I've been writing a lot this week, but it's more for internal consumption. I'm doing a lot of journaling to see if I can get back to the essence of writing for myself. It's a refreshing contemplative space for me, since all my writing of the past 20 years has been facing outwards to the news media, the academic community and the Web. I am trying to make it into a practice, just like my yoga and meditation.
I've subdivided my yoga practice into three different categories with varying degrees of intensity. It's all good.
- Home: its focus is on healing, stretching and strengthening my problem areas — lower back, hips, hamstrings, balance. Only daily work will allow me to make progress. It also includes my daily practice of pranayama and meditation.
- Basic: these sessions take place at Bally Total Fitness and put me through a relatively easy routine because the instructors are continually having to incorporate new beginners. The classes realy don't push me. I try to go to two of these a week with my wife. I also fit in a good aerobic workout afterward. In order to move on to the next level, I need to improve my stamina and strength. These are no charges for these classes since it is part of my Bally Fitness membership.
- Edge: as in finding my edge. Even the Yoga I classes at TranquilSpace are more demanding than the Bally classes. I try to go to at least one a week. They help me judge where I am on the growth path of yoga. This category includes other intensive classes like hip-openers or the Prana class I took this past Friday, or the retreat from earlier this month.
I am not completely happy with the balance. I'd like to make my home practice more demanding. I would love to take more structured classes at TranquilSpace or elsewhere, but money holds me back.
If anyone has a chance to grab a seminar or teacher traning with Darren, I highlly recommend it. He also has some interesting books that I am going to check out.
Despite the fast pace of the session, I was able to keep up pretty well, thanks to my steady work on conditioning and daily practice. I have my usual obstacles, but take them in stride. This was the first challenging yoga session since my weekend retreat intensive. I came out of the session invigorated.
My intention tonight was to celebrate myself as a survivor -- I used by first senior discount.
Kimberly Wilson is seated, second from the right. Her boyfriend, Tim, who refrained from joining the yoga seessions, took the picture.
I don't think my wife is going to like the photograph because we had some funny things happening with the shadows on our faces, but the point is the marvelous view from the Lotus Conference Center at Yogaville. On the left, you can see the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine or Lotus Temple, a white dome structure. We missed the full fall foliage by about a week, I think, but the vista was still breathtaking. I am sure that Kimberly will provide better shots of the group as a whole.
To make up for the bad lighting in the first photo, here's a pic of my wife at the gateway of the LOTUS Temple. It's part of the Satchidananda Ashram or Yogaville. It's a large and active community that has affiliates around the United States and the world. Satchidananda, the founding holy man, died two years ago and is buried here. The motif of temple architecture as a wedding cake runs through Hindu culture -- see the Art of Living Foundation's Bangalore temple, for instance. I'm not sure what it means.
We had four yoga sessions, one Friday evening, twice on Saturday, and once on Sunday. Teresa and I did some hiking in our free time, exploring the paths around Yogaville. We were in the Lotus Conference Center, which was really a nice setting with a great view overlooking the James River valley in western Virginia.
- Aching body -- but not the total body type, but I can tell where I have to concentrate on strengthening. Fatigue still lingers on, even after a good night's sleep. I can now tell that my daily practice is strong on stretching, but has not done enough strengthening. Of course, my three-month fight with lower back pain, made me shy away from intense conditioning. I had had a full month of weekly sessions at TranquilSpace, I could have done a lot better.
- No breakthrough experience -- I envisioned myself undergoing some kind of transformation (hips opening like a book, balancing on one leg like a stork), but none really came.
- But breaking down boundaries -- although I did not transform myself, I did extend my awareness of my body (both good and bad)
- Subtle changes: Smoother breathing -- I notice that my lungs seemed even more open than before (again), especially when walking to work. Given my extended practice of pranayama, that surprised me. It's easier to get into mountain pose (Tadasana)with ears over shoulders over hips over ankles, It just feels like a more natural position.
- Group encouragement -- It's great to share my experience with others and be stimulated by our mutual respect of yoga. It's easy to get trapped in an individualist approach. Our individual struggles toward mastery get put into context and made more human and humane.
- Perseverance -- No "boot camp" approach is going to suddenly turn me into a yogi. There are too many little, quiet lessons to be learned along the way to being able to do Handstand. Once again, I understand what it means to have a daily practice.
- Who's your guru (daddy)? The yogic tradition tends to call for the central role of a master teacher, but each individual has to groom their own internal instructor who helps find and extend the edge.
I don't necessarily need a full retreat to get an equivalent feel (fatigue, challenges). Anything like an extended session (more than 90 minutes) would pack at lot of punch, without the commitment of time and money needed for a retreat. I should look for weekend workshops or seminars. TranquilSpace has lots of them.
I want to get these ideas set before they lose their freshness. Others are still percolating around my head and heart.
By the way, the quaint term in the title comes from the journalistic past -- it means that a correspondent is not at his base of operations and may be able to communicate with his head office.
Be the change you are trying to create.
I am disappointed by the U.S. election results, but there are things in the world that you can't control so you have to focus on what you can influence, and most of that lies within.
Gandhi also said:
"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world... as being able to remake ourselves.
Another way of looking at this issue is asking whether George W. or the Republicans in control of both houses of Congress changes my own ability to instigate change in my life and my immediate environment. The answer is no, with some qualifications. In the big scheme of things, Bush makes the U.S. fit all the stereotypes of arrogant imperialism. But in my micro framework, it does not change much.
Thinking of the elections in the grand scheme of things of the Universe and transcendence, this Bush administration is nothing more than a burp from a case of heart burn.
I am posting this photograph by Dan Baumbach who has given me permission to use it on this site. Dan is a tremendous photographer, as can be seen from this photo and the ones on his site.
When I saw this picture the first time, I thought it captured the sense of prana because the landscape (seascape?) seemed to be breathing with energy. I plan on redesign the site so that the photo can be part of the masthead.
I have been using a golf ball to massage the muscles and ligaments in my feet, loosening them up. I press the sole of my foot down on the ball and move it up and down, from the ball towards the heel and back. At first, it was really painful, but now it falls into the category of "hurts so much it feels good." I've also been giving my feet massages, bending them in different directions.
Now my feet are flat on the ground in most postures that caused me trouble. I also noticed that my heels are much closer to the ground in Downward-Facing Dog posture, which may be due to looser hamstrings.
