NO SLEEP TIL MYSORE '08: FINAL INSTALLMENT




Part II of my most recent trip to Mysore is on the Yoga Chicago website.

Here's an excerpt:

Tonight I had a scooter accident when a man on a motorcycle sideswiped me and three other vehicles. The force was so great it knocked off my ankle bracelets. Bystanders pulled the scooter off of me, and asked if I was OK. The ankle was bloody, the elbow was throbbing and blood was seeping through the knee of my baggy salwaar pants.

One by one everyone else got up and left, and I drove to the hospital where I had been treated for a major gastrointestinal problem and had my nose pierced on my first trip. After a long wait, I was on the same examining table I'd been on back in 2002.

The nurse and her assistants crowded around me, wanting to know what happened. They were all quite concerned. One of them wanted to know if I had any foreign coins (it never fails).

As they cleaned the wounds, I became concerned about the cotton balls, which were shriveled and gray. "Are those new?" I asked. Yes, yes.

After the wounds were covered, an older woman raised a needle and said, “Injection.”

"Where?" I asked. "Backside?" I was joking.

But sure enough, they wanted me to turn over onto my stomach. I was so out-of-it I didn't even notice (or ask) if the needle was new.

Outside, my friend Ammu’s employee, Dungar, accompanied me to the pharmacy and said that Ammu's mother wanted to see me.

Ammu's mother made me lie down on the couch, where I iced my leg. One by one, people came in and asked me what happened. Between my limited Kannada and their limited English (and many gestures), we pieced together the story.

Then Ammu's mother brought out some food and insisted that I eat.

And the heart melted, as I thought about my own long-gone mother and how she used to tend to me after my many bicycle crashes.

And I thought about the idea of "I, me and mine" that we're trying to get away from in yoga, and how at that moment Ammu's mother was not just his mother but also my mother and everyone's mother, and I was beyond grateful. To be taken care of that sweetly, without reservation, so far from home, is the greatest gift.

Read the rest of the story here - and see if you can discern what really went down on this most recent trip....

THE NEW NEIGHBORHOOD II



Not only does the produce store on the corner have tender Thai coconuts for $2, but they'll also cut them in half for you when you've finished the juice - and provide the spoon to scoop out the "meat."

The coconuts are part of a full juice bar that boasts everything from carrot and wheatgrass and grapefruit and pomegranate juice to fresh sugar cane juice and various smoothies. In the warm months there's a walk-up window, so you don't even have to go inside.

There are always crazy deals, like last week's three slabs of jaggery for a dollar.

And in the back there's a discount produce rack, where you can find even crazier deals - like the one in the photo: six oranges for 79 cents.

It sure beats Jewel....

DHARMA MITTRA WORKSHOPS - TOMORROW AND NEXT SATURDAY
PLUS DHARMA HIMSELF THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND

I'll lead a Dharma Mittra workshop this Saturday, March 14 from 2:30-5:30 at lovely Yoga Trek Center in Oak Park.

I'll do another one next Saturday, March 21 from 2-5PM at the equally lovely
Beverly Yoga Center, on Chicago's south side.

These will be my last DM workshops for some time - although Dharma himself will teach at the Yoga Journal conference in Lake Geneva the following weekend, March 26-29.




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This impromptu photo (notice the sandals!) was snapped by professional photographer Robert Yager during Dharma's Mexico retreat in December. It also appears on the cover of the current Yoga Chicago magazine, in conjunction with my article about Dharma's Life of a Yogi teacher trainings. The article will appear online soon, at www.yogachicago.com.

MARCH MADNESS


We are eleven days into the longest, hardest month of the year, and people are already losing it.


(If you don't believe me, you can hear my classic public radio essay about how much March sucks here).

So far there have been three shooting rampages - in Illinois, Alabama, and Germany.

Most of the people I know are miserable. The minds are dull and depressed. There are aches and pains. Everything is difficult.

But in India, people of all backgrounds celebrate the coming of spring with the festival of Holi, or colors - where people make merry and throw colored powder on each other.*

It seems to work as a way to let off steam right before the infernal vernal equinox.

Perhaps we chould figure out some similar form of institutionalized deviance here in the west -- preferably something that does not involve drinking, basketball, guns or dying the river green.

Any ideas?




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*Sadly some bad men use use Holi as an excuse to Eve-tease, or fondle unsuspecting women. That would have to be outlawed, although it shouldn't be that much of a problem here in the west - where the women are just as likely to Adam-tease right back.

CK'S NEW APARTMENT INDEX




Rooms: 6

Bedrooms: 2

Radiators: 5

Windows: 13

Ceiling fans: 3

Cabinets in kitchen: 1

Amish space heaters: 1

Electrical outlets in dining room: 1

In bathroom: 0

Circuit-breakers: 3

Units in building: 12

Eunuchs in building: 0

Average daily temperature: 64

Coldest temperature so far: 58*

Warmest: 70

City-mandated minimum: 68 (66 at night)

Number of units between CK's apartment and boiler: 11

Number of complaints about the cold: countless

Number of items the landlord has repaired so far: 3

Number of yoga mats that will fit in living room: 10

Number of vegetarian restaurants in three-block radius: countless








*To his credit, the landlord has been working tirelessly to fix the heating problem; it turns out there are other apartments in the building where the temperature is a good ten degrees warmer.

