The days are hot, the afternoons in Sri Lanka peppered with cool breezes and sometimes sudden intense rain storms. The winds are welcome they rustle the trees and blow toward the coast. Today the sea is a deep green with a wash of blue against the dark grey storm sky.
Fishermen haul nets along the beach catching small fish, kilos of them. The process of drawing the nets to shore take hours and the men work to a rhythm called by the oldest men. Their legs bend and dig deep into the sand as they haul the heavy pink nets with their load of fish against the drag of the water.

At least 300 meters out to sea a boat circles and somewhere along the length of the circular net. One man yells and splashes, neck deep presumably to keep the fish within the parameter of the closing circle of the net.

The Chinese have undertaken to build roads and other infra structure in Sri Lanka in return they have fishing rights in Sri Lankan water and fish the tuna. The fishermen are poor and work amazingly hard, the intensity and physical economy of their efforts show in their sinewy bodies. The waters are being fished out and regulation is not something the Sri Lankan government is good at. The country is in deep debt and the short term goal is to decrease that. The Chine have put a coal powered power plant on the coast in a country with no coal. So every day coal arrives in big ships which sit off the coast in the dolphin and whale waters because they can’t deliver the coal directly to the power plant it has to be ferried in small boats to the plant. Nuts. Waste of money.

It seems that this country is mostly buddhist and politicians are treated like spiritual gurus . After public appearances, people surge forward to touch the PM. It’s definitely cultural and really more to do with lack of education than having any reality. The more well educated Sri Lankans are sceptical about their politicians, quite rightly so, but they tend to leave the country.

There’s a great influx of Italians buying properties and setting up homes here. It’s a beautiful culturally diverse country and not hard to live in, I think the Italians have got that right.

The languid days and intense sun attracts people to these shores. it’s so easy to be but there are strangely certain things that are completely unavailable. Despite the fact that Victoria’s Secret manufactures a lot of its underwear here you cannot buy a decent pair of undies to save yourself. The big nickers are really funny but odd. Anyone coming to visit bring me some decent nickers. Jus sayin…

It’s taken me a few days to attempt to be present here in Sri Lanka. The time difference between Sri Lanka and the east coast of Australia is about five and a half hours so my home town is ahead of me. I arrived at about 3:30am on Saturday morning.

It’s taken me 48 hours to realise just what I have done. I have become rootless, adapting to an environment that is both foreign and beautiful. So just what am I doing here? I am here to talk with guests, get to know what people need and teach them yoga and treat the ailments and conditions that they arrive with, swelling, back pain, bodily aches and pains, fatigue, ennui and exhaustion.

I started my day with a swim and walk on the beach, and noticed the men cleaning the beach. Apparently India dumps its medical waste into the ocean and a lot of it ends up on beaches here. Croatia and Sweden have forbidden ocean disposal of waste. Yes ocean dumping is a short term solution to waste disposal but often third world countries pay the price and in the long run our children will pay a huge cost.

I have a lovely room, and the food is incredible though I am craving green and today finally managed to ferret out a salad with some sort of green leaf and made a dressing watched by the entire cook staff. I put in oil, not sure what sort, turmeric, for inflammation and taste, salt, pepper and lime juice. I added thin slices of capsicum, cut with a blunt knife, asked for another still blunt and resolved to sharpen a few cutting knives, thin slices are hard to do with blunt knives.

This salad I served with a fish curry, sorted. The staff watched, the concept of a green salad being foreign to them unless its as a puree in a rice soup, congee, used as an Ayurvedic medicine. I had green congee for breakfast, strange with my cuppa. Now there’s another saga. You may be aware of how much I hate, yes hate tea bags. I get it, they are convenient and easy to dispose of, but the cup of tea they render is crap. In the 1950’s 90% of tea was sold loose, today 90% of tea is sold as tea bags. Call me old fashioned but in the largest tea producing nation in the world you’d reckon the tea bag would be less prevalent, though the Indians and Sri Lankans are no different to us they love convenience and embrace trends that offer easy solutions, like dumping waste in the ocean. Not a fan.

