Ganesha (Deity of the Marines?)
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A senior colleague and I spent several hours today working together on a very challenging aspect of a long-term project. When we were wrapping up for the day, I showed him a murti of Ganesha that another co-worker had brought me from the Norton Simon Museum when she had gone on a business trip to Pasadena, where our Los Angeles office is located.
I said that I do not believe in the Hindu deities as gods, but find them helpful for contemplation as archetypes (in the Jungian sense). I said that being on this project has taught me much about yoga and about Ganesha.
“Ganesha,” I explained, “is not so much the remover of obstacles, but the one who places obstacles in your way to teach you the wisdom to grow and find a more enlightened path from having confronted the obstacles.” “Oh,” said my colleague, “like the Marines: adapt, improvise, and overcome.” “Well, sort of,” I replied, enjoying that we found a way to share laughter after our difficult afternoon.
“I’ve Got My Life Back”
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I was at a business meeting yesterday that started with people introducing themselves around the table. The participants were all either members or staff of a prominent lobbying group or government officials. One of the men said that he was now a consultant. “I used to be general counsel of [lobbying group], and now that I am consulting,” he said, “I have my life back.” The introductions continued around the table. The new general counsel, when he introduced himself, claimed, “it’s my life he has taken to get his back.”
I found this all interesting in light of my blog yesterday. These men are very successful. They both are married with families. They seem to be pleasant and smart. Their definition of “not having a life” was not having failed to be fully engaged in doing what society expects them to do — they have clearly done very well indeed — but not having time to play golf or hang out in addition to being “successful.”
Is the difference between being male and female? Or were the two different contexts of the same social, linguistic tic just exemplifying a the view point of a superabundant and privileged class that we are not living fully unless we do and have everything the collective society admires and we simultaneously feel like we have lots of leisure time to enjoy as we see fit? It’s a hopelessly unrealistic standard.
Every moment we breathe and our heart beats, we are living. One of the keys to tantric yoga is to come to a place where we are living fully and abundantly whatever we are doing, whether it is working or playing, being challenged or relaxing. When we can do that, we realize we “have a life” and one worth living, no matter where we are in our journey.
I Don’t Have a Life (Really? What a Strange Thing)
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Last night I was thinking about what that phrase means. I was talking with a friend who has a similar enthusiasm for studying, practicing, and teaching yoga, who also has a full-time job/career. At some point in describing the number of hours I have spent studying with John Friend and other Anusara teachers, it came out of my mouth that I have been able to pursue this passionate engagement with yoga because, as others have said to me, “I don’t have a life.” My friend, being in the same society after all, initially went right along with that statement as if it was a perfectly reasonable thing to say.
Then we started questioning it. It is not as though we do not both have rich, full, engaged, active lives. How did the vernacular come up with a phrase that says we do not “have a life,” if we are not so occupied with the things that society would have us do (for the “modern” woman I think this means high-powered career, husband, children, nice house) that we have enough time and flexibility to deeply pursue and explore beyond what we are supposed to do?
One Perfect Snow Pea,
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a pole bean, and two radiantly golden cherry tomatoes. I have been waiting months for those four exquisite bites.
Turnip greens and amaranth, included in my morning meal. Two baby japanese eggplants, one hot pepper, a handful of scallions will go into something with tempeh.
The last of the radishes and two beets will be delightful with vidalia onions — all lightly pickled.
Gifts of Onions (and Eternal Truth)
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A couple of weeks ago, a good friend gave me a box of perfect vidalia onions. She had been given two boxes. She said, “These onions were so good; I wanted to give them to someone who would truly appreciate them. I first thought of you.” I was delighted, “yes, I’d love some vidalias.” They are exquisite. I’ve been making delicate sautes, grilling them, dicing them into salads, and marveling at their sweetness. I passed a few on to others that both would fully appreciate the onions as a culinary matter and also know my friend, who is a former co-worker.
Last night I went to take class at Willow Street and was talking a little with the work study students at the desk after class before heading home. “Would you like some onions?” asked one of the work study students, who does great work with the Fresh Farm Markets around town. “Oh, how lovely, no, no thank you,” I replied, “A friend just gave me a box of vidalia onions and I have shallots, baby leeks, spring onions, and garlic chives in my garden.” “I think you have enough in the allium family already,” she agreed, “would you like a cucumber?” “A cucumber? Yes, that would be great. I’ve only gotten one ripe one so far; they aren’t liking the cool wet.” She gave me a cucumber and a zucchini from a farm visit she had done that morning, which made my evening (I am so easily pleased).
This morning I wondered about these offers of onions. It is not as though it is a regular thing for me twice in a space of a couple of weeks to be given bounteous offers of exquisite onions. Did it mean something?
Onion comes from the same latin root as “union.” Unlike garlic, in whose family onions belong, onions grow a single, undivided bulb, which is the likely reason for the development of the word onion. From sketchy researching on the internet, I find onions are also the symbol of “good” and fullness — hence the onion domes in architecture. The ancient Egyptions thought the onion a symbol of eternity (layer upon layer of being) and truth. Yes, I like thinking these onions (those I took home and those that were gifted instead, no doubt, to some other appreciative soul) were meant to bring me to think of good, of union, of the eternal truth in gifts and shared pleasure in sharing delicious, healing, fresh food with friends.
