April book drop

The Kingdom of Copper

By: SA Chakraborty

Wow. The last quarter of the book is teeeeeeense. And there is no resolution. It ends in the middle of a huge cliff. Thankfully, I was able to go right on to the next one. As middle books in a trilogy goes, this was well done. Enough happened to feel like the action warranted dividing into three parts - this is being written from the perspective of having also finished the third book just a few weeks later. I’ll expand my review of the series in that break-down.

Summary Here

Tales of Beatrix Potter

By: Beatrix Potter

I find it a little off-putting to anthropomorphize animals and then to have them eating each other. For that reason these stories never really sit well with me. It feels like low-key cannibalism. For such well-beloved children’s stories I found them really rather grotesque. Just me? Vor seemed to enjoy them. Maybe there just weren’t that many books/children’s books back in the day and that is how this book gained such reknown but I didn’t find them endearing or loveable or really at all valuable in terms of teaching lessons even. Pass.

Note: The works in this book are presented in a lot of other books with similar names. This is the exact version I read.

Summary Here

Goodbye, Things

By: Fumio Sasaki

I really loved it. I’ve been minimal for years yet I still found this book both inspiring and useful. An ironic note, the list of tips for going minimal is NOT a minimal list.

Summary Here

The Goose Girl

By: Shannon Hale

I started listening to this with Vor and it was clear there was an impending dark turn. He wasn’t fully into the story anyway, so we paused and I finished on my own. My intuition was correct, there is a dark turn. It was not as insidious as I had feared, however. In the end this has a big character arc for the heroine and feels like a good read for the tween group. There are sequels. I probably will end up reading them eventually.

Summary Here

Peter Pan

By: JM Barrie

This was an Audible Original adaptation. It was very engaging for Vor but a far cry from staying true to canon. I feel like the title is misleading and should have been billed as being “based-on.” You know the story of Peter Pan. No need to elaborate.

Summary Here

Coyote America

By: Dan Flores

An unexpectedly interesting book. There was a depth and nuance to the information offered so that I never felt bored despite the deep dive into a specific subject matter. Narrative works well as a literary device to help the reader/listener stay invested in the overall arc of the book. Another free offering for Audible subscribers.

Summary Here

For White Folks Who Teach In The Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too

By Christopher Emdin

Damn. This book delivered. I think one of the biggest pitfalls of the social justice genre is that they are essentially self-help books for white people. It gets pretty repetitive. Especially, if you have read Bell Hooks, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, etc etc to whom newcomers writing in this genre often can’t hold a candle. Their contributions are welcome but often come off as basic for people who have been invested in “doing the work,” for a long time. This however, phew. Is it narrative? Yes. Is it pointed? Yes. Is it also broadly applicable? Yup! Not only is this a critique of and solutions for white teachers entering into POC spaces, it is a brutal commentary on the epic failings of our education system. BUT! The thing is solutions exist. They are also deftly laid out in this book. Highly recommend.

Summary Here

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

By: Haruki Murakami

How does he do it? How did he write a book about a hobby/sport I have next to no interest/involvement in and make it interesting? He has a way about examining the minutae that gives his writing a perpetually fresh, familiar feeling. I just finished another Murakami book and it was no less detailed about no less mundane things yet it was still engrossing. This book is not quite so standard in the author’s style in that, there is always some central crux-point for his narrative works. And around that point Murakami weaves exquisite insights into mundanity/the human experience. Here its just - running. Running and life. Life and Running. A beautiful meander through the mind of a truly gifted writer and apparent multi-sport athlete. I Stan.

Summary Here

Midsummer’s Mayhem

By: Rajani LaRocca

The woman POC author I was looking for when I was duped by SA Chakraborty. JK, kinda. This was GREAT! I chose this book as a Mama-Vor book and it didn’t disappoint. The constant calls to A Midsummer Night’s Dream are of course lost on a 5-year-old but as I was hoping, the story was alive and substantive without any Shakespearian background. There’s magic, fae and BAKING! The author clearly knows her stuff. I think I can safely say, if you enjoy The Great British Baking Show you will enjoy this book. There are even recipes at the end! I enjoyed every bit of this scrumptious story (read it to get the inside joke).

