Do the Dew

Yay for the teeny heater! I packed it up in a gym bag, and met Sanskrit Scholar and The Beautiful One at Sanskrit Scholar's workplace. What I'm finding is that drishti really makes you not care where you practice. In front of a mirror? No problem. In a corporate fitness center? Fine. Lots of strangers around? Okay.

Morning at the fitness center provides an interesting perspective on community. The simple act of three people pursuing the same goal via the same practice makes a kind of community in the midst of an alien environment. Quite fascinating.

And the mirrors aren't so bad. In fact, they make my handstands stronger, because when I use the wall for a (hopefully unnecessary) spot, I am aware that the mirrors seem to be attached to the wall somewhat tenuously. Not a good idea to sneak into a fitness space, heat it to boiling and then kick the mirrors off the walls. I mean, no one's ever specifically told me that, but it seems intuitively obvious that it wouldn't be courteous ;-)

Backbends are...well, quite honestly, they still stink. I'm using blocks and finally have the pelvis tilt working to my advantage, but seriously, I don't think I'll ever get my arms straight. We all chatted about it this morning: Sanskrit Scholar was an aerobics instructor for years, and I was a gym rat. Now we get to reap the disadvantages of years of discipline as we tightened our chest and shoulder muscles with push-ups and weight lifting. Way to go!!

It is fun practicing with the gals. A different kind of feeling. I kind of hate to say it, but I guess it's more "girlie." The conversation is still limited during practice, but afterwards, we tend to talk a bit. I've learned more about them personally in two days than in the previous 7 months.

Volleyball Guy is visiting significant World War II spots, apparently. He is a history buff. And he noted, in this morning's message, that there are 7-Elevens all over the place. He has a 7-Eleven problem that revolves around large doses of Mountain Dew. Soon the 7-Eleven clerks in the Philippines will know him by name, much as the clerks in Scottsdale do.