2011 “Book Tour” Pt 1: The Awkward Essay and other highlights

I have begun my Autumn “Book Tour” for Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life after having a rejuvenating summer and early fall. So rejuvenating in fact, that I never did get around to writing about some of the highlights and impressions from my Spring “Book Tour” that I intended to share. (I am putting “book tour” in quotation marks because this is what I–and others–have been calling it, but really I’d just be teaching in these spots anyway and the book is simply a joyful addition to the mix).

Now I find myself wanting to share some impressions from this Autumn tour but feeling like I have to catch up from the Spring before I can freely embark on commentary on the present. So, here are some highlights from the Spring:

NYC:

• Meeting various representatives of NYC yoga schools, many of whom were together in the same room at a book signing organized by the ever generous spirited Kristen Rae Stevens, a yoga teacher herself and Kripalu School of Ayurveda alumnus. Kristen Rae managed to bring together representatives of various yoga factions with good feeling. There are many schools and types of yoga and I appreciate when unity prevails over separateness. Yoga means union after all.
• Personally, it was a rare treat indeed to spend time with my brother, the talented and adorable Michael J. Burke, cameraman (http://www.mikejburke.com) and my sister Samantha who came from VT to join us for a weekend.

Chicago:

• I spoke at Tejas Yoga at the invitation of co-founder James Tennant, former Ayurvedic Institute student and yoga teacher. I very much enjoyed the company of the participants and my kind hosts.
• Enjoyed a brief yet dear reunion with an old high school friend, Laurie, who has a beautiful family, enjoys her profession, and carries herself with as much poise as ever.
• Struck a bit dumb by darshan of $15,000 shoes at Barney’s—darshan facilitated by Karen Klutznick, founder of KK Ayurveda. Karen and I spent an hour or so at her office, smelling various high quality essential oils and considering their effects on physiology. Karen has made a serious study of essential oils and creates and carries some excellent products. One of my favorites: her Anti-Aging Serum with meadowfoam and rosehip seed oils. You can find her, and them, at KKAyurveda.com.
• Chicago, I learned, is also called, “City of Big Shoulders.” It also appears to be the city of large portions. I was struck somewhat dumb a second time by the size of my baked potato and “side dish” of vegetables (is that a spear of asparagus or…just a spear?) at a famous restaurant whose name is escaping me at the moment.
• Speaking of food, did you know that Chicago is also known as “Hog Butcher to the World”? From a famous Carl Sandburg poem. I learned this after remarking that the city smelled like meat. I had been standing near the lake, looking at the city and was struck (I would say “dumb” again, but I was alone at the time, so already quiet) by the smell and—at the risk of sounding woo woo—the feel of meat, even in the empty & green park by the water north of the Aquarium. When I mentioned this to a native Chicagoan, they told me the Hog Butcher thing, and also that exactly where I had been standing when I had that feeling had long ago been the stockyard where animals were kept for slaughter. Whether my association was as coincidental as it was clear, or was associated with some impression in the environment there, I can’t say. But it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve experienced a flavor of a place that quite reflects its history.

California:

• I so enjoyed the company of a loving group for a 4-day prana immersion retreat in a gorgeous home and location arranged by Prashanti de Jager, a devotee of nature and vidya (authentic knowledge). There was so much love and good feeling in this group…I will not soon forget it.
• It was the first time I had the pleasure of teaching with my beautiful sister Brodie Welch Lac, who led us in Jade Woman qi gong daily.
• The incomparable Caroluna (http://www.caroluna.com) sang and played her harp and heart for us.
• YUM: The Love Blossom: Raw Cacao Macaroon from Kitchen Alchemy. Organic. No gluten, wheat, soy, corn, refined sugar. Raw cacao nibs, coconut, coconut butter, agave, Himalayan sea salt, vanilla extract, orange extract, raw goji berries, ashwagandha, shatavari, vidari, and maca. Need I say more? http://www.ayurvedaalchemy.com/
• Prashanti introduced us to vol. 1 of 40 of the Ayurvedic teachings of Vaidya Mana Bajra Bajracharya: Ayurveda in Nepal Volume One: Ayurvedic Principles, Diagnosis and Treatment.  Good for the advanced student of Ayurveda. Also a wonderfully supportive, nourishing herb mix that Prashati formulated called, appropriately, “ojas.” For more info on either: prashantidejager.com.
• A joy to see my little sister, Casey, as she began to settle in to a life less mobile than she has been accustomed.