Summary Here

Who We Are and How We Got Here

By: David Reich

A book about genetics. I found the first part of this book SOOOO boring. There was a lot of science info unanchored by meaningful real-world discussion or narrative. I think that was its failing. I was not in the right mindset to take it all in. Its one of those books I wish I had a hard copy of and would read slowly making annotations on the side. But in all honesty, I doubt I would have had the patience to make it to the last third. The last third of this book was great. It was everything it promised to be and didn’t deliver on in the first 2/3. The last bit of the book really dives into the current sociological and philosophical war that is going on in the field of genetics. I will let the author speak for himself on this as I found his writing to be profound.

“It is now undeniable that there are non-trivial average genetic differences across populations in multiple traits and the “race” vocabulary is too ill defined and too loaded with historical baggage to be helpful. If we continue to use it, we will not be able to escape the current debate which is mired in an argument between two indefensible positions. On the one side, there are beliefs about the nature of the differences that are grounded in bigotry and have little basis in reality. On the other side, there is the idea that any biological differences between populations are so modest that, as a matter of social policy, they can be ignored and papered over. It is time to move on from this paralyzing false dichotomy and to figure out what the genome is actually telling us.”

I’m impressed with Reich’s boldness and willingness to put himself in an unwinnable position. He is making friends on neither side of the aisle here and instead seems to really hold his idealistic ground. I find that admirable and impressive. Aside from the style/pacing of the book, my other critique is that author somewhat minces words on the topic of male genetic dominance. when one society takes over another men sexually assault and rape women, a fact that is never stated forthcomingly. I found that he was being realistic but way too kind in the way he was painting the picture.

Summary Here

The Empire of Gold

By: SA Chakraborty

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Ok, now that is out of the way. This is your last chance. I’m going in and I’m not holding back. You were warned.

GAAAAH. They did Dara so dirty!!! There is a little redemption for him at the end but the whole time I was just gritting my teeth at Ali and Nahri’s hypocrisy. Did Ali grow on me? Yes. Did I overall really like Nahri? Yes. But they still both pissed me TF off. Dara is hands down a tragic figure for the ages. By the way, I’m not structuring my thoughts on this trilogy because most of it is just me emoting and there’s no reason behind it.

Jamshid and Muntadir! Love. Would have really liked to have more Zaynb in the series. She was amazing. Queen Hatset also amazing. Sobek - such a cool concept. End of the day I want so much more from this world. I want to follow Dara to the ends of the Earth. I want to circle back to Ali and Nahri’s descendants and see how they interface with Dara and the slave rings. I want to know more about the Peri. There’s endless material here.

Surprises that made me happy: Nahri’s grandpa. I straight up did not see that coming. It was a great way to end on a positive note where so much else was tinged with sadness. Speaking of - Dara riding off into the sunset to gather slave rings and free the enslaved Djinn. It was the mature thing to do and so I begrudging accept it. Did I want he and Nahri to end up together? 100,000%. But in all honesty, they are both damaged goods and their love, though real, was also a tangle of trauma bonds. And he needed to go heal and she didn’t need to save him. Its a RuPaul moment. If Dara can’t love himself…

Final thoughts. Still angry the author is white. It means some POC writer somewhere who also could have written and published this story was displaced. I’m obsessed with this world and excited to see it come to screen on Netflix. There is SOOOO much room to cast this with actors who cover a wide range of skin tones and ethnicities. I’m am hoping desperately that they don’t white-wash everyone. Ugh. pleeeeease let them get it right!! I want more books. I would love to see Chakraborty team up with an actual author of color to flesh out some of the stories that are begging to be told. Overall I fell in love with this trilogy. And was happy to spend the 60+ hours of listening to see it through to the end.

Summary Here

Touching In With The Past - Vintage Yoga Flow

I’m trying to archive old hard drives. I have like 40Tb of data that all needs to go into deep storage and be organized. Yes. That is 40, 4-0, no typo. I have enough data to warrant buying a RAID array. Anyway, I’ll save you the multiple wormholes those first two sentences sent me on. I came here to say that I posted some of my “vintage” yoga flows to my Congruence Yoga Youtube channel.

I practiced to “Challenging Upper Body and Core Flow” a couple days ago and I wanted to share it with you here as well as some thoughts since hindsight and all…

…Thoughts

1. I am so glad this phase of hair is no more. I couldn’t get my hair out of my face without what I call “The Unicorn Pony.” I have had so many different hair styles over the years. I think on this website alone you will be able to count at least 4 or 5. The Unicorn Pony was a necessary evil in growing my top knot out but damn. Not a fave.

