our-yoga

I discovered something interesting in the last twenty-four hours: It is possible to get an emotional hang-over from watching a certain kind of movie. Specifically, movies by the Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai. More specifically, Days of Being Wild (DOBW). Set in Hong Kong and the Philippines during the 1960s, the main character of DOBW is this self-indulgent, self-absorbed guy who goes around seducing women and getting into relationships with them, only to dump them once they start demanding some deeper level of emotional commitment from him (there's a reason for this behavior of his, but I won't spoil the story here...). Not a very unusual storyline as storylines go, but Wong's use of camerawork and the soundtrack (as well as the acting) gives the audience this claustrophobic feeling of moving in slow motion through a thick slush of emotional isolation and disconnection. It's a little bit like watching a train-wreck in slow motion ("Why does she have to keep going back to that A-hole who's treating her like shit?"), except the train-wreck is so beautifully filmed that you can't bear to look away. At the end of the movie, one feels as if one has had too much emotional slush to drink (hence the hangover).

Anyway... I'm probably saying a lot without really telling you what the movie is about. But I don't want to spoil the movie. Let me just say one more thing, and then I'll move on to something else: If works like Camus's The Stranger or Sartre's No Exit are up your alley, then this movie will probably speak to you. Check it out (or not). I know it's available for instant streaming on NetFlix. Oh, and one more thing: The movie's in Cantonese, so unless you happen to speak Cantonese, you will need to read subtitles. Not a deal-breaker, I would hope... After all, we're all Smart People, right? (Ha, can't resist a cheap shot here...) 

Perhaps as a result of watching the movie, I had a strange dream last night. In the dream, I was at some big Ashtanga workshop taught by a senior Ashtanga teacher. Or it may even have been an event featuring more than one senior teacher (maybe it's the Ashtanga Yoga Confluence or something along those lines, although I can't say for sure, since I did not make either of the two Confluences that have been held to date).

Anyway, in the dream, I was at this big workshop/event. I had set up my mat, and was about ready to begin practicing (it was a Mysore session) when I suddenly needed to go to the bathroom. So I went to the bathroom, and was about to go back to my mat, when I suddenly felt the need to go to the bathroom again! So I went to the bathroom again. I then tried to make my way back to the mat, but some series of events came up to stop me from going back to my mat. I can't remember now what those events were; at any rate, when I finally made it back to the mat, more than two hours had passed, and the Mysore session was almost over. I had just barely enough time to squeeze in a very half-assed three Surya As and three Surya Bs before the teacher told me that I needed to take rest.


I can't recall the rest of the dream. Suffice to say that the entire dream was permeated by this overwhelming feeling of anxiety and futility. When I woke up, this feeling was so strong and dense that my entire being felt very heavy and dense. Had to sit on the bed for a whole half-hour before I could finally get my body to get up and go to the bathroom.

Getting to the mat was a struggle too. But here's what's really interesting. Once I got past Surya A, everything just kind of chugged along like a train (no train-wrecks ;-)), and I finished my usual practice (full primary and second up to Supta Vajrasana) in an hour and twenty-eight minutes. And I didn't even feel like I was rushing or anything.

It's been an interesting twenty-four hours, don't you think?               

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And so the saying goes. But what about not-quite-decapitated talking dogs? Last night, I had a most bizarre dream. I won't bore you with the details of the dream, but one particular part of it really left an impression on me. I was driving somewhere on this highway. I saw a blockage in the road up ahead, like there was an accident or something. I got closer and, sure enough, there was an accident. But what was really bizarre about this particular accident was that all the victims were dogs. There were about three or four dogs lying in a row on the asphalt. All their heads had been nearly severed from their bodies, with maybe only one or two veins still connecting the nearly-severed-heads to the bodies. As I got closer, the dogs started speaking to me. I can't remember what they were saying, or even what language they were speaking in, but it was definitely a language I understood. But I can't recall now what they were saying to me.

