Dr Erica Peabody – Page 4 – We Only Get One Chance

I HAVE A STORY TO TELL

I live a very blessed life. It has changed for the better this past month and I know that you can probably tell that is true through my posts. I am amazed, in awe and disbelief that life could possibly be like this. I could try to phrase the story in a way that would make sense on here but it would take pages and pages. Instead…when you have about 20 minutes and a box of tissues…go to http://www.ridenthewave.us/ and you will see a post called “Happy Valentine’s Day 2012” and 4 videos…that was my Heart Day present from my beau this year and I just wanted to share.

I have had an image in life about what I wanted my relationship to look and feel like. I have to admit that over the years, with all that I have been through, it has gotten a little bit jaded. Now when I look back, all the lessons I have learned along the way were totally worth it. “People are put in our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime”. Many times in the beginning it feels like it is for a lifetime, and then things change. Often things are hard to figure out in the moment, however if we stick with it long enough, the reason usually reveals itself in retrospect. I see it now. I am not naive enough (though I am hopeful) to think that what is happening now will always stay this way…however if the foundation is strong, the ground can stay steady enough to be able to weather the storms together. I think that is what love is really all about.

WHAT A WEEK!!!

To say this past week was incredible would be a complete understatement. I am not sure if I can find the words to do it any justice but I will attempt.

It has been exciting, exhilarating, perfect time and perfect place, talking, connection, love, growth, reading, developing, email, introspective, travel, peace, writing, heart-centeredness, exhausting, awesome, long hours, talking, Skype, sharing, Internet, love, books, friends, family, hungry, bliss, planning, creating, nurturing, staring, introducing, hugs, sounds, video, discussions, parents, happiness, pictures, flowing, riding waves, flowers, notes, work, p

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - What a week

lay, counsel, ideas, music, kisses, movies, voice, Facebook, Hey Tell, random facts, quotes, scrapbooks, house, lake, ice, snow, conversation, celebration, glowing, communication, energy, vulnerable, open, raw, wounds, opportunity, practice, planting seeds, simple life, pure, days, one week, favorites, feeling of readiness, special, percentages, names, togetherness, news, unpack, concerns, highlights, tremendous growth, breath, appreciation, thoughts, truth, thinking, greatness, settling in, luck, promises, responses, pleasure and singing.

It feels as though the stars have aligned and they are all on my side. Because of a few different things and my own desire for growth and evolution, and the work I am doing on myself, I can honestly say that January 12th, 2012 was a pivotal point in my life. It is as though my life can be described as “before Jan. 12th” and “after Jan. 12th”. It goes way deeper than a love connection though that is a significant part of it. Where is life heading? I know what direction it is going, however I have chosen to surrender to the fact that “I will ride the wave where it takes me”. It is uncharted territory for me, unfamiliar and uncomfortable. All I can do is trust that “As I take a step, the next one is revealed”.

Have you had an event or a culmination of events that has led to a significant shift in your being or your life? Is there a date or a time frame that you can look back at and see an obvious shift? For me, being able to share my story brings me so much joy. Maybe you feel the same way…we only get one chance in this life. Do more things that make you happy!

BEST YEAR YET!!

Happy New Year!!! It has been pretty busy and hectic start to the year…all good things. Over the past couple years, I have spent a little time brainstorming with a few friends about a “theme” for the year. For example “Life is Zen in 2010” or “There Will be 7 in 2011” or “Life is Heaven in 2011”. So we were talking about 2012 and honestly, besides the word “delve”, not much rhymes with 2012. I was working it out and trying to figure out a cool catch phrase for 2012 and…it is just not happening.

So I look back at the past and I ask myself “Was life really ZEN in 2010?” NO WAY!!! What about 2011…”were there 7 in 2011?” Yes there were 7 this and 7 that, but nothing that was significant that pertained to that number. “Was life HEAVEN in 2011?” NOT EVEN CLOSE!!! I was seeing a pattern and I began to think that though it is super cute and catchy to make something that rhymes, maybe the rhyming part was the problem…limiting.

