Yoga "Makes Me" Tired

I could really get going about this topic so I'll try and keep it blog-short. I think people need to rest during the day.

So yesterday this little guy comes up to me after yoga during gym class. He's 11. He tells me, "yoga makes me tired and now I have to go to soccer and I'm too tired." "Dude, yoga does not make you tired. You're tired. Can you have a nap when you get home?" "No, I've got to walk the dog and then I'm at soccer practice." "Okay, try blocking your left nostril, breathe through your right one for a bit and off you go." The guy is scheduled from the time he gets up until 10 pm when he finally gets to lie down again.

People, if you lie down and you feel tired, it's not the lying down that makes you tired. You're freaking tired. Lying down and pausing for a moment reveals to you all sorts of things. Sometimes it can alert you to the fact that you're overworked, super-scheduled, and eventually you will be stressed out and just may get sick or punch somebody or whatever other stressed-out expression people come up with.

My daughter and some friends came up with a plan that would let them have a nap after lunch. It didn't get off the ground. No support from the school. It takes too much work to find a way to kids to lie down. I realize it would be a logistical nightmare if everyone got to lie down for a bit during the day. But we're living in the alternative.

I'm sure that the pendulum was once way over on the other side and we were a bunch of lazy-bums long, long ago. We're not anymore. We're hyper-productive. Or at least we're scheduled that way. We're armies of workers ready to go. Sending ourselves off into battle everyday. We've been brainwashed or "culturally supported" let's say, in the habit of disregarding the body and the spirit, for that matter. And it starts out really young. We're not even out of elementary school before we're stretched to the limit, and not in a good way. Stretch and release is yoga. I don't see the release, the rest, that allows the circulation to return to normal. I see stretch, stretch, stretch, and then collapse.

Lost in Paradise

I got it in my head Tuesday afternoon that I really needed to get away. I made a few phone calls, I typed a few keystrokes, and the next morning I got on a plane with my kid and we're now in the Dominican Republic.

It is not snowing here.

While we're gone John is going to find a new place to live and move out. I'm devastated. But I'm finding my own way of dealing with it and when I get back I don't expect my problems to be all gone but I'll have had some more rest and maybe will be better able to manage.

This is a smoker's paradise. You'd think all white people smoke if you came here. It's actually quite gross and I think next time I won't jump to do the cheapest all-inclusive holiday possible. Nevermind. It's warm and beautiful and after we got moved out of our room with the bedbugs, we got put into a room with a view from the ocean if you are on the balcony. Sweet.

So that's it for now. I'm sleeping and eating and having fun with Remi. She got her hair braided yesterday and we're cool.