Yoga, straw-bales, pain and growth...

I have come to realise recently (although it has crept up on me gradually) that I have been aware of health and its importance for a number of years, but have never thoroughly attempted to be healthy in both body and soul. 

We eat very well and after trying several diets and food omissions I think we have finally settled on a diet that keeps us feeling healthy, nourished and vibrant. We don’t put synthetic chemicals into or onto our bodies or around our home.

But I still don’t exercise sufficiently and I still have woefully inadequate methods to dealing with stress, and- let’s face it- loving myself.

So, I have taken up yoga and meditation. I think both tie in well together and give me the necessary balance of mental and physical stimulation my body has been screaming for. I’ve been attempting to do yoga every day and, on the most part, I have succeeded, with a few days off due to illness. I even found out the joy of practicing yoga outside, with soft grass beneath me and the blue sky above, when we camped at Portland for the weekend.

I can’t sing the praises of yoga enough to anyone. It is helping me to become fitter and more aware of my body and it does wonders for your soul too. I’ve borrowed a DVD from the library and have classes with an instructor once a week too.

Nabeela and Ryan are even enjoying it! Our little girl has learnt several ‘asanas’ (yoga positions) and she enjoys showing anyone them- in the middle of the library, on the pavement, the beach, the park- anywhere! So hopefully she will always have yoga to use and enjoy and it may even help her to stay as flexible as she is now- hey, she may still be able to bend over and kiss her knees when she’s Ryan’s age or older!

Unfortunately last week I had my worst migraine attack ever. I was in agony for a day and a half. However, I get the impression that it was my body’s way of purging. It didn’t seem to matter how little stress I exerted on myself- I spent the whole day doing nothing but relaxing- it still didn’t abate until it was ready to. Maybe the stress of a new life in a new country, making new friends, embarking on a new career path, and the rest built up and needed out! Since then I have still had headaches, like I usually do, BUT I am managing to get rid of them myself, instead of waiting for it to disappear on its own. The yoga and meditation must be a helping hand in this and my new found awareness of listening to what my body is telling me- so stopping when it says to stop, exercising when I have excess energy or no energy(!) and just being aware of what I am doing. It feels good.

Nabeela is having a shift at the moment. A BIG one! Her behaviour has been somewhat erratic, contrary and extremely stubborn! Well more so than usual. Today she seems much happier and calmer so maybe we have finally weathered the storm. She has had a great need to have me and Ryan be with her, one on one, with no other distractions. So we have had a few days living in the library and reading a mountain of books together. I trusted that she would tell us what she needed and she has. We are lucky that she can communicate with us with words, to tell us exactly what she needs.

Last week she had a ‘daddy and daughter’ evening while I went to meditation with a friend. When I got back (quite late) she was fast asleep snuggled next to Ryan. Second time she has ever got to sleep without a breastfeed. From her behaviour recently though, we feel she isn’t ready for that on a regular basis.

Onto Ryan- He is enjoying his new career-path and is like a sponge, absorbing so many new skills and facts each day he is at work. For his upcoming work experience placement, he has found a straw-bale house builder. It is back up north near to where we were before in Adelaide. We both have a really good feeling about it. My gut is telling me that this is going to open doors, and possibly change the course of our lives. I will keep you posted.

I feel like our little life together is evolving once again and it feels right and good and joyful.

Peace and joy to you all.

The Mount- home for now

Mount Gambier in one word? Friendly. Now I’m not sure if it is necessarily more friendly than back home or many other towns for that matter, but that is my overriding feeling and I know it is shared with other new residents of the area. You walk into any shop and you are greeted with a genuine smile- as if they actually enjoy seeing a customer! I don’t get disapproving looks when carrying Nabeela in the sling, rather we get curious glances, people stopping to ask us where we got it or just a pleasant smile. Not once have we encountered road-rage! On leaving Christies beach our parting gift was an earful of expletives spewed from the brutal face of a manic driver. Here we can drive around in the relatively safe knowledge that this will not be a weekly occurrence!

The Mount is not all roses of course- I have heard of the ‘youth issues’ that plague the town (stupid driving, excessive drinking and drug taking) and the nasty history (aboriginal people were basically wiped out) but it is a quiet little town and so far it feels right to be here- at least at this moment in time.

I love how green it is. It is colder and slightly wetter than Adelaide and planners/council have had the foresight NOT to cut down every tree in the area. So we get to enjoy the shade when it is scorchingly hot and feel the energy of the plant and animal life that surrounds us.

