the grass is always greener

Walking home from work on Monday, the light was so beautiful. Even the grass in the apt complex that allows dogs -- grass that is surely loaded with canine caca -- looked so perfect.

I had a sweet yoga class tonight. It was just me. The class itself doesn't exist anymore (the weds class I go to, not the tues class I teach). But the owner of the studio said I could still come and practice, if nobody is using the space for some other purpose. So I had the space to myself tonight, and I did full ashtanga primary series minus Marichi Asana D. I skipped that pose. I have an excuse, but really I just skipped the pose. Which I'm totally okay with. I had a great practice. I interfaced with the breath in a subltly new way. I really tried to follow the breath, and at times I did. The breath became the metronome. The pulse. And the poses were just there to fill the space. It's actually really hard not to focus on the poses. To just do them and breathe, but have the focus be on the breath. Anyway, writing about yoga is kind of like writing about dance...the words don't do it justice. As the ashtanga guru says, "practice and all is coming." although I do have a slight modification to that statement: don't practice so much that you give yourself repetitive strain injuries. As the beer commercial says, "know when to say when."

and just like with drinking, it's really hard to know when you're at "when" with yoga asana. as an indy rocker (whose name i now forget) says "I think i've had enough to know when I have had enough, I think I know enough to know." that's some pretty sure-of-yourself talk right there good buddy. If only we all could be so sure that we know enough to know. I don't. Which is why it's hard to know how much of yoga, or anything else in life for that matter, is really too much. sometimes I think it's too much. but what what part of me is saying it's too much? Is it the part that really knows? Or just the part that thinks it knows, but really has an ulterior motive for telling me I've had enough.

and the green grass grows all around and around and the green grass grows all around

but the whole "knowing when to say when" to yoga itself is kind of silly, because you can always just stay with your breath and be mindful. you can be walking down the street, or having dinner with your lover, or cutting your finger nails or sending emails at work. you don't have to be wearing those cute yoga shorts that give your junk just the right bulge, and the tee shirt that is tight enough but not too tight.