The first step on a spiritual path today is a return to a sense of one’s own body.
— Martha Heyneman

My Body/Your Body

Age is like a prankster. I wake up with a weird pain in my big toe. Later, I bend over easily in my flower garden to pull weeds, but it takes an eternity to straighten up again. In the evening, on my way to bed, I lose my balance and trip over my cat who runs zigzag in front of my feet and end up in the ER with a broken wrist. Despite all my education in aging, a part of me screams at my body: You’ve got to be kidding me! This isn’t the “me” I recognize; this is my mother! Now, I have to give over enormous amounts of time and effort to take care of you — stretching, exercise, salad spinning — when before you just seemed to go along for the ride. I can’t ignore you anymore!

One thing I have learned as a mind-oriented woman growing old fast is that I can’t disregard the body as a second-class citizen. . . . read more