Thanksgiving is a time that I am able to view the juxtaposition of events in previous Novembers. Thanksgiving always brings to mind the crazy cooking adventures I have had around the holidays. For instance, shortly after Vince and I got married I made a “tofurkey” from scratch. Think mushy tofu molded into the shape of a giant turkey, put on a pan and cooked. Now imagine it somehow being so heavy once it was cooked that I had to have Vince take it out of the oven. Or, there was the first time Vince and I hosted Thanksgiving for my family, Vince’s family and some friends (I think the Tofurkey was involved). Minutes after the family arrived one of my relatives made a bee line for the stove and stuck a spoon into the pan on the back burner, took a giant gulp of what she thought was mulled cider. It was potpourri. Poison control had to be called and she felt yucky all day, but had nice cinnamony breath. Then there was the Thanksgiving where we made our first Turkey, no tofu. I didn’t realize there was a plastic baggy of who- knows-what in the middle and therefore didn’t remove it prior to cooking. Oh yeah, then there was the Thanksgiving we switched from turkey in the oven to turkey in the deep fryer. We sat down to eat and the first turkey was so yummy that we forgot there was a second turkey in the fryer. Let’s just say there was no second turkey. To think that poor bird gave up his life only to be charred in our back yard still brings me to tears. Oh yeah, then there was the Thanksgiving where I was trying to carve a Turkey with a very nice ceramic knife Vince had been given as a Christmas gift. Let’s just say that’s not a good idea. It shattered…in the turkey. Then there was the Monday after Thanksgiving four years ago today that ended with a frantic car ride to Chicago to be with my brother as he prepared to go in for emergency brain surgery.
Wow. Life is like this right? Full of contrasts. We go from one thing to the next thing to the next thing. We move from a crazy busy schedule to a coasting, we move from feeling resentful that we have family obligations to recognizing after a loved one passes that it was all a gift, from feeling sadness about a death to feeling the immense joy that someone lived a good life. It’s consistently inconsistent, which I suppose makes it consistent. If life wasn’t like this, we wouldn’t be alive. Life IS like this and any wishing or craving that it wasn’t just results in suffering. I need to have that tattooed on my palm. As Byron Katie says: wishing life wasn’t the way it is results in suffering and only always.
These contrasts are part of our life on and off our yoga mats. The word Hatha (of Hatha Yoga) is the joining of two words (Ha and Tha) meaning Sun & Moon. Our yoga practice can be seen as a vehicle which helps us remember life is made up of opposites…soft & hard, pull & push, effort & no effort. I was reminded of this last week when practicing Crow posture. Because there was a moment of not recognizing the opposite movements of lifting up and at the same time lowering down, I ended up landing on my head. Now there’s a contrast…practicing feeling great to landing on my head~ not feeling so great. The contrasts from tofurkey to brain surgery allow me to be thankful for both, the inedible tofu and the healthy baby brother.
I promise if you ever come over for Thanksgiving we will order out. It will allow for yet another contrast.
Ami
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