Accidentally New Age*

Accidentally New Age dreamed of Michael Jackson last night. Well, not exactly. She dreamed that she went into the kitchen and Michael Jackson (or wait, was it Janet?) had left his lunch cooking on the stove. Where had he gone? ANA didn’t know, but she didn’t want his lunch to be ruined. What was his lunch? A fried 3-egg sandwich with 2 slices of American cheese and three Alka-Seltzer tablets. Yes. The Alka-Seltzer was inside the sandwich.

Oh, did ANA mention that while she was putting the Jackson sandwich together she was watching Dave Chappelle’s first show, which consisted of Dave doing cover versions of old songs. It wasn’t a particularly funny or good show, and ANA was surprised anyone ever watched it.

Last night, Accidentally New Age was returning home from her Anusara Immersion and thinking of the seven energy loops. She started at the bottom — ankle loop — and worked her way up. Shin loop, thigh loop, pelvic loop, kidney loop, shoulder loop. But for the life of her she couldn’t remember the name of the top loop. Chin loop? No, it’s definitely not called chin loop. But she really couldn’t remember.

When ANA got home, she booted up her computer and checked her blog. There was one new comment on her last post and it was from her teacher KK. The comment? Skull loop. The actual name of the top-most loop.

Accidentally New Age doesn’t know what you do with your New Moon intentions, but she usually keeps hers held close; private. But some of them are nice and lighthearted and simple to share.

This moon cycle, for example, ANA is working on her handstands. A daily practice devoted to increasing the amount of time she can stay in them (against the wall), in addition to a daily practice working toward balancing on her own, in the middle of the room.

ANA would like to know some of your New Moon intentions.

Doesn’t it seem like going retrograde is just about the only thing Mercury does?

Accidentally New Age’s yoga teacher KK talks a lot about going slower, being quieter, when Mercury goes retrograde. Doing those things because you know the situation, and maybe that other person, the irrational one who seems to be angry at you for just living, isn’t aware of the planetary forces.

During this retrograde cycle, ANA has been noticing her tendency to blame other people for situations she could very well have approached differently:

As ANA ran down the stairs to catch the train this weekend she got impatient with her neighbor, who was walking slowly up the stairs, talking on his cell phone, and making it impossible to pass.

Was it his slowness that caused her to miss the J Church by fifteen seconds?

Maybe.

But she probably could have left her apartment two minutes earlier.

What is a recurring theme you’ve noticed during retrograde?

This morning, during yoga, AMD’s blanket kept creeping over until its corner was occupying the back corner of Accidentally New Age’s mat.

ANA did what any self-respecting yogini would do: she tapped AMD on the shoulder, pointed to the offending three inches of blanket, and raised her eyebrow.

AMD responded by paying a 10-cent fine.

you: What are you up to?

ANA: I just finished doing reiki on my cat

Here’s a fun game for those of you who actually know Accidentally New Age. The publicity photo for the upcoming Anusara gathering was taken at a John Friend workshop. ANA likes to look at the photo and find yogis & yoginis she knows.

ANA would like YOU to find HER in the photo. It’s like an Accidentally New Age version of Where’s Waldo.

Sankalpa: Resolve, Will, Intention
Mudra: Seal, Sealing Posture, Impression

Accidentally New Age sets a sankalpa each morning; another one before each yoga practice. It gives her a neutral point to come back to if her day starts to overwhelm, or if she finds that she has stopped breathing in a pose. Checking back in with the intention after savasana (corpse posture) and before bed provides bookends, a way to measure and reaffirm.

Sankalpa mudra is a way to seal in your intention. From your seated meditation posture, raise your left hand, palm facing up. Clasp your right hand over your left, as if shaking hands with yourself, then rest the back of your left hand on the top of your right thigh.

The left arm crosses in front of the heart, an external manifestation of turning inward; listening to, and making an impression upon, the heart. The right hand pushes the left hand gently into the thigh, a grounding agent.

The illustrious KK found her way to my blog yesterday and emailed me some awesomeness, which I have excerpted for your reading pleasure:

i actually mistakenly made an error in description though; the pose on my card is valakhilyasana, or pose of the valakhilyas (or balakhilyas) who were tiny forest-dwelling hermits the size of a thumb and resplendent and bright as the blazing sun; tiny blazing heavenly spirits! now, i have no doubt that they ate moonbeams and dew…

but the more noted partaker of moonbeams is the legendary partridge-type bird called the chakora, who feasts on moonbeams, and is the inspiration for the pose chakorasana (one leg behind head, other leg out straight up, balance on hands).

may i do that pose for your phone camera so that you can have a record of it?

sometimes too much pixie dust in my coffee in the early morning makes my mind merge the mythological creatures into one fabulous pose of sri!

Clearly this camera image is to follow. Next week.

Accidentally New Age goes to 7 a.m. yoga classes on Mondays through Thursdays. After the initial period of moping and exhaustion, she has grown to basically love it. But she’s also noticed that even though she feels wide awake, she doesn’t always trust herself to be completely…with it.

Every morning after she’s gotten warmed up she takes off her long-sleeve shirt. And every morning as she’s taking off this shirt, she fears that she’s forgotten to put her tank top on underneath.

So far it’s been on 100% of the time.