The world is not flat

Sometimes things that you see wake you up, rather than put you to sleep. This morning after practice a man sat on the grass by the side of the road. He was sitting cross-legged, and as I approached, I could see that he was missing his feet and that one of the stumps was covered in blood.

I have to start praying. We pray to ourselves before we practice, but part of it should include this gratefulness for being able to walk at all. After breakfast at Tina's, a young man was walking down the road with both legs terribly mangled.

Back in New York, I started having certain back issues that sent me to the chiropractor. When filling out the intake form, I answered questions like "what activities do you perform that are affected by the pain you are experiencing?" My response: drop backs, deep back bends like kapotasana. I had to stop and laugh at how ridiculous this whole situation was becoming.

I've tried before to take a moment to pray over my food, but I have been in the habit of forgetting until the end of the meal. I'm trying again today. Rachel wanted to do something nice for her house cleaner, so she thought she would buy her some of her favorite fruit. A nice gesture. So she asked her what her favorite fruit was. Confused, she explained that she only eats rice and chapathis because fruit is too expensive. It is likely that she has never tasted an avocado before.

Below is the opening mantra in ashtanga yoga:

It is all about waking up. It is always about waking up instead of going to sleep. And then the closing prayer:

I got moved to 5am for practice. I grabbed just above my calves today in back bending (and some of my hair). I'm going to chanting today. ____ poured gallons and gallons of cold water over my head with his words from half way across the world over a pay phone.