There were other parts to the dream, but, as I said, I won't bore you with the details. But this particular nearly-decapitated-talking-dogs episode really stood out to me. And since this happens to be my blog, I decided to write about it here, whether or not it happens to have anything to do with yoga. Hmm... maybe if Ashtanga blogging really has jumped the shark (or, worse, is going to the (talking) dogs...), I should start slowly morphing this blog into a dream journal. Maybe you will then stop reading it. But what to do?

But seriously, if any of you out there are into dream analysis/interpretation, or just like talking about dreams, feel free to either leave a comment or (if you would rather write more privately) shoot me an email. I'll love to hear what you have to say about nearly-headless talking dogs. 

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Last night, I had a very interesting dream. In the dream, I was in Mysore, practicing at KPJAYI. Sharath came over and told me to do Kapotasana. And I did; I got on my knees, arched over, reached my arms back. The front of my body lengthened spontaneously like the longest rubber band in the universe, and my right hand grabbed my right ankle with the greatest ease, as if my spine didn't even exist. My left hand didn't quite get that far; it kind of touched my left heel, but didn't go any further. (Which, by the way, is kind of the way it is in my waking life; because of my mild scoliosis, my backbending has always been uneven; one side of the spine is more flexible than the other. When I do Kapo in waking life, I'm able to grab the right heel/ankle with my right hand, but I usually have to walk the left hand a couple of inches to grab the heel/ankle). Anyway, Sharath was standing by watching as I did all that. He smiled and said, "Very good! You try again tomorrow!" And went away.

Isn't it weird that I should dream about Sharath even though I have never met him in real life? Actually, I have also dreamt about Guruji in the past (whom I never met). Sometimes, I wonder if this may have something to do with why I got into Ashtanga rather than any other style of yoga; maybe I dream about Guruji and Sharath because I feel a certain kind of affinity to what they teach. But I'm really just speculating here; I'm no dream-reader...

Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I thought about Sharath's "You try again tomorrow!" And then I thought, "Well, isn't this tomorrow?" But as I haven't attempted Kapo in two months (I cut back down to primary only when I moved here to Idaho, and am slowly building my second series practice back up), I decided that I would just do my practice as usual, and see how my body feels when I get to second before I decide whether to attempt Kapo today.

So I did that; started with the Suryas, went through standing and then full primary before doing the first few postures of second. And then I decided to try Laghu Vajrasana (which I also haven't attempted in two months). If I have become so weak that I can't even get up from Laghu, there won't be any point in trying to do Kapo, I thought to myself (oh, btw, you might be interested in reading this little post about Laghu that I wrote some time ago). I lowered myself into Laghu, breathed five times, and then, the moment of truth... my legs engaged, and I came back up. Yay! Now, Kapo. I got on my knees, took a few breaths to try to open the upper back, and then reached back, all the while trying to get my body to recall that sensation of utmost ease I had in the dream. No such luck; my right hand grabbed my right ankle, followed by the left, but I definitely felt my spine. But I was happy that Kapo is still there after two months of not doing it. So I did Kapo A, then Kapo B, then got back up. I then did the next posture in second series (Supta Vajrasana, which is always difficult to do without a partner), then went into finishing backbends. 

So yeah, I thought I'd write about my practice in this post, since I haven't done this in a while. And besides, having a dream about practice is probably a good omen for writing about practice, no? :-) But I have to go take care of other things in my waking life now. More later.

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"Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly, I waked, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man."

Chuang Tzu, trans. by Herbert A. Giles

Last night, I dreamt that I had missed my daily Ashtanga practice, and for a rather mundane reason, at that: In the dream, I was staying at my parents' place, and I had to get up super-early in the morning to run some errands, and couldn't squeeze in any time to practice during the rest of the day. In fact, I got the sense in the dream that I had missed practice for more than one day, because I remember feeling very angry with myself for missing practice yet again.

But then I woke up from the dream, and although I was feeling quite tired, I still was able to get myself to the mat and do my usual practice. So am I a regular Ashtanga practitioner dreaming that I was a "lapsed" (I don't mean this word in a negative way, I just can't think of a more apt description right now) Ashtanga practitioner? Or am I in fact a lapsed Ashtanga practitioner dreaming that I am a regular, "unlapsed" Ashtanga practitioner? Heck, am I actually writing this, or am I dreaming that I am writing this? And are you actually reading this, or merely dreaming that you are doing so?

