Hang on Tightly, let go lightly: contemplations and images upon leaving Lebanon

Read from bottom to top!

18 August (St. Pryve, France)

Sunset over the Atlantic from Ericeira marking the end of another moment in our transition to Ecuador. Following the Yoga Therapy training, Cecile and the boys came for a holiday proving to be a very pleasant sojourn in the sun. Ericeira....very chilled and very friendly.

On Monday we pack our bags and head off into this sunset destined for Ecuador to see what shenanigans await us there. 

07 August (Ericeira, Portugal): Second half day off my Elemental Yoga Therapy course . A fascinating and enriching learning experience, corner-turning game changer. Will be done in 6 days. What to say....OM.

17 July (London): Here we are, 1 week into our new reality. It is taking a while for it all to sink in....we have actually left Lebanon. Wow. Will we ever go back? Kasem said the other day....'i'm so happy to be travelling', we've been through Wales and this morning as we packed up at cousins in the Cotswolds he said 'and so the little travellers continue their journey'. A very prescient little fellow. Both are coping very well, sleeping well and seemingly understanding of the situation and their separation from their Mum. Time will tell, I mean they seem happy, but I expect some kind of crisis to precipitate as emotions are bound to bubble through. We keep active but there are clear moments of reflection in the car, the train, etc when we talk about where we have been and where we are going and whats to come....and we skype Cecile in Beirut, that helps a lot.

We are in London tonight, a city pumping up its heart rate as the Olympics loom in 2 weeks time. I might be sensitive to it but it is true, people are more friendly in an openly sincere kind of way that simply exudes acceptance. Had dinner tonight with two excellent friends and the boys in a touristy Indian restaurant. The boys were going from table to table offering people a lick of the big lollipop they were sharing that Zaki was given by a street performer (a story in itself!). People just thought it was so funny, the staff loved it, no one seemed bothered or to care. I think some thought there was a hidden camera somewhere! Just light-hearted laughing.

There is a sense of anchoring here in the UK, perhaps more like sea anchor helping to maintain a steady course and even keel that allows things to feel more stable. But then it is more stable....I mean Lebanon feels on the edge of war or some reasonable facsimilie of instability and violence. But its more than that, here laws of all kinds are made and are followed, people obey not only because there might be a penalty for an infraction, but because they realise it makes things work better. Watched today as a traffic light turned red and the traffic including cyclists waited even though there was no traffic coming through the opposite green, it allowed the pedestrians to cross safely....thats what traffic lights are supposed to do....not so much an option as they are in Beirut.

Zaki and Kasem had their street performing debut yesterday at Covent Garden...selected from the crowd by a would-be Charlie Chaplin, like a dream come true, particularly for Zaki who ended up sharing the stage for nearly 30mins. It was really quite hilarious.

And we went to the Apple Store in Covent Garden today, biggest in the world they say! The boys had a hoot and I would have had too except my Mastercard was declined and declined and declined. Bugger Lebanese banks!! Someone tell me, why do credit cards from Lebanon not have the chip, only the stripe?

Those two boys in the corner are having a serious Mac Attack....on the iPad for nearly 2hrs! iYikes!

06 July (Beirut): Gladly but sadly, sold the Volty, I loved that bike. 2 more sleeps in Beirut and we're outta heeya. 

05 July (Beirut): Folks this is a Welsh dragon drawn in Arabic which when translated to Welsh reads 'The land of our Fathers' the first line of the rather fantastic Welsh National Anthem, a fine going away gift! thanks Richard!

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/content_objectid=13915571_method=full_siteid=50082_headline=-A-national-anthem-to-stir-the-soul-name_page.html

Planning:2012

Planning. Whats that about? We can try to plan but when your destiny appears to lay in the hands of others it is not so easy, you have to do what feels right, be courageous, follow your spirit guide.

In summary, our plan for the rest of 2012:

Boys (all 3)
10 July 
Beirut  - London 
(in Wales and England with Auntie Margaret, family, friends)
18 July 
London - Switzerland
(with friends from KL!)
22 July Switzerland - St. Pryve
(kids stay with les grandparents)
Daniel
25 July  - 13 August
on Elemental Yoga Therapy Course in Portugal*
Cecile
04 August - 20 August
On leave to France

Boys
20 August
Paris - Guayaquil
(inVilcabamba to Jan/13)
Cecile
19 August
Paris Beirut
(visit to Ecuador Oct/Nov)

Early 2013 we'll likely move to the next post destination which is for now an unknown. Read on if you have an interest in the why's and wherefores, otherwise, if your plans and ours coincide in dates and locations, let us know. All are welcome to the sunny south of Ecuador!

