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Priceless

karen — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:20:59 +0000

Sitting crosslegged on my chair at work all day.

Wearing flat shoes.

Stretching out in the yoga trapeze.

Doing daily practice.

Throwing too many variables into the experiment so I can’t say for sure what’s doing what.

No more pain at all in my back = priceless.

Some shakti for art lovers

karen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:36:50 +0000

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

Seriously, you need to see more before you believe?

karen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:07:16 +0000

Shaktipat x 2: How many times do you need to be hit over the head with this?

karen — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:06:36 +0000

“You come from the west, you see postures, you say ‘I want it.’ And then you take. All of this is taking, it is the western thinking. I want it I want it. If you don’t understand yoga because of that way of thinking, not my fault. Your fault.”

Romantic “Good Morning” text from The Cop

karen — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:27:20 +0000

“Your contraption is here.”

So obvious it makes me want to slap myself

karen — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:30:17 +0000

Okay, so I have been going along practicing practicing practicing. Every day. La la la. Saturdays off.

Simple.

Except I have this weird thing in my back. It’s been around for months and it hurts in back bends. Some days not so bad (only hurts in UD when I walk my hands in close), and some days pretty annoying (hurts in every up dog and any other back bend in the entire practice).

Quadratus lumborum, I thought. Ice. Heat. Stretch. Epsom salt baths. Arnica oil. Wintergreen oil. Capsaicin lotion. Mind control. Hypnagogic suggestion. Visualization.

Nothing.

Went to a chiropractor. He diagnosed a tight psoas. Okay.

Adjustments. Ultrasound. Heat. Ice. More adjustments.

Nothing.

Decided it doesn’t freaking matter WHAT it is, it just needs to go away.

Practice. Stretching on the chair, the bed, the couch, the kitchen counter, the office. Tightened bandhas, loosened bandhas. Breathed deeper, breathed more lightly. More raw food, more grains, add some dairy, subtract dairy, ditch soy, add hemp, grow suspicious of nightshades, consider dropping — once and for all — my Tootsie Pop habit.

Damn! Still here.

Okay, so here I am sitting in the office. It’s Friday, so I have on jeans and clogs. Which means I can kick off the clogs and sit cross legged in my chair.

What do I feel? A pully-stretchy feeling in *exactly* that spot. “Oh, that feels good,” I think, and then it hits me: I do not sit cross legged in my chair all day every day any more because I now wear skirts and high heels every day. (Stupid high, by the way — because my shoe aesthetic is in direct conflict with my foot health.) Over the past 6 months, it’s been more and more skirts and higher and higher heels.

Duh!

I believe I will be shopping for some pants and flat shoes this weekend. I need to sit the right way for a week and see if it corrects this back krink.

***

The experiment will be thrown off by one variable that’ll get tossed into the mix as soon as it gets delivered to the house and The Cop can install it:

More romance

karen — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:26:54 +0000

“You’re not a hippie. You’re esoteric. At least that’s what I tell my coworkers.”

Romantic Words from The Cop

karen — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:25:50 +0000

“You’re going to be a handful when you’re senile.”

Super Bowl

karen — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:40:01 +0000

The Cop and I are watching the Super Bowl. A commercial about the stages of a man’s life. Amusing. At the end they announce Dove Soap for Men.

“Karen!” The Cop bellows, “Have I been using WOMEN’S SOAP?!?!”

Dude

karen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:05:25 +0000

Chatting online with Liz and Sonya the other day and somehow the topic turned to my love (adoration, more accurately) of stoner stuff. Dude, where’s my car? Sweet! Obviously I cannot act upon my love of all things stoner (Officer Husband’s career would certainly suffer if he had a stoner wife), but I did indulge myself a bit this morning by practicing to a Grateful Dead soundtrack. Wheeee! Seriously, if you want happy happy energy, practice to the Dead. Next social event with The Cop & his colleagues, I’ll be the chick wearing tie dye!

In a weird twist of (perhaps practice-induced) mental flexibility, I’ve “allowed myself” (yeah, yeah, red flag, I know) to gain almost 5 pounds. This was an intuitive move — clear of intent but nebulous of purpose — and I’m really enjoying it (aside from very infrequent flashes of “I’ve let myself go!” panic). So yes, I am enjoying it physically — feeling strong and robust and energetic, and really REALLY resilient — though occasionally feeling uncomfortable in my mind. What’s breaking the tie between body and mind is the fact that the extra weight seems to be oiling the backbends quite dramatically.

My back is supple in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Perhaps my deeply held, brittle self-discipline re: body size affects physical flexibility? Does this rise to the level of a DUH! observation? Or is it woo woo mysticism? I don’t know! I can’t distinguish between the utterly obvious and crazy delusion because I’m just a hippie!

And here’s The Dude with his new stuffed elephant toy.