2. My body has changed so much and also very little. It took about 6 months postpartum to get back to my normal weight range. Five years later and I’m still hovering in that same zone. Where I carry fat, muscle density, tone, etc. are all in constant flux. If I’m lifting I look different than if I’m walking, skate or doing yoga. But my overall weight is remarkably consistent. More noticeable to me is how I move. I look stiff here imo. I will never be hypermobile. I am just simply not expressing that gene, though it does run in my family. I have made huge strides in looking more fluid in my movement from this video shot 4 years ago but even to this day I find it surprising to actually see MY body get into some of the shapes it does. The way I get into flexy shapes is so different than how more flexible people get into the same shapes.

3. Wow. My pincha has come a long long way.

4. I’m immensely proud of my sequencing and cueing. This was a very challenging flow that incorporates methodologies that are just now being highlighted as “foundational” to any movement practice. And I was doing those things in very creative ways four years ago. I’m talking functional range training, spiral movements, breath-work and more. Not only that. I really did and still do my best to honor yoga’s roots when I’m teaching. I try to teach YOGA not just poses. I think that comes through.

5. Teaching at Thunderbolt was hard but it really elevated my teaching game. Some of that came from without. Carly gave me a limited structure to work within. The challenge then became to test the limits of the structure without stepping outside of it. I worked very well in that environment. Until I didn’t and that is a different story. For the most part, structure aside, my teaching is an offering of mySelf beyond self. I teach from a place of joyful creativity, expression, healing and intuition. The recordings for the video come from live classes I taught. Its a style I borrowed from Black Swan Yoga and I still prefer this format to pre-recording in a booth, teaching model students or dubbing over after the fact. You get to hear a moment in time that will never be re-created and I think that’s really special.

Five is an arbitrarily good number to close it out. I hope you enjoy this flow. Share feedback, successes, ask questions in the comment here or Youtube. Om shanti, shanti, shanti and thanks for your time.

140908 Yogi Time Lapse - This is how to lotus

Warrior poses and handstands and one-leg balancing postures and down dogs and planks, and cobras - yep, all great poses. Those poses only help, minimally, however, in developing the lotus seat - padmasana. If you only have a rigorous asana practice you are missing out on some of the biggest benefits of yoga derived from sitting and meditating. It is widely agreed that the lotus seat is one of the best postures for meditation. This is due to the natural torque that occurs in in the hips which in turns grounds the ischium. The reciprocal energy of the legs into one another and then into the ground and a similar transference between the ischium and ground allows energy to be drawn into the pelvic floor almost effortlessly. In turn, through controlled breathing, the abdominal diaphragm lifts the energy though the anterior and posterior planes of the trunk, into the chest and when the shoulders are relaxed the chest has room to fully expand. Thus, this particular seated posture allows for the greatest ease and expansiveness with breath. With an appropriate dristi or focal point, the neck continues this unbroken transference of energy all the way through the spine from tailbone through the crown of the head. 

Such economy of energy transference is hard to replicate in other poses. In my experience "easy pose" or sukkhasana requires more trunk stabilization as does bound angle (boddha konasana). Child's pose (balansana) or kneeling are good options but the compressive element of those poses puts the shins, ankles, calves, and feet to sleep when held for a long time. Savasana or "corpse pose" is great for economy of movement but the challenge in that posture is to keep your meditation from turning into sleep! 

So how do you get into lotus? Have you tried only to have too much pain in the knee or ankle to get all the way situated? For some the lotus seat is easy. The hips are naturally very open, their legs are long enough that the angle for the knee is less severe. For many, however, lotus is anything but comfortable and just about unattainable. I fell into the latter camp my entire yoga career until just this past month.

