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Yawn & Stretch & Try to Come to Life
06 May 2004
4 13:19

This was a very different morning.

I finally slept in my bed again last night (at least for the last few hours of the night...I had two martinis with dinner and fell asleep on the couch, as I've done habitually lately -- the couch, not the martinis -- just after the beginning of Keen Eddie, while cursing the lack of Law & Order), and this morning, when I awoke, I did a very strange thing which had a massive impact on my day.

Yoga.

Nothing major, mind you, just the sun salute a few times, but the effect was immediately appreciable.

I stumbled out of bed as usual, but this morning, it occurred to me that my apartment faces east, where the sun comes over the hills, and a good stretching breathing meditation exercise might be just the thing to kick the day off to a good start -- a good ritual into which I might fall -- So I went and looked up the particulars of the sun salute, which I'd long-since forgotten (My only experience with yoga was in a movement class my junior year in college. It was conducted in a dance studio, so the walls were lined with mirrors, which encouraged me to look at myself and to judge myself and to compare myself to others, especially the fifty-something-year-old woman who was our instructor, who was a dancer, and who was then and likely is now far more flexible than I will ever dream of being. I loathed it at the time, because it hurt and it made me uncomfortable). It came back with remarkable speed and clarity, and now, doing it in my workroom, where there are no mirrors, and being older, more comfortable in my own skin, and probably in better physical shape than I was at that time, it felt marvelous.

Focusing on bringing out the inner sun along with the one which was rising was a wonderful change. It made me hate myself less. It made me hate the world less. It brought me a greater sense of balance. It helped me to focus on the coming day with clarity and purpose and goodwill. It made me feel more awake and alive, almost electrically tingly with the energy of life.

I really must recommend this simple exercise to everyone. It only takes a very few minutes, and I really do believe that if everyone on the planet began his/her day this way, we'd all be a hell of a lot better off. It's certainly what I intend to do.

r

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