The Practice & the Monkey Mind

Power Yoga with Baron Baptiste 3-Disc DVD Set

“Make yourself a light,” 
says the Buddha,
but in my yoga video
Baron Baptiste guides me 
into upward-facing dog pose,
tells me to inhale, and says,
“The Buddha says,
Make yourself light.”
I breathe deep, 
hold the pose,
and dammit,
I'm a lost soul here:
Am I to become light
or a light?
Each one is hard enough
to become by itself,
especially for me, here and now,
 in up-dog thinking to myself,
Not much, dog,
What’s up with you?

I am not a light.
I am not light. 
“Check out Rolfe,”
says Baron. 
I look up at the TV screen
where he is gesturing 
across the room
at yogi Rolfe’s perfect pose.
“Check out Rolfe,
he’s flying high!”
Rolfe has made himself light.
Rolfe knows what’s up dog.
Rolfe is a dog, a Muppet one.
Remember his great duet 
with John Denver? 
Dear lord Buddha Christ,
save me from myself.
I only want to practice 
my inhale, my exhale,
my becoming a damn light,
if not a light like you, 
then at least light
like Rolfe. 
Woof.

If you’re in KC this weekend, please drop by my studio at Bad Seed. My friends Adams Puryear and Noelle Choy have transformed the front space into an art installation called Control Center, and we’re opening the doors for First Friday.

What I’m currently listening to: Waxahatchee’s Tiger Blood, LA LOM, Angie McMahon’s Piano Salt, Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter

What I’ve been reading lately: Christian Wiman’s Zero at the Bone, Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr!, Nancy Pearl’s The Writer’s Library, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror, Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity, Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost