a space for pondering: sundays at green gulch (marin county, ca)

August 29, 2010 at 8:44 pm (life, meditation, practice, travel)

Part of the garden at Green Gulch

A few weeks ago,   I was going through an internal crisis and trying to prevent myself from wallowing in misery, so I asked my friends where they go when they need to escape from it all and just think.  One of my friends mentioned the Sunday morning program at the SF Zen Center’s Green Gulch Farm at Muir Beach, and when I looked at the website, I was quite curious. I grew up in a devoutly Christian family, and wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about hanging out at a Buddhist temple on a Sunday morning, but I figured that meditation and praying (regardless of who you’re praying to) can happen just about anywhere.

Enlisting the aid of  Tessa, one of my yogini girlfriends who had gone before, we got a bright and early start on Sunday morning and crossed over the Golden Gate towards our quest for enlightenment.  We arrived quite early and took some time to walk around the gardens.  There are many spaces to sit and relax in the garden, as well as beautifully manicured trees and flowers.  At 8:15 am, we were lead into the Green Dragon Temple and given a brief introduction to zazen (meditation practice).  We sat on cushions, facing the wall, and did a ten minute meditation, then had a break before the actual public meditation session was to begin.

The public meditation session was quite full.  Meditation and stillness has never been easy for me -  I have a serious tendency to look around and people-watch, but selecting a seat that gave me only a view of the white wall was exactly what I needed to knock myself into concentration mode.  I find that ten minutes is just about the limit of my ability to be still – then I start noticing that my foot is numb, or that I’m actually freezing cold (just a tip: wear socks and layer up, as the temple tends to be freezing cold at 9am), or that the person next to me has a stomach that is rumbling loudly.  The meditation lasts for maybe 30-40 minutes total, but it felt longer.  (Side note:  I realized that sometimes when your mind keeps drifting back to a specific subject even though you’re trying not to think about  it, the best way to clear it is to just deal with it head on and meditate on it until it dissipates.  I got 30 minutes or so of thinking about the one person who I was trying not to think about, but I feel good about it now.)

After the mediation session, the temple quickly filled up with people arriving for the Dharma lecture, so Tessa and I stayed on our cushions instead of leaving for a break.  Every Sunday at 10:15am, they bring in a speaker who talks about a subject relating to Zen practice, or life in general.  They don’t really put the subject of the Dharma talk on the website, but today’s topic (touching upon realizing our own remarkableness) was uplifting and helped me to feel a little less off-kilter, and a little more amazed.  (We all need reminding now and then.)

Once the Dharma talk is over, everyone is invited to stay for tea and muffins ($1 donation) and check out the produce for sale (all organic).  You can even stay for lunch (vegetarian, $8-10 donation).  Tessa and I stayed to sip our English Breakfast tea and enjoy the muffins (which were delicious) and stand around in the sun.  The entire experience is very special, as you can get a lot out of it if you’re open to it.  I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a new and relaxing experience, and I will most definitely be back again very soon.

Sunday Morning Program at SF Zen Center Green Gulch Farm – $5-10 donation for meditation session, $8-10 donation for vegetarian lunch.  Open to the public.  Located at 1601 Shoreline Highway, Muir Beach.

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eat, pray, love – the movie review.

August 24, 2010 at 3:25 pm (Entertainment, events, travel)

Ok, Dear Readers…I couldn’t let the summer pass by without a post about the movie “Eat, Pray, Love”.  I haven’t really been keeping up with how much hype this movie was getting, until I went to Cost Plus last weekend and was appalled by the entire “Eat, Pray, Love” merchandise section…pasta, yoga mat bags, prayer beads, and candles tagged with “EPL” labels.  (Oy vey.  What a cash cow.)  I didn’t read a single review about the movie before I went, because I really wanted to form my own opinion (and I wanted to LOVE it!).

I read the book when it first came out because I am a big fan of travel writing.  I read through the Peter Mayle “Provence”  books, a bunch of books on Italy, and a couple of books on Japan, and I enjoy the joys of armchair travel.  This book was covering Italy, India, and Indonesia – three places that always seemed very alluring to me – so I dove headfirst into Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir.  Even though I’m not a thirty-something divorcee, I felt her pain.  I understood the feeling of feeling broken, needing great change, seeking God.  It was actually this book that got into yoga again, and interested in meditation…but it served as a reminder that nothing is permanent, the Divine resides in each of us, and there is nothing to be gained by waiting for something to happen to you.

Long story short – I loved the book.  So, we went to watch the movie last night along with about 30 other women in the theater (and one lone guy, who we think may have lost a bet or done something really f**ked up to deserve 2.5 hours of a Julia Roberts chick flick).

