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    Blooming Unseasonably Early

    ByElizabeth

    I was busy enough with work today, that I was able to just concentrate.  Later, when I had a chance to read the latest political news and to take a walk in the May-like day with flowers blooming as if it were weeks later in the year and the ground dry from lack of rain while others are being flooded, I found myself anxious and a welter of other emotions besides.  I reminded myself to enjoy the beautiful day for what it was and asked myself what more now ought I to do?

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    Petting the Temple Cows

    ByElizabeth

    After a day of teaching and more discussion and emails regarding the upheaval, I had a memory of petting one of the temple cows at Chidambaram.  I was jetlagged and in sensory overload, and then I petted a most wonderful cow.  I dropped into a space where I was perfectly at peace and unaware of the time and all the things going on around me.  This space is always there for us, even in the absence of a sacred cow, and we practice so that we can find it more and more consistently, especially when we are being challenged.

    I did not photograph the Chidambaram temple cow, although a nice Indian lady asked me if her husband could photograph the two of us with the cow, so she has a photograph of herself with the strange American lady in a sari who was petting the cow.  I stopped to pet many cows after that.  In one town, a man told me, as I was scritching a cow between ears and horns, that the cow would enjoy a banana.

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    A Really Interesting List of Books

    ByElizabeth

    Several months ago, I started rereading books that I believed had contributed deeply to what I believe, how I think, how I write, what are my political views, and how I relate to other people, work, and the world in general. Part of my intention, which is still evolving along with my reading, was to explore how I got involved in yoga and how I could have become involved in a yoga community that imploded so explosively.  The reading project is giving much opportunity for deep contemplation.

    In honor of Jack Keroac’s birthday, the Library of Congress posted on Facebook, this list of 100 books that shaped America.  I’m not sure I could get my list down to a 100 books and lots on my list are by non-American authors, but this list certainly resonates–especially the 1950-2000 section.  And yes, On the Road is on my personal list and certainly is part of my road to yoga, along with other writings by the Beats.

    How many of these have you read?  How many of these have you read recently.  How do you think your childhood and young adult reading influenced the way you practice and think about yoga?

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    To do list? (Yoga citta vrtti nirodaha)

    ByElizabeth

    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.

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    Sometimes When It Seems As Though I Don’t Have Much to Say

    ByElizabeth

    it is because I have too much to say. I am thinking about many things, deeply and all at once. When I write in my journal, unexpected thoughts emerge from some depths. At this stage, the thoughts are for myself. Then some might be for sharing with the friend or colleague who would be interested in engaging in the dialogue that could follow from the idea.

    Later, one thought path will capture me enough to invite me to follow though with it–to get down the words, to refine, to research, to read, to confirm, to affirm, to polish.

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