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Sundog Stories

Sundog Stories

By sundogs.blog

Stories and sounds from the wilderness, Yoga Nidra, walking, mindful and relaxation Meditations.
The stories weave together experiences, usually of the natural world, with thoughts on impermanence, memory, uncertainty, hope and loss.
For more episodes visit www.sundogs.blog



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10 Remnants - A Story

Sundog StoriesOct 28, 2020

00:00
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93: Shoji - A Story

93: Shoji - A Story

Shoji screens  are made of translucent Japanese paper panels that lightly separate spaces. The screens form a thin divide between the outside and the inside world, yet intimately connect the spaces by transmitting light and shadow, sound and air. And, just as the glow of a candle, , and the smell of the rain is felt through the translucent Shoji screen,  so death flickers its shadowed light onto life. 

This story is about how magicians loosen our grip on how we perceive the world, and about endings.

Jul 10, 202309:34
92 Buen Camino: One beginner's guide to the Camino de Santiago - A Story

92 Buen Camino: One beginner's guide to the Camino de Santiago - A Story

One afternoon my husband and I were greeted by a robed, toothless, wild haired monk under the tall arches of a crumbling monastery. He hugged us, again and again, would not let go, pointed at my eyes, then his, then the sky: azul, azul. Blue, blue.

Buen Camino is about walking the long road to Santiago.

Apr 24, 202312:27
91 Temagami Time - A Story

91 Temagami Time - A Story

"Trees warp time, or rather create a variety of times: here dense and abrupt, there calm and sinuous ." John Fowles

Temagami Time is about our relationship with time.

May 03, 202209:56
90 Wave - Yoga Nidra

90 Wave - Yoga Nidra

This Yoga Nidra has you observe the rising and falling of awareness.

May 03, 202220:07
89 Cold Cellar - A Story

89 Cold Cellar - A Story

Cold Cellar is about flat coke, woolen socks and our habits and hankerings for more.

Apr 10, 202208:31
88 Sandstone - Yoga Nidra (for sleep)

88 Sandstone - Yoga Nidra (for sleep)

This Yoga Nidra practice takes you down a steep path to the edge of an ocean (accompaniment by loud spring birds).

Apr 10, 202221:05
87 Unheard - A Story

87 Unheard - A Story

The Musquiem people have a word  that means “things that are hidden”. The word is used to describe sacred objects, often ceremonial, that are thought to possess supernatural powers. These  objects are not simply art or functional things, they embody stories and histories, the threads that tie the past to the present, the future.  Because they are sacred, they are not displayed in the open, reminding us that not everything is meant to be seen, or heard.

"Unheard" is about survivors' stories - of suicide, dispossession, fire, residential schools - that are often not told.

Mar 24, 202211:05
86 March - Yoga Nidra (for sleep)

86 March - Yoga Nidra (for sleep)

This Yoga Nidra practice will take you on a slow walk through the forest, on a winter night.

Mar 24, 202220:05
85 Still Waiting - A Story

85 Still Waiting - A Story

On my way back down I heard the ringing of copper bells that led the way, brought to life by long ropes pulled by passers by. And beside the entrance I now saw, what  in the early darkness I had missed: the brightly painted Lord Ganesh, god of all beginnings, wisdom and understanding.

Still Waiting is a story about searching for understanding. 

Feb 05, 202209:12
84 Sleep of Reason - A Story

84 Sleep of Reason - A Story

Sleep of Reason is about rules, and sometimes breaking them.

Oct 30, 202109:58
83 Levels of Light - A Story

83 Levels of Light - A Story

This past summer we explored a distant part of Lake Cabonga, an immense reservoir that was created when lakes were dammed and flooded many years ago. What was once a part of light, now lives submerged beneath the surface of the lake.

Levels of Light explores what lies beneath.

Oct 15, 202106:43
82 Lake Cabonga - A Story

82 Lake Cabonga - A Story

When we rounded the corner of a large island the wind struck us. The lake changed to emerald green, then black, darkening clouds were encircled by light, and within minutes the lake was boiling.

Lake Cabonga is about a bumpy canoe trip, fear, faith, hope and trust.