New Mexico:

• While wonderful to see all the loving faces and friends in New Mexico, the weather over the four days I was there was a stark reminder of the Vata-aggravating potential that reigns in the high desert. The day I arrived it was 90 degrees, with some 60mph winds—strong enough to obscure the darshan of Mount Taylor, that stalwart icon to the West of the city. The second day was 40 degrees. Third day: 40 degrees and SNOWING (it was early MAY). And high winds. Gack.
• One highlight: 82 year-old Ayurvedic student Wilma, was attending the workshop with her daughter and purchased a copy of Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life for her granddaughter. Heartwarming to see three generations of women aiming for balance. We were discussing the need for meditation retreats even in the middle of raising four children (which she did). She told her husband that what she wanted for her birthday every year was a cheerful sendoff on a 4-day (as I recall) retreat. Wilma had this to say about it: “Meditation makes the good stuff better and the bad stuff not so disgusting.” Amen.

Philadelphia:

• The history here was inescapable. William Penn executed one of the earliest attempts (in the US) at utopian city planning when he considered plans for Philadelphia. Because of his thoughtful consideration, Philly represented the most extensively ‘pre-planned’ American city at the time. Penn wanted, “a green country town, which would never be burnt, and always be wholesome.” He considered it important for open space to be included in blueprints of great cities, as both healing places and to slow the spread of fire.
• In a park, on a plaque in remembrance of those who died and were buried therein: “freedom is a light for which many men have died in darkness.” Amen.
• Lovely to reunite with an old friend, Dr. Tansy Briggs, Doctor of Oriental medicine extraordinaire who has recently relocated to Philly, and with former Ayurvedic Institute students Sally Miller, Denise Baron (who vacated her apartment to host me there) and Joshua Pang, and to meet some new friends at Shanti Yoga Shala, where the event was held.

Orlando:

• A privilege to teach women’s health for my perfect husband’s seminar series offering instruction in Traditional Chinese Medicine to Chiropractors, Western medical physicians and other licensed health care practitioners.

Northampton, MA:

• This was a poignant event for me, as it began the day after I buried a dear friend. The participants were gentle with me and we wove the themes of loss and life into our previously set agenda. Ann Podlozny’s Valley Ayurveda is about to close but it offered much to its community during its tenure there.
• I felt grateful to Kripalu School of Ayurveda for offering previous training in Ayurveda to so many participants, who it was a joy to reunite with, along with new faces. It is a pleasure to see Ayurveda growing in its students from seed, sprout, sapling or mature organism.
• Spent time with Traci and Pete Olsen and their precocious and present child, Audrey.

Vermont:

• It was a treat to teach for the first time in Vermont, where I grew up (mostly). I spoke at Vermont Center for Yoga and Therapy in Burlington, VT, at the invitation of Carmon Maron, former Ayurvedic Insitute student who now practices Ayurveda there and is a counselor at the University of Vermont, where I obtained my BA.
• Other very notable Vermont event: My niece, Josie Colt, who was a high school senior at the time, wrote an essay called, The Awkward Essay. At 18, I find her wisdom about awkwardness to be worthy of passing along. Here are some choice passages from The Awkward Essay:
• In ninth grade, these uncomfortable social moments skyrocketed in terms of their quantity and intensity. Making new friends turned out to be even more tiring and difficult than I had imagined. When it came to chiming into conversations with groups of kids where the subject was quite hazy and foreign to a newcomer like me, I would often dare myself to give a vague opinion on a matter I knew very little about or ask a startlingly random question, deeply regretting it moments later.  The silence following was unbearably quiet and agonizingly long as I stuttered out a clarifying explanation of what I meant to say and then clarify that explanation again and then further clarify the latest explanation all while trying to most deeply clarify and emphasize the suave and smooth qualities I pretended to possess to make up for my all too prominent inner freak-of-nature self . . . (Blaring elevator music). This embarrassing tactic however, dug me deeper into my hole; my very dark hole of awkwardness, that I at times wished would just swallow me up once and for all.
• these moments are also much of what make up a lot of the weird beauty in the world, what make human interaction so unique.  Later in high school, I began to see these situations in a different light. Through my own experiences and by observing others, I found that it is the way that one approaches and reacts to these moments that matters most. 
• what’s the point of getting so torn up about something so silly as feeling a little strange socially? Don’t we all feel a little strange whether we show it or not?
• And at this point, that’s what it really comes down to. Awkwardness is nothing but a feeling of being insecure or uneasy, uncomfortable or embarrassed by a new and random situation that you don’t know how to deal with. But there’s something new and random about everyday of life, so one really oughtn’t to worry himself over how to react to them, but just let them come, soak them up, and let them go.  Soak them up for all their weird uncomfortable richness, though it may be a tad painful I admit, and let them pass by …

Thus concludes my Spring tour reflections and makes room for reflections soon (I hope) on the Autumn travels.

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