This year we knew we had to move on from Beirut with the expiry of Cecile's time here with UNHCR. The process requires her to apply for a new post and so she looks for family duty stations, where she can work as a Protection officer and at the appropriate P4 middle-management level and...there are other considerations, like good schooling, work opportunities for spouses (me), availability of skiing for spouses (haha, but a good bonus!), clean air, etc. Think of these as filters which in effect reduce the number of possible jobs to apply for. Add to this that UNHCR's staffing pyramid shrank by 30% in the past 5 years of reform and budget strife (even though the number of refugees and internally displaced has grown globally), and so the higher your grade level and filters the fewer jobs there are.

Finding a suitable post is much more challenging than for a young singleton and the competition fierce...permanent staff have to do this every 2-5yrs depending on the post duration (which depends on the country). Suffice it to say UNHCR staff fight the battle to find work against the demographic odds and economics of the times like everyone else. We are lucky in a way, Cecile has a 'permanent contract' so there is a certain job security in that and although the built-in uncertainty doesn't go away.

We knew from the get-go, the year of the dragon was was going to be an interesting year. Without being appointed to a post yet, Cecile will be on a temporary assignment (TA) until the next round of posts comes up for January. It was only earlier this month that the office in Beirut got around to offering Cecile a suitable 6 month TA, she will work on the crisis of Syrian's displaced in Lebanon until December, before that she could have been going anywhere.  

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My own career path isn't so easily defined, it is more like that tangled spider's web from the spider on bennys experiment (watch the vid to the end)(at least I quit coffee!) so I can deal with another convolution, twist or turn. Good that one of us stays on track.

Now they say everything happens for reason; in this uncertainty I saw the chance to give the boys a break from formal schooling, to my mind an option while they are young and something I have been wanting to do for a while. The best place for this.....Ecuador of course! The house and land in Vilcabamba is really what makes such a possibility real. It also gives the chance to finally live in the house we built in Vilcabamba in 2003....a chance that has also been elusive so in a sense things start to come together. On the schooling question we consider that Mark Twain said 'don't let your schooling get in the way of your education' and Thoreau who said 'travel is the best education', I am working on the modality we will use for an informal home school.

Even not to planning to return to Lebanon may be wise the way things are going; the hard analysis says that unless the Syrian situation starts evolving differently, Lebanon stability appears like a small boat on the outer swirl of a spinning vortex going round round round and down down down. The pessimists view? I hope so and we pray that the power-brokers remember the damage of the long civil war here, and recognize the potential that awaits Lebanon that can only come with a sustained peace and proper governance.

Apologies friends in Lebanon for the visual metaphor but if things keep going the way they are, it could get quite shitty.

So by 20 August us boys will wing out over the Pacific to southern Ecuador until the end of the year. Work progresses on the construction of a casita adjacent to the casa roja in Vilcabamba to serve as a guest house. Construction is being supervised by our most excellent tenants and they will be the first 'guests' to live there. Rather than having to move away when we come, they'll just move next door!  They will manage the rental of the casita once we leave....a good option for all!

The footprint and foundation. Rebecca surveying.

So thats the plan, by remote I am working on this casita project, getting things ready to move to storage and closing the apartment, studying for my yoga course and looking at the education programme for the boys while we are in South America, I'll blog on that anon, stay tuned. busy is as busy does.

*The course is in Elemental Yoga as I build further on a different modality bringing therapy back to yoga practice and hope to work with people open to the notion that yoga as a life science can help them better manage their spiritual, mental and physical wellness. The more I practice, the more I realise how important this is in today's fractured and confusing world. This idea fits into a longer term vision to open a yoga/meditation site in Vilcabamba on the land, a project which has started and will grow organically as interest, time and commitment will allow, being there this year will help catalyze things significantly.

