Dear Reader,

Rain lilies are one of my favorite flowers. They just pop up here and there. Usually after we’ve had some rain, but not necessarily. I planted a few of the bulbs years ago. What’s odd is that they now pop up in new spots, and this morning there were almost a dozen where there had only been a few.

Lately we’ve had a bit of rain in southeast Texas. It’s a bit like the rain lilies—popping up here and there. Sometimes big bursts and other times gentle showers.

There have certainly been times we’ve had way too much rain, but lately, the rain is welcome. I’ve been doing a lot of highway driving, and it’s such a pleasure to see green fields and lush wildflowers.

Appreciating the rain, which I clearly can’t control, somehow has me thinking about constraints. In so many areas of our lives, there are things that limit what we can and can’t do.

We can resist; we can work around; we can acquiesce; we can deny. No matter what, we have limits. Our bodies will age—if we’re lucky enough to live long. We only have so much time and energy. We have obligations—real and imagined.

Years ago, I felt totally stuck. I didn’t like where I was; I didn’t want to go backwards; and I couldn’t see a way forward. So, of course, I whinged to a friend. Her response was to suggest taking one step at a time. I don’t remember what steps I took—or even precisely what had me so stuck. I do know that things changed. Time kept ticking along, and now I’m in a different place. In many ways, a much better place. In other ways, some of the same old constraints.

Polly Young-Eisendrath, founder of The Center for Real Dialogue recently talked about the importance of learning from defeat. All of us face defeat. We have limitations; we make mistakes; we’re going to die. What can we learn from that? How might we keep on keeping on?

In Feldenkrais, we make tiny movements that wake us up to the possibility of greater freedom of movement. Tiny individual movements; single steps, one after another. After a while, we look back and find that we’ve moved, we’ve changed, perhaps we’ve even learned from defeat.

We have two more of our weekly online Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons before our summer break. We’ll have class on Tuesdays, June 9 and 16; take a break for a few weeks, and resume on Tuesday, August 18. It’s still Free/Pay as You Wish. And you can still schedule private sessions.

If you’d like to work with me privately, in person or online—Feldenkrais, coaching or felt-making—you can Book an Appointment or reply to this email and let me know what you’re interested in.

Have all the fun you can!