The staff gathered, giggling and looking askance as I mimed and gestured my way through the making of tea in a pot and the assembling of a salad. I like it here, when you come and visit I promise you salad and loose leaf cuppas, walks on a clean beach, boats to take you whale and dolphin watching and beautiful accommodation. I’m being a Madam, madam likes this and madam likes that kinda girl. I was brought up in India so I feel quite at home here. I do miss you all though…being a stranger in a strange land is all very well. Being away from my family and friends is hard, but the reinvention I am going through in my health and work practices is worth the effort…

As I sat eating dinner last night, soaked to the skin by a sudden downpour. I thought of the evening I’d just had on the beach, guitar, singers, fireworks and sudden dollops of rain and hilarious scamper to shelter as the fireworks got damp and the thunder and lightening rolled out. My first rain, my first fireworks here. So many firsts, its good to be new…

The flight to paradise was kinda gruelling as long flights are, about 11 hours. I watched “The Other Woman” great inflight silliness, and read some of a Swedish crime novel, and had 4 seats to myself so I slept and read stretched out navigating the seat belts in my back with cushions, four of them. The connecting flight got me to Colombo Sri Lanka late and I was met by Mohammad the driver and ferried away to Udekki, the resort I will be staying at.

I arrived after only one policeman stopping us and was greeted by tied staff and Glenn the owner. I slept in a four poster bed surrounded by gauzy nets. The next morning my jaw scraped the sand as I walked around, this palatial yet simple place. The beach is beautiful, the pool luxurious and the yoga and therapy area extensive.

The first morning I decided to clean the spa room and on mentioning this half of Sri Lanka turned up to clean, paint, scrape, what I thought would be a thorough clean turned into a renovation saga. Glenn the owner is a dynamo of doing. I have taught my first yoga class and given a lady a massage.

The beach, the sea… sigh… Come and visit me here at Udekki.com probably the most beautiful resort of its type I have ever encountered. It’s hot but you’ll be alternating between the beach, the pool, the shady pavilions and your beautiful airy rooms… Nuf said….

So the journey to paradise started, my incredible son took me to the airport. We ate Thai food at one of the Airport eateries, just to honour the fact that I was flying Thai Airlines, something I recommend highly.

After all the dust of immigration queues had settled there I was with my carry on luggage and a new pair of flight socks in their package. I sat at in a lounge area to pull the ever so tight socks over my feet. I sat down near a group of four people, an elderly couple and a younger pair. As I was undoing the packet the older woman of the group looked my way and said, ”Ah yes, thanks for reminding me I have to get my new socks on.” She started to fiddle in her bags to look for the socks I guessed. Her husband a slightly pot bellied man, a Harry-High-Pants type, pulled a wry face as I took off my socks and held his nose theatrically. I looked at him grimly and gave him the finger, he laughed uproariously as I knew he would. He was a twinkly man.

Meanwhile his wife had found her socks and started to bare her feet and legs ready to pull them on. Inexplicably she also pulled out a pair of large pink washing up gloves and put them on, I might add with some difficulty. I looked askance at the plump younger man, sitting across the carpeted isle from me and he rolled his eyes. She then started to pull on her socks with the gloved hands. I looked at the younger guy and flattened my face in disbelief.
I asked her, ”I have to ask: but why are you wearing rubber gloves, very pink rubber gloves in fact?”

Our gloved madam looked up and said, ”It stops them slipping, helps my grip.” The plump man and I couldn’t contain ourselves much longer and we both simultaneously started hooting with laughter. I totally lost my grip, perhaps I need the mental equivalent of pink rubber gloves.
I asked, ”Are you related to these people?”
His plump young wife, the daughter of the older pair, sitting beside him answered, ”No he’s not I am.” she said, and then inexplicably added, “They’re from Nu Zeelun.” It didn’t help me contain my hilarity in the least.
Her husband then said, “I get this all the time.”
The older woman now finished with her own socks looked at me and said, “You made pulling on your socks look easy.” Dead pan, totally cool. Then she got her husband’s socks out and gave them to him.

