Day 14 - Day of Kama

Kama is the winged Hindu god of love, the son of Lakshmi. Kama means "love, desire" in Sanskrit.

Sutra literally means a rope or thread that holds or weaves things together. Metaphorically sutra refers to an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. (wikipedia).

So Kama Sutra literally means "manual of love" or "manual of desire".

If there were such a thing as a Kama Sutra for relationships, it would be a best seller. I'm not talking about the Kama Sutra. I'm talking about a how-to, step 1, remove from package, do not use blow dryer while showering, type of manual. Not to say that some haven't tried, but for all those books' worth, the divorce rate is climbing faster than they can climb up the New York Times best sellers list.

Today is Valentine's day, and I'm doing yoga. Twice, in fact. It's my manual of love.

By doing yoga I mean, my body is at the studio, and hands and feet are moving, but my mind keeps wandering to what will happen after class, when I get to see my boyfriend.

I do that a lot, not just because today is Valentine's day.

Some days I am more successful at staying present and keeping external things external. Some days it's effortless, I just breathe and follow my gaze, my drishti. Some other days, however, my mind is a cat, and thoughts of my boyfriend is the sunshine. I try to fight it, sure, but no self respecting cat would easily give up that sweet sun-drenched spot.

So instead of struggling with that, I started a new strategy. In class we are often told to think of something to work with and set an intention, so I would think of Love, and us.

I dedicate my practice to a really great relationship with you, I would silently say whenever my boyfriend's face pops in my mind. Then I can focus on the movement, the breath, the asana. He doesn't know it, but yoga helps me learn to love him. In a way, it's the best "Love, an Owner's Manual" I've found.

Day 7 - Lover's Yoga

I skipped yoga. I *was* gonna go climbing, but I didn't make it. I came home straight from work to see my boyfriend. I missed him. I could have taken 3 hours to go to yoga but I needed to see him like I need a good stretch in the morning. I was impatient. My heart was delirious. Blame it on histocompatibility complex.

The previous week I had also picked up Lovers' Yoga from the library, thinking I would show my boyfriend a couple poses. He's been super stressed, and I'm trying to convince him that yoga will help him relax more.

You could say we did a couple of yoga poses together.

Day 6 - The Five Tibetans for Chinese New Year

I'm running, I'm running, I'm running.

I was racing to finish up before 5 to catch the bus home from work. My phone's battery was dunzo. I needed to call my boyfriend. I needed to get this document sent out. I needed more time.

My left shoulder is burning. I've been carrying too much stuff around, and now I can feel it flaring up. I'm unbalanced. My load is too heavy on the left.

I got home, plugged in my phone, called the bf. Communications problem due to battery. My batteries suck!!! I apologized.

We went out to the burb to see my parents. It was New Year's Eve, the year of the Rat according to the Lunar Calendar. My mom was ecstatic to see us. I was ecstatic to see her. After dinner we went ice skating at the skating rink up the street. I had not stepped on a sheet of frozen ice since middle school. I felt so out of my element. I can put my legs on my shoulder while balancing on one leg, but gliding along on two blades? Ha! I'll cure cancer instead.

When we got back, it was too late for me to do my usual hour-long practice, and I had been practicing these Five Tibetans exercises, which promise to align the spine and the moon and the stars, and a smashing good time with your house guest, so showed mine how to do them right.

As I do more reading and researching on The Five Tibetans (I accidentally came upon the book @ the Seattle Public Library), I didn't realize it has a pretty big following, there's even a Facebook group!

I will write more about them later.