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The Joys of Yoga
I started doing yoga on a twice a week basis a few months ago. I loved it. Two years ago I could never have internally settled down enough to do yoga. Sitting still sent my inner self running away. When my clinical depression was untreated, I would find myself mentally drifting away. By this I mean, my mind would not focus and my body would feel paralyzed. But with my depression treated I can stay in control. Instead of internally disconnecting I can embrace my inner self. Last week I went up to Kearney to try a different Yoga instructor. My yoga class in town treated it as a “field trip.”
This yoga instructor’s style was more fluid. We did a few minutes of transitioning from downard dog to lifting ourselves down onto her stomachs. We would then raise our chests for a few minutes before returning to downward dog again. I found this very energizing. What I love the most about yoga is how much it forces you to focus on your body’s movements. Most people envision yoga as a potentially hazardous event, involving contortions and unnatural pretzel bending. But, in my experience, it’s a profoundly intimate experience. There is me and the pose. Me and my breathe. Me and the internal rhythm of heartbeats.
Thoughts on 2011 Christmas
I love the holidays. I love the lights, the music, giving the gifts. This year has been one of joy and happiness for me. A lot of us spend so much time thinking of what we see as a crummy world. We think about what we don’t have, what we want, how this or that could be better. How about stopping and thinking about what you have?
My First Deer
The wind howled across the praries. It’s voice swirling, cyclone like in the bare trees. I crouched in the tree line next to my fiance. He stood with his bow, scanning the empty cornfield. The weather had begun to turn, fall turning into winter. The usual wind and cold was also well on its way.
I hadn’t grown up a hunting family. The world of hunters in general was a new thing for me, a new discovery. It sounds dramatic, but I felt a bit like Columbus sailing off on the ocean. I could feel nature around me, filling my senses. The leaves rustled as a fat squirrel scampered across our path. I had a brief mental flash of the squirrel rearing up on its hind legs and going ape shit. But then again, my imagination has been weaned on Monty Python.
Anyways, we waited an hour until the first deer was spotted. It was a young buck to our left, making its way along the fence line. My fiance could see it before I could. In the past, deer has been little more than a brown blur to more. I stood in fascination, watching its leisurely walk across the corn field. Inwardly, I was pushing for it to get closer.
I looked to our right and saw another deer less than twenty yards from us. It hadn’t made a sound. I stared at it’s eyes. The eyes were huge pools of black. Its nose twitched. I could feel my fiance and I both saying an inward pray, please don’t smell us. The wind gave a fierce moan. The buck went stock still, wiggled its nose and bounded off away from us. Its white tail an erect flag of warning. Alas, the kill was not to be.
Is Capitalism Humane?
I spent a little bit of time reading a philosophy book by Ayn Rand. Now, Im a huge fan of Atlas Shrugged and her work in general. But I believe she missed something very important when it comes to capitalism. Ms. Rand seems to have been so busy praising capitalism she forgot to answer an important question – is capitalism humane? As a young American I feel capitalism has deeply hurt innocents. I look at the extremely rich and see a lot of excess that isn’t just obscene – it’s immoral. Is it morally right for a movie star to have a mall built in his basement when someone is in debt because he got in a car accident? Is it morally right for someone to own 27 luxury cars when people are thrown onto the streets because they can’t pay the doctor? Is it morally right that someone is told their insurance won’t cover a tooth abcess because it isn’t an emergency?
The problem with capitalism is it doesn’t provide any safeguards for the average worker. Capitalism doesn’t protect our right to work reasonable hours, to be paid a living wage, or to have access to good healthcare. I greatly admire the Europeans for their ability to realize one must take care of a whole society, meaning everyone, not just the wealthy. The truth is capitalism has failed to protect basic human rights. Yes, man should be free to work for himself, to reap his rewards without apologizing to anyone. But we can’t stop caring for people because it doesn’t serve our interest or there’s no profit in it. There is great joy in giving of our time, talent, and energy to others. Ms. Rand points out that the Christian idea of caring for your neighbor as yourself is not logical. But we don’t give our time to the local nursing home because it’s logical. We don’t serve the homeless because it’s logical. We do these things because it completes us as humans. Because it’s simply the right thing to do.
Are your “healthy” habits making you fat?
The food industry has sold us a big, fat lie: diet and sugar-free are “healthy.” You know what the problem is? While sugar is bad, the many replacements, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose are all equally bad. And what makes it worse is the food industry has exacberated our already innate ability to become addicted to sugar. And who’s paying the price? Our children, the innocents who can’t defend themselves against mom and dad’s grocery habits.
So what’s the answer? To be honest it boils down to a lot of self-control and hard work. You have to reengineer your entire eating life. Food has become a sort of idol worshipped as the giver of all needs; comfort, happiness, soical acceptance. Our problem with food is as much psychological as physical. Of course, before food can become only one of many sources of fulfilllment, our diet has to change. Nobody can keep eating tons of sugar, fructose, and empty carbs and still have a realistic attitude towards food.
So, for more information on sugar and fructose, go here:
Also check out the Underground Wellness videos on youtube.com. Great, great information.
An Ode to BOB….
1) No human finger is even remotely capable of producing the speed of BOB
2) BOB is the perfect size for a suitcase
3) BOB has never burnt a meal in his life
4) BOB doesn’t care how many guy friends you have
5) BOB is on call 24 hours a day
6) BOB doesn’t care if you’re tone deaf
7) BOB never disagrees about what movie you should see
