Wednesday, December 29, 2010

What I did on my Winter Vacation

Tap, tap. Is this thing on?!

Hi everybody! *waves* It's been awhile, hasn't it? Two weeks seems like a long stretch here in Blogland. I'm feeling a bit rusty, to be honest.

I'm really happy that I took the two weeks off. If for no other reason, I was able to avoid writing those inevitable, semi-obligatory 'Happy-Whatever-You-Celebrate' posts (Happy Kwanza!).

Also, my practice kinda sucked. Just knowing that I could be as miserable as I wanted to and not have to write about it cheered me enormously. One day, I wept through an entire Primary Series practice. As I took rest, a rebellious thought percolated: "I just had an absolutely miserable practice and NO ONE HAS TO KNOW ABOUT IT!"

It was kind of awesome! :-D

I truly savoured the downtime. I was only teaching 5 classes a week for the duration of my break. And what did I accomplish in this abundant spare time? Well, there was sloth, LOTS of sloth! Probably more sloth than was really warranted, but I loved it.

I baked vegan cookies and went for long walks with Princess Fur. I meditated every day, sometimes twice a day. I took epic afternoon naps that stretched into the evening. I watched the lunar eclipse (Happy Solstice!). I watched my entire collection of Jane-Austen-Books-Turned-Into-Movies on DVD (and started thinking in 19th Century Gentry Speak). I spent way too much time messing around on the Internet and not enough time reading. If I were to change just one thing, that would probably be it.

I spent the 25th in the best possible way: I hung out with other, non-holiday-celebrating friends, watching a good movie ('Almost Famous' - I can't believe I had never seen it!) and eating yummy Chinese carry-out (Happy J-mas!).

I did make some small progress on my big decluttering project. Digging deep into storage, I immersed myself in the history and genealogy of my family, scanning the old documents and photographs for my digital archives. I rediscovered my grandfather's draft certificate from the 1940s. I learned that my grandmother was meant to be named 'Patricia' until her romance-novel-reading older sisters judged the name too plain and chose a more froofy, flowery moniker (which she disliked until the day she died). I found an announcement from my mother's high school graduation and my great-great-great-grandfather's birth certificate.

During my break, I heard from a few of you. You wished me a Happy Whatever-I-Celebrate (Thank you! Happy Yule!) But mostly, you wanted to implore me not to Change the Blog. Apparently, polished, professional content is vastly overrated for most of you (or perhaps there's too much of it on the Internet already?).

I thought my daily blatherings might be getting a bit old, but one of you went as far as to threaten to 'unfollow' me if I even *considered* writing a series of those '10-things-blah-blah-blah-yoga-blah-blah-bulleted-list' posts.

10 Ways to Piss Off Your Blog Readership. Okay, I get the message.

I never wanted to be an important 'A List' blogger anyway. Rest assured, my inane practice reports and daily brain-dumps will continue, complete with grammatical errors and entertaining typos. You've been warned! If it isn't your cup of tea, well, the Internet is a BIG place. I'm sure there's more polished content out there, I just won't be writing it.

I've continued my daily yoga practice during the break, with a bit of whinging and heel-dragging here and there. One week was thoroughly awful, then I finally learned the knack of super-heating my apartment (Humidity!). But then my Gimpy Shoulder, which is now officially a 'thing' (read: 'rotator cuff injury'), started to give me huge problems. I couldn't do Downward Dog. Or wipe the kitchen counter. Or open a door. The frustration began to weigh on me, and I started to brainstorm alternatives.

I had a lot of time on my hands. My imagination ran wild.

And this, Dear Readers, is what happens when I don't have a community backing me up for a stretch: I get all creative! Leave me alone for two weeks and before you know it, I've quit Astanga and picked up Bikram's.

You all think I'm joking, don't you? (I'm not!)

I'd write more, but I need to get some sleep. The hot room awaits...

More tomorrow.


(The very fact that I stayed awake late enough to see this eclipse probably qualifies as a miracle! Happy Festivus!)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

11 comments:

Maria @dailydownwarddog said...

Welcome Back! Glad to hear you had such a nice break and I am extremely jealous of all that slothing and napping!
Almost Famous is an awesome flick! I think I may need to pick it up again for a second watch.

Love the eclipse pic - you are lucky you got to see it. It was cloudy here, but I woke up to a beautiful pink sky!

エスタ said...

Bikram, how come? Love to hear about this... : ) Don't know what the big deal with the well polished blog thing is either, recently if i see 10 things you didn't know...blah blah, i click off straight away. Keep your orginality....that's what it's all about isn't it.

daydreamingmel said...

Hurrah hurrah!! DOn't change a thing, we love you just as you are!! (yep, this is a bit after the event as you've already decided not to, but I just wanted to join the merry throng in saying it). And welcome back! x

susananda said...

YAY! You're back!
I'm so glad to read this. I didn't even read the comments to your last post (might go do that now), but I'm glad that others agree with me! I think there are more than enough bloggers out there already trying to instruct / edify / educate via Internet... ughh. I just want to hear how you cope with the ups and downs. Personal records like this are *so much* more interesting.... and they help us along with our own practice in a different sense, much deeper than bullet point lists ever could. That's how I feel anyway. :-)

Claudia said...

Yeahh! you are back!, so good to read from you. I was taken by all that you found, your grandmother's name story, that is priceless!, how lovely to get in touch with your roots like that, sweet... great idea too to scan things, you must have piles of scanning "to dos"

That is funny that someone threatened to un-follow if you did not keep to your style, made me laugh, sweet, and I can see why, we like your blog :-) and if any consolation my practice also was not so good lately, guess the winter is not helping...

Christine said...

Yay!! Great to see you're back and that you aren't going to go all "polished" on us! :)
We love you just the way you are!

Cabbage said...

Glad you're back! But omg, did the other commenters (most) miss that essential sentence, that you're quitting Ashtanga?!

It's only been a few days of Bikram! This is a pretty dramatic decision -- I'm so surprised, as you were the most devoted and enthusiastic Ashangi I have ever met!! I just can't believe it.

This seems a true losing-my-religion moment. I don't know if you'll go into details here, but I am very curious to hear what happened?! I mean, I know your shoulder is injured, but you could just take a break from Ashtanga, non?

Kaivalya said...

@Cabbage
No, no, I havent quit Astanga forever and ever, just for a month or so until my shoulder heals. :-) but I'm not ruling out a more varied yoga practice either.

fivefootwo said...

Whew! Good to read you again. That rotator cuff thing sounds like a big deal. Please sooth and pamper till better.

Y is for Yogini said...

It's your blog and I think you should do as you like. I enjoy numbered lists — unless, of course, they are boring, preachy, or recapitulations of info I've already read. That list of how to piss off your readers caught my attention. Perhaps that will be your first foray into Top 10's...?

Arturo said...

phew! that was two weeks? it felt longer. hey, no problem on styles of writing. lists, no lists, - all good.
hugs
Arturo