Here's another thought: Whichever world turns out to be the dream world and whichever the "real" world, what is the relation between the dream world and the so-called real world? Is the dream world a world whose existence depends on, and is in some sense parasitic upon the "real" world, so that if there were no "real" world, there would be no dream world? Or is the dream world a sort of parallel universe which is just as real as the "real" world? Is there another me out there, a "lapsed" Ashtangi existing in a parallel universe whose existence is just as real as the me that is now writing this? If so, is this other universe a universe that goes on just like ours, whether or not we are aware of it? If so, are we still justified in believing that our "waking" world is somehow a "better" or "more coherent" world than the dream world?

Ah, so many questions, and no answers, as usual...     

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Or in Kapotasana, for that matter. Last night, I had another bizarre dream. I seem to be having a lot of these lately (see, for instance, previous post). And I know you probably aren't particularly interested in reading about my dreams, but right now, I think they are probably more interesting to read about than my practice. My practice is not bad; it's chugging along, but there's nothing particularly ground-breaking to report on the practice front, so unless you really want to hear about every single little sensation I had in every single asana, I'll spare you the details.

So, last night's dream. This one is not about yoga, but is about martial arts. In fact, the whole dream feels a bit like a Bruce Lee movie or a video-game. Or maybe it is what a video-game based upon a Bruce Lee movie would feel like, if one were ever made. Anyway, this is how it goes:

I find myself on the roof-top of a tall building. Somehow, I need to break into the building, which is heavily guarded (very Bruce-Lee-movie-esque). And the only way into the building is by going into and down this long plastic slide that looks kind of like a slide at a water park, except it's dry. So I slide down the slide. As I am sliding down, I hear movement behind me; somebody (probably somebody evil) is coming down the slide behind me.

As I come out of the slide and emerge into a room in the building, I look behind me, and see that the person following me is this bald wiry guy with a little beard. He is holding what looks like a giant unfolded paper clip in his hands; somehow, I know that he kind of loops this giant unfolded paper clip over the neck of his victims, and strangles them that way. The funny thing is, I know that, and yet I allow him to do that to me. So I get strangled by the giant paper clip, and die. Game over. But somehow, I get to push a restart button somewhere (yeah, just like in a video-game), and I get to fight the guy again. This time, I snatch the paper clip from his hands before he can do anything to me. I stab him with the sharp ends of the paper clip, and kill him.

And then I get to opponent number 2 (again, just like a video-game). This guy is like an old-school karate master. He is dressed in a karate uniform, and politely insists on us having tea together before starting the fight. So we sit down at a nearby table, and sip some tea together. But it's hard to enjoy the tea when you know you're either about to get your ass kicked or kick the other guy's ass. But I go along with him anyway, and try to enjoy the tea as much as I can. I take a closer look at him, and realize that he's really well-built and muscular, and kind of looks like Carter Wong from Big Trouble in Little China:

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Of late, the Ashtanga blogosphere seems to be abuzz in a festive, "workshop-ey" mood. Grimmly will be going to Richard Freeman's workshop/intensive in London in a couple of days. And a couple of days ago, Micqui mused on her blog about going on the perfect Ashtanga yoga world tour.

As for me, this year appears to be shaping out to be the Year of Home Practice. Which is really an euphemism for the Year of No Workshops or Intensives: None of the grand Ashtanga travel plans that I made earlier this year have taken shape. The Mysore trip fell through. So did my plan earlier this summer to go study with Angela Jamison in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And judging from the way things seem to be panning out, it is very unlikely that I will get to go to any workshops for the rest of the year: Money and time seem to be in rather short supply. But maybe I shouldn't condemn my prospects in this area in this way just yet: Things sometimes have a way of working out. We'll see.

But as far as things have gone this year, it seems that I have out-Grimmlied Grimmly.... I mean, even the famous Grimmly, he of Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama Yoga at Home fame, is going to a workshop in a couple of days. Whereas I--with the exception of a couple of trips down to the Twin Cities to practice at the Yoga House--have been practicing exclusively at home this entire year. Hmm... maybe I should rename this blog Yoga in the Dragon's Den at Home...