This past Saturday, I spent the entire day at a Women’s Retreat over in Oxford. It was a day for women, all things women, and lots of local practitioners with interesting topics about things that pertain to women and issues surrounding women’s lives. It was a day to escape normal life, hide out in this great little place tucked back in the woods and get reconnected…and I enjoyed every moment of it! It was such great timing with the beginning of the year and such an awesome time to set an intention for the months to follow. So I began to think about this “phrase of the year” thing again. I was eating lunch and writing a short little note to a real special person and it hit me…THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE!! It just struck me, just like that and I thought “HOW PERFECT!!!”. Since Saturday, that idea has been stuck in my head and resonating in my being. I had to tweak it a little bit to “2012, THIS IS THE BEST YEAR YET!!!” that way I am open to even better years in the future. Actually I think every year is better and better and I think it is a great time to sit for a moment and be grateful for that fact. Each year reveals to me a little more about me, and the more I know about me, the better.

How about you? Have you set any intentions for the year? What kind of a feeling does 2012 give you? Any plans, moves, changes? Is life how you want it to be or is there something or some role you need to step into? Let’s get going…we only get one chance…lets make it THE BEST YEAR YET!!!

DELIBERATE ACTION

“Hey Erica! There is a sloth right outside our window!” comes from the bedroom of the bungalow I was staying at in Costa Rica. In that particular instance, the girlfriend I was sharing a room with happened to look out the window. It was that particular instance she spotted him, however I am thinking that it is quite possible that she could have looked out at any point that entire morning, and maybe that entire day, and that sloth would have still been there. The

y do not move fast.

I saw a cartoon a few weeks back that this guy had gone to the doctor to ask why he was turning green. The doctor said something like “I would suggest you start an exercise program. You are growing moss!” The sloth is the same way. You cannot see it from this angle however the fur on his back was green, literally growing moss because he moved so slow! The picture you see is taken with my iPhone and though my arm is extended as far as it will go, the picture itself is not zoomed in. This sloth didn’t have a care in the world. We opened our window and then our screen and talked to him, made fake sloth noises (whatever those are), took tons of pictures, made a movie (its a sloth movie and incredibly boring or I would post it) and it is really true, you cannot scare a sloth!

So I sat and watched him. He just hung there, would reach out to grab a branch or a leaf in what looked like a slow-motion movie. I watched him sniff a couple leaves, then open his mouth and bite down on one, then let go of that branch and go back to chewing and hanging around. We had plans that morning which interrupted our sloth-viewing session or I would have stayed and watched for a while. They move so slowly and so deliberately, or so it seems. Their moves seem so well thought out, every millimeter planned and executed with precision. We later learned that they only go to the bathroom once a week and to do that they come down from the trees.

They are interesting creatures and have a rather mysterious feeling about them. I would say there is a real sense of the present-time consciousness when it comes to the activ

ities during their days. There didn’t seem to be much wasted energy on stuff that didn’t matter. It reminds me of moments when I find myself really present. Its that “work smarter, not harder” idea. Be deliberate with your time and energy. Many people walk around in life almost asleep. Have you ever driven your car and arrived at your destination without even knowing what route you took to get there or what you saw along the way? Have you ever finished dinner without even knowing what the food tasted like? Have you ever logged into Facebook, turned on a video game, or sat down in front of the TV and gotten up hours later wondering how 4 hours passed without you noticing?

This sloth reminded me of being present, making conscious decisions, and taking deliberate action. It is the idea of the “herd mentality” and taking a different path then the rest of the pack. I was standing in line and waiting to bathroom before a 5k this past weekend. I was 3rd in line for what appeared to be a full 3 stall bathroom…or full because the doors were shut. After waiting for the rotation of stalls to clear, I began to notice that the 3rd stall was skipping the rotation. Breaking free from the “herd” to deliberately walk up and check to see if the door was locked revealed a free stall. Who knows how long it had been free, however the line could have moved 33% faster if we were being a little more awake, aware and deliberate. Take the next 24 hours and check in with yourself during all the activities you participate in and make sure you are awake and really living life…maybe be a little more “sloth-like” and deliberate. We only get one chance…

TRIATHLON SUCCESS

As many of you know, I have spend the past couple months training really hard for the First Try Triathlon. Well I am happy to report that my training paid off. The event was this past Saturday over in Linden. I have done many races but as we got closer to this event, I was really nervous. To do 300 yard swim had become kind of a simple thing, 9 mile bike ride-no problem, 2 mile run-piece of cake…but to put them all together and do them back to back, I wasn’t so sure.

