Ashtanga
« Previous EntriesA Gift, Wrapped In A Gift
Monday, April 28th, 2008Halfway through practice at Mysore class yesterday, an epiphany flung itself into my consciousness (now this is not going to sound epiphanic to you because it is not yours, but believe me, it was): Yoga is a gift. Yes, that’s it: Yoga is a gift.
It wasn’t a mere thought; we have thoughts all the […]
Short Post. Don’t Fall Off Your Chair
Friday, October 19th, 2007It was starting to seem like I’d forgotten how to write one. Sheesh.
On yoga: I’m doing a couple more Intermediate Series poses (through bhekasana—my poor feet!—and how the heck do you lift your chest?) I wonder if it’s a good idea to try some other types of yoga classes, so that I’m not doing only the same poses ALL OF THE TIME? […]
Let Her Who Is Not In Community Beware Of Being Alone
Monday, October 15th, 2007Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. . . . Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I am a solitary creature. Peering back through my life to childhood, I see that I have always been, sometimes comfortably, sometimes not. I think it’s partly nature and partly nurture (or […]
Fear
Friday, August 10th, 2007I don’t really want to write about it. A part of me does, but a brain-sized part of me doesn’t. Avoidance isn’t a habit that should be overindulged, so I’ll just, as they say, do it.
Once I was meeting with my spiritual director (a sort of therapist, but the primary focus is on […]
Slow And Steady
Sunday, July 29th, 2007It’s a moon day and I’m going to a Mysore class. (Somebody arrest that woman! Verboten, verboten.) My practices have been scanty this week and I need to go. Plus classes offer their own special challenges. They force me to up the concentration level, or I leave feeling dissatisfied—as if I’ve spent the entire […]
It’s A Human Construct: This Dichotomy
Thursday, July 26th, 2007The cross hanging on the wall in the yoga shala was a lovely gift when I noticed it during practice—a reminder that yoga and Christianity don’t have to be at odds, that these two loves of mine are not natural enemies. I e-mailed the owner to thank her, and she wrote back: ”I hoped it […]
The Taskmaster Meditates (Woe To You, Part II)
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007The “unloading of the unconscious.” Sounds innocuous enough. Well it isn’t. It Damn Well Is Not. Thomas Keating uses this term to describe a healing process wherein, as a result of consistent meditation practice, all your carefully concealed garbage presents itself for the world to see. It’s like a coming-out party for the two-headed step […]
I Made A Deal (And: An Apology)
Friday, July 20th, 2007I was thinking of telling my husband I would write every day if he practiced yoga every day. It would be a big, big bribe. It would be a big, big bribe because, although I wanted him to practice and nothing else seemed to be motivating him, I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to go […]
Like Mother, Like Daughter II (Or: Sounds Like Somebody I Know)
Friday, July 13th, 2007J. arrived yesterday afternoon laden with watermelon and cantaloupe, bless her fruit-loving heart. She was in an Everything I Do Is Mediocre mindset. Of course, everything she does is NOT mediocre–but I still had to stop myself from saying, What’s so terrible about being mediocre? The last thing a 21 year old wants to […]
Yoga Shmoga
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007Some days I want to smite yoga right off my list of Main Loves. I never fully understood what people meant when they talked about love-hate relationships until my forays into meditation and Ashtanga yoga. I either like something or I don’t like it, and even though there might be neutral items/people/activities, it’s […]
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