Floating Ribs, Sandbags, And The Ever Present Struggle To Focus with Maya at Yoga Center Santa Cruz: Santa Cruz, CA: September 11, 2018
The Boardwalk at Santa Cruz in the early morning after a late show night. A morning beach walk helped me focus on my own health and happiness, on my own breath and path.
Most bodies have 12 ribs. The top seven are known as true ribs because they connect to the sternum. The lower five do not, and are sometimes called false ribs. The top three of these connect to each other, the bottom two are called floating ribs because they are not connected at all in the front.
Disconnection, in any form, is a challenge and is a source of anxiety for me.
I’ve been thrusting my lower ribs forward for God Knows How Long and I’m becoming aware of a distant unease of disintegration. So many parts are moving in so many directions. So many interests, and so many duties. As our tour bus rolls down the road, how can I ride with her without floating away from my own path? I’m a Gemini. One could say it’s in my nature to get caught up in dual directions. But if we’re talking about Truth here, it’s more a lack of a disciplined mind.
The sixth limb of yoga, Dharana, generally translates as concentration or focus and it’s absolutely necessary to quiet the mind. It is the step that leads to meditation, Dhyana, the seventh limb of yoga, and to Samadhi, the eighth limb, often translated as enlightenment, but that’s such a loaded term lets say absorption. These last three limbs are often studied together and are called antaratma sadhana, or the innermost quest (PYS 3.1-3.3). What the world is requiring for me at the moment is an integration of touring and yoga. I literally just married this. It certainly does feel like my soul work. To break the habit of feeling like it sounds really ‘out there’ requires I stay focused on what is wanting to come through me as I experience life live. And that’s yoga. I think about her all the time and like the music I get to share with David and all the people that come to the shows, I get to share yoga by staying present, by writing and when I’m super lucky, teaching.
Our bodies are our most intimate relationship but yet I know so little. The practice of yoga has helped me know myself and its only recently that I’ve learned I’m not breathing to capacity. Breaking the habit of shrinking in all its many layers is a practice so profound that I have to take it step by step and starting in my own body by quieting ribs 8-10 so that ribs 11-12 can float in support of my own breath is enough work for most days. It requires discipline and focus. Just like finding ease and seeing Love. Always right here but if I’m not breathing in life in her fullest, it’s a lot harder to see.
Our bodies are our most intimate relationship and one I know little about. The rib cage and her relationship to the diaphragm is my most recent obsession.
Learning to focus, breath more fully, and enjoy the present moment helps break my habit of worrying about what lies just ahead. I could chalk such weirdness to habits built while touring, where I always have one eye on what is coming up. To tour effectively, you must be aware of what’s around the corner like what time is load in? What venue will we be at? What is the house manager’s name? How many tickets are sold? Are we inside or out? What city are we in? What is the climate? Do I have fresh bluejeans to wear or is it a leather pants and Versace slingback kind of evening? These things occupy a lot of mental real estate. Low grade anxiety and worry about the future in her many forms are not useful and when I get still and quiet I also see they don’t feel good. Finding the float, of my ribs, and the ride of my life, with space, ease, and grace, by contrast, does.
It seems I need the journey—the journey of yoga—to discover what is present inside all along and all the time including the wisdom and confidence to meet the road of life in all her magnificence. The Iyengar practice today in Santa Cruz used sand bags in many of the poses and in new-to-me methods. The extra weight helped me ground and focus. On my own body. And my own breath. On the fact that what I am wearing doesn’t hold a candle to the window dressing of my mind when it comes to beauty and living and love. When it comes to right now, and the immense sense of peace and happiness I feel.
Health, Love, and Rock N Roll..
Seeing friends and family, and making new ones, is the best part of touring. Here’s my little brother Sloan and his wife Claudia and our friend Gaby with my niece and nephew who are so awesome to have come out even though it meant a very late and post kid bedtime.