Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Dodging butterflies
Yesterday saw an orgy of black and white and yellow and white Monarch butterflies appearing all over town by the hundreds, banging into my hair and smashing into Scooty and flying into my face as I drove around the neighboring suburbs and filling the blue-blue skies and Simpsons clouds with movement and life.
Last week was an interesting week, one that I am happy to see off in the distance as I forge ahead. One friend ended up very sick in hospital, another a complete stranger after all. Capped by my collapsing with the first upset stomach since coming here: alien of an amoeba hatching in my guts, generating two days of diarrhea and sulphur burps and weakness shocking in both intensity and relentlessness. Had it continued for a third day I would’ve sought out a doc and meds, but the whole ordeal slunk away as swiftly and unexpectedly as it surfaced. Perhaps my body was just purging itself of unpleasantness and sadness absorbed in the preceding days.
Have been exceedingly excited to be embarking on my third of four months at the shala. And immensely grateful to have one more to go after this one. Last week’s last day of Mysore (self-) practice saw me firmly holding both ankles in urdhva dhanurasana. This is a bridge posture where you push up with palms and feet into an upside-down “U” shape, then walk your hands in towards feet to slowly intensify the backbend, eventually making more of an “O” shape- thus the heel and ankle-grabbing (and someday, maybe, calf or higher as the back, and maybe heart, open). Slowly opening up to these teachers, this practice (which is different-but-the-same from the one I enjoy back home), this space. Growing to love some of the people, here, and finally practice is finally the joy-full and sparkling highlight of my days as it is in New York. Most days, at least.
This is definitely going somewhere, with these small seeds and these new starts for the taking, most everywhere. Monsoon, (derived from the Arabic word for "season": mausim) is viewed as a period of rejuvenation and reaffirmation of life, a time when body an dmind heal best. This wedding season is also a time prime for spiritual cleansing, as nature and crops and people blossom and grow. So grateful and happy to be here, now. Still.
Last week was an interesting week, one that I am happy to see off in the distance as I forge ahead. One friend ended up very sick in hospital, another a complete stranger after all. Capped by my collapsing with the first upset stomach since coming here: alien of an amoeba hatching in my guts, generating two days of diarrhea and sulphur burps and weakness shocking in both intensity and relentlessness. Had it continued for a third day I would’ve sought out a doc and meds, but the whole ordeal slunk away as swiftly and unexpectedly as it surfaced. Perhaps my body was just purging itself of unpleasantness and sadness absorbed in the preceding days.
Have been exceedingly excited to be embarking on my third of four months at the shala. And immensely grateful to have one more to go after this one. Last week’s last day of Mysore (self-) practice saw me firmly holding both ankles in urdhva dhanurasana. This is a bridge posture where you push up with palms and feet into an upside-down “U” shape, then walk your hands in towards feet to slowly intensify the backbend, eventually making more of an “O” shape- thus the heel and ankle-grabbing (and someday, maybe, calf or higher as the back, and maybe heart, open). Slowly opening up to these teachers, this practice (which is different-but-the-same from the one I enjoy back home), this space. Growing to love some of the people, here, and finally practice is finally the joy-full and sparkling highlight of my days as it is in New York. Most days, at least.
This is definitely going somewhere, with these small seeds and these new starts for the taking, most everywhere. Monsoon, (derived from the Arabic word for "season": mausim) is viewed as a period of rejuvenation and reaffirmation of life, a time when body an dmind heal best. This wedding season is also a time prime for spiritual cleansing, as nature and crops and people blossom and grow. So grateful and happy to be here, now. Still.
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