The verdict?  Well…it is a beautiful film.  They managed to capture of romanticism of Roma, the hustle & bustle of India, and the lush, tropical sexiness of Bali.  But beyond the pretty backdrops, gorgeous Julia Roberts and a hunky Javier Bardem, I was disappointed.  So much of the book was Gilbert’s introspective voice, doing the entire movie in voice-over would be appropriate, but incredibly strange…but the attempt to capture her inward transformations were pretty weak.    They skimmed over details that were huge parts of the story.  If they wanted to include most of what was in the book, the movie would have needed to be released in parts (part 1: Italy), or made into a miniseries.  We see her break out a yoga mat all of ONCE on the entire journey, and though you do have a few scenes of Liz meditating, it seemed a bit contrived every time they cut to her sitting serenely in lotus pose.

When I left the movie, I was bummed that I didn’t absolutely love it.  I checked out some other reviews, and realized that I wasn’t alone in my opinion.  Basically, if you loved the book, you might be a little disappointed that the movie skips a lot of the rich detail that Gilbert provides on her daily experiences in each location, but you’ll get it.  If you’ve never read the book, you might enjoy the film, but you might not connect with Liz Gilbert all that well.  All in all, it’s a beautifully shot movie with a respectable and believable leading lady, that carries a good message.  But you may want to save it for your Netflix queue, I’m just saying.

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thus begins the journey with my passport to prana!

August 24, 2010 at 10:41 am (classes, practice, Studios, yoga)

Guess what arrived today?  My Passport to Prana card!  I can’t wait to try out all these new studios.  I am planning on checking out the following studios – if anyone has any recommendations on which teachers/classes have been particularly inspiring, please let me know!

Aha Yoga - 1892 Union Street # 2 415-440-9642

Asta Yoga - 417 14th Street 415-701-1888

Bend Yoga Studio - 1935 Hayes Street 415-830-7501

Bernal Yoga - 461 Cortland Avenue 415-643-9007

Breathe SF - 2960 Van Ness Avenue 415-518-7371

Divine Essence Yoga - 2 Connecticut Street, 2nd Floor 650-776-3953

Flying Yoga - 4308 Telegraph Ave 510-689-3806

Laughing Lotus Yoga Center - 3271 16th Street 415-355-1600

The Mindful Body - 2876 California Street 415-931-2639

One Door Yoga - 634 San Anselmo Avenue 409-344-3910

The Pad Studios - 1690 Union Street 415-929-1690

Pretzels Yoga & Pilates - 485 A Carolina Street 415-626-9642

Red Dragon Yoga - 438 Miller Avenue 415-381-3724

Santosha Yoga Center - 1386 Pacific Avenue (415) 928-9642

Satori Yoga Studio 40 1st Street, 2nd Floor 415-618-0418

ShoeBox Studio - 855 Folsom Street Suite 112 415-861-5976

Urban Flow Yoga - 1543 Mission Street 415-355-9642

Yoga Mayu - 2051 Harrison Street 415-671-4712

Yoga of Sausalito - 110 Caledonia Street 415-332-9642

Yoga Tree Hayes - 19 Hayes Street 415-626-9707

Yoga Tree Stanyan - 780 Stanyan Street 415-387-4707

Yoga Tree Valencia - 1234 Valencia Street 415-647-9707

Yoga Works San Francisco - 1823 Divisadero Street 415-292-5600  (and all other Bay Area Yoga Works locations!)

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exploring aparigraha (aka cheating on my yoga class)

August 19, 2010 at 7:30 am (classes, meditation, practice, struggle, yoga)

To paraphrase Sandy in “Grease”, I am hopelessly devoted… to my yoga regime.  That sounds like a good thing (and it is, for the most part), I admit I don’t really branch out beyond my usual yoga classes, and I wonder if that is inhibiting my growth as a yoga student (actually, I’m pretty sure it is).  For example, I’m so regular with my yoga schedule, if someone were to try and stalk me, you’d know that I am at teacher A’s class on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and teacher B’s on Mondays and Wednesdays, and if I’m taking a Sunday yoga class, I’m at teacher C’s class.  (I even have my “regular” class that I go to when teacher A isn’t available.)  I’m quite attached to my routine.  And with attachment -  so goes the Buddhist philosophy – comes suffering.  The fifth yamas  described in the Yoga Sutras is “Aparigraha” (अपरिग्रह), which can be translated as “non-attachment” – essential for developing a healthy mind and body.

Yeah.  Apparently this attachment thing is a big deal.

