early voting

Here's a helpful site to figure out if you can vote early. In most states, the last day is this Friday or Saturday.

Remember that most change will not come from the ballot you cast. It won't come from an individual with obtuse promises of change, either.

I grew up hearing folklore about the nearby (and still very active) Michigan Militia. They're an organization of property owners throughout the state devoted to self-policing. Imagine the growth they've enjoyed since the passing of the Patriot Act. We have a similar social structure in place out West, too - albeit minus weaponry. They're small, but growing, and their prerogative is to become landowners in remote places. When you have sufficient land, and dig a well, you will be ready for the precarious future. What do you want it to look like?

Think I'm full of it? Ask Colorado residents who were arrested for collecting rainwater for personal use. In Colorado, the state owns all of it.

In the meantime, substantial change can come from the flow of your money. Being that we are a society of ownership and capital, realize the influence your money will have on our shared condition, for better or worse.

the whole series

I got my first introduction to the Ashtanga primary series this weekend. I've taken plenty of flow classes that are inspired by the practice, but this was my first time diving in. It's a more rigorous practice than I'm used to. There are a total of six series, and it comes as no surprise that there are exactly two people on earth who have graduated to the most advanced series (is life long enough?). Joan Hyman noted in class that the first series is for students, the second is appropriate for teachers, and 3-6 are for, ahem, demonstrations (read exalted)?

The focus is on synching movement and breath much more systematically than most other methods I've tried (Kundalini is one exception). It's typical to focus the gaze. Fortunately, no one broke out the metronome this time!

Centering comes from the drishti (gaze) and ujjayi breath. The drishti is often rather awkwardly focused at the tip of the nose: cross-eyed yogis! It's typical also to focus the gaze at the naval or the sky, depending on the asana. For the time being, I will work on a more passive, inward gaze instead. The ujjayi breath is cultivated in the back throat, just behind the voicebox. It's euphemistically called "ocean breath", or "Darth Vader breath" for the overzealous student in class. The action is similar to the one we do to fog a mirror. If you practice that, but keep your mouth closed, you're ready to flow.

There are, of course, the three bandhas as well. They are closely tied to the flow of breath. I will move into that later, because they deserve a post of their own. The image above is of an asana I did for the first time this weekend. It's the kid in me.

Clutz

I am, admittedly, much less graceful than my other yoga compadres. Yesterday I shut my right middle finger in the car door - of course I was in a hurry to get somewhere. I was with my boss at the time and she asked me "Why are some people clumsy? Do you notice the way that some people are often hurting themselves?"

I remember Russ Pfeiffer alluded to the fact that we create imbalances by the way we interact with the world. His favorite illustration was a little hard to grasp. He'd ask us "When you are walking, do your feet hit the ground, or does the ground rise to meet your feet?" Or "Are you moving with your environment or against it?" When I walked with that in mind, it made an enormous difference. Try it.

Anyway, now I'm working on clearing what I perceive to be the correction handed to me as a result of the finger slam. Lots of reiki / psychic body work, and just plain praying I don't have to go to the free clinic. My mudras will be extra fancy now.

more challenges

Most of my homework this past weekend aroused more of those urdhva dhanurasana (upward facing bow pose) memories from last week's backbend clinic. I completed a pretty satisfactory teaching script leading to a UD peak pose, but I still wouldn't want to take my class that day. I don't think I'm alone in saying that asana is absolutely terrifying...and it's not just my tight shoulders. No amount of preparedness can help me to breathe in the pose.

I talked to a teacher training graduate friend of mine, and she said it's important to do the asanas you most dislike. Incidentally, UD is also her least favorite asana.

It reminded me of the time that James Brown told us in class that we avoid stillness in asanas because we fear the way it feels. In his words, we are avoiding the "path" of yoga practice in exchange for a less fulfilled "destination". It's all about the path, people. I'm guilty of gratuitous foot pedaling in down dog, and plenty of shifting and dithering back and forth throughout the class.

How many times have you let your ego win the practice?

food

Okay, barring some immediate world change resulting from yogic enlightenment, I'm betting money that the revolution is food. I spend nearly all my disposable income on food. My employer uses locally grown, organic produce, and I consume organic farmer's market produce almost exclusively.

At a friend's suggestion I just watched "The Future of Food". It's a play-it-now on Netflix for pc users. I cried twice and I still feel pretty petrified about the state of agriculture. In short, the world's food supply is being jeopardized by Monsanto, a multinational agri-corporation.

The film features a few stories about farmers being sued into bankruptcy by Monsanto after being "seeded" involuntarily by Monsanto's GMO crops (to date, this has happened to over 9,000 U.S. farmers). There's a whole host of other injustices and exploitation to boot.

Vote with your money, people!

prop 8

I'd usually abstain from writing about politics, not because it's "polarizing" or "divisive", but because there's nothing more boring than political ennui.

With that said, I'm going to give a resounding endorsement to NO on prop 8.  This is the proposition aiming to eliminate the rights of same-sex couples to marry in California.  it is backed by mostly out-of-state, hopelessly obsolete institutions like Focus on the Family, American Family Association, et al. Imagine the impact if this energy was spent on things like reducing poverty and homelessness, or, say, praying.  I could go on and on.  Unfortunately, people are too gung-ho about investing in categorically repressing others.  For shame. 

There are several opinion pieces that capture the argument here, here, and here.

    

Limits of the body

I had a real gem in my inbox this morning, and it wasn't a dithery one from the Kabbalah Center, either. A really kind classmate had written to share that she broke a metatarsal in her right foot(while descending stairs, not practicing yoga). I felt that immediate knee-jerk sinking mama response. I would excerpt, but I didn't ask her first! She noted that she was sobbing in her car, feeling utter frustration at her predicament.

I can't help but identify completely with feelings of helplessness and emotionality. The "Why me?" response to every pitfall, initially. Who hasn't felt life dictated by emotion? Reading her note, and the wisdom contained within it, I got around to thinking about how physical practice isn't the goal of yoga. Even though we are the vehicle that takes us to higher levels of consciousness, that doesn't mean the vehicle always works. Nor is it really the part of our "bodies" we cultivate as yogis.

Ultimately, of course, she snapped back and knew her injury wouldn't compromise her opportunity to finish the course. All this in the course of probably only a few hours!? I certainly haven't cultivated my inner yogi as much as this fellow student. I can't wait to see how the faculties of the body, and the lack of being able to count on the physical, helps me be a better student.