Not easy on the full moon. One of my worst habits I am currently trying to exorcize is looking at my phone as the first activity of the day. I know the facts, our minds are a complicated inter web of electric sparks, hormone messengers seated in a gelatinous ball akin to a character from David Lynch. Like a computer, we program. We see screen brain goes ding too, brain needs more dings or brain feels sad. Brain feels sad anyway because dings are not actually feeding the brain. Brain uses up ding power on screen and can’t use it for other functions, like sleep and relationships, happy thoughts.
The deepest oceans in my mind come to me in general after strenuous activity, there is a riding term called “soft eyes.” The world blurs, yet concentration becomes crystal clear, like staring through a wave. The mind is clear of erroneous clutter. Naturally post CoVid the day the NBA shut down the light I seeked was a yoga practice 30- 90 minutes per day in 2-6 day stints with 1-4 day breaks. A couple weeks ago I had a nice energy charge feeling like all these moves feel so good now, then while in the plank fire erupts around my waistline.
Went in for some acupuncture, and the fabled Illiopsoas muscle has claimed another, especially on the Lf side. I discuss with my Acupuncturist the herbs I have tried for this muscle spasm in the past, and she quietly elucidates the mind can overpower the working of herbs and recommends also practice diaphoretic breathing. Ouch.
Hmmm, need to pull back on the yoga. I replace any type of “power” style, back to “gentle” style. I don’t stop exercising, but have to change it up. Its July 4th and I’ve consistently repeated the same or variations of the same movements since mid-March, in addition to the other wear and tear I put on my now nearly 40 year old body.. The classic Traditional Medical texts from China claim our body is gifted an amount of yin and yang at birth determined by the constitutional strength of our parents. By age 40 for women, 50% of our yin is dry. My life is not a void besides yoga, I commute 60 miles each way, and horses try to buck me off, or I face planted on the cement stairs last week. Our joints have a savings account, what do we put in? What do we take out?
In tragic irony, I use my phone to seek the replacement addiction, for the yoga that is the replacement addiction to my phone. Stay with me. The morning brain is a hungry rested animal prepped with all the reports from the nightly reboot. No more yoga, but now I either put on first thing a book on tape or do a 15 minute meditation. The prompt lasts around 5 minutes and it closes with a few more phrases. I ponder wow, all I have to do is lay here and think about nothing, do nothing, for 10 minutes. How hard was it to think about nothing? You tell me.