Hmm... this post is shaping up to be too much of a poor-me, pity-party kind of post. So let me see if I can change the topic a little. Well, let's see... How about this? I actually had a really strange yoga dream last night. Let me try to, ahem, regale you with the details of the dream. And maybe if you're into dream interpretation, you can also try your hand at giving me some suggestions as to what the dream might mean, given the present state of my yoga life. So here goes:

I am in Florida, in the home of this Kundalini teacher who used to teach at the same yoga studio that I taught at when I was going to grad school in Florida. A bit of background information here: This teacher isn't a typical Kundalini teacher. I mean, she doesn't wear a turban, nor does she have any Sikh name. She typically shows up for class in a dance leotard, and she has great asana prowess (at least as great as mine, hahaha...). Well, actually, I really don't know enough about Kundalini to know whether the typical Kundalini teacher wears a turban and/or has a Sikh name, so I may be unwittingly perpetuating a stereotype. My apologies to all of you Kundalini people out there. If you know something about this, please share.

Anyway, back to my dream. So as I was saying, I am in the home of this leotard-wearing-asanaly-powerful Kundalini teacher. For some reason, I decide to start doing my practice right there in her living room. So I set my Mysore rug down, and start working my way through the Suryas. And for some reason, there is a woman next to me whom I've never seen before who is doing Pilates on a Pilates mat. And for some reason, I suddenly decide to find out what time it is. I look at my cell phone, and discover that it is four in the morning. Upon discovering the time, I immediately realize that none of this can be real: I never wake up that early to practice, and even if I do, why would I go all the way to this teacher's living room to practice? And that was when I realized I was in a dream (I believe this is called lucid dreaming?). But I made no attempt to wake up, and decided to just go with the dream, and see what happens. As an aside: If you ever find yourself in a lucid dream, and decide you want to wake up (maybe you don't like the way the dream is going, or whatever...), just drop back into a backbend in the dream. Yes, drop back. Even if you actually can't do a dropback in your waking life. Trust me, it works every time (I've tried it before).

But back to the dream. As I was saying, I decided to go with the dream, and see how it unfolded... where was I? Oh okay, I look at my cell phone, and discover it is four in the morning. So I continue with my practice, right there in that teacher's living room. And I discover that my body is unbelievably stiff and tight: My hamstrings and hips were all tight and out of alignment in Trikonasana! Damn! Should have woken up! But I continue with my practice anyway. And then the teacher approaches me, and tells me that she is going to go practice at the studio with a friend. A few minutes later, her friend arrives. And this friend turns out to be this guy whom I used to hang out and watch kung fu movies with in Florida. Hmm... I didn't even know they knew each other... are they seeing each other or something? Kundalini Woman, Kungfu Movie Dude... Quite a couple, don't you think? They'll probably end up having a kid who goes on to create a hybrid style called Kundalini Kungfu, hahaha...

Well, okay, I think I'm probably straying into the realm of the politically incorrect, maybe even into the realm of the downright disrespectful. Again, apologies to all of you Kundalini folks out there. You wouldn't take the rantings of an Ashtanga Fundamentalist too seriously, would you? In any case, I can't remember what happened after this in the dream, but I'm pretty sure I woke up soon after.

End of dream.


I hope you find the dream entertaining. And if you have any interpretations, please feel free to share. I guess I'll also say one more thing about my lack of yoga travel this year. Even though I have been pretty much stuck in my little corner of the upper midwest yoga-wise, I have to say that I have made a few breakthroughs in my asana practice, especially in floating in the Suryas and in my ability to grab my heels in Chakrabandhasana by myself, although the latter still comes and goes. In addition, I have also successfully practiced with and am healing very well from a couple of injuries (the knee injury that I sustained last year, as well as my strained trapezius dating from a few weeks ago). So all in all, practice has been good, even if I haven't been to any workshops. Maybe this is as it should be. Maybe all Ashtangis need to go through a period of extended self-practice in order to consolidate what they have learned. Wasn't it Richard Freeman who said somewhere that Ashtanga yoga is kungfu for hermits? Well, greetings to you from a crazy upper-mid-western Chinese hermit :-)      

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The end of the year is a time for reflections on the year that has gone by. For many, it is also a time for setting goals or intentions for the year to come. Since this is an Ashtanga blog, it seems appropriate to use this blog to reflect upon developments in my practice, and in life as it relates to the practice this past year.

