turkey

I don't eat meat, so I can't offer a turkey recipe. Heck, it's a pretty imperialist holiday, anyway - I can't say I identify with pilgrims of the past or present. I've resigned to the fact that I can't avoid Thanksgiving unless I spend it alone. So, I'm going to a friend's parent's house. Practicing gratitude is important any time of year.

Now that the fires around LA give way to the risk of mudslides with oncoming rain, it's a great time to rebuild what's around us and within us, too. I remember hearing from Mela Butcher that this is a good time of year to fortify the body and add, rather than reduce. This season falls within the six months of kapha accumulation. At the end of Spring, we will enter the alternate six month period of airy vata cleansing. And so on, 'til the end of time.

In other words, just flow with it - don't resist. The best lesson I've absorbed recently is that it's usually more indulgent and less self-serving to resist what is going on, whether clinging to thoughts of an ex-lover or "swearing" not to overeat during the holidays. In short, yogic tradition arguably feeds the madness called Thanksgiving.