Paris: Day 10

Nearly one year later and I'm still going!

The day dawned rainy and grey. We spent much of our morning "caving" and journaling. We ventured out to coffee, crepes, and coffins for the day. We had a long visit to Pere LaChaise Cemetery. We paid respects to a great many greats, but we had a few missions in mind:

First we found Colette, my ultimate favourite writer. According to Mireille Guiliano (of French Women Don't Get Fat), Colette was the first woman to "exercise like an American" with machines and accoutrements. This doesn't matter much to me, but I found it interesting. Mostly, I simply adore her writing style, her amusing ideas, interesting plots and unloveable characters.
Jim quested for Jim Morisson, as he is a tourist destination for a great many. During my first visit when I was 18, his particular plot was accessible, and many of the surrounding stones were vandalized, tipped over, and otherwised desecrated. Now, Morisson's own and several surrounding resting places are fenced in. Still, somehow there are many offerings of respect... and doobies.
During our crazy wander-fest, I discovered Hahnemann.
He's the creator/founder/great mind behind homeopathic medicine. He's kinda my hero.
I tried desperately for over two hours to find Isadora Duncan, but came up naught. Instead, I found huge sites devoted to the fallen in the haulocaust, various plane crashes, and civil wars. Finally, we figured out that the "C" beside her name meant she was kept in the crematorium. I felt stupid. However, on the way to find her, we came across Oscar Wilde.
By proxy, we also found Robert Frost since rumour has it the two share sepulcre. Who knew?

The crematorium is an exceptionally creepy place which travels far underground. It smells of stale flowers and tears. To my delight, we found her above ground level. There were a few tributes to others about: tiny flowers, a lone tea light long since snuffed. I left a favoured and well-loved hair pin.
We walked home to a dinner of leek and potato mash and whole wheat bread with flan aux fruit and tarte auc framboise for dessert from the patisserie on the corner. Afterward we readied ourselves and headed out for an evening of jazz at Cafe le Bistro. We capped the evening with luscious bordeaux, four cheese bread, great music and discussions of existentialisme.

Love List

1. Coffee. I know it's acidic, habit forming, tooth-staining, ulcer-forming and all sorts of other awful. But a good hot cup of organic fairly traded bean brew is sometimes one of the happiest moments of my day.



2. Green juice. I think of it often as the counterpart to the coffee. It's generally alkaline, equally delicious, full of vitamins and minerals, easy to digest, hydrating and wonderfully vegan. I enjoy the entire process: from shopping for the right veggies, peeling, washing, and chopping, to the actual "juicing" either by machine or by hand (both of which are happily satisfying).

3. My dad (of whom I unfortunately have no digital photo. He looks quite a lot like Tom Selleck, if you want to get an idea). He always knows the right things to say, generally supports my decisions while playing devil's advocate to make sure I'm doing what I actually want. He's always ready to jump to my aid if I need him, but is polite enough to wait until I (finally) ask for help. He doesn't even mind that I'm not ready to have children even though his desire to be a grandpa is pretty huge.

4. My mom (of whom I also currently have no digital photo). We almost never have the same opinion on anything. She argues with me until I finally keep my thought to myself. She is an exercise in self control. She loves me more than anything. She dives into things with her whole self. She takes on things she doesn't always agree with just to make other people happy. She really puts herself out there to make the world a nicer place. She's a huge pile of surprise and an endless source of inspiration.


5. Kitties. I have SO MANY photos of my calicos it's a bit sickening. They snuggle me when I'm happy, sad, sick, or cold. They snuggle each other just for fun. We play, we romp, we take care of each other. They are magic.


6. New kitties. He's still adjusting to his new home, but he snuggles and cuddles and headbutts like he's been here his whole life. He doesn't mind that the others hiss at him when he tries to play; he just keeps playing.

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Homeopathy for Dancers

Everyone’s body is an instrument. It is what gets us around, keeps us going, it is our home for as long as we are on this earth. Dancers have the distinct pleasure and honour of being aware of using this home as a means for artistic expression, catharsis, performance, pleasure, and delight.

But what happens when this instrument is in pain?
For other artists, there are replacements: a new brush or canvas for the painter; fresh strings, or tuning for the musician; new cameras for the photographer; and on and on. But the dancer only has one body, and the “replacement” process is expensive, painful, and often career ending. Dancers rely heavily on the arts of physiotherapists, chiropractors, good teachers, conditioning exercises, and self monitoring as tools for healing. Many dancers (and other artists for that matter) are as yet unaware of the role homeopathic medicine can play in injury prevention, recovery, overcoming stage fright and performance anxiety, and other professional afflictions.
How can homeopathy help?
In an acute injury, the dancer can always always always turn to Arnica Montana. Arnica is reknown for its use in trauma, injury, shock, and is invaluable as a first aid remedy. Given immediately, it can reduce pain, inflammation, and stimulate the healing processes.
From here, it is important to see a qualified professional homeopath to discover the best medicine for the individual dancer and his/her injury. Each dancer will have his/her own reaction to being injured. One dancer might be despondent and depressed; another may be angry and resentful; still another might be fearful and anxious, while others may ignore the injury and keep on going (and so on). It is important to discover the individual reaction in order to find the appropriate healing remedy.
Alongside this reaction is the dancer’s overarching constitution. The homeopath is always looking for connections: what sort of imbalance may have caused this injury? It could be related to fears, training, muscular weakness, or another mental, emotional, or physicial factor.
The dancer’s own personal susceptability to a particular injury is important. S/he might discover that most injuries occur on one side of the body, for instance, or that s/he is prone to ankle sprains, knee difficulties, bursitis, tendonitis etc, as opposed to those other “common” dance related injuries.
These are important to take into consideration. A homeopath will look at these incombination with the other factors mentioned above to create a complete picture of the dancer. This picture will provide a guide to the most appropriate homeopathic remedy for the artist, leading to injury prevention and a healthier organism.
Homeopathy can accelerate injury recovery. It helps to maintain fitness through supporting the organism in all aspects of its being.
Furthermore, homeopathy can teach the dancer about his/her body in ways perhaps previously unthought. The homeopath will ask a LOT of questions, and the more specific and honest an answer is, the more likely the correct remedy will be found and the quicker healing can occur. Homeopathy can assist the dancer in discovering connections. For example, it may have gone unnoticed that injuries tended only to one side of the body, or to one area of the body, or only occured just before performance. These can be sorted out through treatment and lead the body into a balanced state, assisting the body in preventing these occurances and even eliminating them once and for all.
There are no quick fixes for dance injuries; no short cuts. Each and every one needs to be worked through using the appropriate combination of physiotherapy, training, and rest. Homeopathy can help accelerate this process and get dancers back on the floor stronger, more confident, and healthier than before.