Road To Mysore

As I expected my second week of work would be much better. I totally cut off my coffee because it was screwing up my sleep. I love the taste of coffee but it messes up my system. I still get tired in the middle of the day so I opted to take a 30 minute nap in my car during lunch breaks. It has helped me get through the day. Hopefully this week I won't need those naps. I think I found my rhythm back. An 8 hour work day doesn't seem that daunting anymore. I'm already considering on doing a 45 hour week in the next couple of weeks to make the extra money. I'll see how I feel in the coming weeks.

I don't know what I've been doing differently this week but I had a get practice week. It was a 6 day practice week and as far as I remember, all my practices were great. I felt so calm and relaxed...it was like I was floating through practice...effortlessly. I think part of it has to do with a quote I recently read from Lao Tzu

"When man is born, he is tender and weak; at death, he is hard and stiff. When things and plants are alive, they are soft and supple; when they are dead, they are brittle and dry. Therefore hardness and stiffness are the companions of death, and softness and gentleness are the companions of life."

"Therefore when an army is headstrong, it will lose the battle. When a tree is hard , it will be cut down. The big and strong belong underneath. the gentle and weak belong to the top."

There is more to this quote. Osho elaborates on this concept in his book. Anyway, before I started every practice this week, I visualize being soft and weak. I try to make my practice as mentally effortless as possibly. The results have been off the charts. I feel like my body has opened up more and there is no muscling into the posture.

This week alone I have had two major breakthroughs. The first one was last Wednesday when Noah came over to help me in Mari C. As I was twisting on my right side I literally touched both fingers. Normally, without help my fingers are about a foot apart so making them touch is major. I have been gifted with a linebacker's body but a yogi's heart so nothing comes easy. Every little thing for most people is a big thing for me. I told Noah after, that I told Sharath that I'll bind Mari C when I get back to Mysore in October. Noah said it will happen much sooner. I think so too...

The second breakthrough happen this morning. I was working on Mari B while waiting for Noah to come over to help me bind. I kept waiting and waiting like I always do. I finally decided to find out how far my hand are apart without any help. I figured it would be a good thing to do while waiting. As I reached over to bind, I felt my other finger touch. I relaxed a little bit and the next thing I knew I was binding on my own. I wanted to jump with joy but decided to pretend it was not a big thing...ha ha ha, who am I trying to fool...it was a big thing. I was excited to bind the other side on my own but Karrie came over before I could try and helped me out. My other side is the easier side so I know I can bind on my own this side. I can't wait for tomorrow.

I finally got my laptop last Tuesday. I was expecting it to arrive the week before but it really didn't matter. I didn't turn the computer on until yesterday. I normally don't get home until 9PM and by then, I'm so tired. I figured, if I turned it on and played around with it, I'll end up sleeping late and miss practice so I waited till this weekend to play with it.

I have been deciding the past few months on whether to get a PC or a Mac. I was going back and forth for a while. I have never used a Mac before but the Mac users were telling that they've used both and the Mac was a gazellion times better. Do I really want to learn how to use a Mac when I already know how to use a PC? After all that going back and forth, I got a 12" IBook G4. I can't say I love it right now. I still have to figure out how to use this damn thing.

Yesterday, the cable guy came to install my internet cable line. He connected the modem to the computer for me but didn't help me install the disk. I had to leave right after the line was in so I figured I'll do it when I get home later that night.

Later that night I got home and tired to see if I could get in the internet. I fired up my computer and tried to install the disk which was provided. It didn't work. I came across a note in the instructions saying, "This Installation Kit does NOT support automatic Macintosh installation at this time." Well welcome to the Mac World. This was exactly what I wasn't hoping for. I decided to call the cable company for some technical support. I think I got somebody from a South American country because he did not sound like an American. One of those exported jobs. Anyway he was a very nice man and he asked me question and told me to do this and that and then asked me more questions. I don't think they serve very many Mac users because he was just as clueless as I was. He would put me on hold and then get back to me. This went on for 45 minutes and I could feel that this was not going to be resolved tonight. Eventually, the phone connection got cut while I was on hold. He probably just disconnected me because he didn't know. I was too tired to care so I shut down my computer and went to bed.

This morning I decided to call Apple instead. I paid an extra $300 to be in the AppleCare Protection Plan and paid another $70 for .mac. Lets see what Apple can do for me. I got somebody on the line and she walked me through effortlessly. It as simple as changing the settings on the computer. I didn't even need to install the disk. In less than 20 minutes, I was up and running. I've been so internet deprived the past two weeks, I've been online all afternoon. It really feels good to be back on line. It's already 8PM...I need to go to bed.