WICE: Where Internationals Connect In English
Last year many of you know I took private French lessons with a private tutor three days a week for three weeks. It was fun and I enjoyed my tutor and getting to know her as a friend. She helped me immeasurably.
This year I wanted to do something different- like speak English!
Through an internet search I happened upon an expat group in Paris called WICE. I emailed them and told them I would only be here for one month and then said I could absolutely join them.
They have an extensive website that highlights language learning opportunities, social activities, book clubs, meetups for yoga, coffee, apéritif, and meditation.
I have joined three meetups so far. The first one was the coffee date I spoke about already.
The next meetup was a drawing group. We met at the same café as before and sat and did art while chatting and sipping coffee or tea. There were five women total, and we all had old-fashioned names, Michèle Betsy, Rose, Grace, and moi.
Many of them have been professionals in the arts, and are now playing with art. It was lighthearted and fun group. Most of them are world travelers and their stories were entertaining and inspiring.
My third group was this morning. Mindfulness Mediation with Cheryl at the restaurant Apycem - Saint-Honoré. Apycem kindly allows WICE to use their tiny and sweet basement for yoga and meditation. There were seven of us.
Cheryl led a guided belly breathing meditation that she read from a book entitled We Were Made For These Times, by Kaira Jewel Lingo. We imagined we were a tree deeply rooted in the earth. Our head and thoughts were the branches swaying in the wind, but our body was the trunk of the tree and roots, firm and solid.
Cheryl underlined that to be mindful is a misnomer since we humans think our mind is in our head. Being mindful is being fully in the body, she says.
We stay with breath, we relax, we sit in the present moment. When thoughts come and go, we can notice them, but we always return to the breath.
It’s a practice.
The practice is you get lost in thoughts and you return to the breath.
Namasté