Putting things in Perspective

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

2 nights ago during the talent show I busted out my star spangled banner and serenaded the group with a rousing rendition of our national anthem. Today I've worn the flag all day and even used it as my yoga mat. Again maintaining the title of most patriotic expatriate in the world.

Anyways, it's been 5 days now of no exercise for me. I haven't blogged in that time, as I was busy trying to sleep and recover. 2 nights ago (right after the talent show) I came down with a fever an couldn't sleep all night, then woke up with explosive diarrhea. That was fun! I ended up skipping most of the activities yesterday to recover from that episode and actually finally got some well needed rest.

This morning I woke up and FINALLY felt better after 5 days of no improvement and only additional discomfort. As the day has gone on, I feel very positive that I will have a full recovery by the end of the week. Still, I don't plan on doing any more of the asana classes as I don't want to risk re-injuring myself prior to the himalaya trekking.

Today's afternoon class was a "prenatal yoga" class, so it was perfect for my condition. I still skipped most of the poses but it definitely helped put me in the shoes of a pregnant woman if I am ever to teach one. I also have a lot more sympathy for chronically injured folks who aren't able to do most of the poses at all. So I guess that's a silver lining of the injury.

Also, it was interesting to analyze my injury under the scope of the vedanta philosophy we've been studying. Essentially, the idea is that all our personal attachments in life are only temporary and not "real". Therefore when we think we find happiness in these objects, it is actually a false sense of pleasure, as our true happiness is a result of concentrating our mind and bringing us close to our inner consciousness, which is inherently bliss. So technically even "my body" is a temporary object that we must detach from eventually. Therefore if we rely on the body to bring happiness, it will eventually also bring pain.

Yea I didn't explain that too well, but you get the point...

The other thing is...in my usual life, I easily go 5 days at a time without any exercise all the time. I even go 10-15 days often. And during these days I'm going out drinking, eating like shit, and being a total lazy bum. This particular setback only lasted 5 days and I was still an extremely healthy, relatively productive person. Still, I was totally devastated that I couldn't participate. It absolutely killed me to sit in the classes and watch everyone else do their poses as I was immobile. It really goes to show how addicted one can get to a healthy cleansing routine if practiced every day.

I just dropped my iPhone while it was charging and might have broken my USB charging cable...hopefully I can solve this somehow!

Otherwise, there's not much to recap over the past few days because I missed out on the weekend trip and other events to recover.

Hopefully I an juice this phone up and keep it going.