Inspiration

My friend Leigh has been raving about the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. So much so that she wanted me to read it and come to her book club meeting that night. Well, the book club thing didn't happen and when I looked for it in the library, the wait list was about 20 deep. It is, after all, a New York Times bestseller.

So last week I asked Leigh if I could borrow it. She reluctantly agreed. I dove into the book that night and am finding it hard to stop reading. I think it's because I can identify with the author's experiences, from the gut-wrenching heartbreak to the spiritual quest. I found the account of her stay at an Ashram in India to be particularly intriguing. And that has inspired me to start practicing yoga and meditation again. The desire has been there; the motivation hasn't.

Tom had to get up at 4:30 this morning to prepare for a 23-mile run, which started at 5:30. Since he was up early, I figured there was no better time to start practicing yoga. I unearthed my yoga paraphernalia and actually did some yoga. It was pretty bad. I wasn't focused and my body was unbelievably stiff and creaky. Even Child's Pose was painful. I will persevere, however, and practice a little bit every day and look for a good yoga class.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I looked at my "fitness" horoscope for June and read this:

The 1st, it's all about balance when it comes to your workout. Yep, you want to work on standing on one leg. You want to bring on your foot to your thigh. You want to try (slowly and carefully!) to lift your hands and bring them together in front of your heart. You want to keep breathing. You might even want to try a headstand when you're done with the standing postures. Even if you don't do any yoga, look for balance in whatever it is you are doing.

Mostly I take horoscopes with a grain of salt. Sometimes, however, they are so right on that I wonder if the ancients knew more than we give them credit for.

Knitting and Spinning
I didn't accomplish much in the way of knitting this week...maybe only a couple of rounds on the simple stockinette sock. I did do a little bit of spinning, only to find out that my yarn is getting thinner and thinner and is bordering on lace weight now. Oops. I'll have to fix that.

There might be some swatching in my future as well. You know, just to see how the yarn behaves and if I can get gauge. But I cannot, must not, cast on for a new project. Must...finish...the...Sweaters of Despair...first...

Secret Pal
I packaged up my secret pal's goodies this week and mailed them off to her, a bit late as usual. I have a block against mailing things. My own secret pal said that my package would arrive this week as well! It hasn't arrived yet, so my anticipation and excitement are growing. I can't wait to see what goodies she sent this month!

Emma
As I was laying in bed this morning, meditating on getting up and practicing yoga, Emma jumped on the bed and laid down beside me. She stretched to her full length and very gently took my nose between her two front paws and held it. She usually strokes my face (or my nose) with a paw, but she's never held my nose before. She's a very funny cat. She also "helped" me practice yoga this morning, most notably by sitting on my yoga book. It will be interesting to see how her "yoga" practice develops.