Sundog Stories

Two days after we moved in Mrs Sprout came through our always unlocked back door, strode up the 3 narrow steps into her old kitchen, searched the top of my new fridge for tickets  to a concert at the NAC that night. Her friend waited in the car. She asked if I’d taken them, and questioned what I’d done.

Maple is a short yoga nidra practice that takes you across a white iron bridge to a large maple tree on an island.

My husband hitched rides all over the world when he was young. I’ve only dared it a few times, including a ride, on a heavy rainy day, up the sunshine coast, and once when we hitchhiked to our honeymoon. Bend in the road is a story about a canoe trip down the Rideau river, hitchhiking and regrets.

What is it about free wine, food, free anything,  that sends so many of us into a tizzy? Interestingly, we sometimes question the virtue of free items because we judge them to have no, or low, quality. In our minds we unfairly de-value the thing, decide that there must be something wrong, if it's free.

“We are all compost for worlds we cannot yet imagine.” (David Whyte) Composting has always been a bit of a surprise, an experiment: I never quite know what will slowly, and sometimes suddenly grow out of the bins’ corners. And I am a composition of all the good wishes and warnings, insightful and thoughtless, helpful and spiteful comments,  all the conversations I have ever had, and not just...

I fell off a ladder yesterday. The whole thing collapsed and I found myself lying on the ground, testing body parts, wondering about what I might have broken.  It turns out I got away with a sprained ankle - it could have been so much worse, I tell myself. Sure, this will keep me not busy for a few days or more;  and perhaps it is a good time to practice my headstands, to see the world f...

The strange  sound, snaps, cracks, gurgles and whips of a thawing lake.

Some meeting spots create the conditions to support a rich, diverse marine life, including Krill: tiny, shrimp-like sea creatures. To escape hungry predators Krill migrate daily, vertically, in huge swarms that can be seen from outer space;  but despite their brave efforts they end as fodder: far down in deep waters when the sun is high, and near the surface of the rivers in the night. Krill...

For some, awe is proof of God; for others, science not only adds an explanation but increases their sense of awe,  lifts them across the gap left by not knowing, sets them down on the others side, leaving them to wonder, wanting to know more.

Warning: not much happens in this story, unless  you count my description of a breathing lake; or count the unfortunate rent in my winter coat, torn by the thorns of tall blackberry canes.   In this story, no coyote will suddenly trot across a frozen lake; and your tolerance, your threshold for boredom, might not be as high as mine.

Come February, when the sun shows increasing signs of strength, when roots emerge from hibernating bulbs and their fleshy green spears have pried their way out,  only then will I bring them out of their patient darkness.

Some endings are explicit: clearly we are told what  happens next: threads are gathered into tidy bundles, there is no room to question the explanation because the teller has decided on this version, as the truth.   Other endings are implicit, and have you wondering what it means  to live happily ever after.

Explore an icy world in this Yoga Nidra practice. 

For years, I have been palming off a particularly adorable baby picture of my brother as my own. We mostly share the same features: blue eyes, nose, cheekbones. But that is where the similarity ends.

This Walking Meditation has you attending to the colours that surround you.

Are the paths we walk our own? What I mean is this: does everything unfold with intention, according to my own plans and free will? Is there inside me a tiny wizard of Oz, hiding behind the curtains of my mind, peering out through bony sockets, pulling  levers, turning dials, shouting hoarse commands, keeping me on time, and on the straight and narrow path?

Sounds of a water, a canoe, crows and a loon (at the very end).

A few minutes of rain and thunder recorded last August.

This Yoga Nidra practice involves rapid visualizations of objects and images.

Apparently he always had a book on his lap, marked his notes in its margins; filled notebooks with observations on migration, nature and spring. Later they all went missing: someone who was more practical likely used them to started a fire on a cold winter night. Refrain is about Atti, my great grandfather, and the tracks we follow.

Sometimes you meet the perfect word, like gigil, a Tagalog word meaning the irresistible urge to squeeze someone because they are loved or cherished. And sometimes there is no single word to capture a fleeting moment.

This Yoga Nidra practice takes you onto a field of snow and sun.

This meditation will make you more aware of the chaos of your mind, and practice navigating the waves of your thoughts.

The first step you take on a frozen lake is a beginning that you will never feel again. It catches the breath in your throat, and has you wondering: is it worth it? will I fall? should I turn back? And with every step you leave a little bit of yourself behind.

This long practice takes you deep into a forest.