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September 17, 2004
OOMPH and UNPH
The expansive feeling from last night carried over into the morning, although it took me a bit of time.
I sat down for breakfast, and I looked down at my plate and saw: a dollop of cottage cheese, with some sunflower seeds on top; a dollop of amaranth, with some toasted coconut shavings on top; and a small pile of cooked bitter greens.
And I thought, "I got out of bed for this?"
But by the time breakfast was over I was so glad I came, and after study group I was so glad I went to that as well. I was in my "I love people" place. I looked around and couldn't judge anyone. I could contain them all.
I got a session afterward, and it was really nice to receive the entire supine form all at once. Really helped me start to grasp the whole in my mind and body.
Lunch, I socialized, instead of up in the library reading or sitting at the computer. I realized something about salt... I've heard people wonder about sea salt vs "regular" salt, and I've wondered along with them in the past. "Both are just sodium chloride", right? But if you believe there is an energetic aspect to things, it's not hard to see that on an energetic level, natural sea salt can be worlds away from Morton's iodized.
That led to discussions of "is organic farming enough?" What would it be like to farm consciously, within held space? How much more energy would the resulting food have? If our mindbodies are temples, then food--and its production--are sacred. How and how much do we tend to honor that in America and the rest of the world, and how and how much do we tend to ignore, to "disrespect", it?
I'm a bit uncomfortable with the word "disrespect" because I think it usually carries some judgmental baggage, but in this case I simply mean it in the sense that failure to recognize the importance of something and act accordingly is to disrespect it.
The Study Skills workshop was fantastic. I want to work this weekend on integrating the ideas in my notes into my reality.
We discussed personal care: being gentle with ourselves, keeping our priorities clear and with us, emotional balance, tools to use, energy management.
We discussed choices: time management, personal study styles, making appointments (especially on weekends), and how to raise our energy.
Soyka had a great way of putting the fact that processing emotions during meal times is contrary to eating & digestion: "We can't STOMACH putting food in when all of this stuff [emotions, issues] is coming out."
And we discussed some specific tricks for dealing with science class: centering, focusing the busy mind syndrome, grounding and movement exercises; outlining new material, previewing the chapters before lecture; and extra things to try, like designing test questions, making the information our own by relating it to real life, and making it fun with silly analogies and mnemonics. The sillier the better :-)
I gave my first full supine session before dinner. I brought my speakers down; music so increases the quality of the ambiance in the treatment rooms. And I love Room 2; the lighting makes me happy.
My techniques need work. I'm not used to schoolwork that I don't do perfectly the first time. But, still, some things I did really well. And that's really nice. I'm looking forward to perfecting the rest.
Dinner was macrobiotic. Miso, adzuki beans & squash, brown rice, seaweed salad, beets, and more. It was the best adzuki the kitchen has made this quarter! Possibly the best miso, too.
I sat with some kitchen staff, and really enjoyed being able to ask questions about the food and talk about what we were eating with those who had prepared it. I was also able to plant the seed that pho would be a REALLY good and yummy idea :-) They won't serve rice noodles here, because they're made with white rice, but they got to thinking of substitutes.
Dessert! Tapioca pudding, with coconut milk and blueberries and other stuff. It tasted like roasted marshmallow and smelled like smores.
Tonight they made the best chamomile tea I've ever had. The teas here are so hit or miss. The rooibos (one of my favorite tisanes) they brew often underwhelms me... and then they take something like chamomile, which has never impressed me, and somehow make it wonderful. So aromatic and tasty.
As I walked back to the lower dorms, I had to stop and take photos. The lighting of the sunset and the incoming clouds moved me, and I wrote this:
Friday 9/17/04 ended 7:49pm
DEEP purple shade, stain, OOMPH and UNPH
dark dark silhouettes
pine trees -- three old men
against the graying sky
rise up, look out
as yang gives way to yin
and sheets of wet dirty cotton roll
in over the hills
moss still
grows up and down these branches
below, patches of green like unripe limes
barricades!
first farther lines of trees stuck in
the ground at odd angles
and closer manmade
funny barrels of wire jostling each other in line
CAUTION
the yellow tape says
I find deer shit in the field
I shat before I came out here
Oh there she is now
She sees me and ballets away
This is a yang poem and its inspiration
is quickly sinking behind the earth
sometimes yang gives way to yin
everything changes
and poems end
Posted by Josh A. at September 17, 2004 11:14 PM