Saturday I went to my first Yoga class in a little over a year, ever since I fractured my left rib cage with a combination of lifting heavy boxes of books moving to my current flat and attempting an Eka Pada Sirsasana. When I got there, eerily enough, the instructor teaching the class here in Berkeley was the same with whom I had taken that last class over a year ago in Oakland. His name is Ira Israel, and he just launched a Yoga for Anxiety DVD and was sweet enough to gift me a copy. So I wrote this little review on Amazon:
"This morning I took a Yoga class with Ira Israel, and I have to say that he demonstrates, not only a mastery of the physical and spiritual aspects of the practice of Yoga, but also a responsibility for teaching techniques/poses properly for the greatest physical and mental advantage of them. I recommend this DVD, as well as taking a class with him if you can. One thing I should say is, pay attention and follow his instructions properly, listen to your body, do not try to force poses that your body doesn't feel ready for or that you feel too much discomfort while doing/in them. With patient practice, and the guidance of a great instructor such as Ira, you will get there. Ira is a professional in Yoga as well as Psychology. I find that to be a great combination, and hope this DVD finds its way to all whom could benefit from it."
Imagine, your own Yoga class focusing on poses/techniques specific to balancing you out and keeping you centered, at your fingertips, for those moments of your adult life of uncertainty. Très magnifique!
That was a great start to this sunny fall weekend, which felt more like a summer weekend here in the bay. So nice I felt guilty spending it indoors, so today I took off on an aimless walk and ended up at the Berkeley Art Center where they had a "Paper Quilt" exhibit on display that had some interesting collage pieces. How come when I'm aimless I always meet up with interesting art?
"This morning I took a Yoga class with Ira Israel, and I have to say that he demonstrates, not only a mastery of the physical and spiritual aspects of the practice of Yoga, but also a responsibility for teaching techniques/poses properly for the greatest physical and mental advantage of them. I recommend this DVD, as well as taking a class with him if you can. One thing I should say is, pay attention and follow his instructions properly, listen to your body, do not try to force poses that your body doesn't feel ready for or that you feel too much discomfort while doing/in them. With patient practice, and the guidance of a great instructor such as Ira, you will get there. Ira is a professional in Yoga as well as Psychology. I find that to be a great combination, and hope this DVD finds its way to all whom could benefit from it."
Imagine, your own Yoga class focusing on poses/techniques specific to balancing you out and keeping you centered, at your fingertips, for those moments of your adult life of uncertainty. Très magnifique!
That was a great start to this sunny fall weekend, which felt more like a summer weekend here in the bay. So nice I felt guilty spending it indoors, so today I took off on an aimless walk and ended up at the Berkeley Art Center where they had a "Paper Quilt" exhibit on display that had some interesting collage pieces. How come when I'm aimless I always meet up with interesting art?
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This last one is a collage/quilt of sound waves of five different species of birds.
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Anyway, so tomorrow is Halloween, and although I've never been a super enthusiast of this holiday, I miss it being an excuse to gather with friends and/or family and just have a fun time. I've had the lamest last two Halloweens. And a few too weird before that. I hope next year is just good.
On the quirky side, at least Berkeley kids' decorations are funny.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I finally got the chance to watch the documentary China Lost Girls about the inhumane situation of girls/women in China. It's just unbelievable that things like that could even be happening. How come the world has developed the brains for all these innovative technologies, but not for basic human logistics? And China is just one of the countries that persists openly oppressing women (the very beings who give birth to all, how ironic). Everyone should watch the documentary and try to adopt a little Chinese girl before they are raped, killed, or sold to creepy men. Yoko was not kidding, women are the new slaves in the world. So super sad. And the US has the opposite problem of China with more women than men. So if everyone goes and adopts a Chinese little girl we would end-up with weird population disparities of our own. I have a feeling this "little" mistake on China's part is going to be the "gift that keeps on giving." With all those spoiled, obese, future single men, we can only expect more war. So lets hope the world can reach consciousness and heal itself before it's too late. Because I don't think ignoring that all of this is happening to women all over the world can not affect every single one of us at some point in our lives and the future of our offspring.
I also caught Black Power Mixtape which is playing here in Berkeley at The Shattuck. It's a film collage of pre/post civil rights era footage documentation from a foreign perspective. Pretty incredible. "Nice little family documentary of the land of the free."
I'm taking a class at UCB this semester where I'm learning a lot about the consequences of internalized oppression, and I think the world should get a shrink; at this point we all have some form of damage, whether for being the oppressed or for having to live with an oppressors' dirty conscious.
Food for thought.
Okay, that's really all for now : ) Have a fun and safe Halloween!
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| Look, it's auntie's cutest little chickity's second Halloween over in NC :-) |
