heart center to left foot

The events of this past weekend seemed to leap from one thing to the other. The weather even leaped – 80s on Saturday, down to 60s on Sunday. There were myriad things to do, as it goes in a city, but this weekend in particular seemed to scoop everything into one clump. Maybe it was the long weekend hanging in everyone's mind – the holiday I did not receive off from work – or maybe it was just one of those last weekends before winter, because we all know the warm days won't last much longer.

Catherine made an excellent recommendation for chocolate on Saturday. Chocolate, hot chocolate, chocolate Madeleine's – they were all there. L.A. Burdick Chocolate Shop & Café is on a quiet corner in Harvard Square. The walls are lined with mirrors – which I at first thought were annoying, but then realized they make for a truly European atmosphere. What looked to be original antique espresso makers sat propped behind the register, where one woman dutifully made round after round of hot chocolate and latte orders. Saturday was very warm and sunny, but Catherine thought it was necessary to order the hot chocolate – just to try it. I couldn't bring myself to order such a snow-day drink on such a pool-day day. So, I ordered a mocha. Well, at Burdick Chocolate Shop a mocha is their very very – very very – rich and creamy hot chocolate with a shot of espresso, as opposed to how I used to make them at my coffee shop – double-shot latte with two tablespoons of chocolate syrup…

As weekends go these days, indulgence remains paramount. Chocolate shops, take-out, drinking. Weekends are mere spurts of vacation for me. Although, there's hardly time set aside for rest. I did make it to a yoga class Sunday morning. The teacher led us through shavasana with little instructions like, "heart center to right foot, heart center to left foot, heart center to forehead, and heart center to top of your skull." It sounds silly now to write, but it works - tracing and connecting each and every point of your body. People do this everyday for five minutes - 10 minutes - 30. I'm usually butt to desk chair for 8 hours.

Here's a poem by Mary Oliver:

Boundaries

There is a place where the town ends
and the fields begin.
It’s not marked but the feet know it,
also the heart, that is longing for refreshment
and, equally, for repose.

Someday we’ll live in the sky.
Meanwhile, the house of our lives is the world.
The fields, the ponds, the birds.
The thick black oaks—surely they are the
children of God.
The feistiness among the tiger lilies,
the hedges of runaway honeysuckle, that no one owns.

Where is it? I ask, and then
my feet know it.

One jump, and I’m home.