Lake loved it so much on Tuesday that we came back again today. A 20 minute bicycle ride through the farmland and vineyards brings us to the public access beach of Lake Geneva below Allaman. From there we can go by foot exploring the lakeshore and then following the Aubonne River upstream. It reminds me of where I grew up in the Quinault Valley, so both Lake and I were thrilled to be exploring this nature on a day like today. Beautiful! The main difference is here there are the various value added civilities of pleasant passerby’s speaking French and many with puppies!, and all wishing us a Bonjour! We’re just 30 minutes by train from Geneva, 3 hours by train from Paris, and bounded by vineyards, wheat fields, potatoes, onions, apple orchards, rock querying, marina with active fishing adventures ongoing, and all very well attended to and maximally and sustainability productive. We are enchanted… a truly perfect day!

The weekend after we return home I’ll be teaching my first 30 minutes yoga series. Tonight after Lake fell soundly asleep in bed, I began to craft a beautiful arc inspired by the waxing half moon over Féchy.

Dr. Dhru introduced the Moon Salutation to many of us for the first time a few months ago during our Synergy Yoga Teacher Training. Here I riffed off of my poor memory of that series to create the Geneva Moon Salutation.

I began on the perch of the church yard overlooking the crescent that is Lake Geneva. With the moon above, the lights of France across the water, the vineyards of Vaud stretching out before me, the fresh mountain air and the crickets all around I unwound the day. The moon salutation of my interpretation is a cooling, soothing and grounding dance. This series is bourn of moonlight, yet can also create the moonlight effect on demand if the fiery dosha of pitta is in need of balancing.

If you’d like to try it, and see how you feel, here is the asana flow. It’s predominantly a vinyasa of standing postures so that you may practice it comfortably outside on the lawn, sidewalk, churchyard cobblestones, or elsewhere. I’d love your feedback! Breathe and begin:

Mountain Pose Tadasana, Extended Mountain Pose Urdhva Hastasana, Forward fold Uttanasana , Half-Dog Pose Ardha Svanasana, Forward Fold Uttanasana, Extended Mountain Pose Urdhva Hastasana, Mountain Pose Tadasana, Starfish Pose, Warrior Pose II Virabhadrasana II, Peaceful Warrior, Side Angle Parsvakonasana, Yoga Push Up Chaturanga Dandasana, Upward-Facing Dog Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Downward-Facing Dog Adho Mukha Svanasana, Warrior Pose I Virabhadrasana I, horse,

*repeat second side*

Mountain Pose Tadasana, Extended Mountain Pose Urdhva Hastasana, Forward fold Uttanasana , Half-Dog Pose Ardha Svanasana, Forward Fold Uttanasana, Extended Mountain Pose Urdhva Hastasana, Mountain Pose Tadasana, Starfish Pose, Warrior Pose II Virabhadrasana II, Peaceful Warrior, Triangle Pose Trikonasana, Half-Moon Pose Ardha Chandrasana, Triangle Pose Trikonasana, Yoga Push Up Chaturanga Dandasana, Upward-Facing Dog Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Downward-Facing Dog Adho Mukha Svanasana, Horse, Mountain Pose Tadasana, Dancer Natarajasana, Standing Tree Revolved Extended-Leg, Chair Uktasana, Eagle Garudasana, Sleeping Eagle, Mountain Pose Tadasana, Extended Mountain Pose Urdhva Hastasana,

*repeat second side*

Mountain Pose Tadasana. Close with gratitude. Namaste.

Lake and I are having a day of casual adventure, just the two of us. We borrowed a bicycle and bicycle trailer to cycle down to the nearby shore of Lake Geneva. From there we meandered along the shoreline pausing at inciting little enclaves: picnic tables, pebbled beaches, wooded trails and leaf-covered marinas. By some miracle Lake fell asleep in the bicycle trailer on our way there, so initially he napped while I meditated, wrote and reflected on some books I’ve been reading from a shady spot on the shore of Lake Geneva, swans floating and grazing nearby. Here are my notes from the field:

