I took my first Mandarin lesson offered by SPACE yesterday. It was very exciting business... there were 6 of us. Teachers from both studios. We had fun... laughing while we tried to wrap our mouths around the strange words and attempted to figure out the four different tones.
- Neutral
- Rising
- Falling rising
- Falling
I spent 1700NT (60 CAD) on books yesterday... Couldn't help it... get me into a bookstore and I can't resist. Here I am, trying to save money and then BLAMO! I'm in a bookstore. *shrug* The more exciting part... I bought the Jivamukti Yoga book, Living the Gita by Swami Satchidananda, and A Spy in the House of Love by Anais Nin. Yep, some yoga knowledge and a little erotica. Nice mix. I finished reading The Dharma Bums. I recommend it to those of you in the mood for a little Buddhism, literature and poetic reading. Next up is the HathaYogaPradipika... not the version that I'm hoping to read, but I suppose we need to start somewhere.
On the topic of Sadhana...
Sadhana is a spiritual practice (I will explain further if you ask nice...). So far I am trying to integrate: Vegetarian diet (What else is new, right?)... daily japa, meditation, and pranayama... tapas by practicing mauna every morning and not using the computer for the first hour of the day (which, I might add, is painful for me!), and svadhyaya. I have not been able to maintain a regular asana practice, because of my teaching schedule... but I'm hoping to start including it starting Monday.
"At first you will think of your sadhana as a limited part of your life. In time you will come to realize that everything you do is part of your sadhana." - Ram Das "Be Here Now"
Linda asked yesterday about the year-to-live practice... so I thought I would mention it (read Dharma Punx!)... Um... it's going well? The fourth month is almost complete. With the month of May comes a dying meditation, where you contemplate leaving your body. Thoughts: When I lived in Toronto, I was focused on being upfront/truthful in my relationships, approaching anxieties and fear, and working with my attachments... I felt real "progress" with these things (if that is possible). Now that I am in a new location, it feels almost like I'm starting all over again. New challenges. Yay?! :)
Enough with all of that business... time for pictures!
Ryan and I went for an evening stroll the other night. Played in the park alongside our apartment (which is restricted to those under the age of 12). Sat amongst the trees in front of the little temple around the corner... while old men got drunk and families worshipped. The temple is surrounded by small twinkling lights at night... wrapped around nearby trees, hanging from the roof... It was quite enjoyable. Mild, warm night... a little humid. Children playing, stray dogs sniffing, cars driving by...
This cranky black cat lives on a scooter seat just outside our apartment door. It is there every night. I often wonder what it does during the day. We have affectionately dubbed it "Scooter"... though it isn't a particularly affectionate cat. It kind of screeches at you if you slowly move towards it and then arches it's back and jumps off the scooter. Though in its' defense, I saw small children the other night trying to chase it around and play. Hence the hiding in bicycle baskets. Stay safe Scooter, stay safe.
C'est tout, for now. Here's something else for you to learn:: wo bu dong = I don't understand. I'm not sure how to include the little symbols for the tones... soooo... yeah.
Keep on keep'n it on. LOVE love love (Mom's reading my blog today... yay! Leave me a comment... please) xx. -n.
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