Breathing fast and slow

There is a new teacher in town, and we all fell in love with him immediately. I mean this in the kindest, most respectful way. How could we feel otherwise? He is a disciplined and elegant practitioner. He knows his way in and out of poses and is able to clearly articulate their execution to his many students wherever his students happen to be in their individual practice. He is not showy or boastful of what he has learned. He has studied Sanskrit and chanting and can chant in Sanskrit like a scholarly Brahmin without the aid of the Roman alphabet translations. He would like his students to learn something of this part of the lineage, too; so, he chants with us weekly for half an hour before class begins. Every Saturday. For free. He is reverent of his teacher, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and our teacher by extension, and we learn daily to be more grateful to Jois for keeping this practice alive. Our new teacher even brings us coffee to enjoy after practice, using Pattabhi Jois's recipe a

One of my favorite scenes in the 1985 movie Out of Africa is a quiet moment shared between actress Meryl Streep, playing Danish writer Isak Dinesen who penned the memoir for which the movie is named, and Dinesen's head servant Farah, played by actor Malick Bowens. Dinesen, Farah and several servants from Dinesen's home and coffee plantation in Kenya have set out across the African plains to bring much needed supplies to Dinesen's husband Baron Bror von Blixen and British troops fighting in the East African campaign during World War 1. The journey for Dinesen and her servants is arduous. They travel on horse, by foot, and in wagons laden with food and gear that are pulled by oxen. On one particular evening, Dinesen and her servants are seen preparing for bed. The campsite is quiet and all are engaged in their evening rituals. Out of the evening calm, a pair of lions rush the oxen and take one down. Meryl Streep is shown in her tent, and upon hearing the uproar, she sprin