Cheryl Thomas, RYT
www.cherylthomas.com yoga@cherylthomas.com 415-308-3377 |
The Long Walk
I'm a reader, or a want-to-be-better reader. No Pulitzer Prize winning novels or moving autobiographies for me. I'm the Stephen King-type of reader. Maybe you remember the series he wrote under the pseudonym (try to spell that!) of Richard Bachman, specifically The Long Walk. The Long Walk is about a walk with no end where the contestants start in Maine and walk toward Florida. No stops, no rest, no finish line. The winner is the last man standing (or crawling). The appeal is that the winner gets anything they want for life. Sounds peachy, right? Here's the important detail--anyone falling below 4 miles per hour is, ahem, shot. This brings me to The Camino De Santiago. It's a long walk of 500 miles, but you do not have to crawl on bloody stumps to finish, or so I'm told. The Camino is a major Christian pilgrimage that ends in Galicia in northwestern Spain in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela or St. James the Great. After Shirley MacLaine's book and Martin Sheen's movie, The Way, the walk has gained in popularity with over 275,000 walking last year. Americans comprise less than 10% of the walkers. Walkers stay in albergues (hostels), municipales or private inns that are idyllically (another spelling conundrum) scattered along the route, providing lodging, hot showers, and meals. The walk is a part of my husband, Patrick's, 65 Things Before 66. We leave this week for Madrid and will make our way to the start in France and then drop into Spain after a climb (the first day) over the Pyrenees (more spelling challenges). The typical day will look like this: - Up and out around 8 or earlier for cafe con leche, which I'm told is excellent. Start walking.
- After a couple of hours a town should appear for a snack or meal.
- Walk more, maybe totallling 10-15 miles, arriving at your destination, maybe around 2-3:00
- Check into albergue, inn
- Take a shower, nappy, wash clothes
- Explore town, dinner/wine
- Early to bed.
This routine gets repeated over/over for a period of days until you've reached the end. It's common and recommended to take rest days. You can even have your packs transported from town to town for a small fee. Some jump off the Camino, spending extra days in Pamplona or taking a side trip to Bilbao. There are no rules. The common adage is " It's your Camino". The walk is not Cheryl Strayed-hard with obese packs, abused hips and battered feet. The route has plenty of places to stop, eat, rest and overnight. WiFi is everywhere. My pack will weigh just 12 pounds (I'm hoping) and will hold one change of clothes, hiking sandals, small towel, silk liner, down jacket (packs in it's pocket), ultra-light wind/rain jacket, a tube of lipstick (gotta look good on the Camino). If I need anything along the way, there are pharmacies, sport stores and the like. There are "the knowns", like distance between towns, lodging opportunities, and things to see. Patrick has done a thesis-worthy amount of research. We've followed the Facebook pages of Americans on the Camino, met with former and future hikers and test-drove our packs and feet. We've asked lots of questions and probably have too much information. Then there are "the unknowns". How will the knees and hips and feet do day after day? How much will it rain? Should we have packed a poncho and included a light sleeping bag? I am not walking to finish and if all goes well, I'll will spend 3 weeks on the Camino. From that point, I'll find a route to Madrid and return home. Patrick, on the other hand, will walk to see the Cathedral and attend the daily pilgrims' mass where the "botafumeiro", a huge censer with incense, swings down from the cathedral ceiling. He'll then spend another month doing some guy-time exploring Europe. I've posted some links below if you'd like more information and certainly I'll know more when I return. To wish me well, you say "Buen Camino"! See you all in June! References Facebook: American Pilgrims on the Camino (APOC) On Oprah: The Hardest Part of Shirley MacLaine's 500-Mile Pilgrimage The Movie - The Way with Martin Sheen. It's on Itunes The End of the Walk in Santiago. The botafumiero is a 2:21 on the videoI'm on Facebook.
Want to read some of my past articles?. They're archived right here. Enjoy.
