Nancy

Hi! I’m Nancy Soares from Ashland. Covid has been a blessing for me. My family and friends are doing well and no one has been sick or has died. When the lockdown in Oregon began, I was out of town taking lessons in rolling a whitewater kayak. When I got home I carried on and used the time to teach myself. Over the course of 9 months I rolled my kayak over 300 times.

This was my routine: I spent about an hour practicing on a nearby lake, and then went for a hike. I hiked many beautiful trails all over a wild area named the Applegate. Soon I noticed I was feeling stronger and healthier. When it was too hot to hike I would go for a long swim after roll practice.

Since I stayed home so much I took the opportunity to go over my house from top to bottom. I cleaned out all the closets, cupboards, and bookshelves. Even the computer files got organized. I sold things, threw things away, and gave them away. I also made improvements on my house and land. Fortunately I have been able to see friends and family in safe settings outdoors, so I haven’t felt isolated.

Also, my family started bi-monthly Zoom meetings. We check in with each other and then we discuss a theme. At first we talked about my late husband’s father, Johnny. He died relatively young, so it was good to talk about him with the younger generation who didn’t get to know him. Then we talked about my late husband’s mother. We listened to recordings of her telling stories about her childhood and we looked at pictures of both her and Johnny. We told stories and laughed and cried. It’s taken us months to cover these two themes and now we are starting to talk about my late husband. The Zoom meetings have enriched our lives and brought us closer together. We are interacting more often than we did before covid and we have decided to keep meeting when the pandemic ends although we may only meet once a month instead of twice.

The first hard thing for me was when we had the terrible fires in September and many people lost their homes, but I found that serving my community was the path to serenity. I offered furniture, clothing, food, and volunteer time to serve my neighbors and I’m still finding ways to help. This is a photo of my dojo where I used to teach judo and jujitsu. It burned in the fires, but we teachers meet once a week on Zoom to stay connected. Someday maybe we will rebuild.

Sadvidya has been tremendously supportive with the video lectures and classes. When Acarya gave us the lectures in November I chose to go into retreat. For those ten days I had almost no contact with the outside world. I completely missed the election but that didn’t matter at all. It was such a good experience I now take an internet break and practice as much silence as I can each time Acarya offers his lectures. I also began to watch one of Acarya’s lectures nearly every day in addition to my personal practice. I started with the Sutra lectures, and it was helpful because I am typing each sutra, the English meaning of each word, and the translation, including Ganapathiarya’s commentary along with notes from Acarya’s lectures. I find that I understand Acarya’s lectures more deeply than I did the first time I listened to them. I am beyond grateful to have this experience.

In August I went camping on my birthday and spent some time with a river. There is a hidden place where I take oil baths. It’s hard to get to but this year someone had balanced nine heart-shaped stones around the swimming hole. It was a magical experience. Having so much space and time has allowed me to notice and appreciate much about my life. It reminds me of a poem by Rumi: “Blessings dropping around me like blossoms. God.”

Acarya tells that our possessions are burdens and I feel happy and light relieving myself of so many materials. I continue to find ways to help my community. This work fills me with contentment. I am blessed to have the support of like-minded friends and family and to live in a time that challenges me to rise to my best self. Many meaningful conversations, many opportunities to practice, much love! I think often of Acarya’s words: “Everything is good. Everything is bad.” They remind of Shakespeare’s words from the play Hamlet: “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”