Dunrie Greiling's Blog, page 8

Inner Compass

Sometimes people fancy themselves to have an inner compass or a true sense of direction. Sometimes they do.

An illustration of a compass, shared via Creative Commons by David Pappas on Flickr.

Part One – Wayfinding with Dad

My dad fancied himself a preternatural woodsman. Someone who could enter the forest near our northwoods cottage and orient up and around rock outcrops, cedar thickets, and swamps. When we went up for long weekends or weeklong vacations, we went on day hikes for recreation. Sometimes we brought lunch, other times we hiked one way and got picked up by Dad’s Jeep or my aunt and uncle’s station wagon with a cooler of cold pop and beer and some sandwiches and chips at the far edge of our walk

Well, on these hikes, Dad liked to take “shortcuts” where the trail meandered off of a true straight line (skirting some swampy land or rock crest) and as often as not we’d end up turned around, frustrated, and sniping at each other as we wasted time, lost. I remember crying as a girl, asking why he acted this way, wishing he were safer and more predictable, easier to follow and more trustworthy.

My mom loved photography, and there was a little airport near our cottage and she arranged a trip in a small plane to photograph the cottage and the Peninsula from the air. I went with her and so did my cousin Matt, both of us were shutterbugs like Mom. Well, my sister and my cousin Joel went with Dad on a hike. They were going for Cabot Head, a limestone boulder on top of a bluff, said to look like the Great Lakes explorer. And, well, Dad took a shortcut and so they ended up bushwhacking through sodden fens and soggy woods. Apparently any time the two kids complained, my Dad had zingy one-liner retorts. They named the marl-goo they were walking through the “pushee” (rhymes with slushee), and then when it was covered by a layer of water, it was the “unpushee”. One of his lines was that the only thing worse than the pushee was the unpushee.  At one point as they slogged through the marly goo, their sneakers getting almost sucked off with every step, they looked up and saw Cabot Head gleaming at them from atop a cliff. They never made it to Cabot Head that day, but they did make it back for a shower and some lunch. We joke maybe they can be found in the photos we took from the air.

All of Dad’s freelance “trailfinding” kind of turned me off off-roading in any real sense. I liked trails, marked trails. I liked knowing where I was going and about when I’d get there. I thought I’d learned the lesson and would play it safe.  It was a good thing our northwoods cottage is located on a Peninsula, so we couldn’t have gone all that far without hitting some water or a road.

Part Two – Circles in the Snowy Woods

No longer kids and either in college or just out, but before we married, had families, and found other ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve, my cousins, my sister and I spent New Year’s Eve up north a couple of times. The shoreline cottages were empty of all their summertime visitors, only a few locals stay around all year. It is cold and clear and quiet, and we felt proud of our macho woodsman ways.

Gillies Lake doesn’t always freeze by New Year’s, but this year it did and so my two cousins and I walked around the edge of the frozen shoreline. It’s much easier to walk on the frozen ice than along the limestone shore with lots of craggy white cedars and people’s cottages and boat launches. Gillies Lake is shaped like a figure 8 with several bays, the largest one forming the top of the 8. Our cottage is at the bottom of the 8. We got bored about 2/3 of the way around the top bay, and so decided to cut through the woods as a shortcut back to the fat part of the eight. We knew pretty much where we were going, it wouldn’t be far to cut off the little peninsula and save us some walking. I think my father was alive at that point, I know he would have approved regardless.

You already know what comes next.

The woods up there have sporadic cedar thickets in them that are basically like little cedar stockades – an impossibility of hard dead branches and close-set trunks that you can’t push through. If you try, the branches break and find some soft spot on your face – ears, nose, eye lid, something – to poke or scrape, and then you bump out to one side or another in an end-around. Maybe there were one too many cedar thickets, or maybe there were rock outcrops, or maybe there was someone’s cabin we didn’t want to invade. Anyway, we bumbled around in the snowy woods for a while and then we saw a trail of footsteps and jumped on that. Our ticket home! Well, we followed that trail until we saw where we’d come in to join it. By the end we were going around in a circle in our own footsteps, stamping a third time on the same place. Once we noticed that, we found our way back to the water’s edge and home.