The daughter, laughing said, “You probably thought they were from Tasmania.” pointing at her parents.
“You mean the strangeness?” I asked.

Harry-High-Pants struggled with the sock packet and with bending forward to pull them on, must have been the high wasted pants. Anyway he started to undo the top of his pants and I theatrically hid my eyes and his wife hit him with a newspaper, the son was now weeping with laughter and the daughter was not much better. Harry-High-Pants was maintaining a straight face, I have no idea how.

Harry-High-Pant’s wife then grabbed the socks from him and waving her pink washing up gloves around immediately started to pull off her pot bellied husbands shoes and socks.
I asked Harry, “Do you have an extra toe?” He stuck his foot in the air and mercifully for my aching abdominal muscles said nothing. Meanwhile his wife with the pink gloves grunting and grimacing, firmly pulled on his new flight socks.
No matter how much she struggled no one moved a muscle to help her, the show must go on.

The son in law, the daughter and I were weeping with laughter. I said, ”That was the best start to a journey I have ever had. You’re all from Nu Zeeland, I can tell.” I said.
The younger woman answered, “We should sell teekets.”
“Say that again.” I asked.
“We should sell teekets.” She though I hadn’t heard.
“Teekets, yes,” I answered, “You’ shud. ”
I had a plane to catch so I left the High-Pants. Mind you I do have pictures of the gloves and the wearer and the activity involved in dealing with flight socks in a most unusual manner. You could’t make this stuff up.

THE DEPARTURE
It is the morning of my departure to the northern hemisphere. It is with a great deal of love and gratitude I wipe up the last of the dust in my house, drink the fine loose leaf tea with full cream organic milk and finally send this missive.
I have given years to healing and still will give. When someone leaves your life even for a short time, their energy merely changes its form in your life. Rather than coming to class find ways of strengthening and stretching to become pain free. Rather than lying on my healing bed research and act to initiate your own healing. Question your beliefs about where and who you are and often they are the root cause of your suffering.
Love with passion, be prepared to act against the grain and make this world a fairer, more peaceful place starting in our own hearts. You may be vilified but in changing you will rub a few people up the wrong way. What’s important is that you become open to change and meet your resistances with questions. Act with intelligent love.
I will be back in 2015.
See you in cyber space.

FOUNDATION TRAINING
I have come to understand a lot of things over the last 4 weeks. As you may well know I am taking time away from Australia to share Foundation Yoga in Sri Lanka.
I have recently returned from sunny California where I have trained with Eric Goodman in the Foundation Technique http://www.foundationtraining.com.
I have found the Foundation Technique Training to be incredibly curative. I injured my back, bulging 3 discs, a few years ago and suffering extreme pain and disability. Now walking is a joy and my back is strong and starting to regain flexibility. A combination of Yoga and Foundation Training or Foundation Yoga is my daily practice of choice. Most of my students have got amazing results in health, poise and general well being from practising these techniques.
Foundation Yoga used the Foundation Training techniques of Dr Goodman combined with yoga poses, breath augmentations and profound relaxation techniques. The inhale challenges you to grow and expand and the exhale supports that growth and expansion in a healthy individual.
If you are trying to find the best way to strengthen your back I highly recommend using Foundation Training. Dr. Goodman did not develop some new fringe idea with false promises. This is an evidence-based, functional approach to reverse the negative effects of sitting

http://propriocep.com/foundation-training-rapidly-increase-back-strength-flexibility-balance-quicker-ever-imagine/

http://www.theinertia.com/surf/surf-better-in-4-minutes-a-day/

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O3nLJgRO-d8 Forced breath and breath anatomy

