JACKHAMMER to Namaste

I woke up this morning to a jackhammer. Not like in most city apartment buildings when you are occasionally awoken by construction on an adjacent street, this jackhammer noise was coming directly from inside my building. They are redoing the inside of my building, 'lobby' (if you want to call it that) and stairwell. This would be a good thing if I was going to be in the apartment for more time than the actual work would take. Waking up to a jackhammer - no kidding it sounded like it was right inside my apartment - was a great way to start the day.

It was a bustling Monday here in Paris. The cold spell that hit over the weekend seems to have broken somewhat and the weather is finally good enough to allow one to be outside for more than about five minutes without fear of hypothermia. Ok maybe I'm exaggerating. A little. I had a busy day, including a long visit to the famous department store, Galeries Lafayette. Hustling and bustling and of course ready for Christmas, the department store was anything but tranquil. The walk back along Avenue de l'Opèra, in front of the Louvre, and back to my apartment at rush hour was no different.

Then, I went to yoga. Yoga has a unique ability to calm me down while giving me energy. It is as though it erases all of my worries, cares, concerns, and - really - thoughts, but leaves me a nameless, colourless, indescribable energy. I think that it comes from how hard it is - physically and emotionally taxing. After an hour and a half of pushing your body to the brink while fighting with your mind which keeps telling you to stop, you lie in shavasana (meditation) running separated consciousness over each part of your body, examining it and instructing it to relax.

Now, I am feeling totally at peace, like nothing could ruin this night. So I say to the few readers out there in the void, namaste - the good things in me bow to the good things in you.