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November 30, 2007
Peaceful Warrior
I watched this film last night, with Nick Nolte as a spiritual guide to a Olympic tri-out gymnast who's motor cycle gets hit by a car that runs a red light. It's full of easy to understand concepts surrounding Mindfulness, though you need to get past the lead role's continual whining. It's fairly decent on the eyes, doesn't over indulge too much and doesn't overly challenge or explain in too much detail. Nick Nolte would make a perfect voice over for a Carlsberg advert for sure, though. Some of the scenes are a bit contrived but I'm told the book on which this film is based is very good. Maybe worth checking out.
It's coming to the end of my week here in America. I've been enjoying the sun that's been cracking the sky most days and it's going to be hard to go back to the gloom of the Big Smoke next week.
Posted by graeme at 4:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2007
Still the same.
The journey's till the same.
When I was younger I had a paper round on a sunday which meant getting up at god-awfully-early-o'clock in the morning to go deliver the weekends largest supply of papers to the local country houses. For a lad of 14/15 these papers weighed the proverbial tonne. And all for the the pricely sum of $3 a week. I remember thinking how lucky I was that it never seemed to rain on a sunday. I'd like to think I was manifesting things even back then! The thing is for $3 I could hardly afford a 45' single for what I was getting paid, but back then that seemed like an awful lot of money.
Then, as time passed and I grew up, the distance my money could go grew too. Now I could afford an album at $20 a pop. And on the other end of the scale, distances grew 'smaller' too. Instead of taking 4 hours to cycle with my friends down to the beach I could jump in the car and be there in half an hour.
Limits expanded too. Instead of holidays down into England I was fortunate my parents could afford to send me on the school trips that came up. Across to Athens in Greece with the Classic's department (yup, I was a swot) and Bergen in Norway with the School Choir.
Then, during University, a degree of expansion of the mind. Ok, I'm first to admit I had a very quiet university life. I still played Rugby which meant coming home quite a lot, and studies were always time consuming. I had to work quite hard in those days just to keep my head above the water most of the time. But it's funny now, when I look back on it all, how I see the things I can do and understand of my life now that I picked up during that time.
After Uni, the boundaries change again. Working in London for the first time, then up in Aberdeen, as unique and molding experiences as I'd ever had before, especially in an emotionally challenging time for me, what I refer to now as my 'wilderness years'.
Then the world's a much smaller place. Technology advances bring everyone closer so I no longer have to queue outside in the rain for the person in front of me to finish on the pay phone so I can call home. Visits to America and Australia that would've taken weeks in the past, and cost thousands, are as easy to do now as holidays to Spain in the last century.
Then there's the journey of the mind. Back to where I start from. Me, myself and I.
In class this morning I felt really stiff and awkward. I could see myself in the mirror again, watching myself and catching glimpses of the person I used to be, there, peering out at me from the glass. It dawned on me that maybe it's just another shift. When the mind re-organises it's frame of reference, adjusts the landscape to see the value of 10 pounds over 1, 100 miles over 10, the depth of stretch of 1 asana over the next. Yet, all the time the change is coming from within. Slowly.
So it's a bigger field again. The puddle's turned into a stream, into a lake, into a river and running out into the ocean.
The journey's till the same.
Posted by graeme at 7:33 PM | Comments (0)
Back to life
Today my host took me along to her gym so I could get some much needed mat time in. My cold is finally over with and I was real glad to get back into the swing of things though I'd forgotten what it's like to do yoga in a gym environment. I hardly broke sweat and the music, was well, kinda there all the time, but other than that it was ok. Nothing really to write home about, though as ever it was interesting to practice in front of a mirror to see how things looked (not so good)!
This evening I got into the festive spirit by helping my host put up and decorate the Xmas trees in their cafe. I have to say it was kinda fun to be helping out and being all Christmassy! Yippee. Finally getting a little bit more excited about it all!!
I'm hoping to get back to blogging a bit more as I've been upgrading my laptop here to OS X Leopard over the last 2 days, making sure I took a full system backup and all that other jazz you need to do for a major O/S update.
Now, though, it's time to stop playing and get some sleep.
Posted by graeme at 5:01 AM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2007
Buzzin
Today I managed to practice a little. My head was still kinda full of the cold but when I got up I felt I had to do something, anything to keep my hamstrings from completely tightening up. But as soon as I dropped my head to the floor on the first sun salute, 2 things happened. The first, rather expectedly was the pounding in my head and the extra pressure of being inverted that a nose full of gunk can give, and secondly and more unexpectedly was a liked ear from one of my hosts puppies! Then the licked nose, the licked cheek and finally a playful head butt of sorts from the biggest puppy, which wasn't really her fault as she just happened to look up after expecting my toes to find my head was just centimeters above her own.
