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Interconnectedness

ByElizabeth

This morning, on my last full day of vacation, on my way to leave my bags in the office of the bed and breakfast where I was staying before I walked about in Santa Fe for the day, I walked back through the breakfast room, where I had eaten an hour before.

To my happy surprise, good friends from home (a former co-worker and his wife, whom I’d just been thinking about because I knew how much they like New Mexico) were there finishing their meal.

We spent much of the day together, until I had to leave to catch the train to Albuquerque to be ready for tomorrow’s early morning flight back home.

It felt a perfect completion of a trip made to study yoga and be in community for the week.

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    I came out briefly to sit and contemplate and write in my journal before a staff meeting at lunch time (no lunch provided).

    The Scott Burton chairs in the National Sculpture Garden are one of the more delightful places to sit outside near my office.

    First, I was joined by several birds. Then some tourists came along. The one with all the jewels sat down at the direction of her friend in orange for a photo. “We’re not allowed to sit here,” the sitter said with a little glee in her voice.

    I directed her to the sign near the seats giving permission. This led the photographer both to sit down with her friend, but also to lose any real interest in taking the photograph.

    What was it about the loss of transgressiveness that made the photo less desirable? The chairs are the same whether permitted or not. In fact, with sitting permitted, there is more time to explore fully their function as chair as well as their form as art.

    This set me wondering about how much our desires are driven by social ideas, rather than needs and comforts.

    A father and his son approach the chairs fro the other direction. After reading the sign giving permission to sit, they promptly sat down. The bare statement “granite chairs,” was all that was said before they got back up and went on they’re way.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    A Discussion About Pain

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    The other day in group practice, someone said they wanted to work on a particular pose; another teacher had people working on staying present with pain.

    I questioned whether they should trust someone who suggested that they intentionally put themselves in a painful position and then stay there to learn to be with pain.

    I questioned whether creating and staying with pain was in any way healing.

    I questioned what they meant by pain. I think it is useful to stay with discomfort, for example staying safely with a strong posture that requires muscular and attention effort to maintain.

    But pain is an effective warning system. If the pain is sharp or abrupt or sudden or is in tendon or ligament, etc, there will be no benefit to overriding your body’s message to stop.

    Better to build strength of attention and focus and body and then apply the practices when life supplies pain that you have no choice but to remain until it heals.

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    Afternoon Nap — Sometimes a Necessity (Like Savasana)

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    Sometimes, the best thing to do is nothing.

    The past few days have been very full.  Last week was an intense week at work.  I am enjoying having a house guest and deepening a new friendship.  The workshop sessions on Friday night and this morning with Amy Ippoliti at Willow Street were wild and rich with information and play.  I always enjoy teaching my two Saturday classes.  Among all this activity, I hosted a little dinner party last night, which was quiet, but bubbling over with conversation.

    After the workshop this morning, instead of going right home, I rode to Dupont Circle and had brunch with a fellow yogini, after which we walked up to Columbia Heights through Meridian Hill Park.  We had a fantastic time talking and catching up, and I loved doing a little exploring in a part of the city that is outside my usual haunts.

    All of these activities were healthy and life enhancing, but still, it was a lot.  Just as including savasana is critical to assimilating the benefits of a good yoga practice into the fabric of being, taking a nap this afternoon before having one more evening of visiting with my friend Elisa and my getting ready for a couple of jam-packed, demanding work days, the sweet rest of a Sunday afternoon nap was critical for me to allow all the delights of the weekend to settle and integrate, to feel rested and enriched, instead of feeling like I need another weekend to rest from the weekend.

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    On the Way to William Penn House for Tuesday Night Yoga Practice (with a Detour to Stand with the People’s Filibuster)

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    The filibuster and related activities, including an interfaith vigil on Wednesday the 28th, continues until Thursday. Details on various Facebook Pages–ACLU, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, Move On, and others. 

    Mostly I will be working during the scheduled times, but I will head over outside of my work day again. Senator Chris Murphy was on his way to dinner with friends from Connecticut who had spent the day doing citizen lobbying–telling their story about why keeping and improving on the ACA was important to them. Senator Murphy said that he’d heard people were outside and felt he needled to at least stop by and connect. He said this is just the beginning, don’t let them tinker and declare a victory if they only deprive 5 or 10 million people from getting insurance; he said keep it up; he’d like to see millions of people coming to D.C. and making their voices heard.  I was starting to get caught up in listening and then realized it was time to be at William Penn House.

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