Nabeela saw her first (huge) possum the other day. I didn’t get to see it as she was having ‘daddy and daughter time’. It was at the Sunken Gardens where they are fed regularly by tourists on bread and other inappropriate foods- so it appears they have grown to gigantic proportions if the one Bee saw is anything to go by- they’ll be talking about the endemic obesity crisis (of possums) in town soon, I’m sure.

The parks, lakes and gardens around the town are lovely and I look forward to winter to enjoy long walks around them- summer is too hot to go for a long walk in the middle of the day. We’ve been told it’s too cold to go out in winter, but somehow I think if we managed to go to the woods in foot deep snow in the middle of an English winter, we’ll be just fine here!

The beach is about 20 minutes away by Brucey van (or possibly 15 minutes by car). You can enjoy spectacular sunsets of neon pink, bruised violet and fiery orange as you listen to the surf and pick seashells. Yoga is immensely grounding surrounded by these things, with the feel of the coarse sand between your toes.

Our house is situated so close to everything- we can walk or bike into town and the big park at the end of the road and natural beauty surrounds us and is only minutes away. If we want to stay at home our huge back garden is the perfect place to spent time outdoors. Our veggie patch (or patches to be more precise) has a profusion of cucumbers and little else! But seeing the tiny seedlings poking up through the earth and watching Nabeela’s eyes sparkle with wonder at it I don’t really care if that’s all we eat for the next year!

Settled and Unsettled

So now it is the 17^th February and we are settled in our new town! We have a new home (huge but cheap), old friends to have fun with, new lush green surroundings to enjoy and a new job to learn (for Ryan)- all in all a stable base for the next few years (probably).

On a slightly more down-cast note I had a moment of tears last night. I am afraid my friends back in England don’t understand the extent of how much I miss them and appreciate them for who they are and how much they helped me grow as a person. I think about them each day and often feel sad for changing our friendships irreparably by leaving. No matter how hard I try to keep them close- I realise that being so far away and not actually seeing them face-to-face will change things.

So thank you to you all- S, K, E, I, D, N, V, and all the gorgeous kids- Thanks for supporting us through our hard times- the homes you offered us with open arms, the listening ears. Thanks for making me feel comfortable in your presence. Thanks for the conversation, the love, sharing great food (!) and the understanding. I love you all immensely! Never forget that.

Another Home

We set off for our new home town- Mount Gambier! It was a quick journey- only spanning days. We stopped in Meningie over-night. The caravan park was lovely- bursting with vegetation and wildlife. I was a little shocked by the difference between there and Christies. I don’t think I realised how dry and empty it was up there. The area is so built up they have razed to the ground all its natural beauty- except, of course, the beach.

Some friends back in Adelaide had given us some pointers of where to go on our way to Mount Gambier, so we drove past the Coorong. Unfortunately they forgot to mention that to get there, along any stretch of its many miles, you must drive along dirt track! Brucey (as any owner of similar vehicle will understand) does not do well on dirt tracks. It is impossible to realise just how bad the vibrations and noise could be if you own a car! So after attempting a couple of miles along one track, and almost waking Beela up in the process, we turned back and carried along on the main road. (We will visit the Coorong another time I think!)

After passing through Kingston and into Robe, we stayed in another caravan Park that night. It had a swimming pool, containing so much chlorine it was eye watering. Fortunately it also had a surfing beach nearby. We enjoyed a swim and a surf there, until I was attacked by giant horse flies and gave up before they bit Beela too! They hurt!

The day after we drove onto Millicent then into Mount Gambier. And guess where our first stop was..? The Library! My new favourite indoor place.

The next few days went in a blur of organisational chores, catching up with the Big family and freezing our bums off (who knew I had finally acclimatised to the hot Adelaide weather!)

Surprises

The Big family came back! What a lovely surprise. We walked into the park and I looked over at the park to see D walking along with two of the kids. “Is that D?” I exclaimed to Ryan and sure enough- it was!

It has been less than two months since they left and I had not realised how much Nabeela has grown up since then. Before she wouldn’t really interact with the kids and I often got the feeling she annoyed them rather a lot! But just in the past couple of days I have been struck by how much she is playing and talking with them. There is none of the grabbing for things and getting in the way- instead she asks for things she wants or bosses the other kids around (very funny considering she’s the littlest one there). Also seeing how much she understands now from other people’s points of view is amazing.

Our daughter has ceased to be a baby- she is a little girl! I am still too surprised to mourn the passing of her babyhood yet!