Yoga

I'm coming back to yoga. Have strayed away from it for months, years. My tai chi phase is pretty well over; qi qong still goes on. But I always come back to yoga.

It was my rescuer in times of turmoil in the past. In my twenties, when my psyche was torn by conflicting emotions, it was yoga which brought some semblance of unity - yoga meditation and yoga exercises.

Later, in Vienna, more together but still troubled, I found a yoga group at the local Bhuddist centre which became the highlight of the week. Not as dull as it sounds. I made good friends there and for one whole year we went out on the town after every class.

In that class, I reallly learned the benefits of yoga - a flexible body, greater ability to deal with stress but also a greater sensitivity to what's going on inside this area of flesh and blood called 'me'.

[Thich Nhat Hahn: "You are made up of non-you parts." Pal disputes that. He says it's a philosophically and logically incorrect statement. "So what," say I, "it makes sense to me."]

For anyone who's still struggling with incarnation (nevermind re-incarnation), yoga is a great help. Encouraged by Deepak Chopra's book "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga" [Pal: "I'm going to start writing spiritual waffle - it makes money..."], I'm going to start getting back into yoga.