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Happy Thanksgiving (and some self-massage techniques)
I wish you all a day in which you recognize and celebrate inner and outer abundance. Show your body how grateful you are for taking you around in this life-time with a few minutes of self massage (and share with your friends and family).
First, take care of your feet–those of you who are regulars know the routine (sorry no pictures). Then, with reverence and gratitude for the practices, the earth for supporting you, and what and who brought you to the mat, come into balasana (child’s pose).
In balasana — you can also do this sitting in a chair at a desk or table; just put your head down the way you did in elementary school — leaving your elbows and forehead resting on the floor or table, bend your elbows so that you can massage your upper back, neck, and head without having to use the muscles you are massaging to massage them.
Try squeezing the back of your neck.
Or finding some spots that would benefit from giving gentle pressure and motion.
Massaging the scalp usually feels good.
When you are done with the self-massage in child’s pose, come up to vertical to sit on your heels. Then dig your fingers into your hair or the scalp and squeeze. This will help get energy flowing and brighten your day. (Be careful: doing this too frequently might give you big hair.)
To do list? (Yoga citta vrtti nirodaha)
Twitter? What would be
The point without an I-phone?
Buy one? Save the nation?
Last night I wrote this “twaiku” (why is it not a “twittiku?”) after having read yet another series of articles on why or why not to Twitter and still more articles on why it is important for a nation of consumers to keep consuming even if that is what got them into trouble in the first place. One of the articles was lamenting the loss of true communication that comes with being limited to 140 characters, and it set forth some examples of how peculiar, when taken out of context, some twittering can sound, especially to the uninitiated. In my attempt to keep an open mind about devaluing language while still communicating in language, I was led to think about haikus v. sonnets and other longer poetic forms. A haiku easily fits into 140 characters. This led me to wonder whether anyone had created a haiku trend on Twitter? A quick Google search revealed that I am way behind the times in terms of the twaiku?
One of the articles suggested that Twittering is about being in the moment. Contrarians say it fosters attention deficit disorder and a host of other language-loss ills. This led me to think of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali “yoga citta vrtti nirodaha” (yoga is stilling/aligning with the thoughwaves of the mind). When evaluating what to consume, when to consume, and how to consume (whether it is language and communication methods or electronic goods or anything else), if we are serious about taking yoga off the mat, it is good to think about whether our consumption eases the trials of being embodied or makes daily living more agitating, and whether our consumption brings us more into alignment with nature/spirit (brahmacharya) or turns us away.
Say Their Names
As if–like chanting–you are saying the names of the divine. For if there is anything such as divinity, it is the spark in each and every one.