Let me start by talking about one thing that I definitely have not done this year: Go to Mysore. If you practice Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga (or even if you don't), you will know that Mysore, India is the birthplace of this style of yoga. As such, among many an Ashtangi, Mysore is regarded as the World Capital of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, and going to Myore to study at the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (KPJAYI) is seen by many an Ashtangi as an important rite of passage.

This brings up the question: Rite of passage for what? One certainly does not need to go to Mysore in order to practice Ashtanga, or even to teach it (although one does need to be authorized or certified by the KPJAYI in order to, well, be an authorized or certified Ashtanga teacher). So it is kind of hard to pin down just what going to Mysore is supposed to signify. Having said this, however, I think it is safe to say that going to Mysore definitely signifies a strong desire on the part of the Ashtangi to deepen his or her practice by seeking it out at the source (or the Mothership, as it is sometimes called).

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will know that I have written about this topic a couple of times in the past (see this post and this post). And if you are familiar with what I have written about this topic, you might be cringing right about now. You may be thinking to yourself: Oh no, he's going to go all existential-angsty about never having been to Mysore and all that jazz again... help! But not to worry; I like to think that I am now past all this angsting. Besides, if I go to Mysore one day, I go. If I don't, I don't. Either way, no amount of angsting is going to change anything, I would think. So I may as well stop angsting. What I'm going to do here is to share a little dream about Mysore that I had recently (a few weeks ago). It was a pretty interesting dream. I don't know what it means. If you are into dream interpretation, I'll love to hear your interpretation of it. By the way, it just occurred to me that Ashtanga is the only style of yoga in which I have dreamt about the practice and its birthplace and its guru: I have had a few dreams about Guruji over the years, although I have never met him in real life. I like to think that this signifies that I have some kind of strong and powerful bond with Ashtanga that I don't have with any other style; for instance, before I became an Ashtangi, I did my own Iyengar-inspired practice, but to this day, I have never dreamt about B.K.S. Iyengar or Pune. Or maybe this is just me being self-important. In any case, here's my recent Mysore dream:

"In the dream, I was in Mysore with my fiancee. We were living in this really luxurious and well-appointed house in a very fancy neighborhood of Mysore, and this house is supposed to be within walking distance of the shala. (I really don't know if there really is such a fancy neighborhood in Mysore within walking distance of KPJAYI; in any case, my dreaming mind succeeded in convincing me that there was such a neighborhood in Mysore, and that we were living in a fancy house in such a neighborhood.). It turns out that the house belongs to this really well-to-do Caucasian couple who live there only at certain times of the year. They have very generously rented the house to us for a very affordable price for the duration of our stay in Mysore.

So anyway, in the dream, it was early Friday morning, and we were planning on going to led primary with Sharath at the shala. But we couldn't remember whether led primary started at 7 or 8 a.m. (I know that it starts way earlier than that in real life, but whatever: This is a dream.). So we tried looking up the information online. It turns out that there were two computers in the living room of the house. We each got onto one computer, and started looking up the information online. Somehow, instead of looking up the information online, I started watching this video-clip. In this clip, my teacher in Milwaukee was explaining in great detail his wake-up routine when he is in Mysore. He was wearing this funny-looking headgear which looked like a cross between a turban and a beanie (a turbnie?!). Anyway, in the video, he jumped out of bed wearing this turbnie, and started doing Kapalabathi while seated on the floor of his room. He was doing it so rapidly and intensely that his eyes started glowing! I was transfixed by the video, and forgot for a few minutes that I was supposed to look up the start time for led primary online. In any case, we couldn't find any information online about what time Friday led primary started at KPJAYI.