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More Tony Briggs.....Classroom Safety and Self-Care is a series of three workshops on Saturdays, 2:00-5:00 pm at Wellness by Design in Petaluma, June 20 and July 18. Keep yourself and your students safe. He will cover general principles of joint rehabilitation, safe variations of basic asanas, manual adjustments and the use of props. Info here. Gotta love Yoga on Center in Healdsburg, They have a Summer Pass for June 1-August 31 for $300. Yes, $300 for all the yummy yoga you can take. Thanks, Jenn and Katina! Mindful Menopause: Yoga for Women of a Certain Age with Leslie Howard. You know who you are.Menopause can mean fluctuating hormones, which can make sleep more difficult, belly fat harder to combat, feelings of irritability can increase, and desire for sex sometimes diminishes. Friday, June 5, 6 - 9:00 at the Yoga and Movement Center in Walnut Creek. Essential oils can be 50 - 70x more powerful than herbs and can help the body address most everything that synthetic medication can. Learn more and join the Natural Solution Revolution with Intro to Essential Oils Class with Kelsi Anderson Monday, May 11, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM. It's in Petaluma. For info, dates and location, contact Kelsi at kelsimandersong@gmail.com. The Sonoma County Regional Parks is offering classes led by the Sonoma County Family YMCA in the parks. Coming soon: a yoga and hiking class, training for trail runs, TRX sessions, Insanity and PiYo classes and weekly stroller walks. The Yoga and Hiking is on Thursday at Ragle Park. Go here for more info. Devi Yoga Center is offering early morning yoga on Wed and Fri 7-8:00 a.m. with Lance Brown. BUT wait! Beating that is Shannon's Monday and Wednesday morning class at 6:00 a.m. at Thrive Yoga in Sebastopol. This is a great chance for you early risers to get your practice in before your busy day begins. My weekly schedule is below (scroll down or click here!). Or, you can always go to my website and click on the always up-to-date calendar to find where I might be.
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 Women-Specific Signs of Stroke
A new national survey shows that most women don't know the risks or symptoms females face when it comes to having a stroke (heart attacks, too). Here's a bit from the study. Read the entire study here. "Women do not think they are going to have a stroke. They think of it as a man's disease," said Greene-Chandos. "You have to know when you are having a stroke, you have to recognize that it's a stroke and you have to get to the emergency room and receive the medication. Women shouldn't ignore their symptoms or hope they will go away because they may lose their opportunity to receive acute treatment."
Women-specific symptoms may include hiccups, dizziness that is not classic vertigo, headaches, atypical chest pain and/or numbness of the entire body with one side being more numb that the other. |
 Yoga Festival Coming to Sebastopol
Sebastopol is the center of the universe when it comes to all things yoga, or that's what we like to think. We have an amazing collection of instructors and studios and NOW, a Yoga Festival.
The wONEder Festival will be celebrating the Spirit of yoga, beyond the physical asana practice, opening into the ancient tradition, of cultivating inner clarity, peace and open hearted devotion. For yoga lovers, new or simply curious.
There will be open studios and a number of private teachers celebrating YOGA with a single day event that begins with an opening ceremony and a
'wONEder Parade of Flowers' right here in the Sebastopol town square, Celebration will take place at the dhyana Center
If you're a teacher or a studio, you definitely want to get in early to get involved either as an open studio, teacher or sponsor. You can contact Quiana Grace Frost at iliveingrace@yahoo.com.
So, mark your calendar for Saturday, September 12, 2015, 9am-9pm. There will be more info coming.
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 When Medicine and Yoga MeetThis is a great Q & A with Loren Fishman, MD. Here just an example:
Q: What immediate benefits do you see after a patient does yoga with you? A: It sounds almost corny, but after about 10 or 20 minutes the patients have better color and look younger. They become more willing to try poses they wouldn't have dreamed of before. It's amazing to watch people who have been in pain and feel lousy become decidedly more upbeat. Less pain and anxiety, better balance and range of motion almost always accompany the first session. I know he says it sounds corny, but I've found this to be true. Students look brighter and lighter. The entire article is here. |
 Tassajara Hot Springs I got a bit carried away in writing about my time at Tassajara Hot Springs Retreat Center last summer, writing 4 articles, which you can see here, here, here and here, (whew!). Many of you expressed interest in going to Tassajara. Well, here's your opportunity. I will be there again this summer for the Healing Power of Stillness assisting Britt Fohrmanfrom July 21 to 26. This would be a great time for you to come and you want to hang out with us!
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Schedule of Upcoming Classes
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Weeks of May 17 - June 21, 2015
Tuesday (Subbed - see www.loveyogaone.com)
Noon - 1:00
YogaOne, Petaluma
All Levels Yoga
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Thursday (Subbed - see www.yogaingraton.com)
8:45 - 9:45
Graton Community Club, Graton
9:00 - 10:30
YogaOne, Petaluma
All Levels Flow
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Graton Yogis Info:
Did you know your class pass (get these from your instructor) are accepted by all yoga teachers at Yoga in Graton?
We Gratonite Yogis have a place to call our own. It's www.
yogaingraton.com. There is information about current and new yoga classes offered in Graton.
Don't live in Graton? No problem. We want you to come anyway.
You cannot be lost if you don't care where you are.
Judith Lasater
When people ask me what equipment I use, I tell them my eyes.
Ansel Adams
"Not to have what we want is stressful; to have what we do not want is stressful." Buddha
Dalai Lama: "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
"Everything will be alright in the end. And if it is not alright, it's not yet the end!" The Magnolia Hotel movie
If your Food can go bad, it's good for you. If it can't go bad, it's bad for you. Originally pinned by Michael Leaming, Ed.D. onto Fitness, Nutrition & Wellness
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