Yoga Friends,

I hope your summer is offering moments of play, joy, and lingering sunsets. It has been a while since I dropped you a note as Eric and I just made it to the other side of hosting an EPIC family reunion. We managed to bring together, in Brunswick, Eric's mother, all four of her sons, and their adult children and grandchildren! Even some in-laws and long time friends made an appearance. My count was 28 human souls, 2 canine, 1 feline and 1 lovely hen soul in total who arrived from 4 states and 3 countries!

Although the reunion stretched across 10 day and people were coming and going, over the weekend we had 22 here at the same time for 4 days. We had people sleeping in every room of our house, the little Roots & River Guest House that we are working on next door, an Airbnb house we rented down the street and a couple of hotel rooms up the hill. I made dinner almost every night and you should have seen my Costco CARTS as we stocked up for the week. We certainly have it good!

One day I walked back from the studio after class and approached the front of the house. Before entering I reflected on how quiet and ordinary the house looked from the sidewalk and what I would find on the inside. I opened the door and there were pods of people whom I love in every room sharing stories and laughter. What a delightful sight.

Because I live on the main street in Brunswick, I got texts from student-friends who said their jaws dropped when they drove by and saw so many people spilled out over the porches and sidewalks in front of our houses. :)

We spent most every evening at the edge of the river to cool down and even took a mighty 4 hour float down the potomac with 14 tubes. Glorious.

It was wildly successful, joyful and chaotic. I had some waves of overwhelm with all the activity and noise. I kept anchoring myself in the teaching of traditional medicine for the heart/small intestine energy for summer with a mantra, "center at the heart in calm, order and joy."

As some of you have joined me in the last weeks when we explored topics and practices around the physical and psycho-spiritual associations of the heart energy, I kept leaning into that story of the heart being like a nest, creating inner calm and stillness so the birds felt safe to land and rest. That assisted me in staying connected to others and to myself in the midst of so much activity.

In the coming weeks we will continue this journey around the heart, taking a deeper dive into the heart's protector, the Pericardium, and the distributor, the Triple Burner, as taught in traditional medicine practices.

The last of our guests packed up and drove away today. I am combing the house for all the things they left behind. We are going to sleep extra well tonight. And my summer heart is filled with love.

~Machelle