Spring Sadhana - 2016

It is that time of year again:  a call to the yoga studio for 6 a.m., for thirty consecutive days, March 2nd to 31st.

This sadhana, Marlene has been reading BKS, Light on Life, instead of Putanjali's sutras. Practical advice both on and off the mat.

Not one of the days in the 30-day sadhanas has been the same, nor is this sadhana a repetition of any of the previous seven. That's one of the things I appreciate about Iyengar yoga, with such a variety of poses and approaches it doesn't need to become routine. Doing something different makes you look at things a bit differently, and Marlene usually surprises us with something new - a pose or an insight - that brings a fresh awareness for the day: letting go of unnecessary tension; being persistent; using strength with intelligence; being deliberate in action. Intellectual understanding of these principles is useful, but the physical experience becomes an embodiment of truth and helps me to feel and know it more deeply.

Easter and the Vernal Equinox both marked the calendar, offering celebrations of hope and renewal. Clocks changed, and we 'lost' an hour. Temperatures fluctuated widely, bringing snow, rain, ice, mush, sleet, and mud. Witch hazel bloomed, snowdrops nodded, crocuses popped and tulips and daffodils started their greening. I even saw a few bugs swarming, food for the returning birds.

Four years and eight sadhana in, one of the biggest challenges for me is still waking up so early. It was a busy month at work, and I squeezed a lot into the social calendar, too, including hosting a few dinner parties, house guests, making it to uke jams, trivia nights, Open Mics, a trip to New York, and attending a few courses.

Although I missed a few mornings at the studio, (six due to the jazz safari in Manhattan, and one due to the ice storm), I observed the sadhana with a daily practice. In preparation for the trip to New York, I bought a new travel mat. It folds up nicely and hardly takes up any room. However, finding floor space in cramped hotel quarters was a bit challenging.

One night during the jazz safari I was watching a drummer so intently I realized his body was his most important instrument, the drum kit was his prop. I wonder if I would have had that powerful insight without daily practice and meditation?

Robin on Spring Break

My niece, Robin, came to visit us in Toronto for a weekend during March break, partly to get a preview of Humber Lakeshore where she'll be going to school in the fall.

Saturday we drove out to the campus, situated picturesquely on the lake. Entirely different from the concrete jungle in Etobicoke where I spent a year studying film. The day trip also offered a leisurely tour on the long way home, with views of High Park, Little Italy, the Bridle Path, and Toronto Botanical Gardens.

We had breakfast at St. Lawrence Market, and a late vegan lunch of Punjab street food in Kensington Market.

Spending time with her, every once in awhile I would see my brother Pat's grin or  glimpse his sense of humour. One generation in the next.

Robin is from Kitchener and doesn't get to Toronto often, so she hadn't seen these spots before. Sharing them with her reminded me of just how much I love this city! Such a great mix of urban and natural spaces, and such diversity.

There were a few BPYC events on the itinerary, too. We brought her along to Open Mic on the Friday night, a St. Patrick's theme that saw the yet-to-be-named-BPYC-ukulele-band play the Unicorn Song, and a short burst of When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. Sunday it was a Painting afternoon, trying our talents at watercolours.  She enjoyed herself, but there weren't people her own age around.

Before she left, we stopped by Alex' and Penny's place. Judging from the Facebook photos she posted, the visit to the apartment was a definite highlight. She is just nine years younger than Alex, with college on the horizon, moving away from home, and starting a great adventure.  Seeing her cousin's place and how he had made a home for himself must have been encouraging.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

At 6:30 we stopped by the TKTS booth and by 7:00 we were ten rows back from the front stage in the Ethel Barrymore theatre.

Broadway!

The play was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I loved the book when I read it years ago, and wondered how the adaptation would work - would they be able to tell the story from the first-person point of view of the 15 year old autistic boy? The point of view changed but the meaning and themes of the story were brilliantly dramatized.

Christopher sets out to solve the mystery about the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, and his detective work leads him to confront truths people have been hiding from him, with seemingly good intentions.

The set was remarkably spare, making use of black grid lines and rear projection to evoke the inner state of Christopher's mind. Rich, vast, complex, stark, filled with facts and details.

When Christopher became especially agitated or lost in reverie, the other actors would lift him up and into space, where he appeared to tumble weightlessly, lost in a world of his own making.

Christopher can't tolerate physical contact, so the visual became a powerful metaphor of transcendence.

I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when the teenager hugged and played with the puppy that is brought on stage in the second half.

Uncomplicated joy.

The audience sees the same uncomplicated joy when Christopher tries to explain prime numbers and complicated mathematical problems to the audience. Something most of us will never grasp, but the happiness in the trying was contagious.

How to Work Better

When we visited the Guggenheim we saw the Peter Fischli/David Weiss exhibit, How to Work Better. Quirky, funny, and subversive are words that come to mind. I hope this exhibit, or a part of it,  eventually finds its way to Toronto, so I can go again (and again).

Hundreds of clay figures, hundreds of polyurethane sculptures of ordinary objects, thousands of postcard images, kinetic sculptures, videos...  The sheer volume of the works on display was impressive, and the Guggenheim a perfect venue to show them off.

From 1979 to 2012, Swiss artists Peter Fischli (b. 1952) and David Weiss (1946–2012) collaborated on a body of work that offers a deceptively casual meditation on how we perceive everyday life. Discover how their sculptures, photographs, videos, and installations juxtapose the spectacular and the ordinary, questioning our understanding of reality and inviting a state of wonder. catalog description

I half expected these clay figures to start dancing, they were so animated. Suddenly This Overview
The guys in front are labelled 'Popular Opposites: Silly and Funny'

Fischli and Weiss fabricated each and every one of these objects. Perfect visual replications that have absolutely no utility, flawlessly rendered. Useless?

Practical advice 
also includes
8. Accept Change as Inevitable
7. Admit mistakes
8. Say it simple
9. Be calm
10. Smile

(I'm using the numbering on the exhibit)

Full Spring Moon - March

Who Knows If The Moon’s

who knows if the moon’s
a balloon, coming out of a keen city
in the sky—filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should

get into it, if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,
why then
we’d go up higher with all the pretty people

than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody’s ever visited, where

always
            it’s
                   Spring) and everyone’s
in love and flowers pick themselves

ee cummings


the moon is full on March 23, 7 a.m.