The Autobiography of a Yogi brought the Yoga Sutras to life for me. Especially some of the more esoteric and difficult to grasp sutras. Like miracles. Organizing matter, as an expression of cosmic light energy, to heal the sick, bring back the dead and stopping trains. Advanced yogis have truly unfathomable powers as to sufficiently boggle the Western Mind. It sounds fanciful, improbable, impossible, but yoga instructs that it is possible and even describes how exactly (spoiler alert: it begins with meditation). Paramhansa Yogananda, in his autobiography, documents the richness of his and other gurus’ contributions to advancing human consciousness through yoga, as originating in India and has travelled to us in the West.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are the texts that prescribe and define the science and philosophy of yoga. Yoga is the practice of that philosophy as laid out in the step by step manual. Yoga is Sanskrit for “yoke” or “union” and it actually refers to harnessing your self to the oneness of God. As Yogananda eloquently writes, “yoga, the science of personal experience with the divine.” To cease the fluctuations of the mind and to exist in the present moment as your highest Self. The one that you are that is indistinguishable from God is the Self. Yoga therefore offers a pathway to transcendent living in the midst of the suffering that is inherent in life. And why is there suffering? Yogananda suggests it is to keep us from being blind and complacent. So that we will pursue our path back to remembering we are divine beings not separate from oneness with the cosmic One, the universal consciousness. The Yogi offers a behind-the scenes glimpse of the Yoga Sutra’s teachings as fulfilled potential as practiced by the masters.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a surprisingly slim volume actually, comprises four chapters containing 196 terse aphorisms written in Sanskrit as a poem historically learned and shared through chanting. The first two chapters of the “manual” introduce yoga, as in 1. Atta (and here we have yoga, let’s begin). The third chapter describes and instructs on perfectly concentrated meditation that being it can be practiced , one will progress not by magic but by step wise fashion to yield the fruits of the labor as also described. And the forth chapter narrates the kaivala, The emancipation of existing in one’s own essence.

Like any of the great texts that survive the ages and offer instruction on living, the yoga sutras are worthy of a lifetime of study. And as the Yogananda somewhat confidentially illuminates, a few of those lifetimes are centuries or millennia long when the person in question is an avatar, a very advanced yogi here to facilitate the teachings.

The Yogi points out yoga is not immediately accessible for everyone. For hardly anyone, really. For me it’s taken several decades to tackle their surface and attempt to swim into their depths. But the deep experience of yoga can happen in a moment and usually does. It is then life changing, as in your knowledge of the world has morphed into wisdom. Perhaps you have met a yogi who is illuminated, or sat in meditation and met God. These experiences may draw you in to seek a greater understanding of the depths of yoga. You may be called to investigate the history, context and deeper teachings. Then the yoga sutras are available to read. Even when you haven’t read them, though, you may have realized some of their truths. Take Physics, for example. You don’t have to grasp or enjoy a physics class to experience and appreciate concepts that are elucidated therein like gravity, acceleration, and velocity. You feel its presence. Reading the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or The Autobiography of a Yogi may not for everyone but as a scientist to physics, or a yoga teacher to the Sutras, it’s important to have that introductory series of instruction behind your degree. There’s at least an acknowledgement and understanding that the formulas exist.

This morning we said goodbye to the cows and this afternoon we said hello to the vineyards.

We translocated 13 minutes by car from Essertines-sur-Rolle to Féchy, from the home of one dear friend to another. Lake is having the time of his life. It is nonstop action with a constant supply of delightful new toys and playmates. I’m breathing the sweet Swiss air of peace and friendship and am happy.

Today would have been our follow-up appointment with the burn care team. The one that we were under duress to keep. Even so, I think we made a strong choice in coming here to Switzerland. Mostly what’s required with second degree partial thickness burns during recovery is diligence in observation and continued perseverance in the face of the daily wound care. Lake has been a great sport, more clingy to Mummy and quick to sob, but he’s also adjusting to many new elements including the time change as well as jet lag. All the while he’s been working on healing. As of today, he has only four patches which are not completely healed over and are still requiring bandages: chin, neck, axilla and dorsum of foot. In the evenings in between dressing Lakes wounds I am able to gaze out at the alpenglow on the French alps. When he wakes up in the night and I groggily go to him, I see the lights of France across the lake. It’s a picturesque setting for a convalescence.

Our biggest struggle has been the hat.

No… hat… No… hat!

He’s been quite adamant. I was at my wits end really regarding what to do. It is imperative with his fair skin and brand new tender healing skin that he wear sunscreen and a hat.

For a full year

said the physician team.

Here in the mountains the sun is also particularly strong. Lake was not convinced regarding the hat wearing, but he also didn’t want to stay inside by himself either. I really needed his cooperation and buy-in since he can simply remove it at anytime if he so desires. And he did vehemently desire No Hat!

After a prolonged back and forth that felt like it had no solution, I was rapidly loosing my patience. My friend remarked that she thought I was being extremely patient but I did not feel that way, quite the opposite. I had no choice but to see it through, maybe that presents as patience. Lake also had no choice but to wear the hat. We were both cross and irritated with our predicament. I decided what we needed was to change the conversation.

Let’s go say hello to the cows, Lake! Off we go, hats on.

Off we went down the lane to see the cows…

Hat!

And he wore it the rest of the afternoon. I told him I appreciated how mature and courageous he was being. He can be very proud of himself, and wear the hat everyday when we’re outside. Thank you Lake, your precious skin and surely all the burn care team thanks you too!