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Downward facing dog

The article below by acupuncturist Sara Calabro has been circulating this week on fb. Normally I don't re-post but in this case the author captures clearly the relationship between yoga and good health which has been of interest to me over 25 yrs of yoga practice. 

Yoga as a part of a healthy holistic lifestyle is very practical (and portable!) and has benefits which (not surprisngly) I find especially relevant for people hovering around 50. 

I will continue my exploration of this relationship and consider how to approach it as a therapy. To that end I will also be taking a course in Elemental Yoga this summer and the thinking is to begin work this year on a yoga/meditation site on the land in Ecuador..... you gotta have a 'retirement plan' right? Check it out: http://www.elemental-yoga.com/what-is-elemental-yoga.html

Adho mukha savanasana - downward facing dog

Downward-facing dog is the most ubiquitous pose in yoga. Acupuncture explains why.

This popular yoga pose is the one we see in advertisements and movies, on yoga DVDs, and the covers of health and fitness magazines. Downward-facing dog is taught in beginner yoga classes and returned to again and again by the most advanced yoga practitioners.
Almost everyone who has tried yoga, no matter their skill level, is familiar with downward-facing dog. Even people who have never set foot on a yoga mat can visualize the pose, known in Sanskrit as adho mukha svanasana.
So why is downward-facing dog the media darling of yoga poses? What keeps people coming back to this pose? Why does downward-facing dog make us feel so good? And what the heck does this have to do with acupuncture?
Downward-Facing Dog Has Your Back
From an acupuncture perspective, downward-facing dog has gained its rightful place at the top of the yoga-pose heap because it activates the bladder channel.
The bladder channel, sometimes referred to as tai yang, is the longest channel in the body. It has 67 acupuncture points that run from the inner eye, up and over the head, down the entire spine and posterior leg, along the side of the foot and ending at the pinkie toe.
The location of the bladder channel is significant because the back in acupuncture is considered the most yang––the most external, superficial––part of the body. It is our initial connection with the outside world.
The bladder channel, since it takes up such significant territory on the back, is our first line of defense against invaders from the external environment––cold, wind, germs, pollen, etc. For this reason, points along the bladder channel are frequently selected to get rid of cold and flu symptoms, and to boost immunity.
Downward-facing dog elongates the entire Bladder channel, enabling flow and strengthening the body’s primary defense mechanism.
The Secret to Understanding Downward-Facing Dog’s Many Benefits
The large surface area covered by the bladder channel means that its applications extend beyond immunity. The bladder channel is used to treat a very wide range of conditions, including pain in any part of the body that’s located along its route––headaches; neck pain; upper, mid and low back pain; pulled hamstrings; calf strains; and foot pain.
But even more than size or location, the reason the bladder channel is so important to overall health––and the reason downward-facing dog is such a gem of a yoga pose––is because it contains what are known in acupuncture as the Back Shu Points.

Each of the body’s organs has its own Back Shu Point and they are all located along the bladder channel. Shu in Chinese means “to transport,” as in transport qi (or blood, or fluids, or whatever’s needed) to the organ associated with that point.

Back Shu Points are used diagnostically and as treatment points.
Acupuncturists often palpate these points to gather information about which organ system is involved in a person’s symptoms. If a certain point is tender, or noticeably raised or depressed, it may indicate that something’s going on with that point’s corresponding organ. Once a diagnosis has been determined, Back Shu Points may be needled directly.
The Back Shu Points are traditionally associated with treating chronic diseases, so pretty much anything you can think of that’s not related to an acute injury––anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, menstrual irregularities, asthma, incontinence, migraines, insomnia, etc. Many acupuncturists think of Back Shu Points as going to the source, the most direct way of affecting a particular organ.
The Back Shu Points also are used to treat problems with sense organs, since each organ system has an associated sense organ. The eyes, for example, are associated with liver, and would be treated with the liver Back Shu point. The mouth is the sense organ of spleen, so the spleen Back Shu Point would be chosen for any mouth-related issues. And so on.

The bottom line is this: The bladder channel covers a lot of ground, both in terms of size and function. Smooth flow throughout the channel is critical to achieving optimal health and at the same time challenging to maintain since there’s a lot that can go wrong.

Downward-facing dog is unique in its ability to engage, in one fell swoop, acupuncture’s largest and most all-encompassing channel. For the remaining few who haven’t already, it’s time to strike this pose.