Preachy Orange Little Men · 9 April 2008

My adviser loves the yes in me—yes to consulting gigs that walk the line of politicized research, yes to whatever small country’s labor history she suggests I learn, yes to upscale dinners with whatever intellectual heroes when they come to campus. She is the most passionate scholar I know, more excitable at 55 than the most supercharged undergrad, but also able to turn out a fine dense book in 9 months at the Sage Foundation, able to dive deep on a dime. Avidity and abundant good intentions, my provider and champion in this old boys’ patronage system: so when she sets a spread on her dining room table at 8 on a Tuesday, of course all I even want to say is yes.

Yes, in this case, to Brentwood’s idea of middle eastern cuisine: hello, garlic. Salad, grains and legumes and vegetables, cheese, dessert, tea. I didn’t even push away from the table until after my bedtime.

Something to be said for the force of habit. I was on the mat, doubled over, looking for something like my lower obliques with ujjayi as a flashlight before it hit me: what the hell am I doing here? According to ritual, my first move this morning is pasasana? Yeah. There was no fire to be found under all that baba ganouj… and there’s no way out of this sentence without using the ugly word bloat. I accepted the fact of the Oompa-Loompa practice ahead. Oompa loompa dum-pa-de-dum, I’ve got a perfect puzzle for you… What do you get when you guzzle down sweets…?

Somewhere in standing, an old teacher of mine walked in, set up across the way, and gently launched into a long programme. Nobody could have been a better support or loving witness to the reality of the Oompa-Loompa… the barely-conscious memory of all the times we’ve done this before underlined the force of habit and I went with it. We rolled those preachy orange little men into the canal.

Posted by (0v0)        
Categories: astanga yoga , having a body

Comment

1. The “what the hell am I doing here?” Exactly! I remember a morning or two in SF, on like four hours of sleep, Sunday morning, and it’s three people in the Mysore room, and the voice in my head says, “Dude, you just fuckin’ got up at 5 am to step into this dark room and SWEAT. What the FUCK are you thinking?” But then I stopped thinking and it was fine.

   Posted by: patrick · Apr 9, 12:14 PM · #

2. I love dessert. Its worth everything in the whole world!

   Posted by: Gregor · Apr 9, 12:39 PM · #

3. YES! The Oompa Loompa practice? Lately I am having lots of those!

   I have learned (the hard way) that a side effect of the practices where your body feels like a ton of bricks is appreciation for the light, graceful ones, where you feel as if you can fly.

   Posted by: Anna · Apr 9, 01:54 PM · #

4. Your term, Oopma Loompa Practice, is so perfect… not only because on a day like this you feel like one of those thick little stiff men, but also because you feel like they are singing their stupid song at you. I never realized that second level of the meaning of your phrase until the song ran through my head this morning!

   Posted by: (0v0) · Apr 9, 01:58 PM · #

5. Laughing… I apparently have too many of these!

   (and if I practice tomorrow I will have one too, since tonight I am eating Chinese food…)

   Posted by: Anna · Apr 9, 02:41 PM · #

6. those oompa loompa guys at the end had a bit of yoga chikitsa in them – i saw down dog, samasthitih, a brief ardha badha padmotanasana (prep), utkatasana, uttihita padangustasana, a glimmer of virabhadrasana b, adho mukha vriksasana (with assist), pras. pado b and c 1st vinyasa (vitruvian man), a unique version of chakrasana, vatayanasana (2nd), and some sufi dancing. (please forgive all asana mispellings)

   Posted by: e&sj · Apr 9, 04:58 PM · #

7. I would be a Yes person to upscale dinners, too! :D
   I like your advisor. Not too many people manage to preserve their passion by this age. When a person is passionate, it is a little bit contageous; which is great!

   Posted by: Alfia · Apr 10, 07:00 AM · #

8. For me, almost every monday practice is an oompa-loompa practice! Tuesdays rock, though!

   Posted by: cody · Apr 10, 07:58 AM · #

9. Oh wow, that Oompa-Loompa dance in the last section is surreal. I’d forgotten about that. Yes, I’ve been with my adviser so long (5 years) sometimes I forget how amazing she is and how much I enjoy her company.

   The Monday factor, yes. You know, it doesn’t matter what I do Sunday— led first, second only, some big sweaty 2.5 hour session before dawn—Monday is the one really creaky, slow day. I tend to wonder if it’s lagged “recovery” from Saturday off, or something, or a second phase of recovery from the previous week. I don’t mind it, whatever the case.

   Posted by: (0v0) · Apr 10, 08:41 AM · #

10. Occasionally I’ve had practices where I am just SO out of gas I have to give up & stop entirely. This usually only happens if I’m about to get really sick but don’t know it yet. I always react with so much bewildered confusion it’s as if a limb fell off.

    Need to get more chill about it. The need to stop. Sometimes it IS better to bail.

    Posted by: Boodiba · Apr 10, 11:00 AM · #

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