Earth Day

I stumbled on this article not knowing what it was about. The title "Why Bother?" was promising. Turns out it's Michael Pollan's assessment of the climate change situation and what we, as individuals, can do about it. It's a smart piece.

His final analysis: the best way to make a difference is to grow your own vegetables.

As we are starting our very first vegetable garden (soil is being delivered today!), this is good news! The article is inspiring; I even got a little choked up at the end. Ever since I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I've been thinking more about connected-ness, especially when it comes to food. Growing food (or preparing to grow food) is so humbling. All we need are seeds, sun, soil, water and care. How amazing is that? It's this wonderful thing that anyone can do. Now, I don't plan on growing all my own food and foregoing big box grocery stores (though I can't recall the last time I bought a meal-in-a-box). Aside from the massive amount of work that would require, I simply don't know enough about gardening. But if we can supplement our groceries with one or two fresh crops at a time, I think that will be significant.

And we're on our way! The Broccoli and Brussels sprouts have been joined by cherry tomato and red bell pepper sprouts! The hot peppers will poke through any day. Just can't wait to get the raised beds finished and filled with soil so we can get the rest of the seeds out there.

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Practice yesterday was fussy and fidgety, but on the upside, I have no shoulder pain. The Plank Plan is working so far. Today, I got a late start. Without Johnny here to get me up and going in the morning, this week will be a real test of will. I finally got on the mat around 7.15 and was very slow to get going. After each sun salutation, I had to pause and remind myself why I'm doing this. (And I only did 3 Surya Namaskara B.) Once I got through that, the rest went pretty well.

Swami T gave a nice little talk about effort. Any accomplished person (e.g. a musician) gets that way only through practice. Yoga and spiritual growth are no different. You have to practice every day and if you take a few days off, you notice it. Once you are accomplished (read: enlightened), you don't have to practice any more. "When the rice is cooked, you don't have to keep cooking it." Since I don't expect my rice to get cooked in this lifetime, it's practice, practice, practice.

I've incorporated Handstands in between each Navasana and it is pretty tough. Navasana is challenging on its own, but including 3 handstands really amps things up. Going right into Bhujapidasana after that feels like a lot. I wish there was a resting, catching-your-breath pose in between. Other than that, the late-primary poses are going well. I feel good!