Our first session at the Harringay Night Shelter and it was a good one. Moya welcomed us, explained what needed doing, and Latoya, Julie and Mark got cracking, with Asan joining shortly afterwards. It's a winter night shelter, somewhat eerily located in out of use church premises, which went in to recess for the summer a few weeks ago. Linen needed to be put in storage, beds folded and put away, the sleeping area vacuumed, bathrooms cleaned, etc .... Latoya demonstrated her interior design skills by re-purposing the sleeping area in to a comfortable lounge space. Congratulations to Asan- this was his 10th good deed, achieved in short time and with great enthusiasm and a 100+% effort at everything he does! There's plenty more cleaning, sorting and tidying to be done (including the kitchen !) so expect to see another task listing soon!

A few people came online to do yoga and supportive GoodGym and Stephens House and Gardens.

yoga talk

The Mountain Practice

You do not build a mountain by commanding it to rise.

You return to it morning after morning, with breath in the ribs, weight in the heels, weather moving through you.

A slow lifting. A quiet holding. The spine learning stone, the shoulders learning sky, the heart learning not to run downhill with every sudden rain.

There is always wind.

It comes from old valleys, from names half-buried, from voices still circling long after the door has closed.

It moves across the face of things, pulling at loose ground, testing the roots, finding the cracks where water once entered and froze.

And some days the mountain is not mountain.

It is gravel. It is mud. It is a slope that has forgotten how to stay.

So you pause.

Not because the storm is over, but because there is a break inside the storm.

A clearing between gusts. A gap between thoughts. A breath before the next weather decides what it wants from you.

There, in that brief stillness, you place one stone back upon another.

Not perfectly. Not forever. Just enough to stand again.

This is the work.

The hamstring lengthens, the mind unclenches. The hip opens, the old fear loosens. The foot presses down, the mountain remembers it was never made to chase the clouds.

You learn that strength is not hardness.

The strongest rock has listened to rain for centuries.

The tallest ridge has been shaped by what tried to wear it away.

So you breathe into the places that want to collapse.

You soften without falling.

You hold without gripping.

You bend without becoming the wind.

And slowly, through the small returns, through the ordinary rituals, through hands to earth and eyes to horizon, something gathers.

A steadiness not born from control, but from practice.

A height not built in a day, but remembered one breath at a time.

Then others may come.

They may shelter in your lee, rest against your side, warm themselves where the sun has found you.

But you do not become mountain by carrying every traveller.

You do not become strong by letting every storm name you.

You stand best when your ground is your own.

And when the wind rises again — as it will — you do not ask to be untouched.

You ask only for the pause.

The break in the weather. The space before reaction. The breath before the body moves. The moment when the mountain, the mind, the muscle, and the heart all choose to remain.

Another great session in the Mulberry Tree Community Garden. It was wonderful to have goodgymer Ky join Asan and Mark along with other regular volunteers. There were a large number of tasks of which many got done, followed by lunch under the mulberry tree.