It looks and feels and tastes like it's a-gonna snow!!! While I'm not a fan of winter, I endorse this latest development.

Have you read the so-called "Chronicle of Evil"?

Too much rajo-guna energy in my being these days. Rajas is the energy of action, fire, unsettledness, etc. My mind is constantly restless and focussed on external things, my stomach is often slightly upset, my body is always tense, and I drink too much coffee. My soul withers under all this rajas--I need balance, I need the light of sattwa again.

So to counterbalance that rajas, I took a "beginner" hatha class this morning, taught by Merry. It actually was an "intermediate" class and it was relaxing but a little more action-oriented than I would have liked. We did mostly backbends, no forward bends or twists. My mind wasn't calm during practice, it sputtered all over: "She is so much better at teaching than I am...I really ought to do more 'fun' stuff like she does...I really ought to quit teaching...This class isn't complete enough..." etc.

I just watched my mind, and felt the emotions, and I'll figure out the rest later. I do think I need to learn how to introduce more gimmicky, fun things in class every once in a while (like using straps and blocks in unusual ways)

except that desire always gets eclipsed by my wanting to teach a restful, soothing class that anyone can duplicate in their own home, without me, without props, etc.

Balance is the thing.

I am reading Pagan Kennedy's The Exes, which I found in the YA (young adult) section of the library. The subject matter (trials and tribs of a Boston-based indie rock band) seems a little above the heads of the YA crowd, but I can see why the librarian classified it as such: the writing is very simple and opaque, and it goes down pretty easy without leaving an aftertaste in the brain (after-thought).