Soul Food

Lunation Series                                                              Blue Moon                                                           c-2006

Soul Food

“Woa, how long was I out for?”, I thought to myself,  as I looked around and saw that what was nothing but empty space when I sat down was now full of fellow yogis and yoginis getting ready for class.  I had pedaled over in the rain via the “long way” to class this afternoon as I just could not stand being inside any longer. The ride was very wet but at least the temperature was bearable. I made it in pretty good time and set up my mat and came out to “my bench” to listen to the rain and just chill pre-class and fill my soul with some calm. “Drip, drip, drip”…… There is a faulty flashing at the eave of the roof I sit under and it is allowing moisture to get in the soffit below. Until we address this it will keep on dripping like a metronome, rotting out the roof and my brain will respond and shut down as it has been conditioned to with such sounds. (Pavlov has nothing on me….get me on a beach and watch REAL programmed behavior…..zzzzzzz…). Anyway,  I wasn’t really asleep (my eyes were open) but I’ll be darned how these people materialized?   Honest.

Today has been a roller coaster. Waking up to an empty house stinks, and its worse when it’s grey and raining. I had a big case of the bums creeping up on me as I drank coffee and waited to connect with Edy via Facebook. We both needed to get ready for church but her timeslot was ahead of mine and she suggested giving our favorite granddaughter a call. Excellent Idea!!

L#2 and I had a great conversation as she walked me through every single change in décor that had happened in her room since we were there a couple of weeks ago. Wow, lots can happen in a couple of weeks ! I felt my bum lifting, (auditory soul food) and was very grateful for access to her. I walked over to church and got there early and people watched for a bit until services started. One of the gents behind me said it takes 4000 volunteers to staff each service. Wow ! Service was good (more auditory Soul Food) as always and I left feeling the bum lifted even more. I returned home, changed, made a light lunch and then started to feel the slippery slope tilting………ugh. “OK, you can do this”, I coached myself. “Leave early for yoga, ride in the rain and take the long way, you’ve got plenty of time”. So that is what I did.   

Along the way I reviewed my “play list” of favorite music and recalled Santana’s Abraxis Album.  One of my all time favorite albums for its mastery of music and mood (cover art was cool when I was 13 too). I peddled with it in my head for several miles. I thought about others too as my musical tastes range from Wagner to Wycliff (early Wycliff) I don’t think I’ve bought new music since 2005….? Anyway class was crazy hot and I was drained when I got out.  I hydrated a bit and rode back home in the rain which was actually quite refreshing.

 Dinner was simple and I had a brief chat with Edy before she was called off to play Candy Land. I pulled up one of the songs I wanted from the Santana album from Youtube and was pleasantly surprised that you can get entire albums there. “Who would have thunk?”, I thunk to myself as I scrolled through my top ten listings……..”This is GREAT !!”  My goodness they have EVERYTHING !!  I really love music and used to have it playing all the time in my office via a 400 CD changer. I have forgotten how much I miss it. (more auditory Soul Food)

 I used to love going to concerts as a lad. That and playing drums in garage bands pretty much ruined my hearing. It’s one of the things I’m hoping yoga can also cure.

So, Carlos and I wrote part of this together and now I’ve invited Pink Floyd in to take us home to the Dark Side of the Moon, cranking out arias into my ear-buds .....

”Huh….?....WHAT???...What’s that ???..WHAT DID YOU SAY???.........”

.....“Sorry, I can’t hear you , I’ve got Soul Food in my ears !!”