Signs Around Town


I am using my lunch hour to renew my driver’s license. I have been waiting less than 30 minutes so far, and there are only 10 people ahead of me. Moving right along in this mix of young and old, well-heeled and evidently struggling, all races, and apparent levels of education. We all wait in the same line.
Is it moving smoothly (knock on wood) because I wore a necklace with an image of the elephant deity Ganesha (remover of obstacles)? Or was it because I read the website and planned my visit for a day and time that was less likely to be crowded? Perhaps it is a combination of the two.
What I do know is that coming with a good attitude and a meditational (yes, I know this is not a real word) level of patience and acceptance for the process makes it feel a whole lot easier.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Thanks to the generous Cate Stillman for this podcast. What I like most about Cate’s perspective is her teaching that truly practicing Ayurveda is paying attention at the deepest level, including paying attention to what in the classic teaching of Ayurveda work for you and what do not–being that they are imbued with cultural elements of the Indian subcontinent that do not necessarily support or resonate with our culture or individual constitutions.
As I study more, I find that it turns out that I had been practicing Ayurveda already by keeping to a regular daily and weekly routine, eating seasonally and locally, eating with sensitivity to impact on my digestion and energy level, and by having a steady practice. Not being interested in detox (more some other time on the dangers of detox) or constitution types, or arcane herbal remedies (many of these, by the way, are becoming endangered species), it turns out, does not mean having rejected Ayurveda. I do know that whether I call it Ayurveda or just plain common sense, the more I live in a balanced, sensitive, and steady way in terms of diet, sleep, entertainment, work, and consumption in general, the more I optimize my health and sense of well-being.
ripe cayenne, unripe cayenne, arugula, black cherokee tomato, kale, red leaf lettuce, snow pea shoots, grape tomatoes, spinach, leaf lettuce, carrots, more snow peas, licorice mint, marigold, romaine lettuce, turnip, beets, green garlic, rose, orchids, night-blooming cereus, various tropical plants, spider plants, oregano, rosemary, lemon grass, lemon verbena
Several years ago, when I still had a working art studio in my house, the favorite thing to do of a friend’s child when the family came over was to go into the studio to see what I was painting. I had just finished a piece on which I had painted the words, “Sometimes I have nothing to say.” D was five or six at the time — just learning to read full sentences. He chortled delightedly, pointed to the painting, and exclaimed, “I get it! I get it!”
As I have been studying and contemplating yoga philosophy in a group setting recently, I have been thinking about the tension between saying and not saying, the conundrum of yearning to communicate the indescribable, and the countervailing desire just to experience and not to try and describe or communicate.