Here I am in warrior III, a classic balancing pose. Like I wrote yesterday, yoga people always talk about practice. We also always talk about balance. Even when I teach, I emphasis the importance of balancing our energy level, our minds, our bodies, all of that good stuff we have going on.

As a yoga teacher, I feel extra obliged to balance myself as much as I can if I"m going to be an example of balance to the students in class. I try to balance my life and it's a challenge.

I enjoy drinking wine. Is this a balancing if I ride my bike more to burn off those extra calories? Is it a balancing if I only have 2 instead of 3 glasses or if I meditate longer? The good news that is also difficult is that balance doesn't work this way. Balance is not retributive where an eye is for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Balance is constantly shifting. The only way for me to discover my balance is by experiencing the results of my actions constantly. If i have an extra bit of cheese with dinner and wake up feeling bloated the next morning, then I didn't balance my meal the night before. 

The tougher aspect of balance is experiencing the esoteric results. How bright is my inner light, my tejas, when I act a certain way? How bright is my spirit when I make certain choices? How does perpetuating old habits that feel comfortable ultimately bring out the best in me? Or not?

Balancing on one foot is greasy easy peasy compared to balancing my inner life. If only enlightenment were easy as holding a fancy yoga pose on one foot for a long time. Actually, thank goodness it's not. Real results need truly difficult work. 

Every yoga person eventually talks about practice. "We need to practice every day." "It doesn't matter how much you practice as long as you practice consistently." "The Yoga Sutras say to practice regularly, it's called abhyasa."

Well, they're right. We do need to practice yoga every day and I frustrate myself about this. I put pressure on myself to practice enough every day and this means all kinds of yoga. Not just the poses, but pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation, jnana (mental, academic), etc. 

I continually struggle with balancing between feeling like I'm practicing "enough" with practicing consistently. As a yoga teacher, especially in the ParaYoga lineage, meditation is an anchor of what I need to practice. And when I don't meditate as long as I want to, I feel crunky and not smooth. So I have to sit longer. It's like there's no choice if I want to feel good inside and out...it's like going all day without brushing my teeth. 

Absorbing a daily yoga practice is hard at first, but when I realize that connecting to god, to the best part of myself, to that which is beyond this material world, is the most important thing I can do, ot's more important than blogging, gardening, and talking to my loved ones on the phone. The greatest loved one is spirit and I need to talk to her every single day. We all do! Remember who you are! Talk to god, talk to the real you. Every day.

There's a process we use in ParaYoga called vichara. In our lineage, it's a process to get to the root  of our suffering, our dukha, which means "bad space". Then we have two choices to end the suffering - to either change something or accept what's bugging you. Truly, this is more difficult than it seems. 

I'm irritated at someone because they said they'd call me and not only didn't call, but is apologizing in a way that doesn't seem like they're taking responsibility. They're saying, "I'm sorry that you were worried that I didn't call" and "sorry that there was a miscommunication about calling", as opposed to, "I'm sorry that I didn't call you."

Is this splitting hairs? Probably. Is it still irritating? Totally. Why? Why does this small disappointment become a living irritation? Here's where getting to the root of why I'm pissy comes in.

I have to find out the root of why not being called and not being "properly" apologized to is bugging me. Then, I need to accept or change. Good, I have my work cut out for me today. It's the small things that teach us, sometimes. 

I'm currently blogging from King Spa Sauna in the burbs of Chicago. The ritual of bathing and purifying is an ancient right of passage for many cultures. Modern Korean bath houses are out of control. There's free Wifi (I'm bloggin'!), a 24 hour restaurant, 9 sauna igloos, a movie theater, a TV lounge, and all the hot tubs, filtered water to drink and matching uniforms you'd ever, ever want.

As a Korean yogini, I come here with reverence for the ritual of cleansing. In Korea, whole families bathe as a way to bond and as a way to clean off old, unlucky skin. Yogically, cleansing techniques are called shat kriyas. There are 6 major ways to cleanse the body and although I'm not going to swallow cloth to pull out of my bunghole any time soon, I follow some of these yoga cleansing techniques at the Korean bath house.

Korean and yoga cleansing techniques aren't far off! I cleansed my nasal cavity with a neti pot. Koreans love hocking loogees, right from the back of the throat. To treat my skin, I do an oil rub, abhyanga, before I enter the sauna to drive the oil into my skin. Koreans have aunties wearing black bras and panties scrubbing off every level of skin until you almost bleed.

So, I can easily feel culturally Korean while using Ayurvedic/yogic cleansing techniques, here. Bonus: the place is practically empty, so I can go upstairs to the meditation room and actually meditate. Go King Spa and yoga!