Oct 01, 202109:41
81 Potato Bugs - A Story

81 Potato Bugs - A Story

According to legend, some years ago, a powerful gust of wind ripped the net out of the  clutches of the farm hands, lifted the long filmy white tail high into the stormy sky, across and beyond the hedgerows, and over the coolness of the darkly waiting forest.

Potato Bugs is about our attempts to control our world.

Sep 17, 202108:37
80 Magic Spells - A Story

80 Magic Spells - A Story

300 hundred years ago, one of my ancestors sat at his desk at night, in the house in which we both grew up, and copied out strange words and spells and symbols. The many pages show how threatened and insecure people were in their life on earth, though they yearned, as do we,  for assurance and protection. Confidence, optimism and happiness were not  part of the conversation;  people put their faith into religion  and magic spells instead.

Aug 27, 202108:27
79 Shoreline - Yoga Nidra (Full)

79 Shoreline - Yoga Nidra (Full)

Here is a full length Yoga Nidra about midsummer walk along an early evening shoreline, recorded in a canoe on a lake. Listen for the loon.

Aug 20, 202138:40
78 Seeds of Doubt - A Story

78 Seeds of Doubt - A Story

In the middle of the night, I will sometimes wake up in our small  orange tent to listen to my growing seeds of doubt, will trace their shaping forms in my mind, will question the what ifs that lurk nearby.

Aug 13, 202109:25
77 Shadows on the Wall - A Story

77 Shadows on the Wall - A Story

I have been frightened by a lot of things in life, and given my rather wild imagination, fear of the unknown is one of my favorite ones, keeps me up at night; although of course, there are plenty of other shapely warnings all around,  hinted at and sometimes made explicit.

'Shadows on the wall' is part 1 of the Fear series, which also includes: 'Seeds of Doubt', 'Magic Spells' and 'Potato Bugs'.

Jul 30, 202108:18
76 InBetween - A Story

76 InBetween - A Story

I thought about a message an old high school friend recently sent to me. He’d been trail running through the woods, and found himself  on a bed of feathers. In my imagination I saw hundreds of molting birds, shaking their soft wings. But no, he said,  these weren’t feathers, it was cotton weed, which doesn’t, in my mind, make the scene any less beautiful.


Jul 17, 202108:59
75 Red-winged Blackbird - A Story

75 Red-winged Blackbird - A Story

We navigated some rough waters, misjudged a jagged edge that left a scar on the bottom of our canoe, adding paint to the rainbow of others who had come before. And all the while we knew full well that we’d have to lead the canoe up these rapids again, at the end of day.

Visit www.sundogs.blog for more.


Jul 09, 202107:54
74 Field Guide Day 2 - A Story

74 Field Guide Day 2 - A Story

A  symbol’s meaning  lives largely inside our heads, and yet, despite lifelong dedication to its study, it only contains a dimly understood capacity to explain experiences, worries, hopes and dreams.  And here lies its danger: if we are too caught up in meaning making, when we insist and stake our lives on a symbol’s inherent truth, despite little proof, when we stare unblinkingly at a symbol,  allow ourselves to be locked in by its dogma, tradition, lack of imagination, are reassured or frightened by its promises, we might not notice other, more salient ways to navigate the world.

Day 2 of Field guide is about symbols.

Jul 01, 202106:57
73 Field Guide Day 1 - A Story

73 Field Guide Day 1 - A Story

On a moonless, starless night, one of the only signs of an nearing dawn  is whether I can see a hand in front of my face. The other indicator that day is within reach is the beginning of a reel of sounds unrolling. Some clever  trick of unseen light,  a simple click,  releases today’s spool of sound:  the mechanism springs to life, and sends its signal to the player piano.

Day 1 of Field guide is about signs and signals.

Jun 25, 202108:23
72 Stinging Nettles - A Story

72 Stinging Nettles - A Story

Stinging Nettles is a story about living in England, playing hide and seek in the graveyard, and about the good women who circled the wagon.

Jun 18, 202109:04
71 Spring Birds - Sound Meditation

71 Spring Birds - Sound Meditation

Birds songs recorded early one spring morning at the cottage, including a yellow bellied sapsucker, hermit thrush, a lot of chickadees and a few others.