At this moment, we looked at the clock, and saw that it was slightly after 7 a.m. Which means that if led primary started at 7 a.m., we were late. But we decided to take a chance anyway, and started out for the shala. We made our way through the neighborhood, which consists of a series of well-kept paths winding among lush landscaped tropical vegetation and ferns. A few minutes later, the shala came within sight. It was a beautiful colonial-style house, in a similar design as the house we were staying in. I was really excited at finally being able to practice in the shala, even if I was going to get chewed out by Sharath for being very late. But then, at this very moment, I suddenly remembered that the shala does not look anything like that in real life. And that was when I woke up from the dream."

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Hmm... I don't have anything earth-shattering to write about today (when was the last time I did, anyway? :-)). But I did have a very interesting dream last night. So maybe I'll take a cue here from Claudia's post about dream interpretation a couple of days ago, and relate my dream.

So here's the dream (in italics):

I am in Singapore (where I was actually born and grew up in). I am sitting with my fiancee in a McDonald's near a beach. I am eating a Sausage McMuffin and a hash brown, and she is just sitting there, watching me eat. As I am about to finish the last of the McMuffin, I suddenly think to myself, "Wow! I'm actually eating something from McDonald's, and I actually enjoy it! But wait! What am I doing eating this? Aren't I supposed to be vegetarian? And what am I even doing in a McDonald's? I haven't been to a McDonald's in years!"

At this point, my fiancee gets up to go to the bathroom. I finish my McMuffin and somehow fall asleep at the table. While sleeping, I dream that my fiancee has returned from the bathroom (yes, a dream within a dream!). In the dream-within-a-dream, she sits back down in front of me, and says to me, "You seem to be putting on weight." Upon hearing that, I give a start and start looking myself over. And yes, I do seem to be bigger, I think to myself. And then I wake up from the dream-within-a-dream, and find myself back within the original dream. In the original dream, my fiancee "really" returns from the bathroom. I tell her about the dream I just had. I can't remember her reaction, but I think she seems amused. 

And then I woke up (or maybe I simply have no recollection of the rest of the dream). There are a few things that I find interesting about the dream:


(1) Even though I found it strange in the dream that I was in a McDonald's eating a Sausage McMuffin, I did not recall ever finding it strange that I was in Singapore, a place I have not been back to in years. Still less did I find it strange that my fiancee was there too, since she has never been to Singapore in real life.

(2) I do have a certain fear of McDonald's, and of the fat-making potential of McDonald's food. When I lived in Singapore (and in my first couple of years here in the U.S.), I ate so much fast food, it was not even funny. I probably weighed about 30 or 40 pounds more than I do now. A whole bunch of things happened (long story) which eventually led me to give up fast food, give up meat, and adopt a more healthy lifestyle. So the dream mirrors certain things that are going on in my life. I'm not entirely sure what the dream is trying to tell me. But I hope that writing this dream out might be helpful in that regard.

(3) I find the dream-within-a-dream very interesting and intriguing. It's like the movie Inception. I do not know if there is any general significance associated with dreams-within-dreams. If you know something in this area, I'll be happy to hear it.

Well, I'm going to restrict myself to just relating my dream and commenting minimally on it for now. I think I need a bit of time to process this dream. If you have any suggestions on how to interpret this dream, please share. If you don't feel comfortable commenting, you are also welcome to email me.

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Practice this morning was nice. I won't bore you with the blow-by-blow details of everything that I did. I'll just say something about my currently most challenging posture: Karandavasana. I landed the duck on my first attempt this morning. But it almost did not happen: After I got my feet into lotus from Pincha, my balance suddenly felt a little wobbly, and I almost fell over. I've only fallen out of lotus in Pincha once, and it's (a) not pretty, and (b) makes a loud thud which attracts everybody's attention if you are practicing in a shala. But as the saying goes, the bark is louder than the bite (or something to that effect): It really doesn't hurt much.

