Medicine Dance

Reblogged from deepamwadds:

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First there was the cough… since September (coincidentally beginning shortly after my son decided he would rather live with his father) and the diagnosis of a chronic nasty lung that would follow me all of my days ( a result of my youthful, less conscious choices). Then there was me trying to “get in shape” via Kinect’s rather demanding “games” which resulted in a set of muscles and bones that spat and clawed at each other. Then there was the call to dance. Dance? I thought. I can’t even walk. And I …

Medicine Dance

First there was the cough… since September (coincidentally beginning shortly after my son decided he would rather live with his father) and the diagnosis of a chronic nasty lung that would follow me all of my days ( a result of my youthful, less conscious choices). Then there was me trying to “get in shape” via Kinect’s rather demanding “games” which resulted in a set of muscles and bones that spat and clawed at each other. Then there was the call to dance. Dance? I thought. I can’t even walk. And I can’t even laugh without coughing my guts out. But the call was waking something coiled inside, something that uncoiled and swayed and tickled at the inside, and said, please, Deepam, we can do it.

My Reasons to Celebrate

Today I’m a little stiff and cranky, because I dared to begin to exercise on Sunday. I’ve been paying for it ever since. And to add insult to injury, the voice on the Kinect (this was supposed to be FUN) tells me, each time, when I’m bent over panting after punching blocks into a thousand pieces, swivelling my hips inside an imaginary Hula Hoop ( I rocked at H H when I was five!) or fast-footing it following the coloured bars, she tells me, “That wasn’t quite it.” or “That’s not what we’re looking for.” Seriously! The witch was telling me I sucked. I had fun swearing at her though, and kept going. Not too much, I thought, I wasn’t going to let her goad me into doing harm to myself.

Rob Breszny Rocks

Maybe it’s a bit of a cheat to use someone else’s words for a post, but Rob Breszny’s weekly newsletters usually make me jump and dance. This week was no exception. First the actual horoscope is anything but ordinary. He speaks to the poet and the dreamer in all of us:

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Publishing a volume of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo,” said author Don Marquis, speaking from experience. Something you’re considering, Leo, may seem to fit that description, too. It’s a project or action or gift that you’d feel good about offering, but you also wonder whether it will generate the same buzz as that rose petal floating down into the Grand Canyon. Here’s what I think: To the degree that you shed your attachment to making an impact, you will make the exact impact that matters most. Give yourself without any expectations.

And then there’s this:

FOUR WINTERS IN INDIA – what’s it all about?

In the first session of our memoir writing course, we were asked to spend a few moments writing down what we imagined we were going to write about. Here’s my run-on rundown:

This story is about my time with Osho, from the first whisper of words that cracked my heart to the final return from India to the west. It’s about the hope the commune ignited in me, the solace of the ashram, about falling in love, both the big kind and the human kind, about having my heart broken, about the call to India, despite me never wanting to go there, to learn the trade that has sustained me for twenty-three years…

LEARNING BY DOING

In 1986 I returned to Toronto from spending a year away; a year in which I lived for six months in a commune in Oregon and six months in Vancouver waiting on tables. In the commune I had the great good fortune to have a boyfriend who was a Rebalancer and who gifted me with several treatments. These treatments changed my relationship with my body. They also changed the direction of my life, in that, when I returned to Toronto and received a lovely massage from my friend Rohita, I lay on the table and had these thoughts: That was nice. But I want Rebalancing. I’m going to India to take the training. Two years later, I had saved enough money for the trip, the training and six months in India.

What Would I Write?

As I sat listening to Hilary McMahon speak this morning at the WCDR breakfast I heard her say almost word for word what I heard Samantha Haywood say two years ago at the Ontario Writers’ Conference: that non fiction sells more easily than fiction, and that if you have a passion or an expertise then write about that, sell it and then tell your agent or publisher that you happen to have written a novel. I got very excited, since I am writing a memoir, until Hilary made it clear that memoirs weren’t part of this sure-fire non fiction path to getting published. But but but…

What the New Year Brings

One wise friend made his New Year’s resolution to write at least five hundred words a day; about two pages, double spaced. I’ve never been one to make resolutions, because I hate to be disappointed, especially with myself, but this year a resolution of sorts fluttered into  my lap(top). All this fuss about “platform” – blogging, tweeting and the like has felt like pressure to me, time spent away from the important business of writing what I’m writing; what I want to be writing. But I’ve sucked it up and created this blog and a twitter account, and try to post once a week.

My Platform

Well, I built it, and only a few came, mostly my writing friends with their own clever and entertaining blogs, and a few old friends who who want to support me. We all comment on each other’s posts and have created a cozy comfortable little circle. But I wanted more: more commentary, more traffic, more engagement. This business is supposed to be about making friends, not about “selling” yourself. That’s what they say.

Falling back in love with my story

I’m happy today. Happy and exhausted. I didn’t sleep well last night; white winds rattled the windows of my friends’ house where I slept last night and I flipped back and forth on that very comfortable guest bed in the music room, adjusting pillows and blankets with every flip. Because today I had a meeting with Robyn Read to discuss the edits for The Cost of Weather. In attending her workshops last summer, I was aware that it wasn’t evident when she discussed query letters or first pages if she in fact, liked the work in question. She was very professional, giving suggestions and tips, but never giving away her personal take. She is enthusiastic, warm and welcoming, and she came highly recommended by two authors for whom she edited, but I wondered if I would go away from our meeting unsure whether she actually enjoyed reading my book.

2011 in review – how the blog stacked up

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,000 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 33 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.