Just read this in another blog: “the etiquette when a teacher is adjusting you in Mysore style, is to not do the vinyasa, so that the teacher can adjust you in both sides without having to wait and then move on to another student.”
Comments, cybershala? Is this so? If so, I’ve been inadvertently rude…
You can read about the pollo gigante de plastico in the comments section of the previous entry. I love the phrase so much that I had to write a blog entry so I could use it as my title.
I took today off work because I am overworked (poor me!). Haha! It’s my own fault. I get kind of all-or-nothing about stuff, and sometimes I am exhausted by my own enthusiasm. Anyhow, since I didn’t have to go into the office, and since I watched and was inspired by Kino’s DVD, I figured I’d go into the shala and (cover your eyes, traditionalists) do all of intermediate.
It was pretty fun. Really the only thing that hurts is my right leg in foot behind the head poses. If I hadn’t discovered Ashtanga, I might have gone through my whole life without knowing how tight my right hip is. Kapotasana is coming along, as it has been and will continue to do, for probably forever. At this point, I get in by myself and then The Poetess comes by and pushes down on my elbows, at which point, I can grab the balls of my feet.
This is good progress, but I think when it comes to deep backbending, I may always be Pollo Gigante de Plástico! And I mean hard plastic, not the rubbery kind. C’est la vie.
Watching the Kino DVD was heartening, because she didn’t presume you would go from not being able to do a pose to being able to do a pose without breaking the darn thing down into component parts. She has a gaining-strength-for-nakrasana modification that would probably make lots of traditional teachers crazy if they ever saw it in their shala. Luckily, I am free to do those sorts of things at the place where I practice. I’m actually curious, now that I think of it, about how many prep poses someone could do before MM got annoyed. I limit myself to a couple before kapo and a couple before eka pada sirsasana.
Anyhow, the intermediate stuff was fun. I did the karandavasana modifications as Kino demoed on her DVD, including the falling on my butt part, and the climbing back up onto the backs of my arms while in lotus part. Whoa! That’s a hard mountain to climb.
The end of intermediate is fun because it’s strengthy versus bendy, so it makes me feel good about myself. I’m sorry, is that too blunt? 
Even managed a strong muka hasta sirsasana C, which is the headstand that usually makes me shaky.
All in all, an okay practice. I had me some fun, I did some poses, some of them really well, some not — and all are works in progress. The Pollo Gigante is grateful she can do anything at all.
Or maybe hip joint? Eh, who knows. A sharp pain that’s kicked off by internal rotation of the right leg. I am going to practice later than usual today, so all I know for sure right now is that my coffee is delicious and there’s something weird going on in the right hip. I’ll know more once I take it for a spin later on.
Sharp, sudden pains are tough to work with — like trying to hug a porcupine.
And my internal monolog about this whole thing is twofold: 1) I hope it isn’t bad enough to impact my practice substantially, and 2) Hey, it’s the right side! My tight side. Maybe this is an opening? That would totally rock. I can LBH on the left side with actual pleasure — can’t say the same, though, about the right.
Watched Kino’s Intermediate DVD yesterday. (Is THAT what caused this pain? ) Watching the practice DVD was cool, but the real treat is the “How to Work” DVD. Lots of stuff MM has taught me, and some expecially interesting tidbits.
Karandavasana: She demoed it with hands in headstand position. Do the descent and return. Then shift hands to pincha position (don’t come down, just shift ‘em in headstand — you can do it!), and come down with hands in pincha and head on the floor. Once the butt is down and knees tucked in, lift the head off the floor. She demoed falling from there, which was charming, and then suggested you walk the lotus back up the arms and carry on, lifting the duck with pincha arms and head on the floor.
I loved the tone of this DVD, which was all about incremental progress. Basically, you do and do and do until finally you really can.
***
Here are a couple of pictures of Waylon with his new toy: a stuffed duck. He loves his stuffed animals. I got him a red lobster, too. I find it endlessly amusing to see him walking around with stuffed animals in his mouth — the more colorful and ridiculous, the better.
I accomplished a lot today, seemingly without really trying. By noon, The Cop and I had spent a little time having breakfast at Starbucks with Waylon, the house was clean, clothes were ironed for the week, and all my little chores completed.
When we first arrived at Starbucks this morning, a man was sitting outside at one table talking to a young woman at another table. She had on a yellow and gold dress and looked like she’d been up all night. She was very thin and twitchy and I understood she was a meth user even before I saw The Cop’s eyes, which change a little when he sees… uh, persons of interest.
As we were sitting with our coffee, an older man dressed in golf clothes stopped to look at Waylon.
“That is a big pit bull,” he said.
We told him that Waylon is not a pit bull. He asked a few questions, then said, “He seems friendly.” When we agreed, he smiled and drew closer and spasmodically poked the air in front of Waylon’s face a few times. “Nice dog,” he said as he walked happily to his car.
I wondered what kind of animals the man usually interacts with. His gesture wouldn’t be appreciated by cats. I thought about birds, and imagined him being bitten. Reptiles? I couldn’t imagine they’d respond well, either. The Cop had wondered the same thing and come up with his own explanation: “Maybe he has a five year old at home that he likes to flick on the head.”
