The Cop and I (and Waylon!) are on vacation in Tucson. A yoga vacation for me (practicing with Lisa Schrempp) and mountain biking vacation for him. I’m just practicing and indulging myself with lots of reading (contemporary Japanese novels and historical novels) and writing. Pretty sweet.
Okay, here’s a quote from Jaron Lanier, technogeek supreme, whose new book, You Are Not A Gadget, shot to the top of my reading list when I read this:
The ratio of passivity to creativity in people is what will determine the ratio of socialism to capitalism in the long term future, as technology gets better and better.
Why is it difficult to practice? We face a lot of pressure in this world to go fast, and we’ve become very complicated. We have to make our minds simple, present, attentive. If we don’t make our minds simple, it’s very difficult to pay attention to what we’re doing.
I read about an experiment that was done on dogs. I hesitate to talk about it because we want to protect animals from research, but it leads to an interesting point you may have discovered in your own practice. They kept young dogs in cages until they were very, very hungry, then put some food on one end of a special cage. Between the dogs and the food was a metal grid. When the dogs tried to reach the food they received a fairly strong electrical shock. After a couple of times the dogs would not cross the grid even when there was no electricity. Even if the dogs were starving they wouldn’t try it, and they would jump off if the researchers put them on the grid.
Then the researchers went a step further and found the only way to get rid of that conditioning was to hold the dogs on the grid when there was no shock. The dogs didn’t learn very quickly. Each dog went through everything it went through when it was shocked – trembling, screeching, urinating, completely losing control. But after it had gone through this whole reaction the dog would realize there was no more shock, and then it could cross the grid.
This has relevance to us because our karmic conditioning is the same. We’ve conditioned ourselves to react to certain situations. To get free of that conditioning we have to put ourselves into the situation and stay there while we go through all the trembling and sweating and urination in our pants, until we realize there is no shock in the grid. Nothing is really going on there. In my experience the tendrils of karma are very deep. Dharma Master Ji Kwang Dae Poep Sa Nim says, “Your karma seems really heavy. But when you finally take it off, it’s just like a thin piece of paper.” You have to be willing to practice with your whole body and mind to digest it, to de-condition it, and to see very clearly what is there and what isn’t there. Then even a shock won’t affect you.
[My Gift grew up answering the question "What would Dae Bong do?" Hilarious when applied to schoolyard dramas and high school hijinks. Still, it's never steered us wrong.]
Here is the basic prescription for any question: Open the hips, then the back. Heal the knees (by opening the hips, then the back). If you want to do the next pose, perfect all the previous ones. If you want to start Second Series, deepen the backbends. If you want to do Third Series, don’t. You probably shouldn’t. If you are frequently injured or miss practices, scale back or do primary only until the inconsistency is all gone for a long time. Never, ever skip practice. And implicitly: don’t feel sorry for yourself, work hard, give thanks to your teachers, breathe deep, defer to SKPJ in all things, and make offerings to Ganesh.
Or, as Soen Sa Nim said (before Nike ever thought of it): Just do it!
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Fun with the dehydrator! Right now on my desk, there’s a little zip-lock bag of dried salted kale leaves and crispy turnip chips, and a bag of dried apple rings and pineapple wedges. All very yummy. But I’ll tell you what: I consider the dehydrator worth its price and the amount of space it takes up (kind of a lot), just for the unbelievable deliciousness of raw flax crackers.
I’ve always had little tea splatters under my desk from tossing my tea bags into the waste basket. Now there’re a few flax seeds under there, too. I’m pretty convinced a human could live happily on flax crackers and tea. The Cop will definitely disagree on this. He is amused by the dehydrator, particularly when I tell him I can use it to squirrel away food for the coming apocalypse (he’s always ready for that eventuality).
Yup, we’ll be set for the apocalypse. Guns and ammo? Check! Large, protective dog? Check! Dried food? Check! Ice dancing routine? Check!
As noted in the past, when The Cop is at work, I cook things that I love but which horrify him.
Today I’m making Crispy Kale! It’s as yummy as potato chips (I have a potato chip problem…).
Crispy Kale
A bunch of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces and tough stems removed
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Rinse and salad spin the kale. Use a towel to blot any extra water on the leaves. Place the kale on the baking sheet.
3. Drizzle olive oil over the kale leaves and use your hands to toss and coat the leaves. Bake in the oven for 12-20 minutes until leaves are crisp. Check the kale at the 12 minute mark. If the leaves are paper-thin crackly, it’s done. If the leaves are still a bit soft, leave them in for another 2 minutes. Do not let the leaves turn brown. Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt and serve.
Dana: I suspect that, much like the last post, you may be disappointed with this.
Posted in things i like on 12/26/2009 11:42 am by karen
Trolling YouTube for some good passive stretches for the psoas, and I came across this vid that:
1) Actually simulates a stretch the chiro did with me.
2) Includes the quote: “I’m only gonna show you on one side, because you’re not idiots.”
3) Offers some hilarious advice on where to get relationship advice.
Select outfits for each day Done! Procure hard copy currency Forget about it. I’ll just carry on using my ATM card.
Sort out how to travel with the iPhone.
This last one made me think about my relationship to the iPhone (aside from utter undying adoration).
I don’t want crazy surprise bills after my trip to London, which means I need to turn off the datastream on the iPhone. But turning off the data to avoid international roaming charges pretty much adds up to: “Why would I even bother bringing it?”
The last thing I need the iPhone for is actual phone calls (which may explain why I’m such a satisfied user).
Top 10 Ways I Use My iPhone
10. Blogging.
9. Recording audio reminders.
8. Listening to music.
7. Playing solitaire and mah jongg.
6. Taking photos.
5. Taking notes about random things in “real life.”
4. Reading. Kindle app. I haven’t read a non-Kindle book in months.
3. Taking notes in meetings at work.
2. Emailing and texting people.
1. Googling for general information.
Yup, the number one use, by far, is googling. How tall is Tony Clark? Should dogs eat avocado? What are food sources of magnesium? What’s the deal with CIT? Where is there some good pizza nearby? I seem to need to know lots of random things over the course of a day. Today I looked at the street the shala is on in Bethnal Green. I also located wool tights and read about peptides. When I travel, I google maps. And I need to have maps available at all times, because even if I map before I start my day in a new location, there’s a pretty good chance things are still going to go horribly wrong, finding-my-way-wise. I need to do update mapping and emergency mapping right on the street. Embarrassing, but true.
But I could do without a phone pretty much entirely. I don’t understand why people still use them. Well, except for 911 calls. Otherwise, it’s datastream and apps, baby. That’s what I really need.
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.
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.
