What do you hold on to when you let go?

"Hold on to what is good,
Even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand,
Even if someday I'll be gone
away from you."

A Pueblo Indian Prayer

What do you hold on to when you let go?

When a child you raised moves on and creates a life of their own after years by your side. Day by day in your family home and sight. Comings and goings and they are no longer in front of you. Yet always with you.

When a loved one moves to another realm and you had questions. Have questions you wish you'd had a chance to ask. And you realize that living your truth may answer the best a question can be answered.

When a career you invested decades building and cultivating to master evolves. Success changes it's manifestation before your eyes. You watch it's definition fuel the career that overlaped, a new one unfolding in your life. You continue to put the pieces of a larger puzzle together to see a bigger picture.

When you feel pulled by something larger than your feet connecting you to the ground you walk upon directs your heart and mind. Opens your life to possiblities that were not part of your plan. And you knew that if you ignored this calling, it would destroy the part of you that fuels all you do.

When your way of thinking and seeing the world transforms and you are not sure who shares this view. You wonder if the ones you've shared your life with will understand this change in being. And discover many who do.

When the structure of your life expands and transitions from parameters that were previously property lines, walls, budgets, timelines, personal taste to the sky and ground and vast endless possibilities, around you and within you. And you discover new parameters. 

When you feel deeply at home and at the same time, you do not know yourself and sometimes feel lost in the midst of knowing you are where you need to be. There is no instruction manual, just the beating of your heart and trust in something bigger that you.

When you listen to that voice inside you over the voices around you. Wondering if the owners of those voices will acompany you along the way. Or any part of their voice, their words, whether in adversity that challenged you or in wholehearted support that encouraged you. To walk your path.

When you venture forward onto a path that others ask, "when did you start on this path" and you remember the magic of childhood, the concept of "caretakers of wonder" and choose a life  lived within you and has guided you all along, the part of you that is invested out there, in manifested beauty shaped in homes that surround and abound. 

When the path you walk upon unfolds before you and you know you are not alone because every living being is living an adventure that is personal and as unique as the feet  carrying every body, heart, mind and soul. Unity in diversity.

These questions live with me...

The daily letting go of storylines that hold me back. The ones I felt defined my life. Expired opinions, viewpoints and expectations. 

Every day, I do my best to remember and hold close the wisdom gained from a life lived, more and more, to the beat of my own drummer. The reminder that everything I feel, all that moves through me, comes and goes --- joy, sadness, happiness, despair, inspiration, anxiety, vigor, exhaustion, sucess, failure, on and on, and all the spaces in between are part of the richness of choosing to live life fully. Feelings felt by all, regardless of our storylines, backgounds, beliefs, and lifestyles. A choice to be open, to feel and experience. Choosing to love, be loved, live a life I love with those I love. In the end, there is nothing I can take with me.

Life offers a balance of letting go and holding on. Holding on to my truth, discovering my voice and growing in courage to open this bridge between heart and mind to connect with the souls around me and beyond me. Minute to minute. Day by day. The opportunity to let go, little by little, of that which holds me back from living fully. 

“Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms or like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not seek the answers which cannot be given because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even knowing it, live your way into the answer.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

December Blessings & Gratitude

Dear Friends,

I think it was Aristotle who wrote about buildings being an extension of ourselves, a second skin. John O’Donohue wrote about our bodies being our first and only home on earth. Living in a body. Living in a building. Creating space to live a life. Within the body. The first skin. Or around the body. The second skin. Home for the heart, body, mind and soul. A place to breathe and live fully.

Thank you for sharing your precious time, energy and presence at Healing Winds. Especially now, amidst the ever changing road in front of the building. Road work towards exciting changes under way. A little inconvenient, but doable. Feel free to park by Prisa Paints when road work is active and immediate access to the building is unavailable. Mind your steps through the daily changing obstacle course to arrive at our open blue gates. Life is an adventure and keeps us on our toes, especially when living in rural and developing areas like Baja! Word on the unpaved road is that pavement will be in and roadwork complete by New Year. Fingers crossed...and a friendly reminder that it could take longer. 

