Friday, December 30, 2011

Yoga before dawn

Mr. Singh really wants me to be his protégé. I see him almost daily and he asks me to join him on the front porch the next morning for yoga.

I love the idea of greeting the sun with a pure and uncluttered mind. It is undeniable that such action would make the whole day go much better. Better than, say, watching the TV morning news or "The View." Talk about clutter!

Starting the day looking through e-mail cannot be good for the soul. First there are the job alerts for positions I cannot possibly qualify to apply. Then, there are the appeals - save the whales, save human rights, save the media, save democracy, etc. There are Linked In updates so I can take note of who has connected with who! New York Times headlines pop up as well as Truthout and New Orleans City Business updates. Do I need to know how far Michele Bachmann is sinking in the polls? There could be a couple more responses to the evite I sent. I might get a blog comment to approve - that's fun. And I do enjoy checking the stats to see how many people in Indonesia and the Ukraine are reading my posts. I'm not sure why.

In the midst of all that are real communications. My graphic designer has sent revised layouts for review and editors sent assignments. An online bill is due. An actual friend might just be saying, hello.

Exactly how much information do we need? Or do we need any at all? Mr. Singh would probably go with the latter. Millions go blissfully through their day, knowing absolutely nothing about the Chinese economy - that is, until China buys Yahoo! (or cashes in its U.S. IOU). Many go to the polls knowing essentially nothing about the candidates. Yeah, Fox News! God help you if you pay attention to the financial pundits. They'll have your head spinning in no time.

I used to shun newspapers. Now, I pile up old ones I haven't read so I can catch up later - I might have missed something! I understand those who refuse to start a facebook page, sort of. Who cares what others are doing right now? Most of the people who "friend" me I hardly know. Occasionally, though, I do get to see a cute baby picture that might have escaped notice.

Mr. Singh wants me to wake at 5 a.m., as he does, and sit quietly on a woven mat for two hours. In theory, it sounds like a good idea, but it is really cold out there, especially squatting on the front porch with the dew still hanging in the air. By the time I rouse, he finished an hour ago and I've missed the yoga class again.

But I can't stop myself at night from reading another chapter or trying to get through the "The New Yorker" and then it is impossible to wake up for yoga.

I'll probably see him again today, strolling along, wearing a warm-up suit his son bought him. He'll clasp my hands in his and say, "I see" when I make my usual excuses.


1 comment:

  1. Hi there,
    I heard there is a studio in New Orleans that has a 5am yoga class. Do you know where that is?
    I was happy to read your post.

    ReplyDelete