“The practice of concentrating on a single principle counteracts the obstacles.” — The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Gary Kissiah
Earlier in the week, I’d reached for my book on the yoga sutras. Upon opening it up to a random page for my sutra-of-day (week, or month), this yoga sutra 1.32 was where I landed. I immediately thought of work, but found the sutra did not quite fit. And soon I was on with my day — sutra 1.32 long forgotten… until last night in the ashtanga foundations class.
Preparations for the yoga retreat are underway, albeit slowly. The trip is not until September but there is so much to do.
Thankfully, my passport is good until August 2017. There are plenty of pages freed up for travel as it has only one stamp from my trip to Vancouver. I know that many feel like Vancouver hardly seems worthy of a stamp but the border officials in Canada felt that I needed a little encouragement for my first trip over the US border.
Travel to India is a bit more involved. First off, it requires a visa. The application can be completed online, printed, and sent in with your passport. Alternately, you may choose to make an appointment to hand carry your paperwork to the agency. Either way, they keep it for a fair amount of time before it is all shipped back to you. I opted to get a jump on it time wise and save my time off by choosing the first option.
There are additional items which are required to be sent with the application, including two passport type photos. If you’ve not had to procure such photos, let me tell you that they have quite exacting specifications which cover everything from background, dress, photo composition, size, and pixels. And while there are places who will gladly take your money in exchange for two copies of the worst possible image of you, I prefer to have an image that will make me smile rather than wince when I see it. Not only do these places not care how you look, one look at my current passport photo shows that they don’t even seems to adhere to the standards.
So I asked my photographer friend to assist in the process…
It seems like just yesterday I was shaking my head while running past a bunch of young kids walking down the center of the railroad tracks. Oh wait…it WAS yesterday! As a general rule, playing on the railroad tracks is a BAD IDEA. Who could dispute that?
Nevertheless, when there are no trains in sight, these particular tracks scream for some railway play. Just be sure to bring along your own train-spotter before letting loose your inner caboose.
Do your thing quickly, and don’t be surprised if you draw a bit of attention in the process.
Last night, when I opted for some evening ashtanga practice after a midday run, I groaned with the first forward bend. “That’s why they call it ‘practice'” I thought.
Clearly my body needed a little more practice in going with the flow of my busy lifestyle.
By the time I found time to run it was at the heat of the day. It didn’t matter though. My body rejoiced at the gift of being able to get out of the office stillness and move. I found a meditation like calmness as I watched the trees pass by, and felt the ground under foot. Running! Oh, how I do love running!
But as I approached my turnaround point, I either lost focus or energy. My consciousness returned when my right big toe slammed into a big rock. OW! Pick up your feet, Julie! I kept on moving and soon was crossing over the river of rocks (no water). Once again, my awareness of my body came rushing back as the arch of my foot met the sharp edge of an unfriendly rock. OWIE!
I ran on. [Read more…]