Astanga

Big excitement today: I dusted and tidied the bookshelves. This was more of a cleaning task than decluttering, but it got me thinking about books, ‘hard copy’ books (as opposed to the 'soft copy' books I now read on my Kindle), and my relationship with them.

I grew up using the library and it wasn’t until I was in university that I started accumulating books.

As a student, I used to love the first day of the semester, the day I walked to the school bookstore and bought my pile of required reading. It didn’t matter to me that most of these books were as dry as the Sahara Desert. I loved them. I clearly remember standing in the line-up, admiring the jewel-green cover of Michael Grant’s ‘History of Rome’. A more boring book has never been written, but the cover was sure pretty.

The books kept accumulating and by the time I was through graduate school, I had a problem. Or rather, 1500 problems. That’s how many books I owned! Moving apartments was a *nightmare*. I started to cull my collection and by the time I left for Ontario, I owned just under 1000 books, packed tightly into boxes and filling most of the UHaul.

It was kind of embarrassing.

I kept culling. I located a scholarly used bookstore and gradually sold most of my academic books. When I left my corporate job, I happily unloaded all the computer books. By the time I moved apartments again, I was down to 600 books. Every year since, I’ve filled a bag with books during my annual ‘book declutter’ (this year, I made $45!).

Currently, I own just over 330 books (300 is supposed to be my limit).

Michelle loves a sneak peek at my bookshelf, so here’s the current Yoga Philosophy and Yoga shelves, all nicely organised and dust-free:



Practice was a little bit stiff this morning due to last night’s hockey game. Full primary with a whole array of backbending preps before Urdhva Dhanurasana. I felt strong today, but my back did not feel flexible. Savasana was the best part.

I love the way this month has pushed me into an easy routine. Getting to the mat isn’t difficult these days. It just unfolds.