So I managed through to the end of standing, took it all nice and slow, and tried to relax into my hamstrings as much as possible. It was nice to get back into it again but nicer when I eventually stopped as my head was really pounding by the end. Still, as I write this I'm happy to say my cold's finally clearing and I'm hoping to be right as rain tomorrow.
Hopefully I might here how the yoga show back home went on as it'll be backing up tomorrow afternoon. I hope it all went well. I kinda missed not being there.
Posted by graeme at 4:10 AM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2007
Giving thanks for thanksgiving
Geez, that was just fab.
You could've fed a small army with the food the fine friends of my hosts brought along to the thanksgiving dinner I attended here yesterday. The most humungous bowl of turkey I've seen in my entire life. Masses of the stuff, stripped from the bones and ready to munch. Yumm. Two different types of soups, breads, sauces, ham, mac + cheese, and my favourite orange food - pumpkin!. It was funny as the cafe here has small plates so I'd be sitting there with 2 small mountains of food in front of me and then all of a sudden it's be gone.
How's that saying go again - "feed a cold, starve a fever"!!!
And the thing is, as ever with these things I'd imagine, partners have 2 sets of people to visit, with food at either end. One poor couple were on their second of three dinners that day!
In the evening we went over to a friends place. Her and her friends were setting up their pottery and art for the "Black Friday" art sale they've run for the past 8 years. I asked where the name came from and apparently it's the day most of the traders go from being in the red, to being in the black. Shopping malls around here are going to be hectic, but thankfully I'll be out of the way from all of that.
I'm hoping to get back to practice tomorrow, though my cold's not getting any better. A cold snap came through here last night and even with the sun blazing away in a picture clear blue sky it's bitterly cold outside. The drive out into the country showed me some amazing colour in the scenery so I'm hoping to get some shots with the camera when we go back out there this afternoon.
Posted by graeme at 5:45 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2007
Landed
After a 9 hour bumpy flight I finally got in to America. In all the time I've come across the pond I've sweated through customs for 2-3 hours carrying nothing more than a stick of chewing gum. This time, loaded to the hilt with Booze and food for thanksgiving I practically walked straight through the customs check! Hmnn!
I've been here less than 4 hours and I'm so much more relaxed over here than I have been at work for the last 4 months. Well, I guess that's the lack of work for a while. Yippee. And the cold's finally shifting too. Great.
Seeing as how tomorrow's Thanksgiving where all I'll be doing is eating, I think it's going to be friday before I get back to practice. But hey, my best friend's wife knows me so well now that instead of booze, she's got me in cans of coconut water!!! Yippeee!!!
In the meantime. Anyone back home in London going to the Yoga Show go check this site out before you go. The yoga teacher from Glasgow's launching this stuff on Friday. Go see her and the T'ai Chi teacher. They're great!
Posted by graeme at 2:29 AM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2007
Fun packed days
Jeez, what a couple of days it's been.
For a start the washing machine's packed in, which is never a good thing, but when I'm washing yoga stuff every day, mat and covers every other day, the flatmate's washing her dog's stuff every third day, then there's all the normal day-to-day stuff that needs washing. And it's not as if you can dry the stuff outside just now it's so cold.
Then the heating engineer's couldn't flush the block in the radiator in my room. It's as cold as being back home in Scotland up there.
And to top it all I've caught the cold. Yuck. Yesterday I thought I'd swallowed a razor blade, every time I gulped it was real painful. I dunno if today's better what with the tap of a nose I've now got running. I'm fast becoming a very festive rudolph styled red nose wearer. No class for me last few days. I just think the last thing I'd want is someone sniffingly away next to me on the mat, so I stayed curled up in bed, sniffingly away there instead.
To top it all off I finally found out how much my company values me. So if anyone wants a C++ developer at the cut-down rate of £2 an hour, just drop me a line.
But the upside of that is that my trip to America for thanksgiving's back on. Yippeee. I'm on holiday!!!
Posted by graeme at 5:28 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2007
Citta Vritta
Up until now I've been pretty lucky in practice with the old 'fluctuations of the mind' in the sense that I don't have a particularly active mind during practice. For sure there are thoughts floating around but today I was inundated with rambling thoughts about the conflict at work. The should I, shouldn't I deliver the software conflict rattling about inside my head so much so that I could feel anger and resentment coming up inside me. It was fairly hacking me off right up to the point where I finished bhujapidasana and realised I'd just finished my first ever complete bhujapidasana! I was so shocked that I'd managed to complete it I did it another 2 times just to prove to myself that it had indeed been a fluke - it was, I fell out coming out into titthibhasana both times. Ha. Still, it was nice to get the first one under my belt.