***
Here’s a picture of Waylon with his true love. He can only play with it when Maxine is asleep. She does not allow anyone else to play with a ball when she is awake. Seriously. I have to hide yoga balls and tennis balls because she bites and “kills” the big ones, and declares ultimate ownership (she will NOT share, but will pretty much fight to the death) over smaller ones.
I was worried at first that Waylon might swallow the tennis ball, but as it turns out, he just wants to carry it around and lie down next to it and gaze at it lovingly.
***
Nothing like a super short short story. Lydia Davis. Here’s a good story — and a link to an interview, and a link to more samples…
Leading Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up
Harvard Business IdeaCast
Dance with Chance
The Invisible Hand: Management, Economics and Strategy (Episode 85)
Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization
I listen to podcasts while I clean the house on the weekend. And then I look up books related to the podcasts. Today has been pretty entertaining. I mean, what more can I ask for: Managing up! Change management! Two of my favorite things. I am still reading last week’s find: James Austin’s Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty, which is about Chance! and Creativity! and Science! More favorite things.
Okay, so today’s podcasts. Managing up (or down, or across) can be pretty discouraging, right? I have a few burn-out bald spots on my aura ’cause of being a manager, it’s true. And effecting organizational change? Using real people? Haha! As if!
Okay, so I recognize that the job of management can be unforgiving, and I recognize that people pretty much scoff at the idea that adult humans can really change, but here’s the God’s honest truth: I always feel optimistic about these things. Why? Because we can use *creativity* in the workplace, and an organization is an enormous petri dish just waiting to house new experiments! The more things seem impossible, the more I think up new ideas. I can’t help myself. I get invited to LOTS of meetings/teams/projects — it’s something my boss tries to protect me from, but it’s also something I find incredibly energizing. I think it’s a result of (and, let’s face it) a source of tapas. Yes, I think it’s intimately linked with my practice.
Yeah, I know. We’re supposed to use the energy that results from tapas to pursue spiritual enlightenment. I can’t shake the conviction, though, that we’re supposed to dig into real life, like the zen practitioner who finally rides the ox he’s tamed into the marketplace. Apparently, my ox is pointed toward a business setting. I’m as surprised about this as anyone.
James, not Jane. “I,” not “e.”
I understood that James H. Austin writes about meditation, attention and the brain, but I didn’t realize how prolific he is. Here’s a terrific article that looks at the difference between allocentric and egocentric processing.
I read this paper last night before bed, tried to post the link here, but was somewhat stymied by the iPhone (well, too impatient to use the iPhone and too tired to get out of bed to use the laptop). When I was looking it up this morning, I also stumbled across this older book by Austin and discovered that Csikszentmihalyi has a book on creativity. I think I may have known about this book but set the info aside somewhere in my brain? Either way, I’m psyched to know about it this morning.
Csikszentmihalyi’s book Flow is a classic. If you haven’t read it, check it out. It’ll change your life.
***
Okay, so I’m trying to drink coffee and write this entry, but there’s an intervening factor. Waylon. Who, in this cooler weather, has reverted to sitting on my lap in the morning after his breakfast. Did I mention that he weighs 80 pounds these days?
When I type: si!*d0qjcnksl@)jqwem, that’s me pinned to the couch and smothering under bulldog love.
Interesting podcast with a neurologist & long time zen practitioner. Love the way this guy speaks — talk about geeky! His delivery reminds me of my advisor in grad school.
Very interesting discussion about how the brain pays attention — what structures are involved, and what they bring to the party. I was particularly interested in egocentric processing as distinct from allocentric processing. He makes the case that this is consistent with the difference between concentration states (egocentric) and choiceless awareness (allocentric) in meditation. I couldn’t help thinking of Freud’s “hovering attention” — the centerpiece of psychoanalysis: maybe this is a good example of turning on the allocentric processing?
Regardless, I’m going to think about egocentric vs. allocentric processing at work tomorrow. I have a HUGE preference for allocentric processing, and will be at an all day meeting that involves lots of social stuff. Instead of being cowed by the social requirements, I think I’ll bring experimental mind to bear and look at it all through the allocentric lens. Choiceless awareness, baby!
Hmmm. Reticence.
I don’t want to talk about practice. Well, maybe a little.
Very interesting stuff is happening and I don’t want to articulate it in words. My body is learning things and my brain can just stay out of it. The effect is spreading throughout my work life, as well. More silence and more clarity. Less grasping to figure things out.
Kinda like a hazy dream, where I might wake and say, “The last thing I remember was reading our bodies are an intuitive channel.”
Farmers market for turnips, spinach, apples, dates, bosc pears, carrots. Everything looked so good. It feels like fall. And yes, it’s a crisp 82 degrees in the desert. The season’s a’changin’.
Vanessa has mentioned dal one time too many on her blog. So now there’s a big pot of masoor dal simmering on my stove. It’ll be great later with some jasmine rice. No matter how many times I mix up Indian spices, I am always surprised at how good it smells: cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, cayenne. It really seems like a kind of magic, the way they all work together.
It’s a double no-practice day: Saturday AND the moon day. In honor of relaxing, I am going to watch an episode of “Californication” on Netflix. My Gift turned me on to this program, and it is utterly hilarious. It makes me want to move to LA, even though I imagine once I got there, I’d be sorry…