WET





It rained all weekend.





There was flooding.




People were not happy.....

Except of course for the ones who did yoga.

CK'S MOVING INDEX

Number of people who helped (paid) on day of move: 4

Number of people who helped (unpaid) on day of move: 3

Number of people who helped (unpaid) before, during and after move: countless

Cost: $390 plus tips, boxes, tape, food, etc.

Distance: 33 blocks

Stairs: 3rd floor to 3rd floor

Size of truck: 15'

Number of boxes: 92

Number of times someone fell down stairs: 3? 4? 5?

Bones broken: 0

Items broken: 3

Lawsuits threatened: 0

Rooms and closets unpacked by Mrs. Dreyfus: 6

Hours spent waiting for cable guy who never came: 4

Number of years in old apartment: 15

At the address before that: 7

Number of years with old phone number: 22

Number of days old number worked at new address: 10

Number of calls to RCN to beg for it back: 5

Number of curt refusals: 5

THE THREE THINGS


By Swami Sivananda, from the Divine Life Society website....

"Eat three things; wear three things; practise three things: Ahimsa [non-harming], Satyam [truth] and Brahmacharya [celibacy]. Remember three things: death, afflictions of the world and God. Renounce three things: egoism, desire and attachment. Cultivate three things: humility, fearlessness and love. Eradicate three things: lust, anger and greed.

"Friends! Here are some triads for your daily spiritual practices. Three things to love: desire for liberation, company of the wise and selfless service; three things to despise: miserliness, cruelty and petty-mindedness; three things to admire: generosity, courage and nobility; three things to respect: Guru, renunciation and discrimination. Three things to control: tongue, temper and tossing of mind."

WAS PAUL HARVEY A YOGI?



I think he was....

The Chicago-based broadcast innovator and icon died over the weekend at age 90.

He read an abridged version Bo Lozoff's "An Impatient Letter To All Of Us From God," above, on his syndicated radio show in 1998. (NOTE: It's best to ignore the video, and just listen).

I used to tune in to him on the Armed Forces Radio Network in Spain, in 1985. He gave me a connection to home.

He will be missed.*

Good. Day.




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*Harvey's death comes hot on the heels of three other Chicago broadcast deaths: former Chicago Bulls head coach and analyst Johnny “Red” Kerr, former Chicago Bull Norm Van Lier (a true gentleman, whom I waited on at Wishbone), and former Sun-Times and ABC-7 food critic James Ward.

HAPPY CASIMIR PULASKI DAY*



Today marks the birthday of Revolutionary War hero, who was born JMP Kazimierz Michał Wacław Wiktor Pułaski herbu Ślepowron on March 4, 1745 in Poland. A General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, he trained US soldiers and oversaw the cavalry. He was under the command of George Washington and, according to some, was rather arrogant.


In Chicago - which used to have the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw - it means there is no school today.

The libraries are closed.

Cook County employees have the day off.

And morning yoga has been canceled.

Sadly there is no special pastry to commemorate this event.






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*This holiday is not to be confused with the federal holiday, General Pulaski Memorial Day, which commemorates Pulaski's death at the Siege of Savannah on October 11, 1779.




* * *

The video features the song by Sufjan Stephens, from his album Illinois, about a girlfriend of his who died on Casimir Pulaski Day. Big Black beat him to the punch with 1988's "Kasimir S. Pulaski Day" - which also has a driving theme. Lyrics here.

...LIKE A HOLE IN THE HEAD


Friday after work I walked (!) to the bank to make a deposit, had a tender coconut on the corner, and shopped for a picture of Shiva (no luck).

Then I went to the salon to get my eyebrows threaded.

When the woman finished, she pointed to my upper lip and said, "You do."

And I was like, NOOOOOOOOO.

"You need it," she replied.

It was a priceless moment - just like being in Mysore.

Except that it was snowing outside.

IF YOU LIKED SLUMDOG, YOU'LL LOVE DELHI-6




Bindi and I braved Thursday's severe thunderstorms and flooding to see Delhi-6, the latest film by Rang da Basanti director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

Like Slumdog Millionaire, this fast-paced snapshot of Delhi has been taken to task for shining a mirror onto India's darker aspects - in this case caste and religious intolerance, dowry, misogyny and police brutality. It's got everything, including the Ramayana pageant, windbag politicians fanning the flames of intolerance, a cow giving birth in the street and a Hindu-Muslim riot.

