Lately, I’ve been letting go of many things, whether they are beliefs or actual situations and groups that haven’t been serving me, relationships etc. There is a promise in this letting go that I feel as a bodily sense of release and the sense that things are beginning again in the space I’ve created in my life. It is a familiar feeling and one that I associate with life changes, the kind that are intentional and oriented toward growth and maturity.
Lately, I’ve been having a small cup of coffee in the morning before beginning practice. I had been practicing a bit later around 7:30-8, but have lately started getting up at 5:30 due to schedule changes, job demands etc. When I did my later practice it never really felt necessary to have coffee until after my practice, but as I’ve been getting up earlier and feeling groggy, stuffed up, and all around heavy the little caffeine boost really seems to help me get going and get on the mat. I know that Sharath and Guruji both consume coffee, so it seems fairly accepted in the Ashtanga world…I also know that many other bloggers also consume it. I’m curious what others have discovered in terms of its benefits and detriments…I used to feel coffee before practice made me stiffer, though I don’t notice this at all in my early morning practices. Perhaps because I’m already so stiff.
Thoughts?
I decided to do this ipod shuffle meme that has been going around…
1) Olson - Boards of Canada
2)Raga Mahdu-Kauns - Ravi Shankar
3) Track 3 - Kings of Convenience (for some reason no track name here)
4)Go to Sleep - Radiohead
5) into the Rainbow vein - Boards of Canada
6) Njósnavélin Sigur Rós
7) Lonely - Lanterna 
MOS 6581 - Carbon Based Lifeforms
9)Sparkly - Hope Sandoval
10) The mess we’re in - PJ Harvey
Nice stellar mix there….I’m surprised that more Radiohead didn’t come up as I have a ton of their stuff…them and Boards of Canada are my two musical addictions…..thought ‘The Mess We’re in’ features Thom Yorke from Radiohead as lead vocalist…so it is practically the same thing.
A.’s been working me hard in Mysore it was nice to have a rest day today..I;ve been much more sore lately —and stiff than i have been in quite a while. The cold seems to be bothering my knee a bit…need to be extra careful. Feels nice to be back again and sharing in the group energy again at least once a week.
This blog is now officially defunct. It may be resuscitated at a later time.
My melancholia from yesterday has arisen and passed away, as the Buddha predicted. The Buddha was a cool dude and he has lots to teach, for instance one of my favorites is to ‘Regard all dharmas as Dreams.’
This statement means that all phenomena in our daily lives are to be considered as real or unreal as the occurrences and situations in our dreams. Both are equally illusory. This is helpful to me in that I don’t take things so seriously and I feel somewhat empowered to impact my life in the same way I can impact dreams with awareness and conscious intention.
Carlos Castaneda talks about how we can take control of our dreams if we look at our hands while in the dream…and this actually works by the way, I’ve experienced it. It’s not quite as easy in ‘real’ life, I can also attest to trying it in this ‘reality’ and am currently gazing at my hand yet my life feels very out of control.
However, if we see the hands as a metaphor for action — we do things or manifest with our hands - we can then deduce that looking at our hands could mean taking action amidst the chaos, manifesting in accordance with our awareness, intention and consciousness allows us to influence and impact our ‘real’ lives in the same way we can influence and impact our dream lives.
