KiraGrace Goddess Love for Cowgirls vs. Cancer

I don't even know where to start, so much to share. Lack of recent blogging overwhelmeth. We ended retreat season with 4 weekends in a row, so now I will have time to spend on here reflecting on the many wonderful things that went down. I'm looking forward to shifting gears.

I'm thinking that the best place to start is with Cowgirls vs. Cancer. We've started taking nominations for our 2015 program during October, which is breast cancer awareness month. Next year will be our 6th year for Healing with Horses & Yoga, and the 4th time that we are able to dedicate an entire retreat to scholarship recipients. During October, breast cancer awareness month, we are accepting nominations for 2015 cancer kickin' cowgirls. If you or someone you know is a breast cancer survivor, share your story with us -We'll be taking nominations until November 15, 2014. And this year...we are partnering with Old Gringo to give a pair of cancer kickin' cowgirl boots to two women currently in treatment for breast cancer. We'll be taking nominations for that through December 31, 2014

Our own Lisa is a KiraGrace Warrior, so it's her we have to thank for this fun fundraising opportunity. She is wearing the Goddess top here (in coral - don't forget to think pink for October), at Cowgirl Yogatography, our last retreat of the 2014 season last weekend.

Be Inspired

Where have I been? Somewhat scattered about. Trying to pull it all together as we hurtle towards the end of 2014, which always seems to be The. Deadline. for. everything. Then I got hit with the cold that won't go away, and many of the threads I was trying to weave together got loose and frayed. I'm not on time and I'm not prepared. I was late for an appointment yesterday, and hadn't even gotten dressed yet. I opened up my drawer and there was a shirt on top, with the word "Inspire" across the front. It was a gift. I threw it on and rushed out the door.

I might have forgotten all about this moment, this word I was wearing, as I moved through the rest of my day. But I didn't. I kept thinking about it: Inspire. Isn't that part of what this season is about, what we are always looking for? To be inspired. I'm not usually one to wear shirts like this. I'm a realist, to a fault. I would think I might feel a tad insincere wearing something that demands an ongoing positive vibe, since I don't think I can live up to Inspire, all the time.

And then I had this shirt on for a picture, unintentionally. When I first saw it, I noticed that my hands had not quite come together yet for anjali mudra. And looking at this picture, I suddenly felt strongly that there was something in that small space - something big. And that I was lucky to be holding it there, between my hands.

This morning I went to the dress rehearsal for the Bozeman Symphony's holiday concert. The star of the show, a trumpet player, talked about his battle with cancer and how during treatment, he focused on "having something in front of him" - for him, that was his music, and the plan to get back on stage again. He needed to be inspired. I was moved to tears. I thought about the last few weeks, during which I felt a wide range of emotions as I went through the process of selecting our 2015 Cowgirls vs. Cancer scholarship recipients. I fretted, I felt torn, I second-guessed myself. I wished we could bring every single woman who was nominated out on retreat. I didn't feel inspired, I felt defeated, having to choose.

But at today's concert I was reminded of the flip side of my recent struggle: Cowgirls vs. Cancer will bring 10 women to Montana next year. That's 10 people who have struggled with a hell of a lot more than I ever have. That's 10 people to whom I had the good fortune to send a gift this season - what I hope will be a life-changing retreat. What I hope will be an inspiration to focus on their own health and well-being. 

And I felt...inspired. That space between my hands may be small, but it has a lot of potential to hold that word. To allow it to blossom around me, with the help of others who understand that we need each other to be inspired. We hold this potential, and have the ability to give and receive it.

Yoga + Tea Time

So remember a few months ago when I said I was going to convert from coffee to tea? How's that going, you ask? Well. I can't say that it's been a seamless transition, but then it occurred to me that it doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. I was worried that being a tea or coffee person is sort of like being a dog or cat person - you're pretty much one or the other. Now I know that's not necessarily true. And while I do love my latte...I feel something that runs deeper in my new love affair with tea. It's been brewing all along (forgive the pun), but our new partner The Tea Spot has truly awakened it.

Naturally, I am intrigued by the connection between yoga and tea - both are mystical and medicinal. Both are special practices that take the yogi/tea drinker away from the daily grind (oh nooooooo...now a coffee pun) for a soothing break. Consider all the yoga studios that serve tea to help transition from yoga-land back into the cold, hard world off the mat. Lululemon made a "tea lounge" pant. I have them.

The ancient roots of tea ceremonies all over the world lie in ritual. On our visits to Japan and Morocco, we were fascinated by the intricacies and history of their tea ceremonies. My daughter even learned to pour mint tea from up high, to properly aerate it (plus it looks cool), as they do in Morocco. The many practices of yoga - asana, pranayama, chanting - are also rituals with ancient roots. We are drawn to the comfort of our modern rituals - of laying out our yoga mat, lighting a candle, wearing our favorite yoga pants. Of carefully and thoughtfully preparing a cup of tea. Our rituals of yoga and tea shouldn't be rush jobs, because they slow us down in a good way. In a way we deeply crave, that returns to ancient roots.

There are tomes of information on the health benefits of tea. Knowledge of this dates back to the beginning of tea; we have simply updated it to accommodate modern medicine. In a nutshell, from The Tea Spot's website: Studies conducted around the world have shown that tea drinking might protect against such serious diseases as strokes, cancer, and heart disease, as well as boost memory, immunity, stress relief, skin health, and weight loss. Take some time exploring the many benefits by chemistry, function and organ, and tea type. The Tea Spot was founded in 2004 by Maria Uspenski, a cancer survivor drawn to the health benefits of tea during her recovery; 10% of their sales are donated in-kind to cancer wellness and community programs (Cowgirls vs. Cancer is one of the lucky recipients). A Japanese monk wrote in 1211: Tea is a miraculous medicine for the maintenance of health...Tea is the elixir that creates the mountain-dwelling immortal. Sign me up for that.

Then there is the connection between people. I've always felt that the word connection is infused with power - it sounds straightforward vs. esoteric or exotic, even slightly mathematical. I keep coming back to it again and again; if I had to use one word to describe the source of my own inspiration, it would be connection. Tea ceremonies have connected people for millennia. So has the practice of yoga. So it seems fairly obvious that yoga + tea = more than bliss (as The Tea Spot founder Maria previously stated in her interview with me)...it = connection too. The aptly named Meditative Mind became our retreat ritual this season; I watched people sipping it before yoga, after yoga, in between yoga. It connected the yoga. It connected the people sipping it.