The condo is in disarray, the van is partially packed and in a couple days we’ll be waving goodbye to our favorite city on the east coast. Summer in Boston has been both energizing and over-stimulating, an odd combination of paradoxical states to exist in one body. But for me, both are very real.
Walking around MIT and visiting their museums, hibernating in the Harvard Coop and shopping the Square, walking on the Esplanade while Bella swims in the river and chases squirrels, attending concerts and shows by world class performers – and being able to go everywhere on public transportation – all very energizing experiences. 
There’s an intellectual aliveness in this city, the home of a couple hundred colleges and universities – including ivy leaguers. And athleticism is everywhere and represented by all age groups. It’s flat out invigorating to be in a city where intellect and fitness interact so organically.
New England is a diverse vacation spot too. 90 minutes from Boston you can be on Cape Cod and an hour’s ferry takes you to Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket. Then, of course, rural Maine is right up the road and pastoral Vermont is just a couple hour’s drive. 
New Hampshire, close by too. I had the opportunity to spend a week on the Cape and take a short trip to a friend’s sheep farm in Vermont that offered million dollar views of rolling hills for miles in all directions. 
I love this part of the country for all those reasons.
I’m also exhausted from the experience. City life is loud, busy, fast and relentless. We were staying at the intersection of two very busy throughways in town, and in front of a bustling expressway. Those are also reasons why it’s so easy to get around town. But the non-stop cacophony of traffic, horns, sirens is trying on the nerves and my patience level was tested to the max each day by cyclists who think they’re above traffic laws and buses speeding past cars and just assuming the lanes belong to them. 
Straying from a walking path by a foot or so might cause a rear end collision from a roller skater, runner and cyclist in a real hurry to go somewhere but who doesn’t think it’s necessary to alert anyone he’s about to whiz past. And this was during the “off” summer season. Imagine the craziness when kids come back to school, soon.
Once upon a time, this lifestyle was my lifestyle and Boston was home for a few years. It felt perfectly normal then to be part of the hustle bustle of this busy town. But somehow, as my system has adapted to warmer seasons, so too has my need for peace and quietude. Since living in a heavily wooded community in a much smaller southern city – or as I call it, a town – I seem to thrive on living life more slowly. I’m happier, more content and, frankly, feel more at home. So while Boston offered a really fun summer, it’s time now to come home and resume a life that’s a bit more ratcheted down.
Maybe age has something to do with it, though many active folks my age in Boston thrive on the go, go, go. I think my go, go, go years are behind me. After a very fortunate, fulfilling and successful career, I’ve retired. And now it feels time to live life a little smaller. A bit more pensively, experiencing adventure in a slower, richer way.
So – bye bye Boston, for now, anyway. My husband keeps devising ways to spend more summers here – maybe we will, maybe we won’t. But I do know that living here for good is likely not in my cards. And I love this city. That would be my paradox
These days I experience freedom on my bike and I feel youthful and vibrant. The rides are no longer destination oriented, they’re experiential and offer a slice of life in the slower lane. There’s plenty to see by moving more slowly; just like the freedom of the road offered by 
actthreedotnet 
Yoga Is Yoga – Right?
Posted in exercise, meditation, mid-life, recreation, spiritual, spirituality, yoga, tagged BKS Iyengar, boomer women, commentary, meditation, new life directions, observation, personal growth, Religion and Spirituality, Yoga on September 30, 2011| 4 Comments »
A beautiful quote that captures the essence of Iyengar Yoga by its mastermind BKS Iyengar. All yoga is rooted in the blend of mind, spirit and body. But this particular style emphasizes correct physical alignment while contorting the body into prescribed poses. It aims to use the concentration necessary for correct posture as a tool in teaching meditation. In order to bend and stretch as required, each pose is deconstructed into its minutiae parts forcing concentration on all nuances of muscle and bone configuration. And that trains the mind to focus.
Image via Wikipedia
I’ve been practicing Iyengar style yoga for 14 years and it’s made a significant difference in my flexibility and attitude toward life. (Though this gorgeous pose is, sadly, not me.) It has also enhanced my meditation practice by quieting the mind and tiring out the body, readying it for silent focus on the breath. And, in all those years, I’ve had just one injury to a shoulder because I rotated my arm farther than my body was ready for.
Recently I’ve branched out to experience other teachers and styles of yoga, maybe because my attitude is one of experimentation these days. I’ve enjoyed the change and the atmosphere in the different studios, but I’m grateful for my Iyengar training because without it, I wouldn’t know how to properly practice the pose. And neither do the other students, evidently, as I scan the room and notice poor body alignment. The teacher may demonstrate the pose correctly, but none explains the process to the students.
Image via Wikipedia
Knees and thighs are not charged, leg rotations are not accurate, spines are not straight, ham strings aren’t being stretched – the list goes on. And the teacher says nothing, does not walk the room and adjust the poses. All students are being left to interpret the instruction on our own. I’m waiting for injuries to occur all around me. It surprises me how teachers can teach without teaching. They demonstrate, they talk the pose through – but none has ever explained flexion of muscle, rotation of limbs, proper knee placement and more.
My suggestion for all yoga enthusiasts is to start with a few series of classes to learn the Iyengar method in order to know how the poses are supposed to be aligned before launching into any other style yoga. Injured necks, backs, limbs and more are painful, in some cases, long term problems that can be prevented with the appropriate instruction.
What are your yoga experiences? And how have they affected your life?
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