UDEKKI: SRI LANKAN PARADISE
http://www.udekki.com/gallery.html
Come and play at Udekki. Since a back injury a few years ago I have consciously wanted to earth my feet creating a more solid connection to the earth. When you stand bare footed on the ground a frisson of electron exchange happens between your foot and the earth, called sweetly enough earthing. I rarely use a non slip mat any more I contract and stretch my feet, I lift my foot’s arches and mimic the action of my hands with my feet. I start to feel the muscular and energetic connections drawing up through my body, activating a series of anti gravity muscles and causing me to stand erect. Within minutes I feel better mentally as hormonal changes cascade through my blood.

Udekki means drum and is in the middle of one of the most healing centres on this planet. There are many Ayurvedic treatment centres in the area and my intention, when there, is to do what I do best, to help people to become the best they can be. Sometime a retreat or holiday is the best way to clear your cobwebs, combine that with great food, fun, music, laughter, restorative exercises, relaxation, ocean bathing and long walks and Bob’s your uncle
One I have arrived it may be difficult to send mass emails, if you wish to stay in touch, so I suggest you subscribe to my blog which I regularly update, besides it’s often quite funny… http://magginimmo.wordpress.com
Or connect with me via the travellers’ friend Facebook, Maggi Nimmo and even go so far as to LIKE my health and healing page Foundation Yoga.
I will update my web page to include Udekki activities as soon as I know what they are….
The email address that is easiest to reach me by is Maggi Nimmo

Regards and love Maggi Nimmo

I’ve been looking at photographs of myself. Some selfies taken at the Ayurvedic Ashram in India in December/January 2013-4. An attempt to see changes on my face from the treatments I received there. I looked so much more relaxed after 5 weeks, hardly surprising really.

Then I looked at photos from years ago of my laughing self, hooting laughter, bright eyes and then some photographs from recent days. Maybe it’s ageing, but recently my face is flat and smiles don’t reach my eyes, sometime they don’t make it as far as my mouth.

I love the work I do and I know I am good at it but something is clawing at my spirit. I’ve been telling people for about 3 years, maybe more, that I will not be around much longer, after they look at me askance and ask in alarm, “Are you ill?” Asking really about their own fears, I answer, “No , I just know that my time in Sydney is coming to an end, maybe I intuitively know the time of my own death, maybe its something else… I suspect it is.” That’s the best answer I can give.

For a few years I have felt as if I am walking in mud, slowly getting pulled in. I thought about this sense of being held back and realised that I was both the individual striving towards something unknown and the mud keeping me tied to the spot I struggle in. I asked myself, “What is it you want girl?” Given that I was talking to myself I decided to go right ahead and answer that question…”Well… what you don’t want is to do housework or administrative paperwork, you’re crap at it and it makes you tense.”
“Okay I thought I accept that but what do you want?”
“I’d like a change of environment, somewhere with space for me to work and be supported in that work. I love what I do but I’m out of resonance and patience with where I do it.”
“I’d like to be somewhere beautiful and warm and spacious where I can work and truly do what I love, help people to be more fully human, the best that they can be. I’d like to have the space and time to truly heal myself and be in a healing environment.”

There it is, a nice little collection of thoughts. I was happy to think them, but like most thoughts that pass through me I forgot about them. Or did I? A few days later I was offered a place in Sri Lanka to practice yoga and heal people, I said yes.

Soooo in a month I will have packed up my house put it up for rent and I’m heading off for a prolonged stay overseas. I am hoping to find my smile again…

As promised here is a link to the music I have been using in the Foundation Yoga classes I have been teaching since 2013.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/todd-norian/id561467564
Todd Norian, ‘Bija Soothing Music and Mantra.’

