Longtime Volunteer Brings Deep Breaths and Calming Thoughts
She walks through our copper door with her rose-colored glasses, her little chihuahua Fuschia, and a warm smile. Patty is one of our most beloved and longstanding volunteers. She brings a sense of peace and a spirit of joy as she teaches Qigong (chi-gong) and meditation at Taylor Made. Her sober journey started before many of our clients were even born!
She began her journey with meditation in the 1970s in Palm Springs. Yoga was brand new in the U.S., and she remembers how her teacher offered the class and how it was different every time. She valued this time because “it helped me quiet my mind and reminded me that the real power is spirit, not the ego mind trying to run the show.”
She discovered Qigong in Hawaii and has been using it as part of her practice for over 20 years. According to the National Institutes of Health, Qigong incorporates exercises to optimize energy within the body, mind, and spirit, with the goal of improving and maintaining health and well-being. “Meditation is most helpful when I’m disturbed about something and I don’t see a way through it, I end up feeling more grounded and willing to stay present instead of in my head with all the probable outcomes that are always scary”.
Our clients have enjoyed Patty’s walking meditations. “It’s another exercise in letting the world go. You can see blades of grass flutter in the wind, and it’s magical that the world is so beautiful… Being with life, not solving any problems and not letting the mind run away with us. I remember to take deep breaths. I think about how I’m breathing in this beautiful place with all the flowers and trees, and I make it a sacred breath.”
Her advice for someone new to walking meditation is “Slow down. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, kiss the earth with your feet. I love to examine things up close, patterns in leaves, what’s blooming this week that wasn’t last week… It’s all kinds of spiritual!”
Patty and Fuschia live in downtown Portland and try to get out and walk daily. If the weather is poor, she asks her higher power for the nudge to get out, and if she doesn’t get it then she’ll read something spiritual instead.
Her favorite walking spot is Silver Falls, “but Oregon is so beautiful with all its hidden gems and flowers. I also love walking here at Taylor Made, with all of the recovery work being done here, I can really feel the presence of my higher power”.