exhale

After the last session on Sunday afternoon, the mats were rolled up, pictures were taken and goodbyes said ("Some Lovin to the Lovin!" said John Friend as he gave me a hug on my way out).

My new yoga-pal Tanya and I walked out of the sports center at the foot of Taipei 101, which always, always amazes me at it's seemingly impossible height. The afternoon was muggy and warm, with soft gray clouds muffling the city-noise. We walked through a park where a group of people--Taiwanese and foreign, adults and children--were playing djembes and other hand-percussion instruments, while an old Taiwanese lady covered in scarves led a hodge-podge group of "dancers" through a warm-up.  We listened for a while and then walked on, through a group of meditating Falun Gong practitioners sitting with their legs crossed in total silence. Their matching yellow shirts said "Falun Gong is Good... Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." They rose together and began to do some slow, tai-chi-like movements with their hands. Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa) is a system of beliefs and practices originating in China, but dangerous to practice there because of the Chinese government. Many people involved with it in China are imprisoned or disappear, or worse.

We kept walking, and outdoor street fairs clustered around 101 competed for sound-space, with girls in fancy dresses advertising the latest model of Nokia or electric toothbrush or contact lenses, blurring into a loud "churr shuh cheee shaaoo" of speakers on full blast (that's what I hear when I hear people speak Chinese really loud and really fast).

Tanya and I said our goodbyes and promised to meet up, soon, to hang out. A nice volunteer traffic guard helped me find the bus to Chang Gung Hospital (near the place I live) so I didn't have to ride the subway to the stop I usually go to for the 920 bus). The bus ride was long, winding through a lot of parts of Taipei I'd never seen before. But I enjoyed it and enjoyed sitting motionless, after so much yoga. My back muscles were tight but my heart and shoulders open and relaxed. I sank into the bus seat and listened to some music on my iPod, music without words that sounded like it was from somewhere far away. Far away, or maybe very near to here. I thought of each of you, and missed you, and sent my love around the world to find you. Love pulls and pushes. Life bends and twists. ACL's tear and mend. Hearts stretch and heal. I sit and I soar.

All my love.