Monthly Archives: June 2018

Happy Birthday, Ana Pup!

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Today is Ana’s second birthday!  I could never have predicted the joy, frustration, and chaos this sweet soul would bring into my life, but I wouldn’t change a thing!  Please help me celebrate my second soul dog with the photos below of our time together — so far!

I fell in love with this little sweetheart from the first photo I saw of her.  She was a little over 4 weeks old at the time.

A week and a half later, I flew to California, and we met for the first time.  Ana looked much cuter than I did.

I named her Ana, short for Ananda, which means unending joy.  I failed to consider what that might look like through the eyes of a puppy. A week after that, hubby and I drove back to Sacramento pick her up.   We had NO IDEA what we’d gotten ourselves into.

Her true personality emerged within a week.

Hence, her first Halloween costume.

She soon developed an obsession with sticks.

Which so far, she hasn’t outgrown.

Our first real challenge was figuring out how to contain her.  She could slip every harness, jump on the kitchen counters, and scale 5-foot fences by the time she was 5 months old.  We finally figured out a fence that could contain her.  You can’t see the cement moat we poured underneath it. Here she is, strategizing how to get out the day it was installed.  She was 6 months old at the time.

As she grew older, a vet finally figured out that her hyperactivity was due to food allergies, and I started the long process of rebuilding her health.  We still struggle, but there are many more good days than bad.

She finally grew in to those ridiculous ears.

And her teeth grew in to her.

She rejected her job as guard dog.

Making it clear that she was a lover instead.

Unless you’re a squirrel, that is.

Ana and I have become best friends.  We’re never far apart for long, but when we are, it is always a joyous reunion.

I can’t imagine my life without this girl, and frankly, I don’t want to. Here’s hoping we have at least another decade of birthdays to come!

Happy birthday, little sweetheart!  I adore you!

Tracy Weber

My newest Downward Dog Mystery, Pre-Meditated Murder is available now  in e-book and paper back copies everywhere! Check this link for some local ideas. http://tracyweberauthor.com/buy_premeditated.html

Pigeons, Yoga Studios, and Mysteries, Oh My!

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Hi all!

Today, I’d like to share with you a blog article I wrote recently for Killer Characters.  The article is officially written by Judith, one of the characters in Karma’s a Killer, but she recounts a story about a real-life pigeon that used to live at Whole Life Yoga, and the day I saved him after a near-fatal hawk attack.  You can read the account that I wrote on that day at this link.

The blog on Killer characters can be found at http://www.killercharacters.com/2018/06/wildlife-rehab-can-be-murder.html

Oh–and Karma’s A Killer is now available in audiobook on Audible!

Enjoy!

Tracy Weber

My newest Downward Dog Mystery, Pre-Meditated Murder is available now  in e-book and paper back copies everywhere! Check this link for some local ideas. http://tracyweberauthor.com/buy_premeditated.html

Planting Seeds: Breath and Meditation for Turbulent Times Week 4

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Note from Tracy: Recent news articles and social media threads inspired me to create and teach a yoga series at Whole Life Yoga called Yoga for Turbulent Times.  For those of you not near Seattle, I’ve decided to share the breath practices and meditations from this class as I teach them. I hope you find them useful.  The practice below is from week 4 of the series.

“The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?” Jack Kornfield

What we pay attention to in our lives grows. If we allow resentment to plant in our heart, we will become resentful. If we invite peace, we will become calm. If we invite compassion, we will become kind.  What do you want to cultivate in your life’s garden?  The breath and meditation practices below can make whatever you plant flourish.

Alternate Nostril Exhale Breathing

Note:  This breath practice is a little complex, but it is wonderfully calming, focusing, and balancing to the nervous system. It’s not my first choice for use in a business meeting, but funny-looking or not, it is amazingly effective!

  1. Lengthen your inhale and exhale, focusing on a long, smooth, flowing exhale.
  2. After several breaths at that lengthened breath, begin the alternate nostril exhale technique described below.
    • Raise your right hand, folding down your index and middle finger, as in the above photo.
    • Inhale freely through both nostrils.
    • Seal your right nostril at the bottom of the nostril flap with your right thumb. Partially valve the left nostril with your ring finger near the cartilage.
    • Exhale through the partially valved left nostril.
    • Inhale through both nostrils
    • Repeat the partially valved exhale, this time exhaling through the right nostril. Seal the left nostril with your ring finger and partially valve the right nostril with your thumb.
    • Inhale again through both nostrils.
  3. Repeat this nostril breathing technique for 5 or more minutes. Always finish by exhaling through the partially valved right nostril.
  4. Release the nostril technique and take a few lengthened breaths through both nostrils.
  5. When you are ready, return your breath to a normal rhythm. Carry the energy of this breath practice to meditation.

