Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Of Yoga And The Cost Of Personal Space

Last night's yoga class was a little bit quieter than usual, I guess partly due to it being quite cold last night. Class was fantastic though, everyone seemed really switched on and the teacher seemed to be having a good time as well. All through the class she kept complimenting us (rank beginners all) on our postures and 'alignments', so I guess 4 weeks into the course we are all starting to 'get it'. We started to work on longer flowing sequences last night and also tried different breathing techniques and 'shoulder stands' for the first time.

I'm enjoying yoga so much, it's like all of a sudden I've discovered this great hidden secret. Where have you been all my life?

Walking home afterwards the night air had a definite winter chill to it, and the wind was really cold. The moon was high and full, and beautiful, so even the meagre few stars normally visible in the city night sky were mostly in hiding. It was nice to walk home feeling relaxed, flexible and having that awareness of how different my body feels after a session. Work is rather crazy at present, in the lead up to the end of the financial year on 30th June, so it's also nice to have something that takes you out of your head for a while and shifts the awareness to the body. My challenge now is to develop enough skill and commitment to start a daily yoga practice. It would be great to have that positive feeling on a daily basis, rather than the usual tapestry of back, neck and shoulder pains I normally have.

I'm feeling a little torn at the moment. I haven't gone searching for a new flatmate since my old flatmate moved out a few weeks ago, and I'm loving having the place to myself. The rent really is too steep for me to afford on my own, I'm currently paying more than half my salary in rent and after everyday living costs and bills I don't really have much of anything left for clothes (which I desperately need), replacing my recently lost mobile phone, entertainment or other 'incidentals'. Having the spare room and extra closet though would allow me to de-clutter my disaster area of a bedroom, set up a dedicated space for my meditation practice and yoga, and maybe even set-up my bike on its trainer stand so that I can use it as a stationary exercise bike.

So there are lots of positives to be had from not getting someone in, but given my financial history of the past few years I could really use the increased money from this new job to get ahead financially, if I wasn't paying so much of it in rent. The situation so far isn't all that pressing, so I guess I'll just ride it out for the next few weeks and see what happens. My salary increases by around $80 a week in about a month's time, when my probationary period is up, so maybe it'll be worth waiting and reviewing it then. Of course the sensible thing to do would be to work out a budget. Yeah, right.

The other possible negative to keeping the house to myself is less tangible. Will I get too set in my ways when I only have myself to worry about? I already seem to have wound back my social life over the past 12 months. Could this signal entry into a solitary hermit-like existence? Will I end up as a crazy old guy with 16 cats and newspapers stacked to the ceiling in maze-like formations in every room? OK, I'm allergic to cats and I don't buy newspapers very often, but that could all change.

How much value would you put on personal space?

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