It's just another day

Home practice. And a very sweet one. Traveling really does stress me, and the exciting class has me all revved up--so much so that I couldn't sleep last night. I'm just kind over over-adrenalized in general. I was so psyched about the class that my boss asked for a presentation about it. Scheduled for noon today. LOL! That's what I get for sharing. The presentation request gives me an opportunity to review my notes, though, and gather my thoughts. Usually upon return from conferences or classes, I get swamped with the backlog of emails and phone messages and eventually the glow wears off, and somewhere down the line I write up a trip report and am sorry I didn't get to it when the memories were still fresh.

Anyhow, practice this morning felt nice and grounded. I took away some poses. I haven't done that for a while. Volleyball Guy is a laidback, surfer dude kind of teacher. I can muddle through, so he lets me. Always has. I have to take poses away from myself. What I'm noticing, now that I can make my way with equanimity through the Marichy D - Supta Kurmasana sequence that used to get my breath and focus kind of discombobulated, is that I start stressing around baddha konasana. So I'll stop there for a while. That way, I can get some energy focused around the pose, without having to worry about conserving energy for the last few poses.

The Cop just called. I always know something is up when he calls at the end of the shift: it means he wants to tell me something before I see it on the news. He and one of the other cops had a big drug bust, so he's running late. The funny thing was that when he called he said, "What are you doing?" "Practicing," I replied. "Oh, sorry to bother you." I think it is lovely that he's in the midst of a drug bust and yet is concerned about disturbing yoga practice.

I've come to the end of "The Zen Teaching of Huang Po." Throughout the whole book, I've wondered to myself, "How can I apply this to 'real life'? How can these things work at my job? How can I give up discursive thinking and judgement in a corporate environment?" Among the last few entries:

Realize that, though you eat the whole day through, no single grain has passed your lips; and that a day's journey has not taken you a single step forward--also abstain from such notions as 'self' and 'other.' DO NOT PERMIT THE EVENTS OF YOUR DAILY LIVES TO BIND YOU, BUT NEVER WITHDRAW YOURSELVES FROM THEM.

The last entry is:

The Master passed away on this mountain during the T'ai Chung Reign (A.D. 847-859) of the T'ang Dynasty. The Emperor Hsuan Tsung bestowed upon him the posthumous title of "The Zen Master Who Destroys All Limitations." The memorial pagoda is known as "The Tower of Spacious Karma."

Thanks, Huang Po. Nice work.