So at work, push came to shove and I followed what everyone did. "I'm just doing what I'm told" seemed to be the order of the day. Looks like the trip to America for Thanksgiving might be under threat as well too as after a late evening review of the test results there's still masses to do and no real time left to do it. Darn. Another holiday scuppered.
Tomorrow's an important day. Scotland play Italy at football and need to win to guarantee a place at next year's European Championships. Comeonraaaladds!!!
Posted by graeme at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2007
Here starteth the bun fight
Work's getting a bit rediculous these days. Tomorrow the bun fight starts with the two parts working it out (hopefully amicably) whether the software goes to the customer or not. And guess who's smack bang in the middle? Yup, me. Oh well. Atleast come the weekend it'll be all over. Well, there'll be nothing left for me to do.
At practice this morning I had a great wee time. Getting in just 5 minutes later seems to be agreeing with me for some reason, maybe it's doing Sun A+B in the practice room, though it gets pretty busy in their real quick. Having less to eat earlier in the week's helped out with Mari D too. Well, it felt better. I'd read a bit in Gregor Meihl's book about Bhujapidasana so was keen to try it out. Rather than planting my hands way back behind my ankles then sitting into them it suggested keeping your hands as close to the ankles and bending the elbows to drop down. Huh. It seemed to help as I managed to keep my crossed feet further off the ground. All in a fun practice.
Funnily enough most of the day I spent thinking today was Wednesday and I'd have 2 more days practice at Bhujapidasana. Bit disappointed to find out today was Thursday. Bummer.
Posted by graeme at 7:35 PM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2007
Hooked
I seem to be getting hooked. Err, that can't be good, knowing as I do that detachments the way to go. Thing is I get into the house and I can't stop myself. It's so easy to lapse into it and just say, och, a little bit won't hurt too much, and then next thing I know hours have gone by. Eaaaaaak. Then there's that little machine with the green light that doesn't help when it goes red and I know there's more to follow. Gads. And even worse there's loads to choose from.
What am I talking about?
America's next top model.
Sad, huh?
Posted by graeme at 7:44 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2007
Not every day
.. that your name appears on a published book!!!
Ha ha, the yoga teacher thanked me in the inside of her new book and now I'm feeling decidedly smug about myself. Well, it's not like that happens every day, and in any case it was a pleasure to help her out. Never, ever write a book, it's put my friend through the absolute ringer!!
Practice this morning was quiet for me, not much to write home about. Still, it was a nice lazy sort of affair and just what I needed to start the day.
Hmnnn, just had a thought. This time next week I'll be on holiday!!! Yippeeee!
Posted by graeme at 7:51 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2007
The things people say when they're drunk
I missed class this morning. I was up till the wee small hours this morning helping the yoga teacher sort out the layout for her new book she's launching at the Yoga Show. It was all going to plan other than the fact that it was 1am in the morning and I'm normally in the land of nod by 10.30pm latest.
Then the flatmate came home
Thinking that she'd be concerned that my lights were still on I went down to tell her I was still awake and to say hello.
"I'm helping my yoga teacher out" I said.
"Your yoga teacher ?",
"Yeah, up the stairs on the computer".
"Your yoga teacher's up the stairs, in your room?"
"No, no. I'm up the stairs".
"With your teacher?".
"I'm helping her finishing her book!".
"What??? Your up the stairs with your yoga teacher and she's finishing her book."
"No, no she's in Glasgow. On the computer."
Doh.
Needless to say I'm trying to get an early night tonight.
Posted by graeme at 8:51 PM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2007
Teacher training
I've been away helping on another teacher training weekend with the School's students. They were finding out about the yoga Sutras from one of the teachers who was on the same course as me up in Scotland, and also about themselves from their birthcharts, one of my own favourite parts of the training in this course. It's amazing to see a room full of people with big open eyes stay so enthralled when they come across something new you might not directly associate with Yoga. I know I didn't. Anyways, there's always an awful lot of information in these workshops so I feel real lucky to get to sit in on them more than once.
So apparently my mars in libra makes me a red hot lover - ha ha !!!
Posted by graeme at 6:49 PM | Comments (0)
November 9, 2007
End of the week, eventually
It's kinda been like 2 weeks worth in one this week, and I'm real glad it's finally come to an end. It got so bad to dat that at 4pm when I'd normally leave the office it felt as if I'd only been there a couple of hours and I actually felt a tad guilty leaving so early than working on, not that I really had to. Worse thing, though, the last thing I did before I left was to run the application I'm building on the hardware and lo and behold I found a new problem on the very first try, even after a week of testing and bug fixing. Oh, bugger, it can wait till monday.
