Day after

The day after the workshop, and I felt a little crispy this morning at practice. Mostly my shoulders and quads. Which is a-okay. One of the super-bendy backbender gals asked if she was the only one with sore quads. “Do you feel anything at all in your shoulders?” I asked. She looked kind of bewildered [...]

Backbending with Lisa

Great backbending workshop. Lisa is as terrific as I’d been told — very open and with lots of helpful things to say about different aspects of the practice. My favorite thing, by far, was hanging out in kapotasana, in the middle of the bend, without touching the floor. For the very first time, I was [...]

Kind words, automaticity, backbending workshop, panic

Sanskrit Scholar said something really nice to me yesterday at lunch. She said that my practice is devoid of any extraneous movements, and that that makes it very calming to practice next to me. We talked a little about minimalism and efficiency, which are qualities that warm my heart, in part because I am a [...]

Lin-Chi, notes from the iPhone, led & lunch

A new book: The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi. Lin-Chi was a student of Huang Po. And we already know how much I love Huang Po. If I were to discuss the great concern of Buddhism from the point of view of a follower of the sect of Zen patriarchs, then I could not even [...]

Tuesday is now the seventh day

And on the seventh day, Ashtangis rest. My old Sunday rest day was easier, I think. At first I figured a sleep-in day during the week would be great, but as it turns out, waking up at 6:00 AM is WAY harder than waking up at 4:30 AM. No idea why. Just because of the [...]

Monday morning

One of those “got to get to an early meeting” mornings. Started right in at 5:30, so I could finish up, run home and get ready for work (I’m 2 miles from the shala), and be in the office (4 miles from home) by 8 AM. Not too hard to pull off, but no room [...]

Practice report, question, Lin Chi

All confused about what day is my day off. Used to be Sundays, but then when Volleyball Guy opened his new shala, there was the Sunday improv class. So I started going to that and took Tuesday as my day off. The shala’s closed this weekend, so what to do today? Take the usual Sunday [...]

Won Hyo

Thirteen hundred years ago, in an ancient province of Korea, there was a great Zen Master named Won Hyo. As a young man he fought in a bloody civil war and saw many friends slaughtered and homes destroyed. He was overcome by the emptiness of this life, so he shaved his head and went to [...]

Long time

It’s been a long time since I did a primary-only home practice. This morning, because Volleyball Guy is off at his niece’s wedding, I practiced here at the house. Since Saturday is usually led primary, I decided just to go ahead with a nice, leisurely primary practice. Afterwards, I actually went back and looked in [...]

Huffing and Puffing

I found the black hole that is parsva dhanurasana. Actually, I found it last time, but didn’t quite know what it was. I thought it was just a fleeting sensation. But no, it was back again today. Not between the shoulderblades, as I would imagine, but deeper. Not muscular, but more energetic, more emotional. Kind [...]