So my morning looked like this…

Alarm goes off, get dressed, early breakfast and hydrate, load up gear, blast loud music as I drive over to Clover Beach, survey the scene, unload my gear, set up my transition area, get body marked with my number and age, put swim cap and goggles on, strip down to swim gear (it was about 60 degree with a treacherous wind and very difficult to part with my sweatshirt), line up in heats, swim, dodge weeds, catch my breath and swim some more, run up the beach to transition area, change to biking gear and bike 9 miles (shoot I forgot to put my sunglasses on), back to transition area, change to running gear, try not to throw up (I was very nauseous), run 2 miles still trying not to throw up (and thinking I wish I had time to use the bathroom), finish, cheer on my family and friends, find my mom and run the end of her race with her, and enjoy and celebrate the completion of my first triathlon.

WOW! That was so much fun! During the entire race I was sure that I was in the middle of my heat…not near the front nor the back…but figured I was right in the middle. I have abnormal anatomy in my heart that limits my oxygen carrying capacity so even though I do a lot of running races, I mostly do them to complete them rather than compete. At the end of the triathlon I go to check my times and of course I start in the middle of the list and work my way down…my name is not there. I thought that was a bit odd, so I scroll down it again. Well there is no way I should look above half way on that list…I have never been above that point. So I scrolled up the list and low and behold I found myself finishing at number 52!!!!!! I thought to myself “this can’t be right, there is no way”…but it was and I actually finished 4th in my age group!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!! I was and still am thrilled. I am not one to throw placings around (mostly because I am usually so far back on the list) but this time I have to.

So my overall view is the triathlon itself was incredibly well organized, I had so much fun, I smiled the entire time, I finished and felt great and the icing on the cake is the fact that I actually did really well. Of course you will currently find me trying to figure out when I can fit another one into my schedule.

I am always up for an adventure. I learn so much about myself and about life by taking on challenges like the triathlon. Life is about learning, growing and evolving. Have you been stepping outside your comfort zone to find your limits? The great thing is when we do, we find that our limits are in a constant process of changing and we can usually go farther and do more than we previously gave ourselves credit for. We may as well test our limits…we only get one chance.

HANDS

I have a job that I stare at my hands all day. I mean that is not all I do in my job, however I because of my work I am keenly aware of them. Have you ever broken a hand? sprained a wrist? done something that made one or both of your hands un-usable for a while? Usually within about 10 minutes of something happening, you begin to realize how much we take for granted when it comes to our hands.

Just over 2 weeks ago, I fell while running on one of the trails out at Seven Lakes State Park in Holly (I LOVE the trails out there). I landed in a way that severely bruised the soft tissue in my wrist. I was a little nervous about it and going back to work, however I trust my body to heal whatever is necessary and do it in an efficient manner. I did a little work on it myself and was adjusting people just fine that day and for the rest of the week. The weekend came and besides the unsightly bruise, my hands felt great. I consciously let them rest and took it easy over the weekend. On Monday, I showed up at work like normal and after the first adjustment, I knew I was going to have to alter what I was doing for the morning shift (which I am grateful to have a bunch of options for adjusting people because that change is made easily and effectively). I have no idea if it was a manifestation of the fall or not but things just felt off. The afternoon went by okay I finished the day well. The next day they felt great and the rest of the week went well. This past Monday, the same exact thing happened. My first adjustment of the day, I could tell I was going to need to alter things a little bit again. The rest of the morning went well and the day was great. The next day they felt great and the rest of the week has been awesome.

So I am bringing this up because the challenge I was having may be from the fall, however it may be from something else. I have a book called “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay. The back part of the book is a list of body parts, some ailments that could happen and a possible thought pattern that could be feeding into the problem…so I looked up hands:

“HANDS

Probable Cause: Hold or handle. Clutch and grip. Grasping and letting go. Caressing. Pinching. All ways of dealing with experiences.

New Thought Pattern: I choose to handle all of my experiences with love and with joy and with ease.”

When something comes up in my life, I go and see my chiropractor and get my spine checked, see my massage therapist, check in with some acupuncture and look at my thought patterns. In doing all this, I want to maximize my potential for healing and health and trust my body to take care of whatever is going on.

