Yoga
Posted By Sika on February 4, 2008
I was doing yoga* today. I did L-pose at the wall. It’s funny, because as far as I can tell there are two L-poses, one where you make an L-shape with your hands against the wall, and the other where you do down dog facing away from the wall and then walk up the wall so that you’re making an L-shape with your feet against the wall instead. This one yoga podcast I’ve done a quadrillion times and I always heard the instructions as being for the first L-pose, but today I realized that it was for the second. I think maybe I was so not ready for that pose before that my brain refused to interpret the instructions correctly.
So there I was, trying to figure out if my body was at right angles while balancing on my hands and being rather impressed that I wasn’t falling flat on my face. I like arm balances because I feel strong and powerful and as if I have endless potential for what I can do with my body. I laugh a lot, too.
The difference between this and the other arm balance I’ve learned is in the end of the pose, when I walk back down the wall. There’s a moment, between the last step on the wall and the first step on the floor, where I feel almost weightless. The world and my head spin on opposite axes, it takes effort to float my legs to the ground, my brain reorganizes my thoughts into unusual tranquility. Everything is quiet. The moment extends forever with my exhale.
And then my feet touch the floor, the world reorients, and all is bright.
And then I laugh again.
*I was reading an article on Salon where the author mentioned that eastern yogis think American yoga is ridiculous, or, ok, misguided, with its focus on the physical asanas. She said it would be like someone going to Catholic mass and saying, wow, all the genuflecting really works out my knees and then developing “Catholic Calisthenics,” the idea of which amused the hell out of me.
Remember to relax your inner organs.
hee hee.
-Sarah
This is going to sound kind of crazy, but I promise I mean well! I’m an American PhD student. I spent several months doing research in Malawi, last May-August and October. When I left, I started reading blogs by people who were in Malawi because I missed it. I’m heading back for a few weeks, to work on some of my projects (and I’ll be there again all “summer.”) If there’s something you’re craving and can’t get in Malawi, I’d be happy to bring it over with me and leave it for you somewhere in Lilongwe. (Caveats: it has to be kind of small and non-liquid, since I will only have a carry-on with me.) You can send me an e-mail — matterofpolicy@yahoo.com.
What’s scary is I kind of know what they mean by that now. The first time I realized that I knew what to *do* when they say that (although thank god most of the podcasts I use now don’t say stuff like that)I almost called you. But since I can’t afford $10million just to call you and horrify you, I didn’t. And then I forgot until you posted this.