Class #25 & #26: Just Let It Go.

If your keys fall into molten lava, just let them go.
I believe Jack Handy said this, or at least something to that effect.

Three days ago I celebrated the start of my forth set of sevens. For those unwilling to do the math, that's 28. Seven has always been a pretty good number for me, most odd numbers actually, have been good numbers for me. I think it's because a natural balance point is created. That's why with reluctance, I recently let my Banana Republic sandals go to that great shoe tree in the sky. I am now down one pair of shoes.

Purchased for $82 back in April 2002, Lady Apollo and I bought the same pair - opening a BR credit card so that we both could get a deal on our shoes. These shoes have taken me from the Boston Spring though the DC Indian Summer. The midfoot support structure has long snapped from the rigors of running for the Metro or balancing on my heels while impatiently waiting for the fore mentioned Metro. The leather on the sole has certainly been worn thin and is flirting with a developing a hole. Not even Geroge Clooney's Dr. Ross character on ER could have saved these shoes.

You know, he probably couldn't have helped either CoffeeShop Girl or myself in class last night. We both battled through Ardha Chandrasana, half-moon pose. Neither one of us could find our balance on our left, we both tried resetting multiple times. It just wasn't there for either of us. This morning while drying my hair, I thought, why not, give it a shot. The pose was there.

One of the recurring processes of yoga is letting go. It's easy to see the letting go of toxins that have accumulated from being bombarded on a daily basis with sorbitan monostearates, polysorbate 60s and their evil brethren. Yoga is about the deeper shift and letting go of the emotion we store and bottle up. The stresses that accumulate over the course of the day somehow massage themselves out while moving through the postures. In some instances the postures become a metaphor for our lives or current situation, revealing another path or opportunity or gently reminding us to slow down.

Maybe this coming spring I'll find another pair of sandals to replace my dearly beloved BR sandals. But, come to think of it, isn't 42 the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything?

Class #24: Mind, Body, Sole

Try as I might I cannot walk in ballet flats to save my life. I stumble, I trip, I stub my toes – all in all it’s not a pretty sight. Give me a pair of 4” heeled shoes with beautiful leather soles, I can polka all night long. Trust me. CoffeeShop Girl, VespaBoy, Sophisticate, & Mr. Trivia can all attest to the polka statement from Friday night’s celebration of CoffeeShop Girl’s birthday.

In our lives we all look for a way to balance. Pondering this, I’ve come to realize that a lot of this balance comes in threes, implying a triangle. Think about it:

Green Pepper, Celery, Onion
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Work, Family, & Friends
Mind, Body, Soul

Our triangles are always in flux, ever evolving and shifting. Sure, it would be great if our lives were a perfect equilateral triangle.

I wonder then, would life be stagnant?

* * *

During my brief hiatus from writing I’ve been pondering a way to give structure to this blog while examining my own various triangles.

Please bear with me through this process.

I welcome any comments or questions you might have about shoes, yoga, or life in general and will address them in due course.

Class #8 - #11: Continuing to Breathe.

There are those days, that we wake in the morning and want to surround ourselves in comfort, unassumingly passing through the day. This past Thursday I desperately wanted to wear my Dansko's to work. It seemed a little silly for a humid, overcast DC August day. In my own small effort to rally against the elements I pulled out my tan/peach seersucker suit and strapped on my summer loafers. Upon arriving to my office, I gasped in horror at the appearance of the black greasy stripes accessorizing my left lower pant leg.

Beware the DC Metro - it will attack any clothing light in color.

There are some days where we need to sit towards the back of the class and just let rest of the world flow around us or shift positions and look at the world from a new location. All in the effort to become caught up in the flow - where movement becomes a meditation and each breath is cherished. During the last class of the Intro series, a week or so ago, we moved into the hip openers during our flow and I found mine wouldn't open. They had beautifully and easily opened not two nights before - why wouldn't they now? I had to use the modifications and those were still very uncomfortable.

During this last Intro class, my breath was stagnant, I didn't breathe into the poses. I just took a passive response and accepted where they were. At the time, I was unable to see that other asanas were beginning to open.

I stepped into the studio this past Thursday after the seersucker incident (and a later one involving my white oxford shirt and a tomato) with a little trepidation - cognizant that I needed to take control of the way my day was moving. When we began our practice, my mind was turning over, then I started to listen to my breath. Upon reflection, this was the first time my practice became a meditation, it flowed easily from one pose to another slowly moving deeper, pushing further. I dexterously followed a pose or two I had never performed before. When we moved through the five sets of Urdhva Dhanurasana, I was fully present for each one. On the final wheel, I began to do push-ups at the suggestion of the instructor. Ask me how I did this, I cannot say for certain, just that it came, very simply. It wasn't forced.

Thurday's practice, heralded a change. I found out today, the marks on my seersucker pants are not permanent. Apparently, the dry cleaners here in DC are accustomed to dealing with the scourge of black greasy marks. And yes, my hips were still somewhat tight in today's practice; however, other movements continued to open. Just like the spots, that will be erased by the miracles of perc, poses will blossom in their own time.

One Year Markers; The First of Two

We celebrate anniversaries as the passage of time, a way to mark milestones. I'm celebrating with friends and two yoga sessions, to honor Life and the changes that it brings.

As the years pass, we keep mementos and photographs to remember those special moments and hold loved ones close in our hearts. As I look back over my life, this last year and these last 8 months, a lot of who I am and have become is begotten of Parson's Fifth and The Cru. In my short yoga practice, I've realized that I have had many experiences that I never would have had and tried things that I never would have considered. Ultimately, I would have never grown in the ways I have over these last 8 months, wearing shoes I would have never expected to.