This morning I watched the dawn turn to day on Lake Geneva and the sun rise over Mont Blanc. After four days solid of rain, mist, fog, thunder, full cloud cover and white outs, the sun on the lake and mountains were a refreshing surprise. The day begged for a formal greeting, and a dozen classic sun salutations were naturally in order. Luckily they had fit neatly into my minimal luggage and I could produce and enjoy them on the spot, even in this foreign locale.

Suryanamaskar, or sun salutation, (elegantly demonstrated here by Donna Farhi from her book A Return to Wholeness) can be practiced in any environment, condition or time of life. In fact Ayurvedic practitioner and yoga teacher Dr. Dhru MD, urges you to “Don’t leave home without it [your daily dozen sun salutations every morning].” For periods of many years during my twenty year relationship with yoga, suryanamaskar… that’s been the thread of my asana practice. Perhaps many of us would like to have a daily session with a private teacher or attend a 60-75 minute studio class. Then, however, we may find this is not feasible due to financial or time constraints. Practicing on, or off, the mat a sun salutation variation for about ten minutes each morning can be as or more effective than a once weekly or monthly intensive session. A short daily practice in your room at home provides a rejuvenating link to your yoga-mind intention. That alone can be a comprehensive practice or a diligent complement to your work with yoga teachers. Part of yoga mindset and teachings is that you listen to your inherent inner-wisdom teacher. A good morning sun salutation offers a beautiful platform from which to safely practice that. Nothing special is needed. An open mind-heart and tuning into your breath are nice places to begin, but if that is not immediately available to you, it will come in time from the practice. A perfect day, I’m glad I began it with my Self.

One of our objectives in coming to Switzerland was to allow Lake a chance to practice his German and have some real utility for it. At home Lake’s way of saying “gentle pets” is Ai Ai. We thought he’d made it up. Then I heard my friends here saying Ai Ai as well. It turns out Ai Ai is the German way of gently admonishing to be gentle. I swear Luisa, his German au pair, denied knowing this so we’d reasoned he’d made it up. Sometimes you have to go all the way to Switzerland to uncover the truth.

Here’s a recent scene from home where Mr. Cat seems to approve and appreciate Lake’s command of the concept Ai Ai:

Meanwhile, also on the home front: the other two of our cats are still working out their emotions with the transition (addition of third kitty). It hasn’t been easy but as with most things in life, patience goes a long way towards graciousness. As it turns out, Mr. Silky seems to have a crush on Miss Kitty. He is, however, not always sattvic in his demonstrations. There are moments though where glimpses of a peaceful future come through. Yin and yang:

What do you think of when you hear Switzerland? Cows, cheese, chocolate? Yes, it’s the fresh mountain air and the happy cows with their tinkling bells who graze on the sweet grass creating this atmosphere.

I was about ten years old the first time I visited Switzerland, the Berner Oberland, and I fell instantly and deeply in love. Later when I had the opportunity to study abroad for a year I was choosing between France where I could certainly improve upon my French or Switzerland where it would be very unlikely to be placed within a French speaking family. It would be most likely a Swiss German speaking family.

I chose Switzerland even though I spoke not a word of German. My host family (who turned out to be the best host family ever!) teased me for having a Heidi complex. I cannot deny it. I love Switzerland! So it’s extremely special to be able to introduce my son to family and friends from that year as well as the rest of the highly organized and esthetically and ecologically enlightened county. All the farm animals that he is constantly reading about he finally can meet just down the street from where we’re staying with friends on the hillside above Lake Geneva.

Here the region speaks French and alas my French is not so evolved. Instead Lake and I speak German together here. However his new words for today were Oof Da! and Au revoir!

With our recent traumatic experience, we were in a conundrum regarding our travel plans. We were rather looking forward to visiting our friends in Switzerland, a trip we had been planning for quite some time. Lake’s burns were at the moment gnarly yet we could see how quickly he was healing. Nonetheless, the burn team strongly advised against leaving the country for two weeks. They required follow up at 7-10 days, no exceptions. Even though he was expected to be completely healed by then? Our plane tickets were for Saturday morning and the burns occurred Monday evening. It was awkward timing to say the least. A Friday follow up appointment was too soon to be useful, a follow up at three weeks would be pointless if all healed according to his good prognosis, or it would be much too late if a problem or infection were to arise. If we rescheduled our trip we would not be able to avail ourselves to the reduced plane fare for Lake under the age of two it’s 10% of the ticket price. As it stands we fly home the day before his second birthday. If we postponed our departure by nearly a week we would be foreshortened in our holiday and pay and even higher per diem jet lag tax.