Please note a few holiday changes in the Yoga class schedule: 

• December 21st is the last Yoga class of the year at HW. Join me this week in honor of the Winter Solstice and practices that support this time of year. A balance of letting go and creating space for the ongoing adventure of life lived at it's fullest.
• January 1st, Yoga classes will start up again to celebrate the beginning of a New Year, refreshed and renewed (all yoga classes will remain at the same times currently offered). 

One more holiday change: Libelula Office & Gifts will close December 20th and reopen January 6th --- if there are any yoga props, note cards or Baja treasures you'd like to pick up beforehand, please come by soon! 

Thank you Sara and Chris for graciously letting me interrupt your conversation to record a moment in time, in between classes, enjoyment of our courtyard space. In the best of company, friendship fuels the soul.

Aside from Yoga and the Gift shop: All other HW offerings continue as per usual through the holidays. A big shout out of gratitude to our Healing Winds team of talented therapists, instructors, teachers, space holders and creative souls: Kim, Annalisa, Diana, Cesar, Mary, Carmen and Javier!

On a personal note, I am sharing a picture from a recent morning's hike with Javier to Flat Top Mountain. The blue, purple and yellow flowers plus the smell of wet earth and view from every angle, down below to along the way and up above --- breathtaking. A feast for the senses. We plan to spend Christmas eve and day with the family and then take a brief vacation to Portland, Oregon before landing back in beautiful Baja on new year's eve. A change of scenery to refresh and renew as we roll into 2020.

Wishing you a happy, tranquil and healthful holiday season. A blessed winter solstice. May you be where you love to be with those you love to share your life with.

Gratitude abounds,

Tehroma

Happy Fall Equinox

Dear Friends,

I hope this note finds you and yours healthy, well and enjoying the change in season.

We celebrated the Fall Equinox under storm watch, safely at home and hoping others were able to do the same. Luckily, the only damage was yard and branch related plus some fallen signs around town. Thanks to Fiber Tech, we were able to let our friends and family afar know the day after: we're fine! Storms do make for beautiful skies, green in the desert when the wind is mild and bugs!

The day after Lorena was Javier's birthday. I baked him an oatmeal cake and broiled icing and then we decided to go and see what restaurant might be open to continue celebrating this wonderful man. As we drove by Tio Pablo's, he smiled, so that is where we landed. When the waitress, Eve came over to take our order, we asked her about if all was okay with her during Lorena. She had been working! Full house. The bar was packed with tourists. Road between Tio's and DIF was a small raging river. Solution was to call local taxi drivers to load up and drive tourist's across the moving water and back to their hotels. Well, now we know where we can get a warm meal and a cold drink any day of the week!

More on the family, this week reminds me of the movie Groundhog's Day. Last Friday was to be our son, Dylan's college graduation in Cabo. Rehearsal Thursday and the event Friday afternoon. Canceled due to weather. He made it home.What a relief!  This week, same plan. Fingers crossed for gentle weather. Let's get this kid graduated!

On the design-build front Javier, the Fantasticos, Simon's crew and I are busy wrapping up a beautiful home addition in Palo Blanco. We are getting ready to start on a great kitchen remodel in Esmeralda. Making our way to pending items on our table. We haven't taken on a new client in long enough and we're still doing our best to keep up. How did we handle so many projects at once plus promote our business to keep it growing for so many years? Time and change inspires reflection and the simple answer of, that was then and this is now. Plus, we were younger!

During our early and humid walk this morning, I was imagining the changes coming up at Healing Winds and the Tranquility Room. Until this summer, it was my office. Before that, it was a multidisciplinary space shared by therapists and practioners of various healing modalities. Recreating this vision is one of the changes happening now at the center. More news to come.

Libelula Office & Gifts is home base for Healing Winds. New and coloful yoga props are on the way, inluding: rectangular and round bolsters, backmitras, Manduka eko lite yoga mats, etc. Keeping the notecard supply fresh and other Baja treasures available for purchase. Pop in and say hi, Carmen always has a beautiful open smile to greet you. Open Monday-Friday 9am-2pm.

