39th Birthday Musings

Bangalore has certainly been unusually cold these days and my days have been super hectic.  So hectic in fact, that I didn’t even consider taking a day off for my birthday.  But egged on by Medha and enticed by vegan pizza, I made my way to a cute bistro in Indiranagar for a huge meal and hearty laughter.

As we tucked into some fresh, delicious pizza we discussed my upcoming nuptials.  I thought with a certain irony about how last year this time I was thinking about a retreat in Rishikesh and this year I’m headed to the same region but for a different kind of life altering  experience.

Last year was a test.  It tested the range of our creativity, resilience, compassion, strength, our reason, commitment, persistence, our unity, cooperation, our fears and also our ability to wait and watch.  For me it was a time to let my practice guide me.  How could I make teaching fun for me and for my students?  How was it possible to stay dedicated and fresh to the practice day in and day out without burning out.  Housekeeping chores are my least favorite and I started to look at cooking as a pause in the day and it helped break the overwhelm that infused those days.

This year is off to an auspicious start.  New ideas and a new house to work on them.  New spouse and new adventures to go on.  A new outlook and loads of optimism to go along with it.

Below is a video I made to commemorate my 39th birthday.  It’s a demo of the first 39 asanas from Light on Yoga.