Jun 11, 202111:24
70 Corsets and Lotus feet - A Story

70 Corsets and Lotus feet - A Story

Picture for a moment a group of people  high up on a narrow ledge, halfway up a cliff.  Let’s call it a pedestal, the place we put virtuous, nice girls and women. Now imagine our little party teetering about on that ledge in 5 inch high heels, long towering necks,  wasp like, breathless waists and tiny lotus shoes. They wouldn't get very far now would they, which is, I think, the point.

This story is about the Pitt River museum, corsets and other shrinking things. 

Jun 11, 202112:30
69 Forgetting Mrs Sprout - A Story

69 Forgetting Mrs Sprout - A Story

Two days after we moved in Mrs Sprout came through our always unlocked back door, strode up the 3 narrow steps into her old kitchen, searched the top of my new fridge for tickets  to a concert at the NAC that night. Her friend waited in the car. She asked if I’d taken them, and questioned what I’d done.

Jun 04, 202112:23
68 Maple - Yoga Nidra (short)

68 Maple - Yoga Nidra (short)

Maple is a short yoga nidra practice that takes you across a white iron bridge to a large maple tree on an island.

Jun 04, 202121:37
67 Bend in the Road - A Story

67 Bend in the Road - A Story

My husband hitched rides all over the world when he was young. I’ve only dared it a few times, including a ride, on a heavy rainy day, up the sunshine coast, and once when we hitchhiked to our honeymoon.

Bend in the road is a story about a canoe trip down the Rideau river, hitchhiking and regrets.

May 28, 202110:25
66 Free Wine and other plastic Things - A Story

66 Free Wine and other plastic Things - A Story

What is it about free wine, food, free anything,  that sends so many of us into a tizzy?

Interestingly, we sometimes question the virtue of free items because we judge them to have no, or low, quality. In our minds we unfairly de-value the thing, decide that there must be something wrong, if it's free.

May 21, 202110:58
66 Compost - A Story

66 Compost - A Story

“We are all compost for worlds we cannot yet imagine.” (David Whyte)

Composting has always been a bit of a surprise, an experiment: I never quite know what will slowly, and sometimes suddenly grow out of the bins’ corners.

And I am a composition of all the good wishes and warnings, insightful and thoughtless, helpful and spiteful comments,  all the conversations I have ever had, and not just the ones I remember and took to heart, but all the ones I have forgotten, dismissed, ignored, rejected, ridiculed.

May 16, 202110:05
65 Headstand - A Story

65 Headstand - A Story

I fell off a ladder yesterday. The whole thing collapsed and I found myself lying on the ground, testing body parts, wondering about what I might have broken.  It turns out I got away with a sprained ankle - it could have been so much worse, I tell myself. Sure, this will keep me not busy for a few days or more;  and perhaps it is a good time to practice my headstands, to see the world from a different angle.

Headstands is a story about perspective and about framing experiences.  

May 09, 202109:17
64 Thawing Ice - Sound Meditation

64 Thawing Ice - Sound Meditation

The strange  sound, snaps, cracks, gurgles and whips of a thawing lake.

May 09, 202114:20
63 Krill - A Story

63 Krill - A Story

Some meeting spots create the conditions to support a rich, diverse marine life, including Krill: tiny, shrimp-like sea creatures. To escape hungry predators Krill migrate daily, vertically, in huge swarms that can be seen from outer space;  but despite their brave efforts they end as fodder: far down in deep waters when the sun is high, and near the surface of the rivers in the night.

Krill is a story about meeting places and parallel worlds.

Apr 30, 202108:49
62 Awe - A Story

62 Awe - A Story

For some, awe is proof of God; for others, science not only adds an explanation but increases their sense of awe,  lifts them across the gap left by not knowing, sets them down on the others side, leaving them to wonder, wanting to know more.