Things happen in life. I am a human being like everyone else and there has been a little bit of challenge in letting things go as of late. It is so interesting how much our body can teach us if we look at how it is communicating with us. Life is an ongoing chain of experiences and a process of learning and growing. I am grateful for all the places life has taken me and all the things I have learned. And I am also grateful for this lesson and am ready to let go in a big way. I want to learn as much as I can about life and living…since I only get one chance.

I AM IN LOVE

I am in love …WITH SWIMMING!!! In my trek to my first triathlon, I have discovered a love for swimming. I am so crazy about it and I had no idea I would enjoy it this much. In fact, I find myself so excited during the day knowing that I get to go out there and jump in the water and swim! So in this crazy joy I am finding in swimming, I am taking a step back and trying to understand what is happening in my mind that makes me love it so much.

I do most of my swimming out in the lake and the water has been really, really beautiful. I have been focusing on free-style stroke which I am hoping to do for the entire swim distance of the triathlon.

I have been working really hard on rhythmic breathing in order to be able to tackle the stroke which is a challenge in and of itself for my body. The breath is taken through the mouth and then the head goes in the water, breathe out the nose and then coming back up for a breath and start again. I have found such a peacefulness in the time that my head is underwater.

I have goggles on of course and can see in the water but cannot see anything because the lake is rather deep. I see the bubbles coming from my nose and I watch my arms as I take strokes and watch the trail of bubbles that follows my hands as they move through my visual field. There is something about that scene that I am completely mesmerized by and I think about during the day.

It is really quiet underwater. That peacefulness is contrasted every time I take a breath with all the chaos on top of the water from the sights and sounds of the world above the surface. Then I return to the peace, then chaos, then peace, then chaos. I also notice how much of the water I can feel when I first jump in and the temperature contrast of that first submersion when compared to the air. I have come to really enjoy the slight pressure on my skin as I move through the water and the sweeping sensation the water makes as I begin covering the distance. When I am finished and get back up on the dock, there is an incredible euphoria and sometimes a slight dizziness from over oxygenation of the body. I am hooked…in a really serious way.
Those of you who know me realize that I am continuously exploring and looking for new adventures and new doors to open. In that, I have made some really awesome discoveries.

Have you been exploring? Are you finding new and wonderful things in this life on a continual basis? Life is a process of discovery…on many levels. I am in love with swimming. Get out there and try something new…we only get one chance. …oh, and come cheer me on on June 25th 8:00am at Clover Beach off Linden Rd:)

A GREAT WEEKEND

It was a GREAT weekend, I mean really great. It was the most perfectly balanced weekend that I can remember in a long time. It started with a coaching meeting and getting my hair done on Friday morning. The evening marked the last class of Yoga Teacher Training with concluded with 108 sun salutations to a live bongo band. Awesome! And maybe you are not familiar with what a sun salutation is so let me breifly describe it. It follows the length of about 5-6 breaths and includes 11 postures, standing, forward fold, top of a plank then bottom, up dog, down dog and back to the top of the mat. Multiply that by 108 = A LOT of work. Good work though. Saturday morning began with the Le Leche League doing their cloth diaper sale in the front yard of the Cafe of LIFE. It was great because I came and helped set up and didn’t have to stay and work. So I chose to head up north. There is a bike ride called Zoo-De-Mack(http://www.zoo-de-mack.com/) that happens once a year and I have gone up and participated for 7 years. This year I didn’t get to do the ride but I went up for the celebration anyways. Mackinaw Island is such a cool place. There is so much to do and see there, I really enjoy it. The evening was filled with friends and dancing and everyone was in such great spirits. I woke early on Sunday and made it home to finish the weekend hanging out with my family and having dinner on the lake.

This is the frist weekend where I actually felt like I was able to catch up with myself. Seems life is so full anymore that I feel I fall behind a little with myself. Great to relax and have some fun and catch up. This morning I woke up loving the fact that it is Monday. Monday mornings are so full of potential. Some people really dread Mondays however I feel like there are so many possibilities for the week when I am staring at the ceiling waking up on Monday mornings. In that same moment, I am so grateful that I play a part in choosing to make the week a good one or not. It was a great weekend. May as well do our best to make all of our weeks great…we only get one chance.

