful.

I have to remember what I was told about my dancing; that I have to get into the right relationship with my body as I get older.  I will go on looking for a solution that will enable me to continue with the work I love without damaging my body.  But its not just a case of getting the right support.  I have to bring more awareness into how I move and use my body so that I do things without strain.

Depressingly productive

Today I have felt rather depressed, I think because of what happened yesterday when I worked really hard.  I hate to think I might have to give up the work I enjoy because my body cannot manage it any more.  Or even that there are some things which I just mustn’t do anymore.

Yet this has been a very productive day! I have written more for myself today than for a very long time and found it very helpful.  Went into Pondy with Rajan and got a lot of things done for the garden.  I think the situation might be a bit like these jackfruit – growing into what it needs to be whatever the circumstances.

Love the work but....

This is a picture of some volunteers having fun in the garden after they had finished making compost.  Its getting much hotter so this is a good way to cool off.

Did a lot of digging and lifting while doing the compost.  I really enjoyed myself and loved the feeling of strength and fitness while I did it. But afterwards I felt it hadn’t been good for my pelvic floor.

I haven’t found a real solution for this health problem yet.