Michael was a strong advocate for our trip continuing as planned. Lake was indeed healing at such a rapid rate it was as if he’d been touched by the Shape of Water creature. So I packed for two. As a seasoned traveler and longtime advocate for traveling light, I set out to pack for both Lake and myself in the space I normally us for just myself. The carryon sized rolling suitcase and a simple carryon backpack. Well, come morning of, there were suddenly so many extra items (jackets, diapers, food and water) and we were already totally packed to the maximum that I was forced to toss them into a folding cloth bag and run out the door. Michael was driving us to Vancouver BC to fly Air Canada. The border agent did ask us why we weren’t flying out of Seattle. This way we could avoid an untenable 6 hour layover in the Vancouver Airport. As it turns out, flying with The Canadians is much nicer anyway. (The TSA has practically managed to squeeze all joy out of air travel with its very militant approach.)

As we were checking the rolling carryon suitcase I lamented I couldn’t check all the unwieldy odds and ends and keep the easy to manage rolling luggage with me. Michael wisely recommended I just leave the extra bag behind and that I would be much happier traveling lighter. He’s right however there were important items in there and I didn’t have the time or energy to completely repack. Maybe remove a few shirts and dresses that I realistically wouldn’t be wearing? Learning point 1: don’t be afraid to check luggage when traveling as a twosome where one is carrying the other. And learning point 2: there’s no prize for smallest checked luggage. It’s better to move up a size and check more items than to have a couple extra I’ll-packed hand luggages.

Despite having Lake in the Ergobaby on front, his backpack on my back, and a tote full of last minute foods and waters, we made it through the length of several airports and made both our flights. The flights, though totally booked with zero extra seats, were surprisingly well tolerated made so by the most baby-friendly seat-mates one could have conjured up. Though they admitted only to being a grandfather or a father, I believe they must have actually been Krishna God or Buddha in disguise. In the course of the flight from Montreal to Geneva lake managed to have not one but two blow-out diapers that involved getting the miracle seat-mate a fresh seat cover. Airplane bathrooms also seemed to have shrunk since I last flew to Switzerland four years ago. The air kept drying out his wounds thus requiring unpopular yet frequent applications of Egyptian Magic to his healing burns. Somehow in this fashion we arrived in Switzerland intact.

Lake even proclaimed himself a “Happy Baby” once more! A perfect adventure… I’m glad I’m spending it with you!

We chose to come home after one night instead of staying another day. We discharged from Harborview at 5:30pm Tuesday. We made it home with Lake in good spirits and soon he was asleep. He still looks like a war survivor with his raw, peeling and oozing face. The big task for us at home is staying on top of wound care. He has sustained a partial thickness burn to 2-3% of his body. It looks more alarming than it reads predominantly because it’s his face that is most impacted and edematous with eyes squished shut. Being so young, however, he is anticipated to heal completely in 10-14 days. There will likely be sensitivity and possibly discoloration to the burned areas that will hopefully resolve with time.

He’s not a huge fan of the face net which he calls No Hat and my friend Cami accurately pointed out looks like an Asian pear net. This we are doing our best to replicate day after day at home.

He’s recovering by leaps and bounds every day. The first day home in the kitchen he was clearly having significant flashbacks, uncomfortably reliving the trauma.

Tea… boosh…

Tea… boosh…

Daddy…

He was with Daddy in the kitchen making tea when the jar of fresh boiled water broke as he excitedly ran over to be near his beloved tea. Boosh! Right into his face. His face and chest and arm, predominantly the right side, caught the brunt of the gush. Daddy got his quickly undressed and into a cool water bath in the sink, then brought him to his sick napping mama for comfort. As I slowly oriented myself I put two and two together when his face was red and he wouldn’t breastfeed. Badly burned. Hospital. Must go now.

Children’s Hospital or Harborview Medical Center? Pediatrics or Burns? Close or not too far, depending on traffic. Aid car or drive ourselves?

Harborview. Regional Pediatric Burn Unit.

What time is it?

7:20pm? Okay, traffic has died down. We’re going directly to Harborview. We’re driving.

Decisions were made judiciously and expediently. We dressed him in loose Cozy organic cotton shirt and pants and I sat in the back and sang to him while Daddy drove us to the Hospital. He was courageous and quiet. Once at the Emergency Department we were greeted, waited, greeted waited, and on and on as we made our way through all the layers of admission as Lake incrementally became an inpatient patient of Burns followed by Peds. It was after midnight when the debridement occurred. It was a very intense experience for all involved, for me, imagine witnessing your child be skinned alive. Our night nurse Rachel was professional and skilled, as were both the conglomerate teams of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and staff that continued to care for Lake during his stay.

We’re home convalescing now, breastfeeding almost continuously and very clingy to Mama but otherwise energetic and curious. He’s enjoying the exuberant company of Nana and Baba who were kind to come and visit. We’re managing wound care with the compassionate skills of Michael and Luisa. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers. As aforementioned Lake has shown true courage, grace, and resilience throughout this experience.