So San Francisco
Best Place on Earth
This is what I would call “Best place on Earth”. This is the Vancouver Public Library. What an amazing design! It looks quite new, but I read on wikipedia that it was built in 1995.
Just like a lot of buildings in Vancouver, it uses a lot of glass. I guess it is because of the constant grayness of the winter. It has six levels filled with tons of books. It is so spacious and designed so well. Even if someone is one the phone, it does not feel very loud.
Just like any other library in the west, it is home to homeless people, the unemployed, the old, students, immigrants and the book worms.
It’s Official
I taught my first class today. To one student. And, even that one student was not guaranteed. The studio that I am teaching at is sort of a high end yoga studio, the class size is very small. Anyway, I have a long way to go before students seek me out for a class. I guess that would be the mark that someone has made it in this field. I was patiently waiting all this while for my knee to heal. I guess it has healed quite a bit that I can attempt to teach and demonstrate.
It went quite well. I was so sure I was going to mix up the left, the right or simply forget things to say or do. I did not goof up and I remembered one of my teachers telling me that teaching yoga is the same as doing yoga. You must be in the present, be with the students and do not let them be hanging with one leg in the air. I am sure I have lots to improve, but this is a good start.
United States of Fat
True story. I was at the Mail boxes etc, a few days back faxing my yoga certificates to apply for insurance to teach. There were two men at the shop, both of them worked for the shop. One of the men was saying that he just got back from south, meaning the US. He said that he could not believe how fat people were at the airport in the US. He said, “You must have seen them. So fat, all of them, the entire family. And, not just that family, almost the entire airport. Yikes.”.
How to cook your life
I remember seeing the trailer of this film in San Francisco. I missed the screening of this film and it was not available on dvd then. I happened to pick it up from my library.
It is a cooking class with Zen priest and chef. This is a film about Zen chef Edward Espe Brown who has penned many Tassajara cookbooks. It is quite a fun film that talks about food as a way of life. There is a bit of zen advice too. He talks about how long it took him to finally understand the Buddhist ritual of offering food to Buddha, when you know for sure it is not going to be consumed. You make your effort and then you offer it. You say this is my offering and then you leave.
Why Yoga?
This is the best reason I have ever heard as to why one needs to practice yoga. Move over, the quest for the perfect butt, midlife crisis or whatever. You can actually cut your prison time. Or become an instructor to promote yoga so others can cut their prison time. To be free and liberated feels great. I think this is brilliant, Om to that.
This is the best reason I have ever heard as to why one needs to practice yoga. You can cut
your prison time. Or become an instructor to promote yoga so others can cut their prison time.
To be free and liberated feels great. I think this is brilliant, Om to that.
The Zen Knife
Cooking with a good knife is an act of yoga. Be here and now. If not, just make do with a lot less digits. I have a wusthof knife. It makes cutting and cooking so much more fun. It is also extremely dangerous. A minor distraction can turn disastrous on the cutting board. I must gather all my thoughts and energies to cut or chop the vegetables. Multitasking is best left to the processors and machines. Humans are not very good at this. The new knife has inspired me to pick up a cookbook by Mark Bittman from my library. How to cook everything Vegetarian. The book includes a lot of advice to care for the knife and other utensils.
Pillow talk
Ever since I moved to Vancouver, I had not owned pillows until recently. I was meaning to get a few things for the house, but I simply neglected the pillows. In my minimalist lifestyle approach, I used to fold a thin cotton towel and used it as a pillow initially. It worked fine for me. And then I bought a couple of pillows as I had guests over the holidays and had to act civilized.
Now that I am an owner of two pillows, I decided to use them. Sadly, I do not like to use pillows anymore. I can sleep perfectly without them. I suspect it is my yoga practice which is causing this. I think there is some change in my spine structure. I am not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing. I looked up online but I did not get any useful information. If any of you know if sleeping without a pillow can affect the spine, brain or whatever, leave me a note. If it is really a bad thing, I will have to figure out a way to like the pillows again.
NYTimes on Mysore
You’ve completed 200 hours of teacher training, mastered flying crow pose and even spent a week at yoga surf camp. What’s next? Yogis seeking transcontinental bliss head these days to Mysore, the City of Palaces.
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