It was also real nice to have a long lie in with there being no class this morning. There's teacher training again this weekend so having the day off today has put me in the mood for helping out with the students again, especially as I missed this with being up in Glasgow the last time the teacher training was on. It's a good workshop this weekend too, when the students get their birth charts read for them. I had mine done over 2 years ago now and it's real interesting to see how the astrologist can read so much about you just from the position of the stars at the time of your birth. Their in for a great weekend.
Mind you, I've a real sense of this time now being the calm before the storm, for some strange reason, mad though it has been. I know there's a change coming a foot in the New Year, a change of gear, so to speak. Will just have to see how far it goes.
Posted by graeme at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)
November 8, 2007
All hard work and play
For the last 3 days I've been working 14 hour days on top of my morning practice. I'm about all done in for sure. It got to the point when I was on the train and my eyes were watering, I just couldn't see straight anymore. Thankfully, though, I've broken the back of my problems with work, so much so that tomorrow I actually don't have anything to do. Yippee!! Couple that with the fact that no-one's going to be in the office other than me, and it's a moon day, I think I'm going to have a nice, easy time of it.
And right in the middle of it all I had a really good practice. When I got into Prasaritta B I kept thinking about straightening out to give myself some room, then, hey, isn't that the floor ??? Then in Ardha baddha I got my foot higher up than I've ever done, then a really good bind in Mari c, and what do y'know, straighter than normal arms in backbends. Hmnn. Days like that are few and far between. Happy bunny all round.
Right, I'm off to bed before I start hallucinating.
Posted by graeme at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)
November 6, 2007
ET
Today I did that ET thing and phoned home. It's been a while since I spoke to my parents and I was sitting there thinking about it when it dawned on me, "just pick up the phone and call them". So I did. It's good to here their familiar voices, and to know that I can talk a full pelt without them losing anything I'm saying. Things back home are good. It makes me feel so fortunate that I've got both my parents in my life, together and happily married after some 44+ years, though I'm sure my Dad would differ!
I'm looking forward to going home for Xmas. Once this nightmare of a fortnight is over with I might actually be able to relax and unwind a bit for the festivities. Today I've managed to amass a whole 72 minutes to myself. Eaak. No wonder my bed is my favourite place at the moment. Nice to be able to just spread out and zonk out without worrying about someone else.
Still, I mustn't grumble. I know there are people far worse off than me with real problems to worry about.
Posted by graeme at 9:44 PM | Comments (0)
November 5, 2007
Back to the coal face
Seems like there's a heavy spate of late evening working ahead for me. Damn. Oh well, the money it will bring I can no doubt put to good use. Still, I'm getting drawn back into the Sleep, Work, Eat Sleep cycle that used to totally drain me before. Thank god for a yoga practice as it's really keeping me on an even keel. I just turn up, breath all the way practice and be thankful that the entire time I'm not sitting in front of a VDU screen getting blasted with gamma-rays (or whatever comes off these things), and my mind's not filled with programming logic or problem solving. It's total bliss.
But now I'm back from the office, breakfast, lunch and evening meal all ate at the desk waiting for the application to compile I'm a but knackered. Roll on the thanksgiving trip back to America. If work ask me to stay on I think I'll politely ask them to go screw themselves.
Oh, that wasn't very yogic.
Too bad.
Posted by graeme at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)
November 4, 2007
Broken
No, not me, the serial device crucial to the development I'm doing a the J.O.B. I dropped it on the floor when I was attaching it to the machine I needed to run some tests on, and when the self power test failed I knew I was in trouble. It's bad enough coming all the way across town on a Sunday to do some work, but then to spend only 30 minutes being productive is kinda a waste of an otherwise good day. Oh well. Lesson on detachment here for me for sure. Thing is, the devices are out of production and there's a current shortage. I can't really work without it, the program I'm running kinda revolves round the device after all, so it could turn out to be a real quiet day for me tomorrow if I can't get a replacement. Not such a bad thing other than the looming deadline fast coming over the horizon. OOps.
Posted by graeme at 1:38 PM | Comments (0)
November 2, 2007
Xmas, already?
I can't believe it's almost here. It was bad enough seeing the signs to "book your Xmas party here" earlier on in the year but now they have the Xmas lights up already in Oxford Street. Ok, so they're not on yet but they are there.
I think I've ripped a bit of my hamstring on my right side. In Paschimottanasana C I pushed a bit far trying to get my legs straight and ouch, I had this small but intense strain come through my leg. It's not bad, as I have to wiggle my leg around in all sorts of angles to try and find the bit that causes it to twinge.
Ba humbug!
Posted by graeme at 9:36 PM | Comments (0)
November 1, 2007
Tired
Practice this morning found me tired like crazy so it was all I could do just to keep things moving forward.
However, the DVD I'd ordered from Amazon turned up. Restless Natives - ya beauty!
Posted by graeme at 9:19 PM | Comments (0)