So I've had some baseball games, gone to a museum, shopped, partied, cheered at a soccer game, attended a jazz festival, and worked on my thesis the past couple weeks. I needed a respite from blogging, but now I'm back, and I bet that thrills my reader.
There's a free yoga meditation class in English near Skanstull. I was a little worried it was a cult, but last week I went anyway. The "class" was more of a "prayer session in some random dude's apartment," but I half expected that. When I arrived they asked me how much meditation I had done in the past, and when I attempted to sit cross-legged they realized I was a beginner. "The essence of Yoga is that everything is of the same consciousness," was the first thing the monk said to me. "It's like ice. It is ice, but it is also water." Yeah, he said that.
The monk had loose white pants, a loose orange shirt, long blond hair tied in a pony tail, and what can only be described as a lumberjack-like beard. I'm certain a blue jay could have raised kids in there. "Matter is not constant," he continued. "Everything in the universe is one consciousness, and Yoga is about aligning yourself with that consciousness." First, we're going to chant, "Baba na, ke ba la," which means "Everything is love." When those words hit my ears, I felt like I had been transported back to the 60's. And what a chant it was.
One guy whipped out an acoustic guitar, we all stood up, and danced. The dance was: pick up right foot, touch floor with right foot behind left foot, return right foot to original position. Repeat with left foot. While we shuffled back and forth you could hold your hands in prayer position, or reach them both up into the sky which I was told "symbolized being aligned with the universe." We chanted and I chose to align my self with the universe until I got bored. We did this for 20 minutes, which is a long time when your singing a song with one line.
Next, we meditated for half an hour. I meditated on myself being love. Five minutes in, I mediated about me feet being asleep. I made it 20 minutes before my knees started bothering me and I broke my impressive cross-legged position. After meditation was a prayer or sermon or something, which preceded the best part: snacks! Apparently the monks own a bakery nearby and bring leftovers, which are quite good. While eating, I talked with a British guy who was planning to hitch-hike around the world and make money by working at orphanages and organic farms. It was an extremely cool conversation. When I left, I felt quite enlightened.
4 comments:
have they brought out the purple cloths and uniform white nike sneakers yet? I believe you've found the isolated swedish branch of heaven's gate that never got the memo about the comet.
great stuff dunlap. i like how the essence of yoga is like ice... but also water. that's deep.
oh, and i also love how your monk was basically a drug dealer. i think his outfit is the exact same one that the character in grand theft auto wears. evidently kelsey has missed his calling... i mean, if he ever said, "everything in the universe is one consciousness" we would rip him to shreads. and yet your new friend is somehow an ordained minister.
these stories just keep getting better and better. have fun and i miss seeing your face... even though i evidently don't know what it looks like.
your escapades sound so interesting. see you soooooooon tom dunlap!
-vicki
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