So Long, Been Good To Know You in Everyday Ramblings

This is the red oak across the river we walk by now and then. Last time I saw it was in late fall and most of the leaves were down. Now they are gone and the tree is ready for spring. The fellow that lives in the small house on the property is a master rose gardener. Today the house has a new roof and the roses are all pruned and humming waiting for the conditions to thrive and grow. We are all hoping with great enthusiasm that the snow this week was the last for the year here.

I am listening to a podcast conversation between two older white progressive men talk about the capitalistic roots of the division of labor between men and women. About how the system was built and thrived on the fact that men worked and women basically did everything else to support the family for free. As the wheel of profit seeking grinds along into the future, women are now also expected to work and basically do everything else to support the family. And how this might be a root cause of a number of deep problems in society at large.

Earlier I listened to a podcast about the various points of view on gun legislation in Colorado. The moderator spoke to two elected state officials with opposite points of view. One is a survivor of the Columbine shooting and the other was in the theater in Aurora during that mass-shooting event. Wow.

Last night I listened to a podcast about plagiarism and copyright infringement and the differences between how they are actionable in nonfiction as opposed to fiction. They were talking about this writer Daniel Mallory who uses the pen name A.J. Finn who is apparently a pretty troubled guy. I listened to “Gone Girl” and the “Girl on the Train” and didn’t like either of them, barely finished them because when all the characters are odious, who cares? I did not want to subject myself to that again so had no interest in these two newer novels, “The Woman in the Window” and “Saving April” that appear to be remarkably similar.

And yesterday afternoon I listened to this extraordinary podcast about this new pain disorder that a number of young women are experiencing known as “amplified pain” and the remarkable and very challenging treatment for it that involves retraining their brains by having them exercise in a way that actually causes pain.

This one just blew me out of the water so to speak, in terms of introducing fertile ground for thoughts about how to inspire and encourage my students to do what they need to do to feel better in their bodies.

I have been thinking a lot lately about chronic pain and how to work with it. And how tough mentally women are. Both older women and young ones and how we can harness the inclination to please and be competitive towards a goal of greater range of motion and a sense of well being by learning our limits and pushing against them consistently and employing the age old and effective strategy of distraction. :)

I often tell my students little engaging stories while I am asking them to do something challenging. And depending on the class I try to make them laugh. I was doing a practice led by another teacher I admire the other day, a woman who is a champion and role model for yoga for bigger bodies, and she was employing the same techniques.

At one point about six months ago in class while we were doing some balance drills or plank or something I told them that when I was little we lived in a house in Los Angeles that was just down the street from Liberace’s house. His house was built to look a bit like a piano.

This is true by the way. It was in Sherman Oaks.

On Monday a couple of my students came in and asked, “Remember when you said you lived near Liberace???”

I was so touched. They were actually listening to me…and remembered that tidbit. Setting up we all had a lively Liberace discussion, about films and artists that are now doing homage shows and how our parents felt about him and…

The week before I believe the pre-class discussion was about the genius of Freddy Mercury. I don’t think these are your typical yoga class discussions but they are fun.

Tomorrow I get to go hang out with Kes and Most Honorable. It has been way too many weeks since I have seen them because of the (how do you say?) inclement weather.

So long been good to know you…not.

Last updated March 10, 2019