A year ago it was pointed out to me that my ankles were turning under or "sickling" when doing poses like pigeon, cow-face pose and in half lotus, fire long pose - really the list was very long. For me, unlocking lotus started with fixing my ankles. The ankle is intended to be either extended - nice and straight with the toes expressing that straightness by pointing OR the ankle can be in some degree of flexion as in when you are standing on it. Problems with the ankles start in the bottom of the foot more often than not, though mine actually was a combination of poor foot placement during walking and old soccer injuries. People over-weight the outside of the foot when walking and that translates to the seated position. The outside edge of the foot begins to turn under and there is an outward bowing of the ankle joint placing a LOT of stress on the lateral ankle ligaments. I started by making sure my ankles were either expressing full flexion or extension in each of the poses above.  Two things helped me get my foot into really good flexion -

1) When possible use your hand or another body part to give the foot feedback. If you walk wrong chances are the second you try to put your foot into flexion without the floor underneath it you will default to your bad walking pattern. Use your hand on the bottom of your foot to simulate a floor and root down the base of the big toe and pinky toe as well as the heel to get your foot flat and start to re-train appropriate flexion at the ankle.

2) Flare the pinky toe. Yogi toes look ridiculous at first but aside from the surface area they provide for balance, this simple flaring of the toes pulls the muscles of the plantar fascia and arch wider, stretching the bottom of the foot which in turn makes ankle flexion a LOT easier. 

So after the ankles, the next major crux is the knee, right? If your ankle is fully into extension or flexion you're going to have to work rather hard to get your knee out of alignment. Your knee is a hinge joint, just like the angle. The knee joint expresses range of motion between 0 degrees (knee totally compressed as in kneeling) and 180 degrees (knee open as in standing). In between the two is the mid-way, 90 degree angle, as in sitting in a chair with the feet flat on the ground. Those are the three safest positions for the knee. At any of those three angles, the foot angle can either be flexion or extension and the effect of the relationship between the ankle and knee is experienced in the hip. If your knees give you trouble my suggestions are as follows - 

1) Spend a LOT of time kneeling. Start small with a block underneath you for support and work eventually so that you do no need the block. Start with 5 minutes and work your way up to 20 or 30 minutes. Mind over matter, your legs will tingle but if you keep your pelvic floor and core engaged and your focus on your breath you will one day make it that long. Don't expect that to happen overnight or without some tears. When you have sat kneeling for a long time, make sure you give yourself a long time to unwind out of the posture and don't try to stand up right away. Just get in dandasana and let your body process what happened. 

2) Heros pose at least 3 days a week - once you can kneel for about 15 minutes without a block start working Virasana into your practice to help with internal rotation of the hip while the knee is compressed. This is the opposite movement of the hip than lotus pose but as is often the case one must go East to go West. The hip will not externally rotate if the internal rotation component is missing.

3) Start practice your half lotus - in tree pose, on the ground. Get the heel in contact with the abdomen about two inches below the navel and slightly to whatever side leg you are working. Get the very midline of the shin pointing to the ground and then lean forward to help your pelvis tilt anteriorly. Eventually your knee will drop down to the ground and you will have one half of your lotus legs.

Finally what does one do about the hips? If the ankle and knee are in a good relationship to one another, stretching that you do in pigeon, cow-face pose, janu sirsana, fire log pose etc will all work efficiently and effectively and most important EXCLUSIVELY at the hip. Unlike the other two joints, your hip is a ball and socket. The range of motion in the hip is huge comparatively and you need all of it for lotus. In my opinion the hip takes care of itself when the other two joints are in order. One of the most important poses to get your ready for padmasana is fire log aka double pigeon aka agnisthambasana. This pose is a doosey. It slowly torques the hip socket into submission. Often the hip does not rotate out or back all of the way in the socket but this pose will take care of both of those elements. The first time you try this pose however you might find that there is huge gap between your top leg and bottom leg. First, follow all of the aforementioned tips for the ankle, make sure they are both in flexion. You may need to hang the top ankle over the quad muscle of the bottom leg to be unimpinged in your top foot flexion. From there my tips are as follows - 

1) Lean forward and compress your torso onto your legs. This will guide your hip placement and  anteriorly tilt the pelvis so the head of the femur sits all the way back into the socket.

2) If it feels bad in the knee or ankle don't go there yet. That is my advice at every step of the way to lotus. You only have one knee and one ankle per leg. Treat them kindly. Go slow. Do not force things upon your body that it is not ready for.

I will likely do a tutorial or maybe even a lotus workshop here, soon. If you want a great video on how to get into lotus go here. To see all of the above advice in action check out my time lapse from yesterday below. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions in the comments.