Part Three – Technological Intervention and Finding my Way Without It

So, once small, handheld GPS units came on the market, I put one on my Christmas list. It would save me from getting lost, I could finally avoid that familiar frustration of wandering, of wasting time. Of course, it only could if I brought the thing when I went hiking around. On one solo day hike near the cottage, the trail I was on was flooded. I didn’t want to get a “hotfoot” so I skirted the water and then tried to bushwhack back to where I knew the trail should be. Except it wasn’t there. I thought I saw a tall-ish tree in the distance, and thought there was a tall-ish tree along the trail so went there hoping to find the trail. Nope. Nothing. No trail. The GPS was at the cottage.  And this was embarrassing. I was in very familiar territory, or I should have been.

I knew I wasn’t in any real danger. I was well fed, near cottages and homes, and near my trail. It was daylight. I wasn’t hurt or injured in any way.  I was between a road and a cliff, so I had two really good boundaries that could help me orient should I happen upon either one of them. So I walked, heading for clearings in the sun-dappled woods since I knew the trail was in a more open place. Eventually I circled around enough that I did find a trail. Not the one I was on or trying to find, but another one that I knew and was able to follow to get back to my road and back to the cottage.

After all that, after finding my way (not magically or automatically or even in a linear way), I relaxed about getting lost in the woods. Dad was always confident about finding the shoreline, eventually. And I had the same feeling. Maybe neither one of us had much wayfinding ability, but I inherited enough of his confidence both to get myself lost and to find myself again. I prefer to wander solo, tho, not with groups of family members and young kids.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the best in 2014 – may you find your way to as much of an adventure as you want, bounded by beauty, family, tradition, and nature.

Love’s Braided (Father-Daughter) Dance

I love weddings. No matter the type of ceremony, religious or secular, indoor or outdoor, traditional or invented, in my experience there is just one wedding that is repeated over and over again. They all make me cry, in joy and a little longing for things imagined, things lost, and the potential of it all.

So when I watched the father-daughter dance at a friends’ wedding last Sunday, I cried for the tenderness and pride he showered on her, for the lack of a father-daughter dance at my own wedding, for the loss of my father. And instead of mourning him, I realized that to honor him I should cherish myself as he cherished me. Essentially, it is up to me to keep that feeling of love alive.

Dad, you would have been 76 this past week. Happy Birthday. I bought myself a gigantic bright orange purse from you on your Birthday. I hope you like it. It makes me smile, and that’s what you would have wanted.

Is a flute a beard? Nope

When I was young, we had to choose an instrument at school. I chose the flute, and was in the middle of the large pack of young ladies in band.

“Flute players” made available through creative commons by Christina Matheson, on flickr

Eventually I dropped out during high school, pursuing other activities instead. Although I was a mediocre musical student, I have always been grateful for my musical education. My experience gives me a sense of the excellence and precision in the music I hear and a working knowledge of the instruments and mechanics within the group. And it helped give my brain something to do while I listen to the music with my heart and body.

Yet, I haven’t always been as appreciative of my choice of instrument, and I have wondered if I chose poorly. The flute…well…it’s a lot girly. And I am tall and knew others regarded tall girls as unfeminine. In that context, I can interpret my choice of the flute as some kind of rejection of who I was at that time (tall, awkward, different) in favor of some ideal diminutive, soft femininity. Basically, I have wondered if the flute was my beard.

Well, last night I attended Gabriel Kahane and yMusic‘s concert at the University Musical Society on North Campus of UM. yMusic is an ensemble of three string and three wind instrument players. One of the musicians, Alex Sopp, played the flute, piccolo, and a longer flute (the bass flute?). Listening to her play, as her notes dashed and trilled and leapt with precision and grace, I knew the real reason for my flute crush. The flute is a beautiful instrument, and echoes the happy music of the birds in the forest (e.g. the beautiful call of the wood thrush).

So thanks, Alex, for helping me forgive my younger choice and reconnecting me to that sound.