One event doesn't wholly define a person or community, it is the response to that event that defines them.


Through Loves and Friendships, we give each other the chance to become stronger and learn more about each other than we would have been content to know, to delve deeper, and gain a better understanding of ourselves. Simply, together we embrace Life - both the joys and the sorrows.

The people who come into our lives come in at the time they do for a reason, helping us realize our potential and then some. They come in their own way and they exit in their own time and fashion. However, we step forward sometimes alone, sometimes alongside another, and sometimes surrounded and propped up by others.

Class # 7: Ice Cream and Inversions

CoffeeShop Girl emailed me today and suggested we meet up for an ice cream date. Her words, “Ice cream makes the world better.” I recommended meeting up at Gifford’s - I had vanilla ice cream (with chocolate jimmies) for dinner.

A week has almost passed since my last post and there has been so much. Possibly, too much. My mind has been a cacophony of thoughts and I have been filled with a broad gamut of emotion.

I have multiple drafts of posts and comments and observations - all leading down paths that just don’t connect naturally or express all that I have to say. Going back to the concept of Satya, not posting was a way for me to give Truth - to be honest, I was lost.

When we boldly walk down a path, relishing the the sound of our own footsteps, we sometimes forget to listen for the steps of others or to look behind us or to look forward. There’s a delicate balance to be had in looking forward with strength and determination (as in Virabhadrasana II) and looking behind (as in Matsyasana) while remaining in the present.

Concurrent with looking forward and back and being in the present, we try to reach out to each other to help ease the burdens carried by our Loves and Friends. Through this, we gain some further insight to our own beings and garner deeper strength to conquer our own lives. In class last night I did my first shoulder stand (Salamba Sarvangasana), assisted by our instructor. I had spoken with her last week about my fear of full inversions; last night she gently guided me past that edge.

Due to the nature of the pose, it is imperative that you are fully present and focused on the pose itself or the likelihood of injury is heightened – pretty much like the rest of life. But at the same time, there is no better way to live, than focused and awake.

In Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar writes about the pose:

“It is no over statement to say that if a person regularly practices Sarvangasana he will feel new vigor and strength, and will be happy and confident. New life will flow into him, his mind will be at peace and he will feel the joy of life.”*

In a way, it’s very much like having vanilla ice cream for dinner on a mid-August night.

* Iyengar, B.K.S. Light On Yoga. New York: Schocken Books, rev. ed. 1979, p. 213.

Class #6: Inch by Inch, Millimeter by Millimeter

Walking to grab a chai (and maybe a cupcake) from the Baked & Wired I looked down and (!!!) the cap thing on the bottom of the heel of right shoe was gone. Lost forever. It actually probably disappeared earlier this morning, because I distinctly remember my step sounding slightly different as I walked through the foyer of my office building first thing this morning.

So I spent my day .25" slightly slanted. Not that it was a big issue, that was just my day I guess.

It's amazing the difference something so small can make.

Last night we spent a lot of time working though half pigeon and fire log pose* (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana and Agnistambhasana respectively) . Going into eka pada rajakapotsana (elka pada translated as one legged/footed) I know that my hips are still tight from years of playing field hockey and I always use a block for a little extra support. You can imagine my surprise when I easily managed to get into agnistambhasana. While sitting there in my amazement, the teacher came over to me and moved my top foot .5" further over my knee bottom knee. WOW. I felt my hips open up even further.

Something similar occurred in the first class where the instructor placed two fingers under my right arm-pit, lifted my shoulder what seemed like two millimeters and my Down Dog changed forever. Now, I'm always checking in further with my shoulders and hips, trying to recreate that sensory experience.

The idea that a small movement can make a world of difference - we've all heard the ripple in the pond analogy - is very true. I think a word of caution though is that you have to be careful not to become hesitant because of the details; details can hinder forward movement and growth. If you wait to be perfect you never will get ahead, you have to actively seek out your dreams. If you act, the details will fall into place and help you soar far past your expectations realizing your dreams and maybe something more.

*According to the Baron Baptiste school, this is called double legged pigeon. In Light on Yoga, Rajakapotsana bears no resemblance to the Baron Baptiste version, so for the sake of being a bit of a traditionalist, I'm going with the yogajournal.com name for the pose.

Class #5: Presence

This morning I looked at my shoes and I honestly had no clue which pair I was going to wear. I have 43 pairs of shoes, and still, I had no clue. Finally after ten or so minutes of deliberation, I settled on my suede Cole Haans. They are familiar and easy, but they were oh so uncomfortable today, I couldn't wait to get home, peel them off and soak my feet.

Similar to how you can tell my mood by the shoes I wear, breath in yoga acts as a gauge and a moving force, carrying one through their asanas.

Back in December and January, people would tell to me that I seemed calm for all that was going on, I would say, "Well, I've been doing a lot of yoga breathing." Without knowing it, I wasn't that far off - breathing was a way for me to exercise some control. Prana, literally translated as life/breath, is the external manifestation of life; Pranayama is control of prana. In my practice, my breath is my marker. If I'm not breathing, I'm straining and pushing past where I should be. You breathe into a pose to move deeper, to open up the spaces that are tight, deepening your existence and focus on the present.

Breathing is just one of those things we do without thought. When we monitor our breathing, we have the opportunity to pause, assess, and savor life.

We started the back bending series this last class. Physically, the chest is opened and exposed, just as a foot in the graceful arch created by a Manolo Blahnik shoe. Philosophically, we bend into the past, honoring all that we have experienced, bringing us to our present. Breath acts as the bridge linking past and present and helping us step forward, into a new present.

Even though I feel a little as though I settled on my Cole Haans, looking at my closet, there are no other shoes I would have rather worn today.