Maybe a wee bit snarky...

Today I went to Bainbridge Island to listen to a former MD from Virginia Mason who also practices reiki and holistic healing. She told me (and about 50 other would be healed people) that we need to breathe to become present. She had us draw our "blocks", and how we see ourselves overcoming the blocks. I described my block to a lady in her 50's as she listened without responding verbally or otherwise. Another lady talked to me about her guilt at being intellectually aware and yet still being stuck.
I love this kind of stuff. I love my chakras and shit. And yet there's a part of me that starts scoffing. Maybe it's my stunted inner child? The thing that I noticed, and it WAS noticeable was that this was a very homogeneous audience. With the exception of my husband and I, everyone in this room was dressed for a granola convention. A LOT of wool, and nubuck Birkenstocks, and Timberland, and that whole REI/Whole Foods Chic that the Pacific Northwest embraces like no other. I like it better than that look we were known for which I can proudly say I did not participate in the infamous Grunge. But Granola is a lot like Grunge. It's like a badge of honor and identifies you to others in the group. It tells you what the person eats (or refrains from eating) what the political views and probably religious views are, that they use organic products and drive Hybrids and Volvos and bicycles, that they probably retain most of there body hair. I know it's all so stereotyping but really. I'm not kidding. Everyone in this room-the poster children for Yippie that hybrid of Neo Hippie, and Neo Yuppie. I almost laughed out loud when they announced that the owner of a volvo had left their lights on and half the room stared anxiously when someone said "What color and license plate?" I did enjoy the evening and felt very calm and a little light headed after all that breathing. I think I might take a Tai Chi class...