MOTHER’S DAY

I had a wonderful weekend enjoying time outside and soaking in the sun and I always enjoy celebrating Mother’s Day. I am very fortunate to live so close to so much family, and my mom is included in that. I have a wonderful relationship with my Mom and she and I are very close. Moms are moms and life happens which can sometimes create an awful lot of baggage in a parent/child relationship. I am very fortunate and get to spend a lot of time with my Mo

m. I consider her one of my closest friend and tend to discuss most aspects of my life with her. There are quite a few people that are curious of her and my relationship and most people make the assumption that we have been this close my whole life. I grew up with three brothers and was pretty much carted around with them, doing everything that they were doing and not getting much room to be an individual and almost never getting individual one on one time with my Mom. I never really learned the value of good quality female relationships until I went away for school many years down the road. Then came the invention of Internet and email. I was living in Alaska at the time my Mom first got email. We began to email each other 2-3 times per week and I really felt like I was able to get to know her, and thus get to know myself at a deeper level. This progressed for a few more years and our relationship really began to flourish to the point that I she became one of my very best friends. I moved back home in 2004 and lived under the same roof with her for two years. She is amazing, brilliant, straight-forward, talented, level-headed, caring, loving, balanced and really happy. I admire her and all the trials she has had in life and how that has shaped her to really be grounded in who she is. Though she is not “raising” us anymore, because of the mutual love and respect that the my brothers and I have for her, we are able to go to her when things come up and allow her to guide us when we need guidance. It really is a beautiful thing. For Mother’s Day this year, she spent the entire day working and wasn’t going to be home until 8PM. In my mind, she still deserves recognition, as every Mom does, on that special day. We made a small desert celebration happen last night to surprise her, and we did just that. Without my Mom, there wouldn’t be a Me and without a Mom like I have, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Thank you Mom!!! Happy Mother’s Day…today and always!

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

I taught my very first yoga class this past Saturday and I have a new perspective. It was called a “feedback session” which means all the teacher trainees were invited as well as anyone else I wanted to invite. The concept is I teach an hour long slow flow class and the teacher trainees stay after and give me feedback. It was a wonderful process in spite of all the nervous energy that takes over the body when one undertakes something like that and I learned a couple interesting lessons from it.

First, I have been practicing yoga in the room I taught in for over 4 years now. To me, this room is sacred and when you are in it, the rules are you need to obey “noble silence” which means shut your mouth and stay out of other people’s business. There is rarely even whispers going on in that room except for if someone is trying to make room for someone else’s mat. My routine when I go to take classes is to go in, set up my mat, go to the back, change my clothes (I am almost always coming from work), do some talking in the tea room and when I am done and ready to be quiet, I go in and find my place on my mat and prepare to be present. So in the beginning of the class that I taught, none of my regular routine was happening and it kind of threw me off. There were 8 or 9 people in the class and getting them to lay down on their mat by a simple verbal cue was pretty easy. After working with breath for a few minutes it was time to start the class. I was almost paralyzed by the idea that I had to talk for the next 60 minutes in a room where everyone else was quiet and I had always been silent in for the past 4 years of my life. My lesson…I am a “rule-follower” almost to a fault. It was so funny to see the panic inside of me as I faced this 60 minutes of talking. But I did it and as the minutes slipped past, it became more and more comfortable.

Second, I am a vinyasa student and I was having to teach a slow flow class. The vinyasa classes that I am used to are a little, and sometimes a lot, faster pace than slow flow and some of the moves take a little, and sometimes a lot, more effort to transition in to and hold. I thought I was making a flow that would be great for the level of students I was working with. Apparently it was a little, or a lot, too hard!

For 9 years of my life, I was an aerobics instructor and I taught so many types of classes, and even yoga, in a gym setting. During these classes, I was able to gage the participants by their body language and energy. One of the goals of yoga is to build up the capability of peacefully handling incredibly intense moments, both on the mat and out in real life. As my yoga class is progressing, all the participants were peacefully moving through the postures in what appeared grace and ease and to me, didn’t seem like they were working very hard….I had forgotten that is part of the whole point of yoga.

So after class, some of the attendees were like “Were you trying to kill us?!?!?!” When I look back, it is a really obvious thing and I chuckle at my naivety. The lesson here is in yoga, or even as we walk down the street or around the grocery store, we have no idea what is going on inside of each person that we pass. One of the biggest lessons of yoga is to have compassion for others and extend loving kindness to all people in our lives. Since we have no idea what is going on inside other people, what better way to look at the world than from a place of loving kindness and a new perspective…we only get one chance.