Vanchella Vagabonds

  You should spend 20 minutes a day in meditation.  Unless you are too busy; then you should spend an hour. Since the pandemic began, multiple people have asked for suggestions and resources on relaxation and meditation. Sharing those here.  If you have favorites, I'd love to hear about them! Please share in the comments. Namaste. Relaxation Music These are my favorite selections of relaxation music. They were also some of my yoga students' favorites for class, particularly savasana . When you listen repeatedly combined with mindful breathing, your mind starts to make an association with the music, automatically inducing a relaxation response when you return to the music. (I'm not certain the format these are available in, so I'm providing the Amazon link for all. There may be outlets that are free or less expensive.) Healing Sanctuary, Dean Evenson This one is my go-to for anxiety-producing situations, like flight take-offs. It's very relaxing music featuring flute...

Having all your gulls in a row at Goleta Pier. We have returned to Santa Barbara and are staying here in Isla Vista with Emily through the 27th when our next AirBnB is available. We ended up cutting our stay in Chico short by a few days because of effects of nearby fires: we were noticing respiratory effects and becoming concerned about impact on travel routes with evacuations. This year is the worst on record for fires in California and it is very sad; ten people have died since August. Here are a few photos from our experience: Departure morning in Chico Images from the drive, about 7.5 hours, north to south Sadly, climate change deniers still make excuses; however, there is no denying that this is  an impact of the choices we have made and continue to ignore . We saw similar effects on our visit to the Florida Keys a couple of years ago, compared to our honeymoon there in 1988. Because of the extreme heat conditions and occasional fire effects, we didn't do much vagabonding whil...