after the storm

Sap buckets appeared on Perkins Road this morning...mere days after the wrath of february's windstorm battered trees and patience. The storm made war zones of backyard swingsets and felled mighty pines during the howling night.

Bent and dented, the buckets collect drops of springtime hope. Clear sap that will turn amber and sugary awaits. Snow melt hastens and crocuses dare to blink from frozen flowerbeds. Last gasp of winter? Maple trees offering to sweeten our season..counting out the in- between where winter relinquishes its hold and spring begins, drip by drip and drop by drop.

sending peace.

I am constantly enamored by the rituals of "beginnings and endings" celebrated in cultures around the world; Chinese New Year celebrations that send glowing lanterns upward, a multitude of kites flown skyward in India and the discovery of tiny charms tucked inside Mardi Gras cakes sugared violet, gold and green.

New yoga classes begin in march and I look forward to the possibility of offering breathwork/yoga to oncology patients this spring. Daffodils and downward dog pose? Sounds like a good way to harken springtime.

One of the patients who we have worked with shared with me her tools for staying positive and strong while on her cancer journey. She relaxes into a visual of herself canoeing on a pristine lake in northern NH. She controls the speed and direction of her canoe and moves forward gently, peacefully and with purpose as the calm fills her. Quiet stillness envelopes her and she can hear her own breath and heartbeat.

I will have the opportunity to conference with the Fox Chase Cancer Center's planning board next week in an effort to develop their Women's Cancer Center's Resource project as it relates to integrative and complementary therapies. Patients and their families there will be able to access many avenues of care to promote wellness and ease the cancer journey. Now that's a new beginning worth celebrating!! Someone lend me a kite.

sending peace.

And she left amidst birdsong...the last few days in hospice house my client was lullabyed by the songbirds who "sang her home". Early on, during our Reiki sessions we talked of how she found comfort in having the birdfeeder deck built lovingly by her husband nearby her bed. She was extraordinarily present in her journey; her spirit in perfect alignment with each step.

Cardinals, woodpeckers with bright red feathers, bossy bluejays and tiny sparrows all lined up daily to show her how it feels to let go and fly. She watched, really watched and listened to their wise song.

And fly she did...gifting those who knew her with smiling eyes, with wisdom, with her agenda for a brilliant life and finally with her heartlight. I have deep gratitude for knowing her, for allowing me to witness and walk this journey with her and mostly for offering me a chance to hold the space as she unfurled her wings.

Reiki in hospice offers a space and a place for graceful transformation at the end of life. It allows for that honest internal dialogue to be heard in the gentlest way.

She and I, we chose to say "till we meet again" instead of goodbye.

I wait with an open heart.

sending peace.