The Green Room will re-open next month and Kim will return from her summer adventures overseas. Like many, I look forward to her return and making an appointment. Acupuncture with Kim: tyfield1@hotmail.com

A Cozy New Space has been created between Kim's office and the yoga & fitness studio. In the original design, I drew five studios. As our community grows and offerings evolve, I saw an opportunity to recreate the original vision, a comfortable therapeautic space for Thai Massage & Reiki with Tehroma by appointment tehroma@healingwinds.space

Sukhasana Studio was the first to be built at HW and opened ten years ago with its opening on the courtyard facing wall. When you arrive for class in the studio, walk through the new sliding glass door onto a beautiful new laminate floor. Thank you for arriving a little early. Schedule and happenings are updated monthly on the Sukhasana Studio page of healingwinds.space

Courtyard in between the thriving five studios offers a place to meet, to sit and enjoy shade and openness to blue sky above. I hope to see a few community events happen here in the near future. Please stay tuned...and a friendly reminder that this central space is surrounded by work happening in rooms behind closed doors. We appreciate voice levels on the lower end of the spectrum of  conversations shared through connection in this space.

We continue to grow into ourselves, families, buildings, community, near and far. One thing we can count on in life: Change is the only constant. As we continue to grow, at Healing Winds, we can also look forward to the following:

We can count on a vision for healing as a path to wholeness, integrity and vitality. Wholeness leading to unity. Unity within the individual heart, body, mind and soul. Unity in community to humanity as a whole. 

We can count on a mission to offer classes, treatments, events and experiences in calm, beautiful, soothing spaces. We are all growing and changing, individually and collectively. Our aim is to grow and change with as much grace and acceptance of ourselves and each other, as humanly possible.

We can count on consistency in our values: integrity, humanity, equality, excellence, diversity and humility. Celebration of our differences. Acceptance of our unique gifts and ability to share and learn from one another. We all breathe the same air. 

We can count working towards our ongoing short and longterm goals to cultivate space optimum for wellness and health year round in a diverse, growing and changing community. 

Above all, gratitude to be alive and experiencing this crazy adventure called life.

Thank you for sharing your journey. Any amount. 

I enjoy hearing from you, so please drop me a line anytime!

Love and thanks, Tehroma

Frazzle Dazzle

What do you do when you feel frazzled before sunrise?

You get out of bed
Wash your face
Walk out to the porch
Notice the twinkly lights
And stars in the sky
The light sound of wind
And wonder will it blow again
Today
On a day you will attend
An open air space
Shared with others
Where wind could blow the brushes
And paper around
You listen to the sound of doves cooing
And notice the sense of overwhelm
You question filling your week
Make a mental note not to do this again
And know you will
You take a sip of the coffee your partner 

Made for you
With whipped warm milk
You feel the love and appreciation
And you breathe in the sounds
You walk to the laundry room
And iron two shirts
Plus a blue and white uniform
Noticing the golden glow
Through doors
And a window facing east
You walk upstairs and take in the light
You turn around to see
All the surround
And wait for the sun to rise
Wondering why you don’t see this every day and
You remember schedules and commitments, so
You appreciate this moment
Today
Later you walk into the kitchen
And pull greens, beets, berries
Bananas, juice, seeds and nut butter
From behind cold doors and colorful bowls
You blend a breakfast
While your son relates he is feeling better and 

Has made progress on the ad you asked for
Asking him what time he will go back to his apartment
Back to school today
While you remember your daughter and husband’s two hour drive to
La Paz and two hours back
Yesterday
Her smiling face to show the brace
She’s been waiting for attached to her top right tooth
When she returns to the kitchen later that night in stress
Because it fell off before the next day
And you wonder if another four hours on the road will be 

Part of today 

For this family
You listen and breathe
Still feeling the blend
Of overwhelm
When nothing needs tending to
In this moment
Except for what is in front of you
Inside of you
Minute to minute
Step by step
Breath by breath