If you know anyone fabulous who wants to rent my house in Balmain here’s a link you can send them:
http://www.domain.com.au/property/for-rent/apartment-unit-flat/nsw/balmain/?adid=9322719

Finally here is a link to the place in Sri Lanka that I will be staying at:
http://www.udekki.com/main.html
You are welcome to come and experience yoga in the beautiful yoga pavilion I will be teaching and practising in.
You are welcome to come and experience the Aqua Yoga I will be practising and teaching
You are welcome to eat some of the best food in Sri Lanka and swim in warm tropical waters.
You are welcome to do the Foundation Training with me to heal your body, and make your spine whole.

There are about 5 people who are planning to spend their holidays in paradise with me.

My local supermarket has closed for a month, to refurbish its tired self, and I had run out of tea, specifically Russian Caravan Tea. It’s not the same in the early morning to have some generic tea. You see, I’m an old fashioned girl, when it comes to tea. I use the finest quality loose leaf and a teapot that doesn’t drip when I pour. I use organic full cream milk and I put the milk in first, I know, I know the tea nazis are all raising their eyebrows but that’s how I like it. In the 1950’s most tea sold was loose leaf (98%) and now about 2% is sold loose. We have become convenience junkies and as a consequence are truly making this planet a gross and littered place to live.

I was drinking tea with a friend who has been ill for about 3 and a half years, a chronic condition that needs careful management, quiet and support. We talked about the difficulty of letting go of her dreams of trekking, travelling and being a social butterfly. When coming to terms with illness, especially chronic illness, it is often the loss of dreams and ambitions that you mourn. The virtual projections you make into the future that can no longer be a reality. In coming to terms with being ill and being ill for long periods you have to root yourself in the now and find out just who you are and how to be happy with that and for that.

My ex-husband had cancer and was his usual grumpy, angry self one day when I went to visit him in hospital. It was not my place to make any suggestions, regarding his well being, as we were well and truly divorced, but I did care enough to visit. I watched him disassemble reality as a negative famine. So I asked a few simple questions.
“Is there anything about this situation that at least makes you grateful?”
He was being treated at St Vincents Hospital in Sydney, it has a reputation as one of the foremost Oncology hospitals in the world and the staff were, to every man and woman, kind and thoughtful.
After a few moments thought he said, “The staff here are wonderful, they really care about me.”
“You feel cared for and safe?” I said.
“Yes, there is that.”
He started to cry, not in the way of self pity but he cried with gratitude. This man was quite controlling and precise in his character and this emotion of gratitude was unusual in him. I felt the atmosphere in the room change, I started to tear up in empathy and with love for this beautiful man who was having such a hard time, yet found the essence of life even in the most dire of circumstances.

The strange thing was that his aggressive cancer went into remission within a few days of that experience, coincidence or a gift synergistic with a deep experience of love and gratitude. I have my thoughts, I am just grateful he had an extra 6 months with his new partner.

I was thinking of Compassion and Empathy the great movers and shakers of the true evolution of consciousness and as I discussed with my friend over our cups of tea: just how much suffering do we (humanity) have to endure to connect with our essence?

Be aware of others suffering, even if you have never had an injury, trauma or much of a hurt emotionally. What each of us is experiencing in any given moment colours and tempers our reactions and responses to events. If someone seems to be out of sorts do not take it personally, the roots of your experiences are often frozen in the the snakes and ladders of your childhood. If you have never had a headache be aware others can find them totally debilitating. If you have never been lamed, be aware that pain can make you tired and cranky. Develop empathy on the way to becoming Compassionate and maybe Awake to the essence of love and gratitude that is embedded as a possibility in every moment we live.

I have made a decision, odd as that might seem. I have decided to practice the discipline of metta, the active practice of compassion:
Here is a link to some detailed information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettā

Mettā (Pali: मेत्ता in Devanagari) or maitrī (Sanskrit: मैत्री) is benevolence, friendliness, benevolence, amity, friendship, good will, kindness, close mental union (on same mental wavelength) and active interest in others. To me this is not a meditation that I do for 20 minutes a day, it is an act of will or willingness to embody compassion.

