Peeled Earth and SKY

Sunday, May 23, 2010

A little Sunday Bukowski Poem



I like it... Bukowski has a knack for making his point in such a way that I have to read it twice.... he always makes me think outside of my yoga bubble. Thanks Charles! Enjoy..

Side of the Sun

the bulls are grand as the side of the sun
and although they kill them for the stale crowds,
it is the bull that burns the fire,
and although there are cowardly men,
generally the bull stands pure
and dies pure
untouched by symbols or cliques or false loves,
and when they drag him out
nothing has died
something has passed
and the eventual stench
is the world.

- Charles Bukowski as written in 'Burning in Water Drowning in Flame'

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Joints-Keeping Them Natural


As an athlete and ex dancer I have asked and continue to ask a lot of my joints. For me it started in the knees in my late teens with knee surgery, followed by some shoulder injuries from hitting the sand bar at low tide on fun playful days of surf. A good friend and student of mine, Ben Rubin, is a top notch othropedic surgeon in Newport Beach. If your knee or shoulder gets blown out, Ben is the man you want to fix it. Each time we get together for yoga I think of how he just came from the operating room, probably installing artificial joints. He once asked me why he sees so many yogis with messed up knees and shoulders. He is one of the most committed students I have, practicing yoga five days a week to create space and mobility in his joints. It may be counter intuitive but Ben does not want you to get a knee or shoulder replacement.

Sadly I have watched a generation of Taliban yogis come forward that are either not interested, are bored by, or just don't know that the practice of yoga is to find balance between strong effort and EASE. A type of personality who seeks the push, the sweat and the workout, smashing their bodies into the deepest poses possible to get a sensation and a pair of Madonna arms. Now I admit, I love a good sweat and really can get into an intense practice, and yes, the result of consistently showing up on your mat can create some pretty beautiful arms... however, can we do this without the striving, without the push?

We all have different personalities and therefore different approaches to our bodies and yoga practices. A more fiery personality might need to approach their practice with a touch more grace and ease, while a more complacent personality will need to approach their practice with more energy and effort. One of the most exciting and encouraging gifts our yoga practice gives us is the ability to heal. We can either step onto our mats with aggression, sensation hunting, or, we can have faith that this ancient practice will simply unfold for us. And yes, you can sweat, you can develop some hot arms, and the best part of all, you can heal. I constantly hear myself asking my students to respect their joints, find ease in this part of their structure and they will keep them natural. Preservation... We only get one set of real ones in this lifetime.