Apr 23, 202110:55
61 Sleeping Beauty - A Story

61 Sleeping Beauty - A Story

Warning: not much happens in this story, unless  you count my description of a breathing lake; or count the unfortunate rent in my winter coat, torn by the thorns of tall blackberry canes.   In this story, no coyote will suddenly trot across a frozen lake; and your tolerance, your threshold for boredom, might not be as high as mine.

Apr 16, 202109:59
60 Begin Again - A Story

60 Begin Again - A Story

Come February, when the sun shows increasing signs of strength, when roots emerge from hibernating bulbs and their fleshy green spears have pried their way out,  only then will I bring them out of their patient darkness.

Apr 09, 202108:49
59 Endings - A Story

59 Endings - A Story

Some endings are explicit: clearly we are told what  happens next: threads are gathered into tidy bundles, there is no room to question the explanation because the teller has decided on this version, as the truth.   Other endings are implicit, and have you wondering what it means  to live happily ever after.

Apr 02, 202109:41
58 Ice - Yoga Nidra (short)

58 Ice - Yoga Nidra (short)

Explore an icy world in this Yoga Nidra practice. 

Apr 02, 202118:20
56 Chocolate Rabbit - A Story

56 Chocolate Rabbit - A Story

For years, I have been palming off a particularly adorable baby picture of my brother as my own. We mostly share the same features: blue eyes, nose, cheekbones. But that is where the similarity ends.

Mar 26, 202106:24
57 Early Spring Colour - Walking Meditation

57 Early Spring Colour - Walking Meditation

This Walking Meditation has you attending to the colours that surround you.

Mar 26, 202112:57
55 Free Will - A Story

55 Free Will - A Story

Are the paths we walk our own? What I mean is this: does everything unfold with intention, according to my own plans and free will? Is there inside me a tiny wizard of Oz, hiding behind the curtains of my mind, peering out through bony sockets, pulling  levers, turning dials, shouting hoarse commands, keeping me on time, and on the straight and narrow path?

Mar 20, 202112:23
54 Water - Sound Meditation

54 Water - Sound Meditation

Sounds of a water, a canoe, crows and a loon (at the very end).

Mar 20, 202128:51
53 Thunder and Rain - Sound Meditation

53 Thunder and Rain - Sound Meditation

A few minutes of rain and thunder recorded last August.

Mar 12, 202111:22
52 Stormy Sky - Yoga Nidra (short)

52 Stormy Sky - Yoga Nidra (short)

This Yoga Nidra practice involves rapid visualizations of objects and images.

Mar 12, 202119:50
51 Refrain - A Story

51 Refrain - A Story

Apparently he always had a book on his lap, marked his notes in its margins; filled notebooks with observations on migration, nature and spring. Later they all went missing: someone who was more practical likely used them to started a fire on a cold winter night.

Refrain is about Atti, my great grandfather, and the tracks we follow.

Mar 12, 202109:18
50 Missing Words - A Story

50 Missing Words - A Story

Sometimes you meet the perfect word, like gigil, a Tagalog word meaning the irresistible urge to squeeze someone because they are loved or cherished. And sometimes there is no single word to capture a fleeting moment.

Mar 06, 202110:13
49 Snow - Yoga Nidra (for sleep)

49 Snow - Yoga Nidra (for sleep)

This Yoga Nidra practice takes you onto a field of snow and sun.

Mar 06, 202118:02
48 Navigating the Movement of your Mind - Meditation

48 Navigating the Movement of your Mind - Meditation

This meditation will make you more aware of the chaos of your mind, and practice navigating the waves of your thoughts.

Mar 06, 202110:46
47 Thin Ice - A Story

47 Thin Ice - A Story

The first step you take on a frozen lake is a beginning that you will never feel again. It catches the breath in your throat, and has you wondering: is it worth it? will I fall? should I turn back? And with every step you leave a little bit of yourself behind.

Feb 27, 202108:47
46 Forest - Yoga Nidra (Full)

46 Forest - Yoga Nidra (Full)

This long practice takes you deep into a forest. 

Feb 27, 202130:26
45 Sound Movement - Walking Meditation

45 Sound Movement - Walking Meditation

This walking meditation helps you to become more aware of the sounds that appear in  consciousness as you walk through your city or through nature.

Feb 20, 202110:30