Yurts · 1 January 2008

My brother is obsessed with Quonset huts. But he despises yurts.

Since we were kids, the Quonset has beguiled him. (If you’re following the pendulum, he just moved from Paris to Marfa, probably in search of more Quonsets, which do not often appear in Montmarte.) Back in our childhood, a Quonset was basically the most interesting thing on the rural Montana architectural landscape. Driving past one was the middle-of-nowhere equivalent to spying a VW Thing on the LA freeway. It’s a hassle-free, snowdrift-proof residence! It’s an echo chamber! It’s a grain silo cut in half! It’s a giant speedbump! It requires no special skills to erect!

Equal and opposite to the aesthetic delights of the Quonset is the aesthetic mistake of the yurt. After an unfortunate booking at the unfortunately named "Treebones" resort—made in the hopes that yurts would be something like Quonsets—he realized that yurts are not ok. Terrible feng shui in a yurt, especially with the circle-in-a-square relationship that comes from putting a bed inside. Gimmicks, yurts. Hippie novelty. Mindless design. Bad form.

So when I realized I’d be doing my new year’s yoga in a yurt, I had a doubt. Why amid the most incredibly beautiful land adorned only with gorgeous and lovingly appointed buildings would anyone plant this alien and inefficient structure? What misguided UFO aesthetic was infiltrating this immaculately cultivated zone? And how could I possibly negotiate bliss within it?

Actually, it was ok and better than ok, the yurt yoga. First, there was the Arthurian symmetry of practicing in a circle. Funny to see a few of us westerners feel strange pointing our feet at others (folk taboos also—just like lattes and ringtones and pubic hair fashion—travel across cultures in the days of globalization). But after we got comfortable with that, the little bolus of energy we created was perfectly shaped.

Second, our particular yurt had something called an “incinerator toilet” which burned its own contents rather than draining them off. So every time someone visited the loo, the yurt would be infiltrated with the scent of burning samskaras. Which was actually very nice, once I stopped worrying we were burning the yurt.

Third and best, though, was the window at the top of the structure. It was circular and convex. There facing the center of the yurt and practicing in the round, each time we would pull in to urdhva mukha and gaze to the tip of the nose, each crossed eye would pick up an image of that window. You see double with your eyes crossed, of course; and the double-vision of the circle window created for each of us a pair of giant, ephemeral, visionary spectacles looking right into the cosmos. Gazing inward to the tip of the nose; but at the same time picking up that beguiling image created by our own flawed but amazing senses.

So anyway. Yurt yoga is allright for these reasons.

I am back from ashtanga retreat with many new threads before me. And a sense that the year ahead will make a coherent and beautiful weave of them. Sealed off 2007 in the cold cold waters of Matilija Creek and 108 collective Aums; and initiated 2008 with a dawn-light jacuzzi soak and ashtanga.  But this is all for now.  

Happy new yurt.

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

Comment

1. Wait, I have to think about this, Happy New Year! in the meanwhile.

   Posted by: eor · Jan 2, 02:04 AM · #

2. i love the yurt. i saw a thing on OPB once about people in mongolia or maybe it was kazakstan living in yurts. it was pretty freakin cool. it was the first time i heard of a yurt and i fell in love with it.
   i do, however, have to say yuck to the incinerator toilet. allthough the smell of burning samskara is intriguing.

   Posted by: cranky housefrau · Jan 2, 04:11 AM · #

3. I want to go on one of these retreats. Can we all go? Please?

   Happy happy day!

   Posted by: Anna · Jan 2, 06:27 AM · #

4. how can one dislike yurts? i love the intimacy the structures provide — it’s like the walls are giving you a hug.
   happy holidays!

   Posted by: rew · Jan 2, 07:56 AM · #

5. Quonset huts are absolutely brilliant — I LOVE them. I’ve been mulling over ideas for designing a house using the same type of corrugated steel, but updated with anti-corrosion coatings and larger radiuses.

   Posted by: Carl · Jan 2, 10:21 AM · #

6. Was this the SD retreat? Sounds fascinating.

   After recent experimentation I am feeling as if yoga and alcohol may not mix. Longing a little for the days when I’d forget to drink at all, or even that it could be part of the meal.

   Posted by: ASHTANGI · Jan 2, 12:37 PM · #

7. Do burning samskaras smell like asparagus?

   Happy New Yurt! :)

   Posted by: cody · Jan 2, 12:53 PM · #

8. Hmmmm, samskaras that burn and smell like asparagus sounds like what happens when you mix yoga and indiscriminate sex.

   Posted by: karen · Jan 2, 04:06 PM · #

9. Yes, Anna. Is 2008 the year of ashtanga blogger retreats? Should we create some ritual about it in addition to all the partying? Collective asparagus burning?

   I had forgotten yurts were a tribal Mongolian thing! Now I’m much more excited. That image of yurts of maurauding Mongolians scattered across the distant grasslands is just too romantic. Even though they probably didn’t do any yurt yoga amid the marauding.

   Posted by: (0v0) · Jan 2, 05:09 PM · #

10. They are especially cool if strewn with shearing rugs and crazy tapestry blankets….I do prefer a tepee.

    Posted by: Susan · Jan 2, 05:25 PM · #

11. i don’t remember yoga in this OPB documentary, but i do remember that they were quite busy trying not to freeze to death.

    Posted by: cranky housefrau · Jan 2, 07:02 PM · #

12. They should have thought of teepees! Those are warm, warm, warm.

    I once slept outdoors in eastern Oregon for a whole January. Frostbite is lame (as if my feet weren’t sufficiently messed up already). I dreamt of teepees all those horrible nights.

    Oh, and Ash: yes, I think I took back to the drink a little too easily over the holidays. It’s brought up some memories… and reminded me of memories that should be there but, due to the alcohol, aren’t. More on that in a bit.

    Posted by: (0v0) · Jan 2, 07:16 PM · #

13. It’s all true.

    Posted by: FLINT · Jan 2, 10:00 PM · #

14. You and Carl will want to check out quonsethuts.org.

    N.B. both quonset and yurt have certain military origins. I think yurts are more PC though.

    Posted by: (0v0) · Jan 2, 10:06 PM · #

15. We can certainly create rituals! However, these retreats have to be warm. I’ll be sad if I freeze to death.

    Posted by: Anna · Jan 3, 07:12 AM · #

16. Oh, I’m so so glad you had a good time, and so so sad that I wasn’t there to share it with you! Now we definitely have to make an effort to meet up, be it in LA or in SB. We just keep missing each other and now it’s starting to make me angry. :) But not so angry that I can’t insert smiley cheesy emoticons.

    AND I made oatmeal the editor’s way last night and it was really really good this morning.

    Posted by: jenna · Jan 3, 05:56 PM · #

17. Jenna, we will remedy this situation.

    Probably, oatmeal (or other forms of breakfast) will be involved.

    Posted by: (0v0) · Jan 3, 06:40 PM · #

18. Sounds like a great time; Happy belated New Year.

    Posted by: Tim · Jan 4, 02:48 AM · #

19. Sounds like the 25th annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Elko, Nevada, 2004? When Mongolia sent the guest cowboys. I got cold, too, when I got left behind in the snow.

    Posted by: eor · Jan 4, 09:04 AM · #

20. Happy New Yurt! That sure sounds like an interesting venue for a yoga retreat.
    hugs, Arturo

    Posted by: arturo · Jan 5, 03:22 PM · #

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