Driving to class last night, I found myself at a long red light. A quick glance to my left, and I noticed that the other driver was taking this time to get her cigarette going. Watching her light up I was reminded as to my observations on smoking.
I was very fortunate — I grew up in a household with a smoker. My mother loved her Kool cigarettes. We kids, all 5, hated how dirty they were and how they smelled, not to mention they seemed to take her attention away from us. Even as we got older and smoking became “cool” for our age groups, none of us picked up the habit. (Of course, we all picked up the ice cream habit, but that would be for another entry.)
In her defense, my mother grew up in a time when everyone smoked. It was not only acceptable, but sexy. Who could forget Paul Henreid’s “Shall we have a cigarette on it?” proposal to Bette Davis at the end of Now Voyager? Smoking was reinforced everywhere back then, even by doctors.
Taking smoking apart, I believe that under the nicotine addiction, there’s deep belly breathing that’s so attractive. Read More
It’s a Small World Afterall
With the internet the world seems be to shrinking and expanding all at the same time. I grew up in a very small town in Maryland, Tall Timbers, where only 35 lived year round at the time. It’s a beautiful place on the Potomac River so most of the houses were built to be summer retreats and not for full time residents. We were lucky however, my dad was a tugboat captain so we lived there year round. He pushed oil barges up to D.C. and back again to get the winter fuel to the big city.
Now, in D. C. thanks to the closeness of the internet an internal communications advisor at the British Embassy contacted me about reprinting my how to do Office Yoga for their wellness newsletter. He works just blocks away from my first home away from home after high school when I moved to Washington to become a telephone operator. Yes, it was 1967 and I held and matched cords to flashing lights, but that’s another long story. He also asked me to sent a note on the benefits of yoga. My reply follows.