It stars Abishek Bachchan as a US-born NRI (non-resident Indian) who accompanies his grandmother back to Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk neighborhood, where she wants to spend her dying days. Once there he meets quarreling relatives who are not pleased with his mixed Hindu-Muslim heritage, learns about "real" India and falls in love with the beautiful Sonam Kapoor (which of course he announces in English, rather than Hindi).

Abishek's character throws a monkey wrench into the community's age-old customs - whether her's handing a box of sweets to a Brahmin who's just stepped out of the loo, trying to help the sweeper woman carry her garbage, or telling a father he can't marry off his daughter without her consent. There's also a kaala bandar (black monkey) thrown into the mix, to represent fear and intolerance. The film moves fast, clocking in at 2:20, and doesn't pause to explain its references - which was rather refreshing but may be confusing to those who don't know much about India.

It costars the still-handsome Rishi Kapoor as Uncle Ali, and boasts a cameo by Big B, Amitabh Bachchan. Plus it begins and ends with a message that is basically the essence of yoga: All gods represent the same God, and inside each and every one of us there resides a small spark of the divine.

The soundtrack is by none other than two-time Oscar winner A.R. Rahman, and can be heard here.

The wonderful but blurry video pasted below was worth the price of admission, and shows what would happen if Times Square were to relocate to Chandi Chowk - or vice-versa. If it did, I'd move there in a New York minute.



Delhi-6 runs through March 5 at Piper's Alley.


Thanks to Bindi for the head's-up on this one! Read her excellent review here.

INDIA EVERYWHERE
India has been in news quite a bit over the past couple of weeks.....

Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire (English Subs)
Uploaded by aka71691

Last week, two-time Oscar winner A.R. Rahman was interviewed on Public Radio International's "The World" - where he said he wanted to get away from musical cliches when he scored "Slumdog Millionaire."

"In a film, when you see an Indian face, you normally think you're going to hear sitar and doleks and stuff like that, so, for us, the first thing that you hear in the film needed to have the quality of 'put on your seat belt' kind of a thing," he said.

Hear the rest of the interview here.





* * *






The New York Times also ran a piece about Mr. Rahman last week (thanks to Catesy for the tip). Here's an excerpt:

His work has been in more than 100 films since 1992, and after scoring Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bollywood-themed stage musical “Bombay Dreams” in 2002 he enjoyed had a steadily growing profile in the West. One of the first major composers in India to embrace digital technology, he is in his natural habitat at the computer, and he maintains the manic, multitasking rhythm of a true 21st-century techie.

“I like to see a film and then start scoring it in my mind, while doing something unrelated,” he said. “You just grasp a film and start working, and something unpredictable comes out from a third element. The mind, the more active it is, the more productive it is.”

Productivity, along with a gift for golden melody and a cosmopolitan touch that reflects the new, globally conscious India, have given Mr. Rahman, who lives and works in Chennai (the city formerly known as Madras), a kind of national-hero status. “Rah Rah Rahman,” The Times of India proclaimed on its front page after the Oscar nominations were announced.

“He has a rapper from Tanzania working with him,” Mr. Boyle said, “and fulfilled a mutual desire to work with M.I.A., part Sri Lankan, part London, part New York. Add the house-music disco beats sweeping Bollywood dance lately and you have a real moment of fusion.”






* * *





Yesterday, the unstable situation in the Indian states of Jammu and Kasmhir was explained simply and concisely by journalist Steve Coll on Terry Gross's NPR radio show "Fresh Air." Coll, who has a related article in the March 2 New Yorker called "The Back Channel," made it easy to understand origins of the long-disputed territory between India and Pakistan (apparently the Muslim-majority princely state was ruled by a Hindu Maharaja at the time of Independence, and he decided to go with Hindu-majority India). Coll rightly took the British to task for the complete botching of their pullout from the Subcontinent - which resulted in the death of over a million people during Partition. Hear the interview here.












* * *










The New York Times recently carried a story about cartoonist Nina Paley's handmade animated feature film "Sita Sings the Blues," which weaves together the Hindu Sita-Ram epic with the story of the dissolution of her own marriage.

An excerpt:

In 2002 Ms. Paley followed her husband, an animator, from their home in San Francisco to a town in western India. It was there that she first learned of the tale of the Ramayana. When she reached the part when Sita kills herself to prove her fidelity, she said, she thought, “That’s just messed up and wrong.”

An idea for a postfeminist comic strip began brewing. In it her new ending would still have Rama rejecting Sita, but instead of committing suicide she would become empowered. “She says, ‘To hell with you. I’m going to go join a farming collective.’ ”

Before Ms. Paley could commit her I-will-survive strip to paper, though, life intervened. While she was on a business trip to New York, her husband sent her an e-mail message telling her not to return. In a state of “grief, agony and shock,” she remained in Manhattan, camping out on friends’ sofas.


The film will appear soon on PBS and be distributed at some point (for free) over the internet; read the article here.






* * *






A five-screen Bollywood cinema is slated to open soon in near north suburban Niles, according to announcements in the local Indian newspapers. No word yet on when the Adlabs Films USA-owned Niles Talkies will open. But just think - No more schlepping to Barrington! And five screens! Five!