Note: If you notice breathlessness, anxiety, or strain at any time, reduce the lengths of the inhale and exhale or release the nostril technique. Do not use this technique if your nostrils are congested.

Planting Seeds Meditation

  1. Come to a comfortable seated or lying position.
  2. Allow your eyes to close. Notice your breath without intentionally trying to change it.  Bring your attention to the warmth and coolness of the breath at the tip of your nostrils.
  3. When you are ready, bring to mind something you’d like to grow in your life. Examples include joy, abundance, calm, and creativity. Anything that feels right to you is fine.
  4. Imagine that quality as a seed. You can even write the name of that quality on the seed, as if you were engraving words on a tiny piece of rice.  Plant that seed in your heart and feel the energy of that seed inside you.
  5. Imagine that, with each breath,  the seed begins to take root in tiny slivers of light. The light carries that quality to every cell within you. As you continue to breathe, the intention grows, blooms, and bears fruit. Eventually it reseeds itself in the community around you.
  6. Continue this meditation for 10 minutes or longer if you’d like.

May the seeds you plant in this life all be worthy of cultivating!

Tracy Weber

My newest Downward Dog Mystery, Pre-Meditated Murder is available now  in e-book and paper back copies everywhere! Check this link for some local ideas. http://tracyweberauthor.com/buy_premeditated.html

Fostering Kindness: Breath and Meditation for Turbulent Times Week 3:

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Note from Tracy: Recent news articles and social media threads inspired me to create and teach a yoga series at Whole Life Yoga called Yoga for Turbulent Times.  For those of you not near Seattle, I’ve decided to share the breath practices and meditations from this class as I teach them. I hope you find them useful.  The practice below is from week 3 of the series.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”  Plato

Kindness is a moment by moment choice. A practice of demonstrating compassion toward those who delight us, those who challenge us, and ourselves. As Plato so wonderfully pointed out, we have no way of knowing what battles the people around us face on a daily basis. How much of our neighbor’s burden could we lift with a simple smile or a kind word? Best of all, kindness feels good!  Use the practices below to help you remember to create kindness in your world.

Solar plexus breathing

  1. Lengthen your inhale and exhale, making them approximately equal.
  2. After several breaths at that lengthened breath, imagine a ray of kindness-carrying light pouring in to your torso at the level of your solar plexus, which is at the base of your sternum. See that light spreading up and down, illuminating your body.
  3. With your next inhale, imagine that your breath follows that light. It enters through your solar plexus  and simultaneously moves up your chest to your nostrils and down your abdomen to your pelvic floor.  Be sure to keep your exhale long so that it matches the length of your inhale.
  4. Continue this breath pattern for 5 to 10 minutes.
  5. When you are ready, return your breath to a normal rhythm. Carry the energy of this breath practice to meditation.

Note: If you notice breathlessness, anxiety, or strain at any time, reduce the lengths of the inhale and exhale or release the solar plexus imagery.

Loving Kindness Meditation

  1. Come to a comfortable seated or lying position.
  2. Allow your eyes to close, and notice your breath—without intentionally trying to change it.  Bring your attention to the warmth and coolness of the breath at the tip of your nostrils.
  3. When you are ready, bring your own self to mind, complete with all of your strengths, weaknesses, successes, and struggles.  Silently and continuously repeat the following intentions for yourself:
    • May I be at peace. May my heart be open.
    • May I be healed, and may I be a source of healing for all beings
  4. When you are ready, bring to mind the image of a loved one—someone you care about.  Silently and continuously repeat the following blessings for that person:
    • May you be at peace. May your heart be open.
    • May you be healed, and may you be a source of healing for all beings.
  5. When you are ready, bring to mind the image someone with whom you are in conflict, or someone who “pushes your buttons” in some away.  Perhaps someone who’s injured you in the past whom you’ve not forgiven.  Silently and continuously repeat the following blessings for that person:
    • May you be at peace. May your heart be open.
    • May you be healed, and may you be a source of healing for all beings.
  6.  When you are ready, bring to mind an image of the entire planet. Visualize or sense the continents, the oceans, and the shape of the earth as it moves around the sun.  Silently and continuously repeat the following blessings for the earth:
    • May the earth be at peace. May the hearts of the earth be open.
    • May the earth be healed, and make the earth be a source of healing for all beings
  7. If your attention wanders (and it will!) just notice it, and invite your attention back to the sensation of the breath at the tip of your nose.  Then continue with the loving kindness meditation from wherever you left off.  The “blessings” above can be modified to anything that makes sense to you.
  8. Continue this meditation for 10 minutes or longer if you’d like.

May you create and receive kindness every moment of your life’s journey!

Tracy Weber

My newest Downward Dog Mystery, Pre-Meditated Murder is available now  in e-book and paper back copies everywhere! Check this link for some local ideas. http://tracyweberauthor.com/buy_premeditated.html