Ready for a painful death yet???

Well, okay, perhaps I exaggerate. But I did start doing Shoshin Yoga (a class that teaches Kaiut Yoga). And doing it calls to mind poses that were perhaps used by torturers during the Spanish Inquisition.

Do not be fooled by how simple the poses look! That would be your first foolish mistake.

I have been doing just basic old yoga for about 10 years. Primarily simple floor poses. Nothing elaborate or fancy. I get great results and am really happy with it. However, I am really, really tired of pounding my poor feet around on hard wood floors, pavement, cement, concrete, etc., all the time. Now 57 years’ worth of all the time. My legs are taking a real beating. So I thought I would try Shoshin Yoga. The poses looked so relaxing and, yes, easy!

Well, it is, in fact, easy! But it kills you. The poses are all about putting pressure on the joints, and holding the poses a really long time. Or what feels like a long time, because you’re putting so much darn pressure on your joints!(I’m currently focusing on a routine that does 10 floor poses in 75 minutes. Oddly, the time overall goes quickly, even though you feel like it is taking forever to die.)

After the torture is over, I do feel noticeably loose & limber. So I’m going to try doing it 3-4 times a week and see how it goes. If you see me go skittering past you, all loose & limber & spry, then you can assume the torture is paying off.

Meanwhile…

Tickets are now on sale for the play Charm, by Philip Dawkins, at MCC Theater in New York City. I will be there opening night (September 18th?) but I believe tickets for that night are now impossible to get. This is the play in which my friend & colleague, Sandra Caldwell, has the lead:

“The New York Times calls Sandra Caldwell a ‘true entertainer in every sense of the word.’ Her acting career extends throughout the worlds of film, television, and theater. As a jazz singer, she has performed with top orchestras in some of the world’s finest venues, including the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Newport Jazz Festival. On television, Sandra was seen in ‘The Book of Negroes’ (miniseries, guest lead); ’19-2′ (recurring); ‘Soul Food’ (recurring) ‘Little Men’ (series regular) and guest starring roles in such shows as ‘Law & Order: SVU’ and ‘Rookie Blue’. She was a featured performer in many TV movies, including Good Fences with Whoopie Goldberg, and Disney’s The Cheetah Girls. Film work includes Murder at 1600; Shall We Dance, and Maya Angelou’s directorial debut, Down in the Delta. In theater, Sandra has appeared in the musical Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Shubert Theater); the Original Workshop for Ragtime (Live Ent. Productions); the drama Coming Through Slaughter (Necessary Angel Theater, Toronto); and was nominated for a Dora Award, the Canadian Tony, for her work in Sophisticated Ladies (Sterling Productions, Toronto).”

Plan to see the show if you are going to be in NYC this fall, okay? But make haste! It is a limited run.

All right. Now I have to take my loose & limber self back to the world of TV pilot re-writing! I’ll see if I can keep my limber hip joints from sliding off my desk chair!

Then, this evening, it’s cake & coffee, with one of my former writing students, at my home away from home: the Granville Inn!!

We are celebrating our recent birthdays. (His 30th; my 57th!) I’m looking forward to it. It seems all I do around here anymore is work, sleep, and kill myself with Kaiut yoga…