* * *








As if that weren't enough, I noticed last week that Target is selling Hindu prayer shawls in the purse/accessory section. For just $11.99, you too can look like a Brahmin priest this spring.

TODAY IS PACZKI (PUNCH-KEY) DAY...

...which means that one could break the Shivaratri fast with decadent (400-calorie) Fat Tuesday Polish donuts from Dinkel's.

The cakelike, deep-fried glazed donut comes in flavors like plum, apple or chocolate, and constitutes the opposite of the prescribed live, vegan, low-sugar yogic diet.

Fortunately, you can get them only once a year.

More on Paczki here.

The recipe (which it is probably best not to read) is here.

MAHA SHIVARATRI




Today is Shivaratri, or the Great Night of Lord Shiva*.

It is Lord Shiva's favorite day, and each time you chant his mantra today it is like doing it 1,000 times.

It is also a day of fasting, and staying up all night chanting His name (which is why the shala in Mysore is always closed on this day).

From Lily at the Dharma Yoga Center:

Celebrated on the 14th night of the new moon in months of February and March, Maha Shivaratri or 'Shiva's Great Night' is known as the wedding day of Lord Shiva and his wife, Parvati.

On Maha Shivaratri day, devotees of Lord Shiva fast for the entire day and recite "Om Namah Shivaya" japa throughout the day. The entire day is spent in intense worship to the Lord. Maha Shivaratri is a blessed opportunity for the aspirant of Yoga, as he who remains vigilant and sincere in his worship on Maha Shivaratri will conquer Rajas [passionate activity]. Furthermore, those who observe vigil throughout the night of Shivaratri are said to conquer Tamas [inertia] entirely!

Let "Om Namah Shivaya" be your mental and verbal mantra all day and night, surrendering yourself completely the Lord Shiva, the representation of that almighty light dwelling deep within you. **






Here in Chicago there is an all-night event at the Sivananda Vendanta Center, starting at 9:30PM. The fast is broken the following morning.




Om Nama Shivaya!






*Lord Shiva represents the Supreme Self dwelling at the right side of the heart and encompassing all of the other gods. He symbolizes renunciation, and is a favorite of yogis.



**From Swami Sivananda: "The two great natural forces that afflict man are Rajas (the quality of passionate activity) and Tamas (that of inertia). The Shivaratri Vrata aims at the perfect control of these two. The entire day is spent at the Feet of the Lord. Continuous worship of the Lord necessitates the devotee's constant presence in the place of worship. Motion is controlled. Evils like lust, anger, and jealousy, born of Rajas are ignored and subdued. The devotee observes vigil throughout the night and thus conquers Tamas also. Constant vigilance is imposed on the mind. Every three hours a round of worship of the Shiva Lingam is conducted. Shivaratri is a perfect Vrata [religious observance]."

BEST OSCAR MOMENT EVER





The best Oscar moment ever happened during tonight's Academy Awards show, when the Japanese winner of the best animated short film, Kunio Kato, gave a halting speech slowly thanking his company, staff, producers, etc. It took awhile, and his accent was thick (the title of his winning film is La Maison en Petits Cubes).

Finally, he paused and said, rather pointedly, "Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto."

I nearly fell off my chair.

Sadly, most of the people in the audience didn't understand his sharp wit.*

Plus it's not every day you get a Styx reference during the prime-est of prime time shows.

Thank you very much, Mr. K-Kato!

Domo.


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*Turns out that Mr. Kato's website is kiteretsu.robot.co.jp/kunio - so maybe the joke's on me.

A MYSORE MOMENT - IN MADISON, WISCONSIN






A gentleman with a ponytail got on the hotel elevator at the same time I did early Saturday morning.

"Which floor?" he asked.

"First," I replied.

"Lobby?" he asked.

Something about the way he said the word piqued my interest.

"Are you from India?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"Where are you from?"

"Bangalore."

The mind searched for the correct word for breakfast.

"Tindi aita?" I asked.

He looked surprised, but answered without missing a beat,

"Tindi aytoo."

He laughed. "How do you know Kannada?"

"I spent some time in Mysore," I said. "An important yoga teacher is there."

Now he really looked surprised.

"I'm from Mysore!" he said as the elevator reached the lobby.

"Mysore is toomba chennai gidday!" I said.

And with that we wished each other a good day and parted, smiles on our faces.

DHARMA MITTRA YOGA IN CHICAGO




Click on the image to enlarge it.



NOTE: Many workshops are there: 2/21 in Madison, WI; 3/14 in Oak Park; and 3/21 in Chicago. Click here for details.

Also...The Silverspace class is Fridays from 10-11 in Wicker Park and costs only $10. It is geared to all levels and starts March 6 (no class March 28 - when Dharma will be doing a day-long session at the Yoga Journal Conference in Wisconsin). Use code GG24 to get a $50 discount on the conference.

