Jai Siva
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Asta Vakrasana Variation
I was working with photos today and came across this shot a friend took a little over a year ago. Long gone is the memory of exactly why I did not stay fully in the pose. Perhaps this was the beginning, and I was planning to plant my hand, lift my shoulder and hug my shoulder blades onto my back, and then do enough inner spiral and kidney loop to float off the ground. Possible, as I have been known to get into asta vakrasana going from the ground up. More likely, my exit strategy of the moment was releasing all the way to the floor. What I like about this picture is that it shows me having a really good time, not me being a failure for not being perfectly in the pose. Though it is always worth striving for the best we can do, for most things in life, the best we can do is try for the full pose and then find the joy and the beauty when we don’t end up embodying our notion of what should have been.
Finding Ayyappa
A couple of weeks ago, I found a carved wood murti of Ganesha in a box on the sidewalk with some other stuff and a “free” sign. This Ganesha had serpents (nagas) rising over his head like a canopy–not uncommon imagery. Ganesha was “free” most likely because one of the nagas had broken off. It made me think of Ayyappa, Ganesha’s brother by a different mother. Ayyappa is apart from the others. Of Shiva’s three sons, he is the one who is either or both missing or extra. The trunk was also badly glued, but that can be remedied.
Yoga is Skill in Action?
Somehow I managed
To get where I was going
Between deluges.Misty Dawn Walk
I just returned from a trip to the Catskills for a long weekend of yoga, meditation, and a swimming lake in green mountains. I woke each morning before dawn and went out to be with the rising of the light. One morning dawned with a dense mist and fog. The doe was about to bound across the path as I was walking. She stopped short. I stepped back. Both of us equally startled. We looked at each other benignly curious. Then she ambled off and I did the same. On the way back to the guest house, I saw a porcupine run across the lawn. I understand that they are great pests, but I truly enjoyed getting to see one. I think I might like the porcupine as a spirit animal.
