Some Random Notes from Yoga Training

Today's our day off, mid-training. Slept in. Went down to breakfast in PJ's (very modest, I assure you.) Ate my way around the breakfast buffet. First, bagel and cream cheese with jam. Then, a bit of scrambled eggs and three slices of cantaloupe. Then, a spoonful of grits. (They so know how to cook grits and oatmeal at this place. Maybe cooking grits for forty people at a time is easier than cooking grits for one?) And amazing, strong, rich coffee.

After lunch, I went up to my room and organized my presentation of my third and probably last case study of the module, which is first thing Tuesday morning. Then I cleaned out my book bag, organized my pile of papers, and took a shower. Walked over to the yoga studio and did my practice. Then, lunch of vegetable soup and off to Walmart's for a re-supply of Hershey's miniatures, some Tootsie Roll pops, Triscuits (last eaten when I was in high school and still as salty and crunchy and buttery as I recall), some hair stuff and a lipstick, and a copy of the second book in Charlene Harris' vampire series. Not necessarily what I was looking for (though I did read the first book and liked it, but tried another from later in the series and not so much).

But it was slim pickins at Walmart: a whole wall of the Twilight series (I have nothing against young adult books but this one made me feel Very Old), lots of Jodi Picoult titles, bestsellers all in the Woman Wronged or Woman Has Very Bad Thing Happen to Her categories, or plenty o' romance novels). And orange juice! And fresh strawberries! And a few oranges to put aside for another day. (Not sure why I was on an orange binge, but we don't get much juice here and the fruit has been apples or bananas.)

Came back. Doled out a box of strawberries to a colleague, served up some juice, and now I've been lying on my bed reading Laurie R. King's A Monstrous Regiment of Women while the sun moves across the quilt. And I ate three strawberries, two Triscuits, a Tootside Roll pop, and two glasses of OJ. Here are some random, non-food thoughts, if you've stuck with the post this long. These range from random to serious, with no priority to the order:

• garter stitch is exactly the right knitting to work on when you are stopping and starting five or six times a day. Though also somewhat boring and taking a long long time to look like anything, since I'm working on a garter stitch shawl with ruffle (the adaptation of the Peddler's Shawl that's been done in Rowan Felted Tweed) in Silky Wool.
• I wish that I had a set of interchangeable needles. I have Malabrigo along but brought the wrong size needle, and Walmart had naught but two sizes of crochet needles.
• I am learning a lot. But the theme, experienced in India, of thinking that you get it, only to have the whole process turned upside down, continues. The senior teacher kept telling us that we are giving too much physical yoga and not enough breathing, that we are not considering the ages of our students when designing a practice, more relaxation and less concern with strength. Until we started asking the presenter, during the Q and A, if she had considered giving more of a practice for relaxation instead of strength, or if the student is not too old to be given such a demanding physical practice. Then he greeted the next presentation with praise for the physical poses given to the student.
• we laugh a lot. And talk a lot. The personal transformations of this group are incredible. This yoga thing really works. People with no self-confidence now are confident. People who were overly serious are now smiling and acting silly. People who were shy are now sociable. People who were smug are now humble. Not all the time, and not completely. But it's as if each of us had the edges sanded off, and what is left is a lot more enjoyable and interesting to be around.
• I'll try to do more of a thoughtful yoga post in the next day or so. Right now, going to keep reading my mystery, eat some dinner, and maybe go to sleep about 8 o'clock.