Short Stories
School has started and suddenly there is less time for personal reading. I have, however, decided to dedicate the month of September to an under appreciated art form: the short story. As the saying goes, a short story a day keeps the anxiety of finishing a novel away. The first collection of short stories I plan on reading is Narrow Beams by Kate Myers Hanson. Katie Hanson is also a professor at Northern Michigan University, and I am taking a course with her this fall. Please feel free to join me in the story a night challenge.
Swimming
According to Shakta Kaur Khalsa in the KISS Guide to Yoga, a daily cold shower is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Khalsa mentions that many yogis often immerse themselves in glacial streams because "cold water opens the capillaries and strengthens the entire nervous system." When you take a cold shower (or jump in Lake Superior) your capillaries open and release toxins. Khalsa says that "if you bring your body to that temperature where it can meet the cold by its own circulatory power, you have won the day. You have empowered your own health and happiness."
For the month of September, I intend to take Khalsa's recommendation and take a daily dip in Lake Superior. For those who do not live on Lake Superior but still want to participate in the cold water challenge, a 30 second to one minute cold shower should suffice. For more information see page 270 of the Kiss Guide to Yoga.
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2 comments:
I'm sure the dip in Lake Superior felt great today! Great idea regarding short stories! I just finished "New Moom" by Stephenie Meyer; not as good as her first novel, "Twilight" but will continue to read the saga. Also trying to finish Barack Obama's "Dreams from My Father" before the election in November!
Alison! In 1999 I read 'The Best American Short Stories of the Century' edited by John Updike. I marked five of them 'excellent' in my notes. 'The German Refugee' by Bernard Malamun and 'The Ledge' by Lawrence Sargent Hall were excellent. Short stories are under appreciated -- but when they are good I always wish they were longer!! We miss Lake Superior already...LOVED the Porkies. Ladybug and Daifu
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