Day 1: So how to begin? I am going to make this simple as is my custom and hopefully easy. I will actively stop negative thoughts about myself, yeah, I know, it’s not possible to screen out all those little suckers, but I can consciously ignore and refrain from engaging in the following: gossip, negative criticism, vitriolic diatribes about other peoples driving,

Day 2: My problem is with things not so much with people. I swore at the pegs as they dropped from my freezing hands as I hung out the washing. It’s a form of self abuse… Funny though just how nasty I can be to a peg… the pegs are now safeish…

Day 3: Sat and actually did a laughing practice that tones the brain to be more receptive to the endorphins of happiness, so far I’m still smiling.

Day 4: Started the sitting practice of metta (each stage should last about 5 minutes for a beginner). See description below…

Day 5: So far so good, watching those negative self criticisms come and go and just ignoring them. So far nothing really challenging has come up ‘cept a few objects being dropped. Every day is an open book, tragedy or comedy, horror, bodice ripper, fantasy or mystery, I’m getting the distinct impression that the choice is mine.

Stage 1.You start by imagining feeling of loving kindness (metta) towards yourself. Become aware of yourself, and focusing on your feelings of peace, calm, and tranquillity. Then you let these grow in to feelings of strength and confidence, and then develop into love within your heart. Sit tall to allow testosterone to flood you with the hormones of confidence, takes about 3 minutes.

Stage 2.Next, think of a good friend. Bring them to mind vividly, and think of their admirable qualities. Feel your connection with your friend, and your liking for them, and encourage these to grow by repeating ‘may they be well; may they be happy’ quietly to yourself. You can also use an image, such as shining light from your heart into theirs. You can use these techniques — a phrase or an image — in the next two stages as well.

Stage 4.Then think of someone you feel reasonably neutral towards. This may be someone you do not know well but see around. You reflect on their humanity, and include them in your feelings of metta.
Then think of someone you actually dislike — an enemy. Trying not to get caught up in any feelings of hatred, you think of them positively and send your good will and metta to them.

Stage 5.In the final stage, think of all four people — yourself, the friend, the neutral person and the enemy. Then extend your feelings further — to everyone around you, to everyone in your neighbourhood; in your town, your country, and so on throughout the world. Have a sense of waves of loving-kindness spreading from your heart into the universe in concentric expanding waves.

I’m feeling a little hemmed in at the mo. Well just so ya know I actually feel as if I’ve been sewn into a large sack full of porridge. The goop of life is mucilaginous and sticky. For example, yesterday I spend 3 hours attempting to register onto a Government website so I could claim my medical expenses on line, after an hour I rang a help line and a very funny woman attempted to talk me down from the ledge. We tried, I tried, we all tried to get me on line. You’d think it wouldn’t be this hard, imagine if I had been Chinese with a smattering of English, and I was confronted with the request for my Medicare number and it was described as the ‘designated user identification account’. It stumped me and the very helpful lady, who shall henceforth be called Deedrie. As it turned out Deedrie had omitted to mention the final digit required as even she didn’t know about it.

Trouble is, once we got the numbers right I had to answer the security questions. I can’t remember yesterday very well, let alone my first pet, my first friend’s name. I had to make up special questions, special people require special questions, so I could access my own details. I created from my past names and objects that have some concrete existence in my memory yet with a little bit of plaque and a neurone adjustment or two those facts may well slide into the porridge that passes for my life at the moment.

Deedrie was a dear, we almost swapped numbers so we could catch up and reminisce about old times. About half way through our tete a tete her phone cut out and I left unregistered and alone. I waited rather than ringing back because I knew I wouldn’t get my Deedrie. Miracle of miracles she called, my joy was immense. But now in the clear light of the next day I realise that she could steal my life, she might be an identity stealer, why else would you endure the babblings of hysterical people who have lost the plot because a government turn of phrase or acronym makes no sense.