For more info on Silverspace and other local classes, go here.

POSSESSED




While paging through Sunday's The New York Times Magazine, I came across a pictorial spread about Yves St. Laurent's collection of important furniture and decorative and fine art. It will be sold soon at a charity auction, and some designers were asked to comment on the collection - which is expected to fetch nearly $400 million.

Seeing the images - he had so many paintings they were even mounted on doors - made me feel claustrophobic, and I vowed to continue my quest to get rid of stuff.


* * *


Yesterday I called Dreyfus, to tell him that President Obama said "Namaste" at least twice while signing the stimulus plan (Dreyfus said this word so many times, with such vigor and enthusiasm, during the move that he finally got a rather sharp reaction out of me).

Dreyfus told me that Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings will soon be sold at auction in New York City.




"What possessions?" I asked. "He only had, like, three things."

That's right, said Dreyfus. Turns out they're auctioning off his spectacles, a pocket watch, sandals, a bowl and a plate. All of the items were given as gifts to other people* while he was still alive. The whole lot is expected to fetch £30,000 ($42,000) - and there are many in India who want to bring them back home.

Dreyfus, who is a hoarder like me, concluded the call by saying, "That's the way to go - to have nothing."

He's right.

It's not easy.

But as the Bhagavad-Gita says, What is poison in the beginning becomes nectar in the end.




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*According to this website, Gandhi’s earthly possessions could be counted on two hands: His two dinner bowls, wooden fork and spoon, the famous porcelain monkeys, his diary, prayer book, watch, spittoon, letter openers and two pair of sandals.

THE NEW NEIGHBORHOOD



I was very naughty yesterday, when I walked over to Annapurna Vegetarian and read the Sunday paper and ate an Indian lunch among the Southeast Asian families who also know a good deal when they see one. Annapurna is kind of like Stand-Up Chats in Gokulam - cheap food, fast - only here you sit in bright blue plastic booths.

Twice last week, after a long day of teaching, I walked over to the supermarket and treated myself to a tender coconut. Wonderful!

Did I mention dirt-cheap pomegranate seeds?

In the new neighborhood, people smile when your eyes meet.

(I said hello last month to someone who'd just moved into my old building. She looked away without replying).

I could be wrong, but in the new neighborhood it seems that the feeling is less I'm gonna get my piece of the action and to the hell with everyone else and more We're all in this together so we might as well make the best of it.

The new neighborhood is adjacent to a suburb that has cheap gas and stores with free parking and lower sales tax. The Foods Whole up here actually has free samples.

And last week, the cat and I were surprised to find a squirrel on the dining room window ledge, staring at us through the glass. When he was done, he leapt back onto the tree and scooted down.

You just don't see things like that on Ashland Ave.

MONEY SHOTS
Finally.....photos of the new digs.


This is the bedroom.











The guest room.












The altar in the yoga room.









And the yoga room itself. Classes now forming. Midday Mysore in Little India, anyone? Evening Dharma Yoga in West Ridge?

YOGA, THE GOV AND THE NEO GOV




A curious coincidence:


On Wednesday nights I teach yoga just below the Chicago office of recently-ousted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojević.

On Wednesday mornings I teach yoga just below the Chicago office of recently-installed Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn.

If they'd just consider(ed) venturing downstairs, crossing the threshold and practicing yoga, perhaps the second line of the ashtanga closing prayer (ie; the Mangala Mantra, from the Rig Veda) could come true: Nya yena margena mahi mahishaha, or Let the administrators rule the world with law and justice....

....which could lead to Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu: May all beings be happy and prosperous.

We can only hope.

Om shanti!




* * *

NOTE: The students in this priceless 2002 video of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois seem to be tittering because they didn't realize there's a final Surya Namaskar after the closing prayer. Watching this video made me realize just how much I miss that dear man's teaching. The heart literally aches, and it becomes crystal clear why I was so miserable in Mysore last year. I also realize how lucky I am to study with Dharma and Chandra - whose teachings pick up where his left off. Thinking about this, the ache gives way to overwhelming gratitude.

MY OWN PRIVATE ICICLE




I am here. Now.

As in, the new apartment.

It was hell to get here. But as my teacher says when describing sattva (purity, peace, knowledge), what is poison in the beginning becomes nectar in the end.

As for the poison....

While throwing out some trash the night before the move, I met another long-time tenant - and learned that she too was moving on Saturday. At the same time. And the landlord never told us. We were both glad to be getting away from that person.

The movers - Four Hung-Over Guys and a Truck - showed up an hour late on Saturday. Nonetheless they managed to move ninety-two boxes and assorted furniture to the new apartment in just under five hours - in spite of several falls down the slippery stairs at both places. At the end, the head Guy said it was the most organized move he'd ever worked (I didn't ask how many moves he'd actually done).

