OCD or Kundalini?

Sometimes I try to figure myself out, and other times I just let it go. This is one of those times when I am particularly curious about what motivates me. 

For the past year I've been having a great time making mixed media, taking online art classes having to do with collage, spray painting, stenciling and photography, thinking that this time I was going to stick with it, when all of a sudden, a little over a month ago, something reminded me of Fr. Thomas Keating, his books, a workshop of his that I attended in June of 2006, and how I had tried the method of centering prayer he teaches, but was unable to really get into it. As I recounted here, I went to the Contemplative Outreach website, where I found a link to a course that will be taught online by him and others through Sounds True. At the Sounds True site I found a treasure chest of podcasts with teachers from many different paths, and have been listening to them ever since. Not only that, but I have signed up for the online centering prayer course that starts in January, I've signed up for a retreat at the San Damiano Center in Danville with Dr. James Finley, also in January, attended the day-long Vipassana meditation retreat two weeks ago, then last Saturday a meditation and yoga class at Bernal Yoga with Saul David Raye in the morning and a Kirtan and Puja with him and others, including a Vedic priest, in the evening, where I ended up dancing like I did in my hippie days, and today I would be in a two day class entitled The Eight Limbs of Yoga with Mariana Caplan, if it weren't for the fact that I have a beastly cold and couldn't go. Hopefully I will be able to catch the second half tomorrow. 


Now for the OCD and Kundalini part. I just listened to the most recent Sounds True podcast interview with Dr. Lawrence Edwards. You'll have to read about him because there is no way to succinctly describe someone who is on the faculty of a medical college and who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the effects of Kundalini, an "energy" for which he offers a very intriguing description here. 


In any case, what he said during the podcast made me think that perhaps I can stop trying to figure out why I am on this wild goose chase, because rather than just being an example of my obsessive, sometimes driven, nature, it could very well be the sparks of the Kundalini energy awakening in me and propelling me on my search for a transformative spiritual path that will connect me to the divine in me and in all. So there you have it.   

My Kind of Saturday

It's not even 4 pm yet and I'm already really satisfied with this day.

I went out with Eden for our usual Saturday walk in the park and on the way back had to take a photo of this colorful and orderly array of clothes hanging out to dry right by the sidewalk. A white picket fence is not a typical San Francisco sight, but clothes hanging out to dry are pretty common. I'm glad they're not banned here as they are in some states.  Eden and I both enjoyed our stroll on this sunny, cool day, through trees and fresh grass.

 

When I got back home I watched part of my new Yoga for Beginners DVD, and actually followed along. I've tried yoga in different studios, but always find that I feel like a total wreck afterwards, so I've decided to try it on my own. Maybe if I don't feel like I am getting lost, or need to keep up, it will be a better experience. Or maybe I need a personal yoga trainer!

Without really realizing the connection, after deciding yesterday to seriously embark (or re-embark) on a spiritual learning experience, I chose to cook a dish from a book I bought in 2005, 3 Bowls: Vegetarian Recipes from an American Zen Buddhist Monastery. It has a lot of vegetables in it, interesting spices and will be mixed with leftover quinoa from yesterday's lunch. As soon as it cools down, I'm digging in. 

Not content with all the goodies in this vegetable stew, I made immune-boosting turmeric tea, by boiling chunks of fresh ginger root in water, adding turmeric and letting it boil a bit more. After straining it into a glass, I added a heaping teaspoon of honey and some lemon. I was surprised at how good it was. I did check my teeth every now and then while drinking it, to make sure they were not turning orange, since I know how potent turmeric is when it comes to staining your clothes and even woodwork, but I'm happy to report that the teeth are fine. 

I had first heard this tea mentioned in a post on Lucullian Delights, a blog where I have been feasting my eyes for 3 years. Ilva was going to give the recipe for the tea, after she and her entire family recovered from The Flu. Fortunately they all recovered, but I think she moved on to bigger and better recipes, because I could not find mention of the tea in subsequent posts. So I did a bit of an internet search and came up with my own version, and drank it down to the last delicious good-for-me drop! I do have a bit of a headache, though, but don't know if it was the turmeric or the Yoga...