World Wide Knit in Public Day (and Vikalpa Samskara)
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World Wide Knit in Public Day is this weekend — June 13th (and 14, 20, and 21). What will you be knitting? I have started a pair of leg-warmers. The pattern was really for ankle warmers, but I have chosen to make them longer than the pattern suggested. The nice farmers who raise the sheep, spin and dye the yarn, and sell it at the Dupont Fresh Farm Market, called them “yoga socks.” The yarn is beautiful. The sample pair looked like something I would want on my feet in colder weather. The project was small enough to tuck into my carry bag. Definitely a go for summer knitting (unlike the three-quarter finished mohair shruggy that has become a lapful of furry stuff).
“Why are they so short?” I asked. “We had originally designed them to be longer, but our teacher said we might need to grab our ankles?” they explained. “When would you do that, when it would not matter whether you were touching fabric instead of your skin,” I puzzled out loud, not out of criticism, but really wanting to know, thinking maybe in Pilates. The farmers could not really think of a reason. I bought an extra skein along with the kit to make the — oh, let’s call them footless socks — calf height. The yarn has a bit of a stickiness to it, so they are not slippery. They will be good to wear for yoga.
I’ve never knitted on double-pointed, size 2 needles, in the round before, though I happened to have four in the house (picked up at a yard sale for a $1 a decade or two ago and put in the sewing box). I tend not to knit from patterns for whole projects. So I had a little learning to do. The pattern did not explain how to use the double-pointed needles; that knowledge was assumed. I am not used to the contraints of following a pattern. Doing so, on occasion, though, forces me to learn a new technique. It took my a couple of hours to get into the rhythm, but now I’ve eased into the project.
I sometimes seek the same type expansion with cooking. Though easily able to cook something delicious without a recipe with most ingredients, sometimes I pick out a complicated recipe just to expand my skills in the kitchen.
Yoga, most of all, benefits from a combination of free exploration and attentive development to the knowledge imparted by a teacher. We are most full and expanded when we combine experience and teachings. We receive the teachings and then we practice again and again to make it not just our own experience, but part of our being. This process is called vikalpa samskara.
Ganesha (and Contemplation)
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Today is a good day for me to contemplate on the Ganesha archetype — the one who places obstacles in our way and gives us the wisdom to know how to remove them or avoid them. The obstacle I can see; I’m at the needing wisdom stage.
Why Should You Care? (Computer Censorship and the Dalai Lama)
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Why shouldn’t you care? Enjoy having freedom on the internet to read this blog, among others? To learn about what is happening in the world and to explore and expand your learning? To connect on Facebook and Twitter? Think 300 million people shouldn’t be censored? Consider signing the petition to Dell and HP to tell them they shouldn’t install special blocking software in computers for the China market.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/chinese_internet/?r_by=4431-391488-o3sh29x&rc=paste
“The Yoga That Destroys Sorrow”
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“For him who is moderate in food and play, moderate in performing actons, moderate in sleep and waking, for him is the yoga which destroys sorrow.” Bhagavad Gita, 6.18 (trans. Gitartha Samgraha, in Abhinavagupta’s Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita).
Food here, of course, is more than what we put into our mouth. It is everything that comes in through the senses. Play, too, is beyond what we do for “fun” in this society. How much these words have kept their truth since written; what different meanings they carry in our time of technological marvels. What does “moderation” mean to us? Does moderation have an implicit relativeness?
Since I first read the Gita in high school, I have been contemplating this sloka and resonating with it. Now, I come back to it over and over again, as my understanding of the rest of the text deepens and my practice grows. It is still giving me food for thought. (Pun intended).
Six Hours of R&R (A Simple Extravaganza)
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I woke completely refreshed this morning, even though it was a very long work week, I taught two classes yesterday, I have lots to do today, and it promises to be a stressful work week coming. The sense of well-restedness is thanks to the six (or was it seven) hours of nurture I gave myself at the end of the day yesterday.
First I walked to a late afternoon appointment with my wonderful massage therapist, Patrick McClintock. My walk to see Patrick is a beautiful walk 14-block walk through Capitol Hill. I strolled home afterwards, stopping at the grocery store to pick up soy milk and a couple of other items I like to have in the house (no more than I could carry easily), then walking through Lincoln Park on my way home. Taking my time on my walk, I visited with a few dogs and neighbors who were out.
For dinner, I made a stir-fry of tempeh and radish greens (greens and herbs came right out of the garden).
- In peanut oil (or other oil that can take high heat; not olive oil with asian flavors); slice a clove or two of garlic, mince some ginger, saute until garlic is translucent; add sliced onions and saute until translucent (when you add onion or onion parts depends on whether you are using onions, green onions, or scallions — white onion or onion parts go in before the greens, green parts go in after bitter/firm greens or with tender greens); add diced tempeh (or tofu or leave it out and add minced toasted nuts right before serving); saute until onions and tempeh are turning golden; splash with rice wine vinegar and Braggs liquid amino protein or soy sauce; quickly stir to integrate flavors; add greens and fresh herbs from the garden; saute until wilted; add splash of sherry, white wine or water; saute until liquid has evaporated. Serve with any grain or asian-style noodles.
After dinner, I read for a bit. Then I gave myself a mini-facial and pedicure. At twilight, I sat out back with an herbal infusion made from mint and lemon balm from the garden and watched the moon rise — it was a glorious moon.
I followed this simple, extravaganza with a long practice of restoratives, supine poses, and forward bends, and took my savasana into bed for the night.
Maybe you cannot fit in this much, and I do not do this much R&R in a single block every week — some Saturdays I want to go out on the town. Try to make part of some of your weekends (especially critical if you, like I, work six days a week, not five) restful without having to go away — perhaps including one of the Serenity Saturday workshops at Capitol Hill Yoga when you can.
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