The Great Escape

I was really trying to keep myself from publishing another weepy grief post but today was one of those days where emotions got the better of me. Those of you who knew K.B.  know how much she loved the rain and especially when you mix in some thunder and lightning.  This morning was one of those days here in Saskatchewan where the sky opened up and let loose with all three.  Of course, this made me think of K.B. and how on more than one occasion we had danced in the rain not caring how wet we got because we were together and nothing else mattered even the fact that there was no music.  The rain may have been cold but love washes over you with a warmth that can't easily be abated.  It seemed odd (and fitting) that as the rain came down this morning and the memory of dancing in the rain with K.B. came to mind that Wynn Anne sent me a link to The Dance  by Garth Brooks. No matter how much I miss her today, I wouldn't have missed that dance for anything.

"I said to Hank Williams, how lonely does it get? Hank Williams hasn't answered yet But I hear him coughing all night long A hundred floors above me, in the Tower of Song." I like music.  All kinds of music.  There are some genres and artists that I may enjoy more than others but to me music is like any other form or art, if it elicits emotion I enjoy it.  I've learned that there is something about live performances that simply can't be captured on CD or recorded music and I don't think you can truly appreciate the art behind music without seeing a performance because it's like looking at only half of a painting and trying to appreciate it. On June 6th I had the opportunity to see a duo called Tower of Song  perform a Leonard Cohen tribute in Regina Beach at the Last Mountain Cultural Centre.  A group of about 50 or 60 people crowded into a small room and were treated to a great performance by Oliver Swain and Glenna Garramone.  I

In Tai Chi we study in great detail the difference between pushing and expanding.  It's interesting to watch the movements and even more interesting to feel the difference.  It occurred to me that the concept of push vs expand extends beyond martial arts.  I find that so much of what I learn in Tai Chi not only applies to martial arts but to life in general.  From a martial arts perspective watching someone "push" looks very similar to "expansion" but the way the energy is applied is very different and has a much different result.  Understanding this difference broadens your ability to grow as a martial artist and with just a simple change in your intention you can open up a whole new set of skills even though the movement is very similar.  But this blog post isn't about Tai Chi.  This is about resisting the natural urge to push back and choosing to expand yourself instead. Over the last couple of weeks I've read a lot of twitter posts with the hashtag