Red Elephant

Write More

I've been a list-maker again lately, and near the top is getting back to writing. For myself, for public consumption, anything to get the old muscles working again.

I'm really interested in short fiction lately. New on my radar is 365 Tomorrows. I love it first & foremost because it's short sci-fi stories, different visions of the future. But it's also a collaborative writing project. Five writers got together [along with a web-savvy compatriot] and decided to publish one new short piece of fiction for a year. Ambitious, but not all that difficult. It just comes down to dedicating the time.

Of course, I'm a fan of McSweeneys, both internet & print editions. But for some reason, I've been neglecting The Believer online. And while I've been a fan for a while, I actually have some bizarre little story ideas that I need to work up & submit. While it would be neat to get a short on the website -- or on something like Fray -- the process is the important thing. Like Max, who decided that he was going to do a graphic novel & then a webcomic, the main thing came down to sitting down & drawing regularly until it was done.

And, oh yes, he also did a novel last November. Again, it's about putting in the time.

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Speaking of putting in the time, Max and I have been talking about getting fat. About making excuses to write, draw, housekeep, drink, or anything but exercise. Granted, there is still yoga Monday nights, but my personal practice has suffered. Thankfully, Kat & Nick have been good at taking me up on bike-rides. Nick and I did nine or ten miles tonight, so that was really good.

But back to getting fat. I've weighed myself a couple of times in the last week, and it's come out to about 200 lbs. each time. Let me write that out, two hundred pounds. Now, this isn't a huge deal. [Pun not intended, but kept.] I eat fairly healthily, and I do keep active, but it is a big paradigm shift. I've hovered at about 165-170 since high school, when I topped out at 185 while taking weight training.

Granted, I've probably put on some muscle with yoga, but I think there's more to it than that. Seems to me it's a combination of increased muscle mass & then some poor choices in the past couple of months with regards to diet and my yoga practice.

But more than anything else, it's changing the idea of my body image. It's not just my pants that are shrinking, I'm coming in at two bills. And while that may be just what I weigh at this age, I can certainly be in better shape. So, time to replace the biscuits and gravy for breakfast [for only $1.50 at the shop across the street] with some fruit smoothies. Get rid of the candy & get some more dried fruit.

And oh yes, get on the bike & back on the mat.

When I'm not writing, that is.

Upside Down

Plenty has gone on in the last month, but right now I'm thinking mostly about yoga. I'll be subbing this week for a couple of classes at lighthouse yoga while Jed, Sarah & Amy are out of town. I'm pretty excited, and still feel like I have some preparation to do before the classes. Jed's suggested doing a practice by myself, which is still new to me. I'm more used to practicing with other people.

I've been feeling a lot stronger lately, especially in inversions. We did some work on  Pincha Mayurasana last week, and I've finally started figuring out how to balance without the wall. Later in the week, we did some Adho Muka Vrksasana [Handstand] and I had a similar moment when everything just clicked.

I've thought before that it's all about balance, which it is, in part. I think it's more about building from the ground up. It's about figuring out where you have room to move, how to pull your shoulders back so that you form a straight line pointing up. Instead of trying to balance, you focus on the foundation and the it just happens. Your legs swing up into place, and you suddenly feel how it's supposed to work.

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And, as some of you know, I'm going to start teaching a class, soon. I'm looking for people who are interested in taking a "friends and family" class with me. It would be once a week, most likely on a Monday night, and would run for four or eight weeks. Still figuring out the details with Jed, but it's the next step. Let me know if you are interested.

Sleep Schtuff

I've been thinking about sleep a lot the last couple of weeks. I saw The Machinist two weeks ago, and it is scary how much insomnia resonates with my friends -- overachievers, designers, and others who sacrifice night hours to finish projects. It's terrible what it does to your body, but moreso to your mind. In this case, it was taken to an extreme, but the paranoia, the confusion, the blurring of reality. We could all relate in one way or another.

The other way I've been thinking about sleep is as a kind of reboot, not just your average night's sleep, though I appreciate that when I can get it. Instead, I've been thinking about the importance of waking up in other places. Not just vacation. But waking up somewhere else, how that sets the tone for a holiday, or a reboot.

Some of it is breaking the pattern of your own bed. Crashing on a couch at a friend's house. Or better yet, the floor. I wouldn't want to do it every night, but there's a different kind of tired, and a different kind of sleep on the ground. Maybe camping is a better example, waking up closer to nature, waking up with the sun. That's actually my favorite way to wake up. To light, not to an alarm. It's a rare luxury with the schedule I keep these days.

I think that your dreaming is like anything else, it needs to travel, it needs to be cleaned out.

Yoga and Advice

I've been away all weekend at an Anusara Yoga Workshop presented by Jamie Allison. It was an amazing experience, and has really given me some techniques and inspiration to deepen my practice. Many thanks to Jed and Sarah Moulton, my friends and instructors who told me about the workshop. I hope to eventually instruct at their studio here in Omaha.

On a purely technical note, I learned some techniques that will allow me to build strength in my shoulders so I can do more head-, shoulder- & handstands as well as the ever popular Urdhva Dhanurasana.

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This just in, Jenn Bernard has just agreed to co-author a weblog on relationships with me. I'm super excited, and will be looking for submissions. Right now, just email me until I figure out a submittal form for the site. We hope to offer a he said/she said format with witty writing and the occasional sage bit of advice. We also hope to work in relationship terms that we have coined in conversation.

Balancing

Learn something new every day. Or try to.

Yesterday was learning Tittibhasana [firefly pose] in yoga class. This is the first time I've done it, or heard of it, so there was a lot of falling on my butt. Learning to balance all your weight on your hands is one thing. Sticking your legs out, too, is another.

I'm much more familiar with Bakasana [crane pose]. I learned this about a year ago and am finally getting the hang of it. It hasn't come up that often in the classes I've taken, maybe once a month at the most.

One thing yoga has taught me is patience. It takes a long time to learn new things. It's amazing when you find out that you can make your body do something it couldn't before.