honey and sting

Spent the last two days at Kripalu, a yoga retreat center in Lenox, Massachusetts, with a wonderful friend. The setting is beautiful, a spatious if somewhat utilitarian building on a mountain, with a gorgeous, exansive view of a lake, gardens, and more mountains. The schedule is easy -- take yoga classes, don't take yoga classes, lounge, sleep, swim in lake, go to evening events, don't go to evening events, eat delicious vegetarian meals. We got up both mornings for the 6 am "gentle" yoga class (the other options were "moderate" and "vigorous"), and found it to be an hour and a half of soft, easy, but surprisingly effective stretches and breathing exercises. We attended a lovely meditation class with an excellent teacher, and got to watch another friend glow at a book-signing related to a week-long class she was teaching. The weather was very humid and warm -- after barely sleeping Friday night, I went to bed Saturday night with a head full of wet hair and an Ambien care of my friend (no a.c., though we did have a fairly decent fan, but it just wasn't up to the task). It's Sunday, and I'm now with another friend in Connecticut. She's out riding her horse while I do laundry (all that heat and humidity, many changes of clothing!). I'll be on the east coast for the next two weeks -- two days here in Connecticut, some time in New Jersey, lots of time in New York City, and a weekend in Atlanta. More to follow. Peace, or as they say at Kripalu, Jai Baghwan, which I was told means, "victory to the spirit".