Sunday, December 12, 2004


where did the day go?

so busy today i scarcely had time to drink another cup of batdorf's fun holiday blend. i'd intended to press up a pot and watch this interview with the holy hamelman.

but the day flew like the wind, what with the pizza dough, yoga, washing my hair. . .at least with the holiday blend i did get to savor one of oren's dark chocolate-covered graham crackers. how did o. know that these are one of my favorite guilty treats?

what i like about his is that the cracker inside is extra crunchy and not too sweet. of course it went great with the coffee.

then i did have to run off to yoga, where dave charles from yogaworks subbed again. i just love his sequences, very intelligent! the poses actually go together towards a goal, or theme, instead of just running through all the usual poses in some random order.

i know not everyone likes the yogaworks approach; for years that class was a very fast-moving jivamukti class that went through the "usual list" at high speed and not always with awareness.

despite its breakneck pace and supposedly challenging poses, it really was a simple class because a body could just throw themselves into the ride on pure momentum, which to my mind is little different than, say, step aerobics. yoga's easy if you cheat, as om teacher jennifer brilliant used to say.

but when you "cheat" at yoga, you're the one that's losing. what's the use of even going to class then? i never understand the point of that. . .

one girl actually left when it became apparent that today we weren't going to do shoulderstand. well, you don't have to do shoulderstand every class; it may not fit with the class direction that particular day.

it's a shame dave won't be able to take that particular class permanently. . . .he gives very practical advice, and good adjustments, but with just the right touch. not too strong, not too light!

i asked him a question about mulabanda and he offered a most excellent answer: "you worry first about your breathing, then your feet. do that for 10 years and we'll talk about mulabanda!"

and he has a point -- in hatha yoga we start with what we know, the breath and the body. and we let 'em take us where we can go.

when we know what they have to tell us, that is the time to move on to these other things; except of course by that time our own personal experience has answered most of our questions for us!

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