A flute isn’t necessarily a beard. It is its own beautiful source of grace and lightness. As my dad would say, recalling a quote attributed (unproven) to Freud “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.

International travel, knitting, and life-lines

I’m knitting a laceweight shawl/wrap. It has been both fun and challenging. The stitch pattern is easy (diagonal paired yarn-overs every 45-some stitches), but the needle is small and the yarn is very fine.  I cast on 481 stitches to start, and I am knitting with a size 3 needle and will knit something like 1,500 yards of laceweight yarn. Just based on the number of stitches – 481 * 200 rows = 96K stitches….it is an ambitious project. Even though it will be small and light, that’s about double the yarn yardage for a sweater.

Whisper wrap, close up. You can see the lifelines (dental floss...!) at the top.

I started to use a lifeline in the project after I dropped stitches at the lacy/yarn-over part and could not recover. A lifeline is a thread “sewn” through the row that lets you rip back a good place and restart if things go awry. I’m using dental floss, but really any yarn would do. It’s a very handy technique. As I’ve knit this wrap, I have dutifully been moving 2 lifelines up the shawl.

I brought this project on our trip to France this fall–knitting on the plane and in the car. I had hoped to finish the wrap ahead of my trip, and I imagined looking chic at an amazing French meal with the wrap cozily around my shoulders. Well, I did not finish in time, and so I resigned myself to enjoying working on my project in France instead of wearing it in France.

I was down to the last 50-some rows, 75-80% through by the time the trip was finished. We got to the airport, and as normal, went through security. We were in the separate line for NYC- and USA-bound planes. Since soon after 9/11, I have been able to bring knitting and its needles on plane trips without incident. So, it did not occur to me that the knitting in my carry-on could cause a problem. Well, my heart dropped into my ankles when the X-Ray operator asked me what the pointy things were in my backpack. I searched for the words in French – we never learned “knitting needles” in French class. I said it was “to knit” or “tricoter”.

I pulled the needles out of my backpack, of course the needles were through something like 60K stitches of laceweight yarn and weeks of work which might unravel completely if separated. The operator did not know if they were permitted, she had to talk to her supervisor. She said that they had different rules in Nice, even if we normally were permitted to carry on the knitting in the US, it might not be allowed here. The supervisor came over, they spoke rapidly in French and I could not keep up, but I heard “aiguilles a tricoter” (knitting needles).

I imagined having to pull my needles out and hand them over to French TSA. I imagined my project fraying back to some earlier date, turning into a big knotty mess I’d need hours to triage and repair.

In the end, they said that my knitting needles were “special” and they let me keep them. Perhaps the operator recognized the delicacy of the puff of knitting attached, or perhaps knitting needles are allowed after all.

Only after the terror subsided did I realize that I had two lifelines in place so even if I had to remove the needles and hand them over, most of my knitting would be intact, the wrap would have survived.

New lessons for the paranoid knitter:

don’t take anything for granted. put a lifeline in before going through security, just in case!
consider bamboo over metal needles for travel, it may look less scary on an X-ray screen!
knitting needles are “les aiguilles a tricoter” in French.

The effects of meditation on the brain – from On Being

I enjoyed a recent repeated episode from NPR’s On Being that discusses the way the brain works, and how we can choose influences for our brain.

I identified just a little with Richard Davidson. The part that struck me was just a moment in the longer interview where he acknowledges how he kept two interests apart (science and contemplative practice). In the 1990s he “came out” and pursued the scientific study of the effects of meditation on the brain of Buddhist monks, finding interesting things. Davidson is now applying teaching kids and adults simple strategies of meditation practices to address concerns such as ADHD and autism. This work is incomplete, but intriguing nonetheless.

Candle light, made available through Creative Commons by Alesa Dam on Flickr

Not that these things are necessarily opposed, but there is some rejection of religion, mysticism, and spirituality in the culture around science (at least that’s my experience of science graduate school in the 1990s). Given that meditation practices originate in religious traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism….Well, scientific inquiry and spiritual practices don’t seem to go together. On the other hand, many scientists are meditators. So they’re not entirely opposed.

