End of vacation

Well, my week off flew by, and now it's back to work. But first, practice at Volleyball Guy's.

It was freezing this morning. Okay, maybe not freezing like places where it snows, places outside the desert--but for me, it's freezing. Like 36 degrees or something. And the garage door wouldn't open. So I called The Cop, who was driving to work, and he talked me through turning off the automatic release and just opening the garage door the old fashioned way. Which was kind of cool--it's been a long time since I've done that. You know, all these "conveniences," like automatic garage door openers, really do allow people to live almost completely sedentary lives. Maybe not such a convenience, ultimately.

So anyhow, I traveled from the freezing dark morning to the warm confines of Volleyball Guy's place. Where I was greeted by Returning Guy, Sanskrit Scholar and The Other Dave. That's it--just a few of us today. And everyone a more advanced practitioner than I. Which was great. Everyone went along on their own, and there was not the usual crowded room full of people learning, of people striving.

As has been my recent habit, I forgot paschimottanasana and purvottanasana in my subconscious desire to face off with the dreaded ardha baddha padma paschimottanasana. I realized it at the end of trianga mukhaikapada paschimottanasana. No! I wasn't going to miss purvottanasana again! So I doubled back and started in on paschimottanasana. "Uh, Karen...?" I heard Volleyball Guy say. I explained my strange sequence, he nodded, and on I went.

Today was a "pay attention to breathing" day. I really held out for a relaxed breath every single time. Which made me realize that I tend to start building up a head of steam (i.e., breathing faster and less deeply) once I hit the Janus. So I practiced a little discipline and slowed them all down. Which left me not feeling queasy for once when I got to backbends.

And I stuck with the insistence on calmness throughout backbends. Which makes them much more pleasant. So now my plan is to practice great calm as I return to work. Any anxiety I manifest at work is entirely useless and pretty damn unpleasant. I think I will give it up.

I had a message from my publisher last night. Everything is set to get the third book out at the beginning of the year. The other poets (3) who the press will publish in 2006 are all people whose work I respect, which feels really good. I had great plans to do a lot of writing this past week, and as it turns out, I managed to get a new book underway. It is hard to be patient when poems are kind of percolating inside--I always feel like I want to force the issue. But I waited it out, and by the end of the day yesterday I found that I am in very good shape, writing-wise. Once again it is demonstrated that I don't need to exert my will, that if I just am patient and open, creativity will manifest. Duh. How many times, I wonder, will I need to learn this lesson? ;-)