That was three hours yesterday, spend making little inroads into the technical reality of my online presence. A redeeming event was a lotto win of $22.60. We porridge dwellers celebrate our small victories.

To continue in this vein yesterday I also had a request from an ex to be discreet. It was like an invitation to invent ways of being indiscreet and possibly, heaven forbid, tactless just so I could work them into a random conversation. Questions and comments like:
“Oh you’re still together!”
“I heard about the nasty bruise.”
“Sam mentioned your difficulties.”
“I feel for you, it must be exhausting.”

I might actually do a discreet cough or discreetly hoike up my southward bound pantihose, as for making an indiscreet comment probably not. I’m actually reasonably noice and wish even random strangers well. I can’t wait to tell Deedrie all about discreetness as I bit back my tactless comments assigning them to the same basket as impulses to stab myself in the foot.

 

Anger mismanagement…I’m caught between a rock and a hard place.

I practice yoga and attempt on a daily basis to engender compassion, that is, to see where other people are coming from, so I can understand a little of what goes on inside them. This is as hard for me as anyone, despite years of experience and self study to call on. It is hard, in the moment to completely sympathise with the stance someone takes especially if it is hostile, aggressive or confrontational. Yet this is the very time when we all need to call on the deepest levels of our characters, and at the very least, give ourselves the inner space to consider our options in the situation.

Like most people I have a well established ego. What this means to me, is that my ego is my interface with the world. An ego mostly is your learnt, acquired or habitual way of relating to the world. In those moments when I have been engulfed with unconditionality or inner peace the ego albeit reluctantly drops away and it is changed or modified as I return to normal consciousness becoming more of a friend rather than controlling master. Yet I suffer at times an almost existential separation from others, as I cannot empirically know the machinations that go on inside another human, my own stuff gets in the view finder.

As I endeavour to be more relaxed and calm and sink into the meditative state a fundamental alteration in consciousness happens, and when I return to normal consciousness my ego is less aggressive, somewhat transformed, but still it is the mental mechanism that mediates or facilitates my relations with others. I’m not sure we can ever be completely egoless as it really is, from my perspective, an interface between my inner and outer worlds. As I change internally my outer world also changes but, changes in my outer world don’t necessarily create changes within, you really do carry your own weather within you.

As I examine myself and meditate my ability to not be reactive improves but even so some situations, people or events can really p me off. Recently I had course to lock weapons with a woman. She has her own issues and for whatever reason I was seen as bullying and demanding, my actions were interpreted as stubbornness. it’s difficult to retain yoga calm when an index is being waggled in your fave and someone is calling you disorganised, aggressive, intimidating. It was like facing off against a piranha with its teeth in meat. She followed me around and yelled and when she followed me into the bathroom still waggling her finger, I lost it.

The thing about anger and righteous indignation is that for the time you are angry you are absolutely right and the opponent is absolutely wrong, hardly a working way of operating in the world. Two immutable forces meet, the rock and the hard place.

It would have been nice to respond with humour, but when faced with a piranha you I just want to shake it off and in this case my being in the slightest bit dismissive caused the situation to escalate. I normally walk away from angry people and will discuss their ire when they and I can breathe normally again, but there I was cornered in my bathroom.

So what advice did I give myself? I didn’t really. I went and did a long sustained back extension from the floor and then sat for 20 minutes, watching my breathing and practising the So Ham meditation. Did it work was I transformed into fabulous, kind, aware human being? Well no but I did feel less homicidal, and that’s gotta gotta be a good thing. It only took 20 minutes and the war did not escalate. The sadness, essential aloneness and anger in another human was writ in large index finger waggles and I at least in part understood, still didn’t like it though.

The war between China and Vietnam over sea territory and resources escalates, India still is wary of Pakistan, China and North Korea keep a warrior eye on each other. Croatia and Serbia commit genocide, Afghanistan tribes battle each other and women’s rights, racists target other racial groups. Where does it begin and end? We give our own lives meaning and the choice is ours in each and every moment.