In my own life, I’ve kept these things separate, rarely mixing the friends or conversations I have from each sphere. Only recently (after a gap of maybe 10 years…) have I brought friends from other spheres to my meditation center. I can rationalize this as no one being interested and me being afraid to evangelize, but I expect I participated by not giving others a chance to express their interest because I never mentioned it.

In my experience, when I’m withholding part of myself from a conversation or a moment, I am hobbling myself and limiting what I can contribute. So, I’m inspired to more fully integrate the perspective of my meditation practice into my daily life.

You can listen to “Investigating Healthy Minds” on the On Being website or subscribe to all of their podcasts with your favorite podcast tool (I use Google Listen).

For those who would prefer to just read it rather than listen, here’s the transcript of “Investigating Healthy Minds”.

Things I have been enjoying recently

I have been enjoying several things on the internet recently:

Bowling ball uploaded to flickr by jonnykeelty via creative commons

Tumblr, and I have my own Tumblr feed where I sometimes reblog items like nature photography, cool posts from Jason Kottke, DIY crafts, environmental themed news, and more,
Dave Pell’s NextDraft email newsletter – weekday email goodness (hat tip Jason Kottke),
Longreads newsletter (great writing on interesting topics – beyond the snippet or microblog),

I heard about the most amazing bowling story ever from Dave Pell, Longreads, and Kottke.org

Oh and my current guilty pleasure is the fashion blog Tom and Lorenzo, I got to them via Nina Garcia’s twitter feed.

Hope you enjoy them as well!

Published elsewhere: PV’s blog

Here are a few posts I have written in winter/spring for Pure Visibility:

Do you want a free world…or a walled garden?
Tumblr about to outcompete “blog” in popularity (not yet Twitter or Facebook)
High five you rock! #h5yr
Teaching web analytics – sandbox or “play” account needed

Speaking Events in and around Michigan

My mom in her first career as a high school English teacher

I spoke on "Writing for On-Screen Consumption: Tips, Tools & Techniques"  at the Original Equipment Suppliers Association – Automotive Public Relations Council meeting on February 28, 2012. Quick summary here: APRC Meeting Teaches Not So Old Dogs Some New Tricks.

I used the career changes my mom has had in her lifetime and her passion for learning to illustrate the nimbleness required to keep current. I also mentioned a few free tools helpful for writing to be read on screen and to be found online. Longer descriptions and the motivation for these tools can be found in our book!

Writing for On-Screen Reading
Techniques

write to be skimmed – people read only about 20% of the words on a web page (source)

Tools

Google reading level tutorial on Pure Visibility's blog
A tutorial on checking Readability within Microsoft Word from Washington State government
Online Reading Level checker

Pro Tip: Examine the grade level of your competition's materials and aim one grade level easier to read.

Writing to be Found Online through Search
Tools

Google Insights for Search
Google AdWords Keyword Tool

Pro Tip: Insights for Search provides a quick visual to support keyword choices, the AdWords tool provides deeper insight and more alternatives.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday March 14, 2012, I will emcee the Princeton University and Michigan All-Ivy Club "Global Net Night" event where regional associations all around the world will meet to network with other local Princetonians (and other Ivy Leaguers) and hear a presentation by Mark Gilman of MCCI on Personal Branding.

On March 15, 2012, I will participate in a Roundtable Career Exploration discussion at the Rackham Graduate School of the University of Michigan. This event celebrates Rackham Graduate School's Centennial and Ph.D. alumni who have crafted innovative careers outside of academia.

Yoga for Scoliosis in Michigan 4/20/2012

The Iyengar yoga teacher I have mentioned several times, Elise Browning Miller, is coming back to Michigan. I cannot wait!

Her classes will be hosted by the Michigan Yoga Association in Kalamazoo. The workshop details are in a PDF on their website. I thought I'd republish them here in HTML to make them easier to share.

