Om and Salutations

As many of you know, I am a yogi. However, this pregnancy has led me to find alternative ways to practice my yoga. In fact, it has become about 10% asana (physical practice) and 90% meditation and pranayama (breathing). So, I'd like to share with you one of my favorite mantras that I like to meditate with and feel is appropriate for this miracle that is constantly growing and evolving inside of me. I don't get to teach yoga anymore these days, so this is sort of a way that I can still pass on my love of yoga to you.

The following mantra is a mantra for new beginnings - traditionally chanted to start new endeavors with positive energy and to remove obstacles. New beginnings give us the opportunity to discover and possibly fulfill our deepest desires in life. But in order to do so, it is essential to remove or steer through obstacles that might hinder a clear path. Although these obstacles may manifest themselves as external problems, they may be as simple as our emotions or thought patterns. If your internal state is unified with your desires you can achieve anything. The mantra acknowledges Ganesha (or Ganapati), a Hindu deity known primarily as "The Remover of Obstacles".

Mantras can be repeated while meditating. It helps the mind concentrate on the breath and hence the present moment. The Sanskrit is written below (with pronunciation) and a rough translation is included.

Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha
Om Guhm Guh-nuh-puh-tuh-yea Nah-mah-hah

Om and salutations to Ganesha (Ganapati)

(I got this mantra from yogajournal.com - an article by T. Ashley-Farrand. Search the site for more mantras that suit you at different times of your life.)(ETK)

Expansion

May 25th, 2008


June 6th, 2008


June 23rd, 2008


July 27th, 2008

Good graffiti versus bad graffiti

Here are a couple more examples of graffiti from around Dunedin. I like this first one. I think this is King Tutankhamen, but I'm not completely sure. I'm not an Egyptologist. Did you know Freud was? Anyway, whoever this is, he's an ancient Egyptian and he's hiding down the end of an otherwise anonymous alleyway near the medical school. It's like he's silently guarding the alley. There's something quite enjoyable about the size of it: it's probably about eight-feet-tall and it must have taken someone a while to finish.

This next one is a really good example of bad Dunedin graffiti. The medical school is not gay. And there's really nothing remotely artful about claiming that it is. It didn't take any time or creativity. It's vandalism. It's a poke in the eye of authority. It's anarchistic. It's childish. So why did I laugh so much when I saw it? It has the spirit of Dada about it, I suppose. Or maybe it's just funny. (ck)

Scuba!

Emeline and I haven't scuba dived in more than a year, since we swallowed our fears (and lots of sea water) and dived to depths of 60-feet off the coast of Borocay in the Philippines. Next week, we fly to Palm Cove in Northern Queensland for a week in the sun. I'm planning on scuba diving while Emeline basks in the sun and gets some rays on her rapidly-growing belly.

Today, I have a scuba refresher course at the local dive center. Even though it's in a 12-foot-deep pool and I've done it all before, I'm really scared. (ck)

Cravings

Over the past month or so, my pregnant wife has metamorphosed into a pancake monster. Every Sunday morning, we drive down the hill and into town for breakfast. I drink a lot of coffee and usually order something involving sausages and bacon and ketchup. I'm fairly flexible. But if Emeline doesn't get some pancakes, and quickly, someone is going to lose a finger. At least she's not eating coal or raw steak like some pregnant women. If her pancakes were served with coal or raw steak, she'd probably still eat them though. In fact, she might not even notice.

This Sunday: a steaming hot shortstack of blueberry pancakes, served with yogurt, standing in a pool of syrup.

At this rate, we might call our first child Pancake. (ck)

Scale

It's raining outside today, and not worth leaving the house. So, I'll post a recent picture instead. I like this photo of the vintage coalfed steamboat, the TSS Earnslaw, chugging across a flat and calm Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. I took it a few months ago, and thought I'd put it up. I like the idea of scale: how small it appears in the vastness of the lake. (ck)

More graffiti: General Bengal

I like this one a lot. We walk past a delicatessen on the way to work and this advertisement for Tiger Tea takes up one wall. It's huge. I'm probably as tall as the tiger. Some cheeky young scamp has given the tiger a uniform and turned it into General Bengal: the vicious despotic leader of some war-torn imaginary country. It really reminds me of the dusty self-reverential billboards one might see in a country ruled by some thug who has adopted military garb and overthrown the government, calling himself something grandiose, like: The Beatific Leader.

General Bengal is ruthless. Like a shark, he is always moving, sleeping in a different bed, in a different safehouse, in a different city, every night, to avoid attack by counter-revolutionary forces.

I mean, would you buy tea from this tiger? I wouldn't. (ck)