On Practice

My yoga practice is a comfort for me when I travel. Sometimes when things get hectic or I'm feeling a bit off balance, it's nice to move in and out of familiar postures. This is more true now that I practice ashtanga, a style of yoga that allows me to fall into the ritual and rhythm of the same poses in the same order day after day.

Two days ago, I practiced yoga publicly for the first time in India at the campus gym. Now while I'm used to being the only black person practicing yoga in a room of practitioners from another racial group (Asian in Hong Kong, mostly white in the US), this is the first time I've had the experience of being the only black person practicing yoga in a room of non-practitioners from another racial group. Oh yeah, that's right. I rolled out my mat and the 7 or 8 staff members at the gym gathered at the door to stare at me.

Now I recognize why this would be a spectacle. If the shoe were on the other foot, I'd want to check out the American girl who was interested in doing yoga in the campus gym. But let's just say it was really intimidating having an audience. But what to do? I couldn't roll up my mat and go home. Instead I brought my hands to heart center, then inhaled arms up, look thumbs.

This morning when my alarm went off at 6:50 am I just couldn't get my eyes open. Even though I wanted to practice, I figured I just needed more sleep. At 7:15 a woman knocked on the door to clean our rooms. I got up to let her in but my eyes still felt heavy. Since I was already out of bed, I figured I should just brush my teeth and get going. I went to the sink, splashed some water on my face, and looked up into the mirror to find that in fact, my eyes actually couldn't open. Well at least one eye couldn't. It was swollen shut. My best guess is that I got a mosquito bite on my eyelid and reacted poorly to it.

As I looked like Frankenstein, I figured I shouldn't head over to the gym and terrify the small children who happened along my path. And with my eye in its condition, I couldn't read or watch a movie or anything really. What to do?

I shoved my suitcase out of the center of the room. Rolled out my mat. Brought my hands to heart center. Inhale arms up, one eye look thumbs.