Workshop Dates & Descriptions

Friday April 20, 2012 6-8PM – Yoga for Scoliosis

Saturday April 21, 2012 10AM-12:30PM, 2PM-5PM Yoga for Back Care – Saturday

This session will address different back issues and injuries resulting in poor posture, lower back pain, chronic neck and shoulder pain, scoliosis and other back conditions. Elise will address how to adapt certain yoga poses for a wide variety of back conditions including scoliosis and give a series of therapeutic yoga poses for those back conditions. Appropriate for those dealing with their own back related issues as well as yoga teachers and those who treat these conditions in others.

Sunday April 22, 2012 9AM-noon Heart Opening through Backbends

Elise will lead students through standing poses to prepare for an uplifting backbend practice. Elise will pace the class so that students will feel secure enough to work with a variety of backbend poses. Students should be familiar with standing poses and beginning backbends.

Sunday April 22, 2012 1PM-3PM Forward Bends and Twists: Freedom or Frustration?

Many students with spinal and hip joint challenges struggle with forward bends and twists. Elise will cover how to practice and teach these important categories of poses safely and effectively.

Costs & Registration

Friday Yoga for Scoliosis class $65 separately

Saturday and Sunday classes $150

Registration form PDF including more details from the Michigan Yoga Association.

Location: Transformations Center, 3427 Gull Road, Kalamazoo, MI

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A heavy sleeper wakes up for daily morning yoga, really

I didn't do a New Year's Resolution this year, but one got me anyway.

Elise Browning Miller, an Iyengar yoga teacher who specializes in Yoga for Scoliosis, conducted a weekend yoga workshop in Chicago in early January. Egged on by a friend who was also interested, I attended.

I have been to two of Elise's workshops before, the last one in 2007 in Cleveland. I have used her DVDs and books in my home practice. The Chicago event, at the lovely Yoga Circle, was a teacher training as well as a "Part II" class.

Elise taught some familiar poses and I learned some good tweaks and some advanced poses not in the DVD. We also enjoyed a wonderful teacher:student ratio as Elise instructed the instructors who helped us students. Three items came to be my most important learnings:

Elise emphasizes lengthening and derotation for scoliosis, and from the corrections she gave me throughout the workshop, I seem to have been better at lengthening and needed coaching on the derotation. My current theme in my home practice is derotation.
The workshop helped me notice I was not breathing equally into my lungs and ribs. With coaching I brought attention to the lower left of my back, and I expanded my intercostal muscles where my scoliosis compresses my ribcage. Doing so, I could take deeper breaths and experience greater well-being in each breath.
The biggest take-home lesson for me was how I felt each day of the workshop. My lingering lower back twinges and aches were simply gone. I wanted that feeling to last.

I wanted to learn how to make myself feel that good, that whole, that comfortable in my body on my own. Of course, I already knew exactly what to do – what I had been doing in her previous workshops and with her DVD. Nothing secret or mysterious, just requires the actual doing rather than mental understanding. The answer was obvious: commit to a daily home practice.

I had long wanted to do this and then felt guilty about not doing this….and also resistant, all at the same time. I groused that too many things wanted my daily attention including meditation and other exercise.

I knew from  my experience commiting to a daily meditation practice that I had to commit to adding daily yoga in the morning. If I let myself plan for it to be later, I'd stress about it and/or worm out of it somehow. Putting meditation first thing in the morning short-circuited my avoidance mechanisms.

Clock in the Basement of the First National Building

But, I did not think I could wake early enough to do both yoga and meditation each morning before work. So I decided to make an experiment: move my established meditation practice to the evening and start each day with yoga.

I told two friends, one of whom shared her experience that confirmed mine, the other just egged me on (and I knew if I told more people, I'd be committed).

I worried about the earlier alarm in the morning (even with moving the meditation, I still needed to get up earlier). And I've never been a happy-wakey person. I'm grumpy and slow and resistant in the morning.

Yet, four days in, I've had no trouble whatsoever. I even wake up more easily than before (so far) and I'm finding I have more energy throughout the day.

I look forward to Elise's return to Michigan April 21-22, to teach Yoga for Back Care, Heart Opening Through Backbends, Forward bends and Twists. Her visit will be hosted by the Michigan Yoga Association. Location and details TBD at this writing.