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Nice practice this morning at the new shala. You know that “first sentence from the first entry of each month” meme? Last year, this blog had many “shala moving to a new space” entries. So here’s the current situation: VBG is teaching led classes only, on Saturday mornings and on Monday and Wednesday evenings, at the old space. Morning Mysore practice is more a co-op kind of deal, and now takes place at Rejuvenation in Old Town Scottsdale. Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 5:30 – 7:30 AM and Sunday from 9-11 AM. If anyone is going to be in town, drop me a note if you want more info.

It was very strange to leave the house for practice. I started my current stint of home practice at the beginning of November, upon return from Singapore. Got out of the house and into the studio for the Annie Pace workshop at the end of November, then back to solitary practice for December. So it’s been a while since I practiced with other people. It was nice. The best part was meeting Tim and visiting with Susan a bit. The British Director was also there, so it was great to see her. We all practiced and then went out for coffee/chai and some chatting.

Meeting people from cyberspace is very interesting. You know a lot about the person, and they know a lot about you, so there’s a funny kind of “history.” As always, I am curious about the difference between photographic representations and reality: photos are visually accurate, but when you meet an actual person, their individual animation is so much more multi-dimensional. Tim looks exactly like his photos, and he sounds just like his blog, but somehow when you add photos and blog together, you still don’t get the person at all. Kind of a duh! statement, I know. Nevertheless, I was surprised by this once again.

It was a pleasure talking with Susan and Tim (The British Director had to take off for a meeting, so couldn’t stay too long). They are both bright and engaged. Tim has exactly the kind of humor you’d imagine, and perhaps a bit more gravitas than I might have expected. Does that make you laugh, Tim? Susan, on the other hand, has a very appealing earnestness that I really enjoy. I wish we could have hung out longer. Unfortunately, our waitress took our table away from us. We need to go some place less popular next time!

Practice was good this morning — a little distracted, what with humans in the room and all. UHP was shaky as all get out. “People! Moving people! Colors! Visual stimuli!” Oh well. It was worth it to get to hang out with some of the cybershalamates.

I am only acting as a mirror for your life,
in which you can see yourself as you are;
then you can throw away the mirror;
the mirror is not important.

J. Krishnamurti, as quoted in Yogi Bare