In any case, I managed to right myself this morning at the crucial moment, and prevented myself from falling over. But I spent so much energy trying to stop my fall that I didn't have much left over to do a controlled duck landing. So my lotus went from the apex of the Pincha to my upper arms like a rapidly descending elevator, and I thought I was going to crash onto the mat for sure. But somehow, I managed to slow the descent by just a little bit at the very last fraction of a second, and I landed on the very, very edge of my upper arms, just barely a fraction of a millimeter above my elbows. So I technically landed the duck, even if it didn't look pretty :-)

Many Ashtangis have reported having strange dreams when starting second. I've been doing second for more than a year now (excluding the few months when I had to go back to doing primary only because of my SI joint injury). In the last few weeks, I've been having some really wacky dreams. I've always had interesting dreams (at any rate, I tend to remember many, if not most of my dreams). But in the last few weeks, the wackiness factor in my dreams has really gone up.

Last night, for instance, I dreamt that I had somehow time-traveled 200 years into the future. And it turns out that Earth 200 years from now is exactly like it is in the video game Halo. If you don't play Halo, here's the premise, roughly: Sometime in the not-too-distant future, humankind goes out into space and colonizes many planets. In the process, we come into contact with an alliance of alien races called The Covenant. The Covenant believe in this bizarre religion which teaches that humankind is a scourge to the universe which must be exterminated at any cost. Thus begins a great war between humans and the Covenant. In the process, the humans develop a special genetically-enhanced group of super-soldiers called Spartans in order to fight the Covenant. And of course, I'm sure you can totally see how this is a great excuse for a big special-effects-laden shootout/video game ;-)

Anyway, in the dream, I was training to be a Spartan. On my first day of training, I was given a bizarre-looking gun which looked suspiciously like a Playstation controller. I had no idea how to fire it, so I asked the instructor, an athletic, attractive woman, how to fire it. She told me to push this button on the top of the gun-controller. I did, and the reinforced glass window in front of me instantly shattered. There wasn't any sign of any laser beam or anything like it: The gun-controller had simply emitted this powerful force-field which instantly shattered the glass window. Very cool, I thought to myself. Then the instructor turned to me and informed me that I had technically fired a weapon when I wasn't supposed to; in military terms, it meant that I had misfired, and would be subject to a court-martial and then dishonorably discharged. "What?!! But you were the one who told me to push that button", I tried to argue, to no avail; she simply ignored me and repeated that I would be court-martialed, and then dishonorably discharged. What the..., I thought to myself. Bummer! Now I won't get to be a Spartan! And then I woke up.

I don't really know what this dream signifies, as I'm not much of a dream interpreter. Maybe I subconsciously have delusions of grandeur? Maybe I subconsciously have a funny desire to be some kind of a savior of humankind? Who knows?


In other news: I have added three new features to this blog:

(1) I have added a welcome message at the top right-hand corner of the blog with my email address. Recently, a couple of readers have expressed a desire to get in touch with me personally, and have had difficulty finding my contact information. Hopefully, this will make it easier for them and for anybody who wants to get in touch with me from now on :-)

(2) Just below the welcome message, I have listed the top 5 most read posts since I started writing this blog (in October 2010; wow, it's going to be the one-year anniversary of this blog soon :-) Time flies when you are having fun, doesn't it?). Personally, I do not think they are my best work (if you would indulge me a little, that is, and allow me to immodestly call what I do on this blog "work" :-)), but for whatever reason, many people have read them. So I thought I'd share them here.

(3) Last but not least, I have also added topic labels at the bottom of this blog. This will hopefully make it easier for readers who would like to read about specific things or topics I have written on.   

Many thanks for taking the time to read my random musings. I hope you will continue to do so ;-)

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Last night I dreamed that I was teaching a yoga class in a huge room packed with people.  Every single person there was a beginner, and in addition, half were Japanese tourists.  It was chaos... Everyone was facing every which direction and kept coming off the mats to crowd in front of the room to watch me demonstrating the sun salutations.  And I was telling them, no, just go back to your mats and give each other room and give it a go...  And I couldn't find a playlist that I liked, didn't recognize anything on my iPod which is when I realised in the dream that it wasn't in fact my iPod at all but Eco Yogini's iPod and the two must have gotten swapped in the last class.  :)

Now this sounds like it could have been a stressful dream but it wasn't really.  In fact I woke up highly amused.  I don't really do dream symbology but there is something kind of satisfying about trying to put order into chaos, and making the best of what ensues.

Readers, how does Yoga figure into your dreams?

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