It’s really easy to get attached to your favorite teachers/classes/studios -  even a particular style of yoga.  For the past couple of years, I’ve done classes at several different studios, but they all taught a similar style – vinyasa flow, at a medium to fast pace, working up a real sweat.  When faced with a class that requires you to hold poses for a longer amount of time, my body goes, “Huh?”.  It’s even difficult for me to relax in a Restorative Yoga class because it’s just not what I’m used to.  I have had teachers who come from different backgrounds (Jivamukti, Kundalini, Anusara), but I always go back to the same style, and more recently, the same teachers.  It’s kind of a yoga rut – one that I love, but a rut none the less.

The solution to my rut came to me out of nowhere.  The other evening, a girlfriend of mine called me out of the blue to join her for a class at aha, since she is using her “Passport To Prana” card to check out studios around town (see info below).  I’m a little late to the PTP party, but I just bought one.  Not only is it a great deal, but I think it might do me some good to free myself from being handcuffed attached to my “home studio”.  Plus, whenever you deviate from your routine, you open yourself up to learning something new, meeting new people, and finding yourself experiencing something different than “the usual”.  In reference to my last post about the road less travelled, the idea of changing teachers or styles every once in a while can be a challenge in itself, and challenge brings progress, right?  As I did when I was in dance school, I’m going to be varying my study so that I become  more well-rounded… and can hopefully learn more about myself, what resonates with me, and what else is out there waiting to teach me something!

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deal: passport to prana multi-studio card

August 18, 2010 at 12:52 pm (classes, practice, Products, yoga)

Passport To Prana is this pretty awesome deal that lets you try one class at each participating studio on their list.  It’s available in several different cities in the USA and Canada, and each city’s card expires at a different time.  I just purchased one, and have until November to use it…so I’m looking forward to checking out what San Francisco has to offer.  Get yours NOW!

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daily asana: ardha hanumanasana (half monkey god pose)

August 18, 2010 at 12:44 pm (asana, practice, yoga)

Ardha Hanumanasa is the pose to help you get into full Hanumanasana (I love the full version of this pose, even though I’m habitually doing it wrong).  Ardha Hanumanasa essentially a half split, allowing you to stretch your hamstrings and encourages a deeper fold from the hips.  Two big things to watch for are keeping your spine straight as you hinge forward, and keeping your hips square.  It’s very easy to have poor alignment in this pose, and let gravity pull you over as you attempt to touch your head to your knee.  Keep thinking, “forehead to foot”, and you’re headed (haha) in the right direction.

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the yoga road less travelled.

August 16, 2010 at 9:58 am (meditation, practice, struggle, yoga)

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Oh, how I love this poem.  I haven’t thought of it in years, but it flashed in my mind during yoga practice the other day.  (Funny, right?  I mean, who thinks of high school required reading material while sitting in Sukhasana?)

The reason was because of a moment of indecision I had as to which leg to put in front during our cross-legged meditational seat.  Not a momumental decision by any means, but an important one, as I would be sitting in that position for a few minutes and really shouldn’t try to switch positions in the middle of what should be an exercise in stillness.  I am undeniably left-legged, and you can see the imbalance in flexibility when I’m sitting in Baddha Konasana.  Having my left leg in front would be the easiest way to sit, no doubt.  Then, my little inner Yogi kicked in and said, “This is not about easy.  It’s about growing.  Choose the harder one, silly!”

It is a timeless, and true, concept – growth is born from struggle.  There are Chinese Proverbs that say “Crisis + Struggle = Growth”.  Any living being needs to be challenged in order to progress, otherwise we’re just chillaxing on a plateau and stagnating.  Except for restorative yoga, I don’t expect my practice to be easy – and really, what would be the point of that?  As with many things I think about during yoga practice, I think this can be applied to any situation in life – taking the road less travelled, if you will.  Scary?  A little.  Troublesome?  Possibly.  Exciting opportunity for experience?  Definitely.

So I chose the right leg.  And sat in tolerable discomfort for about five minutes.  The more I do it, the less it bothers me, and really, I’m just trying to correct the imbalances in my body.  It’s not necessarily about pushing through the pain, either.  If it hurts, you should not do it.  If it’s just a twinge of discomfort, breathe through it.  As one of my teachers says, we should relish the moment when it’s uncomfortable – that’s your Yoga.

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organic foods…really?

August 4, 2010 at 12:44 pm (Food, Products)

I shop at Whole Foods all the time…but someone sent me this investigative piece about “organic” foods originating from China.  Something to chew on, indeed.

Note: I am not trying to vilify Whole Foods in any way – I really like them, and I shop there all the time – but as Suki commented below, it’s really up to the consumer to be alert and aware of where their food comes from.

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