Let Calm Take Centerstage at Raffa Yoga: Cranston, RI: August 19, 2019
Yoga, steam rooms, vegan food, and a spa all under one roof less than 10 minutes from our hotel. Must be our lucky tour! I’d be here all the time if i lived around these parts.
Ah! The yoga gods are with us today! I've come down with a terrible cold and I seriously can't remember being in this much pain for two days straight. I left the bus to make sure David doesn't get sick, and it feels heavenly to hop in a steaming hot shower and clean sheets.
I don't know but I'm feeling like the bus made me sick. David never reads my blog so I can just freely admit I'm not loving the bus these days. Stale air, the noise of the generator, questionable water, and oh did I already mention no fresh air? I did. Well it’s a big deal, so there.
Just one night with clean air, clean sheets, a hot shower, and quiet was a game changer. Raffa yoga center, which truly is an urban sanctuary was just more evidence how much I prefer a life of yoga and peace and quiet. Not that I don't love the music and the people, the adventures and the travellng, I do..a lot. But also some time for myself to counterpose can't wait between tours. Quiet and calm must be centerstage.
I'm summoning up the courage to tell David.
"Calm is higher than ecstacy", says Ramana Maharishi and man did he hit the jackpot on that one. Ease and calm with oneself is a practice in authenticity. I've endured four years of bus mainly to make David happy. Mainly so he'll approve of me. As I've come to align more with peace with myself I've come to be a better truth teller. I don't need his approval like I once did to feel good about myself. It's been one of the great gifts of touring to realize this.
Since I wasn't feeling well I chose a mid day 'stretch' class from the varied menu of wonderful offerings at Raffa. We didn't stand up once. The closest to difficult we endeavored was downdog, and that was optional. As I moved and breathed my poor sad lungs felt healed, just from being gentle and giving myself complete permission to take it easy.
I ate a vegan guac sandwich and bought an Eminince kale and citus facemask, which is drying on my face as I write this in my clean white hotel sheets.
Tomorrow we head to New Haven. I'll get to see my older brother who has the calm thing down. I'll keep on letting calm be center stage for a while and then let David know, I'm not sleeping on the bus this whole tour. I need some hotel happy here and there. Calmly, that's how I'll let him know.
Health, Love, and Rock N Roll