Dreyfus, Mrs. Dreyfus and PKB were also instrumental in making the move a success. Dreyfus and PKB moved two van-loads of stuff to the new place. The second trip featured a mattress and dining room table strapped legs-up to the roof of the family van - which must have been quite a sight.


Mrs. Dreyfus helped with everything, and singlehandedly cleaned the rather dirty new kitchen and unpacked three rooms and one closet and countless other things. She is a dynamo and an inspiration to all.

Mr. Dreyfus installed the smoke detectors and escape rope, and fell down the stairs while throwing out garbage.

All of us starved while waiting for the cable guy - who never came.

Finally we gave up and had a wonderful, hard-earned feast at Uru-Swati.



* * *


But I'm here now.

There are trees outside the apartment's many windows - seven of which face south.

There are tender coconuts down the street.

There are so many rooms I wander about, not knowing where to go.

There is a room just for yoga - a large living room with a giant fireplace altar and windows that face west.

There's a large, sunny room just for guests.

There's a long hallway that's a huge hit with the cat.

And it is QUIET. I had my best night of sleep since Scotland here.

But it also has been a bit cold.

On the first two days the temperature inside hovered around 64 degrees.

Things improved yesterday, when I realized that the downstairs neighbor had left his window open when he moved out, and got permission to close it. No wonder the floor was so cold!

Tonight, the landlord will come and try to help me close the bedroom window, which has been painted open.

In the meantime I purchased some warm slippers, and a beanie to wear while performing asana.

There is also a special hat (crocheted by me) and a hand-knit poncho (made by Munkin) for sitting practice.

It is a bit like being in the Himalayas, minus the cave.

Plus there is a massive icicle right outside the kitchen window.

PKB dubbed it my own private icicle.

As far as I can tell, it is not in the shape of a Shiva lingam or any other sacred symbol.

Yet.



Fortunately, winter is temporary....

....just like everything else on this plane.





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Photos show the giant icicle outside the kitchen window. I suppose it is a bit phallic, at least in this shot. What do *you* think it looks like?

MOVING. FINALLY.




Today I dropped off a few things at the bright, quiet, spacious, freezing cold (as in 62 degrees fahrenheit) new apartment.

The man in the unit below was in the process of moving out, via the front stairs.

The woman in the garden apartment was moving in, via the back stairs.

Tomorrow it is my turn.

Today, I'll finish packing.

Tonight, Kirby and I will have our final slumber in the small, noisy, overheated apartment I've called home for over 15 years.

Tomorrow, I'll leave the place that helped get me through graduate school, a journalism career, four yoga teacher trainings, five trips to India, a major depression and the death of both parents (not to mention the cat Fritzka).

Tomorrow, I'll move out of the place I've been fearful of leaving (you have to remember that before this I lived in an illegal basement firetrap with a ceiling so low I could not stand up in the bathroom).

Tomorrow, I'll give up the phone number I've had for 21 years.

Tomorrow, I'll move from tamas (inertia) to sattva (a state of harmony, balance, joy and intelligence).

At least that's the hope.

Not that we're attached to it or anything.




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MOVING MUSIC: DELHI-6

While packing I've been listening to the soundtrack for the upcoming Hindi movie Delhi-6, scored by Golden Globe-winning composer A.R. Rahman. It's absolutely wonderful, and you can hear it for free here. It's especially fitting since I'm moving to Chicago's Little India neighborhood. Thanks to Big B for the head's-up.

SHEDDING: THE FINAL STRETCH



The impending move has of course required getting rid of a lot of stuff.

I wanted these things to to go good homes, since they have served me well.

Many items were donated to the thrift store. I sold some books, clothing, record albums and CDs. A few things were given to friends and family.

But some items were not wanted by the people I know, and too big to bring to the thrift store.



Instead of leaving these things in the alley, I decided to post them on craigslist at low, low prices. I wanted to see if people would pay to take away my things. I also figured they'd treat them better if they had to pay for them - even if the fee was nominal. Plus, starting a freecycle account was far too complicated.



It worked.




Everything that was posted was sold.


Even the giant four-door brown metal file cabinet that weighs a thousand pounds.







Even the sofa-sleeper, with its two broken slats.

That, in fact, sold within the hour, and was picked up a short time later.

Plus the woman who bought it even knew how to repair it.









The key seems to be as honest as possible in the listing, to post pictures, use words like "fabulous" and "vintage" (which all of my items were) - and to lowball the price. (You must also remember to remove the post as soon as the item is sold).


It was win-win, all around. The people who bought things were kind and honest and decent, plus they showed up on time. It made one feel happy to be part of humanity.


Now, if I could only figure out to do with two-thirds of my rock collection......














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EPILOGUE




The mother's beloved Schwinn Cadillac from the 1940s with the skip-chain was gifted to a women who works at a small Schwinn manufacturing plant in Wisco - whose eyes lit up when she heard it was hers. I suspect that the mother was just as delighted when she first saw it, too.

