ridewithin

Yesterday was Ekadasi and all I thought about were bicycles-atleast my right hip only thought about bicycles. If I were to die now would I be born in China or Italy or family of pious bike builders/riders? I also did my laundry, chanted with cold feet, went on a japa walk to the campus lake, organized my trip to NYc, ate buckwheat with butternut squash soup, read about kumbhaks and bandhas, attempted to watch little Irish kids dance, did not wear green, watched a video about yoga, another one about anatomy, finished up a newsletter, ordered a few books off of amazon, went to the bike co-op to develop my fixy fetish, froze tofu, ate dried papaya spears, and researched Ayurveda. I think that was it. Oh yeah a little face book and emails. Maybe I was not so Krsna Conscious. I did obstain from cutting my hair, if that is a means to enter the gates of heaven.

If I am really tired before going to bed I think it prevents me from dreaming. I think I have always been afraid of dreaming since I was a child. Day dreams are ok, it’s just the night one’s which have tormented me. When I was little I used to have drink hops and chamomile tea to prevent me from having “night terrors”. They went away after some time but especially after joining an ashram and understanding a little philosophy and knowing the uncontrolled mind has full control at night makes sleep a scarier thing.

I have been waking up at 4 am every morning without an alarm. At that time I sit up check the time, drink some water and pray for a few minutes. Then I go back to sleep and wake up later. Today I re-awoke at 5:30am so I could go to the studio before my class and have my own practice. For those that teach yoga asana or philosophy we often pass up the chance to go to others classes or lectures. We more often fall into an area where we don’t practice ourselves. I like to arrive to the studio an hour before so I can warm the place up, light incense, set the music and my playlist for the upcoming class and do a few asanas and pranayama to awaken and go inward.

After class I returned home in the rain speaking with one student and friend named Zeb. He is a very sweet guy. This was the first time we spoke at length and I appreciated his company. Sometimes after a class I might walk home alone, I usually place my hand in my bead bag and chant a few rounds. I love Dwadasi so I can eat grains again. Today we broke our Ekadasi fast with cantelope smoothies, organic cereal with soy milk and a Srila Prabhupada lecture.

I have to chant now,shave my head, shop for tonights workshop, teach again at 3:30pm and then cook up a storm! It is finals week so there could be many people or a smaller crowd. You never really know. I’ll have to say good bye to a few graduates, a few see you laters to a number of students who will study abroad for spring quarter and chastise a few for showing up to our last workshop and not any previously. It is easy to schedule around, we always have VCW Tuesdays at 7pm. Don’t schedule classes during that time!