As our lives get more complicated and filled with all sorts of pressure, it really becomes more important to practice self-care. For the longest time I always felt that self-care  was  one of those buzzwords that somehow gets imprinted on us and then it disappears and gets replaced by another concept that now acknowledges all the stresses in our lives that we seem to have no control over, self-care becomes very real and important in protecting our health and wellbeing. Honestly, I had to look up self-care up to see what it encompasses and found it is a host of activities-referred to as “the seven pillars” that improves and maintains both our physical, emotional, environmental, spiritual, recreational, social, and mental wellbeing- and many do their practices on what is known as “Self-care Sunday.” Reducing stress in our lives improves the quality of our daily living and has enormous health benefits. There are a lot of daily activities you can practice to get much needed physical exercise but some are expensive or hard on aging or tired bodies. In our community we do have a good variety of professional yoga classes that is an easy and excellent source of gentle physical exercise.

Another very popular practice for self-care is meditation and we are fortunate to have an expert very experienced meditation teacher, Christine Martin who lives in our town. Christine is a certified teacher in the Sky Breath Meditation technique sponsored by the Art of Living Foundation. Sky Breath is based on traditional yoga and uses  rhythmic breathing patterns to eliminate stress and bring clarity and focus to our mind and help you to enter into a clear meditation- that is not tied to a particular religious practice. Its benefits for stress and depression reduction and the increase in energy levels has been featured in Time magazine, the New York Times, on CNN, NBC, and other major media outlets.

Unlike other meditations it focuses on controlling and regulating your breathing instead of thoughts. As luck would have it Christine will be teaching  Sky meditation during three-part time classes (three session over three days for three hours each day) beginning on Friday, May 24-from 6-9pm, Saturday, May 25th 11-2pm and Sunday, May 26th from 11-2pm. The classes will take place at the Highland Yoga Studio located at 111 Highland Lake Road in Highland Lake. To register for the upcoming course you can contact Christine by email at christine.martin@artofliving.org or call 703-254-7095 or you can register online at http://tiny.cc/SKY_HIGHLAND.

I am saddened by the sudden death of Tommy Ebers of Highland Lake. For many years before he retired in 2022, Tom was the Town of Highland’s Highway Superintendent. Tom was always kind and helpful to everyone and was very well liked in town. It was always a great source of pride for him that whenever he was on the ballot during his many election campaigns, he was always the biggest vote getter. I will let you know about any arrangements as the information is released. My condolences to his family and friends and he will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by many of us.