DHARMA MITTRA IN CHICAGO AREA MARCH 26-29
AND AT KRIPALU FEBRUARY 27 to MARCH 1


On March 26-29, Sri Dharma Mitra will be teaching at the Yoga Journal Conference in Lake Geneva. This is a rare opportunity to practice with Dharma in the Chicago area, and there's a special discount if you sign up before this Saturday. If you're poor, and/or just want to see Dharma, do what I did - sign up for his all-day Friday intensive and get $20 off by using discount code GG 13. Learn more about the Friday intensive here.

For those of you out east, Dharma will be be leading a retreat at Kripalu in Massachusetts Feb 27 to March 1, called Shiva Namaskara: Yoga as a Divine Offering. Retreat details here. Also.... he's only be doing two 200-hour Life of a Yogi teacher trainings this year. Click here for more.

THE SILENCE



I was out of town, at a sattva-inducing women's purification retreat with the North Carolina School of Yoga.

We ate our fruit in silence. We did pranayama and meditated. We did kirtan. We did asana. We did karma yoga. We attended satsang. We rested. We walked on the beach. We slept on the floor. We had no contact with the outside world. We became calm and content.

And now, we are quietly packing for Saturday's Big Move.

SHEDDING: THE SADHANA CONTINUES




It seemed like I'd gotten rid of so much stuff.

The early-1990s Fat City cycle is being restored by its new owner.

The mother's 1940s Schwinn Cadillac with the skip-chain found a home with a woman who makes new Schwinns in Wisconsin.

The yellow 1970s Schwinn Collegiate went to Play it Again Sports, in trade for a tuneup on the current ride.

The record collection is going to the college radio station.

The 47 books sold last week fetched $132.

Plus there were van- and car-loads of stuff brought to the thrift store (where they are getting to know me. As in, "Are you into film?").

Yet when the sister-in-law came to help pack yesterday (kindly taking the train in on the worst sub-zero day of the year)*, it became clear that I still have way. too. much. stuff.

It is horrifying.

The shedding must continue, after the move.


* * *



*It was so cold last night - 30 below zero? 40? - that the car's temperature needle would not move from below "C" until we'd sat there shivering for 20 minutes. When it finally moved past "C" we could turn on the heat and start scraping the inside of the windshield. But as soon as we scraped, the ice would reappear - and we wondered why we live here.


----------------------------
Photo snapped during a recent snowstorm at the Sheridan/Irving Park bus stop.

A.R. RAHMAN WINS GOLDEN GLOBE FOR SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE



It made me jump out my seat and clap with delight.

During his speech the Tamil composer thanked the one billion people of India, which made the heart swell and brought tears to the eyes.*

....and made the mind thankful to be moving house to Chicago's Little India neighborhood.



(Another highlight: Hindi movie superstar Shahrukh Khan appeared later as one of the presenters, along with Slumdog's Freida Pinto. Oh, and the film won best picture and screenplay, and Danny Boyle got best director. My other favorite moment was when Mickey Rourke thanked his dogs for getting him through the dark nights of the soul).




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*The eyes were already teary from coming across photographs of the mother during her final days, not to mention photos of and letters from the past. Also for some reason it was incredibly difficult to have someone come over and look at the record collection, which is also being let go. It feels like part of me is dying. Or maybe it was already dead, and I didn't notice until now.

gabinete caligari



my place is a mess, i confess,
a paean to the past.

filled to the gills, it
spills til it won't close
it overflows with
prose from pros i can't
dispose, even tho i know
there's no point, keeping this shit
in my joint; can't stop cramming
the cabinet full of crap, wanting
to stop but not, wishing they'd
made me a map for living in a crib
w/ a cat and the past; this filled-up
flat has hid it / is time to choose to
move or at least to lose some of the
too much stuff, before i come undone

i get it from the 'rents of course
who came of age in that other Depression
(the one that did have an end; Brother can
you spare some time sometime?). it was a remorse
source for them, who remembered when
things were scarce, to be hoarded when they had it,
enjoyed for an instant and then squired away for
rainy days that never came.

the last past away last year, with
no idea how endeared i am to them
and their stupid stuff;
the reluctant keeper of a vast
amount of crap
from the passed.



(c) 2000 by c.k.







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poem unearthed today while sorting through The Filecab From Hell.

SLOGGING THROUGH



PKB came over yesterday and helped me go through a lifetime of stuff the basement storeroom.

Evidence of every past hobby or passing interest was there; 16mm filmmaking, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, football, skateboarding, drawing, mountain biking, racquetball, Serious Writing, scrapbooking, independent cinema, bicycle collecting (in the form of the mother's tanklike 1940s Schwinn Cadillac), triathlons, camping, field hockey, photography, deejaying and yoga.

The last was the only interest that was not fleeting.

That and Serious Writing of course.

INDIA ON TV TONIGHT




British pop historian Michael Wood's PBS miniseries “The Story of India" kicks off tonight at 9 on WTTW-Channel 11 (and on other public TV stations).


