Yoga Boot Camp: Level Two

(this keyboard has shifty shift keys, so i am going to resign from capitalizing where i aught to. hope y'all don't mind.)

I have begun the second month with my Guru, and have started the learning the intermediate ashtanga series. the challenge level has definitely been risen, as has the impact of the yoga on the many layers of my being. everyday i enjoy my practice a little more and look forward to the following one a little more as well. every day i feel a little happier, stronger, and lighter in my body and mind. i have also started taking a mudra class with the guruji, which is indeed very interesting and unlike anything you might commonly find in the west. yesterday was my first day of this class, and i learned how to massage the roof of my mouth with my tongue in order to allow the "moon juice" to flow from my brain into my mouth. this will give my body diamond strength and help me to evade all disease and prolong my life. all i could do was sit and grin goofily at him as he explained this to me and told me to be happy for all of yoga's many miracles. evade all diseases and maybe death? diamond strength? sure! i'll give it a shot! today i learned a mudra to encourage my spleen to function properly and cure a nervous stomach ache. (...if anyone is interested, when i get back home i will be more than happy to teach this one! the diamond strength one i will be reserving for a worthy few...)

my hips have been aching since i started practicing here. i have gathered through hear-say and through the guruji that the hips store emotional energy that has not been released, or sins one has committed. i am going to interpret this as things i haven't yet forgiven myself for, and have been exploring that idea a bit. guilt leaves a lot of residue in the mind, so it makes a lot of sense that it would gather in my bodily tissues as well.

Saw the movie 2012 in the theatre the other day with a couple guys (and a thousand indian dudes). I thought it would be a fun way to get a little holywood in, but regretted it about a half hour in to the movie. we were stuck way in the back of the theatre where the fans barely work and the speakers are right next to your head. And that movie is terrible! i don't reccommend. if you are going to make a three hour movie (at least that is how long it felt) at least fill it with songs and dancing like the indians do! I did think of Jordan a lot, however, who originally informed me of the Mayan prophesies of the 2012 apocalypse a few years back.

on a similar note, i was overly excited to find a people* magazine in a shala nearby where i was having breakfast one morning. I gasped and shuffled excitedly through the pages...only to find that my interest in celebrity gossip has diminished to almost nil, and i abandoned it after thirty seconds of flipping. i had been complaining just that morning that i missed my us weekly's and ok! mags...I guess not!


*In my opinion, however, people mag doesn't thrill the way us weekly does.