"This is not a documentary about the modern India of call centers and terrorist attacks and nuclear tensions," wrote Mike Hale in yesterday's New York Times. "The first two hours, which were available for review, don’t even take the story into the A.D. years. They finish with Ashoka, the bloodthirsty emperor who renounced violence before the end of his reign in 232 B.C. According to the press notes, the narrative will essentially end in 1947 with the partition of India and Pakistan, with a brief glance at India’s history since then.

"But Mr. Wood’s method is to teach history on location, with a maximum of travel and conversation — in the first two hours he and his cameras span thousands of miles, from Kerala in southern India to Calcutta, Delhi, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Iraq — and a minimum of explanatory graphics or talking heads other than his own. (He also doesn’t use recreations, though he has found an ingenious substitute: excerpts from Indian films like “Asoka” and “Lagaan.”)

"Contemporary India is constantly on screen, in images that are sometimes clichéd but often enough astonishing: the shots of a once-every-12-years festival in which a 60-foot statue of a Jain saint is anointed with showers of milk, saffron, turmeric, coins and flowers are otherworldly."


Read the rest of the review here.



------------------



Thanks to Catesey for the tip.

ATTACHMENT AND FEAR






During a break between class #3 and class #4 yesterday, I came across this passage in Swami Saradananda's The Essence of the Gita:

"On the battlefield, Arjuna's mind was filled with attachment and fear. There was attachment to his kith and kin who had arrayed themselves to fight at Kurukshetra. And there was also fear after seeing on the opposing side fighters like Bhisma, Karna, Drona and Jayadratha. It was not easy to fight these men. Wonderful indeed is the power of ignorance! Even a great person like Arjuna was overpowered by a temporary fit of attachment and fear. This kind of attachment and fear come naturally to all."

QUICKSAND

I have managed to sell a bike and procure some boxes and research movers and enlist the future aid of friends/family. I've also quit drinking green tea.

But not much else has been done on the moving front.

It is so daunting I've actually felt physically ill. Moving 30 blocks, and coming to terms with a lifetime of stuff, can be a bit paralyzing. Plus there has been no sun.

(More likely I caught something from students who come to class sick despite entreaties to the contrary).*

Last time I moved (in 1994) it was just five blocks, from a studio apartment to a one bedroom.

I had been at that address for seven years. Fortunately, I was dating a purger at the time and he helped me decide what to throw out.

This time, it's Mrs. Dreyfus who will get me into gear.

In the meantime I'm trying to plow through deadlines and mentally prepare for the inevitable.

Osho's reminder today is also a help:

The journey of one thousand miles is done by the simple step, one step. You cannot take two steps at one time. Step after step, just a single step can be stretched to ten thousand miles or to infinity.



---------------------------

*The way I understand it, when you fall ill you are contagious three days before symptoms occur, and three days after. If the latter is the case, please practice ahimsa (non-harming) and consider practicing at home rather than coming to class and "sweating it out" and infecting the other students (and teacher) in the process. Generally speaking, if you can't breathe through the nose, it's probably best to stay home.

STARTING OFF WITH A BANG


After 14 years in the same apartment, it looks like I'll be moving out at the end of the month.

The new place is in Little India - near the store with the juice bar and tender coconut water.

Dorian Black has vetted the new landlord, a cat-lover who seems like a decent fellow indeed.

Now, if I could only move from paralyzed mode to packing mode, and start doing some of the things the very organized Mrs. Dreyfus suggested I do.

Some Calm Breathing should help.....

SRI DHARMA MITTRA'S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR 2009





To my dearest students and friends,



1. Spend time Meditating. Meditation is unbroken concentration and the most effective type is self-reflection. Spend at least 15 minutes meditating every morning.

2. Get serious about your practice! One must get serious and simply attending class is not enough. Spend at least 15 minutes each morning doing Asana and focus on the main ones: Headstand, Shoulderstand, Plow, Fish and Cobra.

3. Drink lots of green juices and remember the first Yama [ethnical root], Ahimsa. As long as you are involved with violence, your meditation will go nowhere.

4. Understand the five subtle bodies or sheaths so that you can commence negating them at once.

5. How you begin something is of great significance. If you begin the New Year with a big mug of coffee, it sets the wrong tone for the entire year to come. Begin 2009 committed to the attainment of Self-Knowledge.

6. Outside of the three main texts, The Bhagavad Gita, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Hatha Yoga Padipika [links at right], read and study Swami Sivananda’s Self-Knowledge as it contains all the answers.

7. Dedicate the fruit of all action and be nice to everyone.



OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.





Dharma - who rarely comes to Chicago - will be at the Yoga Journal Conference at the Grand Geneva Resort in Wisconsin March 26-29. This is a rare opportunity to study wtih a self-realized master. Details here.


He will also appear at the Kripalu Center February 27 through March 1 for an intensive called Shiva Namaskara: Yoga as a Divine Offering. Details here.






List posted with permission of the Dharma Mittra Yoga Center.










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